Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) spent nearly $50,000 on hotels, meals, and event costs in Puerto Rico during the third quarter of this year, according to newly filed federal campaign finance records. The congresswoman rented a venue in San Juan, where she attended a Bad Bunny concert in August, as part of the expenditures.
The spending occurred as Ocasio-Cortez used her social media platforms to criticize what she described as rising gentrification pressures on the island.
The “first-class,” “adults only” Palacio Provincial boasts of being “situated within an historic early 19th century building” with “transcendent hints of the structure’s grand colonial past,” according to the New York Post.
On Aug. 25, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress, the lawmaker’s campaign organization, reported an additional $3,861.20 payment to Hotel El Convento, a 19th-century property in San Juan known for its “old world charm and elegance,” according to Federal Election Commission filings.
In total, Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign spent $15,489.77 on lodging in Puerto Rico between July 1 and Sept. 30, according to Federal Election Commission records.
The filings also show $10,743.13 in expenses for meals and catering services on Aug. 25 and Sept. 29.
During the same period, the 34-year-old congresswoman was seen attending the Aug. 10 anti-ICE rapper’s concert in San Juan, where she appeared alongside Brooklyn Rep. Nydia Velázquez.
Other notable figures in attendance included NBA star LeBron James, hip-hop artist Iggy Azalea, actress Penélope Cruz, and actor Austin Butler, The Post reported.
FEC records also show that Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign paid more than $23,000 for “venue rental” at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico on June 24 and Aug. 25. It is not clear whether those expenditures were connected to the Bad Bunny performances.
Fox News first reported on the filings. In a statement to the outlet, Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign manager, Oliver Hidalgo-Wohlleben, said the congresswoman “regularly travels to Puerto Rico to support local causes and host events that require both staff and security.”
“She is deeply proud of her investment in grassroots organizing and will continue to be active in advocating for both people on the island and the millions of Puerto Ricans in the diaspora,” Hidalgo-Wohlleben added.
Throughout the third quarter, Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign also reported significant spending on “boutique” hotel stays and high-end food vendors in the continental United States, including during her “Fighting Oligarchy” tour with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Filings show $6,600 in lodging expenses at the Hotel Vermont in Burlington. Additional campaign funds covered roughly $2,000 for a stay at the Thompson Central Park Hotel in Manhattan and about $3,000 for lodging at the Arlo Williamsburg in Brooklyn, the two outlets reported.
Other expenditures included $6,300 for a meal at Ama, an Italian restaurant in Washington’s Navy Yard neighborhood. Campaign records also show an additional $11,500 in dining expenses across Washington, D.C., Vermont, the Bronx, and Latham, New York — as well as payments to the ice cream vendor Mr. Ding-a-ling.
Ocasio-Cortez and socialism have taken quite a few hits in recent weeks.
Just before New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani arrived in Washington for his first meeting with President Trump, the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan resolution condemning what it called the “horrors of socialism.”
“A yes vote on this resolution should be a relatively straightforward, easy decision. It simply states that Congress denounces socialism in all its forms and opposes the implementation of socialist policies in the United States of America,” Republican Arkansas Rep. French Hill said.
The measure passed in a bipartisan vote of 285-98. Among the 86 Democrats who backed it were 14 members from New York and New Jersey, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who endorsed Mamdani only in the final moments of the mayoral race.
