AOC Botches Reelection Bid Because She Can’t Count to 15: ‘Campaign in Shock’

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will not be appearing on an influential union-backed party’s ballot line in the November general election after failing to collect the required number of signatures, 15, The New York Times reported.

A Queens judge ordered the removal of Ocasio-Cortez’s name from the Working Families Party ballot line this week following a legal challenge from Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, one of her opponents in the Democratic primary.

• The freshman congresswoman submitted 14 signatures, one of which was found to be invalid because the voter was registered as a Democrat.
• A spokeswoman for Ocasio-Cortez told The Times the New York Democrat’s campaign stopped collecting signatures because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The nuts and bolts of New York's fusion voting system: ​Had Ocasio-Cortez qualified for the Working Families Party ballot line, her name would have appeared on the ballot twice, potentially increasing her visibility among voters and offering a measure of protection in the unlikely event of a defeat in the Democrat primary.

• “The A.O.C. campaign is in shock,” Caruso-Cabrera said in a statement to The Times.
• The progressive Working Families Party, which Sen. Bernie Sanders has described as the closest thing to his “vision of democratic socialism,” has endorsed Ocasio-Cortez and pledged to continue campaigning for her.

Trouble for AOC? While Ocasio-Cortez is widely regarded as a heavy favorite to keep her seat in New York’s 14th congressional district, some polls suggest she’s not as popular in her home district as her national superstar status might lead one to believe.

• For instance, a poll of registered voters released in June by a political action committee that opposes Ocasio-Cortez found only 13 percent of respondents in her district would vote to reelect her.
• According to a Siena College poll released last April, 58 percent of voters in Ocasio-Cortez’s 14th Congressional District disagreed with her stance on a deal with Amazon, which would have seen the internet giant create 25,000 news jobs and receive $3 billion in subsidies in New York City. Only 33 percent supported Ocasio-Cortez’s position.

Meanwhile, some commentators have pointed to data showing that – contra conventional media narratives – Ocasio-Cortez’s 2018 upset of incumbent Joe Crowley was propelled by her success with relatively more affluent gentrifiers and that she may have underperformed with working-class nonwhites in some areas.