Shop AOC! Socialist pol sells $58 hoodies like a proud capitalist would

For a socialist, she’s one heck of a capitalist!

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Queens, Bronx) is running a robust retail operation that would make Jeff Bezos envious, shelling out $2 million since January 2021 on campaign merch that is flying off the shelves.

The products hawked on her campaign website include $58 “Tax the Rich” sweatshirts — currently sold out — $28 Green New Deal hats and $27 tees that say “Drink Water & Don’t Be A Racist.” A “Better World Is Possible” sweatshirt for $58 is sold out in all but one size.

Like true cut-throat capitalists, the campaign appears to have marked up the AOC gear by more than double the wholesale cost. The bulk purchase price for plain black sweatshirts, similar to the one used for the “Tax the Rich” item, is $22.84.

“Espousing one set of beliefs while practicing another might be the most typically liberal thing about AOC,” said GOP consultant Luke Thompson.

US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the 2019 Athena Film Festival.
Rep Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign merch has been flying off the shelves.
Getty Images for The Athena Film

The campaign buys the goods from Financial Innovations, a Cranston, RI wholesaler specializing in custom political products that it touts as being made in the US or Canada in union shops.

The AOC campaign gave the company $1.8 million worth of business, according to the latest Federal Election Commission data which covers the period from Dec. 25, 2020, through Aug. 3, 2022.

“Tax the Rich” sweatshirts -- $58 Green New Deal hats -- $28
Sweatshirts from AOC’s campaign range in price from $28-58.

“Drink Water & Don’t Be A Racist” T-shirts -- $27.
AOC’s “”Drink Water & Don’t Be A Racist” T-shirt is $27.

The campaign’s merchandising expenses also included $49,948 to the e-commerce business Shopify for various website-related costs and at least $4,400 in design fees for the merchandise.

It is unclear how much the congresswoman’s campaign made off the sale of the tees, shirts, hats, socks, pins, and other goods. A purchase is considered a campaign donation and is not specifically itemized in FEC records as a merchandise sale.

A picture of AOC's "Green New Deal hats."
A person can purchase a “Green New Deal hats” for $28.

Socks with the phrase "The Green New Deal."
Socks with the phrase “The Green New Deal” can be found on Ocasio-Cortez’s website.

But records show the campaign raked in $11.7 million in the current election cycle.

It’s not that she needs the money. Ocasio-Cortez is expected to handily defeat Republican opponent Tina Forte, who has raised a meager $1.2 million.

The two-term Democratic Socialist’s high-priced apparel line became a debate point this week in AOC’s Twitter spat with Elon Musk. After he announced blue-check Twitter users would be charged for their verified accounts, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted “Lmao at a billionaire earnestly trying to sell people on the idea that ‘free speech’ is actually an $8/mo subscription plan.”

a picture of "Tax The Rich" sweatshirt from AOC.
The campaign buys the goods from Financial Innovations, a wholesaler specializing in custom political products.

Ocasio-Cortez at the 9/11 Anniversary At Ground Zero.
Some reports predict Ocasio-Cortez to handily defeat Republican opponent Tina Forte.

Musk then mocked Ocasio-Cortez with a screenshot of one of her $58 campaign sweatshirts, alongside a thinking-face emoji.

Ocasio-Cortez tweeted back that she was “proud” of her merchandise, adding “Not to mention all proceeds go to community organizing like our Homework Helpers program which gives private tutoring to kids who’ve needed learning support since COVID: Check out our shop!”

A picture of one of aOC's mugs from her website.
Ocasio-Cortez said that all of the proceeds “go to community organizing like our Homework Helpers program which gives private tutoring to kids who’ve needed learning support since COVID.”

Campaign filings show that only $10,917 has gone to community groups since January 2021, including $4,217 to the Start Lighthouse organization in the Bronx for the Homework Helpers program; $5,000 to IOBY in Brooklyn, a crowd-funding group; $300 to the Poppenhusen Institute community center; $400 to New Immigrant Community Empowerment; $500 to the City Parks Foundation, and $500 to a group only described as City IslandO.

“Our campaign directly runs several charitable programs, including regular food distributions.  We also have seasonal programs like our back-to-school backpack giveaways and turkey distributions around the holidays,” said campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt.

Campaign filings show a $5,550 expense for turkeys in November 2021 and a $4,284 purchase of backpacks in August 2021.

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texasstandard.news contributed to this report.

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