AOC's 2028 decision: Run for president or Senate
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Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photo: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and her team are positioning her to run for president or the U.S. Senate in 2028, according to people familiar with her operation.
Why it matters: Ocasio-Cortez's 2028 decision could shake up the presidential race or the Senate's leadership. A fellow New Yorker, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, 74, is up for re-election in 2028.
- A Senate race between Schumer and Ocasio-Cortez, 35, would be a generational clash pitting the Democratic Party's leading traditionalist against its star insurgent progressive.
State of play: This year, Ocasio-Cortez — widely known as AOC — has campaigned across the country and in parts of New York State far from her Bronx and Queens district, all while investing millions to grow her already formidable online presence.
- She has also brought in some former senior advisers to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to bolster her operation.
- Ocasio-Cortez hasn't made any decision about her future. But her team is working to give her choices.
She held a series of town halls in Upstate New York this summer that could help her expand her appeal for a statewide campaign for Senate.
- At one event in Plattsburgh, N.Y., she said: "Plattsburgh, we are here because every town, every city, every neighborhood in this state matters. Every corner matters. No one deserves to be ignored."
- Ocasio-Cortez's office declined to comment. A Schumer spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Ocasio-Cortez's team has done events across the nation, joining Sanders on his national "Fighting Oligarchy" tour earlier this year. Crowds chanted: "AOC! AOC!"
- Some close allies believe that even if Ocasio-Cortez doesn't think she could win, she may want to run for the White House to ensure that the Democratic Party's progressive wing is represented in the primary — just as Sanders did in 2016 against Hillary Clinton.
Zoom out: Ocasio-Cortez has had one of the fastest rises in modern American politics, after topping an incumbent Democrat in 2018 while running as an unapologetic progressive.
- She has supported Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — and has drawn enthusiastic Democratic crowds this year in part by picking fights with the Trump administration.
Zoom in: Ocasio-Cortez has spent millions this year on social media and on acquiring lists of potential supporters and donors to expand her grassroots fundraising potential.
- "Her team has spent more on digital advertising than almost any other politician in 2025, and as a result, they have brought in hundreds of thousands of new small-dollar donations," said Kyle Tharp, author of media and politics newsletter Chaotic Era, which closely tracks online spending.
- "She's also seen record-breaking organic growth on social media, adding several million new followers across Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky, X, and Facebook."
- Across all those platforms, Ocasio-Cortez has amassed 36.7 million followers, far outpacing Schumer as well as most potential candidates for the White House.
Between the lines: Some former aides to Sanders see Ocasio-Cortez as an heir apparent who could expand his appeal beyond the party's left wing and immediately raise tens of millions of dollars in a presidential race.
- Ari Rabin-Havt, a longtime Sanders aide, told Axios: "She has a supporter base that, in many ways, has a larger potential width than Bernie's. She has been in the glare of the spotlight from day one and has the national campaigning experience a lot of other potential candidates are now trying to get."
- He added: "It would be the height of arrogance to assume she couldn't win the 2028 nomination."
