Lefty “Squad” member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has hauled in more campaign dollars than anyone else in the House this year — an eye-popping $15.4 million, new Federal Election Commission filings show, as she targets donors outside the Big Apple and weighs a run for higher office.
The progressive firebrand raised $5.8 million in the second quarter, following a eye-watering $9.6 million she raked in during the first quarter — her second most profitable quarter on record, according to her FEC records.
“In Q2, AOC raised $5.8m from over 161,000 individual donors and an average donation of just $17,” her campaign manager Oliver Hidalgo-Wohlleben said on X.
But instead of spending big in her own backyard, the self-proclaimed “Bronx girl” is blowing $3.6 million on Facebook and Instagram ads which barely target New Yorkers, a review of campaign expenditures shows.
One of her latest ad blitzes, dropped Wednesday and packed with clips from her and socialist pal Bernie’s’ “Fighting the Oligarchy” tour attacking the Trump administration, was seen by more people in California than her home state, Meta data show.
Her massive haul could indicate she’s positioning herself for a Senate or White House run in 2028.
“She is trading on her national profile to go where the dollars are,” Jacob Neiheisel, political communication expert at the University of Buffalo, told The Post.
“It’s become incredibly easy to pull dollars from all across the country. . . . And there’s a lot of money in SoCal,” he added.
A jaw-dropping 72% of AOC’s donations have come from outside her home district in Queens and the Bronx — and well beyond the Empire State.
Some of her biggest individual donors are coming from California, Massachusetts and Maine, where dozens forked over the maximum allowed contribution of $3,500. Only 12% of those top donors were in New York.
She pulled in $4.3 million this year from her home state, with everything else coming from outside.
“It’s not unusual that a candidate, especially someone like AOC, would buy media outside of their home district – but not any politician can do it,” said Steve Caplan, a political advertising expert at the University of Southern California.
“It’s something that is fairly typical of high profile, national level politicians, and she is certainly that.”
“The notion that this is somehow setting the stage for either a national or a statewide run . . . I think that’s quite likely,” he added.
