Claim:
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spent $50,000 in campaign funds to attend rapper and singer Bad Bunny’s concert while on a trip to Puerto Rico.
Rating:
What’s True
Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign spent nearly $50,000 on hotels, dining and other travel expenses for work in Puerto Rico over the course of several months.
What’s False
The congresswoman herself did not spend $50,000 alone in Puerto Rico, nor did she spend that amount specifically to attend a Bad Bunny concert.
What’s Undetermined
While there is no evidence the representative spent any of the campaign funds specifically on the Bad Bunny concert, her team did not immediately return a request for comment, meaning we could not definitively prove that she spent no campaign funds to attend the event.
In December 2025, social media users began spreading a rumor that U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., spent $50,000 in campaign funds while on a trip to Puerto Rico to attend a concert headlined by rapper and singer Bad Bunny.
The claim circulated on Facebook, Instagram and X. “Rep. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (AOC) caught using $50,000 dollars of campaign money on a Bad Bunny concert, high-end hotels, and catering in Puerto Rico,” text in the video of one Facebook post read, alongside footage of the representative dancing. One Snopes reader contacted us asking if Ocasio-Cortez spent “$50,000 at a bad bunny concert recently.”
This allegation conflated the representative’s attendance at a Bad Bunny concert in August 2025 with four months of campaign spending on hotels, catering and meals in Puerto Rico. Ocasio-Cortez did not spend $50,000 on her own individual travel and hotel reservations, nor is there any evidence that the spending was connected to her time at the concert.
The representative’s principal campaign committee reported the spending to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the information was publicly available online, so it was misleading to say she was “caught” or “busted.” Likewise, Ocasio-Cortez posted the footage, used in the videos featuring the claim, on her public social media account.
Given that some of the details of this claim were based in truth but the primary elements were inaccurate, we have rated it as mostly false.
Ocasio-Cortez’s family is from Puerto Rico and her district, New York’s 14th congressional district, has a large Puerto Rican population. As of this writing, the representative’s official congressional website included a landing page for legislation that advocates for the United States territory.
The representative’s team did not immediately return an inquiry as to whether she spent any campaign funds to attend the Bad Bunny concert. Legally, using campaign funds for personal use is prohibited.
Here’s how this claim spread — and how the representative’s campaign actually spent the money.
Origin of rumor
On Dec. 11, 2025, Fox News published an article (archived), titled: “AOC’s campaign pours massive cash into luxury Puerto Rico hotels, pricey catering and Bad Bunny venue rental.” The outlet said it analyzed campaign filings showing expenditures from June to September. The article began:
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s, D-N.Y., campaign spent nearly $50,000 in Puerto Rico between late June and September on luxury hotels, pricey meals and $23,000 on a “venue rental” at the same San Juan arena where she was spotted dancing in a suite at a Bad Bunny concert during an August trip to the U.S. territory.
Videos that emerged on social media from the August trip show AOC visiting a housing development to rail against gentrification while other footage from social media showed her dancing in what appears to be box seats at a Bad Bunny concert on Aug. 10 alongside Rep. Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y.
The social media footage Fox News mentioned was from Ocasio-Cortez’s personal Instagram account where, on Aug. 12, she posted a carousel of photos and videos from a trip to Puerto Rico, including a video of her dancing at the Bad Bunny concert. The collection also included a video of a rally led by an environmental community organization, Casa Pueblo, and a picture with a representative from Actívate PR, another community organization, highlighting her work in the territory.
Fox News also said the venue both Bad Bunny and Ocasio-Cortez booked was the Coliseo De Puerto Rico:
In two separate payments on June 24 and Aug. 25, AOC’s campaign also spent more than $23,000 on “Venue Rental” at the Coliseo De Puerto Rico, which is where Bad Bunny held multiple concerts as part of his “Residency” tour, including on Aug. 10, the day that AOC attended his concert. Fox News Digital could not confirm whether the payments were for multiple visits or whether a down payment was made and the final payment was paid later by the campaign.
However, at no point in the article did Fox News claim the representative booked the venue for the Bad Bunny concert. The Coliseo De Puerto Rico is a multipurpose indoor arena. According to the Puerto Rico Convention District Authority — a public corporation tasked with developing the district — the arena can be “configured in at least six different forms with capacities from 2,400 to 18,500 spectators.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign manager, Oliver Hidalgo-Wohlleben, reportedly told Fox News that she “regularly travels to Puerto Rico to support local causes and host events that require both staff and security.”
(For the purposes of accuracy, it was worth noting that the Instagram post Fox News used to claim Ocasio-Cortez attended the Bad Bunny concert on Aug. 10 was actually dated Aug. 5. The post did not explicitly state which day the representative attended. Bad Bunny held concerts in Puerto Rico on Aug. 8, 9 and 10.)
What the FEC filings show
Campaign finance reports filed in July and October show that the representative’s principal campaign committee, “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress,” spent $49,945.52 from June 24 to Sept. 29, 2025, in Puerto Rico, largely on hotels and venue rentals (see itemized expenses here and here). The finance reports cover spending from April 1, 2025, to Sept. 30, 2025.
As Fox News reported, her campaign did spend roughly $23,000 on “Venue Rental” at the Coliseo De Puerto Rico: $16,725 on June 24 and another $6,987.62 on Aug. 25 for a total of $23,712.62. Other major expenses included $9,440.79 for the Hotel Palacio Provincial on Sept. 29 — which is near the Port of San Juan and is generally listed as a 3-star hotel — and $8,561.30 for catering.
Below is a table showing the full breakdown of the representative’s campaign’s spending in Puerto Rico from April to September, none of which was spent on concert tickets.
Ultimately, this represented a drop in the bucket of the representative’s campaign’s spending portfolio. From July to September alone, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress raised nearly $4.5 million and spent almost $2.5 million. According to Open Secrets, a nonprofit that tracks money in politics, Ocasio-Cortez was the fifth-highest spender during the 2023 to 2024 election cycle among U.S. House members.
Political campaigns are costly. They also have “wide discretion in deciding how to spend their funds,” according to the FEC. Fundraising is one of the key components of political campaigns, and fundraising events often involve spending thousands in catering, venue rentals and travel.
During the 2023 to 2024 election cycle, the 1,886 candidates running for the House of Representatives reported total disbursements of $2.2 billion, according to the FEC.
The bottom line
It is true Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign spent nearly $50,000, largely on catering and hotels, in Puerto Rico between April and September 2025. However, the implication that Ocasio-Cortez spent this money for frivolous reasons ignored the fact that her campaign committee, not just her, spent the money and that catering and hotels are common expenses when engaged in political fundraising.
The representative also went to a Bad Bunny concert while in Puerto Rico, but there was simply no evidence she spent campaign funds to do so.
Sources
“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Instagram: ‘Mi Alma 🤍🩵♥️ 🇵🇷.'” Instagram, Aug. 2025, www.instagram.com/p/DNQ0hRix22F/?img_index=13. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.
“Casa Pueblo Adjuntas PR.” Casa Pueblo • Puerto Rico, casapueblo.org/.
“Coliseo de Puerto Rico | PRCDA.” Prcda.com, prcda.com/venues/coliseo-de-puerto-rico/.
“FEC Disclosure Form 3 for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress.” Fec.gov, docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00639591/1902035/. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.
“FEC Disclosure Form 3 for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress.” Fec.gov, docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00639591/1920441/. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.
“Fundraising Totals: Who Spent the Most?” OpenSecrets, www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/fundraising-totals?cycle=2024&type=A2&view=topspend. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.
Hollie, Mia, et al. “District 14 | Get to Know Your NYC City Council District.” Get to Know Your City Council District, THE CITY, June 2023, projects.thecity.nyc/new-york-city-council-district/district-14/. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.
Misión y Visión — Actívate PR. “Actívate PR.” Actívate PR, www.activatepr.org/nuestrahistoria. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.
“Palacio Provincial San Juan, Adults Only, Curio Collection by Hilton.” Getsanjuanhotels.com, palacio-provincial.getsanjuanhotels.com/en/. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.
“Palacio Provincial San Juan, Curio Collection by Hilton.” KAYAK, www.kayak.com/San-Juan-Hotels-Palacio-Provincial—Adults-Only.7222517.ksp. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.
“Personal Use – FEC.gov.” FEC.gov, www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/making-disbursements/personal-use/.
“Puerto Rico.” Representative Ocasio-Cortez, ocasio-cortez.house.gov/legislation/puerto-rico.
“Schedule B for Line #17 Committee: ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ for CONGRESS.” Fec.gov, docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00639591/1902035/sb/17/2. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.
“Schedule B for Line #17 Committee: ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ for CONGRESS.” Fec.gov, 2025, docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00639591/1920441/sb/17/2. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.
“Statistical Summary of 24-Month Campaign Activity of the 2023-2024 Election Cycle – FEC.gov.” FEC.gov, www.fec.gov/updates/statistical-summary-of-24-month-campaign-activity-of-the-2023-2024-election-cycle/.
Volle, Adam. “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez | American Politician | Britannica.” Www.britannica.com, 17 Aug. 2023, www.britannica.com/biography/Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez.
