Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) announced Thursday that she has raised $1 million for Texas relief efforts and will visit the state this weekend.
“Team AOC is launching relief efforts for Texas starting today. Our first effort is a partnership w/ 5 Texas orgs getting on-the-ground relief to Texans ASAP,” Ocasio-Cortez announced Thursday afternoon, asking people to donate and noting her intentions to split the contributions among the five organizations:
Nearly two hours later, the New York lawmaker announced that she had already raised “$325k for food, housing, elder care & direct relief straight to vulnerable Texans.”
“This might be a little crazy… but can we raise $1M by midnight?” she asked:
The organizations did reach the goal before midnight, according to Ocasio-Cortez.
“As a thank you to everyone who contributed & amplified, I’ll be going to Texas this weekend to visit w/ @LaCongresista in Houston & highlight what’s happening on the ground,” she said, announcing her trip:
Ocasio-Cortez’s fundraiser coincides with President Biden’s Thursday call to Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) to discuss the severe weather and the devastating impact it has made on millions of Texans:
“President Biden conveyed his support to the people of Texas in this trying time,” the White House said of the call, adding that Biden “reiterated that the federal government will continue to work hand-in-hand with state and local authorities in Texas to bring relief and address the critical needs of the families affected.”
325,000 Texans were still without power as of Thursday, Abbott announced during a news conference.
“As of this afternoon there are no residential power outages due to lack of power generation,” Abbott said in a Thursday evening update.
“If any residence doesn’t have power it is due to downed power lines or the need for the power company to manually reconnect,” he added. “If you don’t have power contact your local power provider.”
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