They agree on almost nothing, come from opposite parts of the country, and couldn’t be more different. But Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., have the same problem: People think they look more like interns than members of Congress.
They are baby faces in a geriatric legislature and, at first glance, no one thinks they belong. This is not at all unusual. The average age of the outgoing 115th Congress was 57 in the House of Representatives and 61 in the Senate. A new crop of freshmen will bring those numbers down, but only slightly, making confusion for Capitol Hill police almost inevitable when they see a new member without gray hair.
This comes as something of a surprise to the 29-year-old Ocasio-Cortez, who is new in town. She complained on Twitter about being mistaken for an intern and, at other times, a spouse.
People keep giving me directions to the spouse and intern events instead of the ones for members of Congress ??♀️
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) November 14, 2018
The progressive poster child isn’t alone in being dismissed as, well, a child. When I profiled the 35-year-old Gaetz earlier this year, the boy politician had to flash his congressional lapel pin again and again. Prime-time appearances haven’t helped him either. Regular interviews on CNN and Fox and MSNBC increase political stock. They do not, however, make you look older.
Even as his first term comes to a close, Gaetz keeps getting stopped. He told me it happened this week and he had to enlist a witness. In this case, a 64-year-old Republican from Ohio: “Yesterday, I got Bill Johnson to vouch for me.”
Of course, getting carded like this is only a problem on Capitol Hill and only when politicians demand to be taken seriously. Gaetz just laughs at the whole thing. Ocasio-Cortez will hopefully come to do the same.
