In a rather politically embarrassing moment, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been kicked off the progressive union-backed Working Families Party (WFP) ballot line because she couldn’t get enough signatures.
A Queens judge made the decision to remove her name after New York’s most famous socialist was unable to obtain the 15 signatures necessary to secure the line.
She received a mere 14, then had one removed.
Ocasio-Cortez’s name will not appear on the WFP ballot line either for the June primary or in the November general election, according to an attorney for her Democrat opponent, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera.
Michelle Caruso-Cabrera gets AOC knocked off Working Families Party’s ballot line https://t.co/caLyerktGW pic.twitter.com/6iEZE1mY6v
— New York Post (@nypost) May 12, 2020
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What Does It Mean?
There are dueling schools of thought over the impact this blunder will have on AOC’s re-election prospects.
The New York Times reports: “The loss of the ballot line will make no discernible difference in her re-election bid; she is still heavily favored to win the Democratic primary and the general election.”
Fox News, on the other hand, writes the mistake is “a blow to her potentially competitive Democratic primary fight.”
Ocasio-Cortez campaign, meanwhile, says the inability to secure 15 signatures, a number lowered through an executive order from Governor Andrew Cuomo due to the coronavirus pandemic, will have “no real impact on our race.”
They chalked the error up to the crisis.
“As the pandemic was erupting, we did not believe it was appropriate to put canvassers or voters’ health at risk,” asserted a spokeswoman. “We stopped collecting signatures — knowing it would not affect our ability to help in the Democratic primary.”
What are you waiting for @AOC?
Are you scared to debate me one on one? https://t.co/t1Hg9UsOBA
— Michelle Caruso-Cabrera (@MCaruso_Cabrera) May 13, 2020
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Her Opponent Celebrates
Caruso-Cabrera celebrated the news, alleging that the AOC camp “is in shock.”
“She has hurt working people of the Bronx and Queens with her votes and creates disunity within our party,” Caruso-Cabrera said. “Her own campaign spokesman ran away from her in March. No wonder why pro-union forces don’t want her and neither do our neighborhoods.”
While the Times insists there will be nothing to this ballot issue, they do concede AOC’s campaign made a significant “gaffe” especially considering she has “every move … scrutinized by both sides of the political spectrum.”
Ocasio-Cortez, in an interview with New York Magazine earlier this year, complained that her popularity is so immense she “can’t go outside anymore.”
Perhaps if she went outside for a couple of hours on any given day she could have found those 15 people to support her for the WFP ballot line.
