DSA Should Rally Behind an AOC 2028 Presidential Run to Build National Socialist Power
Source: Eric Blanc. "DSA Is Eyeing a 2028 AOC Presidential Run." October 28, 2026. jacobin.com
The Gist
The author argues that DSA, now bigger and more successful than ever, should get behind a possible 2028 presidential run by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She has the national profile and appeal to reach millions of working people and help build a stronger socialist movement. Skeptics on the left have fair concerns, but they are better handled by pushing the campaign in a good direction than by sitting it out.
Conclusion
DSA should embrace and help shape a 2028 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez presidential campaign, because it offers a rare opportunity to build socialist political power and organization at a national scale, and skeptics' objections are better addressed by engaging with the campaign than by standing aside.
Premises
- DSA has grown from the political margins to over 130,000 members, helped elect a socialist mayor of New York City, and won congressional primaries, so it now has the organizational base and momentum to pursue national power.
- AOC combines a national audience, an identification with democratic socialism, and a plausible path to mobilizing working people on a scale few others could match.
- Unlike establishment Democrats, AOC could offer working-class Americans a clear alternative to the status quo, building on the legacy of Bernie Sanders's campaigns while starting with a much larger socialist organizational base.
- A presidential campaign can strengthen socialist organizing beyond the presidential race by pairing it with down-ballot slates, building union relationships, recruiting candidates, and converting volunteers into DSA members (as in Chicago DSA's plan).
- Left-wing skeptics' concerns about AOC's record on Palestine, her accommodation of Democratic leaders, and the dangers of executive office are largely overstated (she has never voted for military aid to Israel, and her cooperation reflects a sober need for unity against Trumpism) and are at most reasons to shape the campaign rather than abstain from it.
- Refusing to engage with an AOC campaign over perceived shortcomings would not by itself make DSA more independent or powerful, and could mean forfeiting a rare opportunity.
Assumptions
- A presidential campaign by AOC would actually advance socialist organization-building rather than channel energy into the Democratic Party and personality-driven politics.
- DSA can exert meaningful influence over the campaign's direction and agenda, so that 'shaping' it is a realistic option.
- Past Mamdani and Sanders successes are relevant precedents for what a national AOC campaign could achieve.
- Chapter resolutions and caucus votes are reasonable indicators of broader momentum and viability.
- Electoral campaigns within the Democratic ballot line are a viable vehicle for building independent socialist power.
- AOC's commitments (such as opposing military aid to Israel) will hold up under the pressures of a national campaign.