- Ocasio-Cortez and her allies say her unapologetic advocacy for big progressive policies like Medicare for All would make candidates like her. more elected than moderate liberals, but many Democrats in this fall’s tight races disagree.
- She was received favorably by many Democrats in competitive primary races, but some of those candidates distanced themselves by moving toward the center to face Republicans in the Nov. 3 election.
Zoom: Sam Forstag, a progressive House candidate in Montana who rallied behind AOC in May en route to victory in the Democratic primary, suggested he didn’t want her to campaign for him in the conservative state for the general election.
- “I don’t plan on having a lot of people from out of state campaigning with me in the next 40 days,” he told Axios when asked about AOC’s challenges for him.
- Forstag removed Ocasio-Cortez’s endorsement from her campaign website.
Driving the news: Some Democrats in other tight races have explicitly asked Ocasio-Cortez’s team to stay away, party officials told Axios.
- “The vote is awful for her,” said a Democratic strategist working in a key district. “It’s a lightning rod.”
AOC doesn’t always tell the national media in advance of her events, so we asked her team if she had campaigned in person for any of the major Democratic candidates for the House or Senate this cycle. They didn’t tell us any.
- “Call us on November 3,” said her chief of staff, Mike Casca, suggesting she could hold more events before Election Day.
Zoom out: In June, CNN reported that AOC staffers were “preparing a fall program intended to test her appeal beyond a base that adores her.”
- So far, this has not happened on a national scale.
On the other hand, several of the AOC’s potential rivals in 2028 for president — like former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel — have been welcomed by Democratic candidates in competitive districts and states over the past month.
- Even former Vice President Kamala Harris — whose aid some battleground candidates resisted — was welcomed by others.
- Harris was in Michigan with left-wing Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed last week and plans to campaign for statewide candidates in Georgia and Nevada.
The plot: In the final weeks of the Democratic Senate primary last month in Michigan – a key state for the presidency – El-Sayed had the AOC campaign with him.
- He and his allies spent nearly $1 million on television ads featuring her, according to ad tracking company AdImpact.
- But since winning the Democratic nomination, El-Sayed has spent almost nothing on advertising featuring AOC. And she hasn’t campaigned with El-Sayed because he’s the subject of a barrage of attacks from Republican Mike Rogers, who accuses him of being too left-leaning for Michigan.
- El-Sayed’s campaign said it would welcome Ocasio-Cortez back in the coming weeks. “There are a lot of Michiganders who can’t wait to have AOC back in town,” a spokesperson told us.
AOC launched a campaign this week across New York with stops in Buffalo and Ithaca, but she’s not campaigning in one of the most competitive districts in the country — the Lower Hudson Valley’s 17th District.
- Cait Conley, a former Army officer and national security official in the Biden administration, told CNN this month that she would not campaign with AOC.
- But her opponent, Republican Mike Lawler, tried to tie Conley to Ocasio-Cortez — and invited AOC to campaign in the district.
- Meanwhile, the GOP super PAC Congressional Leadership Fund began airing an ad last week linking Ocasio-Cortez to Conley. The spot called Conley “AOC’s pick for Congress.”
What they say: We asked Ocasio-Cortez what she thought about Republicans using her name to try to hurt Conley.
- She said it wouldn’t work.
- “I invite them to spend even more money … because they’re just lighting it on fire,” Ocasio-Cortez said, arguing that the GOP has been playing the same anti-AOC playbook since she won a congressional seat in 2018.
- “I would rather they do that than something that is actually potentially effective,” she added.
The other side: Ocasio-Cortez campaigned this month for at least one red-state Democrat — Florida Senate candidate Angie Nixon.
- But Nixon is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, and Democrats aren’t counting on her to flip a Senate seat in a state that has drifted into the red.
- Virginia House candidate Tom Perriello, who is trying to flip a red seat, also acknowledged the support of AOC’s fundraiser this month by sharing a donation with her.
- Ocasio-Cortez also campaigned with Rep. Josh Riley — who won his district by 2 points in 2024 — in Ithaca on Saturday. But Riley’s district isn’t as competitive this year. The national House Republican super PAC withdrew $4.8 million in advertising bookings from the race, effectively abandoning it earlier this month.
Andrew Solender of Axios contributed to this report.
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