US Congress: AOC, Pressley, Omar, and Tlaib welcome newly sworn-in Democratic reps into ‘the squad’

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib will not be the only Democratic politicians who will be associated with the squad in the next couple of years. The group has gotten bigger as Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman were sworn in as first-time members of the House of Representatives on Sunday.

New ‘Squad up’ photo goes viral

A photo was shared on Bush’s Twitter page Sunday showing herself, Bowman, and the original quartet with the caption, “Squad up.” The message appears to be a nod to the new additions to the informal group known for pushing for progressive policies in Congress.

Bowman and Pressley have quote-retweeted the photo with a comment that their squad “is big.” Omar also shared the post on her Twitter page and described themselves as “unbought and unbossed” politicians. Ocasio-Cortez expressed excitement and retweeted the photo with the message, “Let’s go!”

Bush and Bowman saw landslide victories in the general elections last November, but they both faced fiercer primary campaigns against long-time Democratic politicians. Bush won against Lacy Clay, who has been the U.S. representative for Missouri’s 1st district since 2001. He was preceded by his father, Bill Clay, who served for more than three decades. Bowman won against Eliot Engel, who first became a member of the U.S. Congress in 1989.

The squad: How it started

People were already calling Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley, Omar, and Tlaib as the squad since they started working in the Congress in 2019. This seemed to have started shortly after they won their elections in 2018 after Ocasio-Cortez shared their group photo on Instagram that she simply captioned, “Squad.” At the time, Ocasio-Cortez was the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, while Omar and Tlaib were the first Muslim women to serve as U.S. representatives.

Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley, Omar, and Tlaib have also been using the term “squad” to refer to themselves when showing support for one another on social media. While not a formal group, their alliance appears to be more than just for online posts because they are known to back similar policies and proposals such as the Green New Deal and Medicare for All.

Featured photo by Louis Velazquez on Unsplash