Leftwing populist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is the Democrats’ best hope of defeating a potential run by former President Donald Trump in 2024, Democrat consultant Michael Starr Hopkins penned in the Hill on Tuesday.
While Trump overcame the Republican establishment in 2016 to win a historic election over Hillary Clinton, the Democrat Party has not undergone the same reforms away from the establishment. Both Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden are establishment figures who defeated socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in 2016 and 2020 respectively, keeping the populist left out of the Oval Office.
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 20: President Donald Trump takes the oath of office as his wife Melania Trump holds the Bible on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2017, in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Hopkins explained that Ocasio-Cortez, “the future of the Democratic Party,” has policies based in populism and for that reason is “less of a personality and more of a movement” and “a force to be reckoned with” in 2024 to combat Donald Trump. “She has been unafraid, unapologetic and unwilling to bend to the will of Washington,” the op-ed read.
“In the age of social media and quick sound bites, no Democrat is more prepared to embarrass a bully like Donald Trump,” Hopkins claimed. “She’s the voice of a movement that began after the banks were bailed out by the government, while homeowners were left to default.”
“The simplicity with which she talks about everyday struggles hints that she’s not just a persona for consumption. She isn’t beholden to corporations, is a prodigious small-dollar fundraiser, and could out-Trump Trump like no other politician has been able to,” he explained.
Though Ocasio-Cortez could mount a campaign in 2024, Joe Biden has reportedly stated he is running for reelection because he believes he is the only Democrat who could defeat Trump. Yet 75 percent of Democrat voters want Joe Biden replaced atop the 2024 presidential ticket, up from 51 percent in February, according to a CNN poll. It should also be noted Trump leads Biden in a hypothetical 2024 presidential match-up by four points (45-41 percent), according to a Monday Harvard CAPS-Harris poll.
It is unclear if Ocasio-Cortez wants to mount a large campaign against the Democrat establishment in a 2024 primary against Biden or other potential contenders. Ocasio-Cortez decided not to campaign against establishment Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in 2022, preferring to stay in her far-left House seat where she has little competition to retain her national relevance.
When Ocasio-Cortez was asked about a potential run in 2024 on “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert, she refused to give a definitive answer. “Listen, I think that we need to focus on keeping a democracy for anybody to be president in the next couple of years, and that’s my central focus is helping [the] people of this country,” she said.
“I don’t know about all that,” Ocasio-Cortez replied.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter and Gettr @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
