Join Nicole Malliotakis for a Goya Food Drive in Support of Free Speech

Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, the Republican candidate for Congress in NY-11 (Staten Island-Southern Brooklyn), today slammed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for her newly launched effort to boycott Goya Foods and responded by announcing a Goya canned food drive that will benefit local food pantries in the 11th Congressional District. Malliotakis called Ocasio-Cortez’s actions “shameful” and “symptomatic of the radical left’s attempts to bully and intimidate those who hold opposing views.”

Calls for a boycott started shortly after Goya Foods CEO Robert Unanue, a grandson of the company’s founders, appeared at a White House event announcing a ‘Hispanic Prosperity Initiative’ on Thursday. During his remarks, Unanue praised President Trump, which in turn initiated a far left temper tantrum and calls for a boycott of the 84 year-old New Jersey based company that bills itself as the largest the Hispanic-owned food company in the United States.

Goya, which is widely known for its generosity in times of need, also announced this week that it would donate 2 million pounds of its products to food banks across the nation.

Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis said, “Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s attempt to launch a boycott is symptomatic of the radical left’s attempts to bully and intimidate those who hold opposing views.The fact that her actions are aimed at an 84-yr-old Hispanic family owned business over political differences is shameful. Attempts to silence opposing views are a trademark of AOC’s brand of socialism and are one of the reasons my mother fled Communist Cuba.

“On Friday night, I made Goya frijoles in honor of my mother, abuela (grandmother) and freedom loving Americans. Today, I am announcing my Goya canned food drive in the same spirit as Goya Foods, which has generously donated millions of pounds of food to people in our nation and around the world. They’ve donated meals for New York City students as well as tons of food to the people of Venezuela, who are suffering under the same destructive socialist policies that Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez would like to inflict on the American people. Now is the time to show our support for this family owned American business by purchasing Goya canned products for distribution to local food pantries.”

Food donations will be accepted at Malliotakis campaign headquarters at 2300 Richmond Road, Staten Island, NY 10306, Monday thru Friday from 9am-7pm, beginning July 13th and running through the end of the month.

Assemblywoman Malliotakis and volunteers will deliver the food to local pantries.

During COVID-19 pandemic, Assemblywoman Malliotakis co-hosted five successful “Drive-by food drives” to benefit struggling pantries in her district.