Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a New Yorker of Puerto Rican heritage, is running in the 2026 midterms to keep her seat in Congress. But there is a great deal of speculation about what she might run for in 2028. Ocasio-Cortez insists that she is a candidate only for Congress…until after the midterms.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Ocasio-Cortez was the youngest woman ever to be elected to Congress, and has now represented her constituents in the Bronx and Queens for eight years. She is running for reelection to her current seat in Congress. Cook’s Political Report rates that race a solid Democratic win, dismissing the chances of her opponent, Republican Diamant Hysenaj.
Ocasio-Cortez is known not only as a charismatic speaker and a bold legislator, but also as a highly successful fundraiser. Her opponent in the race is given just an 8% chance of winning by state organizations.
Both candidates tout their working-class backgrounds, Hysenaj pointing out that he is an immigrant and Ocasio-Cortez emphasizing her early career as a bartender and waitress. She also worked as Educational Director for the National Hispanic Institute, and interned for Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA).
What about 2028?
Ocasio-Cortez has said publicly that she will not decide on her future political plans until after the 2026 midterm elections. She has not said publicly that she plans to run for the presidency or for the U.S. Senate, but she has announced that she is not ruling out either of those options.
If she won the Democratic primary and became the national candidate in the 2028 presidential election, she would be the first Latina to run. If she won, she would be both the first woman to serve as President of the United States and the first Hispanic American to do so. Some observers say those demographics — and her social democrat politics — make her unelectable in the general election. Ocasio-Cortez recognizes the validity of that concern. “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,” she told The New York Times. “And I think that there’s a lot of conversation about electability, and I don’t kind of shy away from those realities.”
She could also challenge Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for New York’s seat in the U.S. Senate. Schumer, who has served in Congress since 1981, currently holds the position of Senate Democratic Leader. He is up for re-election in 2028.
Ocasio-Cortez says that her decision about what to do in 2028 rests on the answer to one question: “Where can I do the most good?”
Effects for Puerto Rico
Ocasio-Cortez has a solid record of supporting federal funding and disaster relief for Puerto Rico. On the important issue of Puerto Rico’s political status, she is less transparent. Ocasio-Cortez supported Rep. Nydia Velazquez’s (D-NY) Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act and the Puerto Rico Status Act. However, she has never taken a position on the choice between statehood and nationhood for the territory, nor has she addressed the fate of U.S. citizenship for Puerto Ricans under any possible scenario. Her website states, “Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez supports a process of self-determination for Puerto Rico, under which residents of the island could choose between statehood, free association, independence or another arrangement other than its current colonial status.”
