during the 2016 democratic presidential primaries, ocasio-cortez volunteered for bernie sanders's first presidential campaign. after the general election, she traveled to places like flint, michigan, and standing rock indian reservation in north dakota by car. she spoke to people affected by the flint water crisis and the dakota access pipeline. while in standing rock, she said her trip there was an important reason why she ran for congress. before that, she believed that the only way to run for office and win was to have money and power. in north dakota she saw others "putting their whole lives and everything that they had on the line for the protection of their community". this was the reason for her to begin to work for her own community. one day after she visited north dakota, she got a phone call from brand new congress. they were looking for progressive candidates. her brother had nominated her soon after the 2016 election.