A radical socialist jeweler—who once dressed Michelle Obama and markets his jewelry with macabre dramatizations of a female serial killer—is set to host a big-dollar fundraiser for James Talarico and Sherrod Brown in New York City on Monday.
The Texas and Ohio Democratic Senate hopefuls will appear with Dirty Grandpa star Robert De Niro and Showgirls star Gina Gershon at the soirée, which is scheduled at an undisclosed location in downtown Manhattan. Top tickets will go for $27,000 a pop.
Listed first among the host committee is Alexis Bittar, a self-described "drug addict dropout" who has made no secret of his far-left activism and contempt for the United States and its flag—a worldview less popular among Brown's and Talarico's red state voters than in far-left downtown Manhattan.
"Hey people … it's voting time!!! Bringing in all the Democrat Socialists!! Let's change America," he said in a June Instagram post on behalf of Brooklyn socialist Claire Valdez, who defeated a Democratic establishment candidate in a House primary this summer.
In an August Instagram spot with Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, Bittar declared that "the traditional Democrats have one foot in the grave!! The revolution has begun!"
Bittar, who cohosted a fundraiser for El-Sayed earlier this year, is also a close ally of New York City's socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani and was a top financial bundler for him during the campaign, Gothamist reported. Like Mamdani and El-Sayed, he despises Israel and appears to have a problem with Jews. In one of several Instagram posts featuring a photo of him with El-Sayed, Bittar attacked familiar left-wing targets: Zionists, AIPAC, and Jews who supposedly control the media. 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."
In a 2016 interview, Bittar also noted that his parents were both socialists.
Bittar, known for affordable jewelry featuring lucite and crystals, says that "traditional marketing approaches are dead." He recently pursued an unusual marketing campaign, creating what V Magazine called a "digital content series" about a fictional female serial killer from Brooklyn named Amanda Gates. An actress playing Gates in the videos can be seen strangling a male victim to death while she wears gaudy Alexis Bittar earrings.
"I am always intrigued by people who kill," Bittar told V Magazine in December 2025, explaining why he was drawn to the project, which he said would "raise the bar" for marketing.
Former first lady Michelle Obama repeatedly wore his jewelry, including during her husband's State of the Union address, something Bittar gushed about to the Huffington Post in his February 2013 piece "What It Is Like to Design for Michelle Obama."
Bittar and the former first lady also hung out together at the White House, photos show. Bittar visited the Obama White House at least three times, according to visitor logs.
He's also collaborated with Vivian Wilson, Elon Musk's estranged transgender child. In an interview published just one day before the 250th birthday of the United States, Bittar blasted the country as "a shithole."
His most recent project has been an exploration of the American flag done in the form of a 33-minute documentary he produced with filmmaker Bruce Cohen.
"It's become such a symbol of aggression, the American flag, like 'we're coming for you' during Trump's era," Bittar told Forbes during an interview promoting the film. "How tragic is this, like this is where we're at that the ultimate symbol of the United States, is now used as a weapon to bifurcate?"
The documentary, Reclaim the Flag, features various notable LGBT personages talking about how the American flag makes them uncomfortable.
"When you walk past a house that has an American flag stoked [sic] in a yard, your immediate thought as a queer person is 'I am not welcome here,' that it's a sign of bigotry and it's a sign of fear," said musician King Princess.
Former White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre also has a cameo in the film.
Bittar did not respond to a request for comment. Neither the Talarico nor the Brown campaigns returned a request for comment.
