AOC Back With the DSA – But Will Enough Democrats Back Her for 2028?

Will she, won’t she? That’s the question many have asked recently about Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), commonly known as AOC, running for higher office – perhaps even president – in 2028. While she still hasn’t declared one way or the other officially, by rejoining the Democratic Socialists of America, she has answered well enough in the minds of many. But will this calculated move to ride the coattails of the rising socialist movement pull her to the nation’s highest office, or drag her through the mud?

AOC and the DSA ‘Mistake’

The New York socialist officially rejoined the DSA this week, sparking fresh speculation about her intentions for 2028. “Democratic Socialists of America confirms Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a member in good standing of our organization, having recently rejoined in August 2026,” the DSA wrote in a press release. “Previously, the representative joined DSA in 2018 with a one-year membership, which DSA’s national leadership recently noticed had lapsed in 2019. She has since renewed her membership as of this month.”

So it’s not that she left, the group insists – it’s that she accidentally allowed her dues-based membership to lapse. It was a mistake, and one that she has now rectified. But isn’t seven years a long time to not realize your membership in something – anything – has lapsed? As well, how could it be possible that neither she nor the organization could have noticed for so long, especially when the DSA has been keeping an eye on her as an elected politician?

In 2020, the DSA publicly celebrated her re-election and referred to her online as “DSA member @AOC,” even though she wasn’t technically a member at the time. In 2024, the DSA’s National Political Committee (NPC) gave her a conditional national endorsement, so long as she opposed all Israel funding, regularly participated in the DSA’s Federal Socialists in Office committee, opposed the criminalization of anti-Zionism, and publicly backed BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions), a Palestine-led, anti-Israel movement. She did not, and so they revoked the endorsement just a couple of weeks later.

Also in 2024, the DSA published a blog post titled “I Miss the Old AOC,” in which a member expressed disillusionment with the socialist star. And was that disillusionment justified? Well, let’s look at it from the representative’s perspective. She first joined the organization in 2018 – the year she was elected to Congress. She let it lapse immediately. Now, when she’s almost certainly eyeing higher office than her current station and when the media cycle is full of socialists winning their primaries across the nation, she conveniently notices the seven-year lapse and re-ups.

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This has all the hallmarks of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaigns. The gentleman from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats has maintained an independent registration throughout his long political career. He was an independent when he became mayor of Burlington, Vermont, in 1981, when he was first elected to the US House in 1990, when he joined the Senate in 2007, and all the way through to today. Well, except for two very specific instances, of course: In both 2016 and 2020, the “independent” socialist officially joined the Democratic Party for his presidential campaign.

Bernie knows no third party is winning the White House, making the Democratic Party far more useful during those specific campaigns. It’s telling that he dropped them as soon as they dropped him in each primary – just like AOC dropped DSA after they got her elected in 2018.

Even more telling is her essentially admitting it on TV. Earlier this month, she told Jonathan Karl of ABC’s This Week that she was a member of the NYC chapter, not the national organization – so she knew. That sounds a lot more like rebranding than rectifying a mistake.

As for what AOC plans for 2028, technically we don’t know. But a look at the betting markets certainly shows plenty of people who think they have a good idea. Under the question “Will AOC announce a run for Senate or President before 2028?” 62% of bettors say president, 36% Senate, and just 2% say neither. AOC leads the group for who is most likely to be the Democratic presidential nominee, as well, at 19% to Jon Ossoff’s 16% and Gavin Newsom’s 14% as of Saturday morning, August 29. Notably, Kamala Harris sits at just 8%. And finally, under the category of presidential election winner in 2028, she’s joined by Jon Ossoff and Marco Rubio at 11%, coming in under JD Vance at 24%.

The Big Tent Big Lie

After socialist Abdul El-Sayed beat centrist Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Senate primary earlier this month, AOC said the Democratic Party was experiencing a “time of renewal” and declared that it was unifying and focusing on winning the midterms this November.

Unfortunately for her and other socialists at the national level, however, not everyone agrees. “We are capitalist, not socialist,” declared a group of centrist Democrats after the New York primary. Just last month, establishment Democrat Rahm Emanuel – the former White House chief of staff under Barack Obama, ambassador to Japan, and mayor of Chicago – said it was “Bernie bros” and other democratic socialists who were ruining the Democratic Party and could spell electoral doom come November.

Emanuel didn’t just go after Bernie and his bros, though. A week later, he targeted NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, boasting that he had confronted the socialist on his anti-Israel stance and the use of the phrase “from the river to the sea.” And he wasn’t alone in that criticism. Mark Penn, a longtime strategist for the Democrats and an advisor to Bill Clinton, joined in by attacking Mamdani’s proposed property tax.

It isn’t all love and peace from the socialist side of the fairgrounds, either. Earlier this month, Bernie Sanders took his response to Rahm Emanuel’s criticism to the next level, proposing a ban on super PACs in Democratic Party primaries. His argument: The billionaire “donor class,” as he calls them, shouldn’t be choosing who represents the people.

Democrats like to talk about the party being a big tent, a term that traces back to the New Deal coalition under FDR. It’s inclusive. It’s diverse. It’s broad enough to be nationally effective. But is that the Democratic Party of today? If the big tent isn’t a big lie, then it is, at the very least, a very divided tent.