Democratic Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez is facing a primary challenge from a New York City businessman who said he has had enough of her brand of far-left “radicalism.”
He has announced he is running to unseat the three-term congresswoman and he did not mince words regarding how he feels about the congresswoman and others in his party.
Marty Dolan is a Wall Street investor who received his MBA from Harvard University and grew up in New York City.
His campaign website says he is also an avid golfer and writer and also enjoys restoring old homes.
Dolan said when he announced his candidacy for New York’s 14th congressional district that he hopes to restore sanity to his party, which he said has drifted too far to the left with people such as Ocasio-Cortez representing New Yorkers.
“I am excited to formally announce my candidacy for the Democratic nomination for New York's 14th Congressional District,” Dolan said on his campaign website.
“The June 25th, 2024, primary will be a referendum: Are we better or worse off from following radical policies?” he asked.
Dolan added that “progressives” such as Ocasio-Cortez are "radicals whose influence on the Democratic Party is overweight.”
He also pointed to the failure of many modern Democratic Party positions to keep people in New York safe.
“The impact in NYC is obvious: bail reform a disaster, the National Guard in the subway, toothpaste locked up in drugstores but criminals running free, scarce resources directed to (non-sanctuary) immigrants coming from all over the world,” Dolan said.
“These difficulties must be addressed in the context of a runaway $34 trillion federal debt and NYC's 14% marginal tax rate,” he added. “Regional tax inequality is far more exaggerated in the USA than in any other country.”
Dolan pointed out that New York City progressives have sent 500,000 former taxpayers packing in recent years, which is called “unsustainable.”
“The radicals can't deliver more than breadcrumbs when they ignore that the primary breadwinners are leaving and brush off taxpayer concerns in favor of abstract populist ideologies,” Dolan said, in a shot at the “tax the rich” rhetoric from Ocasio and her ilk.
He declared, “Enough is enough.”
Dolan appears eager to bring back sanity to how his party handles and writes policy. He pleaded with New Yorkers to honor the country’s founders, who he said “left us the blueprint.”
“We have just drifted off course.”
“We also urgently need to ‘reset’ our society's income inequality and harmonize regional differences in social policy,” Dolan stated. “We call our approach the 'Hamilton Plan v. 2.0' in honor of one of our greatest New Yorkers, Alexander Hamilton, who forged the independent colonies into a great republic.”
Dolan’s website says he has three adult children and two grandchildren and that most of his family resides in New York City.