Highlights from the Ocasio and Crowley NY14 Debate
Ocasio Scores Major Win Against Crowley on Issues That Matter Most to Queens and Bronx Voters
Below are some quotes from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from the NY14 congressional debate between her and Congressman Joseph Crowley, which was broadcast live last Friday, June 15th.
You can watch the full debate here. Also, please check out this great analysis by Briahna Gray at the Intercept.
Throughout the debate Ocasio held strong to her progressive politics and pushed back on Crowly’s false claims to represent working families in Queens and the Bronx. Many of Crowley’s responses referred to straw-man arguments and even a couple attempts to smear Ocasio. By the end of the debate, though, it was clear that, when it comes to fighting for working families and immigrant communities, Ocasio has a much greater grasp on what needs to get done.
Afraid of Bronx Voters: Joe Crowley’s race problem
Joe Crowley Hired a Lobbyist to Get Bronx Voters Out of His District
A recent tweet by journalist Ryan Grim revealed to many for the first time that, back in 2011, Joseph Crowley (Establishment-NY) hired a lobbyist to remove the Bronx from his Congressional district. The article Grim linked to explained that Crowley had concerns about that section of Bronx’s demographic makeup, which is mainly Latino. Apparently, Crowley thought that such a dense concentration of People of Color would have made him vulnerable if he would ever have to face-off against a Latino challenger in the “democratic” primaries. Unfortunately for Crowley, that part of the Bronx remained within the 14th Congressional district, alongside large portions of Queens, some similarly with large minority populations, and while the two boroughs might be divided by the East River, this year, they are uniting against Crowley.
The attempt to disenfranchise Bronx voters by literally kicking them out of the district — because of their race — is something one might typically expect from a Republican, but, sadly enough, there are many Democrats, who also work to uphold systems of racial inequality when it benefits them politically, Crowley being one of them.
