Black NYC businesswoman seeks to unseat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2020
Scherie Murray, a 38-year-old entrepreneur said on Twitter she wants the seat now occupied by the freshman legislator who has garnered many headlines since she's been in office
New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has undoubtedly been making waves since her historic election during the 2018 midterms. Now several people, including an African American entrepreneur, have joined the Republican ticket in hopes of unseating the progressive Democrat.
Scherie Murray, 38, announced her candidacy for the 2020 congressional election on Wednesday via twitter. Murray accused the current congresswoman of seeking “celebrity and publicity” more than she helps her own constituents.
READ MORE: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is taking a “self-care” week after busy 2018
“There’s a crisis in Queens and it’s called AOC,” she wrote in a tweet. “She isn’t worried about us — she’s worried about being famous. That’s why I’m running for Congress. Join our movement to #unitethefight.”
You deserve someone who will fight for you, not fight for the limelight. Someone who will build bridges, not burn them down. Join me, let’s #unitethefight, & build bridges together. https://t.co/vrfRk69hiN #NY14
— Scherie Murray (@ScherieMurray) July 17, 2019
Murray, who immigrated from Jamaica when she was a child, went on to claim that unlike Ocasio-Cortez, she had experience bridging the gap “between constituents in our community and the elected officials that represent them, between different nationalities and races, and between political parties.”
According to USA Today, this is not Murray’s first time throwing her hat in the political ring. In 2015, she ran unsuccessfully for New York Assembly, losing by 85 percent of the vote. She also lost by a similar margin in 2013 when she ran for New York City Council.
USA Today also reported that Murray is the fourth Republican to file to run against Ocasio-Cortez, who won 78 percent of the vote in 2018. The GOP will definitely face an uphill battle in in New York’s heavily Democratic 14th Congressional District, which includes parts of New York’s Bronx and Queens boroughs. Representatives in the House are elected for two-year terms.
Ocasio-Cortez, a freshman lawmaker, has definitely been making a name for herself in Washington as a self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist and sponsor of the Green New Deal.
Portrayed in the media as the new face of a more leftward shift in the Democratic party, she has butted heads with many veteran party leaders. Recently, she along with, Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan were dubbed “The Squad” as they recently butted heads with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The group was also the target of a series of tweets from President Trump that have widely been condemned as racist in which he said they should “go back” to the “totally broken and crime infested” countries they come from. However each of the women were born in the United States and one, Omar, came to the country when she was a teenager having fled war in Somalia years before.
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