Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's mother tells how she hopes her daughter marries her ...

Mrs Blanca Ocasio-Cortez, the woman who inspired U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to take up the fight for the 'little guy,' says she always knew her daughter would make something of herself.

She knew even before the birth, 29 years ago, of the New York Democrat who has driven the right crazy since her surprise congressional win last year.

'Her dad and I were preparing for Alexandria's birth and still picking names,' the 56-year-old mom of two said in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com. 'And he came up with ''Alexandria.'' I thought about it for a while and I said: ''Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. That sounds very powerful. That'll be her name.'''

Mrs Blanca Ocasio-Cortez – or BOC as her signature reads – is still settling down in Eustis, Florida, a small city in the far suburbs of Orlando.

She moved into the out-of-the-way lakefront community shortly before Democrat AOC filed her candidacy to become the youngest woman ever elected to the U.S. Congress. 

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's mother Mrs Blanca Ocasio-Cortez has spoken exclusively to DailyMail.com about her Democrat star daughter's upbringing, the challenges she faced as a windowed mother and how she is trying to keep a low profile in Trump-supporting Florida

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's mother Mrs Blanca Ocasio-Cortez has spoken exclusively to DailyMail.com about her Democrat star daughter's upbringing, the challenges she faced as a windowed mother and how she is trying to keep a low profile in Trump-supporting Florida

Speaking from her modest home in Florida while cooking lasagna, Blanca says Alexandria got a political education at the dinner table, something to balance out the fact she was only involved in sports at school. She said: 'We had a lot of conversations at the dinner table among ourselves about the issues of the day'

Speaking from her modest home in Florida while cooking lasagna, Blanca says Alexandria got a political education at the dinner table, something to balance out the fact she was only involved in sports at school. She said: 'We had a lot of conversations at the dinner table among ourselves about the issues of the day'

Blanca says she hopes Alexandria will soon marry her longtime social media consultant boyfriend, Riley Roberts (pictured together in an undated photo), saying: 'I love him. He is the most loving, supporting person I've seen'

Blanca says she hopes Alexandria will soon marry her longtime social media consultant boyfriend, Riley Roberts (pictured together in an undated photo), saying: 'I love him. He is the most loving, supporting person I've seen'

'I lived in the New York area for most of my life but I started being unable to afford it,' Blanca said in the living-room of her modest but tidy Florida house. 

'After my husband (Sergio Ocasio) died (of lung cancer in 2008), the family went through tough times. Alexandria was in college, but I still had her little brother (Gabriel Ocasio-Cortez, 26, a real estate agent) who needed to be put through school.'

With small business-owner dad Sergio around, Blanca said, the family enjoyed a middle-class lifestyle. Shortly after AOC's birth, the family was able to leave their one-bedroom condo in The Bronx for a small single-family house with a yard in nearby Yorktown Heights.

The mother-of-two said the couple took a mortgage and received help from other family members who pooled some of their resources.

'We had a great life there,' Blanca said. 'Alexandria was very social, so she always had a bunch of girls over. She took over the shed in the backyard. She cleaned it up, put up curtains and photos and made it look nice, and that was like a clubhouse for her and her friends.'

Already as a young teenager, mom said, AOC got a political education at the dinner table, something to balance out the fact she was only involved in sports at school.

'We had a lot of conversations at the dinner table among ourselves about the issues of the day,' Blanca said. 'We'd talk about (President Barack) Obama or healthcare or elections.'

Early on, Alexandria didn't show signs she'd get into politics - except that she talked incessantly and itched to show off her brains, her mother said. 

'When I took her to her pre-K interview, she didn't let me talk much,' Blanca said. 'She was going on and on about knowing the alphabet and being able to count.'

Once in high school, Alexandria became a voracious reader of books about history and war and biographies of historic figures.

Blanca explained the hardships she faced as a windowed mother, saying: 'After my husband (Sergio Ocasio) died (of lung cancer in 2008), the family went through tough times. Alexandria and her brother (Gabriel Ocasio-Cortez) were still little, so I had to put them through school'. Pictured: Blanca, AOC, Gabriel and their grandmother Clotilde

Blanca explained the hardships she faced as a windowed mother, saying: 'After my husband (Sergio Ocasio) died (of lung cancer in 2008), the family went through tough times. Alexandria and her brother (Gabriel Ocasio-Cortez) were still little, so I had to put them through school'. Pictured: Blanca, AOC, Gabriel and their grandmother Clotilde

Blanca said: 'I was cleaning houses in the morning and working as a secretary at a hospital in the afternoon... it was still difficult making ends meet. At one point, I was skipping mortgage payments and we almost lost the house.' Pictured: AOC as a child with her late father Sergio 

Blanca said: 'I was cleaning houses in the morning and working as a secretary at a hospital in the afternoon... it was still difficult making ends meet. At one point, I was skipping mortgage payments and we almost lost the house.' Pictured: AOC as a child with her late father Sergio 

The mother-of-two said she moved to this modest Yorktown Heights home for cheaper housing, adding: 'I worked and prayed and prayed, and things worked out. After the children graduated from college, I figured it was time for me to move to Florida'

The mother-of-two said she moved to this modest Yorktown Heights home for cheaper housing, adding: 'I worked and prayed and prayed, and things worked out. After the children graduated from college, I figured it was time for me to move to Florida'

Dad Sergio's death, however, put the family into a tail spin. He had no life insurance, two years of health care bills due and the money his business brought in dried out. Blanca recalls she faced foreclosure not just once, but twice.

'It was scary,' she said. 'I had to take medicine I was so scared. I had to stop paying for the mortgage for almost a year. I was expecting someone knocking on the door to kick me out at any time. There were even real estate people coming around to take photos of the house for when it was going to be auctioned. The worst is that I only had $50,000 left to pay on the loan.'

Eventually, Blanca worked out a deal with the bank and managed to stave off eviction.

'I was cleaning houses in the morning and working as a secretary at a hospital in the afternoon. I was working from 6am until 11pm. And I prayed and prayed, and things worked out. After the children graduated from college, I figured it was time for me to move to Florida.'

Blanca said it was a no-brainer, adding: 'I was paying $10,000 a year in real estate taxes up north. I'm paying $600 a year in Florida. It's stress-free down here.'

The mother-of-two said she picked Eustis because a relative already lived here, and right before Christmas 2016, Blanca paid $87,000 for an 860-square-foot home on a quiet street that dead-ends into a cemetery.

The street isn't one with manicured lawns and sculpted hedges. Occasionally, a drug deal takes place on the steps of another home up the street.

But, Blanca said, it's home.

'My house was crumbling and the yard was in disarray,' Blanca said. 'But I've been working on it since I moved in. I painted outside and inside then started improving everything else.'

When DailyMail.com visited Blanca one evening, she was in the yard building parts of a kitchen island. Her face was covered with a face mask and she was buffing a slab of wood.

A couple of nights later, she talked while making lasagna for a relative visiting from Puerto Rico. 

The socialist Democrat's mother said: 'She saw struggling parents putting their children through school, but also how difficult life was for people in the Bronx compared to Yorktown. She saw the difference in education and status between parts of the family, and she just wants everybody to have the same opportunities.' Pictured: AOC in 2007 at Yorktown High School

The socialist Democrat's mother said: 'She saw struggling parents putting their children through school, but also how difficult life was for people in the Bronx compared to Yorktown. She saw the difference in education and status between parts of the family, and she just wants everybody to have the same opportunities.' Pictured: AOC in 2007

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