Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is increasingly taking aim at Vice President Vance, her possible opponent in a 2028 presidential matchup, should she choose to launch a White House bid. 

In the last week, Ocasio-Cortez has drawn a stark contrast between her views and those of Vance on the recent Minneapolis shooting, arguing that his defense of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent’s actions reflects a different vision of the country.

“I understand that Vice President Vance believes that shooting a young mother of three in the face three times is an acceptable America that he wants to live in, and I do not,” she told a gaggle of reporters earlier this month. 

“And that is a fundamental difference between Vice President Vance and I. I do not believe that the American people should be assassinated in the street.” 

Ocasio-Cortez, known by her initials AOC, is considering her options on her political future. Sources say she is still deliberating whether she wants to run for the Senate in New York — potentially taking on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in a 2028 primary — or launch a White House bid. But she is sounding increasingly like a 2028 presidential candidate. 

The congresswoman is talking about national and international headlines — from Venezuela to health care subsidies — in a way that makes Democrats think she has her eyes on a White House run.  

“The mini primary for 2028 has already begun and she’s in it. And people want her to be in it,” said Democratic strategist Hyma Moore. “She knows she has a chance to potentially run for president and be president so she doesn’t want to be caught unprepared.”

Lately, the congresswoman’s criticism of Vance has been front and center. 

Earlier this week, she ratcheted up her criticism of Vance after she was asked about the vice president saying the woman who was killed in Minneapolis was a victim of her own ideology. 

“As far as what a person like that believes, you have to start right there with the person you’re dealing with,” Ocasio-Cortez told The Independent’s Washington bureau chief Eric Garcia.  

Last month, Ocasio-Cortez also drew attention and reposted a poll by The Argument/Verasight which said she would beat Vance in a head-to-head match up 51 percent to 49 percent among registered voters. 

“Bloop!” the congresswoman wrote on X, the social media platform, while sharing the poll.

When she was asked by a reporter about the poll, Ocasio-Cortez responded with humor.

“Let the record show: I would stomp him. I would stomp him!” she said, laughing, before walking away outside the Capitol. 

Vance is likely the current frontrunner to be the GOP nominee in 2028, even as Republicans have whispered that they could see Secretary of State Marco Rubio get the nod. Last summer, President Trump said he would “most likely” give him his endorsement. 

At a Turning Point USA conference, Vance received an early endorsement from Erika Kirk, the widow of late conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Moore said Ocasio-Cortez has taken a multi-prong strategy in going after Vance.

“He’s the early GOP/MAGA frontrunner [and] no one else has formed a salient anti-Vance message,” Moore said. “She has to show she can really jump into the high-stakes political arena.” 

Another Democratic strategist agreed, saying it’s “pretty clear that there is a particular clarity that AOC speaks with when she is going after JD Vance.”

“She’s not just disagreeing with a political opinion, she’s offering a countering vision of the country,” the strategist added. “Hard to miss the foreshadowing of what 2028 could look like.” 

And Democrats say they can easily see a path for Ocasio-Cortez if she chooses to wade into presidential primary waters. 

The congresswoman would carry the progressive torch, held in prior campaign cycles by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) when he challenged Hillary Clinton in the 2016 primary and Joe Biden in the 2020 Democratic match-up. Sanders and Ocasio Cortez appeared before large crowds last year in stops across the country.

“It’s going to be a different cycle than the ones we’ve seen before because it’s not clear there will be strict [ideological] lanes,” said Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons, the co-host of the Politicon podcast “Trailblaze,” which focuses exclusively on the 2028 race. 

“However, the AOC-Bernie lane may be the most distinctive lane that exists,” Simmons said. 

“If she runs, she will be a factor the same way Bernie was a factor because there is populist progressive hunger in the electorate,” he added. “And if Bernie passes the torch to AOC, she will be a phenomenon.”

At this point, her biggest primary challenge would be California Gov. Gavin Newsom, whom many Democrats have already labeled the 2028 frontrunner. 

In recent months, Newsom has scored points with the Democratic base for taking on President Trump, and notably becoming the driving force behind Proposition 50, the redistricting effort that won support from California voters in November. 

Since then, Newsom has built a sizable email list of Democrats around the country. He is also one of the strongest fundraisers in the party, two factors that would instantly propel his potential campaign operation. 

Democrats say Newsom is in a tier of his own when it comes to the 2028 race. And they privately wonder what Ocasio-Cortez will do because some believe she would easily join the governor in that category. 

“There is no one else on the list besides Newsom who has that x-factor, name ID, an ability to draw crowds, a natural communication style, a fundraising draw,” said a second Democratic strategist. “She is the only Democrat I can think of right now who has a path out of the primary.”

Still, a win wouldn’t come without a fight for Ocasio-Cortez. And there are some obstacles for the 36-year-old congresswoman, including her age. There is a school of thought among Democrats that after their bruising losses in 2016 and 2024 — when Clinton and Kamala Harris respectively, were the Democratic nominees — that their party shouldn’t run another woman for several cycles. 

“It’s something that comes up all the time,” one Democratic strategist said. “It’s very real.” 

But first Ocasio-Cortez will have to decide which race she’ll enter. 

“I’ve always believed she’s far more likely to challenge Schumer for the Senate in 2028 than to run for president, but she obviously has the national profile for either,” said Democratic strategist Christy Setzer. 

Setzer pointed to former President Barack Obama, who some critics said at the time did not have the experience to run for president. 

“As Obama’s advisers told him, you’re never fully ready to run for president, but if there’s an opening, you just have to grab it.” 

And as Moore put it, “She’s starting to lay the seeds.” 

“She’s being very smart about positioning herself well,” he said.