Thanksgiving food drives are working overtime to deliver holiday magic to families in need, but one elected official is being accused of fundraising off of free turkeys.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, is being accused of using the holiday season to fill her own campaign coffers. A New York Post report indicates that a link intended to encourage donations for Thanksgiving turkey giveaways is being used to route money to her campaign fundraiser.
“Thanksgiving is two weeks away,” the email for the donation drive reportedly reads. “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?”
But when well-meaning donors click on the link to bring holiday cheer to the less fortunate, they are taken to an ActBlue campaign fundraising page.
“Last year, we gave out over 600 turkeys to families at Thanksgiving who didn’t have one. This year, we hope to double that number,” the appeal reads. “Please donate anything you can afford right now to give hundreds of families an opportunity to celebrate community, mutual aid, and gratitude this year.”
Underneath that are options for giving that range from $5 to $1,000, with a section to enter your own custom donation amount, as well as the choice to make the amount a recurring charge.
“Selecting a dollar amount brings a disclosure that the appeal is ‘paid for by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress’ and a reminder that donations are not deductible as charitable contributions at tax time,” The Post article reads. “Like dozens of pols across Gotham, AOC has given away hundreds of gobblers since 2019, but as rumors swirl about her run for Senate or even the White House in 2028, she decided to change her fundraising recipe.”
“Instead of having supporters send donations directly to community organizations organizing turkey drives — like she did in 2021 when she reported raising $33,589.64 for three local charities — she’s having people send money to her campaign,” the report continues.
Former City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli condemned the shady operation.
“A campaign is not supposed to be a pass-through for charitable work. 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?” he said. “This is a clear case of why a campaign is not a charitable organization.”
Even AOC’s fellow Democrats are agreeing.
“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,” City Councilman Robert Holden, D-Queens, told NYP. “It is a typical bait and switch, pretending to be for the people while quietly pillaging them for every dollar they can get.”
In fairness to the lawmaker, a glance at FCC data from 2024 indicates she spent $13,101 at Westside Foods in the Bronx several days prior to Thanksgiving. This may have been to purchase the turkeys, though many are still calling for an audit of the funds just to be sure that she’s not tricking donors into funding her political priorities.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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