Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., a candidate to be Florida's next governor, has found success issuing disparaging remarks about New York Democratic congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Politico reported.
Following a public back-and-forth between the two, the lawmaker raised about $10,000 in less than 24 hours, and saw a 23 percent increase in click-through rates for a DeSantis/Ocasio-Cortez email sent out last Thursday.
Ocasio-Cortez scored an upset victory in a congressional primary over Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., in June, defeating one of the most powerful House Democrats by running an intense grassroots campaign. The 28-year-old, who proudly refers to herself as a democratic socialist, has been the source of much media attention since her victory, and DeSantis has been one of her main critics.
Last Saturday at a campaign event in Orlando, Florida, DeSantis took aim at Ocasio-Cortez, referring to her as "this girl Ocasio-Cortez or whatever she is," according to the HuffPost.
"You look at this girl Ocasio-Cortez or whatever she is, I mean, she's in a totally different universe," he said to laughs. "It's basically socialism wrapped in ignorance."
The lawmaker also took jabs at Ocasio-Cortez for comments she made during an interview with PBS where she called Israel's existence an "occupation" of Palestinian land. She later walked back the remarks.
"Well, wait a minute — you're saying that one of our best allies is occupying some country," DeSantis said. "There's never been a Palestinian state. You're just repeating these canned, left-wing talking points, and you're somehow the savior of the Democratic Party? Good Lord. She has no clue what she's talking about."
Ocasio-Cortez responded in kind.
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