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WHY ZOHRAN MAMDANI JUST MADE THE CASE FOR AN AOC PRESIDENTIAL RUN  
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Aaron Regunberg
June 29, 2026
The Nation
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_ All of the mayor’s endorsed candidates won last week. His ability
to reshape New York City’s political landscape shows what happens
when a socialist takes executive power. His clean sweep offers a
glimpse of how a leader can reshape an entire party— _

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani (C) holds hands with
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Representative Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) at the end of a campaign rally at Forest Hills
Stadium in Queens borough of New York City on Oct. 26, 2025, Photo:
Angela Weiss / Agence France-Presse (AFP) // The Nation

 

Last Tuesday, all Zohran Mamdani–endorsed candidates won—the mayor
went three-for-three in congressional endorsements and five-for-five
in state legislative endorsements. His clean sweep offers a glimpse of
how a leader can reshape an entire party—and it shows why it’s
time for the left to get behind a possible presidential run by
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Because as Mamdani’s
kingmaker status demonstrates, there’s almost nothing that can
expand a faction’s appeal within a party more than the head of the
party’s being from that faction.

That’s not to say that Mamdani’s support was the only variable in
the left’s wins on Tuesday. New York Democratic Socialists of
America’s door-to-door organizing capacity was incredibly important.
Voter backlash against incumbents’ AIPAC-fueled support for Israel
was a major factor. And more broadly, the Democratic base’s rage at
the failure of party elites to stop Trump has shifted the terrain on
which all insurgent primary challenges are playing out.

But Mamdani was unquestionably a key driver in these races. That is
particularly clear in Claire Valdez’s lopsided victory in NY-7 over
Antonio Reynoso, a former insurgent himself with a record of genuine
progressive accomplishments and whose platform was virtually identical
to Valdez’s. The most important distinguishing factor in that race
was Mamdani’s endorsement. It seemed like every Valdez mailer had
Mamdani’s smiling face on it. And it made all the difference.

The lesson here is that, at least within their particular
jurisdiction, a chief executive becomes the leader of their party. And
when you’re the chief executive and leader of your party, as Donald
Trump put it
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“Everyone wants to be [your] friend.” This bandwagon effect
doesn’t always materialize—nobody is arguing that Chicago’s
beleaguered Mayor Brandon Johnson is remaking that city’s politics
in his image. But the attentional advantages of an effective chief
executive mean that when such a leader has a clear vision for where
their party needs to go and explicitly communicates that vision to
party members, they can remake their party.

We saw this dynamic clearly in Trump’s consolidation of the GOP.
Over just a few cycles, he shattered the Republican establishment and
turned it into a vessel for the MAGA movement. We even saw Biden,
despite his obvious frailties, engender a trace of this—it’s no
accident that insurgent progressive primary wins largely trailed off
during his term, because the average party member wants to be with
their leader.

And that’s exactly what we’re seeing today with Mamdani’s
success in reshaping the Democratic establishment in New York City.
_Politico _summed up this dynamic well in an article
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about how centrist Democrats “are freaking out” that progressives
are “becoming more mainstream as they keep winning—reshaping the
Democratic Party.” Or as Liam Kerr, head of the Manchin-glazing
WelcomePAC, put it: “Centrist Democrats, normie Democrats, need to
realize we’re the insurgents, and they’re the new
establishment.”

That is, of course, DSA’s goal: to create a new, pro–working
class, anti–oligarchy establishment to run the Democratic Party. And
Mamdani’s success last week shows that taking a big swing for the
top executive spot can pay such outsize dividends toward that end that
it’s worth the risk.

In hindsight, this all seems obvious. But it’s worth remembering
that it was not so clear at the beginning of Mamdani’s mayoral
campaign. Many of NY-DSA’s members in office advocated against
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endorsing Mamdani, arguing that the potential downsides of his run
were too great and that the movement should continue focusing on
building up its ranks of lower-level elected officials.

Many on the left today have a similar analysis when it comes to the
2028 presidential campaign. It’s time for us to exorcise those
doubts. There’s simply nothing that matters more than a leftist
winning the Democratic presidential nomination. It matters for our
chances of defeating MAGA—because the Democratic Party’s best shot
to beat Trump’s successor is with a candidate who embraces real
economic populism. It matters for our substantive goals—because, as
Trump has demonstrated, the US presidency has accumulated essentially
imperial power to pursue an agenda through executive and
administrative action. Perhaps most of all, it matters for the
left’s project of remaking the Democratic Party into one that can
actually tackle the obscene inequality, rampant corruption, escalating
climate crisis, and other existential challenges of our era—because,
as Mamdani’s mayoralty has demonstrated in New York City, if a
leftist can become the leader of the national Democratic Party, the
median Democratic voter will follow.

That’s where Ocasio-Cortez comes in.

Of course, AOC is not the only progressive who could plausibly run for
president. Representative Ro Khanna has been boldly supporting
populists across the country, calling out the sclerosis of
Democrats’ congressional leadership, and leading the charge in
prosecuting the case against the Epstein class. Senator Chris Van
Hollen, who has been a courageous voice against Israeli apartheid,
also recently expressed an interest in at least exploring a
presidential campaign. And I, for one, would be all in for a third
Bernie Sanders run.

But the chances of that materializing at Sanders’s age—he will be
86 in 2028—seem close to nil, which is likely why Sanders has been
working so hard to build up the next generation of left leadership.
And though nobody can ever quite fill his shoes, there is only one
clear inheritor of Sanders’s role as standard-bearer for the US
left: AOC.

Much of the chatter about AOC’s political future has focused on
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whether she should run for president or challenge Chuck Schumer for
Senate. But at this point, challenging Schumer is a waste of her
talents. Schumer’s favorability
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among New Yorkers sits at just 38 percent, the Democratic base is
furious at him for his capitulations to Trump, and the issue most
central to his political identity—unquestioning loyalty to the
Israeli government—has become toxic among Democratic primary voters.
You don’t need an AOC to take him out—there are numerous other
progressive leaders in the state who could do so.

By contrast, it’s hard to imagine anyone on the left being in a
better position for a presidential run than AOC is right now. She’s
one of the most effective communicators in the Democratic Party.
She’s one of the strongest grassroots fundraisers
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in Congress. She’s one of the most popular
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country. And she is uniquely positioned to build the kind of
increasingly potent Democratic primary coalition—young people,
Latinos, and working-class voters—that powered other major
anti-establishment victories, from Mamdani to James Talarico in Texas.
This goes beyond identity politics—it’s not just that AOC is
young, Latina, and working class. It’s that she can genuinely and
compellingly speak to the experiences, fears, and aspirations of these
constituencies.

What she isn’t, at this point, is clearly set on pursuing a
presidential campaign in 2028. When asked by David Axelrod if she was
running, she answered
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“My ambition is to change this country. Presidents come and go.
Senate, House seats, elected officials come and go. But single-payer
healthcare is forever.… I make decisions by waking up in the
morning, looking out the window and observing the conditions of this
country. And saying what move or what decision can I make today that
is going to get us closer to that future, stronger, faster, better
than yesterday.”

This response was celebrated
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piece of rhetoric, and rightly so—it’s a phenomenal answer. But as
a statement of actual political strategy, it’s a little off. If you
want single-payer healthcare, there’s nothing that could have a
greater impact than electing a president who will actually fight to
pass single-payer healthcare. And there’s nobody in a stronger
position right now to be that president than AOC, if she chooses to
run.

That’s not to say she is perfect. She’s a politician, and none of
us will agree with all her choices. I personally found her recent
explanation [[link removed]] for
supporting Hakeem Jeffries as the Democratic leader in the House
frustrating. And she made mistakes in the 2024 campaign—others have
called for her to apologize
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for whitewashing Kamala Harris’s Gaza stance during her speech at
the DNC, and as someone who worked
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to oust Biden from the Democratic ticket, I was upset when she (and
other progressives) threw him a lifeline after his debate fiasco.
Needless to say, the left will have to hold her to account
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like any elected leader.

But given the upsides of an AOC presidency, those of us on the left
should be urging her to run. If our ultimate aim is to reshape the
Democratic Party into a force that can defeat the authoritarian right
and transform this country for the better, the struggle for the White
House isn’t a distraction. It’s perhaps the most important
political fight of our lifetimes—and AOC can win it.

_[AARON REGUNBERG is a climate lawyer, a contributing editor at The
New Republic, and a former Rhode Island state representative.]_

_Copyright c 2026 The Nation. Reprinted with permission. May not be
reprinted without__ permission_
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Distributed by__ PARS International Corp_
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_Please support progressive journalism.__ Get a digital
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to The Nation for just $24.95!_ 

* Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
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* Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
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* AOC
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* Zohran Mamdani
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* Bernie Sanders
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* Democratic Party
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* 2028 Elections
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* Ro Khanna
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* Chris Van Hollen
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* Chuck Schumer
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* New York
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* New York State
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* Congress
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* Senate
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