Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is just four months into her first term in office, and there’s already a line of people forming that want to challenge her in the 2020 election.
And they’re getting millions of dollars in support.
On Tuesday morning, Ocasio-Cortez learned that a swell of grassroots opposition isn’t the only thing she’ll face off against in her first re-election campaign.
In New York City, a mysterious millionaire donor has reportedly put Ocasio-Cortez squarely in the crosshairs.
His goal: Drive the far-left liberal out of office. No matter what the cost.
“There’s definitely national energy and money on this race,” Bronx Republican chairman Mike Rendino told The New York Post.
Rendino revealed that a local mega-donor has reached out and is devoted to driving Ocasio-Cortez out of office — and he’s recruiting his wealthy friends to help.
The mystery donor wants to remain anonymous, but is “worth over $200 million,” Rendino said. He’s well connected to other political donors in New York City and is already organizing an effort to drive out Ocasio-Cortez.
Recent polling data shows this threat to Ocasio-Cortez is very real. In 2018, she won her Congressional seat with a staggering 78 percent of the vote. But a recent Siena College Poll found that Ocasio-Cortez’ support among her constituents has slipped 26 points since the election.
Just 33 percent of 14th district voters support her decision to drive out Amazon’s planned second headquarters from New York City. Only 41 percent of her constituents back her $93 trillion Green New Deal spending bill.
And the hits keep coming.
On Monday, Ocasio-Cortez was slammed in the headlines for saying healthcare for U.S. veterans isn’t worth fixing.
“There are some things that we’re hearing today, there are some themes we’ve got coming out, and especially when it comes to the VA, all I can think of is that classic refrain that my parents always told me growing up. Which is that ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,’” Ocasio-Cortez said during a town hall event last week.
“Exactly, don’t fix it,” she said about the dysfunctional veterans healthcare system. “That is their opening approach that we have seen when it comes to privatization, is the idea that this thing that isn’t broken — this thing that provides quality care to our veterans somehow needs to be fixed, optimized, tinkered with… until we don’t even recognize it anymore.”
According to the Office of the Inspector General’s 2015 report, approximately 307,000 U.S. veterans died that year while waiting for VA care.
That’s not worth fixing?
The Horn editorial team