All the world’s money is unlikely to affect the outcome of the re-election bid of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in November.
But that doesn’t stop people from trying: the competition is probably. Has become the second most expensive house race in the country.
Money is flowing from all sides. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, has collected .3 17.3 million, most of them small donors attracted by their star power, progressive policies and social media presence.
His Republican challenger, John Cummings, a 60-year-old former schoolteacher at St. Raymond High School for Boys in the Bronx and a former New York Police Department official, raised 6 9.6 million in the first bid for the fee.
His campaign war chest has surpassed all but a dozen or so house incumbents. It has a list of donors that any fund-riser would envy. And during the reporting period of the last three months, Mr. Cummings actually took more money than Mrs. Ocasio-Cortez, who raised her approximately million 4 million.
The contest is so magnetized for money that Ms. in the Democratic primary. The loser against Ocasio-Cortez but representing the All America Movement will be on the ballot, with former CNBC anchor Michel Caruso-Cere Brera also raising 4.4 million and lending him another $ 1 million campaign.
The hustle and bustle of the donation is 31-year-old Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is a fresh example of how Republican candidates have become a staple for donor exploration based on their resentment.
Continue with Election 2020
Republican strategist Tom Doherty said of Mr. Cummings, “I assure you that 75 percent of his contributors know nothing about him.” “I don’t know anything about it except that it’s running against the AOC. People who are financially interested in this race are giving because it’s the AOC.”
The big money contest is also a reflection of how the spotlight race can fuel millions of dollars for pro-political strategists and causes that are far from real candidates.
Mr. Cummings has purchased heavy digital and cable advertising, covering his district, covering parts of the Queens and the Bronx and some areas outside of it. It has hired consultants such as Lincoln Strategy Group, an Arizona-based company whose founder, Nathan Sproll, a longtime Republican tive paratrooper, has been facing fraud charges for years.
Mr. Cummings has spent thousands of dollars on mailers, recruited Big Dog strategies, whose clients include congressional leadership funds, a Super PAC dedicated to winning a Republican majority in the House, and a pro-Trump American Super American First Action PAC.
He has also hired a Virginia company, Smart Media Group, which works closely with the National Republican Senatorial Committee to manage multiple six-figure media ad buy and placement.
According to Facebook’s Advertising Library, a public database of all ads on its platform, the campaign has spent 60 560,000 on Facebook ads in the last three months. Most of the campaign’s contributors are from outside New York.
“In the long run, this race won’t help you build the party I think we need,” Mr. Doherty said. “It’s not a race we’re going to win, but we’re the ones in American politics today.”
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has also spent heavily on Facebook ads, buying 1.6 million in the last 90 days. Part of the ad purchase is geared towards building its own small donor network, to avoid relying on Facebook, which Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, according to his campaign, criticized political ads for not fact-checking.
She has also spent campaign funds to distribute food to New Yorkers struggling financially due to the epidemic, to support efforts to enlist New Yorkers in the census. A digital ad Ms. The Ocasio-Cortez September census partnership had about 2.1 million views.
“We make sure that our fundraising raises real investments in the community in addition to transactional politics,” she said. Ocasio-Cortez spokesman Lure Ren Hitt said.
In the last two weeks alone, Mr. Cummings’ campaign has cost more than 2. 2.4 million, while Ms. The Ocasio-Cortez campaign has cost 14 614,000.
Mr. Cummings has used his ads to introduce himself to voters who have lived and worked in the Bronx for decades, suggesting that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez was an outsider who attended Westchester County schools. He criticized Amazon for opposing its second headquarters in Queens.
Mr. Cummings is trying to appeal to the moderate Democrats, whom he calls the “Crowley Democrats,” referring to the former high-ranking Democratic leader whom Mr. Ocasio-Cortez defeated in an unprecedented primary victory in 2018.
“She has done an incredible job of creating a national personality for herself, but has neglected the district,” Mr. Cummings said in an interview.
Mr Cummings’ campaign manager, Chapin de Faye, acknowledged that the unrest was still unlikely given the district’s heavily democratic structure, but suggested that Mr Oxio-Cortez’s polarization was emphasized among voters raising funds for his candidacy.
“I just felt like raising a national fund against someone like AOC would be successful,” Mr. Fay said. “I know I can’t take credit for what he was going to do with this success, but we knew he could save a few bucks to run the race.”
Mr. Fay, who has previously served as Press Secretary and Director of Government Affairs. George E. Patki has also benefited from the flow of donations. The company, Lighthouse Public Affairs, founded by Mr. Fay, raised thousands of dollars to run the campaign and buy local media.
Mr Cummings, who said he supported President Trump and defended his highly critical response to the coronavirus epidemic, did not focus on the president, who is deeply obscure in his homeland.
He said he plans to continue meeting voters on the street until election day, as he believes Ms. Dissatisfaction with Occasio-Cortez may be localized.
“They dislike it, they don’t like what the hard left is and appreciate what they do,” he said. “If we close strong, I think we can move this race forward.”
Mr Cummings said he had requested a discussion but did not expect his opponent to agree with anyone. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign said it had received a last-minute discussion invitation from a “third-party mediator”, but was committed elsewhere.
“To be fair, no one wants to discuss a high school citizen teacher,” Mr. Cummings said.
