It came as no surprise that New York would be losing a congressional seat after the census. Speculation in Albany over a year ago was that NY-27, a large rural district in the western part of the state-- then held by crooked Trumpist Chris Collins-- would be divided up between NY-26 (Buffalo- D+11), NY-25 (Rochester- D+8) and NY-23 (Southern Tier- R+6). The move would make NY-26 and NY-25 slightly more competitive but still safely blue and make NY-23 much redder and much safer for a Republican. And it would get rid of Collins and a district with a shrinking population.But Collins resigned and is going to prison and the New York Democratic Party bosses have switched their focus on another congress member they hate-- and fear-- even more than Collins: AOC. The scuttlebutt in Albany is that the dominant Republican-wing of the party, in a move to protect Schumer’s Senate reelection in 2022, wants to dismember NY-14. That'll teach 'em! And that will, the thinking goes, keep AOC, now old enough to run for the Senate (30), in her place! So wrong on so many levels!There was a buried mention in Politico on Tuesday morning:
With New York likely to lose at least one congressional seat, the district held by Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could be broken up, forcing her to find a new winning coalition. There’s little love for the disruptive young upstart in Albany, and many state lawmakers would like nothing more than to redraw her out of office. Ocasio-Cortez seems aware of the threat, as she’s been promoting Census sign-ups in her district to ensure that her constituents are fully counted.
I decided to run a quick Twitter poll to see if there is any kind of consensus around the importance of AOC’s political career. There is. The polling started strong for her:And admiration for Ocasio-Cortez ended strong as well. 89 people participated in the poll-- one for each freshman!-- and 92% indicated they think AOC is the most consequential and most important new addition to Congress. Go Twitter! The New York (and DC) political establishments would be on the losing end of this battle, of that I'm certain.As you know, AOC doesn’t take campaign contributions from any of the crooks who make the wheels turn in DC-- and Albany-- but she has still managed to raise $3,381,334.59 as of September 30, significantly more than any of the notorious New York whores who sit on the phone all day begging special interests for money:
• Max Rose - $2,139,582.51• Antonio Delgado (D)- $2,063,246.39• Hakeem Jeffries- $2,048,723.08• Lee Zeldin (R)- $1,867,986.14• Anthony Brindisi- $1,417,403.05• Elise Stefanik (R)- $1,330,918.47• Tom Reed (R)- $1,264,624.41• John Katko (R)- $1,182,074.69• Carolyn Maloney- $1,016,483.16• Sean Patrick Maloney- $841,739.78• Greg Meeks- $643,895.51• Eliot Engel- $566,230.84• Brian Higgins- $514,347.20• Kathleen Rice- $334,379.20
Someone in Schumer’s operation denied that his boss-- who has raised $1,526,081.84 so far for his 2022 reelection campaign-- was behind the anti-AOC move and told me the impetus was from the Queens party machine. That is run by one of the most corrupt members of Congress, Gregory Meeks, a Wall Street-owned and operated slime ball New Dem (and Schumer ally). I spoke with Shan Chowdhury, the progressive Democrat challenging Meeks on his him turf and a former AOC campaign worker, what he though about this. "Would any of us be surprised if my opponent, the corrupt Gregory Meeks, is behind the anti-AOC movement? I sure am not! Meeks is only about himself and his special interest donors that keeps him in office. He’s anti-labor, anti-movement, and anti-people. As the Queens Democratic County Chair, he is doing everything in his power to keep the movement outside of the county democratic process. If he’s unwilling to make a system that’s fairer and just for all, is he a real Democrat at all? Working families deserve better. Our country deserves better. The movement deserves better. I will be his most competitive challenger he’s ever had. Let’s vote him out and vote me in because I will work for and with the people. We will make New York bluer. Happy New Year!
