Queens activist Badrun Khan, a Democratic primary challenger to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), speaks on Fox News – 9/19/19. Screen grab via Fox News.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stunned political observers in June 2018 when she defeated longtime Congressional Rep. Joe Crowley in the NY-14 Democratic primary. Since that time, she’s been given non-stop fawning media coverage, is treated like a queen by radical progressive activists, and her endorsement has become a must-have for any staunchly liberal/socialist Democrat running for election or reelection.
But while several Republicans announced their intentions earlier this year to run for the opportunity to battle her in the 2020 general election, you only heard murmurings and anonymous reports about potential Democratic primary challengers.
Until now.
Queens activist and Democrat Badrun Khan has thrown her hat into the ring, and appeared on Fox News Thursday to talk about her candidacy. She also explained why she thought Ocasio-Cortez should be a one-term Congresswoman. Here’s what Khan said:
Activist Badrun Khan, who is challenging Ocasio-Cortez for the Democratic nomination to represent New York’s 14th Congressional District, said the media darling is not doing enough to represent her constituents.
“She is Hollywood and Washington,” said Khan, the daughter of Bengali immigrants.
What’s more, she said the worldview of Ocasio-Cortez is not indicative of their Queens constituency, claiming: “They aren’t looking for socialism.”
Khan also blasted AOC for an issue we’ve read about in the New York media before: allegations that she’s an absentee representative.
“She’s never in the district. She’s not sure what’s happening in the district. She opened her [district] office pretty late after she was elected,” said Khan.
The “Government Reform” section of her website contains this not-so-veiled swipe at Ocasio-Cortez:
“Congressional Representatives fall in love with media and Washington DC and fail to represent the District they promised to serve. Badrun will never lose sight of who sent her to Washington and who she is responsible to.
In addition to criticizing the freshman Congresswoman on Fox News for her role in Amazon canceling major expansion plans in New York City that would have brought in 25,000 jobs, Khan also questioned the Green New Deal and some of AOC’s other pet issues due to their high cost:
Khan said she wants to enhance Medicare and Social Security but appeared to take a shot at “Medicare-for-all” — a plan championed by progressives like Ocasio-Cortez.
“I am not a politician, I am a mother,” Khan said. “Everything is easier said — how is it going to be done?”
Watch her interview below:
Though AOC was a bartender before she was elected, she did have some political background. She was a volunteer for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 primary campaign against Hillary Clinton, and she also interned for the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA).
From what I’ve read about her, Khan has no political background outside of being an activist in her community (which is not a bad thing).
She definitely will have an uphill battle to win the primary, considering AOC’s connections and money machine, but stranger things have happened.
It would be nice for a Republican to win the district but it’s heavily Democratic, so whoever wins the primary will win the general election. While I’m not a Democrat and don’t support Democrats, one who Republicans could work with and who seems to have a decent degree of understanding about fiscal responsibility would be much more preferable than the politically opportunistic drama queen who represents NY-14 now.
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— Based in North Carolina, Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter. –
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