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Speculation swirls as AOC is rumored to harbor 2028 aspirations: ‘Savvy politician’

Speculation swirls as AOC is rumored to harbor 2028 aspirations: ‘Savvy politician’

Rumors have swirled about “Squad” Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s political future since she joined Sen. Bernie Sanders’ high-profile “Fighting Oligarchy” tour earlier this year.  The youngest woman ever elected to Congress has become a leading progressive voice in the Democratic Party, amassing millions of social media followers and sparking speculation about a potential U.S. Senate run or White House bid in 2028. Her rise to the national stage comes as Democrats look for fresh leadership after losing up and down the ballot last year.  Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff and campaign manager are both alumni of the Sanders campaign. Mike Casca, her chief of staff, was formerly Sanders’ deputy chief of staff and a fixture of Sanders’ political operation, both on the presidential campaign trail and back on Capitol Hill.  Her campaign manager, Oliver Hidalgo-Wohlleben, has worked in politics for over a decade. Prior to joining Ocasio-Cortez’s team in 2023, Hidalgo-Wohlleben was the political director of Sanders’ super PAC, Friends of Bernie Sanders, according to his LinkedIn.  AOC STARS IN NEWSOM REDISTRICTING AD, URGING CALIFORNIANS TO ‘FIGHT’ TRUMP FOR DEMOCRACY Hidalgo-Wohlleben also worked on Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign before joining former President Joe Biden’s campaign in Iowa, Hidalgo-Wohlleben’s LinkedIn profile revealed.  AOC ALLEGEDLY EYEING 2028 RUN AS DNC VICE CHAIR RALLIES PARTY NEEDS MAMDANI TO OCASIO-CORTEZ AS LEADERS “AOC is a pretty savvy politician with a strong operation,” Democratic strategist Mike Nellis told Fox News Digital. “No matter what she decides to do, they’re setting her up for the future.” A Sanders alumnus himself, Nellis cautioned against placing too much weight on what it means for former Sanders staffers to lead Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign.  “I think that’s just who she knows and who she trusts,” Nellis, a former adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris, said, adding that Ocasio-Cortez has a “really good team around her.” “It’s strategic in the sense that they have a lot of relationships already,” Democratic strategist Kaivan Shroff said, while emphasizing that it can be a “mistake to keep the old guard” when you are trying to build something new.  “I don’t know that somebody is going to inherit the legacy of Bernie Sanders,” Shroff added.  Axios recently reported that, according to people familiar with Ocasio-Cortez’s political operation, her team is positioning her to run for president or the U.S. Senate in 2028.  Schumer is up for re-election in 2028. By then, he will have served 47 years in Congress.  “AOC doesn’t need the Senate,” Republican strategist Matt Gorman told Fox News Digital. “The Senate, at this point, is too small for her. I would expect her to run for president 2028.” Whether she chooses to run for president or the Senate, Nellis said Ocasio-Cortez has the potential to attract voters who don’t typically engage in the political process, much like the coalition President Donald Trump has built.  “When you are an unconventional candidate outside the mainstream, outside the establishment, you can get a lot of people who will tune in and engage that maybe otherwise wouldn’t because you’re giving voice to them in a meaningful way,” Nellis said.  But Shroff said that Ocasio-Cortez isn’t ready for a presidential campaign.  “She absolutely should not run for president,” Shroff said. “It would be way too soon. I don’t think she’s really achieved enough to justify that.” “For the Senate, I see that as more realistic, especially in a state like New York, that’s obviously more liberal,” Shroff added, arguing that “some very loyal base Democrats have lost their patience” with Schumer, so his vulnerability could boost Ocasio-Cortez’s chances of securing the Senate seat.  Shroff said Ocasio-Cortez’s “media profile and personality and charisma” aren’t enough to win the presidency, especially when running against figures like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, long considered to harbor presidential aspirations.  The New Yorker sparked more campaign buzz this month for participating in an advertisement directly challenging Trump and advocating in favor of California redistricting.  Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders have both endorsed and campaigned this year for New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, a self-described Democratic socialist.  If Mamdani wins the mayoral election in November, Shroff said it could be a litmus test for the modern progressive branch of the Democratic Party.  “It will be challenging for him because I don’t think he can do a lot of the things that he said, and so how soon will that leftist ideology be debunked on a national level? The sooner that happens, the worse it is for AOC,” Shroff said.  In April, Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign account posted a video on X that drove rumors she could be mulling a presidential run as the four-term Democrat from New York City and the progressive leader proclaimed, “We are one.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP When asked later that month if she was harboring any presidential ambitions, the young Democrat did not rule out 2028 presidential aspirations to Fox News Digital.  “Bernie and AOC, one thing they understand is that Democrats need to be more than just anti-Trump,” Gorman said, before adding, “I certainly disagree with Bernie and AOC’s strategy of how to lead the party and where to take America, but at least they have one. That’s more than just, ‘I hate Trump.’” The Republican strategist said the Democratic Party’s “establishment is not going to be able to stop a united, far-left wing of the party this time,” Gorman said.  Ocasio-Cortez’s and Schumer’s campaigns did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Johnson says Democrats lying about illegal immigrant healthcare push

Johnson says Democrats lying about illegal immigrant healthcare push

EXCLUSIVE: House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is accusing Democrats of lying in their denials that they’re pushing to give healthcare back to illegal immigrants. “The idea that you would want illegal aliens to be paid benefits by U.S. taxpayers is unconscionable,” Johnson said Wednesday. The top House Republican sat down with Fox News Digital for an interview on the first full day of the ongoing government shutdown, hours after Senate Democrats again rejected the GOP’s proposal to keep federal agencies funded at fiscal year (FY) 2025 levels through Nov. 21. Republicans’ accusations that Democrats are trying to reverse GOP changes to the Medicaid system in favor of illegal immigrants has been a particularly significant flashpoint in the fight, with those on the left attacking that claim as a lie. GOP ACCUSES DEMS OF RISKING SHUTDOWN TO RESTORE ‘ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT HEALTHCARE’ But Johnson pointed out that Democrats’ own counter-proposal for a funding bill included a provision that would have entirely reversed Republicans’ recent Medicaid changes in the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” (OBBB) signed into law on July 4. “What we’re trying to do is strengthen Medicaid, and one of the very important things we had to do is make sure that the more than 1 million illegal aliens who were collecting that were not allowed on the program,” Johnson said. “So when they say they want to repeal the healthcare provisions of the OBBB, it’s that and it’s the rural hospital fund. We put $50 billion into a fund to prop up our rural hospitals, and that would do real damage [if ended].” People in the U.S. without legal status are already barred on a federal level from accessing benefits like Medicaid. And Democrats, who are also pushing for any funding deal to extend enhanced Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year, have insisted that they’re fighting to preserve healthcare for Americans. Republicans’ bill installed a 20-hour-per-week work requirement for certain able-bodied people on Medicaid, even for U.S. citizens, which Democrats objected to. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., meanwhile, told CNN on Wednesday of the illegal immigrants claim, “Taxpayer dollars cannot be spent on Medicaid or Medicare or the Affordable Care Act related to undocumented immigrants, and not a single Democrat has raised the issue of trying to reverse that federal law. What we are trying to do is save the healthcare of the American people, lower their costs and cancel these cuts.” Yet 14 states and the District of Columbia, all of which use a mix of federal and state dollars to fund Medicaid, allow some level of state-funded healthcare coverage for residents without legal immigration status. Those programs are active in places that expanded their Medicaid populations under Obamacare, formally called the Affordable Care Act (ACA). SHUTDOWN EXPLAINED: WHO WORKS, WHO DOESN’T AND HOW MUCH IT COSTS Hospitals are also given federal dollars to cover Emergency Medicaid funding, which is available to people who meet all Medicaid eligibility requirements except for immigration status in cases of dire immediate need. The OBBB reduces the amount of federal dollars those hospitals get, however. The GOP policy bill also strengthens guardrails around who can get Medicaid coverage, barring certain groups of asylum-seekers and refugees who otherwise would have qualified for some level of coverage. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Republicans argue that millions of people who entered the U.S. illegally were improperly granted at least temporary legal status under former President Joe Biden, and so should not qualify for the same benefits as other legal immigrants — a point Johnson suggested during his interview as well. “President Biden added all those people onto the rolls, and he kept the border open for four years,” Johnson said. “They put them on taxpayer benefits.” While Biden did enact significant restrictions on asylum and illegal entry across the border toward the end of his term, his loosening of Trump administration-era restrictions in 2021 is accused of helping precipitate a record number of illegal immigrants entering the U.S. “Illegal aliens can’t get Medicaid, but that has only been true since July 4, and the reason that is a true statement is because we passed it into law and all the Democrats voted against it,” Johnson said. “So they want to reverse what we did. I mean, that’s just plain and simple.”

Harris sought Clinton ‘marriage’ secrets to avoid running mate drama

Harris sought Clinton ‘marriage’ secrets to avoid running mate drama

Former Vice President Kamala Harris revealed in her new memoir that she turned to Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton for advice on choosing a running mate before landing on Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.  Harris’ new memoir, “107 Days,” provides a detailed first-hand account of the former vice president’s truncated presidential campaign in 2024. The book, released Sept. 23, set the stage back when Harris had just 94 days to go before Americans cast their ballots.  She called on former President Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for advice on how to choose a running mate.  “Very few people have ever made this decision. I called Hillary and Bill Clinton, because they knew what it was like and would give me candid and confidential advice,” Harris wrote. She described that the Clintons warned her against choosing someone who would be an apparent “political marriage of convenience.” KAMALA HARRIS PLAYS UP COZY RELATIONSHIP WITH HILLARY CLINTON AS WEDGE WITH BIDEN WIDENS “One of your strengths,’ they said, ‘is that you bring a joyful energy to the campaign. You have to choose someone who won’t work against that,’” she wrote of their conversation. “They told me to be aware that over the course of the campaign, people will be able to tell if it is a genuinely good relationship or a political marriage of convenience.” Harris continued that the former president said his running mate and vice president, Al Gore, was a good match “because he knew things I didn’t know. We were as different as daylight and dark and it worked.” “‘You have to level with them and watch how they answer,’” she wrote of Bill Clinton’s advice on how to vet potential running mates.  She added that the couple jointly “emphasized that I’d be offering this person the chance of a lifetime, so they’d better know it. If they were someone dying for immediate public recognition, it might not be the job for them. They might have to swallow a lot of crap.” FROM TELL ALL TO END ALL: FORMER VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS’ 5 BIG CAREER MISTAKES Harris ultimately chose Walz to join her on the ticket, a relatively unknown Democratic governor from Minnesota and former U.S. House lawmaker who was celebrated as Harris’ “happy warrior” on the campaign trail.   “I needed to know that my running mate was a person who valued the dignity of everyone and would take a moment to show it,” she capped off the chapter, which did not note whether Harris floated Walz’ name directly to the Clintons as she sought advice.  The selection of Walz over other liked or well-known Democrats, such as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, was viewed as a campaign misstep that contributed to the party’s loss to President Donald Trump. Walz was slammed over claims of “stolen valor,” and his previous strict rules for his state during the pandemic, as well as a debate performance against then-Sen. JD Vance that pundits argued made him appear nervous.  KAMALA HARRIS REVEALS WHAT BIDEN TOLD HER JUST BEFORE CRUCIAL DEBATE WITH TRUMP THAT LEFT HER ‘ANGRY’ Harris, who mentions the Clintons at least 12 times in her book, has increasingly played up her cozy relationship with the Democratic power couple as her political wedge with former President Joe Biden’s political orbit widens following the release of her book.  “We all hope to be mentored. We all hope to have support from those who come before. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t. And certainly that’s true of politics. Hillary Clinton is one of those people that believes in lifting people up and supporting people,” Harris said from the stage of The Town Hall, a theater venue in Midtown Manhattan, where she kicked off her book tour Sept. 24.  “And she follows through,” Harris added. OBAMA, PELOSI, OTHER TOP DEMS RESISTED INSTANT HARRIS ENDORSEMENT CITING NEED TO ‘EARN IT,’ ‘HIKING’ EXCUSE Harris said during her book event in New York City that the Clintons were among one of the first calls she made when Biden officially dropped out of the presidential race on July 21, 2024 — describing the call as “the cutest thing.” “So I have their home number, for Hillary and Bill, and it was the cutest thing. So I called and Hillary picked up and then Bill was in the other room, and she’s like, ‘It’s Kamala on the phone, Bill, pick up the other phone,’” she recounted on her book tour Sept. 24.  Harris said that the former first couple immediately offered to travel to campaign for her presidential ticket, including taking public transportation, including Hillary Clinton reportedly offering to hop on an Amtrak ride to hit the campaign trail.  Her comments on the Clintons follow Biden’s allies taking issue with Harris’ handful of jabs she took at the former president, including arguing it was reckless for the octogenarian president to run for re-election, critiquing Biden’s botched debate against Trump that ultimately served as a death knell for Biden’s re-election efforts.