Think the 28-year-old millennial progressive ex-stripper from NY doesn’t stand a chance at taking Pennsylvania’s 3rd? Think again! She’s already blown past Republican opponent Dwight Evans in funds raised for her political campaign with a war chest now reaching $417,000, nearly the same amount Evans has raised, $500,000.
Instead of hiding behind her reputation as a stripper, Alexandra Hunt decided to embrace it and has garnered national buzz for her “Elect Hoes” slogan.
Her TikTok posts from the campaign trail tout the need for voters to “Elect Hoes”—a clapback at critics who’ve tried to shame her for her past sex work as well as a nod to the idea that other politicians are hoes of a different sort —“corporate whores.” It’s won her the attention of the national media and the backing of former presidential candidate Marianne Williamson. Momentum is growing. She’s inching toward the $500,000 raised by Evans and got enough signatures to make the ballot within the first week of circulating petitions. Here, she makes her case to voters for why she is more than just an outsider with a buzzy viral campaign — and is someone to be taken quite seriously.
According to PhillyMag.com, Hunt told the publication “I originally came to Philly to pursue a master’s degree at Drexel University and have spent my entire adulthood in this city. Before I knew it, I had fallen in love with Philly and its deep-rooted community. People really show up for each other, we have a strong turnout for marches and protests, we know our neighbors, our community fridges are constantly being stocked, and there is a lot of mutual aid. But this love and sense of community is not being reflected in the style of legislation governing Philly or in the amount of resources coming to folks on the ground.
When the pandemic first struck, I was working at Fox Chase Cancer Center, and I immediately asked to flex my schedule so I could be out in the community, helping to get out relief. I was volunteering at testing sites, I handed out menstrual items, I was at food distribution sites, I helped escort our frightened cancer patients to their appointments, I operated as a medic/crisis responder at the encampment that formed on the Parkway — Camp JTD. My decision to run came at a food distribution site. The line of people who were facing food insecurity was too long. I had this thought of “They’re not coming to help us,” and my next thought was, “What are you waiting for?” And that was it. I started to look into this seat and found an incumbent who wasn’t fighting for us, and then I started building this campaign to run against him.
As of last month, we’ve raised $415,000. We still have a lot of work to do, but I’m proud of how far we’ve come despite everyone’s doubts. The majority of my opponent’s money is corporate money, whereas 100 percent of ours is grassroots. We have more than 7,000 small-dollar donors, with our average contribution being $34. We are absolutely still an underdog, but a very determined underdog”.
