Michelle Caruso-Cabrera
Michelle Caruso-Cabrera (born February 9, 1967) is an American politician and journalist.[1] She was a regular CNBC contributor for two decades, including as co-host of Power Lunch and Worldwide Exchange. She unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination for the 2021 New York City Comptroller election.
Michelle Caruso-Cabrera | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 9, 1967 Dayton, Ohio, U.S. |
| Education | Wellesley College (BA) |
| Political party | Republican (before 2015) Democratic (2016–present) |
| Other political affiliations | Serve America Movement (2020) |
| Spouse(s) | Paulo Lima (divorced)Stephen Dizard (m. 2014) |
| Awards | National Association of Hispanic Journalists Broadcast Journalist of the Year (2004) |
A registered member of the Republican Party through 2015, Caruso-Cabrera switched[2][3] and registered as a Democrat in 2016.[4] She moved to Queens in 2019[5] and challenged incumbent Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the 2020 Democratic primary for New York's 14th congressional district, which covers portions of the Bronx and Queens. She received support from the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce for her candidacy, but was defeated in the primary after receiving 18.2% of the vote and coming in second, and came in third with 0.9% in the general election after becoming the candidate of the Serve America Movement.
Early life and education
Caruso-Cabrera was born in Dayton, Ohio and raised in Nashua, New Hampshire.[6][7] Her grandparents were Italian and Cuban immigrants.[8][2] She graduated from Nashua High School in 1987.[9] She attended Wellesley College ('91) in Massachusetts, paying her tuition in part with the help of a National Merit Scholarship and her earnings from her first summer job as a waitress at Pizza Hut. She obtained a bachelor's degree in Economics.[10][11] Prior to graduation, she was elected editor of the college newspaper, and starting in 1991 she worked as a stringer for The New York Times, reporting for the education section.[12]
Career
Journalism
Caruso-Cabrera was a researcher and later a special projects producer for Univision from 1991 to 1994, where she was a producer on a team that won an Emmy Award for a five-part series on children with AIDS.[13][12] She then worked as a reporter for WTSP in St. Petersburg, Florida, from 1994 to 1998.[13]
She joined CNBC in August 1998, working there until January 2019, and became the network's first Hispanic anchor in 2001.[13][14][15][16][17][18] Caruso-Cabrera co-anchored Power Lunch with Bill Griffeth from 2002 to 2003.[19] She received a Broadcast Journalist of the Year (2004) award from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.[20] She co-hosted the Worldwide Exchange program in 2005-07, along with Christine Tan in Asia and Ross Westgate in Europe.[21][22] Caruso-Cabrera began appearing regularly on Power Lunch in 2009 in an analyst capacity.[citation needed] She was promoted to co-presenter of Power Lunch in 2009, and remained in that position until 2013.[citation needed] She rejoined Power Lunch for her third stint as co-presenter in 2016.
She left CNBC in September 2018 to join the board of directors of a Dallas, Texas, financial firm. Caruso-Cabrera held that position until February 2020.[23][24][25]
Book
As a registered Republican, Caruso-Cabrera wrote a book in 2010 entitled You Know I'm Right: More Prosperity, Less Government. In it, she called for the elimination of both Social Security and Medicare, which she characterized as "pyramid schemes", and expressed numerous other conservative positions.[26][27] Caruso-Cabrera also said she wanted to abolish the federal United States Department of Commerce, United States Department of Education, United States Department of Energy, and United States Department of Labor, as well as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.[26] She urged that insider trading be made legal.[26] In addition, she proposed creating personal savings accounts saying they would lead people to work longer, and converting Medicare into a corporate-type 401(k) plan.[28][29] The book has a foreword by CNBC colleague Larry Kudlow, who later became President Donald Trump's National Economic Council director.[28][30][26][31]
In 2020, four years after switching away from the Republican Party, to become a registered Democrat, Caruso-Cabrera tweeted, "I support Medicare and social security-its important to take care of [sic] the most vulnerable. Medicare fo all is taking health insurance away from people who have health insurance that they already like."[32]
Politics
A registered member of the Republican Party through 2015, Caruso-Cabrera switched and registered as a Democrat in 2016.[2][3][4]
2020 US House campaign
Caruso-Cabrera filed official paperwork on February 10, 2020, challenging freshman Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the Democratic primary for New York's 14th congressional district, which covers portions of the Bronx and Queens.[33][34][35][36][37] Caruso-Cabrera was endorsed by what Politico called the "traditionally conservative" United States Chamber of Commerce, a business lobbying group that generally backs Republicans.[38][39][40][41] On April 8, her staff reported that Caruso-Cabrera's campaign had raised $1 million,[42] and it was reported that over four dozen finance industry professionals, including private equity executives and investment bankers, had made early donations to Caruso-Cabrera.[30][43] In the primary she received 11,337 votes, 18.2% of the vote, finishing in second place.[44]
Caruso-Cabrera ran in the general election on the ticket of the Serve America Movement, a party with 349 registered members in New York.[45][46] She received 2,000 votes, or 0.9%, finishing in last place.[47][48][49]
2021 NYC Comptroller campaign
Caruso-Cabrera ran for election in the 2021 New York City Comptroller race.[50][51][52] She ran in the Democratic primary against among others NYS Senator Brian Benjamin, entrepreneur and former US Marine Zach Iscol, NYC Councilmember Brad Lander, NYS Senator Kevin Parker, and NYS Assemblymember David Weprin.[53][54]
As of May 25, 2021, she was 6th among the candidates in fundraising, having raised $917,000 in campaign contributions (though that included $300,000 that she personally lent her own campaign).[55] She had $248,000 left, and had not met the threshold to receive public matching funds.[55]
Personal life
As of 2007 she was married to Paulo Lima, and lived in Northern New Jersey.[56] Caruso-Cabrera is now married to second husband Stephen Dizard, an investment banker and Republican Party donor who as of 2020 had donated over $400,000 to Republicans.[57][58] The pair married in 2014.[57] After living for several years in Trump International Hotel and Tower at Columbus Circle in Manhattan, in 2019 she moved with her husband to Sunnyside, Queens.[59][57]
Electoral history
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (incumbent) | 46,577 | 74.6 | |
| Democratic | Michelle Caruso-Cabrera | 11,337 | 18.2 | |
| Democratic | Badrun Khan | 3,119 | 5.0 | |
| Democratic | Sam Sloan | 1,406 | 2.3 | |
| Total votes | 62,439 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (incumbent) | 152,661 | 71.6 | |
| Republican | John Cummings | 52,477 | 24.6 | |
| Conservative | John Cummings | 5,963 | 2.8 | |
| Total | John Cummings | 58,440 | 27.4 | |
| SAM | Michelle Caruso-Cabrera | 2,000 | 0.9 | |
| Total votes | 213,101 | 100.0 | ||
| Democratic hold | ||||
See also
References
- ^ Rivas, Mekita (March 12, 2020). "Why I Ran For the First Time: Michelle Caruso-Cabrera Is a Jobs-First Candidate". Shondaland. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
- ^ a b c Indap, Sujeet; Fontanella-Khan, James; Zhang, Christine; Fei, Fan (June 18, 2020). "Wall Street takes aim at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in party primary". The Financial Times.
- ^ a b Brennan, David (June 21, 2020). "AOC calls out Wall Street CEOs trying to unseat her in upcoming primary". Newsweek.
- ^ a b Kornbluh, Jacob (March 19, 2020). "From CNBC to Congress: How Michelle Caruso-Cabrera intends to challenge Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez". Jewish Insider.
- ^ Relman, Eliza (April 27, 2020). "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Wall Street-backed Democratic challenger lived in a Trump property for years before moving to Queens in late 2019". Yahoo! News. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
- ^ Caruso-Cabrera, Michelle [@mcaruso_cabrera] (September 30, 2016). "I consider Nashua, NH my home town. I was born in Dayton, Ohio but only lived there until I was 6 months old" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Guruge, Anura (December 11, 2014). "CNBC's Ever Impressive Chief International Correspondent Michelle Caruso-Cabrera Is From Nashua, N.H." A Life of Granite in New Hampshire. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
- ^ Campanile, Carl (April 3, 2020). "AOC ripped for holding 'virtual' coronavirus forum from plush DC abode". The New York Post.
- ^ "She Keeps Her Eyes on Wall Street". Nashua Telegraph. March 14, 1999. p. 39.
- ^ Martin, Michel (October 22, 2010). "Female GOP Candidates Make Strides In The Polls". NPR. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
- ^ "Michelle Caruso-Cabrera; Anchor, CNBC". AS/COA. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
- ^ a b "Michelle Caruso-Cabrera; Former CNBC Contributor". CNBC. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
- ^ a b c Kaufman, Maya (June 16, 2020). "NYC Primary Election 2020: Michelle Caruso-Cabrera Takes On AOC". Astoria-Long Island City, NY Patch.
- ^ Steinberg, Brian (February 11, 2020). "CNBC Veteran Caruso-Cabrera to Vie With Ocasio-Cortez for New York Office". Variety.
- ^ Battaglio, Stephen (April 19, 2020). "Congressional candidate Michelle Caruso-Cabrera hunts for votes in coronavirus 'epicenter of the epicenter'". The Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "CNBC Anchor Michelle Caruso-Cabrera To Run Against AOC In Primary". Astoria-Long Island City, NY Patch. February 11, 2020.
- ^ CNBC says goodbye and good luck to Michelle Caruso-Cabrera on YouTube, August 22, 2018.
- ^ "CNBC Announces its First Daily Live Global Business Programme". CNBC. April 10, 2007. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
- ^ "Power Lunch Logo". BroadwayWorld. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
Caruso-Cabrera joined the program as Griffeth's original co-presented [sic] from February 4, 2002, to December 5, 2003 ...
- ^ Torres, Joseph; Vignoli, Michelle (July 20, 2004). The National Association of Hispanic Journalists. Archived from the original on July 27, 2011. Retrieved December 17, 2010.
- ^ "Caruso-Cabrera changes jobs". Media Moves. October 28, 2007.
- ^ Corsi, Jamie (April 27, 2007). "Video Roundup: Worldwide Exchange Global Outlook". www.cnbc.com.
- ^ Javers, Mike Calia,Eamon (February 11, 2020). "Former CNBC anchor Michelle Caruso-Cabrera will challenge Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in House Democratic primary". CNBC.
- ^ "CNBC correspondent Caruso-Cabrera joining board of Dallas financial firm, Beneficient". Dallas News. August 20, 2018.
- ^ Chávez, Aída (May 4, 2020). "Ocasio-Cortez Challenger Left Her Job as CNBC Anchor to Serve on Board of Company That Profits From Death". The Intercept.
- ^ a b c d Campanile, Carl (May 18, 2020). "AOC rival Michelle Caruso-Cabrera's book pushed GOP-friendly policies". The New York Post.
- ^ "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Wall Street-backed Democratic challenger lived in Trump Tower for years before moving to Queens in late 2019". Business Insider. April 28, 2020.
- ^ a b Caruso-Cabrera, Michelle (2010). You Know I'm Right: More Prosperity, Less Government. Threshold Editions. pp. 304. ISBN 978-1-4391-9322-8.
- ^ Campanile, Carl (May 18, 2020). "AOC rival Michelle Caruso-Cabrera's book pushed GOP-friendly policies". New York Post. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
"She said “ending” Social Security and creating personal savings accounts would lead people to work longer. Caruso-Cabrera talked up converting Medicare into a corporate-type 401(k) plan. Public-sector unions come under withering criticism in the Caruso-Cabrera book for “choking our state and local governments” with “overly generous benefits that those in the private sector can only dream about” because unions have “overwhelming influence on our political process. “Government workers should not be allowed to unionize at all,” she said.”
- ^ a b Fang, Lee (April 16, 2020). "Wall Street Titans Finance Democratic Primary Challenger to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez". The Intercept. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
- ^ Newmyer, Tory (June 24, 2020). "Analysis | The Finance 202: Wall Street spent heavily to take down Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It was a bad investment". The Washington Post.
- ^ Michelle Caruso-Cabrera for NYC Comptroller [@mcaruso_cabrera] (June 5, 2020). "I support Medicare and social security-its important to take care for the most vulnerable. Medicare for all is taking health insurance away from people who have health insurance that they already like" (Tweet). Retrieved March 7, 2021 – via Twitter.
- ^ Caruso-Cabrera, Michelle (April 19, 2020). "Opinion | Why I'm Running Against AOC". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ "Michelle Caruso-Cabrera". Ballotpedia.
- ^ "AOC to face pro-business challenger in June primary". Yahoo. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
- ^ "Michelle Caruso-Cabrera Releases Video about Her Run for Congress". The National Herald. May 15, 2020. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
- ^ Swanson, Ian (February 11, 2020). "CNBC anchor Caruso-Cabrera to challenge Ocasio-Cortez in primary". The Hill. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
- ^ "Morning Digest: Two years after upset win, AOC faces a well-funded primary challenge at home". Daily Kos.
- ^ Axelrod, Tal (June 23, 2020). "Ocasio-Cortez fends off challenger in House primary". TheHill.
- ^ "Michelle Caruso-Cabrera: AOC's challenger who used to live in Trump hotel and called for privatising Medicare and Social Security". The Independent. April 28, 2020. Archived from the original on May 14, 2022.
- ^ Isenstadt, Alex (April 8, 2020). "Chamber of Commerce backs AOC's primary challenger". Politico.
- ^ Campanile, Carl (April 8, 2020). "Michelle Caruso-Cabrera raises $1 million in bid to topple AOC". New York Post.
- ^ Fang, Lee (April 15, 2020). "Wall Street Titans Finance Democratic Primary Challenger to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez". The Intercept.
- ^ "New York Primary Election Results: 14th Congressional District". The New York Times. June 23, 2020. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
- ^ Shazar, Jon. "Wall Street's Finest Pay $2 Million-Plus For 7,400 Votes Against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez". Dealbreaker.
- ^ "United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 2020". Ballotpedia. Retrieved October 18, 2020.
- ^ "New York U.S. House - District 14 Election Results". Detroit Free Press.
- ^ "New York Results - US Election 2020". BBC News.
- ^ "New York Election Results: 14th Congressional District". The New York Times. November 3, 2020.
- ^ Griffin, Allie (January 28, 2021). "Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, Former AOC Challenger, Enters Race for NYC Comptroller". Queens Post. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "NYC Campaign Finance Board: Campaign Finance Summary". New York City Campaign Finance Board. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
- ^ "MCC Kicks Off Comptroller Campaign, Calling Out de Blasio & Political Class". Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, Candidate. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
- ^ Mays, Jeffery C. (January 27, 2021). "One Candidate Leaves Crowded Mayor's Race. One From 'Housewives' Joins". The New York Times.
- ^ Khurshid, Samar. "City Comptroller Candidates Seek to Set Themselves Apart at Brooklyn Democrats' Debate". Gotham Gazette.
- ^ a b Khurshid, Samar. "The Money Race in the Democratic Comptroller Primary with One Month To Go". Gotham Gazette.
- ^ "CNBC Announces its First Daily Live Global Business Programme". CNBC. April 10, 2007.
- ^ a b c Campanile, Carl (June 17, 2020). "Husband of Dem challenger Michelle Caruso-Cabrera pumps money into anti-AOC super PAC". The New York Post.
- ^ "Stephen Dizard, Special Counselor at The Center for Financial Stability". www.centerforfinancialstability.org. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
- ^ Relman, Eliza (April 27, 2020). "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Wall Street-backed Democratic challenger lived in a Trump property for years before moving to Queens in late 2019". Business Insider.
- ^ "New York Primary Election Results: 14th Congressional District". The New York Times. August 17, 2020. from the original on September 23, 2020. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
External links
- Official website
- Michelle Caruso-Cabrera at IMDb