AOC Spent $6.3M to Defeat Primary Challenger - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics
AOC Spent $6.3M to Defeat Primary Challenger
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for all her strident rhetoric about the malignant influence of money in politics, won Tuesday’s Democratic primary in New York’s 14th District the old-fashioned way — she drowned her opponents beneath a tsunami of campaign cash. According to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Ocasio-Cortez spent about $6.3 million of $10.5 million raised, more than any other Democrat up for reelection in 2020. Her only serious primary challenger for the NY-14 seat, longtime CNBC journalist Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, spent about $1 million of $2 million raised. As of Wednesday afternoon, with 88% of precincts reporting, AOC had garnered 73 percent of the ballots cast compared to Caruso-Cabrera’s 19 percent.

Hilariously, the legacy media has insinuated that the self-styled “girl from the Bronx” had prevailed over the dark menace of Wall Street. Business Insider, for example, described this victory of good over evil as follows: “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez triumphs over her Wall Street-backed Democratic primary opponent Michelle Caruso-Cabrera and all but secures a 2nd term.” Never mind that AOC spent six times the money her challenger spent on the campaign. Forget that, she insisted, “Dark money is used to manipulate electorates. It is the enemy to democracy,” then got caught last year operating a campaign finance shell game that resulted in an FEC complaint. As the Washington Examiner reported,

Two political action committees founded by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s top aide funneled over $1 million in political donations into two of his own private companies, according to a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission on Monday. The cash transfers from the PACs, overseen by Saikat Chakrabarti, the freshman socialist Democrat’s [then] chief of staff, run counter to her pledges to increase transparency and reduce the influence of “dark money” in politics.

Chakrabarti no longer holds an official position on Ocasio-Cortez’s staff. In addition to the skulduggery noted above, he incurred the wrath of the Democratic leadership by publicly criticizing them for not pursuing what he considered a sufficiently aggressive legislative strategy and implied that fiscally conservative Democrats were racist. Even worse, he angered the Congressional Black Caucus by encouraging far-left candidates connected with the Justice Democrats to primary African American lawmakers. Last August he suddenly resigned from AOC’s staff, but there is little doubt that he is still deeply involved with a hostile takeover of the Democratic Party by far-left activists associated with Ocasio-Cortez.

AOC spent six times the money her challenger spent on the campaign.

Jamaal Bowman, for example, just defeated veteran Democrat Eliot Engel in a primary contest reminiscent of Ocasio-Cortez’s defeat of Democratic Caucus Chair Joe Crowley in 2018. Bowman, a Bronx activist associated with the Justice Democrats, declared victory in Tuesday’s primary despite a significant number of uncounted mail-in ballots. Bowman’s 61 to 34 percent lead appeared insurmountable to most independent observers. Congressman Engel is the Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and has served in the House for 16 terms. Like Crowley, however, he didn’t take the challenge seriously. Indeed, Engel has refused to concede even as this is being written. Bowman, however, clearly believes it’s over:

From the very beginning, we anchored our campaign in the fight for racial and economic justice. We spoke the truth, about the police, about systemic racism, about inequality, and it resonated in every part of the district. Many doubted that we could overcome the power and money of a 31-year incumbent. But the results show that the people of NY-16 aren’t just ready for change — they’re demanding it.

But Bowman benefitted from more than speaking the truth and seeking racial and economic justice. In addition to the $965,857 he raised via individual contributions, the Justice Democrats PAC spent $920,000 backing Bowman, and the Working Families Party’s IE arm has spent $409,000 on his behalf. In other words, Bowman probably outspent Engel. Another New York Democratic incumbent, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, may suffer the same fate at the hands of primary challenger Suraj Patel. Maloney defeated Patel in 2018, but the contest is closer this year. Not coincidentally, Patel has received no money from the Justice Democrats — that we know about.

Another money laundering operation that has appeared on the progressive horizon is Middle Seat Consulting, and its founders you won’t be shocked to learn are the same people who launched the Justice Democrats. OpenSecrets.org reports that this outfit has contributed $9.9 million in “services” during the last 18 months to the SJWs named above and many whose names you’ll recognize (Beto O’Rourke, Ro Khanna, Ayanna Pressley, Charles Booker, Mondaire Jones, Ritchie Torres, ad infinitum). AOC and her accomplices are awash in cash and are currently staging a hostile takeover of the Democratic Party. These people must be stopped in November, or their next objective will certainly be the entire country.

David Catron
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David Catron is a recovering health care consultant and frequent contributor to The American Spectator. You can follow him on Twitter at @Catronicus.
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