Thread by @lizburgh, AOC Deep Dive part 2All Members of Congress & congressional candidates file [...]

AOC Deep Dive part 2

All Members of Congress & congressional candidates file campaign finances w/the FEC. It's publicly available here: https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00639591/

AOC's 2020 campaign finances were BONKERS for many reasons.

Now let me tell you about them in excruciating detail

ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ FOR CONGRESS - committee overview - FEC.gov

Explore current and historic federal campaign finance data on the new fec.gov. Look at totals and trends, and see how candidates and committees raise and spend money. When you find what you need,...

https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00639591/

AOC was the 2020 Dem incumbent in NY-14, which is HEAVILY Democratic. D+29.

She didn't face any real threat to her re-election.

Primaries:

AOC:74%

Caruso-Cabrera: 18%

General:

AOC 68.7%

Cummings 30.5%

This was the 2ND MOST EXPENSIVE House race. I'll get to that.

AOC was the 2020 Dem incumbent in NY-14, which is HEAVILY Democratic. D+29. She didn't face any real threat to her re-election.Primaries: AOC:74% Caruso-Cabrera: 18%General: AOC 68.7% Cummings 30.5%This was the 2ND MOST EXPENSIVE House race. I'll get to that.

Here is an overview of AOC's re-election campaign-

There's still a month left to report, but according to her campaign's FEC filings through October 14, 2020:

Contributions (money in):

$17,778,071

Expenditures (money out):

$14,082,509

Here is an overview of AOC's re-election campaign-There's still a month left to report, but according to her campaign's FEC filings through October 14, 2020:Contributions (money in): $17,778,071Expenditures (money out): $14,082,509

You might be thinking "is that a lot of money for one of these races?"

GOOD!

You're thinking critically & asking the right questions!

Without anything to compare it to, it doesn't tell us much.

We'll look at other 2020 race, but first let's compare it to her 2018 campaign.

You might be thinking "is that a lot of money for one of these races?"GOOD! You're thinking critically & asking the right questions! Without anything to compare it to, it doesn't tell us much.We'll look at other 2020 race, but first let's compare it to her 2018 campaign.

AOC launched her 2018 campaign for NY-15 on 5/7/17 from Knoxville, TN.

Knoxville was the Justice Dem office.

She amended it a week later. Was it a mistake like Ilhan listing her accountant as the candidate?

She brags about winning in NY-15 & accuses Crowley of doing the same.

2018 Contributions: $2,147,866
2018 Expenditures: $1,782,301

Spending:
Mostly payroll, FB, Consulting, Kat Brezler, Justice Dems(she's on their board)

Donations:

Only $41k (4.1%) were from NY-14

Only $316k even came from NY state

62% were unitemized (donor unknown to us)

2018 Contributions: $2,147,8662018 Expenditures: $1,782,301Spending:Mostly payroll, FB, Consulting, Kat Brezler, Justice Dems(she's on their board)Donations:Only $41k (4.1%) were from NY-14Only $316k even came from NY state62% were unitemized (donor unknown to us)

For comparison, in the NY-14 2018 race:

Joe Crowley, the incumbent AOC beat and constantly accused of raising too much money, raised $21M...

...over the course of his 21 year career.

He actually raised $3.2M in 2018 (vs. AOC's $2.1M)

For comparison, in the NY-14 2018 race:Joe Crowley, the incumbent AOC beat and constantly accused of raising too much money, raised $21M......over the course of his 21 year career.He actually raised $3.2M in 2018 (vs. AOC's $2.1M)

Ok, so now we know:

In 2018, NY-14 raised ~$5M

(here's where I finally get back to 2020!)

In 2020, NY-14 raised ~$33M

Here are the winners of the

Top 5 MOST EXPENSIVE 2020 House Races

1) Steve Scalise
2) AOC

3) Devin Nunes
4) Nancy Pelosi
5) Kevin McCarthy
S

Ok, so now we know: In 2018, NY-14 raised ~$5M(here's where I finally get back to 2020!) In 2020, NY-14 raised ~$33MHere are the winners of the Top 5 MOST EXPENSIVE 2020 House Races1) Steve Scalise2) AOC 3) Devin Nunes4) Nancy Pelosi5) Kevin McCarthyS

You might think AOC would have fewer unitemized donations this time, bigger donations?

No 78% of her 2020 donations were unitemized!

AOC was #1 out of ALL 2020 candidates & Bernie was #2 but their #'s are almost identical.

They're #1 & #2 for fewest named donors. TRANSPARENCY!

2020 spending by AOC's neighboring districts

NY-11 : $11,500,000 (Rose)
NY-12 : $3,000,000 (Maloney)
NY-13 : $900,000 (Espaillat)

NY-15 : $3,500,000 (Torres)
NY-16 : $6,000,000 (Bowman)
NY-17 : $3,000,000 (Jones)

(Ballpark $, hard to find exact totals) https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/most-expensive-races

Most Expensive Races

See the most expensive races for Senate and House seats in the 2019 - 2020 election cycle.

https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/most-expensive-races

Let's look at the geography of her donations:

Top 5 Reps w/Most OUT OF STATE Donors (avg is 34.5%)

1) Scalise 95%
2) Jordan 87%
3) AOC 84%

4) McCarthy 76%
5) Stefanik 75%
(Nice company she's got there)

And

<1%

of AOC & Cummings are from NY-14. The average is 26%

Let's look at the geography of her donations:Top 5 Reps w/Most OUT OF STATE Donors (avg is 34.5%)1) Scalise 95%2) Jordan 87%3) AOC 84%4) McCarthy 76%5) Stefanik 75%(Nice company she's got there)And <1% of AOC & Cummings are from NY-14. The average is 26%

Ok, so AOC somehow spent $14M as an incumbent in a deep blue district. What did she spend it on?

FACEBOOK ADS

$4.8M (before 10/14) on FB ads. Nationwide FB ads!

She spent >$100k on FB ads in *9* different states:
WA
OR
CA
TX
FL
IL
PA
MA

https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?active_status=all&ad_type=all&country=US&view_all_page_id=1316372698453411

Ok, so AOC somehow spent $14M as an incumbent in a deep blue district. What did she spend it on?FACEBOOK ADS$4.8M (before 10/14) on FB ads. Nationwide FB ads!She spent >$100k on FB ads in *9* different states:WAORCATXFLILPAMA https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?active_status=all&ad_type=all&country=US&view_all_page_id=1316372698453411

That's a weird set of states to focus on as a representative for Queens/Bronx.

Some weeks she bought more in CA than NY.

She bought more FB ads than any other House Candidate.

She was the

11th

highest buyer of FB ads out of ALL (House+Senate+Prez) Candidates & ALL PACs

That's a weird set of states to focus on as a representative for Queens/Bronx.Some weeks she bought more in CA than NY.She bought more FB ads than any other House Candidate.She was the 11th highest buyer of FB ads out of ALL (House+Senate+Prez) Candidates & ALL PACs

She bought google ads too.

You can view her $497,000 of Google Ads here:

https://transparencyreport.google.com/political-ads/advertiser/AR216489716340490240

It's difficult to see all this on the FEC website.

If you look at her top recipients, it looks very different. Like she only spent $330k on Facebook ads

That's bc she paid via Brex Credit card.

Here's my long thread about her BREX credit card usage.

https://twitter.com/lizburgh/status/1282012040207491073?s=19

https://twitter.com/lizburgh/status/1282012040207491073?s=19

So what was all this for? She at least gained voters right?

Wrong. She lost votes.

And gained the largest Republican voter turnout (30.5%) in NY-14 history.

# of votes for AOC:
2018: 110,318
2020: 105,455 (-4863)

% of vote for AOC:
2018: 78.2%
2020: 68.7% (-9.5%)

Part 3 will cover everything else basically! Sketchy claims in her background, attacks on Democrats, her relationship w/JusticeDems.

I wanted to start with data/docs/#'s that were filed BY AOC herself.
These things aren't my opinions, they were reported by AOC under federal law.

House Results from the Associated Press:

"District 14 - 100% reporting".

No change from the numbers I stated in this thread.

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