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Riley Gaines challenged Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, to a debate on Monday after the two sparred on social media.
Gaines, an OutKick contributor, appeared on Fox News Channel’s “The Ingraham Angle” after Ocasio-Cortez responded to the former NCAA swimmer’s criticism of the Democrat.
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., speaks during a rally for New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
“So, here is what I will say. I want to honestly challenge AOC to a debate,” Gaines said. “She can defend socialism. I will defend capitalism. She can defend removing God. I defend embracing a Biblical worldview. She can defend child sacrifice. I will defend the sanctity of life. Any of the radical, insane Democratic policies that they stand for, I will debate the opposite and I am challenging AOC to it here.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Ocasio-Cortez for comment, but the spat continued on social media.
Ocasio-Cortez later responded, “And I would like to challenge this person to get a real job.”
Gaines shot back at Ocasio-Cortez.
“This is comical given it’s coming from someone whose own party shut down the government and left you technically…jobless. And I guess I’ll take that as a no (which is to be expected when your positions are indefensible on virtually every issue),” she wrote on X.
“I have a real job. I’m a mom. It’s the most important & rewarding job in the world. I think if you had a baby girl like I do, you’d understand my positions a little better.”
Gaines posted a photo featuring Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Gaines wrote, “We’re being destroyed from within.”
The New York Post editorial board slammed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., for creating the policies that have led to New York City becoming too expensive for residents. (Tom Williams/Getty Images)
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Ocasio-Cortez responded, “Maybe if you channeled all this anger into swimming faster you wouldn’t have come in fifth.”
“Her position is morally bankrupt and politically foolish. For clarity, yes, I finished fifth in the nation at the Division I national championships, tying with a 6-foot-4 man who ranked 462nd in the men’s division in the year prior,” Gaines said. “It was like a ‘South Park’ episode but real life. And whose side does AOC and the rest of the Democratic Party take? They take the 6-foot-4 man who flashed his junk at women in the locker room – that’s who’s side they take.
Riley Gaines, a former All-American University of Kentucky swimmer, speaks before Florida Governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis at the Greenville Convention Center on Friday, June 2, 2023. (MCKENZIE LANGE/ Staff / USA TODAY NETWORK)
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“They cannot help themselves but be on the wrong side of every 80/20 issue whether it’s border, whether it’s crime, whether it’s castrating children, whether it’s parental rights, whether it’s men in women’s sports.”
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