Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has led a poll to be the Democratic Party’s nominee in the 2028 presidential race, and analysts are saying it’s proof that the party is breaking with its past.
Ocasio-Cortez began her political career in 2017 while waiting tables and bartending at a New York taqueria, and made shockwaves in the city when her grassroots campaign unseated establishment fixture Joe Crowley.
She has since become a Democratic Socialist figurehead for the progressive left and has dropped some not-too-subtle teases that she’s considering a presidential run.
“My ambition is to change this country”
In May, she said: “What’s funny is they assume my ambition is a title or a seat… My ambition is way bigger than that. My ambition is to change this country” and in June 2026 she told Fox News, “Could I be president? Could I not be president? Maybe, maybe not.”
Now, as reported by The Huffington Post, a poll has her as the front-runner, albeit by a single percentage point. Ocasio-Cortez is on 22%, Pete Buttigieg on 21%, Mark Kelly on 9%, Gavin Newsom on 8%, Bernie Sanders on 6%, and Kamala Harris on 5%. When asked what she thought about being the front-runner, Ocasio-Cortez said she is “deeply flattered and humbled”.
Joe Biden’s former special assistant to Megan Hayes said on MS Now yesterday that “I think a lot of it is name ID. I think a lot of it is her popularity within the party.” She went on to emphasize that Democrats are eager for someone passionate and combative:
“The Democratic Party really wants a fighter. She is someone that has been fighting back on Trump and Republican policy since she’s gotten into Congress. So I do think that does say a lot for this poll of where she stands. … This just shows Democrats want a fighter and she’s out there fighting, and that’s reflected in this poll.”
Axios reported in May 2026 that Ocasio-Cortez was still “genuinely undecided” about whether she wants to launch a presidential campaign, pointing out that she may also be considering a 2028 Senate run against Chuck Schumer. Their source said, “The way she will evaluate the decision is really around where she believes she can make the most change.”
If Ocasio-Cortez did run in 2028 she would, at 37 or 38, be one of the youngest major party presidential candidates in American political history. The youngest was Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan, who ran at the age of 36 in 1896 and lost to William McKinley. But, for now, it seems that the potential candidates are keeping their announcements until after the November midterms.
Perhaps notably, Ocasio-Cortez also recently made waves by saying Mitch McConnell should “absolutely” resign, saying if regular Americans “do not have the right to disappear from our jobs”, why should elderly politicians?
Published: Jul 27, 2026 07:57 am