Meet the Very Unusual Republican Running Against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Ever since Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez toppled Congressman Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary in June, she’s become a rising star in the progressive movement — and a top target for national Republicans. 

But in New York City’s 14th Congressional District, the local Republican party isn’t putting up much of a fight.

"It puts us in a terrible position where we could have won this election and now we have a candidate who we honestly cannot be proud of," said Joann Ariola, chairwoman of the Queens County GOP. 

She's talking about Anthony Pappas. 

Pappas is running against Ocasio-Cortez to represent parts of Queens and the Bronx in Congress. He’s an associate professor of economics and finance at St. John’s University — 72 years old, soft-spoken, with carefully-combed white hair. He calls himself a compassionate conservative who supports progressive taxation and lower government spending. But what he really wants to talk about — and talk about and talk about and talk about — is the courts. 

"We are living under a judicial dictatorship," he said in an interview with WNYC at a McDonald's in Astoria.

He blames a 1978 Supreme Court case called Stump v. Sparkman, about a judge who ruled that a mom could sterilize her teenage daughter without a hearing and without her consent (by cutting her fallopian tubes, Pappas points out). The daughter eventually sued the judge, but the Supreme Court held the judge couldn't be sued because of judicial immunity. 

"It's the greatest stain on our Democracy," Pappas  said. 

To make his case, he points to his own divorce, which has been underway for nearly 14 years. As part of the case, his wife alleges he punched her in the face, according to documents he provided to WNYC. He denies that, calling it a "hallucination" by the judge. (We were unable to reach his wife.)

Pappas said the judges have imposed "over-broad" restraining orders on him and frozen his financial accounts, making it impossible to raise money for his campaign. His attorneys have sued him for payment, and he's sued the judges.

"I'm trying to expose this and reform it and help thousands of people that are suffering from an unaccountable judicial system," he said.

Anthony Pappas campaigning in Queens this week.

(Jennifer Hsu/WNYC)

Plus, he notes, he did get endorsed by both the Bronx and Queens GOP. 

That's true. Ariola, the Queens County GOP chairwoman, said Pappas made a compelling case to leaders from across the district. "He had a very good pedigree on paper," she said. "He's obviously very intelligent." At the time, was also the only person willing to run. The Queens and Bronx GOP endorsed him unanimously, and helped collect signatures for petitions.

She said Pappas didn't mention the tyranny of judges, his divorce or allegations of domestic violence in his presentation to party leaders. "We did not know about any of his issues or his distaste for the judiciary and how it is run," she said.

Ariola said she and Mike Rendino, chair of the Bronx GOP, learned about all that later, after the primary.

"Had he shared that with us ahead of time he would never have received the endorsement," she said. "When we did get that information, we asked him to step down. And he declined doing that."

After Ocasio-Cortez won, Ariola said, several experienced candidates offered to run against her, including former state elected officials and even a Democrat. The party chairs talked to a lawyer about how they could force Pappas off the ballot, and even offered Pappas a chance to run for something else. But he didn't budge. 

"I got very angry with him," said  Rendino. "I told him the race wasn’t about him, it was about the people of the 14th District."

Republican strategist Tom Doherty said the whole affair underscores how weak the local party has become.

"The Republican Party in New York is desperate to just fill the line," he said. "Finding quality candidates at every level — at City Council, State Assembly races, State Senate races, for Congress — in many, many cases, is really difficult right now."

Doherty said the problem is that the local Republican party’s having a bit of an identity crisis. "We’re not the Washington, D.C., conservative, right-wing party that has won national elections," he said. "We’re a moderate Republican party and we should be proud of that."

For their part, the chairs of the Bronx and Queens Republican parties promise to vet candidates more thoroughly going forward. On the bright side, they said, if Ocasio-Cortez wins, it will galvanize Republicans even more, maybe giving the party a real chance — in the next election.

This story has been updated to clarify the nature of the Supreme Court's ruling in Stump v. Sparkman.