Ocasio-Cortez donates $1 million to boost El-Sayed in the final stretch of the Michigan Senate race
The Democratic congresswoman from New York allocated the funds to a joint fund supporting the campaign of progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, transferred $1 million on Friday to a political account aimed at supporting the election of Abdul El-Sayed to the Senate from Michigan, in the final stretch of the campaign.
According to The New York Times, the transfer represents an unusually large sum for a member of the House of Representatives contributing to a Senate race, especially when it involves an election in another state. Ocasio-Cortez has been campaigning this week in Michigan alongside El-Sayed.
The money was transferred to the Abdul for Michigan Victory Fund, a joint initiative of El-Sayed's campaign, the Democratic Senatorial Committee, and the Michigan Democratic State Central Committee.
“I’m not waking up on November 4th wishing I did more to combat the smears aimed at Abdul,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement to The New York Times on Friday. “I’m leaving everything I can on the field.”
The congresswoman spent Thursday on a bus tour of Michigan's Upper Peninsula alongside El-Sayed and was scheduled to hold three events in the Detroit area on Friday without the candidate in attendance.
The Michigan Senate race could have implications for control of the Senate. According to the Times, El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers, a former congressman, are in a tight race.
Support for Abdul El-Sayed
The political relationship between Ocasio-Cortez and El-Sayed dates back to 2018, when the congresswoman first won a primary against an incumbent Democrat, endorsed El-Sayed's bid for governor of Michigan, and traveled to the state to campaign alongside him. El-Sayed lost that election.
This year, Ocasio-Cortez again endorsed El-Sayed during the Democratic Senate primaries.
The congresswoman has described the Michigan race as an important test for the radical left.
Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez reported in federal filings submitted on Thursday that she raised $4.7 million during the third quarter of 2026 and that she began October with nearly $17.4 million available in her campaign account.
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