In the midst of her wildly popular “Fighting Oligarchy” tour with Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is drawing praises from a potential 2028 rival, Rep. Ro Khanna.
Khanna tells Michelle Cottle of the New York Times:
“She connects with her life experiences in a way with young people and people who don’t follow all the details of politics by drawing them in.”
Further, in a remarkable display of the humility he’s known for projecting, Khanna talks about how he stacks up next to AOC when it comes to the X factor.
Representative Ro Khanna of California recalled to me that, at a recent town hall, people kept asking him, “What are you going to do to stop this?” None of his answers about what was possible in legislative terms ever “fully landed,” he said. “And then I would just say, ‘Look, it’s going to take all of us. It’s going to take a movement.’ And that’s what Bernie and A.O.C. are doing. They get it — that it’s not just in Washington that this is going to be stopped. It’s going to take everyone
For her part, AOC tells Cottle that the party needs to stop dividing itself into labels like “progressives” or “moderates” and needs to unite under a message of “economic populism.”
Maybe.
But I’d suggest that’s a really hard thing to do when the fact is that — just as there was an establishment, conservative wing of the GOP and a populist wing — there remains a progressive and moderate division in the Democratic party.
The GOP had a long, open fight over which side would win.
How often did we hear Trump rail in the 2016 primary (and ever since) against the “establishment” or “RINOs” or “Bush Republicans”? In fact, that explained some of his success. He was the most charismatic figure from the burgeoning populist wing to emerge and, ultimately, he won the battle and today’s GOP is MAGA, with only a few remaining holdouts (some elected representatives and the roughly 20% of Republicans who consistently voted for Nikki Haley in GOP primaries).
So I don’t think Democrats can avoid an inevitable showdown between the moderate wing and the progressive wing. Not in this moment, and not in the context of today’s increasingly partisan primaries.
It takes a rare candidate to unite both wings in a primary (even Barack Obama had difficulty reeling in the establishment from its allegiance to Hillary Clinton) and the divisions within the party have only intensified since then.
Nevertheless, at this moment, Democrats seem eager to embrace a more combative approach and candidate.
Look no further than the early April poll of a potential face-off between Chuck Schumer and AOC, where the latter led the powerful Senate Minority leader and most iconic figure in New York Democratic politics 55-36% among likely primary voters in that state.
Finally, AOC herself kind of makes the case for herself in the i/view with The New York Times, and it’s the one many make when they talk of her appeal for a 2028 presidential bid.
AOC:
“I think that people need to see some of us who’ve actually made it from really tough backgrounds and have really seen some things in their lives and not just heard about things in their lives. Because it’s visceral. To actually know what it’s like to come home to an apartment and the lights are off, to actually know what it’s like to not be able to afford a prescription, is something that can be really felt.”
I’ve written about her ability to connect with the working class because, she actually does come from the working class. And it shows up in things as simple as the fact she heads out to jump start her chief of staff’s car — a picture that went viral — as if it’s just a part of a daily life.
Plenty of politicians can try to feign that working class, relatable persona. Very few can pull it off.
when your car battery dies on the capitol plaza, instead of calling aaa you just need @AOC. pic.twitter.com/VcQpTXWboz
— mike casca (@cascamike) September 11, 2024
Let’s circle back to Khanna, who offered the self-effacing praise of a potential future presidential primary opponent in AOC.
His pragmatism seemed particularly relevant to the party in the wake of Donald Trump’s broad 2024 victory when it was widely acknowledged the Democratic party had moved too far to the Left.
However, a lot can change in a few months.
Just look at these numbers for Trump with indies, via the AP and NORC from March 20-24, PRE-TARIFF and market volatility.
So the wind seems to have changed drastically in Democrats’ favor if they choose to focus on the issues that are currently moving independents.
Final note:
It’ll be fascinating to see what the 2026 Democratic primary produces.
Does the party try to moderate itself, which seemed to be the way it was trending in the immediate aftermath of Donald Trump’s victory, or will it lean into a more progressive, fighter mode that the party seems to want now?
Currently, Democrats seem to have landed on a message that resonates with folks: Trump 2.0 is more about billionaires in the White House and less about working class men and women, who will see prices rise with tariffs.
That’s a winning message.
And it could be the uniting message in a party that was splintering and falling apart as it grappled with how to address politically losing messages that were out of step with most Americans’ concerns in the 2024 election.
