The two most prominent progressives in Congress have outstripped the contributions of years past in 2025 as they ride the momentum of primetime attention progressives have received in recent months.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has raised $19.8 million from the start of the year through September, FEC filings reveal — dwarfing contributions from the 2023-2024 election cycle. She raised $15.2 million in those two years.
In similar fashion, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has collected $19 million in 2025. That’s more than half of what he raised between 2019-2024.
The pair’s windfall has dovetailed with issues of national focus that have heightened progressives’ visibility. The government shutdown, the race for New York City mayor and persistent questions about the party’s direction have all given figures like Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders a platform to make their case — even as the rest of the party has struggled to offer an alternative vision to Republican momentum.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who also aligns with the leftward-leaning flank of the party, believes donors within the Democrat base are looking for something else and are willing to spend to show it.
“More than seven million people showed up on No Kings Day,” Warren said, referring to a series of protests against the administration that took place over the weekend in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere. “They are deeply worried about the direction that Donald Trump is taking this country, and they want a way to fight back. Political contributions are part of the way to being in the fight.”
Warren suggested that support might be reciprocal to the Trump administration’s aggressive pursuit of its priorities in its first nine months in a way that wasn’t as prescient before the election.
“It’s beyond anything we’ve seen in modern history,” Warren said. “Folks might be excused for not having anticipated it.”
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Progressives could also be seeing more support in Congress because of what’s happening on the outside. Sanders pointed to Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for New York City mayor, as one example of progressives finding the right faces to represent their movement and generate momentum.
“He’s got 80,000 volunteers knocking on doors. He’s generated a lot of excitement. He’s exactly the type of candidate we need all over this country,” Sanders said.
Republicans have leaped at the opportunity to paint the visibility of progressives as emblematic of where the party is headed.
In one such case, GOP figures have made the case that the current government shutdown, now in its 23rd day, is a way for Senate Democratic leadership to keep the far-left base from cannibalizing more central figures in the party.
That’s a refrain House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has used repeatedly since the government went into a shutdown on Oct. 1 after lawmakers failed to reach an agreement over spending legislation.
“This shutdown is nothing more than political cover for Chuck Schumer and the Democrats. They are worried about the Marxist flank in the Democrat Party. The Marxists are about to elect a mayor in New York City. That’s Chuck Schumer’s state, and he’s terrified that he’s going to get a challenge from his far left,” Johnson said earlier this month.
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When asked if progressives are undergoing a watershed moment, Sanders said that they have simply adjusted to the country’s political landscape.
“The platform changes every day with the changing world,” Sanders said. “It’s a tough situation.”
