(Headline USA) Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., teased a possible Senate run against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand next year, saying she is considering a number of career options, including “higher office.”
When asked by Politico this week about a potential Senate run, Ocasio-Cortez said, “Don’t ask me that question… Print that.”
Ocasio-Cortez admitted she’s considering a number of options, including stepping away from public office.
“There’s a world where I’m here for a long time in this seat, in this position,” she told the outlet. “There’s a world where I’m not an elected official anymore. There’s a world where … I may be in higher office.”
Gillibrand announced in January that she would seek another Senate term, raising questions about whether a far-Left progressive might challenge her.
Democratic consultant Ryan Adams argued Ocasio-Cortez could easily take down Gillibrand, even though the latter’s campaign is currently sitting on more than $4 million.
“She could do it. Oh, my God, could she do it,” he said. “If she ran for Senate the fundraising that would come in from all around the country would easily make her competitive. And nobody campaigns like her. Everyone would come out. The apparatus that would spring up around her would be unstoppable. People would fly in from other states to volunteer with her.”
Rep. Ritchie Torres has also been floated as a possible opponent against Gillibrand.
“There are rumblings in his circles pushing him to eventually go for the Senate,” a source close to Torres said.
In her interview with Politico, Ocasio-Cortez also rejected the characterization of her as a “far-Leftist” and pushed back on those who compare the far Left to the far Right.
“There are people, including moderates, who sometimes try to draw this completely unfair, false equivalence between progressives and, frankly, the fascists that we see in the Republican Party,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
