Rep. Max Rose Max RoseLawmakers fear voter backlash over failure to reach COVID-19 relief deal The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by The Air Line Pilots Association - Pence lauds Harris as 'experienced debater'; Trump, Biden diverge over debate prep Navy cancels training flight over NYC on 9/11 after criticism MORE (D-N.Y.) sharply criticized former Rep. Beto O'Rourke Beto O'RourkeJimmy Carter says his son smoked pot with Willie Nelson on White House roof O'Rourke endorses Kennedy for Senate: 'A champion for the values we're most proud of' 2020 Democrats do convention Zoom call MORE (D-Texas) in an interview published Friday, accusing the former congressman of turning a losing Senate bid into social media stardom.

In an interview published in New York magazine's "Intelligencer," Rose lashed out at O'Rourke after the Texas Democrat criticized members of the party who do not support bold action on gun control and other issues. O'Rourke is a supporter of a federally mandated buyback of assault weapons.

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“I don’t think losing is cool. I want the Democratic Party to be the party of Kyrsten Sinema and not the party of Beto O’Rourke,” Rose said, referring to the first-term Arizona senator.

"Losing is not as cool as he thinks it is," the Staten Island congressman added to the magazine.

“When you win you get to help people, and when you lose you get to be a social-media rock star," Rose said. "So I don’t think Beto is cool, and I don’t think losing is cool. If we don’t win, we can’t do a f---ing thing for anybody in a union, anybody in public housing, anybody that can’t reunite with their family because of a f---ing racist Muslim ban."

Rose's comments are by far the sharpest public blowback to O'Rourke's pressure on Democrats to support a federally mandated assault weapons buyback, a position O'Rourke focused his campaign on after a deadly mass shooting in El Paso, his hometown, in August.

O'Rourke left Congress after losing a bid against Sen. Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzCrenshaw looms large as Democrats look to flip Texas House seat SCOTUS confirmation in the last month of a close election? Ugly The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by Facebook - Trump previews SCOTUS nominee as 'totally brilliant' MORE (R-Texas) last year and subsequently announced a run for the presidency, though his campaign has failed to break into the top tier of contenders.

Rose, who represents a district won by President Trump Donald John TrumpFederal prosecutor speaks out, says Barr 'has brought shame' on Justice Dept. Former Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick MORE in 2016, came out in public support of an impeachment inquiry into the president following the publication of details about Trump's efforts to persuade Ukraine's president to launch a criminal investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden Joe BidenFormer Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick Bloomberg rolls out M ad buy to boost Biden in Florida MORE while delaying military aid to the nation.

His support of the inquiry, among other centrist Democratic lawmakers representing seats won by Democrats from Republicans in the midterms, is credited with swaying the opinion of Speaker Nancy Pelosi Nancy PelosiDemocratic senator to party: 'A little message discipline wouldn't kill us' Overnight Health Care: New wave of COVID-19 cases builds in US | Florida to lift all coronavirus restrictions on restaurants, bars | Trump stirs questions with 0 drug coupon plan Overnight Defense: Appeals court revives House lawsuit against military funding for border wall | Dems push for limits on transferring military gear to police | Lawmakers ask for IG probe into Pentagon's use of COVID-19 funds MORE (D-Calif.) in favor of an impeachment probe.