By She can’t help but fall to the tempatation, it seems. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is again under fire, this time over campaign filings showing nearly $50,000 in expenses for luxury hotels, dining, and the rental of a major Puerto Rico concert venue where Bad Bunny performed. The disclosures — detailed in recent reports — have reignited questions about how federal campaigns deploy donor funds, and whether the spending aligns with the New York lawmaker’s populist brand.
According to the filings, Ocasio-Cortez’s committee booked stays at high-end properties, including Hotel Palacio Provincial and Hotel El Convento, during the third quarter of 2025, part of a broader spending pattern that included more than $10,000 in food and catering while her team operated on the island. More than $23,000 went toward renting the Coliseo de Puerto Rico, the same arena that hosted a Bad Bunny concert in August, according to a report by The New York Post.
Critics have seized on the numbers as evidence of a widening gap between the congresswoman’s rhetoric and practice. Her campaign, however, has defended the expenses as legitimate costs tied to political outreach, insisting the travel reflects longstanding commitments in the region. In a statement, the campaign said she “regularly travels to Puerto Rico to support local causes and host events that require both staff and security” and emphasized that she is “deeply proud of her investment in grassroots organizing.”
The filings also show similar high-dollar travel and dining across the mainland, including boutique hotel stays and pricey meals in Vermont and New York connected to her travel with Sen. Bernie Sanders during their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour — a detail certain to draw further scrutiny as the House enters an election cycle defined by economic discontent and rising concern over political fundraising.
This isn’t the first time that AOC has faced scrutiny for living the life of luxury. In 2023, the New York congresswoman, and potential 2028 frontrunner, came under an ethics investigation for her infamous “Tax The Rich” dress she wore to the swanky Met Gala.
At the time, The New York Times reported, “Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made international headlines when she wore a white gown scrawled with the words ‘Tax the Rich’ to the star-studded Met Gala in New York in September 2021. But now, congressional investigators have found ‘substantial reason to believe’ that she might have violated House ethics rules and perhaps federal law by accepting gifts associated with the event.
At issue are the payments for the rental of the dress, jewelry, shoes and bag she wore to the event, as well as the costs of her makeup, hair, transportation and about $5,000 for a share of rooms at the Carlyle Hotel, where she prepared for the gala.
Her campaign did eventually pay for all the costs from her personal accounts, as required by law. But it did so only after the House Ethics Committee began an inquiry into the issue in March 2022, an investigation by the Office of Congressional Ethics found.
‘It appears several thousands of dollars’ worth of services may have remained unpaid’ had it not been for the ethics office beginning its review, the office found.
Today’s revelations just continue the trend of AOC’s hypocrisy, sparking commentary across social media and political forums, with detractors highlighting the contrast between the congresswoman’s fiery critiques of gentrification and the campaign’s travel patterns. Supporters, of course, see no problem with themselves being rich, it’s just the others who are a problem.
For now, the congresswoman’s team maintains that every dollar was accounted for and tied to campaign duties. As the reporting cycle unfolds — and as ethics debates again sharpen in Congress — the spending will likely serve as another flashpoint in the broader conversation about how lawmakers steward donor dollars in an era of relentless political fundraising.
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