Well that seemed to be the focus in their intro in their wikipedia article:
"The Squad is the informal name for a
group of four women elected in the
2018 United States House of Representatives elections, made up of
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of
New York,
Ilhan Omar of
Minnesota,
Ayanna Pressley of
Massachusetts, and
Rashida Tlaib of
Michigan. All are
women of color under 50,
[1] have been supported by the
Justice Democrats political action committee, and are on the
left wing of the
Democratic Party.
[2][3] All four hold
safe seats in the House of Representatives, with
Cook PVIs of at least D+26.
The group has been said to represent the demographic diversity of a younger political generation and the advocacy of progressive policies such as the
Green New Deal, which have sometimes clashed with their party's leadership.
[4][5][6][7] Ocasio-Cortez coined the "Squad" name in an
Instagram post a week after the 2018 election. The photo, taken at a
VoteRunLead event where all four members spoke, subsequently went viral.
[8]"
Even though they are probably excellent on their own merit, the name of the group apparently comes from:
"The colloquial use of the word "squad" arose from
East Coast hip hop culture and describes "a self-chosen group of people that you want to identify with". Its use by Ocasio-Cortez signaled familiarity with
millennial slang
[9] as a playful reference to
youth social cliques.
[3] Ocasio-Cortez's home borough of
The Bronx was the origin of a hip hop group called
Terror Squad, formed in 1998; musical acts with "Squad" in their name and lyrics started from the 1990s to the present day.
[10]
The New York Times considers the "Squad" to be
sui generis, fitting neatly into neither the usual Congressional groupings of a "gang" (a
bipartisan group focused on particular legislation) nor a
"caucus" (a
pressure group based on special interests). It notes that the term, with a militaristic connotation, conveys values of self-defense, allegiance, and having "something important to protect".
[10] The moniker has been used pejoratively by some Republicans, but the four women use the term self-referentially to express solidarity among themselves and with supporters.
[9] For example, the Justice Democrats tweeted a quote from Pressley saying: "We are more than four people... Our squad includes any person committed to creating a more equitable and just world."
[11]
The average age of the Squad was 38.3 years as of mid-2019, nearly two decades younger than the overall House average age of 57.6 years"