Overview

• Axios reports Ocasio-Cortez’s team is actively preparing for either a 2028 presidential bid or a Senate run by recruiting former senior advisers to Bernie Sanders.
• Her operation has spent millions on digital advertising and supporter-list acquisition, driving hundreds of thousands of small-dollar donations and growing her following to roughly 36.7 million across platforms.
• She expanded her footprint with a nationwide swing on Sanders’ “Fighting Oligarchy” tour and a series of town halls in upstate New York beyond her Bronx–Queens district.
• She has not made a decision on 2028 as her office declined comment, while allies frame the preparations as creating real options for a large-scale campaign.
• Early national primary polling places her around 8–10% and behind figures like Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, and Pete Buttigieg, while Data for Progress found her leading Chuck Schumer 55%–36% among New York Democrats in a hypothetical Senate primary.