While Republicans nationwide are scratching their heads and wondering where their predicted red wave went, some Democrats are also singing the post-midterm-election blues.
Key among them is Sean Patrick Maloney. He not only lost his New York congressional seat but did so as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, whose job is to get Democrats elected to Congress.
While providing a sober analysis of Democrats’ relatively poor performance in his state, Maloney had harsh words for one of the party’s national stars, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
In an interview with The New York Times on Thursday, the outlet asked him about her criticism: “There is a debate in New York right now about the New York Democratic Party, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and some on the left are arguing its leadership is part of the problem here. Is that a conversation you are a part of?”
“The last time I ran into AOC, we were beating her endorsed candidate two to one in a primary,” Malone responded. “And I didn’t see her one minute of these midterms helping our House majority.
“So, I’m not sure what kind of advice she has, but I’m sure she’ll be generous with it.
“But let’s be clear, she had almost nothing to do with what turned out to be an historic defense of our majority.
“Didn’t pay a dollar of dues. Didn’t do anything for our frontline candidates except give them money when they didn’t want it from her.
“She’s an important voice in our politics. But when it comes to passing our agenda through the Congress, or standing our ground on the political battlefield, she was nowhere to be found.”
As in most of the rest of the country, geographic New York is a sea of red outside of urban areas. But in addition to the blue cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany, the environs of New York City contain many small, densely populated Democrat legislative and U.S. House districts that control the state’s directions.
But all was not well for the Empire State in blue.
Tuesday’s election flipped four New York City suburban U.S. House districts for Republicans, and Democrat Kathy Hochul was elected with 52.4 percent to 46.8 for Republican Lee Zeldin.
In his interview with the Times, Maloney blamed fears concerning crime and anti-Hochul votes in the suburbs for the Democrats’ problems in the state.
“The governor really struggled in the suburbs, and it clearly had an effect on our races as well,” he said. “I want to be clear: I’m not blaming the governor, it’s just a fact that she was able to make up the difference in the city, but that doesn’t help in suburban districts.”
Leftist positions on the part of AOC didn’t help.
“There are other voices who should be heard,” Maloney said. “Especially when suburban voters have clearly rejected the ideas that she’s most associated with, from defunding the police on down.”
For her part, Ocasio-Cortez blasted New York Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs for the party’s poor midterm performance and called for his resignation.
While analysts nationwide are dissecting the results of the midterm elections (and some states are still counting votes), results in New York indicate that given suburban backlashes, there are still some places the people don’t want to go.
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