DSA Is Eyeing a 2028 AOC Presidential Run

Members of the Democratic Socialists of America are thinking seriously about a national presidential campaign for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2028 that would reach millions of working people and have the potential to transform American politics.

By Eric Blanc, Jacobin

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is entering a new phase. After decades on the political margins, DSA has helped elect a socialist mayor of New York City, won a string of congressional primaries, and grown to over 130,000 members. Now, as chapters across the country call for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to run for president in 2028, the organization faces a crucial test of how to turn its growing popularity into national political power.

There are encouraging signs that DSA is rising to the occasion. From Los Angeles and Chicago to smaller communities like Ithaca and Wichita, chapters have passed resolutions urging AOC to run. Last weekend, Bread and Roses — a caucus I am a member of and that within DSA’s national leadership often holds the balance of power between the organization’s different political wings — voted overwhelmingly to join the effort to draft her.

DSA’s national leadership has also approved a process that could allow an endorsement early in 2027, rather than waiting until its summer convention. None of this means the organization is united, or that its remaining disagreements are trivial. But the trend is clear: more socialists are coming around to the possibility of a national campaign capable of reaching millions of working people.

The Growing Coalition for AOC

At its 2025 national convention, held before Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral victory reenergized the organization, DSA committed to helping unite labor and the Left behind a socialist presidential candidate in 2028. That decision did not settle whom to support. But as members have organized for an AOC candidacy this year, the case for rallying around her has gained force.