New York Democrat Caught Embellishing Background?
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is facing new scrutiny over the carefully crafted story that helped launch her political career. Despite portraying herself as a “tough Bronx girl,” a New York Republican lawmaker is now calling that image a flat-out fabrication.
Assemblyman Matt Slater, who represents the suburban town of Yorktown, released high school yearbook photos showing a teenage Ocasio-Cortez living and studying far from the Bronx streets she often cites in campaign speeches. According to Slater, they attended Yorktown High School together—he as a senior, she as a freshman.
“She was on my track team. Everyone in our town knows she grew up here,” Slater said in an exclusive interview on Fox & Friends First. “This isn’t some gritty urban upbringing. It’s a quiet, suburban community. She’s not being honest with voters.”
Yorktown, located in northern Westchester County, is a peaceful and mostly affluent town—nothing like the crime-ridden image Ocasio-Cortez often implies she overcame. The town is nearly an hour north of New York City, where Ocasio-Cortez claims her Bronx background shaped her worldview.
Yet the congresswoman’s Bronx-based branding has become central to her political rise. And for Slater, that’s the real problem.
“This is about authenticity,” Slater explained. “She’s rewriting her past to fit a political narrative. And voters deserve the truth.”
LOOK:
@AOC if you're a BX girl then why are you in my Yorktown yearbook? Give it up already. https://t.co/2GpPoiypUf pic.twitter.com/le9C7x1as1
— Matt Slater (@slater4ny) June 24, 2025
The timing of Slater’s revelations coincides with AOC’s latest attacks on President Donald Trump. Earlier this week, she renewed her call for impeachment after the President ordered precision strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities—moves many believe were necessary for U.S. national security.
AOC’s response? A dismissive post on X:
“I’m a Bronx girl. You should know that we can eat Queens boys for breakfast. Respectfully.”
That jab, aimed at Trump’s Queens upbringing, didn’t sit well with Slater or others who know the real story.
“She’s playing a role. That’s not who she is,” Slater said. “This is the same playbook we see from Democrats like Gavin Newsom and Tim Walz—pretending to be something they’re not just to win elections.”
He warned that this kind of deception is part of a larger pattern within the Democratic Party.
“It’s smoke and mirrors. If voters actually knew the truth about these politicians, they wouldn’t connect with them at all.”
