Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has accused establishment Democrats of treating her “like shit” as progressive activists urged her to run for president in 2028.
In a 100-minute long video posted on Instagram, the 37-year-old congresswoman from New York said that the party had a “remarkable opportunity” to pass left-wing policies after the midterm elections. She also accused the party’s leadership of starving funds from left-wing candidates during the campaign.
“There’s this huge conversation about candidates that were under invested in,” Ocasio-Cortez said. She cited Angie Nixon, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America who came within 240,000 votes of flipping Florida from red to blue, but ultimately lost to the Republican candidate Ashley Moody.
“If Angie Nixon had just had a little bit of that support, that outcome could have changed. But that money has to come from somewhere and it comes from these people,” Ocasio-Cortez said in reference to the party’s Senate leadership.
Reflecting on the period after she was first elected to Congress in 2018 at the age of 29, Ocasio-Cortez accused senior Democrats of being “horrifically cruel” to her. “I mean I was treated like shit,” she said. “Everybody took a swing at me.”
The Bronx congresswoman is seen as the likeliest progressive candidate to run for the Democratic nomination for president in 2028.
I’d personally rather see her jump to the Senate for a term, or NY Governor, before trying for the presidency. I’d say the same for any House rep. Governors and Senators have the clearest parallels to the office, as executive and foreign-policy roles themselves.
I think AOC is a high-variance candidate - much the same way Trump was in 2016 - and she will either get much more or much less support than expected in the general election.
I think her biggest electoral baggage will be her statements over the years on the ‘Woke 1.0’ items that the electorate soured on. She has moderated her past statements here more recently, which leaves a lot of doubt as to her actual beliefs and policy goals. She’ll be attacked for that from the left and the right, and it will take oxygen away from a progressive economic agenda that would likely be broadly popular if explained well.
Whoever the dem candidate ends up being, I doubt they can rely on the same level of support as the party received in the midterms. 2 years is an eternity in politics and 2028 will likely be defined by some new crisis that isn’t even on our radar right now. If she runs, I’ll likely vote for her (at least, based on who else seems to be running as of now).
We simply don’t have time, we’re in need of that once in a generation leader right now and she’s the best we’ve got.
There are plenty candidates who could jump in and do a great job. The campaign hasn’t even started yet. I genuinely don’t think jumping from the House to President is a good move, someone needs to hold a higher office first to demonstrate their ability to manage a much larger organization than a House office.
The only person ever elected directly from the House was James Garfield in 1880. Most presidents were previously senators or governors. The only person ever elected without holding any prior office was Donald Trump in 2016.
Jon Ossoff
I have little idea who this is mostly, but I know he came sort of out of nowhere and has been pushed relentlessly in the media, and that make me suspicious. Why him? Why now? Does he have more corporate-friendly moderate-conservative Democratic views that people with money prefer as the alternative? I genuinely don’t know. I really wonder if conservative money interests are scared of AOC and so they are pushing a more moderate Democrat. I don’t know his policies at all though, so maybe I am wrong?
He’s kind of a Sheldon whitehouse type progressive corpo dem. I don’t think he has principles but he’s at least better than schumer/Jeffries/pelosi.
We don’t have to settle.
Fully agree!! I was just trying to give the most factual description I could.
Definitely check him out, he got elected the same time as Warnock. Look at his record, watch some of his speeches. He’s great.
Jon Ossof isn’t a progressive; he’s a spicy centrist. He voted for the Laken Riley Act and his record on Israel while not wholly bad is way too mixed.
I don’t know as much about him but everything I have seen/heard is promising.
only one sitting house rep has been elected president. ONE. garfield, in 1880. a 9-term rep, and at that time he was already chosen by his state legislature to be a senator… so like a ‘senator elect’ today… which he declined when he won his presidential campaign.
Might I remind you, we elected a twice-impeached, pedophilic reality show star. I think we are well past historical precedents, here.
Yeah I like AOC and would vote for her, but I don’t think 2028 is her year. She has a lot of qualities that each individually could lose support: she’s a woman, non-white, vocally progressive, relatively young, only a Rep, and has a long history of demonization by the right.
None of those traits is particularly damning alone (to the general population, I don’t have a problem with any of it personally), but taken together that’s a lot of hill to climb.
I’d like to see her go for a couple terms in the Senate, which would take care of the “relatively young” and “only a Rep”. Plus, hopefully the landscape shifts more progressive which would make her less of an outlier.
I think 47 year old Senator Cortez is a much better bet than 39 year old Representative Cortez, and I’d rather not spoil the former by pushing the latter.
I feel like she could win anyway. She’s just a natural star politician. It’s a mix of things: the model looks, the clear explanation of policy, the fact that she is relatable in a way so many are not. I think she’d easily win. I think she’d even do okay with the racists… she’s just that likable. Why not have 2028 be her year? If not 2028, when? There’s always a reason among corporate elite conservative Democrats to avoid someone too helpful to the poor and middle class, isn’t there?
I don’t disagree with her positives, I just think she’s on the young side to win in 2028.
I think you underestimate how much the right wing media has demonized her. I like her, you like her, but a lot of people think she’s a dumb waitress.
2036, after a stint in the Senate. She’ll be older, she’ll have experience in the Upper House, it’s just a much better position for a win.
This isn’t about corporate Democrats, this is about progressives acting strategically. I think it would be much better to run an established progressive Senator or Governor in 2028.
Give her the podium to debate a Republican on national TV. No one will think that anymore. It’s easily dealt with, even an advantage. They don’t know her yet, so Republicans think many USA Americans hate her. But she is great, middle America just doesn’t know yet.
I disagree. Yes, I like her, but you’re extremely optimistic about how middle America will react. I fear that your perception is biased by surrounding yourself with progressives, not that I blame you. I implore you to spend more time talking to “average” Americans. A very large number don’t respect her, and think she’s not even qualified for the House. Never mind her credentials, they think she’s a dumb commie waitress.
Many people are going to think that no matter what. I wish it were otherwise, but people talk to me about their political views. She is a very controversial figure. This isn’t speculation, this is talking to actual people about what they believe.
I want her to run, and I want her to win. And the last thing I want is for her to jump the gun on an early run and ruin her future chances. I would’ve liked to see Walz run, but the Harris campaign is an albatross around his neck. I do not want her to suffer the same fate, I want her to actually win when she runs.
Again, she would be 39 in '28. That’s four years younger than JFK, the youngest person ever elected President. That’s going to be too young for a lot of people.
There’s simply no evidence that the plausibly Democratic electorate has a problem with any of these. Capturing swing voters is nice but it’s not how elections are won.
The primary two I’m focused on are her age and highest office. She is a 37 year old House Representative.
As others have pointed out, only one other President (Garfield) was just a House Representative, and even he was elected to the Senate. And the youngest president ever elected was JFK at 43.
I’m not betting on the youngest, first female, first House Rep. becoming President. I’ll bet on the first female president when she’s not the youngest and has been Senator or Governor.
Maybe the political landscape will radically change over the next year, I’m not opposed to the idea and that would be awesome honestly. But that’s a lot of firsts to tackle, especially when fascism is so pungent in the air.
Put out a 45+ white male progressive for a term or two, lay some groundwork, and then hit’em with Senator Cortez’s campaign.