Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has accused establishment Democrats of treating her “like shit” as progressive activists urged her to run for president in 2028.

In a 100-minute long video posted on Instagram, the 37-year-old congresswoman from New York said that the party had a “remarkable opportunity” to pass left-wing policies after the midterm elections. She also accused the party’s leadership of starving funds from left-wing candidates during the campaign.

“There’s this huge conversation about candidates that were under invested in,” Ocasio-Cortez said. She cited Angie Nixon, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America who came within 240,000 votes of flipping Florida from red to blue, but ultimately lost to the Republican candidate Ashley Moody.

“If Angie Nixon had just had a little bit of that support, that outcome could have changed. But that money has to come from somewhere and it comes from these people,” Ocasio-Cortez said in reference to the party’s Senate leadership.

Reflecting on the period after she was first elected to Congress in 2018 at the age of 29, Ocasio-Cortez accused senior Democrats of being “horrifically cruel” to her. “I mean I was treated like shit,” she said. “Everybody took a swing at me.”

The Bronx congresswoman is seen as the likeliest progressive candidate to run for the Democratic nomination for president in 2028.

  • Hawanja@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    I’m going to get shit for this opinion, but I think she should run as vice president.
    The reason being, a huge part of why Trump won both his elections was that his opponent was a woman - I know a lot of my progressives out there don’t want to believe this, but misogyny is still a major problem in this country, even among progressives and leftists. There are too many people out there who may otherwise have decent politics but will refuse to vote for a woman, that’s a fact we need to acknowledge. Simply put I want a democrat to actually win in 2028 and she as the forerunner reduces those chances.

    However if she’s vice president that brings out the progressive democrats to the polls while also avoiding this pitfall. At some point in the near future I hope our country is ready to accept leadership from a woman, but our country is still too screwed up for that today.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      she should run as vice president.

      That’s just called “running to lose the primary”. Last thing a DSA candidate needs is to walk into an election saying “Please don’t actually vote for me, I can’t win”.

      If someone like Ossoff or JB Pritsker want to extend an offer in advance, they’re always welcome to do so. But to announce “I’m running for VP” is like entering the Olympics with a pledge to come in second place.

    • reka@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      playing by the rules you want rather than the actual rules isn’t usually a good way to play a game

      • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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        6 hours ago

        People like you don’t want to admit that the reason so many “Bernie Bros” turned to Trump had nothing to do with policy and everything to do with misogyny.

        Hell that’s even a better explanation for 2024 than genocide. Seriously, you think people chose Trump because he was …better for Palestine? Have you met an American?