This is a familiar story.

Controversial candidate’s race attracts a ton of money even though the candidate can’t lose and their opponent can’t win. The story is familiar and so is the subject.

All the money in the world is not likely to influence the outcome of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s re-election bid in November.

But that has not stopped people from trying: The contest has improbably become the second most expensive House race in the country.

Money has been pouring in from all sides. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, has raised $17.3 million, much of it from small donors attracted to her star power, progressive policies and outsize social media presence.

Her Republican challenger, John Cummings, a 60-year-old former schoolteacher at St. Raymond High School for Boys in the Bronx and a former officer for the New York Police Department, has collected $9.6 million in his first bid for office.

His campaign war chest exceeds all but a dozen or so House incumbents. 

This is a majority Latino district crammed with some white hipsters. Some of that money could preserve and even win GOP Senate seats. But AOC is a superbly obnoxious political troll. And attracts money. 

Contesting every race makes sense, but allocating funds to winnable races is the difference between winning and losing.

Meanwhile, AOC, like the rest of the squad, is happy to cram in donations.

Chapin D. Fay, Mr. Cummings’s campaign manager, acknowledged that an upset was still unlikely, given the district’s overwhelmingly Democratic composition, but he suggested that his candidate’s fund-raising totals underscored how polarizing Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is among voters.

“I just sensed that national fund-raising against someone like A.O.C. would be successful,” Mr. Fay said. “I can’t take credit for knowing it was going to be this successful, but we knew he would be able to put a few bucks together to run a race.”

Yup. She’s polarizing. And the Republican obsession with her helped make her that much more famous. And, at this rate, might get her to the Senate.