There were some good wins in the midterms from crushing the Democrats in Florida to some great pickups in New York. Although Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) didn’t win, he was just about five points short, the best result for a Republican in years, and his strength at the top of the ticket helped push House races to wins.

One of the most satisfying pickups was in NY-17 where Mike Lawler defeated the DCCC chair, Sean Patrick Maloney. That was a big takedown, the first time a chair was defeated in forty years and the last Democratic chair beaten was in 1980.

What makes it even better is now Maloney is throwing a fit about it and casting blame at his fellow Democrats including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

While recalling the election, Maloney noted that Ocasio-Cortez had no part in protecting their state’s majority.

“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,” Maloney told The New York Times.

He added, “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.” [….]

“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. 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,” Maloney said.

Maloney also seemed to take a whack at Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and her lack of popularity with another comment on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“The governor is losing by double digits [in battleground House districts]. Our candidates have to outperform the governor by more than ten points, often more than 15 points. That’s a lot to ask of a first-time candidate,” Maloney said, although he claimed that he wasn’t blaming her.

Maloney’s comments did not make AOC happy.

“Let’s make something crystal clear,” AOC tweeted, in an angry thread. She claimed she had helped but Maloney ignored her and ran over the progressive wing.

– SPM courted me for donations to swing races & it was the 1st thing I did this term. Over a quarter million for Dems this cycle, DCCC facilitated some & now he denies it.
– If he isn’t aware of my visit to CA & efforts we put in, that’s on him

Because of Dem party abandonment in key areas, statewide victories depended HEAVILY on driving up numbers in progressive areas like mine &
@nywfp

– To our knowledge, I was the only NYC House Dem in a safe seat to run a full-throated heavy field operation for GOTV

What I love about his claim that we gave frontline members “donations they didn’t want”:

a) the VAST majority were good w/ early financial support to position themselves early

b) for the few who didn’t want our help + got it, where do you think we got the $ info to give? DCCC!

As for him “not seeing me” – perhaps it’s because he as a party leader chose not to see nor value prominent members of his party for years.

Either way, we will continue to organize & turn out undervalued + unseen communities in this country – whether the powerful like it or not.

Lastly, many moderate dems + leaders made it very clear that our help was not welcome nor wanted. Despite our many, many offers. Yet found ways to try to help from afar. So for them to blame us for respecting their approach in their districts is laughable.

Take some ownership.

Both of them have points about why Democrats had such a bad result in New York. The progressives with their defund the police nonsense hurt the Democrats badly. Maloney assumed he was going to win walking away and didn’t put the time in. Plus he insulted the voters, telling them they could eat “Chef Boyardee” to deal with inflation. Republicans made the case for why the Democrats had failed and offered a better way to do things like stop crime.

We should be coming together with a win very likely on the horizon, let the left rip each other up like this, while we laugh and look on. That’s how we win — not only pointing out how they fail but how we have a better way.