Case in point: In talking to me about economic populism, she didn’t cite members of the lefty Squad, but instead name-checked a very different colleague. “Look at a front-liner like Jared Golden, who is on Medicare for all,” she said, citing the Maine congressman who has staked out a liberal position on health care despite being a self-identified “progressive conservative” representing a Trumpy district. “This is why I say we need to have a rejection of this left-right, because there are folks that can lean into certain issues,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said. “Sure, there are third rails like immigration that are not going to fly in every single district. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t vocally support policies that are going to help people pay their bills.”
Mr. Golden sees things a bit differently — “the folks back home know that I am not driving in the same direction she is,” he told me — and would take populism in some slightly different directions, such as focusing on debt reduction. (Mr. Golden co-sponsored the Medicare-for-all legislation in 2019 but withdrew his support and now favors a universal preventive and basic care model that would not do away with private plans.) But even if the two are not perfectly aligned, they offer a sense that there’s energy and determination yet in a party that many Americans have turned on.
How far Ms. Ocasio-Cortez can go is a hot topic for many Democrats right now. With her youth, charisma, social media skills and political savvy, she is being talked about nowadays as not only the obvious heir to Mr. Sanders as leader of the progressive movement, but as a possible presidential contender for 2028. This both recognizes her potential and feels premature at best.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is arguably the best-known progressive figure in elected office — sorry, Bernie! — with all the divisiveness that comes with it. Her mere existence spins up Republicans to a degree reminiscent of their reaction to Nancy Pelosi in her heyday. Indeed, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez strikes me as having the potential to be a congressional force in the Pelosi model: a fierce progressive from a deep-blue district, vilified by Republicans as a left-wing extremist even as her pragmatism and strategic thinking go underestimated. Having blown into the House as a lefty bomb thrower in 2019, she has since taken steps to build relationships across her caucus, including by handing out campaign cash to more conservative colleagues in frontline districts.
The Fighting Oligarchy tour organized by Mr. Sanders and featuring her as a “special guest” drew fired-up crowds in numbers worthy of a presidential campaign: about 15,000 in Tempe, Ariz.; 11,000 in Greeley, Colo.; 34,000 in Denver. These events are about more than policy or ideology, but also sheer emotion. The frustration and fury among Democratic voters are palpable these days. (Just ask Chuck Schumer.) Democrats freaked out by Mr. Trump are clamoring for leaders who share their sense of urgency.
