Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez transferred $1 million to Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign on Friday, using her significant cash reserves to boost a battleground Senate race in Michigan as the party aims to regain control of the chamber.
Ocasio-Cortez has become a financial engine, handily outraising even top Senate Democrats this election cycle. The investment comprises roughly 6% of her campaign’s coffers — an unusually large sum coming from a House member from a different state. The New York congresswoman will stump with El-Sayed in Detroit this weekend.
She fronted the money so she wouldn’t have to wake up on Nov. 4 “wishing I did more to combat the smears aimed at Abdul,” she told The New York Times Friday.
“I’m leaving everything I can on the field,” she said.
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Her committee transferred the funds to the Abdul for Michigan Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee involving El-Sayed’s campaign, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Michigan Democratic State Central Committee, according to the Times.
Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign reported having nearly $17.4 million in cash on hand as of Sept. 30 after raising $4.7 million last quarter.
El-Sayed is facing former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers in a race that has drummed up $181 million in advertising spending, according to AdImpact.
The Michigan progressive’s candidacy will prove consequential for Congress’ burgeoning left-wing movement, which is in part led by Ocasio-Cortez in the House and Vermont independent Bernie Sanders in the Senate. At a recent New York fundraiser, she framed El-Sayed’s solid chances as evidence that progressives can compete nationally.
Ocasio-Cortez has declined to rule out running for president in 2028 — laughing off a question about it while in Michigan Friday — or challenging the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, for his seat. The representative is expected to easily defeat her Republican challenger, Diamant Hysenaj, in November.
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