U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) recently discussed her possible 2028 White House plans in a wide-ranging interview with New York Times national political correspondent Shane Goldmache.
The conversation took place by phone the previous week while she recovered from Covid. It began as a discussion of her transferring funds from her campaign account to other New York Democrats and campaigning upstate in places such as Buffalo, Syracuse, and Ithaca.
Ocasio-Cortez, 36 and approaching 37, is in her eighth year representing parts of the Bronx and Queens. She said she will weigh her next step after the November midterm elections. The options she described include seeking another House term, running for the Senate seat held by Chuck Schumer in 2028, or seeking the presidency.
“There’s an argument that some make that this is a very unique political window and, oftentimes in politics, you do only get one shot,” she told the New York Times in reference to the timing of a potential presidential bid. “And you don’t — and just in life in general — life doesn’t wait for you to be ready for things. Sometimes life just makes things ready for you.”
She also discussed personal factors in running for higher office. “I think about it personally. I am 36, I’m about to turn 37 years old — and what that means for my life.” She continued, “Pretty candidly, I think about my identity. I’m not naïve to the fact that we are living under a very regressive administration, and I happen to be a woman, and I, you know, happen to be Latina. And I think that there’s a lot of conversation about electability, and I don’t kind of shy away from those realities.”
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The congresswoman noted that she often hesitates to discuss race or gender “because people then just register it as an excuse or a complaint,” but said, “If you’re asking me about the things that I weigh, of course, that’s part of what I weigh.” She also noted that the country has never elected a female president and suggested that sexism could be to blame.
Regarding a Senate bid, she said she would not base her choice on waiting for others. “I don’t think that my decisions would come down to deference,” she said. She framed a presidential campaign in high-stakes terms: “It’s very all or nothing. If I were to run in this cycle, and not win, I would be done.” She added that she is not opposed to that outcome and that it “does not exclude the decision.”
Broadly speaking, AOC stated that she has big ambitions in American politics. “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, but single-payer health care is forever, a living wage is forever, workers’ rights are forever, women’s rights, all of that.”
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