Socialist “Squad” leader Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), angered over House Democrat Campaign Chair Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney’s (D-NY) congressional district swap, endorsed his primary challenger, state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi.
Following Maloney’s decision to run in New York’s Seventeenth Congressional District — where his black colleague, Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) currently serves — seeking an uncontested, safer path for reelection after this year’s redistricting, Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) decided to endorse Biaggi after initially calling for the campaign chair to resign from his position if he was to go through with the swap.
When Biaggi announced she was running to block Maloney from waltzing into the congressional seat that was not originally his, she called herself a “proud Democrat,” labeling Maloney as “a selfish, corporate Democrat” who was damaging the party during his time as campaign chair.
Ocasio-Cortez’s endorsement will include fundraising emails and will ultimately add credibility to Biaggi’s attempt to appease the far-left in her bid and add more of a threat to Maloney, according to the New York Times.
Additionally, the congresswoman’s decision to interject in the primary, which she has done before across the country, will likely “further divide a New York delegation already deeply fractured by district boundaries imposed by the state’s courts.”
(INSET: Alessandra Biaggi) U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) listens as Acting Director of National Intelligence testifies before the House Select Committee on Intelligence September 26, 2019. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)(AP Photo/Hans Pennink)
The Times noted that the two had known each other since 2018 when they both ran successful campaigns. Ocasio-Cortez unseated former Rep. Joe Crowley, and Biaggi defeated Jeffrey D. Klein when she “led a breakaway faction of Senate Democrats in Albany that had helped empower Republicans.” Then-candidate Ocasio-Cortez endorsed her then too.
“Alessandra has been here before — she knows what it takes to go up against powerful opponents and win,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in her campaign email, according to the Times.
“Nothing but respect for A.O.C. … but local voices are what matters in this race, and they’re overwhelmingly supporting me,” Maloney told the Times in response to the congresswoman’s endorsement. “They know best who delivers for the Hudson Valley.”
Biaggi noted that she has talked to Ocasio-Cortez “quite a few times” since the court-ordered maps were released and was “thrilled to have her support” as she challenges the congressman. She said, “Her endorsement is really an indication to everyone that this is an important fight for the party.”
“She really is the standard-bearer,” Biaggi added.
In response to the endorsement, National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Samantha Bullock said, “Sean Patrick Maloney’s cowardly decision to run in NY-17 is backfiring stupendously.”
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.
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