Is AOC’s Republican Challenger Actually A Republican?

Conservatives are rushing to embrace socialist congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s latest Republican challenger Scherie Murray, presently making the rounds on Fox News and posing for photos with members of the Trump family. Murray seems to take all of AOC’s identity politics cards off the table. She’s black. She’s female. She’s an immigrant. All politically helpful qualities — but is she a Republican?

In its rush to identify a suitable opponent for AOC, the Right seems to have neglected an important question: what does Murray actually believe? She admitted to the New York Post that she voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, and she doesn’t appear to have changed her politics much in the intervening seven years. Last June, Murray congratulated Ocasio-Cortez on her victory over Democratic incumbent Joe Crowley. “Congratulations Alexandria,” she tweeted. “#Queens is headed in a new direction and It’s [sic] time for new leadership. #Yes.”