Two of the Democratic Party's most prominent Senate candidates are taking money from a host who has made his contempt for America a public brand.
Texas Senate hopeful James Talarico and former Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown are slated to appear Monday evening at a high-dollar fundraiser in downtown Manhattan, according to an invitation cited by the Washington Free Beacon. The event is hosted by a committee that includes actor Robert De Niro, actress Gina Gershon, and Alexis Bittar — a jewelry designer who, in a July interview, described the United States as a "sh--hole" while promoting a documentary about the American flag.
The fundraiser carries contribution levels running from $500 to $27,000, per the Free Beacon. Its location is listed as undisclosed. The Free Beacon first reported the host committee roster; Conservative Review and Fox News also covered the event.
Bittar's recent record goes well beyond the single insult. During that July interview, he questioned what Americans were doing to create "the country we want to live in," then added: "I have three kids, and they're little, and they're growing up in this sh--hole." He has also described the American flag as "a symbol of aggression."
His political activity tracks the same direction. In a June Instagram post promoting Brooklyn socialist Claire Valdez — who defeated a Democratic establishment candidate in a House primary this summer — Bittar wrote, "Hey people … it's voting time!!! Bringing in all the Democrat Socialists!! Let's change America." The Free Beacon also reports that Bittar co-hosted a fundraiser for Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed earlier this year.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist elected in 2025, counted Bittar among his top financial bundlers during the campaign, according to reporting by Gothamist cited by the Free Beacon. In one of several Instagram posts, Bittar appears with El-Sayed and attacks "Zionists, AIPAC, and Jews who supposedly control the media," writing that El-Sayed may lose only because "the Zi*nist machine, and main media like Ellison (now owns CNN, CBS etc,) and AIPAC's hold over this country and politicians do not want any Progressive Dems to win because of their stance on the middle east."
The money flowing to Talarico is not coming from the state he wants to represent. More than 55 percent of his campaign contributions came from out-of-state donors as of figures reported by the Texas Tribune in July, with roughly 44 percent coming from Texas. By comparison, Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton drew 82 percent of his contributions from inside Texas and 18 percent from outside.
The host committee roster reads like a directory of the national donor class: Charles Alaimo, a Democratic megadonor and managing director at Group One Trading; Cedomir Crnkovic, a former managing director at D. E. Shaw & Co.; Charles Myers, founder of Signum Global Advisors and a former adviser to Hillary Clinton; Jane Rosenthal, cofounder of the Tribeca Film Festival; and Bill Derrough, a corporate banker at Jefferies, per the Free Beacon.
The optics are notable for candidates running in red states. Talarico has promoted his campaign as a "people powered" movement to "take back Texas," yet his New York stop is bankrolled by a host who funds self-described Democratic Socialists and who has built marketing campaigns around a fictional female serial killer.
That last detail is not a metaphor. Bittar created what V Magazine described as a "digital content series" about a fictional Brooklyn serial killer named Amanda Gates. In the videos, an actress playing Gates strangles a male victim to death while wearing Alexis Bittar earrings. "I am always intrigued by people who kill," Bittar told V Magazine in December 2025, saying the project would "raise the bar" for marketing.
Talarico's own history with national symbols has drawn scrutiny before. Fox News reported ahead of Independence Day that he had called the American flag a "complicated symbol.
The Talarico and Brown campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the fundraiser or on Bittar's remarks. It is not yet known how much the Monday event raised.
Our Take
Here is the trade Democrats are making in 2026: run candidates who talk like populists in Texas and Ohio, then fly them to Manhattan to collect $27,000 checks from a donor who calls the country they want to govern a "sh--hole."
Patriots, the question is simple. There would be a circular firing squad. With Bittar and Talarico, the press looks away.
The deeper issue is what this fundraiser tells you about who owns the modern Democratic Party. Bittar bundled for Mamdani. Bittar co-hosted for El-Sayed. Bittar posted for Valdez. The socialist wing is not a fringe anymore — it is the fundraising base, and candidates like Talarico and Brown are happy to stand in the receiving line.
Talarico says he wants to "take back Texas." Texans might reasonably ask: take it back for whom? The out-of-state donors funding more than half his campaign, or the New York jeweler who thinks the country is a dump? The ballot box in November is where that question gets answered.
