DETROIT — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who is campaigning in Michigan this week for Abdul El-Sayed, transferred $1 million Friday to a political account to help elect the fellow progressive to the Senate.

The transfer represents a huge sum for a House member to give to a Senate race, especially one in a different state. But Ocasio-Cortez, who is considering a run for president in 2028, has made clear that she believes El-Sayed’s election would give a huge boost not just to Democrats this year but also to the broader progressive movement.

“I’m not waking up on November 4th wishing I did more to combat the smears aimed at Abdul,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement to The New York Times on Friday. “I’m leaving everything I can on the field.”

Ocasio-Cortez spent Thursday on a bus trip across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with El-Sayed and is set to hold three events without him in the Detroit region Friday.

She made the donation to the Abdul for Michigan Victory Fund, a joint effort between his campaign, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Michigan Democratic State Central Committee.

Ocasio-Cortez is openly weighing her next political steps, which could include a presidential run, a reelection campaign or a Senate bid in New York for the seat currently held by Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader.

Schumer had supported El-Sayed’s rival in the primary, but an allied super political action committee has spent more than $30 million so far on El-Sayed’s bid in the general election.

Whoever wins the Michigan Senate race — El-Sayed is running neck and neck against Mike Rogers, a Republican former Congress member — could determine control of the chamber.

The relationship between the two progressive firebrands goes back to 2018, when Ocasio-Cortez first ousted a Democratic incumbent in a primary, endorsed El-Sayed’s campaign for governor and traveled to Michigan to campaign with him. He lost that race.

She endorsed El-Sayed, a former public health official, during the heated Democratic primary for Senate this year.

Ocasio-Cortez has said that the Michigan Senate race represents an important proving ground for progressives. “If Abdul can win in Michigan, anybody can win anywhere,” she said at a recent fundraiser for him in New York City.

Michigan has been set as one of the early states in 2028 Democratic presidential primary. Ocasio-Cortez is hardly alone in showering cash and support on candidates as she considers a run. Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has used his vast email list to raise money for Democratic candidates and state parties across the country. And Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois, who is a billionaire, has given $1 million to support the Democratic nominee for governor in Texas and has also funded other races.

Ocasio-Cortez reported Thursday in federal filings that she had raised $4.7 million in the third quarter this year. She entered October with nearly $17.4 million in the bank.

—

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Shane Goldmacher/Zbigniew Bzdak
c. 2026 The New York Times Company