A former Wall Street banker filed this week to mount a Democrat primary challenge against three-term progressive Democrat lawmaker Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York's 14th Congressional District, calling it a "referendum on common sense."
Martin Dolan, 66, formally registered a campaign committee to challenge AOC, the standard-bearer of the radical left congressional group dubbed the "Squad." The Democrat primary on June 25 would mark the first intra-party challenge AOC has faced in four years.
But Dolan told Bloomberg that AOC is too progressive, even for New York City, citing her longing for "importing immigrants and exporting decent contributing taxpayers" in addition to her support of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the aftermath of George Floyd's death.
"There's been nobody who's more in favor of immigration than AOC, and there's been no worse thing that's happened in New York in the last year," Dolan told Bloomberg.
Dolan is undaunted by the odds facing him. AOC got 74.6% of the vote in her last primary challenge in 2020; she has $5.7 million cash on hand compared to his $58,000, $55,000 of which he loaned to himself. Further, he needs to collect enough signatures to land a spot on the ballot.
"I call it a referendum on common sense," he said.