The Grind:
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) denounced party leadership in the state early Wednesday, calling on New York Democratic leaders to resign after midterm results showed the Empire State increasingly trending toward the right compared to previous elections.
Ocasio-Cortez lamented the seemingly “gutted” influence Democrats have in New York, arguing party leaders in the state “must be accountable” for the gains Republicans were able to make on Tuesday night. Her comments come as Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and one of the party’s top lawmakers, conceded to Republican Mike Lawler earlier Wednesday.
The Details:
NYS Dem party leadership, which was gutted under [former Gov. Andrew] Cuomo, stuffed with lobbyists, works to boost GOP, and failed to pass a basic state ballot measure to protect NY redistricting, must be accountable,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a tweet. “I called for Jay Jacob’s resignation a year ago and I still hold that position,” she added, referring to the president of New York’s Democratic Party.
Ocasio-Cortez previously called on Jacobs to resign in October 2021 after the party president made comments comparing Buffalo mayoral Democratic candidate India Walton to a former Ku Klux Klan leader. The New York Democrat resurfaced those comments in a subsequent tweet, noting “last night’s underperformance is a consequence of that decision” not to remove him from office.
“After leading the party to a catastrophic ballot measure loss that would’ve saved Dem House seats, the party chair (Jacobs) compared a Black woman Dem nominee to the KKK. He was protected,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote. “To win from here, Jacobs must go and we must recenter the party to better value community leadership and small-d democracy.” Read more…