Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) announced on Friday she is sending a sizable donation toward Michigan Senate nominee Abdul el Sayed’s campaign, as Democrats fight to stave off Republican hopes of flipping the seat red in November.
After campaigning alongside el Sayed in the battleground state on Thursday, Ocasio-Cortez said during an event in Pontiac the following day that she is transferring $1 million from her New York coffers to his Senate campaign. The funds will be directed toward the Abdul for Michigan Victory Fund, a joint effort between his campaign, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Michigan Democratic State Central Committee. The New York congresswoman’s donation comes as she appears to be a prolific fundraiser, entering October with nearly $17.4 million in the bank, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
“The cavalry is coming,” Ocasio-Cortez told the crowd in Pontiac. “It’s going to be in all these places that need this investment.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s latest donation in Michigan is aimed at boosting the Democratic candidate against Republicans, who believe they have a fighting chance at electing former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers to the seat next month by challenging el Sayed’s more progressive views in the swing state. In an attempt to swing more centrist voters to the right, the GOP has seized on el Sayed’s move to campaign with Hasan Piker. The Twitch streamer turned political activist for socialist-leaning candidates this election cycle has raised eyebrows on both sides of the aisle for views often seen as antisemitic, alongside a stream of controversial views such as that the U.S. “deserved” the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, some of which he has sought to backtrack.
As polling indicates the race remains one of the most competitive nationwide, Piker has backed away from Michigan ahead of the general election, while more popular mainstream progressives such as Ocasio-Cortez stump for el Sayed.
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“What we do is that we break open the entire political calculus in America, period,” Ocasio-Cortez said at a fundraiser earlier this month. “Because if you can win, if Abdul can win in Michigan, anybody can win anywhere.”
Ocasio-Cortez spent Thursday participating in multiple campaign stops with el Sayed, including in redder, more rural parts of the state’s Upper Peninsula. On Friday, she set out to hold several events without el Sayed, including a “Latinos for Abdul” rally in Detroit, and events in Pontiac and Dearborn with Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Debbie Dingell (D-MI).