Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has seven reasons to worry about her job.
That’s the number of Republican candidates lining up to take on the increasingly unpopular New York socialist.
Even in the deep blue of the New York City Bronx, where Democrats enjoy a 6-to-1 advantage over registered Republicans, strong candidates from the GOP are lining up to take out Ocasio-Cortez.
Ocasio-Cortez is considered “vulnerable” because of sinking poll numbers heading into the 2020 election.
The former bartender knocked off Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., in a surprise primary battle in 2016. Crowley was the House’s fourth most powerful Democrat at the time, and was an establishment powerhouse.
“She’s fired everyone up,” Rey Solano, one of the Republican 2020 challengers, told Politico. “She’s really annoyed a lot of people.”
“The standard-bearer of socialism in America is in [Congressional District 14],” said Ruth Papazian, another potential GOP candidate. “If you’re going to stop the spread of socialism, and especially the encroachment of socialism throughout the outer boroughs, you have to stop her.”
Scherie Murray, a Jamaican immigrant, has also announced her intention to oust Ocasio-Cortez when she joined the Republican primary in July.
“Her campaign commissioned a poll that found 62 percent of voters would support a generic Democrat and 28 percent would back a Republican,” Politico reported. “But when asked if they would vote to re-elect Ocasio-Cortez or vote for someone else, 37 percent picked the incumbent and 48 percent favored someone else. Without any candidates named, respondents also said they would prefer a candidate who backed the Amazon deal.”
“Twenty-five thousand jobs were ousted,” Murray told Politico. “We should be encouraging businesses to come into the state, versus pushing them out.”
Local residents have expressed frustration that Ocasio-Cortez has spent much of her time grabbing headlines around the country — without doing much to help the voters who put her in office.
“She’s done a great job making a national profile for herself,” said John Cummings, a local high school teacher. “But we haven’t seen a lot of her around the district.”
The job won’t be easy for the Republican candidate that wins the primary.
Ocasio-Cortez has raised a massive, $9-million war chest — almost all from donors outside her district.
But there is a lot of political fodder available that Ocasio-Cortez’ opponents still haven’t used… yet.
“[Then-Rep.] Crowley had plenty of fodder he could’ve used against Ocasio-Cortez, but his top New York campaign operatives decided to take the punches and not hit back,” said The Hill To Die On, a book about Ocasio-Cortez’ election. “It wasn’t just that Crowley didn’t want to go dirty; he thought it would be a sign of weakness in D.C. if he was seen in a tight race against Ocasio-Cortez. He was supposed to be the next Democratic leader, not someone who had to fight for reelection.”
Considering how many are lining up and eager to take on the New York socialist, it seems unlikely her net opponent will be so gun shy.