AOC is trying to find her party’s path back into power

New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a more seasoned politician than when she burst onto the national scene during the first Trump administration. Elected by surprise in 2018, Ocasio-Cortez was a progressive insurgent, a democratic socialist, a frequent critic of her own party, and a social media sensation. She was also a leading character on Fox News, a figure conservatives loved to hate.

Seven years later, she remains an outsized public figure, who also has built relationships inside Congress with Democrats and even some Republicans. At 35, she is a veteran lawmaker.

We sat with Ocasio-Cortez this week just after House Democrats managed a show of unity: they all voted against a Republican budget plan, which barely passed. We talked through her party’s path toward political recovery.

Here are a few key points from our video interview:

She thinks Republicans’ early moves will hurt them. “The Republican Party is making certain large errors right now,” she said, predicting that an $880 billion cut to Medicaid would affect many voters’ health care.

She’s still defending people without legal status. Since their election defeat, some Democrats have suggested their party needs a fresh approach to immigration. Many voters saw President Biden’s administration as too lax toward people in the U.S. without legal status. Ocasio-Cortez insists that she still favors a path to citizenship.

Like Trump, she says government doesn’t work for many people. “Everything feels increasingly like a scam,” she said. “Not only are grocery prices going up, but it's like everything has a fee and a surcharge. And I think that anger is put out at government.”

Unlike Trump, she doesn’t want to drastically cut government. “I mean to the FAA? No. To the NIH? No,” she said. “I actually don't want someone taking a wrecking ball to someone's chemotherapy to just see what happens.”