It was almost two years ago when former Ted Kennedy staffer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez decided to challenge Congressman Joe Crowley for the seat he’s held for ten terms.

After five weeks of collecting signatures with her supporters in the snow, Ocasio-Cortez successfully triggered the first primary in New York’s 14th District in fourteen years. Of course, this was just the beginning of a steep uphill battle.

Outspent by a dramatic 10–1 ratio, she ran a grassroots campaign powered by the tireless efforts of people from her community who decided to unify around a vision for change.

Ocasio-Cortez’s message of dismantling the status quo, abolishing ICE, and guaranteeing housing and healthcare as human rights resonated with constituents who felt Crowley took them for granted. He hasn’t lived in the district in decades and made a significant strategic error by skipping a debate, sending a proxy in his place.

Ocasio-Cortez grew up in the district, commuting over forty minutes out of town to attend better schools after learning at a young age that in the US, your zip code is the most important number in determining the quality of your education.

She studied economics and international relations at Boston University, while working on foreign affairs and immigration casework for constituents in Senator Kennedy’s office. After graduating, Ocasio-Cortez worked with various programs to improve educational opportunities for young people in her community.

Ocasio-Cortez’s policy platform, consisting of fourteen issues which range from combatting climate change to a implementing a federal jobs guarantee, is informed not just by her academic and policy experience but by the economic hardships she’s faced.

She worked eighteen hour shifts and juggled two jobs after her father passed away and the economy collapsed in 2008, and learned firsthand what it’s like for the millions of Americans who can’t afford to go to the doctor or don’t know how long they’ll be able to keep a roof over their head.

All in all, Ocasio-Cortez appears to be one of the Democratic Party’s most well-rounded, charismatic prospects. Her victory should also serve as a serious wake up call for Democratic Leaders like Pelosi and Schumer who have thus far been content to continue putting politics over people.

The upset victory of a candidate who pointed out that “women like me aren’t supposed to run for office” is sending the Democratic Party a message it desperately needs to hear — now is not the time to get comfortable doubling down on the same playbook.

The Democratic Party is in need of change so fundamental it would never be accepted by open arms by the powers that be, because it shouldn’t seek to work with them, it should seek to unseat and overthrow them.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is that change, and candidates like her are the future of the Democratic Party.