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fighting oligarchy
AOC Reportedly Prepping for 2028 Presidential or Senate Run
"It would be the height of arrogance to assume she couldn't win the 2028 nomination," said one longtime aide to Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Sep 19, 2025
US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is preparing to run for either the Senate or president in 2028, according to new reporting Friday.
Axios reported that "people familiar with her operation" say the progressive New York congresswoman is working to boost her profile both across the state and nationally, and that "her team is working to give her choices" ahead of the next presidential election and the end of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D-NY) current term.
Ocasio-Cortez, who stunned the political establishment by winning the Democratic primary in New York's 14th District in 2018 and beating former longtime Rep. Joe Crowley, has also hired some former advisers to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as she has joined the senator on parts of his nationwide Fighting Oligarchy Tour.
In March, Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders drew a crowd of 34,000 people in Denver—after speaking to 11,000 in the town of Greeley, Colorado, which is represented by a Republican in Congress—for their rally focused on shifting political power away from the wealthiest Americans, fighting for programs like Medicare for All, and holding the GOP accountable for their efforts to rip Medicaid and food assistance away from people while handing out tax breaks to the rich.
The congresswoman is often called by her initials. On the tour, Axios reported, "Crowds chanted, 'AOC! AOC!'"
The warm reception received by Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders in both red and blue districts this year has hardly been surprising, considering recent public opinion polls.
"Her team has spent more on digital advertising than almost any other politician in 2025, and as a result, they have brought in hundreds of thousands of new small-dollar donations."
A survey conducted last month by Jacobin, Data for Progress, and the DSA Fund found that 58% of Democrats preferred democratic socialism over capitalism, and preferred candidates like Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders over establishment leaders such as Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY)—who have angered many voters with their failure to forcefully condemn President Donald Trump's attacks on free speech and immigrant rights and act decisively as opposition leaders.
Seventy percent of all respondents said the US economic system is "rigged in favor of corporations and the wealthy," including 67% of independents and 58% of Republicans.
Another poll taken in June by Reuters/Ipsos found that 62% of Democratic voters felt the party leadership should be replaced by new people, and a survey last December found that 62% of Americans believe the US government has an obligation to ensure everyone in the country has healthcare coverage.
In response to the news that Ocasio-Cortez is considering a run for Senate or president, progressive journalist Mehdi Hasan of Zeteo had a succinct response: "Good."
Kyle Tharp, author of the media and politics newsletter Chaotic Era, told Axios that Ocasio-Cortez has been ramping up her small-dollar fundraising efforts through online engagement.
"Her team has spent more on digital advertising than almost any other politician in 2025, and as a result, they have brought in hundreds of thousands of new small-dollar donations," said Tharp. "She's also seen record-breaking organic growth on social media, adding several million new followers across Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky, X, and Facebook."
Centrist Democrats have long suggested that democratic socialist candidates like Ocasio-Cortez and New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani—who is endorsed by Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders, but not Jeffries and Schumer—can only win in progressive cities and states, despite the fact that Sanders won the 2020 presidential primary contests in Nevada, Utah, and Colorado and has since drawn crowds in states including Idaho, West Virginia, and Iowa.
"She has a supporter base that, in many ways, has a larger potential width than Bernie's," Ari Rubin-Havt, a longtime aide to Sanders, told Axios. "She has been in the glare of the spotlight from day one and has the national campaigning experience a lot of other potential candidates are now trying to get."
"It would be the height of arrogance to assume she couldn't win the 2028 nomination," added Rubin-Havt.
Other Democrats who have been floated as potential 2028 presidential candidates include California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
In April, Ocasio-Cortez led Schumer in a hypothetical 2028 Senate matchup by 19 points, in a poll by Data for Progress.
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Mamdani Holds Huge Lead in NYC Mayor's Race, But Top Dems Still Won't Back Him
Voters trust Mamdani more on issues from affordability to crime to Israel-Palestine, but one strategist says party leadership is likely still refusing to back him due to "donor pressure."
Sep 09, 2025
Progressive state lawmaker Zohran Mamdani holds a "commanding" lead in New York's upcoming mayoral election, according to the latest polling. But his continued momentum is still not enough for some top Democrats to get behind him, even as President Donald Trump openly colludes with his rivals.
A New York Times/Siena poll published Monday has Mamdani, a democratic socialist state assemblyman, 22 points north of his nearest challenger, disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whom he soundly defeated in the Democratic primary earlier this year.
Last week, several outlets reported that the Trump administration has been working behind the scenes to clear the field for Cuomo by offering administration posts to other mayoral candidates, including Democratic Mayor Eric Adams, and Republican contender Curtis Sliwa in exchange for them dropping out of the race.
Cuomo's identity as Trump's horse has ratcheted up the pressure for top Democratic leaders—namely the Empire state duo of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer—to throw their weight behind Mamdani. But with the election now less than two months away, they have still refused to budge, to the increasing frustration of the party's base and its progressive leaders.
Last week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called out these leaders directly, asking on the steps of the Capitol: "Are we a party who rallies behind our nominee or not?"
"I am very concerned about the example that is being set by anybody in our party," she continued. "If an individual doesn't want to support the party's nominee now, it complicates their ability to ask voters to support any nominee later."
During a stop on his "Fighting Oligarchy" tour, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a Brooklyn native, said New York Democrats should be "jumping up and down" to support a candidate who has galvanized young voters like Mamdani.
Speaking of party leadership, Sanders said: "It's no great secret that they're way out of touch with grassroots America, with the working families of this country, not only in New York City, but all over this country."
That sentiment was shared by the liberal tastemakers on the popular podcast Pod Save America. Former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau called out leadership by name, saying their hesitancy to endorse Mamdani was "pathetic."
"Donald Trump's going to try to get Eric Adams out of the race so he can help Andrew Cuomo," Favreau said. "Meanwhile, Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer have not yet endorsed the candidate who won the Democratic primary in New York City, the choice of the Democratic voters. Because why, because they don't want to get involved in a primary in a city, in the state they represent?"
Favreau questioned what happened to the "rule that when a Democrat wins the primary, we've all got to unite behind the nominee... because we are facing an authoritarian threat."
Cuomo, he said, "is basically participating" in that threat by being "on Donald Trump's side."
According to CNN, this reluctance is widespread across New York Democrats:
Reps. Yvette Clarke, Dan Goldman and Ritchie Torres have not said they plan to support Mamdani. Rep. Gregory Meeks, who endorsed Cuomo in the primary, has also remained silent along with Rep. Grace Meng, who represents parts of Queens.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mamdani have had "a number of conversations," Hochul said recently, and the two have met in person. Speaking separately to a Politico reporter, Hochul dismissed the talks between Adams and Trump aides with a profanity. Still, she has not made an endorsement.
Sources told CNN that the reticence stems in some part from the "public threat by Mamdani's democratic socialist allies to primary Jeffries and other congressmen" as well as Mamdani's "ties to democratic socialists and his criticism of Israel."
Sanders countered that Mamdani's were "not radical ideas."
"We're the richest country in the history of the world," he said. "There's no excuse for people not having affordable housing, good quality, affordable, decent transportation, free transportation."
Not only did the Times/Siena poll find Mamdani leading in the coming election, but voters also said they trusted him most on issues across the board, including ones that party grandees fear will be liabilities.
He holds leads over all comers, not only on his bread and butter issues of affordability and housing, but also on crime, taxation, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In an interview on CNN, former Obama campaign manager David Axelrod suggested that the refusal to back Mamdani was probably the result of "donor pressure."
Though Mamdani has surged in recent months with small-dollar donors, big money in the city has been behind Cuomo and other centrist candidates.
The biggest of these is the billionaire-funded Fix the City PAC, which received an $8.3 million donation from former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and as of late August had dropped more than $15 million to keep Cuomo afloat.
Another fund, called New Yorkers for a Better Future Mayor '25 has yet to declare a favorite, but has both barrels locked on Mamdani. Under a similar name, this PAC marshalled support for more than a dozen corporate-friendly city council candidates early this year, with support from the pro-Israel hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and several major players in New York's real estate industry. It has announced a goal of raising $25 million to defeat Mamdani in November.
Axelrod said that the party leadership's fealty to these donors over the groundswell of support for Mamdani was "a mistake."
"He ran on the issue of affordability and on a kind of positive politics that got—as Bernie said—many, many young people in that city to involve themselves in the process," he said.
Axelrod also added that, despite Jeffries' claim that Mamdani has yet to win over voters in the House leader's district, the insurgent candidate, in fact, "carried Hakeem Jeffries' district" by a 12-point margin.
Former Sanders foreign policy adviser Matt Duss said that Axelrod's diagnosis of "donor pressure" was "correct."
"But," he said, "we should also be completely clear that 'donor pressure' is just a polite way of saying 'political corruption.'"
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'Insane Economics,' Bernie Sanders Says of Musk's Trillionaire Potential
"No society can survive when one man becomes a trillionaire while the working class struggles to survive," the democratic socialist senator said.
Sep 08, 2025
US Sen. Bernie Sanders responded Monday to reporting that the board of electric carmaker Tesla is proposing a compensation package that could elevate CEO Elon Musk—already the world's richest person—from a mere multicentibillionaire to the first trillionaire in history.
Under the proposed package, which was first reported by The New York Times, Musk could add approximately $900 billion to his world-leading $435 billion fortune if Tesla's stock market value is increased to $8.5 trillion from around $1.1 trillion today.
"Another $900 billion for Elon Musk, while 60% live paycheck to paycheck?" Sanders (I-Vt.) asked in a social media post. "Really?"
"This is not only grossly immoral. It is insane economics," argued Sanders. "No society can survive when one man becomes a trillionaire while the working class struggles to survive. This cannot stand."
Another $900 billion for Elon Musk, while 60% live paycheck to paycheck? Really?This is not only grossly immoral. It is insane economics.No society can survive when one man becomes a trillionaire while the working class struggles to survive.This cannot stand.
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— Senator Bernie Sanders (@sanders.senate.gov) September 8, 2025 at 8:57 AM
Sanders—whose "Fighting Oligarchy" tour has drawn huge crowds from coast to coast—has been an outspoken critic of the policies and practices of both major parties under which the rich, and especially the ultrarich, have grown wealthier at the expense of working-class Americans.
"What you are seeing now is an oligarchy with enormous economic power and political power in both political parties," Sanders said at a Saturday rally in Brooklyn for progressive Democratic New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani. "What we are here tonight to say is, to hell with you. We are going to take you on!"
US economic inequality has been exacerbated by the policies of the Trump administration and congressional Republicans. Although President Donald Trump campaigned on promises to "make America affordable again," upon returning to office he invited Musk to help gut the federal government and has pursued a pro-billionaire agenda under which critical social programs are being sacrificed upon the altar of multitrillion-dollar tax breaks for corporations and oligarchs.
An analysis published last week by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office affirmed that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by Trump in July will increase the wealth of the richest 10% of US households by $13,600 annually—largely due to tax cuts—while simultaneously taking about $1,200 annually from the poorest 10% of households, mainly due to cuts in programs including Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Earlier this month, Americans turned out in cities and towns across the nation for more than 1,000 "Workers Over Billionaires" Labor Day rallies "to reclaim worker power against billionaires who hoard unprecedented wealth and power."
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