AOC mulls Senate, presidential run: Report
Fox Information contributor Hugh Hewitt joined ‘Fox & Buddies First’ to debate what’s subsequent for AOC’s political profession and Jasmine Crockett’s remarks doubling down on her choice in opposition to a decision honoring Charlie Kirk.
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Rumors have swirled about “Squad” Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s political future since she joined Sen. Bernie Sanders’ high-profile “Combating Oligarchy” tour earlier this yr.
The youngest girl ever elected to Congress has develop into a number one progressive voice within the Democratic Occasion, amassing hundreds of thousands of social media followers and sparking hypothesis a couple of potential U.S. Senate run or White Home bid in 2028. Her rise to the nationwide stage comes as Democrats search for contemporary management after shedding up and down the poll final yr.
Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of workers and marketing campaign supervisor are each alumni of the Sanders marketing campaign. Mike Casca, her chief of workers, was previously Sanders’ deputy chief of workers and a fixture of Sanders’ political operation, each on the presidential marketing campaign path and again on Capitol Hill.
Her marketing campaign supervisor, Oliver Hidalgo-Wohlleben, has labored in politics for over a decade. Previous to becoming a member of Ocasio-Cortez’s crew in 2023, Hidalgo-Wohlleben was the political director of Sanders’ tremendous PAC, Buddies of Bernie Sanders, in accordance with his LinkedIn.
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., arrives at a “Combating Oligarchy” tour occasion at Arizona State College, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Tempe, Arizona. (AP Picture/Ross D. Franklin)
Hidalgo-Wohlleben additionally labored on Sanders’ 2020 presidential marketing campaign earlier than becoming a member of former President Joe Biden’s marketing campaign in Iowa, Hidalgo-Wohlleben’s LinkedIn profile revealed.
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“AOC is a fairly savvy politician with a robust operation,” Democratic strategist Mike Nellis informed Fox Information Digital. “It doesn’t matter what she decides to do, they’re setting her up for the long run.”
A Sanders alumnus himself, Nellis cautioned in opposition to putting an excessive amount of weight on what it means for former Sanders staffers to steer Ocasio-Cortez’s marketing campaign.
“I believe that’s simply who she is aware of and who she trusts,” Nellis, a former adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris, stated, including that Ocasio-Cortez has a “actually good crew round her.”
“It is strategic within the sense that they’ve lots of relationships already,” Democratic strategist Kaivan Shroff stated, whereas emphasizing that it may be a “mistake to maintain the outdated guard” if you end up attempting to construct one thing new.
“I do not know that someone goes to inherit the legacy of Bernie Sanders,” Shroff added.
Axios lately reported that, in accordance with individuals conversant in Ocasio-Cortez’s political operation, her crew is positioning her to run for president or the U.S. Senate in 2028.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., speaks throughout a rally in New York Metropolis on Might 1, 2025. (AP Picture/Angelina Katsanis)
Schumer is up for re-election in 2028. By then, he may have served 47 years in Congress.
“AOC does not want the Senate,” Republican strategist Matt Gorman informed Fox Information Digital. “The Senate, at this level, is simply too small for her. I might anticipate her to run for president 2028.”
Whether or not she chooses to run for president or the Senate, Nellis stated Ocasio-Cortez has the potential to draw voters who do not sometimes interact within the political course of, very like the coalition President Donald Trump has constructed.
“If you end up an unconventional candidate outdoors the mainstream, outdoors the institution, you may get lots of people who will tune in and have interaction that perhaps in any other case would not since you’re giving voice to them in a significant means,” Nellis stated.
However Shroff stated that Ocasio-Cortez is not prepared for a presidential marketing campaign.
“She completely mustn’t run for president,” Shroff stated. “It might be means too quickly. I do not assume she’s actually achieved sufficient to justify that.”
“For the Senate, I see that as extra reasonable, particularly in a state like New York, that is clearly extra liberal,” Shroff added, arguing that “some very loyal base Democrats have misplaced their persistence” with Schumer, so his vulnerability might enhance Ocasio-Cortez’s possibilities of securing the Senate seat.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., greeted the group collectively throughout a “Combating Oligarchy” tour occasion at Arizona State College, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Tempe, Arizona. (Ross D. Franklin)
Shroff stated Ocasio-Cortez’s “media profile and persona and charisma” aren’t sufficient to win the presidency, particularly when working in opposition to figures like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, lengthy thought of to harbor presidential aspirations.
The New Yorker sparked extra marketing campaign buzz this month for taking part in an commercial straight difficult Trump and advocating in favor of California redistricting.
Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders have each endorsed and campaigned this yr for New York Metropolis Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, a self-described Democratic socialist.
If Mamdani wins the mayoral election in November, Shroff stated it might be a litmus take a look at for the fashionable progressive department of the Democratic Occasion.
“It will likely be difficult for him as a result of I do not assume he can do lots of the issues that he stated, and so how quickly will that leftist ideology be debunked on a nationwide stage? The earlier that occurs, the more serious it’s for AOC,” Shroff stated.
In April, Ocasio-Cortez’s marketing campaign account posted a video on X that drove rumors she might be mulling a presidential run because the four-term Democrat from New York Metropolis and the progressive chief proclaimed, “We’re one.”
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When requested later that month if she was harboring any presidential ambitions, the younger Democrat didn’t rule out 2028 presidential aspirations to Fox Information Digital.
“Bernie and AOC, one factor they perceive is that Democrats have to be extra than simply anti-Trump,” Gorman stated, earlier than including, “I actually disagree with Bernie and AOC’s technique of easy methods to lead the occasion and the place to take America, however at the least they’ve one. That is extra than simply, ‘I hate Trump.'”
The Republican strategist stated the Democratic Occasion’s “institution will not be going to have the ability to cease a united, far-left wing of the occasion this time,” Gorman stated.
Ocasio-Cortez’s and Schumer’s campaigns didn’t instantly reply to Fox Information Digital’s request for remark.
