She has been outed as a former Republican and accused of embellishing her radical socialist credentials with tall tales about her working class, immigrant roots.

And now DailyMail.com can reveal that New York Democratic state senate candidate Julia Salazar was accused of having an affair with Mets legend Keith Hernandez during a bitter four-year libel battle with his ex-wife.

Keith Hernandez denies they were lovers and his ex-wife says she never accused him of an affair.

His ex-wife Kai Hernandez told police in 2010 that Salazar had stolen $11,800 in cash, $1,175 in Pottery Barn vouchers and $950 worth of wine while house-sitting for her in Jupiter, Florida.

She also claimed that that 27-year-old Salazar, who hopes to unseat New York State Sen. Martin Dilan in the September 13 Democratic primary, stole her personal information and tried to use it to access her bank account.

The Columbia University student was arrested, interrogated and 'humiliated' before cops dismissed the allegations and she fired back at Hernandez, 54, with a defamation lawsuit.

Socialist pin-ups: Julia Salazar (right) is running for a New York state senate seat hoping to capitalize on the momentum of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who won an upset Democratic primary and who has appeared with her at campaign events

Salazar was accused of having an affair with Mets star Keith Hernandez, (right)64, during his divorce from ex-wife Kai (right) in 2010, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal

Hernandez further accused Salazar of interfering with her marriage and having an affair with Flushing favorite Keith who is 37 years her senior, according to court documents seen by DailyMail.com.

The ex-first baseman was listed as a witness for Salazar when the case was set for trial in March 2017, however both sides settled at the last moment.

Salazar shot to prominence on the coattails of fellow socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who upset Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary for New York's 14th congressional district.

But her claims about growing up among poor, working class, Colombian immigrants have begun to unravel in recent days, with her own family members coming forward to contradict her.

Salazar has been criticized for identifying as a Jew despite her mother Christine insisting she was baptized a Catholic and her brother Alex stating that none of their relatives are Jewish - and her uncle is a priest.

Opponents also point out she registered as a Republican in Florida before performing a political flip flop and declaring herself a socialist after moving to Brooklyn, New York in 2017.

Salazar's extraordinary spat with Hernandez dates back to 2010 when she was a 19-year-old Columbia University freshman who 'graduated top of her class at high school' and Hernandez was divorcing her baseball player husband of five years.

'Keith had known Julia since the time she was a young girl. Julia considered Keith to be a father figure,' her December 2013 complaint reads.

At the time she lodged the suit, Salazar was living at her mom's three-bedroom townhouse on an exclusive, gated marina development in affluent Jupiter, Florida.

Keith Hernandez owned the neighboring townhouse, according to public records. Salazar's mom Christine paid $194,000 for the swish property on the banks of the Loxahatchee River in 1998. It's now worth around $735,000.

A spokeswoman for SNY, the Mets-owned sports channel that broadcasts their games and for whom Keith Hernandez has been a long-running commentator, said of the alleged affair told DailyMail.com Wednesday: 'Keith denies the allegations'.

Salazar says that when Hernandez asked her to house-sit and look after her dogs for a week in July 2010, she found 'drug paraphernalia to include open syringes, guns and 25 Pottery Barn gifts totaling $1,175.'

Court documents show Keith, who retired in 1990, had known Salazar since she was a young girl and she had considered him a 'father figure.' His ex-wife Kai, (right) accused her of stealing more than $11k in cash and trying to access her bank account with her personal information

Hernandez, who is now a Mets commentator for SNY, had a brief acting career and famously appeared on two episodes of Seinfeld in the 90s

The suit says she called former Met Keith, 64, for advice. He lived elsewhere but urged her 'to take photos of the objects found and to send him a list of the narcotics.'

When Salazar agreed to house sit again throughout August 2010, the two-time World Series champ is said to have turned up at his $1.1 million former marital home with an attorney and two officers from the Tequesta Police Department.

'Keith proceeded to have Julia tell the officers about the guns, paraphernalia and gift cards that she found in the house,' the suit states.

'The officer wrote up a report and specifically said to Julia that her name would not appear in the report.'

The suit alleges that Hernandez, a realtor whose first husband Glenn Thompson died in the 9/11 attacks, was by then living with a new fiancée who had convictions for fraud and theft.

She filed several 'suspicious' insurance claims over the summer of 2010, including reports of burglary and theft, the complaint alleges.

Salazar claims that Hernandez and possibly an accomplice 'orchestrated a scheme whereby a female who sounded like Julia would attempt to access Kai's bank account, via the phone at UBS Investment Bank.

This is the former Florida home of Julia Salazar. The Columbia University graduate grew up in a gated marina development in an affluent part of Jupiter, and public records show Keith Hernandez owned the neighboring townhouse

Salazar's mother Christine paid $194,000 in 1998 for the property which is now worth around $735,000. Her mom pushed back against Julia's claims that they were poor or working class, revealing they were financially comfortable

'Following the execution of her scheme, Kai was contacted by her personal banker who played a recording of the female's voice who allegedly attempted to access Kai's account.

'Kai then falsely, maliciously and intentionally alleged that the person attempting to access her funds was Julia when she knew it was not.'

The suit adds that Hernandez then 'engaged in a character assassination against Julia by defaming her through false accusations made to the Tequesta Police Department.

'Kai falsely accused Julia of trying to access Kai's funds at the UBS Investment Bank.

'Furthermore, Kai used this as an opportunity to allege to the police that Julia had stolen $11,800 in cash from her house three months prior but had never notified any authorities regarding this theft.

'In addition, Kai also told the Tequesta Police that Julia was having an affair with her soon to be ex-husband Keith, which was not true.'

Allegedly driven by Hernandez wanting 'revenge against Julia for interfering with her affairs and pending divorce', the allegations led to Salazar's arrest on March 23, 2011.

She said she was 'humiliated' by being interrogated, cuffed, finger-printed and made to pose for mugshots despite the criminal proceedings ultimately being dismissed with prejudice.

Salazar cited the December 16, 2010 statement given to police by Hernandez as evidence of her making false and defamatory allegations against her.

Hernandez had told officers that Salazar used her place of birth and social security number when she made the 'phishing call' to her bank - but came unstuck when she couldn't say which high school she attended.

Salazar, who hopes to unseat Sen. Martin Dilan in the September 13 Democratic primary, had been campaigning as a democratic socialist and claiming to be a Jewish-Colombian immigrant. Her family members recently came forward to contradict her

Salazar's mother Christine (top left) and brother Alex (top right) revealed she was actually raised Catholic in Miami. Her mother is a US-born citizen, and her father, who died in 2009, was born in Colombia but became a naturalized citizen before she was even born

When her personal banker played a recording of the call, she told cops she immediately recognized Salazar who had been her house-sitter 'the same time $11,800 in cash and $1,175 in Pottery Barn gift cards and approx. $950 worth of wine disappeared.'

In a probable cause affidavit, Detective C Weinblatt also noted: 'I also was immediately able to determine that the voice in the three (3) taped recordings was that of the def.'

Rebutting the libel complaint, Hernandez argued there was no evidence whatsoever of an orchestrated plot to harm Salazar and that statements given to police officers in the course of investigations are legally privileged.

She was twice able to persuade a judge to dismiss the case but each time Salazar refiled the complaint before eventually having it listed for jury trial, four years after she first lodged papers.

On March 22 last year, however, it was abruptly dismissed for good, with court filings suggesting the two sides had 'amicably settled' and agreed to bear their own costs.

Kai Hernandez told DailyMail.com she never accused her ex-husband Keith of having an affair, insisting the claim arose from Salazar's side of the litigation.

'I have no comment beyond the fact that I never made an allegation regarding an affair between Julia Salazar and my ex husband at any time, to any party, in any statement, either verbal or written,' she said.

'When Julia Salazar and her attorney alleged in 2013 that I made such a statement, it was completely untrue.'

Salazar's attorney, Adam Hecht, said in a statement to DailyMail.com: 'Kai Hernandez's bizarre and fraudulent attempts to defame and victimize Julia were recognized as baseless by the authorities, who declined to file charges, and this matter was resolved with a monetary settlement in Julia's favor.

'We have no further comment on this.'

One year after settling, Brooklyn-based Salazar has shifted her attention to socialist politics and her efforts to unseat New York State Sen. Dilan, an eight-term incumbent.

The seat covers parts of Brooklyn's trendiest areas, including Williamsburg and Bushwick, as well as East New York, Brownsville and Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Salazar was also outed as having been a registered Republican in Florida before registering as a Democrat in 2017

It is close to, although not overlapping with, the New York congressional seat won by Ocasio-Cortez, the socialist pin-up whose victory over Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary sent shockwaves through the party.

Ocasio-Cortez has campaigned for her, including at an event in Williamsburg this week.

But the focus on Salazar has been on the reliability of her autobiography.

'I am a Colombian, American, but I am also Jewish,' she said during a recorded campaign event.

Alex Salazar later told online Jewish magazine Tablet that nobody in their immediate family was Jewish, though one of their father's brothers was in fact a Jesuit priest.

'My father was not Jewish, we were not raised Jewish,' he insisted.

She claims her father was of 'Sephardic heritage' and that after he died when she was 18, she 'began to deeply explore my religious roots'.

She claimed that raising questions over whether she was Jewish were 'seeking to discredit my conversion and my Jewishness in a misguided attempt to attack my credibility as a progressive candidate'.

Salazar claimed she was born in Colombia in an interview with the Chapo Trap House podcast but conceded that was an error, blaming a campaign staffer, when her birthplace was revealed as Miami.

Her bio was updated to say that as a 'daughter of working-class immigrants, Julia was raised by a single mother, attended public schools, and began working at a local grocery store when she was 14 to help make ends meet.'

It later emerged that while her late father, Luis Hernan Salazar, did come to the US from Colombia, he became a naturalized citizen before she was even born. He was an airline pilot.

Her mother was not an immigrant at all but born in the United States.

In further interviews with City & State, Alex and Christine Salazar both pushed back against claims they were poor or working class, revealing they were financially comfortable and lived in a big house in an affluent, ocean-front city.

And while Salazar was indeed raised by a single mother after her parents divorced in the late 1990s, they said her pilot dad had already set aside money for their college education thanks to his six-figure salary.

He also paid child support until his death in 2009.

'We were very much middle class. We had a house in Jupiter along the river, it was in a beautiful neighborhood,' Alex told the New York-based publication.

'I feel very strongly about my family and I want to tell the truth.'