Will AOC Primary Schumer or Gillibrand for a Senate Seat?

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lets off some steam during her college years. Screen grab via berlin1925,.
AOC and Ted Cruz.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Screen grabs via Fox Business and Cruz’s Twitter page.

Full disclosure, her people aren’t the ones talking about it, but the scuttlebutt is that Democrats are gently pushing New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to run for Senate in New York and primary one of two Democrat powerhouses: Sen. Chuck Schumer or Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

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Top Democrats tell “Axios on HBO” they expect Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may eventually primary one of the two New York senators — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in 2022, or Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in 2024.

Corbin Trent, Ocasio-Cortez’s communications director, said that when she thinks down the road, she thinks in terms of transitioning Democrats to a party that’s unified around progressive policies.

  • As to eventually challenging one of the New York senators, Trent said: “Having worked on her campaign, I don’t think we’re going to be moving to a different role any time soon.”

Axios provides links to two polls, one that suggests socialism — the preferred ideology of AOC — has soared among women and young voters; the second showing that AOC, while enjoying popularity in her district and among Democrats nationwide, may not have the support of the rest of New York.

AOC’s time as a Representative — a race she barely won and, many believe, only because her contender’s supporters thought he had it in the bag so they failed to show up and vote — has been gaffe-heavy and embarrassing at times. But the Democrats are surely interested in keeping her around. She’s attractive, young, and apparently is unafraid to be the face of their most radical ideas.

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It’s bad strategy to let someone like that go.

And, if Axios has good information, they don’t intend to.

How Schumer or Gillibrand respond to this “threat” will be interesting if the rumor develops into a real campaign.

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