Bernie Sanders spent over $550K in 2025 campaign funds on private jets, filings show
Transparency shouldn't be controversial.
FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who criss-crossed the country last year on a "Fight Oligarchy" tour with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., spent over $550,000 in 2025 on private jet travel for himself using campaign funds, a Fox News Digital review of Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings found.
The majority of the spending came in the first two quarters, which cover up until July. That is also when Sanders and AOC had the majority of their tour stops across the country.
In April, between stops on the tour, Fox News Digital exclusively obtained a photo of Sanders boarding a luxury Bombardier Challenger private jet at the Meadows Field Airport in Bakersfield, California. The source also indicated that they had spotted the New York congresswoman boarding the private jet as well.
The pair were subsequently also seen in footage obtained by Fox News Digital exiting the plane in Sacramento later that evening, near where the self-identified Democratic socialists hosted a second rally in one day.
AOC’S CAMPAIGN POURS MASSIVE CASH INTO LUXURY PUERTO RICO HOTELS, PRICEY CATERING AND BAD BUNNY VENUE RENTAL
The Bombardier Challenger private jet the pair flew on was operated by Ventura Air Services, which touts "one of the widest cabins of any business jet available today" and provides "superior cabin comfort for its passengers." According to their website, the private jet can cost up to $15,000 an hour.
In 2025, according to Sanders' FEC filings, he spent at least $354,000 in campaign funds to pay for private jet services through Ventura Jets. The other private jet companies Sanders spent campaign funds on included N-Jet and Cirrus Aviation Services.
According to N-Jet's website, the company pieds itself on their "personal touch," adding that customers will "arrive in style with your luxury, comfort, and safety always top of mind."
Sanders, who has been a vocal supporter of the Green New Deal, the aggressive climate change policy targeting carbon emissions and fossil fuel production, and has called climate change an "existential threat" to the world, was pressed about his private jet use last year, prompting him to tell Fox News' "Special Report" host Bret Baier that "that's the only way to get around."
"You run a campaign, and you do three or four or five rallies in a week. [It is] the only way you can get around to talk to 30,000 people. You think I'm gonna be sitting on a waiting line at United…while 30, 000 people are waiting?" Sanders said.
"That's the only way to get around. No apologies for that. That's what campaign travel is about. …
Transparency shouldn't be controversial.
FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who criss-crossed the country last year on a "Fight Oligarchy" tour with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., spent over $550,000 in 2025 on private jet travel for himself using campaign funds, a Fox News Digital review of Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings found.
The majority of the spending came in the first two quarters, which cover up until July. That is also when Sanders and AOC had the majority of their tour stops across the country.
In April, between stops on the tour, Fox News Digital exclusively obtained a photo of Sanders boarding a luxury Bombardier Challenger private jet at the Meadows Field Airport in Bakersfield, California. The source also indicated that they had spotted the New York congresswoman boarding the private jet as well.
The pair were subsequently also seen in footage obtained by Fox News Digital exiting the plane in Sacramento later that evening, near where the self-identified Democratic socialists hosted a second rally in one day.
AOC’S CAMPAIGN POURS MASSIVE CASH INTO LUXURY PUERTO RICO HOTELS, PRICEY CATERING AND BAD BUNNY VENUE RENTAL
The Bombardier Challenger private jet the pair flew on was operated by Ventura Air Services, which touts "one of the widest cabins of any business jet available today" and provides "superior cabin comfort for its passengers." According to their website, the private jet can cost up to $15,000 an hour.
In 2025, according to Sanders' FEC filings, he spent at least $354,000 in campaign funds to pay for private jet services through Ventura Jets. The other private jet companies Sanders spent campaign funds on included N-Jet and Cirrus Aviation Services.
According to N-Jet's website, the company pieds itself on their "personal touch," adding that customers will "arrive in style with your luxury, comfort, and safety always top of mind."
Sanders, who has been a vocal supporter of the Green New Deal, the aggressive climate change policy targeting carbon emissions and fossil fuel production, and has called climate change an "existential threat" to the world, was pressed about his private jet use last year, prompting him to tell Fox News' "Special Report" host Bret Baier that "that's the only way to get around."
"You run a campaign, and you do three or four or five rallies in a week. [It is] the only way you can get around to talk to 30,000 people. You think I'm gonna be sitting on a waiting line at United…while 30, 000 people are waiting?" Sanders said.
"That's the only way to get around. No apologies for that. That's what campaign travel is about. …
Bernie Sanders spent over $550K in 2025 campaign funds on private jets, filings show
Transparency shouldn't be controversial.
FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who criss-crossed the country last year on a "Fight Oligarchy" tour with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., spent over $550,000 in 2025 on private jet travel for himself using campaign funds, a Fox News Digital review of Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings found.
The majority of the spending came in the first two quarters, which cover up until July. That is also when Sanders and AOC had the majority of their tour stops across the country.
In April, between stops on the tour, Fox News Digital exclusively obtained a photo of Sanders boarding a luxury Bombardier Challenger private jet at the Meadows Field Airport in Bakersfield, California. The source also indicated that they had spotted the New York congresswoman boarding the private jet as well.
The pair were subsequently also seen in footage obtained by Fox News Digital exiting the plane in Sacramento later that evening, near where the self-identified Democratic socialists hosted a second rally in one day.
AOC’S CAMPAIGN POURS MASSIVE CASH INTO LUXURY PUERTO RICO HOTELS, PRICEY CATERING AND BAD BUNNY VENUE RENTAL
The Bombardier Challenger private jet the pair flew on was operated by Ventura Air Services, which touts "one of the widest cabins of any business jet available today" and provides "superior cabin comfort for its passengers." According to their website, the private jet can cost up to $15,000 an hour.
In 2025, according to Sanders' FEC filings, he spent at least $354,000 in campaign funds to pay for private jet services through Ventura Jets. The other private jet companies Sanders spent campaign funds on included N-Jet and Cirrus Aviation Services.
According to N-Jet's website, the company pieds itself on their "personal touch," adding that customers will "arrive in style with your luxury, comfort, and safety always top of mind."
Sanders, who has been a vocal supporter of the Green New Deal, the aggressive climate change policy targeting carbon emissions and fossil fuel production, and has called climate change an "existential threat" to the world, was pressed about his private jet use last year, prompting him to tell Fox News' "Special Report" host Bret Baier that "that's the only way to get around."
"You run a campaign, and you do three or four or five rallies in a week. [It is] the only way you can get around to talk to 30,000 people. You think I'm gonna be sitting on a waiting line at United…while 30, 000 people are waiting?" Sanders said.
"That's the only way to get around. No apologies for that. That's what campaign travel is about. …
