33: What’s changed the most about you since you were elected in 2018? How did you get involved in the party? What have you learned in your third term?

I think a lot of other people aren’t like that when I first came into office. There are many people that have a history of legislating. I had to prove two things at the same time, in order to keep the peace with one another.

The class dynamics and gender dynamics of being poor or working class come from the privilege of being in a society that is extraordinary. There were years of learning ahead of me.

For a lot of people, 33 is a time when they are already established in a career and making plans about the future. It captures the tension when you use these words. So I want to explore that with you. You’re in your third term. Your job has been around for a while. A lot has changed since you were first elected in 2018. What has changed the most about you since you were elected?

I think I have a level of faith in what I am doing. My election was characterized by so much upheaval, both nationally and personally. When President Trump was elected, there was a lot of political upheaval. There were many ways in which the Democratic Party was lost at that time. We were in transition between an older party and a newer one, in terms of where we were coming from ideologically.

Then I as well. I wasn’t waitressing until March. Just a few months later, I won my primary. And even coming into Washington, not just figuring out how I orient myself politically, coming from a background of direct action and activism, but then also adding on the entire profession of legislating at a federal level.