Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has taken a narrow lead in the race for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination on Kalshi, after hinting at a possible run during a recent TV appearance.
The market for the 2028 Democratic presidential nominee shows Ocasio-Cortez at 18% after a three-point jump, followed by Newsom at 16% and Sen. Jon Ossoff at 13%.
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What caused Ocasio-Cortez's jump?
The New York representative sparked talk about a possible presidential campaign during a TV interview last Sunday.
NBC News reported that Ocasio-Cortez appeared on ABC's This Week, where host Jonathan Karl pressed her on the issue after the representative said she was focused on the midterm elections.
“I haven’t ruled out the possibility,” she said. “And I’m very humbled to the tremendous amount of support out there.”
She also didn’t exclude the possibility that she might run for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s seat when it’s up for re-election in 2028.
“I think that anything is possible at this juncture,” she added.
Currently, traders price her odds of running for the Democratic nomination at 66%.
The speculation about Ocasio-Cortez's higher political ambitions comes at a time when the Democratic Party seems to be changing direction under the will of the voters. More progressive candidates like Abdul El-Sayed beat Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan's Senate Democratic primary in one of the election season's biggest upsets.
Newsom's number dropped on the chart following a recent scandal after a past affair recently returned to the spotlight. Vanity Fair published an essay written by Ruby Rippey, who worked as Newsom's secretary while he was the mayor of San Francisco. Newsom was married to former Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle. The couple filed for divorce at the time of the affair between Rippey and Newsom.
Newsom admitted to the affair in 2007 with Rippey who was married to his campaign manager Alex Tourk. Rippey criticized Newsom for the way he described the affair when it came to light. She wrote that the #MeToo movement prompted her to write the essay after realizing, “Power does not distribute consequences evenly.”
Pundits and columnists are starting to speculate that Ocasio-Cortez may be getting serious about running for president in 2028. U.S. News & World Report reported that Ocasio-Cortez announced she will freeze her eggs "as she ponders her next political move."
Ocasio-Cortez said she chose to announce her decision because, “We as woman are not taught, we are not prepared for our own lives, whether in puberty, pregnancy, menopause. There needs to be more depictions of women having full lives in every context.”
Ethics and Public Policy Center senior fellow Henry Olsen wrote an essay for The Washington Post encouraging Ocasio-Cortez to run for president in 2028. He wrote that the opportunity is ripe for far more progressive candidates with key wins in blue swing states like Pennsylvania, New York and Colorado.
“Abdul El-Sayed’s victory last week in Michigan and Francesca Hong’s razor-thin loss Tuesday in Wisconsin show that progressives can go toe-to-toe with the establishment in key presidential territory, too.”
The takeaway:
Kalshi markets now predict
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