Ditch the centrists: Progressives launch 2028 White House push for AOC, Khanna
WASHINGTON, DC: The 2028 presidential race has received an early push from two progressive organizations that want Reps Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ro Khanna to enter the contest.
Progressive Democrats of America and RootsAction have launched the 'Run Ro! Run AOC!' campaign and say their formal effort to recruit both lawmakers will begin after the November midterm elections.
The groups argue that Democrats need a progressive candidate at the top of the 2028 ticket and have already created a website dedicated to encouraging Ocasio-Cortez and Khanna to run.
Groups formally launch their draft push
The campaign is being jointly sponsored by Progressive Democrats of America and RootsAction, two organizations with a history of backing candidates and causes on the party's left.
Its website says the groups believe the 2028 Democratic field needs a “genuine progressive.”
In their statement, they criticized many potential candidates as “war enablers, go-slow reformers or status quo protectors.”
The groups said Ocasio-Cortez and Khanna have taken positions outside what they describe as the Democratic Party establishment and “bipartisan corporatism.”
Their strategy follows an earlier progressive organizing model.
Progressive Democrats of America launched the “Run, Bernie, Run” campaign in 2013, years before Bernie Sanders entered the 2016 Democratic presidential primary.
RootsAction also launched the “Don't Run Joe” campaign in 2022, urging Joe Biden not to seek another term.
A Bronx upbringing shaped AOC
Ocasio-Cortez's political story began long before her surprise congressional victory.
Born in the Parkchester neighborhood of the Bronx, she grew up in a family with roots in Puerto Rico and New York.
Her mother was born and raised in Puerto Rico and worked as a domestic worker, while her father, a second-generation Bronxite, ran a small business.
Her family later moved to Yorktown, but she continued spending time with relatives in the Bronx.
Ocasio-Cortez has said seeing the differences between the educational opportunities available to her and her Bronx cousins shaped her understanding of inequality.
She studied economics and international relations at Boston University and interned in the office of the late Sen Ted Kennedy.
After her father's death, mounting medical bills and family expenses put their home at risk of foreclosure.
She worked as a waitress and bartender to help support her family.
During the 2016 election, Ocasio-Cortez volunteered for Sanders' campaign in the South Bronx.
She later traveled to Standing Rock, where Indigenous-led demonstrations against the Dakota Access Pipeline were taking place.
Those experiences became part of her path into electoral politics.
AOC's insurgent win changed politics
In 2018, Ocasio-Cortez defeated 10-term Rep Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary for New York's 14th Congressional District.
Crowley was one of the state's most powerful Democrats, and her victory turned the 28-year-old first-time candidate into a national political figure.
Her campaign relied heavily on grassroots organizing and small-dollar donations while backing Medicare for All, climate action, and economic policies aimed at working-class Americans.
In Congress, she became one of the leading voices behind the Green New Deal.
Her work has also focused on housing, healthcare, labor rights, student debt, and corporate accountability.
Ocasio-Cortez has not announced plans to run for president.
Her future could also include a statewide race in New York, making the progressive draft campaign an effort to influence a decision she has not yet made.
Ro Khanna's roots cross continents
Khanna brings a different personal and political background to the progressive movement.
Born in Philadelphia to parents of Indian heritage, Khanna was raised in a family shaped by public service and India's independence movement.
His grandfather participated in Gandhi's movement, worked with Lala Lajpat Rai and spent years in jail for promoting human rights, according to Khanna's official biography.
His father worked as a chemical engineer and his mother as a substitute school teacher.
Khanna studied economics at the University of Chicago and later earned a law degree from Yale.
As a student, he walked precincts during Barack Obama's first campaign for the Illinois Senate in 1996. He later taught economics at Stanford University and served as a deputy assistant secretary of commerce during the Obama administration.
Khanna now represents California's 17th Congressional District in Silicon Valley.
What an early push means
Khanna has focused his congressional work on manufacturing, technology, climate policy, diplomacy, and economic opportunity.
He has also backed progressive proposals including Medicare for All and stronger action against corporate influence.
The two lawmakers share ties to Sanders' political movement, although they arrived there through different experiences.
Khanna co-chaired Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign, while Ocasio-Cortez became one of his most prominent congressional allies.
Neither lawmaker has committed to a presidential run.
But Progressive Democrats of America and RootsAction have made their position clear: they want the next Democratic primary to include a candidate from the party's progressive wing.
