In an explosive tweet on Thursday, democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.)--who was defeated in a landslide in last month's Democratic primary--of backtracking on his repeated vows to support her in the general election and attempting to sabotage her campaign with a "third party challenge."
"Rep. Joe Crowley stated on live TV that he would absolutely support my candidacy," Ocasio-Cortez wrote. "Instead, he's stood me up for all three scheduled concession calls. Now, he's mounting a 3rd party challenge against me and the Democratic Party."
"So much for 'Born to Run,'" Ocasio-Cortez added, referring to Crowley's performance of the Bruce Springsteen classic after he conceded last month's primary.
Crowley was quick to deny Ocasio-Cortez's claim that he's running on a third party line and blamed her team for failing to follow through with attempted phone calls.
As evidence for her claim that Crowley is mounting a third party bid, Ocasio-Cortez pointed to a New York Timesreport that Crowley refused to vacate the New York Working Families Party line, which he secured after receiving the party's endorsement.
As The Weekexplains, "New York has a quirky third-party system, which can allow unsuccessful major party candidates like Crowley to be the nominee for a smaller party and therefore still appear on the general election ballot."
In a series of tweets on Thursday, Crowley insisted that he's "not running" and maintained that a candidate can only be removed from the ballot under special circumstances: