But there is trepidation among Democrats about Ocasio-Cortez’s chances in a general election. Ocasio-Cortez would be the first female president and the youngest commander in chief if she were sworn into office in January 2029. She would be the second president elected from the House since James Garfield triumphed in 1880.

After an exasperating decade-plus of fighting Trump, these skeptical Democrats want to maximize the chances of winning in two years, and the New York lawmaker represents too much risk. Haunted by Clinton’s and Harris’s defeats, some high-level Democrats privately want a white, male governor to be their 2028 standard-bearer, and there will be plenty of options in that space.

That’s why Ocasio-Cortez’s recent suggestion that “Woke 1” was “crazy” is noteworthy. It suggests she is looking to moderate her positions to make her palatable to independents who usually decide general election contests for the White House.

In a July interview with Politico Playbook, Ocasio-Cortez said, “I come from a working-class family. I didn’t come from a militant leftist family.”

She also recently distanced herself from the insurgent Democratic Socialists of America in comments to the Washington Examiner, rejecting the movement’s call to eradicate the Senate.

While the DSA is to Ocasio-Cortez’s left, she represents its best hope to reform policy and politics as the next president. There will be other very liberal candidates, such as Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), vying for the nomination, but none will have the star power of Ocasio-Cortez. And it is a good bet Sanders would return the favor and endorse Ocasio-Cortez after she backed his prior White House runs.

Furthermore, the extreme Left will probably not be embracing governors such as Josh Shapiro (D-PA), Andy Beshear (D-KY), or JB Pritzker (D-IL). Gavin Newsom (D-CA) is a possibility, but liberal activists criticized a number of his moves as governor.

Ocasio-Cortez could challenge Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for the Senate in 2028 instead of running for president. (And she has the ability to first run for president and then later opt to launch a Senate bid). But as Henry Olsen recently wrote in the Washington Post, the time is now for Ocasio-Cortez to run for the White House. The rise of DSA and Sanders’s acknowledgment that he is too old to run opens up a huge opportunity for Ocasio-Cortez.

Hunter Biden says AOC is the ‘future’ of the Democratic Party

Hunter Biden, who appears to be making somewhat of a political comeback, recently lauded Ocasio-Cortez, stating, “I look at her … and I see the future of the Democratic Party in every way.”

He added that she “has an instinct to find common ground.”

Yemisi Egbewole, a senior fellow at the center-left Third Way, said Ocasio-Cortez will have to go beyond comments about “Woke 1” and moderate some of her positions to appeal to a broader swath of Democratic voters.

“She has to budge on policy,” Egbewole told the Washington Examiner, specifically citing public safety and law enforcement.

There will be no shortage of Democrats running in 2028, with estimates ranging from a dozen to 20 major candidates. Those numbers will help Ocasio-Cortez, just like the crammed 2016 GOP primary helped Trump nab the nomination. Like Trump, Ocasio-Cortez could win a fair amount of states with 30%-40% of the vote.

The former bartender and waitress is off to a good start as the chatter about her future intensifies. Andrew Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, told Fox News that “nearly half of socialists and one-third of progressives support Ocasio-Cortez.”

Democratic rivals to Ocasio-Cortez might attack her support for Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and her lack of foreign policy experience. But that could backfire. They would more likely claim she can’t win a general election — just like the Democratic establishment that favored Clinton and Biden repeatedly said there was little chance Sanders could beat Trump in the general.

There is a clear pattern of pragmatism in Democratic presidential primaries, and that could seriously hurt Ocasio-Cortez’s chances. Then-Sen. John Kerry got the nod as the 2004 nominee because he was seen as the best candidate to defeat then-President George W. Bush. In 2020, primary voters catapulted Joe Biden because of his electability.

AOC’s choice: White House or Senate?

Bill Press, a progressive media pundit who has long been friends with Sanders, has serious doubts about an Ocasio-Cortez presidential run: “I don’t think there’s any way she would win the nomination.”

The former head of the California Democratic Party said he has talked to a lot of female Democrats who feel “burned” by the losses by Clinton and Harris. These voters, Press said, “don’t want to roll the dice” on Ocasio-Cortez.

Her best move, Press told the Washington Examiner, would be to take on Schumer in 2028. 

“It’s hers for the taking,” Press said, adding that a promotion to the Senate would make her “a bigger rock star” and give her the opportunity to grow her legislative accomplishments. A presidential run from a Senate perch could come later, he added.

Moving left to center is not easy in a Democratic presidential primary 

Egbewole said it is easier politically for a centrist Democrat to move left in a presidential primary than for a progressive candidate to shift to the center. If she tries to abandon liberal policies, Egbewole said, Ocasio-Cortez will draw criticism because “the far Left is unforgiving.”

DSA officials are already ripping Ocasio-Cortez behind the scenes, Axios reported, and those admonishments are only going to grow if she strays from her left-wing roots.

When she first ran for the House, Ocasio-Cortez ran against the New York establishment and stunned then-Rep. Joe Crowley, who was eyeing the speaker’s gavel. If she runs for president, she would run a populist campaign against the Washington establishment.

There was speculation she would challenge Schumer in 2022, but she wisely opted not to. Schumer was extremely powerful at the time, and few could go toe-to-toe with his political operation. Now, Schumer would probably rush to endorse his New York colleague as a presidential candidate for two reasons: He wouldn’t have to face her, and he needs to shore up his left flank if, as expected, he runs for reelection.

It is hard to imagine Ocasio-Cortez not running for the Senate or White House in 2028. The Bronx native said six years ago that she “doesn’t plan on staying in the House forever.” And in a recent appearance on ABC’s This Week, she didn’t rule out a bid for higher office.

When she ran for the House in 2018, Ocasio-Cortez was counted out by the media. But that didn’t shake her confidence. In the Netflix documentary Knock Down the House, which tracked her first campaign eight years ago, Ocasio-Cortez said, “If we’re good enough, we’ll win.”

She subsequently vanquished Crowley by 13 percentage points, though her victory was powered by fewer than 17,000 votes.

Ocasio-Cortez has deftly kept her anti-establishment reputation while shifting away from being the raucous rebel of her first couple of terms. For example, she has not endorsed a primary challenge against any Democratic incumbent running for reelection this cycle as the DSA has taken out longtime members. Still, she, like Sanders, has been busy on the campaign trail this year. She elevated Abdul el Sayed in his Senate Democratic primary, endorsing him a month before he defeated Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI). In her home state, Ocasio-Cortez aided now-New York Mayor Zohran Mandani in June 2025 by endorsing him over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

When she came to Congress, Ocasio-Cortez irritated then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) but has since gotten back into her good graces. (Pelosi is expected to endorse Newsom if he runs.)

How would AOC play in South Carolina?

Democrats have again blessed South Carolina as the first primary contest in 2028, and that could be a tough state for Ocasio-Cortez. Black voters tend to be more centrist, and Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), a kingmaker in the state, is unlikely to endorse his House colleague. Clyburn, 86, has said the “defund the police” movement hurt the Democratic Party and cost it seats in prior elections. Ocasio-Cortez initially embraced the slogan but has since backed away from it.

Ocasio-Cortez’s policy positions are outside the mainstream, and that has contributed to an approval rating that is 6 points underwater. Yet, presidential contests are arguably decided more on personality than policy. While some Democrats maintain they don’t necessarily need a huge personality in 2028 — Biden said he would be a boring president when he ran six years ago — solid, but unspectacular candidates usually lose.

Love her or hate her, Ocasio-Cortez is not boring. Her public announcement of the freezing of her eggs quickly made national news and earned praise from across the political spectrum. It is incredibly early, though Ocasio-Cortez is within striking distance of Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in hypothetical matchups.

RO KHANNA SAYS AOC RUNNING IN 2028 WOULD HAVE ‘NO BEARING’ ON HIS DECISION

Trump has acknowledged he will not be on the ballot in two years, though the 2028 contest will be very much about him. Ocasio-Cortez has long said that Democrats can’t just be the “anti-Trump” party and must propose a clear agenda to win.

Ocasio-Cortez’s office did not comment for this article.