<\/p>\n
The race for<\/span> 2028 is already starting, and progressives are all asking one question: Who will take up the left\u2019s mantle in the next presidential election?\u00a0<\/p>\n An obvious first choice for many self-described leftists, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has said<\/a> she is seriously considering a run. Ocasio-Cortez laid the groundwork for a potential presidential bid rooted in economic populism and \u201cfighting oligarchy<\/a>\u201d while campaigning alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., for midterm candidates around the country this cycle.\u00a0<\/p>\n Democratic strategists, however, have pointed out it would be far easier for Ocasio-Cortez to run for Democratic New York Sen. Chuck Schumer\u2019s seat in 2028; and it\u2019s even possible the 75-year-old presumptive majority leader will retire.<\/p>\n There isn\u2019t a clear pick for another Democratic candidate with star power who could mount a truly progressive campaign \u2014 presenting the left with the threat of losing the momentum that fueled a democratic socialist wave<\/a> during the primaries<\/a> and animated campaigns<\/a> across the ideological spectrum on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n That, said her former spokesperson Lauren Hitt, is not Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s problem.<\/p>\n \u201cThe wrong reason to run would be because nobody else is running in the progressive lane.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cI think the wrong reason to run would be because nobody else is running in the progressive lane,\u201d said Hitt, who now advises progressive and moderate candidates. (Representatives for Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)<\/p>\n So if Ocasio-Cortez doesn\u2019t run from the left, who will?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Candidates exploring potential presidential bids include a few newer faces alongside a very similar cast of moderates who campaigned for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 and 2020 primaries.<\/p>\n Names like New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker<\/a>, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and even the party\u2019s former nominee Kamala Harris are making the rounds; Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., has also laid the groundwork for a run. The recently reelected Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has long been viewed as a potential contender, as has Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, though he said<\/a> last month he\u2019s not planning on a run.<\/p>\n None of them are people you would necessarily liken to someone like Ocasio-Cortez or the grandfather<\/a> of the movement<\/a> behind her, Sanders himself.<\/p>\n Rep. Ro Khanna of California is so far the most \u201cprogressive\u201d person openly considering a run. Khanna served as national co-chair of Sanders\u2019s 2020 presidential campaign, and he\u2019s long been a voice for an anti-interventionist foreign policy<\/a>. He drew the ire of tech billionaires<\/a> for supporting a wealth tax in California.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yet there\u2019s a palpable skepticism around Khanna among leftists, even if they can\u2019t quite<\/a> put their finger on why. Some weren\u2019t impressed when he defended<\/a> his support for funding Israel\u2019s Iron Dome missile defense system after publicizing an arrest in the West Bank<\/a> earlier this year. (Khanna later came<\/a> out against funding the Iron Dome). And as a multimillionaire, he\u2019s also drawn criticism from the right<\/a> and the left for his personal wealth.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a palpable skepticism around Khanna among leftists, even if they can\u2019t quite put their finger on why.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Like Ocasio-Cortez, Khanna has said<\/a> he will back Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., for House Speaker despite pledges<\/a> from other candidates to withhold their support for either Jeffries or Schumer,<\/a> both moderates, for leadership positions next session.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s still incredibly early, but there\u2019s one unifying theme emerging from Tuesday\u2019s results for whichever candidate decides to try to court the progressive vote.<\/p>\n \u201cAll I know is that the populist lane is wide open for someone to seize it,\u201d said Ravi Mangla, the spokesperson for the Working Families Party.\u00a0<\/p>\n Victories over the past two years, from Zohran Mamdani\u2019s election as mayor of New York City to the clutch of democratic socialists and progressives heading to Congress<\/a> in January, show that Democrats can marshal discontent with Donald Trump and the far right to elect candidates running on progressive policies.<\/p>\n \u201dVoters were very clear: People are very, very angry,\u201d said Greg Krieg, a progressive Democratic strategist who works with Slingshot Strategies and is the spokesperson for the pro-Palestine super PAC American Priorities. \u201cThere is a focus on economic populism that transcends the ideological splits in the party.\u201d<\/p>\n With the rising cost of living, and candidates tapping into that populism, the question for progressives is how to best wield the blue version of economic populism against the right-wing version<\/a> that powered Trump\u2019s rise.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cRight-wing populism didn\u2019t really defeat left-wing populism, it just ran against a kind of corporate slop for many years,\u201d Krieg said.\u00a0<\/p>\n This era\u2019s new \u201ckitchen table\u201d issues are a constellation of economic woes that voters are increasingly connecting to the forces concentrating wealth<\/a> and political power<\/a> in the hands of the few<\/a>. Democrats should respond to that by fighting, visibly, against the things that take money out of people\u2019s pockets, corruption<\/a> and price-gouging among them, Krieg said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think that the American people, if they are presented a choice of right-wing populism and left-wing populism, will opt for the left-wing populism,\u201d Krieg said. \u201cAnd I think that\u2019s quadruply true now that we\u2019ve done the right-wing populism experiment and it\u2019s been such a fiasco \u2014 so let\u2019s give them that option.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The factors influencing how Democrats approach 2028 are taking shape now. They include the debate over who will lead the party in the House and Senate, though any effort to stop Schumer or Jeffries from leading roles would face long odds. And how Democrats fare in the next presidential race will depend in large part on what they do with<\/a> their control of Congress<\/a> during the last two years of Trump\u2019s final term in office.<\/p>\n\n
The Field So Far<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Leveraging Economic Populism<\/strong><\/h2>\n