Ocasio-Cortez is one of the most radical members of Congress. It’s no surprise that being deceitful is second nature to her.
And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was caught lying through her teeth in a scathing report.
Ocasio-Cortez’s Anti-Lobbyist Stance Contradicted by Campaign Donations
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has consistently presented herself as a champion of grassroots politics, publicly rejecting the influence of lobbyists in government.
Her campaign account on X describes her as “people-funded” and explicitly claims she “takes no lobbyist [cash],” swapping the word “cash” for a money bag emoji.
Yet, campaign finance records reveal that Ocasio-Cortez has accepted nearly 100 donations from registered lobbyists since entering Congress in 2018.
Since her first election, Ocasio-Cortez has denounced the sway of money in politics. In 2018, she criticized her own party for its “refusal to reject [corporate] lobbyist money” and has since called for a ban on former members of Congress becoming lobbyists.
She has also accused lobbyists of blocking legislation designed to serve the public good.
Despite her outspoken criticism, federal records indicate that Ocasio-Cortez has received financial contributions from lobbyists every year since taking office.
Among her donors is Dave Koshgarian, a lobbyist with Ernst & Young, who has contributed thousands of dollars to her campaigns starting in 2020. Koshgarian’s client portfolio includes major corporations such as Duke Energy, MetLife, General Electric, Charles Schwab, and BlackRock.
Other lobbyist donors linked to her campaign have represented companies and organizations like Nike, Delta Air Lines, healthcare trade groups, and the New Venture Fund — a Democratic-aligned dark money entity managed by Arabella Advisors.
Ocasio-Cortez has also taken a strong stance against the influence of dark money in politics. She has frequently argued that such funds undermine democracy, sway the Supreme Court, and drive unethical policymaking.
Nevertheless, her association with donors tied to dark money networks adds complexity and hypocrisy to her rhetoric.
Publicly, Ocasio-Cortez continues to claim she doesn’t accept lobbyist donations, asserting on social media that she committed to this principle from the start.
However, her critique of the lobbying industry has become less frequent. She has not posted about lobbying on X using terms like “lobby,” “lobbyist,” or “lobbying” since September 2022.
In one notable case, the Washington Examiner reported in April 2023 that a top TikTok lobbyist served on the board of a nonprofit advised by Ocasio-Cortez.
Around the same time, the congresswoman opposed proposed bans on TikTok, arguing for comprehensive data privacy measures instead of singling out the Chinese-owned platform.
“This is how corporate lobbying works,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted in May 2019. “Lobbyists ID bills they need to k*ll to keep profits high (no matter the human cost), come up w/ ‘sensible’ talking points to mask intent + say policy is ‘misguided,’ then schmooze policymakers in secret into accepting said talking points.”
The contrast between Ocasio-Cortez’s public condemnation of lobbyists and her campaign donations from the same groups raises questions about the consistency of her anti-lobbying stance.
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