AOC seizes the moment as Dems seek a new identity

It feels to many top Democrats like she's grabbing Sanders' torch as a progressive leader — and that he's intentionally passing it to her. The two kindred spirits deny it.

• Her rise comes as the Democratic Party base is increasingly agitated by the party's inability to push back against the Trump administration's sweeping agenda — and is searching for a champion to fight back.

Driving the news: Ocasio-Cortez has been cheered like a political rock star over the past two weeks as she and Sanders (I-Vt.) barnstorm the country with mega-rallies for a "Fighting Oligarchy" tour.

• She and Sanders have mobilized large crowds in conservative states, including Utah, Idaho and Montana. Thousands in Salt Lake City chanted "AOC! AOC! AOC!" as she left the stage.
• In Idaho, a local union president said introducing Ocasio-Cortez was "the greatest honor of my life."

By the numbers: Ocasio-Cortez, 35, is among the most popular Democratic politicians.

• She already has a national brand separate from the 83-year-old Sanders, thanks in part to a massive social media following. Not including the accounts she has for her office, she has 9.1 million followers on Instagram, 12.7 million on X, and 4 million on TikTok. Sanders has 7.6 million Instagram followers.
• A recent YouGov poll found Ocasio-Cortez had a +61 approval rating among Democrats — the highest of any Democrat polled who hasn't run for president or vice president.
• A Yale University survey released last week found Ocasio-Cortez in second place in a hypothetical Democratic presidential primary — behind only former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Ocasio-Cortez's fundraising has surged in the first months of Trump's administration. She can use the money to help potential allies, build a bigger organization — or save for a 2028 run for president or Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's seat.

• In the first three months of 2025, she raised $9.6 million — more than double what she'd ever raised in a quarter.
• Sanders, who was just elected to his fourth six-year term, also tapped into grassroots energy to raise $11.4 million over the same period.

Reality check: Some Democratic strategists worry about Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez becoming the faces of the party.

• They believe the party went too far to the left during Trump's first term and is in danger of doing so again.
• Ocasio-Cortez may thrill many partisan Democrats — but the party needs to win back people in the middle, they argue.

Between the lines: Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez counter that Democrats moderating is what led many working-class voters to flee the party.

• Still, both have been trying to frame their worldview as having broad appeal.
• In her red-state appearances, Ocasio-Cortez repeated versions of the line: "'I don't think this is Trump country, I think this is our country."
• Sanders, in an echo of one of former President Obama's famous speeches, told the crowd in Idaho: "We don't accept this blue state–red state nonsense. We are the United States of America — not red states, not blue states."
• Sanders spokesperson Anna Bahr told Axios: "The best way to defeat authoritarianism is with a strong, working-class coalition that spans the political spectrum."
• Tyson Brody, Sanders' research director on his 2020 presidential campaign, told Axios he thinks Ocasio-Cortez's moves are "about more than becoming a leader of the left, it's about becoming a leader of the party."

Zoom in: Some Democrats and former Sanders aides see the Vermont senator implicitly positioning Ocasio-Cortez as a successor to continue the movement he helped build over two presidential campaigns.

• Sanders, not known for his personal warmth, has shown rare affection for Ocasio-Cortez — even jokingly referring to her as "my daughter" at their rally in Salt Lake City last week.
• Other progressives, including Reps. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), also joined the pair in Los Angeles. But it was Ocasio-Cortez who had equal billing with Sanders.

The other side: Current and former aides to both Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez dismissed the idea that Sanders was positioning her to succeed him in leading the progressive movement. Aides say the two are focused on stopping Trump's agenda in areas that could be affected by budget cuts.

• "The congresswoman believes supporters are not a commodity that can be inherited or handed off to any one person," Mike Casca, Ocasio-Cortez's chief of staff, who previously was Sanders' communications director and deputy chief of staff, told Axios. "She remains focused on working with Sen. Sanders to organize the mass movement of working people this country needs right now."
• Ari Rabin-Havt, a deputy campaign manager for Sanders in 2020, said "the movement will decide who leads it next, not Bernie."

Flashback: Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders' personal bond was cemented in 2019, when she endorsed his presidential bid when his campaign was at its lowest point, former aides told Axios.

• Ocasio-Cortez called Sanders to tell him she was endorsing him when he was in the hospital after suffering a heart attack. At the time, he was beginning to fall in the polls.

The endorsement helped turn around Sanders' campaign, which almost won the Democratic nomination before the rest of the field consolidated to stop him and rallied behind Joe Biden.

• "I think all of us who worked for Bernie in 2019, and Bernie included, forever feel a debt of gratitude for her," Rabin-Havt said.