The sexual assault survivor who confronted then-Sen. Jeff Flake in an elevator to condemn his support for then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh will attend the State of the Union as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s guest.
The first-term Democratic socialist from New York described Ana Maria Archila as “living proof that the courage within all of us can change the [world].”
I’m proud to announce that my #StateOfTheUnion guest will be @AnaMariaArchil2.
Ana Maria is the NY14-er who famously jumped into the elevator with Sen. Flake to elevate the stories of survivors everywhere.
She‘s living proof that the courage within all of us can change the ?. https://t.co/OLSeNbP4Z2
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 4, 2019
Archila was one of two women who confronted Flake in a U.S. Capitol elevator in October, demanding that the Republican senator from Arizona look them in the eye as they identified themselves as sexual assault survivors and urged him to reconsider backing Kavanaugh, who had been accused of sexual misconduct by a woman who went to a nearby high school in the early 1980s.
“On Monday, I stood in your office. I told you of my story of my sexual assault,” Archila said.
“I was sexually assaulted, and nobody believed me,” Maria Gallagher said. “You’re telling all women that they don’t matter.”
CNN caught the interaction on camera and it quickly went viral. Soon after, Flake called for an additional FBI investigation into the allegations against the judge, but he ultimately ended up voting to confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
Archila migrated to New York City from Colombia in 1996 when she was 17 years old. She attended college at Montclair State University and has spent her career advocating for racial and economic justice. She currently is co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy.
