AOC seeks money for Thanksgiving turkey giveaway—donations go straight to campaign through ActBlue: report

"Squad" member and congresswoman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has reportedly tied a turkey giveaway to political campaign donations, according to a report from the New York Post.

The outlet reported that an email was sent out by Ocasio-Cortez that stated, “Thanksgiving is two weeks away. Will you chip in $5 or anything you can today to help us bring the joy of the holiday season into homes around NYC this year?”

However, clicking on the contribution link sends those who read the email to a campaign fundraising page on the Democrat donations platform, ActBlue. Those submitting donations were prompted to make one-time or repeated donations, the outlet reported. 


AOC email. Source: New York Post

After selecting a dollar amount, there was also a disclosure that states the appeal is “paid for by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress” and that the donations do not qualify for charitable donations. According to the outlet, Ocasio-Cortez, like other politicians in the Big Apple, has done turkey giveaways since 2019. However, as there have been reports that she is vying for the Senate or the White House, the strategy has changed.

In 2021, Ocasio-Cortez reportedly raised over $33,500 for three charities in New York. This time, however, the money is going through her campaign page. “A campaign is not supposed to be a pass-through for charitable work,” said former City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli. “What if she raised enough money for a million turkeys? Would she buy a million turkeys, or would she keep $990,000 for her campaign and then throw the rest of the turkeys out the back of a truck and take a photo-op?"

“This is a clear case of why a campaign is not a charitable organization,” Borelli added.

City Councilman Robert Holden, a Democrat of Queens, agreed with the sentiment. “Socialists like AOC and Mamdani love to promise everything for free, but somehow it always ends with them shaking down working people under the guise of community good will," he said.
 

“It is a typical bait and switch, pretending to be for the people while quietly pillaging them for every dollar they can get," Holden added. He has hosted turkey drives of his own.

There are over a dozen NYC politicians who are doing turkey drives this year. Only two of them, the one from Ocasio-Cortez as well as Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), are using campaign fund, per the Post. The outlet reported that last year, the congresswoman paid out $13,101 to Westside Foods in the Bronx three days before Thanksgiving. 

In response to the report, Ocasio-Cortez's campaign refused to say why she had changed how she conducted the donations. “For our Thanksgiving turkey fundraiser, we set a goal that we raise towards and if we surpass it then we order more,” her campaign manager Oliver Hidalgo-Wohlleben, said.

In an Instagram story on her social media posted on Saturday, she said, “We’ve been able to provide over 1,600 turkeys in the Bronx, and then all of your support and fundraising has raised an additional $20,000 above our raise goal which we are giving 100% to local food pantries to help feed families this Thanksgiving.”