Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Democratic primary challenger is chiming in on Kevin O’Leary’s scathing criticism of the Squad member’s leadership in her New York City district.
House candidate Marty Dolan told “Fox & Friends First” Friday that AOC has been “bad for the community” after the “Shark Tank” co-host said he “wouldn’t let her manage a candy store.”
“I think the impact of AOC’s really terrible leadership is much worse than one candy store,” Dolan said, arguing businesses have been scared away from operating in her district. “So if you’re not pro-business, it isn’t just that you’re a bad manager or a bad leader, you’re bad for the community in general.”
Ocasio-Cortez has been criticized for waging a successful political campaign in Queens in 2020 to block Amazon from building its second headquarters there.
CEO of Job Creators Network Alfredo Ortiz told Fox News Digital at the time that her campaign cost the city “25,000 good-paying jobs” and that she “sent a message to job creators everywhere that they were no longer welcome in her city.”
O’Leary blasted Ocasio-Cortez in a recent interview, telling OutKick’s “Maintaining with Tyrus” that her district looks like a “Third World country.”
“I look at AOC, what an incredible, incredibly successful politician she is and what a horrific manager she is,” he told Tyrus.
O’Leary then asked New York voters, “Why would you want to reward that? Why wouldn’t you say, ‘Excuse me. Could I get better management, please? I live here. I pay taxes here and I’d like a job. And I don’t think you’re doing a great job for me as a manager. How about I hire somebody else?’”
Dolan, who describes himself as a moderate Democrat, remarked that his party “used to be for unions, for protecting people who had jobs” but now the district’s policies are “selfishly” for AOC’s benefit.
Dolan is also the son of an Argentinian refugee and expressed concerns with progressive Democrats trying to implement socialism in the U.S.
“This is like if you’re trying to turn the United States into Venezuela, which is this great big socialist experiment for the last six years. This is Bernie Sanders and AOC trying to turn the United States into Venezuela.”
Fox News’ Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.
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