Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) skewered anti-trans activist Riley Gaines in a social media sparring match after Gaines claimed the country is being destroyed from within while sharing a photo of Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani (D) at a rally. Ocasio-Cortez replied to Gaines by mocking the fact that her entire career as a right-wing activist has been based on the fact that she tied for fifth place with a trans woman in a race at the 2022 NCAA swimming championships. Related Riley Gaines admits shes using sports as the card to make trans rights crumble Maybe if you channeled all this anger into swimming faster you wouldnt have come in fifth, Ocasio-Cortez mocked. Maybe if you channeled all this anger into swimming faster you wouldnt have come in fifth. https://t.co/gkiEyZ8JGX Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 27, 2025 Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Gaines then spoke about the retort during an appearance on Fox News, calling Ocasio-Cortez morally bankrupt and politically foolish. She bragged about her swimming success, suggesting the dig did, in fact, get to her, while also making several transphobic comments about Lia Thomas, the woman who tied with her three years ago. Gaines went on to challenge Ocasio-Cortez to a debate. She can defend socialism; I will defend capitalism, Gaines said. She can defend removing God; I will defend embracing a Biblical worldview. She can defend child sacrifice; I will defend the sanctity of life. Any of the radical, insane Democratic policies and platform that they stand for, I will debate the opposite. Im challenging AOC to it here.But Ocasio-Cortez still had the last laugh. The congresswoman shared the clip on social media and wrote, And I would like to challenge this person to get a real job. And I would like to challenge this person to get a real job Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@aoc.bsky.social) 2025-10-28T00:03:29.081ZGaines has viciously campaigned against trans people ever since her 2022 race, claiming she was somehow robbed of a title, even though she would have gotten 5th place whether Thomas had competed or not, and even though four cisgender swimmers beat them both. She has used the incident to build her entire career as a right-wing media darling. Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.