Recently ousted Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney blasted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez while discussing congressional Democrats’ poor performance in the Empire State compared to other parts of the country on Election Day.
“I didn’t see her one minute of these midterms helping our House majority,” Maloney complained to the New York Times.
When asked about Ocasio-Cortez’s scathing criticism of the Democratic Party’s leadership in New York, the Democratic Congressional Campaign chairman snidely told the paper that he’s “not sure what kind of advice she has, but I’m sure she’ll be generous with it.”
In a tweet on Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez accused the New York Democratic Party of being “stuffed with lobbyists” and said that it must be “held accountable” for losses on Tuesday.
“NYS Dem party leadership, which was gutted under [former New York Gov. Andrew] Cuomo [D], stuffed with lobbyists, works to boost GOP, and failed to pass a basic state ballot measure to protect NY redistricting, must be accountable,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter.
Maloney went on to disparage AOC’s contributions to the Democratic Party’s better-than-expected defense of their House majority.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed the NY Democratic Party of being “stuffed with lobbyists.” MICHAEL REYNOLDS/EPA“Let’s be clear, she had almost nothing to do with what turned out to be an historic defense of our majority,” Maloney said. “Didn’t pay a dollar of dues. Didn’t do anything for our frontline candidates except give them money when they didn’t want it from her.”
Republican candidates won 10 House races in New York on Tuesday, including four with Democratic incumbents, helping the GOP as it inches its way toward a majority in the lower chamber.
Maloney, who himself lost his own Hudson Valley congressional district re-election race to Republican Mike Lawler, said Thursday that while AOC is an “important voice” in the party, she’s a ghost in Congress and “on the political battlefield.”
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney clapped back at AOC, saying that she “had almost nothing to do with” the House majority. Seth Wenig/AP“There are other voices who should be heard, especially when suburban voters have clearly rejected the ideas that she’s most associated with, from defunding the police on down,” Maloney said.
“She’s an important voice in our politics. But when it comes to passing our agenda through the Congress, or standing our ground on the political battlefield, she was nowhere to be found.”
