She won because of her privileged status as the poster girl/fitting the official narrative of the "oppressed minority." If an old man from Mongolia ran instead of her he would never win shit, because he does not fit that clear cut narrative. She used her privilege to win. Politics is a popularity contest: it is not based on competence or merit. That is why most politicians everywhere are shit. They simply pick a niche and cater/lie to them. They are not intellectuals who have a balanced approach to things. So the opposition is the same thing. AOC is the same thing: her platform was "sticking it to the old white male run pAtriarChy!!!1" and there is a huge niche for that.