AOC reportedly considering a run for president or Senate in 2028

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York is reportedly considering mounting a White House run in 2028 or a run for U.S. Senate, depending on which office she believes could allow her to make the most change.

Axios reported over the weekend that AOC's official line is that she hasn't yet decided about whether she'll run for president in 2028, but all of her recent actions and rhetoric suggest she may be planning one. Axios reporter Alex Thompson listed all of the deep liberal strongholds AOC has been visiting lately and delivering speeches, include Chicago, Philadelphia, and the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, among others. She's headed to Montana on Thursday to back a liberal candidate running for a House seat in western Montana.

According to the report, political operatives believe she could be a fundraising machine if she were to run, predicting that should could raise $100 million from grassroots supporters as well as tap into the legions of Bernie Sanders supporters the Vermont senator amassed with two presidential runs. She's even been adopting Sanders' talking points lately, unleashing nonsensical diatribes against billionaires. 

Axios reported that "a person close to AOC" said the congresswoman is still undecided about 2028, including on whether to run for president or for a seat in the U.S. Senate. "The way she will evaluate the decision is really around where she believes she can make the most change," the anonymous source told Axios.

Some recent polling has shown Democrats may be serious about AOC as a presidential candidate in two years. An AtlastIntel poll earlier this month showed AOC as the frontrunner among Democrats, leading Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris. But on Tuesday, a new poll released by Rasmussen Reports showed AOC running a distant second behind Harris, who lost the 2024 presidential election to Donald Trump.

In that poll, AOC was tied for second with Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who also trailed Harris by nearly 30 points as the favorite to clinch the party's 2028 nomination, although AOC's numbers are on the rise compared to the last Rasmussen poll on the topic in January, while Newsom's support has declined since then. Harris, AOC, and Newsom were the only potential candidates to receive double-digit support in the Rasmussen poll, seen below.