Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., on Tuesday declined to back Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as he prepares to ask his caucus to make him majority leader in January. The snub deepens the rift between the party’s establishment and its progressive wing after the midterms.
Reporters outside the Capitol asked the progressive firebrand whether she would back her home-state senator for the chamber’s top job, given the growing calls for new leadership. Ocasio-Cortez said the decision belongs to members of the Senate and acknowledged that the appetite for change “is seen in a lot of places.”
Schumer, for his part, says he has already locked up enough votes. He needs a majority of his caucus to keep the job, and the leadership race will be decided by a secret-ballot vote of sitting and newly elected Democratic senators.
The New York Democrat is widely viewed as a possible 2028 primary challenger to Schumer, but she dodged when asked whether she would take him on.
“The last thing that people want to hear from me or any other politician here is about the next election,” she said.
Ocasio-Cortez has been open about weighing her next move, which could be a White House bid or a run for Schumer’s seat. She told ABC News’ “This Week” in August that “anything is possible at this juncture.” In September, she told The New York Times she would decide after the midterms. She spent much of the cycle campaigning for Democratic candidates across the country alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
Her supporters aren’t waiting. On Monday, a new progressive group called Ready for AOC began gathering signatures to draft her into the 2028 presidential race and build a volunteer army for a potential campaign.
The bad blood between the two New Yorkers goes back at least to March 2025. That month, Schumer supplied the Democratic votes needed to advance a Republican spending bill and avert a government shutdown. Ocasio-Cortez called the move “a tremendous mistake,” and several House Democrats publicly urged her to challenge him.
Schumer’s standing with the Democratic base has slipped since. A Politico poll from June found 47% of likely Democratic voters thought he should not remain in leadership, while 28% said he should. A Data for Progress poll from March 2025 showed Ocasio-Cortez leading Schumer 55% to 36% in a hypothetical New York primary.
Ocasio-Cortez isn’t the only Democrat keeping her distance. Several Democratic candidates this cycle pledged to withhold support for Schumer as leader. Even so, efforts to unseat him are seen as facing long odds.
Ocasio-Cortez has signaled she is not trying to topple the party’s other top New Yorker. She has said she will support House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., for speaker.
Schumer has led Senate Democrats since 2017. The 75-year-old is up for re-election in 2028 and has not said whether he will seek a sixth term.
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