OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The Democrat Party had an election season worth celebrating, but for them, there is still infighting between those who are more progressive and those who are moderate.
This week Democrat New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, was defeated in his election by Republican Mike Lawler and he is furious that New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for not helping other Democrats win, the New York Times reported.
“There is a debate in New York right now about the New York Democratic Party, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and some on the left are arguing its leadership is part of the problem here,” Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times on Thursday said to the representative.
“The last time I ran into A.O.C., we were beating her endorsed candidate two to one in a primary, and I didn’t see her one minute of these midterms helping our House majority. So, I’m not sure what kind of advice she has, but I’m sure she’ll be generous with it,” the representative said.
“But let’s be clear, she had almost nothing to do with what turned out to be a historic defense of our majority. Didn’t pay a dollar of dues. Didn’t do anything for our frontline candidates except give them money when they didn’t want it from her,” he said.
“There are other voices who should be heard, especially when suburban voters have clearly rejected the ideas that she’s most associated with, from defunding the police on down,” he said. “She’s an important voice in our politics. But when it comes to passing our agenda through the Congress or standing our ground on the political battlefield, she was nowhere to be found.”
But when New York Rep. Ocasio-Cortez spoke to Chris Wallace she went wild about talking about both Republicans and Democrats moving to the middle.
“Do people want both parties to move from the fringes, from the extremes back to the center?” the host said.
“I think a lot of people in this country may say yes, but it’s important for us to dig into the substance of what that actually means. As someone who is often, I think, characterized as extreme. I of course, would object to that I do not believe that I am as extreme in the way that Marjorie Taylor Greene on the Republican side is extreme the idea that there is an equating of believing in someone who believes in guaranteed universal health care in the United States was someone who believes that undocumented people should incur physical harm are somehow in the same level of extreme is something that I would object to,” she said.
AOC to Chris Wallace: "As someone who is often, I think, characterized as 'extreme,' I of course would object to that. I do not believe that I am as extreme in the way that Marjorie Taylor Greene on the Republican side is extreme." pic.twitter.com/Y7Uxbq4iNm
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 11, 2022
Maloney was defeated by Republican State Assemblyman Mike Lawler in what many are calling a “historic upset.” Lawler, who ran his campaign on fighting back against crime and boosting the economy, defeated Maloney, who has first elected in 2013.
“I think he took it for granted,” Lawler said in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday. “As recently as a month ago he was traveling to Paris, London, and Geneva to raise money for the DCCC. He did not start campaigning seriously in the district until a couple of weeks ago. You have to be able to find a compromise, and you have to be able to work across the aisle.”
“Maloney has come under fire in recent days for suggesting that families struggling with the impacts of inflation eat Chef Boyardee. These comments come on the heels of Maloney’s frequent trips to high-end European cities over the summer to raise money for House Democrats. Lawler made crime a key focus of his campaign, running in a district where over half of the households have a cop, veteran, or first responder living in them, according to Lawler,” Fox News reported.
FLIP ALERT: Michael Lawler (R) defeats Sean Patrick Maloney (D-inc) in New York's 17th Congressional District
⦿ This seat is flipped from 🔵➡️🔴
⦿ NY-17 is Biden +10.1% seat pic.twitter.com/3N19NJd40U— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) November 9, 2022
Representative Sean Patrick Maloney conceded to @lawler4ny in New York’s 17th congressional district, making Lawler the first Republican to defeat a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman in 40 years. https://t.co/LAbxJa3U4h pic.twitter.com/6SmyDfUpWX
— National Review (@NRO) November 10, 2022
“Despite this big-ticket win, the upset was one of only a handful of House pickups for Republicans on a night where many political analysts and polls predicted a red wave. The balance of power in the House is still in play with many races still uncalled. Lawler still believes it is feasible to tamp down inflation and address crime, despite a potentially slim Republican majority in the House,” the outlet added.
A sitting House campaign committee chair has not lost re-election since 1992, which highlights how big of an upset this is.
