Miss Michigan Wins Miss USA—A Job Last Year’s Winner Didn’t Even Want
22-year-old Alma Cooper will now represent the United States at the 2024 Miss Universe pageant, set to take place in Mexico later this year.
Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images
Miss Michigan, Alma Cooper, was crowned Miss USA 2024 on Sunday night in Los Angeles, besting 50 of her fellow contestants. Miss Kentucky, Connor Perry, placed just behind her as first runner-up.
And despite two state titleholders’ tumbles during the pageant’s preliminary rounds, no-one fell off—or into—the stage.
The main event saw contestants progress through swimwear, evening gown and Q&A rounds, winnowing down in numbers each time at the judges’ seemingly arbitrary whims.
Cooper, 22, wore a patriotic, stars and stripes-emblazoned bikini and then an asymmetrical, sparkling silver evening gown. Addressing a question about “bridging gaps between cultures,” she highlighted her Afro-Latina heritage, her service in the US Army, and her studies as she works towards a master's degree in statistics and data science at Stanford University.
Alma Cooper, Miss Michigan USA, participates in the swimwear round during the 2024 Miss USA pageant.
Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images
This year’s pageant marked the first in which no age limit was in place; would-be contestants in previous years aged out of the Miss USA system after turning 28. Six of the 51 women in competition would have been ineligible under this rule, among them 41-year-old Miss Arizona, Kristina “K” Johnson and 31-year-old Miss Maryland, Bailey Anne Kennedy, who is also the first transgender woman to represent her state.
Neither Johnson nor Kennedy made the top 20.
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Nor, in fact, did a single blonde woman—a detail not unnoticed by those commenting on the pageant’s social media pages.
As was the case during the 2024 Miss Teen USA pageant earlier in the week, no mention was made of the recent controversy involving the Miss USA Organization, and its president/CEO, Laylah Rose. Both the 2023 Miss USA, Noelia Voigt, and the 2023 Miss Teen USA, UmaSofia Srivasta, resigned and gave up their crowns in May, with reports alleging they had faced bullying, harassment and other instances of workplace misconduct.
(Cooper was instead crowned by Savannah Gankiewicz—originally the first runner-up at least year’s pageant, and who later took over the title in Voigt's absence. Gankiewicz said she stepped up to provide a “lending hand” to the new titleholders, as well as to bring attention to her home state, Hawaii.)
As was also the case during Miss Teen USA, Rose appeared only with a pre-taped message offering ChatGPT-worthy sentiments.
“The brilliant women competing tonight for Miss USA exemplify resilience,” Rose said. “Their stories tell of perseverance and vision, and for every challenge they conquer, they teach us that obstacles are merely opportunities in disguise.”
“And for the woman who will be be crowned Miss USA tonight, she writes a legacy that will inspire countless others,” she continued. “She understands that her position carries the weight of history, and the promise of progress.”
Cooper will now represent the United States at the 2024 Miss Universe pageant, which will take place in Mexico later this year.
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