AOC Opens Up on Possible 2028 White House Run, Says Gender and Ethnicity Factor Into Her Thinking

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., says whatever decisions she makes about her political future won't be driven by "deference," describing the years ahead as a "very unique political window" as she opened up about a potential presidential run in a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times.

The interview, published Tuesday, touched on a range of topics, including gender in politics, her own possible White House ambitions, and the chances Democrats could flip the Senate in the upcoming midterms.

"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," Ocasio-Cortez told The Times. "And you don't — and just in life in general — life doesn't wait for you to be ready for things. Sometimes life just makes things ready for you."
"Every element of this is something that's within consideration," she added during a phone interview conducted last week while she was recovering at home from COVID.

Ocasio-Cortez, 36, first burst onto the political scene eight years ago when she unseated longtime incumbent Joe Crowley in a stunning primary upset.
The congresswoman, who recently drew attention for publicly discussing her fertility journey, told The Times she often reflects on how her gender and ethnicity have shaped her political career. She weighed the pros and cons of a presidential run with striking openness, at times analyzing her own potential candidacy like an outside observer, and at other times speaking candidly about personal considerations tied to family planning.

"I think about it personally," she said of a possible White House bid. "I am 36, I'm about to turn 37 years old — and what that means for my life."

"Pretty candidly, I think about my identity," she continued. "I'm not naïve to the fact that we are living under a very regressive administration, and I happen to be a woman, and I, you know, happen to be Latina. And I think that there's a lot of conversation about electability, and I don't kind of shy away from those realities."
She admitted she often hesitates to bring up race or gender publicly, worrying it will be dismissed as an excuse. "If you're asking me about the things that I weigh, of course, that's part of what I weigh," she said. "It's funny because it's kind of like, everyone else is allowed to talk about it, but I'm not?"

Ocasio-Cortez also reflected on the previous two Democratic women to top a presidential ticket, Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris, noting the historical difficulty of electing a woman president.

"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."
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She also did not rule out a potential run for Sen. Chuck Schumer's seat, saying simply, "I don't think that my decisions would come down to deference."
On the prospect of Democrats retaking the Senate majority in November, Ocasio-Cortez called it "the best possible problem we could have as a country," adding, "We're working hard to have that problem, and I'll cross that bridge when I get to it."