Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York’s 14th District is now facing a substantial election challenge from inside her district, with a Wall Street investor deciding to challenge her in an attempt to address competitiveness in New York’s election races. That challenger is Marty Dolan, a former Wall Street figure with an MBA from Harvard.
Mr. Dolan originally planned on running against Rep. Jamaal Bowman in New York’s 16th Congressional District. However, he then decided to shift his candidacy to New York’s 16th Congressional District, meaning he will be challenging AOC. On his campaign site, he explained his challenge to AOC, despite running as a Democrat, as a way of standing up to far-left policies.
Blasting her view of “progress” and the radical left’s policies, he said, “I am excited to formally announce my candidacy for the Democratic nomination for New York’s 14th Congressional District. The June 25th, 2024 primary will be a referendum: are we better or worse off from following Radical policies? We are all for the “progress” implied by the word Progressive. However, within the Progressive movement, there are Radicals whose influence on the Democratic Party is overweight.”
Continuing, Mr. Dolan gives the state of New York City as an example of how those policies have worked out. He said, “The impact in NYC is obvious: bail reform a disaster, the National Guard in the subway, toothpaste locked up in drugstores but criminals running free, scarce resources directed to (non-sanctuary) immigrants coming from all over the world.”
Then, turning from the state of NYC to the state of the budget and how high tax policies are chasing successful people out of the state, he said, “These difficulties must be addressed in the context of a runaway $34 trillion federal debt and NYC’s 14% marginal tax rate. Regional tax inequality is far more exaggerated in the USA than in any other country. Losing 500,000 taxpayers is unsustainable: fixing this must be our overwhelming priority.”
Emphasizing his candidacy as a way of rebuking the radical regime for its disastrous policies, he said, “The Radicals can’t deliver more than breadcrumbs when they ignore that the primary breadwinners are leaving and brush off taxpayer concerns in favor of abstract populist ideologies. Enough is enough. New Yorkers have seen it all, including scams like the Radicals offer. But we know better that New Yorkers want NYC to be the best city in the best country in the world.”
Then, turning from radical policies to societal cohesion, he said, “We also urgently need to “reset” our society’s income inequality and harmonize regional differences in social policy. We call our approach the ‘Hamilton Plan v. 2.0’ in honor of one of our greatest New Yorkers, Alexander Hamilton, who forged the independent colonies into a great republic. Our founders left us the blueprint. “E pluribus unum”: of many, one. We have just drifted off course. Let us move forward together as one people Let us not wait another two years for the same result. Let us reset on June 25th. It is the honor of a lifetime to ask to represent you in this mission.”
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Dolan’s candidacy is bad news for Rep. AOC, as it means she’ll have to fight off a moderate Democrat challenger and explain why her radical politics are better for New Yorkers than more moderate policies that could mean lower taxes, lower crime, and less strife. Further, his running as a Democrat means it will be harder for her to mobilize partisan sentiment against him.
Watch AOC get heckled by a supposed district resident here: