To Reach the White House, AOC Needs a Focused Class Message
Over the years, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been torn between different approaches to identity and class. She’s no stranger to a universalist approach that emphasizes economic inequality and common struggle. If she runs for president, that’s the ticket.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s recent turn toward universalist messaging is the approach that could defeat the Right. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
In an interview with the New York Times after the 2020 election, democratic socialist congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) said she was surprised by the “share of white support for Trump.” Going forward, she said, Democrats would have to learn to “actively disarm the potent influence of racism at the polls.”
There’s a clear sense in which her premise is correct. White voters who are primarily moved by fear of immigrants, for example, are going to vote for demagogues like Donald Trump. But that leaves open the question of how to disarm the Right’s appeal.
Given that AOC has been widely discussed as a possible candidate for the 2028 presidential nomination, it’s important to see how she addresses this core issue. If she’s going to be the Left’s standard-bearer, we need to know that she’ll offer a winning message.
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