By Phil Orenstein

Tina Forte is a Bronx native, wife, mother, and small business owner running for Congress in New York’s 14^th Congressional District in the Bronx and Queens, against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. AOC is a hypocritical radical leftist politician who bashes capitalism while enjoying a lavish lifestyle, who slashes police budgets, while hiring private security for herself, who advocates for working men and women, yet killed the Amazon warehouse deal in her district losing 25,000 jobs.

You can go on ad nauseum about AOC, but this article is about Tina Forte and why we are hopeful that she will “beat AOC for us” as Dick Morris recently noted. First, a little background on her amazing story. March 2020 was the turning point for Tina, when she nearly died from COVID, after being denied her medical prescription for Hydroxychloroquine which Governor Cuomo had just banned in an executive order. 

COVID opened her eyes. Cuomo, de Blasio, and their allies ruled over New Yorkers like Czars, telling us what we could and could not do.  They closed small businesses, but kept major corporations open.  They told us who was essential, and who was not.  They gave us unconstitutional mandates, shutdowns, curfews, and lockdowns. They put their political agendas over medical science and healthcare. Tina declared “enough is enough” and threw herself into the fight to bring back our freedoms.

She announced her candidacy for Congress in June 2021, and began her fight to save our country in the political arena, where this brave American patriot was called to action. She initially found herself fighting the local RINO Republican establishment, who do not want political outsiders to run in a Republican Primary against their hand-picked guy.

Not many people are aware of the inside baseball of the political process, to which Tina was a newcomer. But she is a fighter who stood up against the establishment rigging the election and ultimately won. They challenged her petition signatures, suing her in court, and knocked her off the primary ballot. She fought back in court, and I as well as many others were inspired by her fighting spirit.

Then the gerrymandered congressional maps were ruled unconstitutional by New York’s highest court. These were the maps created in February of this year by the Democrat super-majorities in the State Legislature meant to eliminate competition. In a foul play, Democrats overstepped the authority of the Independent Redistricting Commission to create non-partisan maps, and gerrymandered the district lines for their own political benefit. Four Republican congressional districts were eliminated in New York. As a result of the fortuitous NYS Court of Appeals ruling, new non-partisan congressional maps were drawn. Tina had another opportunity to petition to get on the Republican primary ballot. Inspired by her courage, we helped her petition on the Queens side of her district. With our help, she obtained more than enough signatures to qualify, and overcame the establishment challenges. Tina is now successfully on the ballot, and ran in the Republican Primary Election for the 14^th Congressional District on August 23rd. Update: Tina won the Primary and now on to Beat AOC in the General Election on November 8th!!!

Perhaps, the main reason I have for supporting Tina is learning that she cares about her community and really gets the job done.  This was proven to me when I was out in College Point petitioning for Tina and talking to her future Republican constituents. Many people told me there is an excessive noise problem going on for years in College Point that no one has been able to stop. Every night, loud music has been booming across the Long Island Sound from the Bronx side and people are sick and tired of it. Some have even moved out. One voter told me he’s been calling his elected officials for years, to no avail. He said any candidate who solves this problem will get every vote in College Point. I reported the issue to Tina, who immediately began an investigation. She discovered the source of the loud music was huge speakers on cars parked in a Home Depot lot playing loud music for rowdy parties on the shore. She contacted the local Police Precinct who confiscated the speakers and shut down the music. Tina solved the problem in two weeks and now College Pointers can sleep in peace. Tina deserves to get every vote in College Point!

Tina was born and raised in the Bronx. Her father was a Marine and her mother was an entrepreneur. She’s seen some rough times for New York, and some great times. She witnessed the incredible positive change under Rudy Giuliani, and still remembers when we had a little bit of balance in Albany. Democrats have controlled our state and local government for years. New Yorkers are suffering from the highest tax burden in America, surging crime, and a lower quality of life than we enjoyed in years past.

Tina is what New York needs. She’s what America needs. “Forte” means “strong” and “loud.” She tells it like it is and gets the job done. On November 8th, we must vote and get everyone in NY-14 out to vote for Tina!

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Phil Orenstein is the president of the Queens Village Republican Club. Established in 1875, it is America’s oldest Republican Club.  www.QVGOP.org.