The Brutal Truth About AOC’s Presidential Ambitions

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) should not just be considered a potential candidate for the Democratic Party’s 2028 presidential nomination; she is President Donald Trump’s single most likely successor.

On Monday, a new AtlasIntel survey suggested Ocasio-Cortez is in the pole position for the rapidly approaching Democratic primary contest. With the support of 26%, the 36-year-old congresswoman came in ahead of Biden administration alum Pete Buttigieg at 22.4%, California Governor Gavin Newsom at 21.2%, and former Vice President Kamala Harris at 12.9%. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro rounded out the top seven as also-rans.

No one should be surprised. Ocasio-Cortez is not only the face of an ascendant progressive movement but also the most impressive political talent in a party starved of them.

Take her performance at an event hosted by the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics last Friday as an example of what makes her such a potent messenger. After being asked whether she might mount a campaign for the White House or other side of the Capitol two years from now, Ocasio-Cortez replied that her objective was not to obtain “a title or a seat.”

“My ambition is way bigger than that. My ambition is to change this country. Presidents come and go. Senate, House seats, elected officials come and go,” she continued. “When you haven’t been, like, fantasizing about being this or that since the time you were seven years old, it is tremendously liberating, because I get to wake up every day and say, ‘How am I gonna meet the moment?’” The clip of the exchange went viral, not because it was brilliant, per se, but because it was a thoughtful, sincere answer to a familiar question that tends to elicit rote non-answers, if not outright lies.

It was another, less heralded answer that more fully exemplified her virtues as a candidate, though. After being asked about her criticism of “legitimate white supremacist sympathizers” in the House of Representatives and her relationship with conservative lawmakers like Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), Ocasio-Cortez expressed her willingness to work across the aisle in pursuit of results before pivoting.

“Now, there are certain places where, certain areas where I don’t think that we should ignore some folks’ record on some of these issues, right? It’s about where we trust intent, where we trust where those outcomes are going,” she said. “I personally do not trust someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene, a proven bigot and antisemite, on the issues of what is good for Gazans and Israelis. I don’t! I don’t think that it benefits our movement, in that instance, to align the left with white nationalists. I don’t think it serves us.”

Her moral clarity hit like a breath of fresh air after months trapped in a coal mine. Recent months have seen Greene enjoy a particularly cynical second act as an anti-Trump darling. By day, Greene enjoys the strange new respect of CNN during fawning softball interviews. By night, she’s fundraising for the loathsome Thomas Massie by railing against “Jewish billionaires.” And everyone looks the other way, because it’s convenient and because in the October 7 era, antisemitism is no longer a disqualifying attribute on the American left.

But Ocasio-Cortez — no friend of Israel’s, by the way — went out of her way to identify Greene as the malevolent actor she is and offer an implicit rebuke of her fellow progressives for admitting her into the Resistance. This backdoor Sister Souljah moment was not just admirable; it demonstrated her instinctive understanding of what Americans want and her ability to deliver it.

While her competition bends over backward to pander, Ocasio-Cortez is free to say what she actually thinks because she’s already built her entire brand on authenticity. Kamala Harris presented as a tough-on-crime cop before she ran for president on one of the most radical platforms in American history. Gavin Newsom has already rolled out 2.0 and 3.0 versions of himself since Trump took his second oath of office, first attempting to make nice with the Right in the early months of 2025 before later turning into a terminally online troll on X, formerly known as Twitter. Mayor Pete’s rural rebrand, meanwhile, won’t cancel out his McKinsey accent, which will continue to set off the country’s collective BS detector no matter how much facial hair he grows.

Ocasio-Cortez, for all her disastrous ideas and ignorance, knows who she is and what she believes — and doesn’t pretend to be or believe anything else. If the Trump era has proven anything, it is that self-assurance is the ultimate political superpower.

This extends to the general election as well as the primary. Republicans who have convinced themselves that Ocasio-Cortez is simply too radical or too green to succeed nationally should think again. The current president’s aspirations were a national punchline until the moment the Javits Center collapsed on Hillary Clinton’s campaign right about the moment she expected to break through its ceiling. Through sheer will and star power, Trump muddled through. And what’s more is that he’s obliquely acknowledged that he sees some of himself in Ocasio-Cortez.

“She’s got a spark that’s pretty amazing, actually,” he declared in 2024.

Game recognize game.

Moreover, the deck will in all likelihood be stacked against Republicans in 2028, regardless of whether Trump can turn his approval ratings around between now and then. Americans tend to tire of incumbents, and Trump’s domination of a more-than-decade-long news cycle is sure to inspire a backlash that Ocasio-Cortez is uniquely suited to capitalize on.

Newsom’s never-ending PR offensive has stolen more headlines. Harris has more name recognition. And Buttigieg will always enjoy the swooning of the Democrats’ privileged, white professional class. But look closer, and it’s Ocasio-Cortez — with her rock star-like tour last year, anchored principles, and undeniable savvy — who is laying the groundwork for a campaign that smart money would bet on succeeding, and changing the country forever if it does.

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Isaac Schorr is a staff writer at Mediaite and a 2023–2024 Robert Novak Journalism Fellow at the Fund for American Studies.