There has been chatter about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) running for president in 2024, especially after she coyly wouldn't say during her June 29 appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," replying "I don’t know about all that."
When it comes to the likelihood that she'll actually run and get elected, it seems like an almost laughable concept. There are people who believe it though, like Michael Starr Hopkins, who penned an op-ed for The Hill about the squad member's run, with "AOC is the Democrats’ best shot against Trump in 2024."
As if the title isn't ridiculous enough, Hopkins begins his piece by referencing President Barack Obama, claiming that AOC's primary win and election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018 "feels eerily similar."
When it comes to what AOC herself supposedly has to offer, Hopkins continues by writing:
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is less of a personality and more of a movement. Yes, the smart, photogenic congresswoman is the face of the rising progressive movement, but she is also the future of the Democratic Party. AOC has cultivated a following beyond politics. She’s an influencer in its purest form. Her ability to relate to her supporters and allow them a glimpse into her private life is a blueprint for Democrats trying to act less like mannequins and more like humans.
Hopkins would do well to be careful when it comes to how the face of progressivism, and the squad, and ought to be showcased as "the future of the Democratic Party."
Widely-respected Democratic strategist James Carville and AOC have been at odds before, and for good reason, considering Carville wants Democrats to win elections.
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Carville pointed out in an interview from January with Vox that 6 percent of adults in this country identify as "progressive," with only 11 or 12 percent of Democrats doing so, with both figures coming from Pew Research.
Further, a Morning Consult poll released last month found that even Democrats think President Joe Biden is more liberal than they are. Biden, of course, has been hemorrhaging support among all voters, including his base.
The more Hopkins writes, the more it's clear he's actually serious in thinking that AOC has a chance. It's quite laughable.
According to Hopkins, AOC has a bigger chance of winning with help from the nearly 81-year-old Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who has run before but never won the Democratic presidential nomination. A memo was also leaked in April indicating that if Biden doesn't run, Sanders won't rule out another run himself.
"If Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is the Godfather, Ocasio-Cartez is Michael Corleone," Hopkins writes, adding even more cringe by making a reference to such a beloved film. "Bernie passing the torch to AOC and recruiting her to run for president would be bold and would strengthen and solidify her base of supporters before she even gets out of the gate," he later writes.
Hopkins also portrays AOC as a candidate who "isn't afraid to lose" and claims her "2018 victory wasn’t just historic, it was shocking, and felt predestined," as he also throws in another Obama reference.
While Hopkins later clarifies further that AOC's win was so unexpected when it comes to her beating incumbent Joe Crowley in the 2018 Democratic primary in order to win in November, he fails to mention that she comes from one of the most Democratic districts in the country. It's likely why she's still in office to begin with, as she doesn't have to actively campaign for her seat; any Republican opponent for that seat doesn't stand a chance, at least not any time soon.
Further, beyond how Hopkins takes his time in talking about AOC's electoral history, he also distorts her time in Congress. The congresswoman, as he claims at one point, "did her homework and tried to fly under the radar while learning the nuances of Congress and the levers of power that run it."
Hopkins acknowledges the difficulties that AOC would face, sort of. "There is no denying that AOC would boost GOP turnout as a result of coverage on right wing networks built to scare elderly white voters. But she would electrify the party’s base, turn out the youth at record levels and bring the party together by acknowledging the threat posed by electing Trump Republicans," he writes.
It's not just about fear-mongering, though, or encouraging the voting bloc that already is the most motivated to vote. Beyond Republicans, Independents, moderates and anyone who isn't an unhinged Democrat would Hopkins also pushes for "no rules" in order to have the first woman president in AOC:
In the age of social media and quick sound bites, no Democrat is more prepared to embarrass a bully like Donald Trump or Florida governor Ron DeSantis and return some chutzpah to the Democratic Party. There will be no going high when they go low anymore. It appears the only rule is there are no rules, and AOC is ready to enter the cage and fight for our democracy.
If anyone is prepared to unify the Democratic Party and put the focus back on the working class, it’s AOC. Republicans laugh, Democrats fawn, but if voters trust her, we could finally be looking at the first woman president.
If the squad member were to run, and manage to beat out other Democrats in the presidential primary, it's almost certain that Republicans could expect a red wave, beyond the one that is expected to come as a result of the upcoming November midterm elections, now just 98 days away. It's a good thing AOC "isn't afraid to lose," then.
AOC will fulfill the constitutional requirement of being 35 or older on October 13, 2024, less than one month before the 2024 presidential election.
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