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<\/p>\nSquad\u201d member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is facing criticism for allegedly misrepresenting her upbringing in the Bronx, now clarifying that she was raised near\u2014rather than in\u2014the famously rough borough.<\/p>\n
Ocasio-Cortez, who gained national attention after her 2018 victory as a former bartender turned political star, is walking back parts of her personal narrative following a new report that she attended high school in Yorktown Heights, a well-off suburb roughly 40 miles north of New York City.<\/p>\n
The controversy erupted after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez fired back at President Donald Trump, who had called her \u201cone of the dumbest people in Congress\u201d following her attempt to impeach him over his military strike on Iran. \u201cAlso, I\u2019m a Bronx girl. You should know that we can eat Queens boys for breakfast. Respectfully,\u201d the left-wing lawmaker replied on social media.<\/p>\n
Within hours, AOC\u2019s background came under renewed scrutiny after New York State Assemblyman Matt Slater posted a photo from her 2004 high school yearbook. \u201c@AOC if you\u2019re a BX girl then why are you in my Yorktown yearbook?\u201d Slater asked in his post. \u201cGive it up already.\u201d<\/p>\n
The escalating feud has prompted AOC to clarify that she was raised \u201cbetween\u201d the suburbs and the Bronx \u2014 but that explanation isn\u2019t sitting well with some locals. Residents of Yorktown are calling her out for capitalizing on the controversy in fundraising emails, while omitting any mention of her upbringing in affluent Westchester County.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can tell right out of the gate she isn\u2019t from the Bronx. Listen to her!\u201d said retired FDNY firefighter Billy, 47, who still carries a heavy Bronx accent despite moving to the leafy nearby town of Valhalla. \u201cListen to us!\u201d he told the NY Post while golfing with friends in Yorktown one recent morning. \u201cWe\u2019ve been out of the Bronx for years but we still sound like idiots! It doesn\u2019t just go away. She doesn\u2019t have that in the way she talks.\u201d<\/p>\n
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A review of property records by Lohud.com reveals that the Ocasio-Cortez family maintained a residence in Yorktown through her high school graduation. AOC was still listed at the suburban address when the home was sold in 2016 for $355,000 \u2014 just two years before she launched her unlikely congressional bid.<\/p>\n
Richard Kennedy, a local supermarket owner in Yorktown, says Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s brief time in the Bronx shouldn\u2019t qualify her to represent the borough in Congress \u2014 let alone claim she was raised in its tough neighborhoods. \u201cIf you came here when you were 3 years old, you\u2019re from here,\u201d Kennedy bluntly said about her Yorktown origins.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think she\u2019d be proud of being from Yorktown,\u201d said one woman who refrained from sharing her name. \u201cIt\u2019s a great town.\u201d Yorktown salon owner Sandra Guarriello added: \u201cI don\u2019t get why you wouldn\u2019t want to say you\u2019re from here.\u201d<\/p>\n
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