Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she will wait until after the midterms to decide whether she runs for president in 2028 or challenges Sen. Chuck Schumer for his New York Senate seat. She has also said she would not be devastated if she ends up out of elective office entirely.
Polling cited in a recent NY Post opinion piece suggests Ocasio-Cortez would have a strong chance of beating Schumer in a Democratic primary, which in deep-blue New York would likely translate into a general election win in November. That same polling, however, shows her statewide popularity has been slipping.
If she opts out of the Senate race, the Democratic Socialists of America may instead back Chi Ossé to challenge Schumer.
On the presidential front, Ocasio-Cortez currently polls as the strongest name floated among Democratic prospects for 2028, though that early standing carries limited weight this far from the race. She is already one of Congress’s top fundraisers and is widely seen as a natural successor to Sen. Bernie Sanders as a leader of the party’s left flank, even though the coalitions the two have built differ in some respects.
Her positions — opposing fracking, abolishing ICE, backing socialized health care and free college — sit firmly on the left edge of the Democratic Party. Support for socialism generally has been rising nationally, with 43% of Americans telling Gallup they view it favorably.
Ocasio-Cortez has framed her openness to leaving elected office as a genuine option rather than a talking point, saying she doesn’t need to win another race to keep making an impact.
