Democratic socialists are discussing a 2028 push for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Chi Ossé, targeting the White House and Chuck Schumer’s Senate seat.
The New York Post reported that DSA sources confirmed talks about running Ossé against Schumer if Ocasio-Cortez seeks the presidency. Ossé did not deny interest in the Senate race.
No candidate has formally announced either campaign. The DSA has not endorsed Ossé, and Ocasio-Cortez has made no public decision about 2028.
Still, the discussions show where an organized part of the Democratic left wants to push the party. Its target is not one local office. It is the presidency and the seat held by the Senate Democratic leader.
Ossé, a 28-year-old New York City councilman, spoke Tuesday at a Mid-Hudson Valley DSA event in Kingston, New York. The event took place at the Unicorn Bar, which was described as a queer performance venue.
Ossé made his ambitions plain enough without declaring a Senate campaign. “I think the era of wait-your-turn politics is over,” he said. “The time for us, the socialists, is right now.”
He also took direct aim at the people running his party. “I don’t believe that our current Democratic leadership is standing up to the plate,” Ossé said, adding, “A lot of people are calling for change.”
During the same week, Ossé visited Buffalo and Kingston. At the DSA event, the second-term councilman promoted government-run electricity while presenting socialists as the answer to the party’s leadership problems.
That message lands as Schumer faces growing pressure over the socialist wing he has struggled to confront, including his earlier DSA membership dodge.
Ossé has tested party leaders before. He challenged House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries in a primary but later dropped the congressional bid.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani reportedly urged the DSA to shut down that campaign, warning that the race could derail his first-year agenda. The episode showed that even socialist politicians may resist an insurgent campaign when it threatens their own plans.
Ossé’s past statements could also follow him into a statewide contest. In 2021, he said “a cis white man should not be the next speaker of the council.” He later posted, “Woke 1 was crazyyyy.”
New York Assemblywoman Sarahana Shrestha used the Kingston event to attack moderate Democrats. “We really need socialists leading the fight against big tech because I don’t trust moderate Democrats to do it,” she said.
Shrestha also criticized Schumer’s ties to the technology industry. His Senate term expires in 2028, giving the DSA a clear opening to test whether New York Democrats want a more openly socialist senator.
The pressure extends beyond the DSA. Fox News described Democratic infighting after eight Senate Democrats voted to begin reopening the government following a 41-day shutdown.
Rep. Ro Khanna called for Schumer’s replacement, arguing that he failed to hold Senate Democrats together or secure action on health care premiums. Rep. Mark Pocan also criticized Schumer over the deal and his refusal to endorse Mamdani.
That unrest gave fresh force to criticism of Schumer’s leadership after his shutdown setback. The criticism now comes from lawmakers inside the party as well as socialist organizers outside Senate leadership.
Veteran Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf cautioned that a statewide campaign would pose a much harder test for Ossé than a city race. He described the councilman’s recent activity as an effort to measure support.
“Statewide races are tough, they’re entirely different than working in the city. He’s testing it out.... It’s like a trial balloon, you throw it up in the air and if nobody shoots it down, you know you have some possibilities. That’s what he’s doing.”
The presidential half of the plan remains just as unsettled. Shrestha said the DSA was actively pressing Ocasio-Cortez to run, but she did not claim the congresswoman had agreed.
“I think it’s not even a rumor,” Shrestha said. “DSA is openly trying to convince AOC that she should run.” She added that such a campaign could ruin Ocasio-Cortez’s personal life and was “not a decision to be taken lightly.”
Ocasio-Cortez has not announced a presidential campaign. Her recent comments instead addressed political language used during the lockdown period.
“During lockdown, rhetoric in that time is not rhetoric that we would use today,” Ocasio-Cortez said after repeating Ossé’s “Woke 1 was crazy” remark.
The DSA’s effort also fits its broader push against the party’s congressional leadership, including the abolish-ICE pressure campaign aimed at Schumer and Jeffries.
For now, this is political preparation rather than a campaign slate. There are no formal filings, nominations or endorsements for either prospective 2028 bid.
But the direction is clear. The socialist left is no longer asking merely for influence inside the Democratic Party; it is preparing to challenge the people at the top.