RITCHIE TORRES VS. THE WORLD…
By Jeff Coltin
When Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres is on the attack, no one is safe.
“I’m a street fighter, so bring it on,” Torres told Playbook. “I thrive on it. I could do this every single day. The governor is playing right into my hands and I love every moment of it.”
The Democratic congressman has spent the last two weeks slamming Gov. Kathy Hochul and teasing a run for governor in 2026.
But the congressman is now levying his attacks against both Hochul and Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club president Allen Roskoff after the New York Post published a 2022 questionnaire Torres filled out for Roskoff’s organization.
In that questionnaire, Torres said he supports granting all undocumented immigrants citizenship and that he would refuse donations from police unions — answers the congressman says were written by a staff member at the time and not him.
Hochul’s campaign says the questionnaire is emblematic of how Torres has flip-flopped on the issues.
Torres is responding to both actors with fury.
VS. Allen Roskoff:
“I find it hypocritical that Kathy Hochul is recruiting a committed anti-Zionist and far-left extremist to serve as her attack dog and accuse me of ‘far-left extremism,’” Torres said in a statement he said was in reference to Roskoff.
“Governor: if you think slandering one of the most visibly and vocally pro-Israel members of Congress as a ‘far-left extremist’ is going to work as a line of attack, then I have the Bronx River, Brooklyn Bridge, and Buffalo Bills to sell you.”
So ensued a back and forth between Roskoff and Torres. (It’s not the first mean-spirited back and forth Torres has gotten into this year.)
“He claims that I’m anti-Zionist,” Roskoff said. “I’d love to know what the backup is to that, and how dare he accuse me.”
Torres said Roskoff’s friendship with Kathleen Chalfant, an actress who aligns herself with pro-Palestinian causes, brands Roskoff as anti-Israel. Torres also pointed to the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club as a “far-left” organization.
“I severed my relationship with him because he is too far to the left on issues of public safety and Israel,” Torres said.
Roskoff responded: “As far as having friends who have different opinions than me on Israel, so does Ritchie. Ritchie has allied himself with people who have supported BDS, and he has not denounced that. I think he’s unhinged. Perhaps he needs a vacation.”
Torres responded by calling Roskoff “the most petty, pathologically vindictive person I’ve ever met in my life.”
Roskoff specifically mentioned Torres’ association with City Council member and BDS-supporter Carlos Menchaca, who Torres says was only a “colleague” of his.
“The reputation of Jim Owles as a far-left organization is crystal clear and Israel has become a litmus task on the far-left, of which he is a part,” Torres said.
The back-and-forth continued after that — and got awfully viscous — but we’ll spare you the rest of the details. It wouldn’t be in the spirit of Thanksgiving.
VS. Kathy Hochul:
The governor’s initial approach was to not respond to Torres’ attacks: “If I’m going to get out there and swat back every little comment that’s made about me in the next two years, I’m not using my time effectively,” she said Tuesday.
Hours later she abandoned that tact, when her campaign spokesperson, Jen Goodman, torched Torres in the Post article, saying “Ritchie Torres has proven to be a pandering hypocrite.”
This morning, Torres posted on X that Hochul’s previous A-rating from the National Rifle Association (from 2012) showed how the governor herself has flip-flopped.
“The governor was against responding to me before she was for it,” Torres said. “The accusation of flip-flopping by the governor (which is especially rich coming from the foremost flip-flopper) is itself an act of flip-flopping by the governor. You can’t make this up.”
Beyond the Jim Owles questionnaire, Torres’ own campaign website in 2022 shows the congressman pledging to “reimagine our criminal justice system.” Two years before, he voted in favor of a city budget that included a $1 billion cut to the NYPD. The website also described providing citizenship and health care to undocumented immigrants. That “issues” page from his website has since been deleted.
“Ritchie can cowardly blame his staff, delete the issues page from his website to cover his tracks, or wildly flip-flop on positions he held less than two years ago, but the Congressman’s record remains clear and shockingly out of step with New Yorkers,” Goodman told Playbook.
Torres, the street fighter, responded: “If Kathy Hochul wants to adopt Donald Trump’s position on immigration, that’s her prerogative, but I prefer to have a center-left Democratic Party that embraces both immigration reform and border security.” — Jason Beeferman