(Photo courtesy of Scherie Murray for
Congress)
The Republican Party is the most racist, woman-hating, immigrant-fearing party ever,
am I right?
No.
The not-so-inside talk has been whether Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez's four-woman war against Nancy Pelosi would earn her a Democratic
primary challenger next year, but her high-profile antics have drawn another
Republican into the race to represent heavily Democratic NY14.
Fox News reports that Scherie Murray, a 38-year-old New York
businesswoman and Jamaica native (she emigrated as a child), has launched a
campaign to unseat AOC next year. She told Fox, "There is a crisis in
Queens, and it’s called AOC." Murray went on to say, "Instead of
focusing on us, she’s focusing on being famous. Mainly rolling back progress
and authoring the job-killing Green New Deal and killing the Amazon-New York
deal."
The polls might just bear out Murray's complaint against
Ocasio-Cortez. The first-term congress critter was put on the defensive earlier
this week, blasting a negative new poll -- conducted by her own party -- as a
"mass distortion of reality."
In a nationwide survey, it was
revealed that 74% of people recognized AOC by name, but only 22% viewed her
favorably.
The poll was conducted by Democrats hoping to identify potential
swing voters for 2020. Instead what they found was that the party's
oh-so-public up-and-comers are almost universally loathed.
Ellie Bufkin reported for the Washington Examiner:
Fellow "squad" member Rep. Ilhan
Omar was recognized by 53% of participants and viewed favorably by only 9%. Other
questions on the poll included approval of socialist policies, which showed
only 18% of participants viewed favorably. Democrats looking ahead to the 2020
election characterized the results as, "Socialism is toxic to these
voters."
Back in the Bronx, Murray agreed, saying that socialism
is "far to the left and it is not connecting with everyday
Americans."
You'll notice that Murray doesn't mention Donald Trump or
her own party affiliation, which might be smart given that Cook rates New
York's 14th Congressional District at D+29 -- a daunting figure for any
Republican to overcome.
Nevertheless, Murray is actually the fifth
Republican to announce a challenge. She joins a crowded field already
including former police officer John Cummings, contractor Miguel Hernandez,
journalist Ruth Papazian, and businessman Antoine Tucker.
Ocasio-Cortez is unpopular even at home, where people
presumably know her best. The Daily Caller reported in May
that her favorability rating was just 20% with her own voters, with an
unfavorable rating of 44% -- and climbing.
Establishment Democrats strategy
might be to endure the embarrassment of primarying their own member, in order
to save a safe seat from a possible GOP upset.
No matter how it plays out, you can be sure AOC will ride
the national headlines all the way to her final destination, wherever and
whenever that might be. Given her sky-high negatives, it's hard to see how that
could be bad news for Republicans, and may be even good news for exhausted
voters in the Bronx.
As for Scherie Murray, the GOP is always in need of a
fresh faces, and a female-minority-immigrant-millennial-entrepreneur might be
one the freshest of all.
