• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York has called out late entries into the 2020 presidential race.
  • In a tweet Thursday, the congresswoman from New York said that rather than “setting ablaze hundreds of millions of dollars” on late-to-the-game presidential bids, efforts instead should be redirected to “winning majorities of state legislatures across the United States.”
  • Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City took steps last week to enter the 2020 race. On Thursday, former Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts announced he was joining the already-crowded group of 2020 candidates with less than 90 days to the Iowa caucuses.
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York has called out late entries into the 2020 presidential race.

“Call me radical, but maybe instead of setting ablaze hundreds of millions of dollars on multiple plutocratic, long-shot, very-late presidential bids, we instead invest hundreds of millions into winning majorities of state legislatures across the United States?” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a tweet Thursday. “Just a thought!”

Former Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts officially announced his campaign in a video on Thursday, and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City has yet to formally declare his candidacy but has filed to have his name on the Democratic primary ballot in Alabama. Both had floated the idea of running but declined to run earlier this year (Bloomberg) and in 2018 (Patrick) before making about-faces less than 90 days before the Iowa caucuses.

Ocasio-Cortez, who has endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, isn’t the only one criticizing the late presidential entrances. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sanders jabbed Bloomberg after reports indicated the billionaire was preparing to run. Both senators have proposed a wealth tax on American billionaires.

A Republican National Committee spokesman, Steve Guest, ridiculed Patrick's late entrance, saying in a statement: "There's already one Massachusetts elitist liberal running in the Democrat field, yet Deval Patrick must think she, nor any of the other candidates aren't good enough."

Guest added: "Reminder: Patrick doesn't stand a chance against President Trump either."