Ocasio-Cortez takes on assertive new role as Democratic anger grows

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is positioning herself in a leading role among Democrats as discontent grows among the party’s base in the second Trump era. 

Ocasio-Cortez is on the road with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as part of their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour aimed at rallying Democrats. The progressive congresswoman has also been one of the loudest critics of Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) decision to vote for a House GOP-drafted government funding bill last week, so much so that she’s been floated as a potential primary challenger against him. 

While Ocasio-Cortez has given no indication that she would primary Schumer, her high profile and vocal criticism of the party’s status quo positions her as someone who could fill what critics say is a leadership vacuum within the party. 

“Some of the most effective, strategic and response leadership happening in this moment is coming from Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and she’s doing it better than many Democrats that we see nationally,” said Abbas Alawieh, a senior progressive strategist. “She is reminding the party what real leadership that is responsive to the energy of movements actually looks like.” 

Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez held their first joint rally on Thursday, taking aim at tech billionaire Elon Musk and Republican members of Congress.

The series of rallies come as angry constituents have voiced frustrations with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle during town halls over the congressional recess. Democrats have seen a barrage of confrontations from liberal constituents over their response to the Trump administration. Constituents have pushed back against Democratic lawmakers, saying their party is in the minority, arguing that it is not an excuse. On top of that, Democrats across the party spectrum are reeling over Schumer and nine other Senate Democrats voting in favor of the government funding legislation. 

Recent polling paints a picture of a Democratic base unhappy with how the party’s leaders are carrying the party forward. A CNN poll released on Sunday showed warning signs for Democratic leadership, with 52 percent of Democratic-aligned adults saying the party’s leadership is currently taking the party in the wrong direction. Forty-eight percent said leadership was taking them in the right direction. 

However, the same poll painted an optimistic picture of Ocasio-Cortez’s standing within the party. The progressive congresswoman led a list of Democratic names when Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents were asked to name one person when “thinking about Democratic leaders today” who “best reflects the core values of the Democratic Party.”

Ten percent named Ocasio-Cortez, while nine percent pointed to former Vice President Harris. Another eight percent named Sanders and six percent said House Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries (D-N.Y.). 

“The clarity of her messaging precisely because she’s willing to name who it is that’s hurting people and who’s helping them is really resonating with people who want leaders who are fighting for them, who are not telling them there’s nothing we can do but who are naming the culprits and what they’re doing to go up against them,” Alawieh said. 

One of the most recent examples of this took place on X on Friday, when Ocasio-Cortez took to the platform to praise former Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Pa.) for criticizing his former primary opponent Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) over his vote in favor of the government funding bill. 

“I was wrong about you and I’m sorry. Where do I submit my Conor Lamb apology form,” Ocasio-Cortez said, referring to supporting Fetterman, who was viewed as the progressive in the 2022 primary. 

Ocasio-Cortez’s supporters also point to the congresswoman’s use of social media to connect and communicate not only with her constituents, but with Democrats as a whole. Following Trump’s election win in November, the congresswoman asked her followers in her district for their insight on why they voted her but also voted for Trump. 

“The one thing everybody knows is that AOC’s communications has been exemplary. It’s been the model for everyone else in the party,” said one Democratic aide. 

However, many progressives are quick to point out that Ocasio-Cortez is not the only progressive Democratic leader making waves on the national stage. Other progressives that have been seen as leading opposition voices within the party include Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Reps. Pramilla Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Greg Casar (D-Texas). 

As for Sanders, while he continues to be a dominant voice, there is the question of whether any of these rising progressive stars can replace the 83-year-old progressive firebrand. 

“There’s sort of a question out there right now like does this mean that she is the person to succeed Bernie Sanders in the movement that he’s created,” Alawieh said. “The political movement that Bernie Sanders created and continues to fan the flames of on his national tour is not one that is going to be inherited by just one leader.”

“He has actually empowered an entire wing of the party, certainly in Congress, to lead very boldly,” he added. 

Progressives say that unlike others in the party, these figures are connecting with the outrage that voters inside and even outside of the Democratic coalition are feeling in the administration. 

“She and folks like Bernie and folks like Sen. Murphy are articulating the righteous outrage that countless Americans are feeling right now and it’s not like AOC or Bernie has some unique source of power,” said Sawyer Hackett, a progressive Democratic strategist. 

“They don’t have any unique legislative ability to fight back against this administration, but they’re putting their bodies on the line, their skin on the line, their time on the line to go out and speak to voters and that’s what people want,” he said.