This column originally appeared in The Politics Brief, our weekly newsletter on the people, power and policies that shape New Yorkers' lives.
We are finding out how AOC plays up north.
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez headlined a town-hall meeting in the 21st Congressional District — an area nearly 200 miles north of her Queens base that stretches from the Canadian border to the Mohawk River and is currently represented by Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik.
Hundreds of people gathered in downtown Glens Falls on Sunday night to listen as Ocasio-Cortez and U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan, a Hudson Valley Democrat, answered questions about health care and cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency.
“I already know they're going to call us every name in the book for coming out here because they want to keep us from coming here,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “We're not going to allow that hostility to keep us from moving forward. And we're going to show that a politics of kindness and care and compassion and ferocity in fighting for what's right is — and can win [for] us everywhere.”
It was the second trip to the Adirondack region for Ocasio-Cortez, whose 2018 election as a 29-year-old Democratic socialist sent shockwaves through her party and freaked out Republicans. She visited Plattsburgh in July for a similar event, and has traveled around the country for a “Fighting Oligarchy” tour — fueling speculation about a run for higher office.
The trips to the North Country come amid a heated election for the seat, which Stefanik is vacating at the end of the year. Although enrolled Republicans outnumber Democrats in the district, which the non-partisan Cook Political Report rates as a solidly GOP, Democrats hope that backlash against President Donald Trump will help them this year.
A nasty Republican primary is pitting first-time candidate Anthony Constantino — who erected a giant Trump sign on his printing plant in Amsterdam — against state Assemblymember Robert Smullen, a former U.S. Marine Corps colonel. Democratic leaders in the district have backed Blake Gendebien, a dairy farmer. He’s facing a primary challenge from Dylan Hewitt, who has the backing of the left-leaning Working Families Party.
Neither Democratic candidate showed up to the event. Gendebien’s campaign declined to comment about it. Hewitt said Ocasio-Cortez’s visit shows people are hungry for her brand of taking on political insiders and billionaire donors.
Constantino called Ocasio-Cortez a “traidora,” the Spanish word for traitor, on social media. Smullen said that “Upstate New York does not need lectures from a socialist politician whose policies have driven up taxes, undermined public safety and attacked the freedoms our communities value.”
Lynne Boecher, chair of the Warren County Democratic Committee, said Ocasio-Cortez and Ryan received a warm reception and the event was substantive.
“I think it puts the district in a prominent place to play … it engages people,” she said. “Also, I'm not naive to the fact that obviously they're testing the waters.”
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