AOC's Presidential Ambitions Face a Humiliating Setback

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) just got a huge dose of reality from her own party.

It's no secret that AOC has her sights set on higher office. There's been plenty of talk about a 2028 presidential run, as well as a possible primary challenge against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). She hasn't exactly been coy about it. "I've been pretty open about the fact that I'm going to be weighing this decision, but I'm going to be weighing it after the midterm elections," she told The New York Times recently.

The midterms have already given her an answer.

According to a report from Axios, Democrats running in this fall's key battlegrounds are keeping AOC as far from their campaigns as possible. Party officials say candidates in several close races have explicitly asked her team to stay away. For someone hoping to sell primary voters on her electability, that's a brutal verdict.

AOC and her allies have long argued that her unapologetic push for far-left policies like Medicare for All makes candidates like her more electable than moderate liberals. That may be the case in deep blue districts, or deep blue states, but the Democrats actually on the ballot in tight races want nothing to do with it before an election, including several who eagerly embraced her during their primaries and then sprinted toward the center once the general election came into view.

Take Sam Forstag, a leftist House candidate in Montana. He rallied with AOC in May on his way to winning the Democrat primary. Her endorsement has since vanished from his campaign website. Asked by Axios whether she'd hit the trail for him, Forstag said, "I don't intend to be having a lot of folks from out of state campaigning with me over these next 40 days."

A senior Democrat strategist working in a key swing district was even blunter. "The polling is atrocious for her," the strategist told Axios. "She's a lightning rod."

Michigan offers an even more delicious example. Abdul El-Sayed leaned hard on AOC in the final weeks of last month's Senate primary. According to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact, he and his allies spent almost $1 million on TV ads featuring her. Since clinching the nomination, he has spent next to nothing on AOC ads, and she hasn't campaigned with him while Republican Mike Rogers hammers him as too radical for Michigan. An El-Sayed spokesperson insisted, "There are a lot of Michiganders who can't wait to have AOC back in town."

Cute story.

Meanwhile, her potential 2028 rivals are getting the red-carpet treatment. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel have all received a welcome from Democrats in competitive districts and states over the past month. Even former Vice President Kamala Harris, whom some battleground candidates have also turned away, appeared with Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan last week at a healthcare roundtable and plans stops for statewide candidates in Georgia and Nevada.

Think about that for a second. Kamala is getting invitations that AOC isn't. Ouch.

The snub extends to her home state. AOC made campaign stops in Buffalo and Ithaca this week but is steering clear of New York's competitive 17th District in the lower Hudson Valley. Democrat Cait Conley, a former Army officer and Biden administration national security official, told CNN this month she would not campaign with AOC. Her opponent, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), has gleefully tried to tie Conley to AOC and even invited AOC into the district. The GOP super PAC Congressional Leadership Fund is now running an ad branding Conley "AOC's choice for Congress."

Back in June, CNN reported that AOC's aides were "putting together a fall schedule meant to beta-test her appeal beyond a base that adores her." I think that test has already happened, whether she likes it or not.

If anything, this tells us she may be more inclined to challenge Chuck Schumer in 2028, a race she'd be far more likely to win.

Editor's Note: The Democrat Party has been infected by socialism, and it's spreading FAST. Democrats are claiming there's nothing to worry about, but we know the truth.

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