Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most prominent figures on the Democratic Party’s progressive left, is increasingly moving toward the political center as she weighs a possible run for higher office. The shift is frustrating some of her former allies.
Ocasio-Cortez has been unusually visible in recent weeks. The New York congresswoman has appeared in Memphis to discuss pollution linked to data centers, while also opening up on Instagram about her personal life and decision to freeze her eggs following a breakup. In an interview on ABC’s “This Week”, she also adopted a noticeably more presidential tone when asked about her political future.
Asked whether she could run for president in 2028, Ocasio-Cortez said she had “not ruled out the possibility”. She stressed, however, that her immediate focus was on the upcoming midterm elections rather than her own ambitions.
Ocasio-Cortez became one of the Democratic Socialists’ biggest stars after winning her New York congressional seat in 2018. The movement has since scored a series of victories in Democratic primaries across the country, defeating candidates backed by the party establishment in states including New York, Kentucky and Colorado.
In Michigan, progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed has now entered the race for a Senate seat, adding to tensions within the Democratic Party that some observers have described as an internal “civil war”.
A shift away from the old progressive agenda
Yet Ocasio-Cortez has not consistently backed progressive challengers in their primary races. In El-Sayed’s case, she waited until shortly before the vote before offering support.
That caution has disappointed some on the left. Progressive writer Norman Solomon argued that the more cautious Ocasio-Cortez of today would not have supported her own political persona from 2018.
Her political repositioning has become particularly clear in her approach to the cultural politics associated with the progressive movement. During her ABC interview, Ocasio-Cortez appeared to dismiss some of the positions taken by the left around 2020, joking that “Woke 1 was crazy”. The remark echoed a broader attempt by progressive Democrats to distance themselves from some of the rhetoric and policy proposals that dominated the movement at the time.
The phrase refers broadly to the period when parts of the Democratic left focused heavily on systemic discrimination and issues of identity and policing. Calls to defund the police and abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement became prominent, particularly after the killing of George Floyd in 2020 sparked nationwide protests.
Those positions have since become politically difficult for many Democrats to defend, particularly among moderate and working-class voters.
‘Wokeness’ becomes a political liability
For Ocasio-Cortez, the problem is not simply ideological. It is electoral.
The progressive left has increasingly shifted its focus toward economic populism, emphasizing issues such as the cost of living, housing and corporate power. Politicians such as New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani have also sought to move away from the image of an elite, university-educated movement focused primarily on cultural issues.
But the national Democratic Socialists organization continues to embrace some positions that remain controversial with mainstream voters.
The political dilemma is particularly important for Ocasio-Cortez if she intends to seek the presidency in 2028. Democratic voters may be enthusiastic about progressive candidates, but the same positions could alienate the moderate voters the party needs to defeat Republicans in a general election.
Her recent comments therefore look less like a rejection of progressive politics altogether and more like an attempt to redefine what progressive politics means.
Axios described the move as an effort by Ocasio-Cortez to put controversial positions from the 2020 era behind her and focus attention on candidates’ current platforms.
AOC faces stronger competition for 2028
The challenge is reflected in the emerging Democratic field.
Ocasio-Cortez was at times viewed as an early favorite among Democratic voters for 2028. More recent polling, however, has placed her behind figures including California Governor Gavin Newsom and former Vice President Kamala Harris, according to the original report.
That makes her attempt to broaden her appeal particularly significant.
Harris herself demonstrated how difficult such repositioning can be. After taking a more restrictive stance on immigration during the 2024 election campaign, she was nevertheless successfully portrayed by Republicans as a progressive extremist.
Ocasio-Cortez now faces a similar question: can she persuade voters that the more radical positions associated with the left in 2020 belong to a different political era?
Some critics are skeptical.
“The Democrats can’t just laugh off ‘Woke 1’,” The Atlantic columnist Idrees Kahloon wrote, arguing that Republicans have little incentive to allow Democrats to simply move past their earlier positions.
From cultural politics to economic populism
Ocasio-Cortez is increasingly presenting herself as a champion of the working class, a message that has long been central to her political identity.
Her personal background gives her a relatively strong foundation for that argument. Before entering politics, she worked as a waitress and has repeatedly emphasized her working-class roots.
But economic populism is no longer exclusive to the Democratic left. Republicans, including Donald Trump, have also increasingly attacked large corporations and their profits while arguing that businesses should give more back to society.
That creates a new political landscape for Ocasio-Cortez.
Her challenge is to preserve the energy of the progressive movement that made her a national political star while shedding positions that could make her unacceptable to moderate voters.
Whether that transformation is enough to carry her from the Democratic left to the White House remains one of the biggest questions surrounding the 2028 race.
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