Progressive Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz) is dating lefty YouTuber Jack Cocchiarella, 10 years her junior.
The two first met when Cocchiarella, 24, interviewed Ansari, 34, in spring 2025 and have been seeing each other for the past few months, TMZ reported Thursday.
Ansari declined to discuss her relationship, instead using her statement to lash out at President Trump and the US’s seven-month war in Iran.
“I’m not commenting on my personal life, nor is it anyone’s business. Right now, ICE is terrorizing communities across the country with zero accountability, and Trump’s reckless war in Iran continues raging on,” she told the outlet.
“I’m focused on helping to flip the House so we can pass meaningful legislation — that’s what we should all be focused on,” she added.
Cocchiarella also refused to comment on his personal life.
Ansari, a first-term Democrat who represents Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District, was born in Seattle to Iranian immigrant parents and grew up in Arizona.
She attended Stanford University and interned in then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco district office in 2012, according to Roll Call.
Ansari became the first Iranian American Democrat elected to Congress when she won her Arizona seat in 2024.
Ansari has faced scrutiny over claims about her ties to Iran.
In April, an online petition that drew more than 13,000 signatures called for an investigation into alleged “undisclosed foreign lobbying and ties” between Ansari and Iran.
The petition included a doctored image of Ansari in a turban and provided no evidence of the alleged ties.
Ansari rejected the claims as “hateful rhetoric, lies, cruel and deliberate misinformation” in a statement to The Post.
The suggestion that she is tied to the Iranian regime is an “outright lie,” she said.
Cocchiarella, who is from Winter Park, Fla., first went viral as a student activist at Dartmouth College after publicly challenging conservative figures including former Rep. Madison Cawthorn.
In 2022, Cocchiarella faced multiple sexual assault allegations at Dartmouth, according to the Columbia Spectator.
He later sued a former classmate over online claims that he had raped and sexually assaulted women. The case was settled and Cocchiarella has denied any wrongdoing, the New Hampshire Journal reported in 2023.
Cocchiarella transferred from Dartmouth to Columbia University in 2022 and earned a political science degree while working as a digital consultant for Democratic campaigns.
He has since built a sizable online following, with more than 1.6 million YouTube subscribers. He has interviewed prominent Dems including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
The post Arizona Dem Rep. Yassamin Ansari, 34, dating YouTuber Jack Cocchiarella, 24: report appeared first on New York Post.
