A Democratic New York state lawmaker ripped into her fellow progressive and her congresswoman, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter Sunday for being "absent" in her home district, after a medical student also called out the "squad" member for her "performative" display at a recent Supreme Court protest.
The public online spat began when a medical student named Daniel, who identifies as a "health activist" on Twitter, alleged that Ocasio-Cortez’s office called off a meeting with "highly respected health policy academics" who wanted to discuss a socialized medicine plan similar to the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS).
The student wrote in a Thursday tweet that the academics were "told bluntly by AOC's staff, 'we're not doing healthcare right now.'"
"So, while she’s doing performative resistance art for the cameras she’s ‘not doing healthcare right now," he added, referring to the congresswoman's recent arrest at a pro-abortion rally outside of the Supreme Court, where she was recorded holding her wrists behind her back while being led away by a police officer, when she was not actually handcuffed. "We are in the middle of two pandemics & people are still dying because they lack healthcare. this is not fighting."
Ocasio-Cortez responded Sunday to his initial tweet with an apology, offering to talk via direct message.
That is when Democratic state Senator Jessica Ramos, whose own district overlaps with Ocasio-Cortez's, voiced her distaste for the congresswoman's lack of action in her community.
Maybe if you spent more time in your office and with your team you’d know what goes on. Just saying it would be nice if you breathed our air. So, as an employer, what happens with the staffer who said this?
— Jessica Ramos (@jessicaramos) July 24, 2022
Ramos, who is endorsed by the socialist Working Families Party, was faced with backlash from Ocasio-Cortez's online defenders, but she continued to be critical of her representative.
"Our district offices are on the same floor in the same building. She's barely ever present in the community. It's an indisputable fact," the state senator added.
"I texted on 1/6 that I hope she's ok and never even heard back. She doesn't meet with local elected officials," Ramos said. "The point is that’s when I gave up texting her. I reached out many times before. She hasn’t shown interest in meeting w me or other colleagues that I know about."
In response to one user who accused her of being jealous of Ocasio-Cortez, Ramos responded: "Nah. Just want my congressional representative to be around and do their job in the community."
"My congressperson being absent is not dirty laundry. It’s never been with any other elected official," she added in another tweet.
Ocasio-Cortez gained national attention in 2018 when she defeated longtime incumbent Democrat Joe Crowley, after calling him out for his own absence from NY-14.
"That a Democrat who takes corporate money, profits off foreclosure, doesn’t live here, doesn’t send his kids to our schools, doesn’t drink our water or breathe our air cannot possibly represent us," Ocasio-Cortez said in a campaign video released in May 2018.
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