By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2026-09-22 18:46:53 | Updated at 2026-09-22 19:40:24
1 hour ago
WASHINGTON — New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has dramatically claimed that if she runs for her seat again or for the Senate or White House in 2028 and doesn’t win, that’s the end of her time in office.
“It’s very all or nothing,” the far-left Dem, 36, told the New York Times. “If I were to run in this cycle and not win, I would be done.
“And I am not opposed to that,” she said. “That, in and of itself, does not exclude the decision.
“But it has to make it worth it.”
The Queens and Bronx rep is currently mulling whether to run for the presidency in 2028 or to seek New York Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s seat. Schumer has been coy about whether he will seek reelection.
AOC has repeatedly maintained that she won’t make a decision on 2028 until she sees how her fellow progressives do in the midterms, recently telling The Post, “We will learn a lot in November.”
She is currently averaging fourth place in the latest RealClearPolitics polling aggregate of the most likely 2028 Democratic candidates.
Still, there is ample opportunity for her to move ahead, experts said. She appears to potentially have the far-left lane once dominated by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) almost all to herself, as Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) is capturing just over 1 percentage point on average.
Additionally, it is very early. Democratic voters would likely shift dramatically once the campaigns begin, and some of her top potential competitors, such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Vice President Kamala Harris, might not even run.
“There’s an argument that some make that this is a very unique political window and, oftentimes in politics, you do only get one shot,” AOC mused.
“In general — life doesn’t wait for you to be ready for things. Sometimes life just makes things ready for you.”
For months, the congresswoman has dropped hints about how she is thinking of 2028, acknowledging that it is a very personal decision and knocking many observers who believe her “ambition is positional.
“My ambition is way bigger than that,” she has told Dem strategist David Axelrod. “My ambition is to change this country.
“Presidents come and go, Senate, House seats, elected officials come and go, but single-payer health care is forever, a living wage is forever, workers’ rights are forever, women’s rights, all of that.”
Last month, Ocasio-Cortez revealed that she froze her eggs, having previously indicated that she wants children.
She has said she is well aware of limits facing female politicians.
“What is very odd about our political culture is that for some reason when you raise it, people just freak out,” she told the Times. “They get so defensive at the mere suggestion that gender could play a role.
“This country has never elected a female president. Why are we pretending that this is not a factor?” she said. “That doesn’t make it impossible, but to act as though it’s not a factor in anything ever is really a form of, like, denialism.”
