Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has crisscrossed the United States with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, and Americans are speculating if the New York Democrat is launching a shadow campaign for president.
Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign account posted a video on X this week that invigorated those rumors as the four-term Democrat from New York City and a progressive leader proclaimed: “We are one.”
“I’m a girl from the Bronx,” Ocasio-Cortez said on a campaign-style stage in Idaho. “To be welcomed here in this state, all of us together, seeing our common cause, this is what this country is all about.”
FiveThirtyEight founder and prominent pollster Nate Silver signaled earlier this month that Ocasio-Cortez is the leading Democrat to pick up the party’s presidential nomination in 2028. In a draft 2028 pick with FiveThirtyEight’s Galen Druke, Silver chose Ocasio-Cortez as his top choice to lead the Democratic Party’s presidential ticket.
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“I think there’s a lot of points in her favor at this very moment,” Druke said adding, “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has broad appeal across the Democratic Party.”
Americans are reposting Cortez’s video across X, pointing to the video as proof of her 2028 presidential ambitions. “Get ready America. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will almost undoubtedly run for president in 2028,” political reporter Eric Daugherty said in response to the video.
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As rumors swirl over Ocasio-Cortez’s ambition for higher office, back at home in New York, a Siena College poll found Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s favorability is down, at 39% among New York state voters questioned in the poll, which was conducted April 14-16. Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez’s favorability soared to 47%.
The longtime senator from New York faced pushback from the Democratic Party in March for supporting the Republican budget bill backed by President Donald Trump that averted a government shutdown and stirred up outrage among congressional Democrats who planned to boycott the bill.
That growing disapproval among Democrats was reflected in the poll, and the shifting perception comes as DNC vice chair David Hogg, through his political arm, Leaders We Deserve, faced blowback from the DNC this week for investing $20 million into electing younger Democrats to safe House Democrat seats.
Colin Reed, a Republican strategist, said Ocasio-Cortez “shouldn’t be discounted” by Democrats “who are standing in her way” of running for whichever office she decides to seek – whether as a U.S. senator or President of the United States.
While Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders are garnering national attention as they jetset across the country, Reed said their passion and energy might invigorate the progressive portion of the Democratic Party, but “her ideas are way too outside the mainstream to ever be electable at a nationwide level.”
“Ultimately, in a Democratic base there’s always going to be a percentage of voters who are drawn to that message. The issue they run to is it’s just not the majority of Americans. The majority of Americans don’t want to transform our country into some sort of ‘European-style government rules all’ vision. That’s why America was founded in the first place – to get away from oppression, from an overbearing, overreaching government,” Reed said.
As Democrats struggle to land on a consistent message and search for a clear party leader following Republican’s November wins, there is an opportunity within the party to dominate the national Democratic narrative, Reed explained.
“Chaos loves a vacuum, and right now, there is a vacuum in leadership in the Democratic Party and thus chaos is ruling the roost,” Reed said.
“As long as those two are out there, they’re going to get attention because nobody else is doing anything. The house of cards will come crumbling down, especially when you’ve got two folks out there Senator Sanders and Congressman Ocasio-Cortez, holding themselves out as climate warriors as they jet around the country on private jets spewing untold carbon emissions into the air. That hypocrisy is one that’s tough for a lot of folks’ stomachs,” Reed added.
Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment by deadline.
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser and Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.
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