Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is considering a run for president in 2028, said at a closed-door fund-raiser on Monday in New York that Dr. Abdul El-Sayed’s race for Senate in Michigan was part of a “generational project” for the progressive movement.
“What we do is that we break open the entire political calculus in America — period,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said, according to an audio recording that was obtained from an attendee by The New York Times. “Because if you can win, if Abdul can win in Michigan, anybody can win anywhere.”
“Anywhere,” she added for emphasis.
Her remarks come as Democrats watch closely for clues about whether she will seek the White House in 2028, run for the Senate or choose to remain in the House.
“We are in a long-term — I’m being very open right now, right? — about our generational project that we have ahead of us,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said. “Generational. We are here to break the map.”
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, who will turn 37 this month, has been open that she is weighing her options in 2028, and that she is considering factors including perceptions of electability.
“There’s an argument that some make that this is a very unique political window and, oftentimes in politics, you do only get one shot,” she told The Times last month, adding: “Life doesn’t wait for you to be ready for things. Sometimes life just makes things ready for you.”
Her remarks on Monday at the private fund-raiser shined some light on how the results of the fall midterm elections could affect her decision.
At the event, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said the candidacies of the progressive Dr. El-Sayed and Angie Nixon, a democratic socialist running for Senate in Florida, served to challenge the assumptions and “political calculus of an elite.”
“We are up against not just an ascendant and fascist right wing in this country,” she said. “But we are also up against people with extremely small imaginations about what is possible in America.”
Dr. El-Sayed also spoke about the stakes of his race for 2028.
“What does it say about what America really wants, needs and deserves if our state bucks all of the pundits and all of the pontificators who think that this is not possible?” he said. “What does it tell them? It tells them just how big America is and exactly what we want.”
Later, he said that “this one is for all the marbles” and referred to “the ripple effect that this race will have.”
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Dr. El-Sayed and campaigned for him in the primary, and she previously supported him when he ran for governor in 2018 and lost the Democratic primary. She has not yet campaigned with him this year in Michigan in the general election.
As she considers her own options, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez recently took a trip across upstate New York, with stops in Buffalo, Syracuse and Ithaca. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, will be up for re-election in 2028, when he would be 77. He has not said whether he plans to run again.
On Tuesday, she is set to appear in Dutchess County, just north of New York City, for an event with Gov. Kathy Hochul and Representative Pat Ryan about data centers.
At the Monday event, she urged attendees to knock on doors and make calls to elect Dr. El-Sayed.
“This project is not about one race, it’s not about one cycle, it’s not about any one person — it’s about all of us,” she said. “And my dedication, and I know so many of our dedication, is that we are going to come out of this nightmare stronger than we’ve ever been before.”
She added, “It starts with Abdul.”
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