AOC Donated $1 Million To Michigan Candidate El-Sayed’s Senate Campaign, Fuelling Speculation That She Will Run In 2028

Potential 2028 Democrat presidential candidate and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has donated $1 million to the campaign of Abdul El-Sayed in order to help him in his bid to defeat his Republican challenger Mike Rogers in the Michigan Senate race in November.

"I am not waking up on November 4 wishing I did more to combat the smears aimed at Abdul. I'm leaving everything I can on the field," Ocasio-Cortez told The New York Times on Friday.

The money was sent to the Abdul for Michigan Victory Fund, a fundraising effort affiliated to the Abdul El-Sayed Campaign, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Michigan Democratic State Central Committee.

Both the Republican and Democrat parties have injected and raised large amounts of money into the Michigan contest; Bridge Michigan reported on Friday that the Senate race is now the most expensive in the rust belt state's history.

El-Sayed, the son of Egyptian immigrants to the U.S., is seeking to become the first Muslim senator in U.S. history. He has been the subject of repeated faith-related attacks by prominent Republicans, including President Donald Trump and Senator John Kennedy, who have called him a "jihadist lunatic who hates our country" and joked about him sleeping "in a Bin Laden jersey" respectively.

As of Saturday, El-Sayed maintains a narrow lead of just over three percentage points over Rogers in the polls, MSNOW's Michigan Senate poll tracker shows. Michigan is a swing state, and voted for Trump by a narrow margin in the 2024 presidential election.

Ocasio-Cortez has recently stepped up her fundraising campaign; she reported in federal filings on Thursday that she had raised a total of $4.7 million in the third quarter of 2026 and entered October with nearly $17.4 million in cash reserves.

Ocasio-Cortez, who holds the record for being the youngest woman elected to Congress, has said that she will consider a 2028 presidential run after the midterms. She told The New York Times in September that a bid for re-election to Congress, a challenge for Democrat minority Senate leader Chuck Schumer's seat or a presidential run were all options "within consideration."

Ocasio-Cortez is a part of the Democrat party's progressive wing; she is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and a close political ally of progressive independent Senator and two-time candidate for the Democrats' presidential nomination Bernie Sanders.

Ocasio-Cortez's latest financial intervention has stoked rumors that the New York congresswoman will ultimately challenge for president.

"If you need more proof to see that AOC is running for president, look no further than a $1 million gift," political expert J.C. Polanco told CBS News.