by Joe Simonson
A socialist millennial running for a state senate seat in New is facing further scrutiny about her campaign after her brother implied she has been dishonest about her family upbringing in several interviews with leftist outlets.
Julia Salazar, an ally Democratic Socialists of America member Alexandria Orcasio-Cortez, has centered her campaign, among many things, on her ability to relate to the issues faced by her constituents.
Yet reporting by City & State New York reveals that Salazar might be deliberately misrepresenting her personal story in a bid to appear as an authentic representative of Americans struggling paycheck to paycheck.
According to her brother Alex Salazar, the two grew up in a “middle class” house “along the river” in a “beautiful neighborhood” in Jupiter, Florida, thanks to her father’s “six-figure paycheck.”
In previous interviews, like one she gave to the leftist Jacobin Magazine, Salazar spoke about her family struggling as her “mom ended up raising my brother and me as a single mom, without a college degree.”
“[I grew up in a] working-class background,” Salazar told Jacobin.
A picture of Salazar’s childhood home obtained by City & State shows a residence far from an average person’s idea of “working class.”
While Salazar has claimed she was “raised by a single mom who didn’t have a college degree,” City & State found records that her mother, Christine Salazar, received a B.A. in psychology from Florida Atlantic University in 1999. Florida Atlantic also confirmed that her mother matriculated from the university.
Salazar’s dishonesty is consistent with previous reporting from The Daily Caller News Foundation.
On Aug. 22, TheDCNF revealed that Salazar currently resides in a new luxury building in the hip neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn.
Salazar’s campaign initially declined to comment on the story, but after the story was published, Salazar disputed that her building was considered “new,” despite it being built just four years ago.
“I’m a tenant in a 3-unit walk-up that was built 4 years ago. There is no doorman, no luxury amenities,” Salazar tweeted.
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Joe Simonson is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation. Follow Joe on Twitter.
Photo “North Brooklyn” by Alex Proimos.
