Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s, D-N.Y., first re-election campaign may be over before it begins.

The far-left socialist is facing a serious challenge in her district’s Democratic primary from former CNBC star Michelle Caruso-Cabrera.

Caruso-Cabrera accumulated an impressive $1 million election war chest in the first quarter of the year. She’s received major union endorsements — important political allies in the solidly Democratic district. And Ocasio-Cortez’s unwillingness to debate her primary challenger has caused tension in the Queens district.

And on Tuesday, Caruso-Cabrera pulled off another stunning move.

Her campaign won a court case that saw Ocasio-Cortez’ name removed entirely from the primary ballot.

Not the Democratic Party primary ballot, but the Working Families Party (WFP) ballot — an independent political party that describes itself as the “Tea Party of the left.”

According to the court ruling, Ocasio-Cortez’ campaign failed to produce the 15 signatures needed from independent voters to put her name on the WFP primary ballot. Her campaign flubbed — it only collected 13 total independent voters to sign the petition.

According to New York rules, multiple parties can vote for the same person in the primary. The system is called “fusion voting.” So votes from WFP members would count towards the total with Democratic Party votes for AOC.

In a tight primary contest, every single vote will be important — and Caruso-Cabrera exploited AOC’s mistake to strip her campaign of hundreds (if not thousands) of far-left votes.

“The AOC campaign is in shock. She has hurt working people of the Bronx and Queens with her votes and creates disunity within our party. Her own campaign spokesman ran away from her in March. No wonder why pro-union forces don’t want her and neither do our neighborhoods,” Caruso-Cabrera said in a statement after the court ruling.

 

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The Horn editorial team