AOC gets new challenger: GOP immigrant success story touts ‘no welfare, just work’

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) has a new challenger for her seat with an actual story of getting by “in a tough neighborhood in The Bronx.”

“No welfare, just work.”

Much like the billionaire-bashing “Fight Oligarchy” tour where she and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) flew private jets while portraying themselves as champions of middle and low income Americans, Ocasio-Cortez’s socialism for thee but not for me hypocrisy was exposed again when she endeavored to claim she grew up within the Big Apple’s five boroughs.

Now, Diamant Hysenaj, an immigrant success story whose family fled wartorn Eastern Europe, is running as a Republican against the incumbent congresswoman, while living as an example of how hard work can overcome any background.

“I came here as a young kid and had to make my way in a tough neighborhood in The Bronx,” the 42-year-old real estate developer told the New York Post while detailing his upbringing in Kosovo. “My life could have gone another direction, but I worked hard, tried to fit in as best I could as an outsider, and achieved the American Dream: a successful business, a beautiful family, and a calling to serve.”

Having been raised on a farm, he said, “Imagine a story that runs through nearly half of NY-14 — immigrants, dreamers like me. It begins on a dusty farm in Kosovo, 1982.”

“Thirty-six of us — cousins, aunts, uncles — crammed into three weathered houses, alive with laughter and my nana’s cooking. My parents, hands rough from factory shifts in the old Yugoslav regime, carved outa life that felt golden to me. I was a kid then, chasing chickens, oblivious to the war creeping closer — shielded by love, by family, by a world they kept steady just for us,” Hysenaj told the newspaper. “That was my beginning.”

Explaining that his family moved to The Bronx in 1991, the businessman expressed, “The streets hit hard: gangs lurking, a skinny kid scrapping to belong. No welfare, just work.”

Hysenaj’s story stood in stark contrast to Ocasio-Cortez’s, which recently became headline news when she was called out for propping up a “Bronx girl” identity despite having been raised in the affluent town of Yorktown Heights in Westchester County north of the city.

AOC’s tough ‘Bronx girl’ act dismantled with one photo https://t.co/EB4LJuHdWI

— BPR (@BIZPACReview) June 26, 2025

The businessman called out the incumbent and told the Post, “I am running for Congress to make our streets safer, reform a broken immigration system, and improve the decaying infrastructure in our district. Meanwhile, AOC is flying on private jets to preach socialism everywhere else, while the people of the 14th District suffer.”

“I am fighting for a country where every voice matters, not just the privileged elite,” he went on. “With the help of the great people of the 14th district, over 50% of whom are immigrants just like me, we will win.”

After Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani won the New York City Democratic Party mayoral primary, Hysenaj posted to X, “This is not organic — these radical candidates are all plants by powerful people who want to destroy our beautiful city — this is by design.”

This is not organic – these radical candidates are all plants by powerful people who want to destroy our beautiful city- this is by design.

— Diamant Hysenaj (@DiamantHysenaj) June 25, 2025

Along with Hysenaj, Tina Forte (R) announced that she was once again running against Ocasio-Cortez despite having lost the 2024 election by nearly 40 points. Ariel Rivera-Diaz also threw his hat into the ring for the 2026 Republican Party primary.