A Republican city real-estate developer says his experience with war in his native Kosovo will help him topple Democratic Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“I came here as a young kid and had to make my way in a tough neighborhood in The Bronx,” said congressional hopeful Diamant Hysenaj, a 42-year-old Albanian immigrant and president of the construction and building firm DCG New York, to The Post.
“My life could have gone another direction, but I worked hard, tried to fit in as best I could as an outsider and achieved the American Dream: a successful business, a beautiful family and a calling to serve,” the GOPer said.
Hysenaj said his upbringing growing up on a farm in Kosovo, then experiencing war and the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, also prepares him to fight to represent the immigrant-heavy 14th House District encompassing parts of The Bronx and Queens — a bid considered a long shot against the popular progressive AOC.
“Imagine a story that runs through nearly half of NY-14 — immigrants, dreamers like me,” Hysenaj said. “It begins on a dusty farm in Kosovo, 1982.
“Thirty-six of us — cousins, aunts, uncles — crammed into three weathered houses, alive with laughter and my nana’s cooking. My parents, hands rough from factory shifts in the old Yugoslav regime, carved out a life that felt golden to me. I was a kid then, chasing chickens, oblivious to the war creeping closer— shielded by love, by family, by a world they kept steady just for us.
“That was my beginning,” Hysenaj said.
“Then, 1991. Fade to black. A dictator’s grip tightens, and we’re gone—my parents, my sister, me, a suitcase of hope — landing in The Bronx. The streets hit hard: gangs lurking, a skinny kid scrapping to belong. No welfare, just work.”
He earned an associate degree from SUNY Westchester Community College.
“I rebuilt from zero once, found my passion in real estate. Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan —homes, restaurants, buildings — I built them, hired hundreds, made this city my canvas,” the Republican said.
He said he also recovered from the 2008 Great Recession, endured the tragic death of his sister from a car crash and the suicide of a close family member.
Hysenaj said the American Dream is “alive and well, but not in AOC’s New York.
“I am running for Congress to make our streets safer, reform a broken immigration system and improve the decaying infrastructure in our district. Meanwhile, AOC is flying on private jets to preach socialism everywhere else, while the people of the 14th District suffer,” he said.
“I am fighting for a country where every voice matters, not just the privileged elite. With the help of the great people of the 14th district, over 50% of whom are immigrants just like me, we will win.”
Ocasio-Cortez, 35, who was first elected in 2018, is seeking re-election to a fifth term next year in an overwhelmingly Democratic district.
She is riding high at the moment. Her fellow Democratic Socialist, state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, whom she endorsed for mayor, won the Democratic primary contest last week and is on the odds-on favorite to win the general election for City Hall.
Her name has been floated to run for US Senate against Chuck Schumer in 2028 or even for president.
