Ousted Dem Sean Patrick Maloney Blasts AOC for Not Helping Party Keep House: ‘She Was Nowhere to be Found’

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) blasted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) for not doing enough to help embattled Democrats keep the House.

While the Republican Party has yet to win a majority in either chamber following a lackluster Tuesday, Maloney appeared to believe it is a foregone conclusion. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair lost his reelection bid to Republican Mike Lawler.

Maloney was asked about the midterms by Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times on Thursday during a wide-ranging interview. When discussing Ocasio-Cortez, Maloney pulled few punches.

“There is a debate in New York right now about the New York Democratic Party, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and some on the left are arguing its leadership is part of the problem here,” Fandos said to the outgoing congressman. “Is that a conversation you are a part of?”

Maloney responded:

The last time I ran into A.O.C., we were beating her endorsed candidate two to one in a primary, and I didn’t see her one minute of these midterms helping our House majority. So, I’m not sure what kind of advice she has, but I’m sure she’ll be generous with it.

But let’s be clear, she had almost nothing to do with what turned out to be an historic defense of our majority. Didn’t pay a dollar of dues. Didn’t do anything for our frontline candidates except give them money when they didn’t want it from her.

The congressman went on to call Ocasio-Cortez “an important voice” who was nonetheless absent during the campaign.

“There are other voices who should be heard, especially when suburban voters have clearly rejected the ideas that she’s most associated with, from defunding the police on down,” Maloney concluded. “She’s an important voice in our politics. But when it comes to passing our agenda through the Congress, or standing our ground on the political battlefield, she was nowhere to be found.”

Read Maloney’s interview with the Times in its entirety here.