New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is hustling to win over left-wing critics who say the progressive leader cares too much about mainstream approval and is too cozy with senior Democrats.
Between the lines: If Ocasio-Cortez’s diplomacy is successful, it could be more difficult for any potential 2028 presidential candidate to run to her left — but moderate Democrats argue it also could make it tougher for her to win a general election.
Despite her recent efforts, some loud voices on the left — including people who have worked closely with her — have gotten under her skin by continuing to question her progressive bona fides.
Zoom in: In recent weeks, Ocasio-Cortez has tried to repair her relationship with Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Many members of the group opposed her support for giving Israel defensive weapons, including the Iron Dome missile system, during the war in Gaza — which she has called a “genocide.”
In July 2024, national DSA leaders withdrew their endorsement of her for the elections that year, arguing that she’d conflated “anti-Zionism with antisemitism and condemned boycotting Zionist institutions,” which the group considered a “deep betrayal.”
The intrigue: AOC also has had a fraught relationship with some progressives who helped launch her political career.
Her first chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, co-founded Justice Democrats, a group that helped Ocasio-Cortez with her insurgent House campaign in 2018. Chakrabarti is running for Congress in former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s district in San Francisco, but Ocasio-Cortez pointedly hasn’t endorsed him in the June 2 primary.
She’s indicated she believes that some of her early allies on the left have taken too much credit for her upset House victory eight years ago, and she’s distanced herself from them over the years, people familiar with the dynamic told Axios.
I’d rather see her primary Schumer or challenge Jeffries for leadership.
She’s got my vote 🗳️
Centrists will pretend Harris was a perfect candidate and only lost because a woman can’t win in the US.
They only ever say this when people talk about the possibility of AOC running.
They never say it when Harris talks about running again.
I’ve voted green for the past two elections. I’ll vote for Ocasio-Cortez.
As much as I like AOC and would vote for her I don’t think a woman is going to be president anytime soon because America is so misogynistic.
The only two women to get on the general ballot were beaten by the walking embodiment of toxic masculinity that can barely form a sentence.
The second time was after we had irrefutable proof he was a fucking terrible president and everyone just forgot.
People want disruption, not status quo. AOC would actually run on game changing progressive policies that Clinton and Harris would never even consider, like Medicare for All. It’s a completly different dynamic.
Identity plays a role. But is secondary to policies that directly improve their material conditions
You’re not wrong and I hope that’s what we get if she runs. We need real structural change.
It’s just my pessimistic take after 10 years of this bullshit.
I hope so, assuming she runs. Now is the time for bold unapologetic progressive action.
