Ocasio-Cortez Accuses Crowley of Undermining Her Candidacy

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the insurgent Democrat who beat 10-term congressman Joseph Crowley in a primary last month, is now criticizing him for what she says is actions that are undermining her candidacy.

Despite his loss in New York’s Democratic primary, Crowley’s name will still be on the ballot as the candidate of the lesser-known Working Families Party in November. She wants him to remove his name from the ballot.

Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter Thursday to accuse Crowley of purposely staying in the race.

“He’s stood me up for all 3 scheduled concession calls,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote. “Now, he’s mounting a 3rd party challenge against me and the Democratic Party.”

Crowley responded on Twitter, writing that he’s not running and supports her candidacy.

“Alexandria, the race is over and Democrats need to come together,” he said. “I’ve made my support for you clear and the fact that I’m not running. We’ve scheduled phone calls and your team has not followed through. I’d like to connect but I’m not willing to air grievances on Twitter.”

Crowley added that getting his name scratched from the ballot as the Working Families Party nominee wouldn’t be simple. He would have to be nominated by the party for a different elected position, move out of the state, be convicted of a crime or die.

The Working Families Party’s state director, Bill Lipton, said that after Ocasio-Cortez won the Democratic primary, he asked Crowley’s campaign to help get his name off the ballot, and it declined.

“It is disappointing that Crowley has refused to vacate the Working Families Party ballot line. He chose not to show Ocasio-Cortez and the WFP respect by allowing us to put Ocasio-Cortez on our ballot line,” Lipton said in a statement. “WFP is giving all we have to electing Ocasio-Cortez and other progressive insurgents all across the nation.”

Lipton suggested that Crowley switch his voting residency to Virginia, where he already has a home and his children go to school.

“It would fix the problem he created in an instant,” he said.