Connect with us

News

Left-Wing Democrats Wait on AOC’s Decision as They Look to 2028 Election

Published

on

Left-Wing Democrats Wait on AOC’s Decision as They Look to 2028 Election

For the last decade, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has been running for president, planning a run for president or pushing former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to adopt more progressive policies.

But now, as Democrats find their legal and fund-raising institutions under attack from the Trump administration, their base voters furious at their congressional leadership and their party’s popularity at a generational low, progressives are also staring down the prospect of a post-Bernie future.

A movement politician with a large and devoted base of supporters, the 83-year-old Mr. Sanders has signaled that he does not intend to run for president again. The question now is who will lead the network he built from scratch into the next presidential election and beyond.

Interviews with nearly 20 progressive Democrats about the left wing’s future revealed a faction that sees the ideas Mr. Sanders has championed — reducing the power of billionaires, increasing the minimum wage, focusing more on the plight of workers — as core to the next generation of mainstream Democratic politics.

Though there is little agreement about who will emerge to guide progressives into a post-Sanders era, virtually everyone interviewed said there was one clear leader for the job: Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

Advertisement

And it just so happened that Mr. Sanders and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez spent three days last week on a “Fighting Oligarchy” tour through Arizona, Nevada and Colorado. In Denver, they drew 34,000 people, what Sanders aides said was the largest crowd of his career. Neither has so much as obliquely referred to the torch-passing nature of their trip, and in an interview, Mr. Sanders declined to answer questions about whether Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, 35, would inherit his mantle. But the subtext of their travels appears clear.

She is what’s next — if she wants it.

“Alexandria has been doing an extraordinary job in the House,” Mr. Sanders said. “You can’t sit back. You can’t wallow in despair. You’ve got to stand up, fight back and get involved in every way that you can. There’s nobody I know who can do that better than Alexandria.”

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, who declined an interview request, has said nothing publicly about her political plans. Several people who said they had spoken with her relayed that she was far from making any decisions.

But the fourth-term congresswoman has three clear options.

Advertisement

She could focus on the House, where she has become a well-liked and respected member of the Democratic caucus, and try to become a committee chairwoman if Democrats win back a majority in next year’s midterm elections.

She could run for the seat now held by Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader. Or she could seek the presidency in 2028.

(Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has also mused about dropping out of politics altogether, the people who had spoken with her said. This seems less likely, given her lengthy admonition on Thursday to a crowd in North Las Vegas, Nev., to stay involved in the fight against the Trump administration.)

Her evident frustration with Mr. Schumer after he greenlit the passage of a Republican spending bill this month heated up the long-simmering conversation about whether she might run for his seat in 2028, whether he seeks a sixth term or not.

A person who has worked with Ms. Ocasio-Cortez on campaigns, and who insisted on anonymity to discuss private outreach, recounted being inundated with calls from Democrats — and not just those on the far left — after Mr. Schumer’s vote, asking about the congresswoman’s future and encouraging her to consider higher office.

Advertisement

“She’s not looking to jump to the next thing or the next thing or the next thing, just for the simple reason of jumping to that thing,” said former Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York, a political ally and friend of Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s. “When everyone is saying, ‘Speed up,’ that’s actually the time to slow down.”

He added: “You got to take a breath. That race for the U.S. Senate is three years away. Let’s govern for a little bit.”

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has also had extensive conversations with House allies like Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who said he had spoken with her about his own deliberations over whether to run for the Senate. Ahead of last year’s election, Mr. Raskin decided to remain in the House, passing on a Senate race in which he would have been a heavy favorite.

The Senate provides a larger megaphone for politicians, Mr. Raskin said, but he believes they can accomplish more of their policy goals in the House, a prospect that may appeal to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez — who hardly needs a larger megaphone.

“We are in a moment of crisis, and a crisis is always a moment when new leadership surfaces to speak to the moral and political imperatives of the time,” Mr. Raskin said. “This crisis may be the end of some people’s political careers, and it may be the beginning of some people’s political careers.”

Advertisement

The question of who could assume the Sanders mantle — at least in part — is all but certain to come to a head in the next presidential election.

In some ways, the jockeying is already evident.

“I don’t think there’s going to be, in my view, a standard-bearer or two standard-bearers or three standard-bearers for the progressive movement,” said Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who has had conversations to game out a potential 2028 presidential campaign of his own. “We’re going to see the beginning of a new progressive era where we’re going to see successive progressive nominees.”

Of course, there are deep divides in the party over how far to the left Democrats should go.

Advertisement

But some also argue that the tensions in today’s Democratic Party no longer center on the kinds of ideological clashes that characterized the 2020 primary race — left versus moderate and litmus tests on issues like single-payer health care.

At least for now, these Democrats say, the debates concern how and where to draw the line against President Trump and Elon Musk, the richest man in the world.

Several mainstream Democrats, including Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois, himself a billionaire, have drawn attention from progressive activists because of their vigorous pushback to the Trump administration.

“The biggest split amongst Democrats is between those who want to stand and fight and those that want to play dead,” said Representative Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat and the chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “We need more leaders from the stand-and-fight wing of the Democratic Party.”

Danielle Brecker, a leader of Empire State Indivisible, which has called on Mr. Schumer to step aside as minority leader, said she saw Ms. Ocasio-Cortez as the “future of the party” with any number of promising paths.

Advertisement

But she questioned the country’s willingness to elect a woman in 2028.

“I sadly think that it probably needs to be some very safe white man,” she said. “I feel terrible saying that. That wound is still very sore.”

When Mr. Trump was in office the first time, the liberal energy was firmly with Mr. Sanders.

By the time the 2020 Democratic presidential primary race began, several contenders rushed to embrace Mr. Sanders’s goals on heath care and other issues — even though most of the party’s successful candidates in the 2018 midterm elections adopted more moderate stances. The party’s eventual nominee in 2020, Mr. Biden, took a more moderate tack as well.

Advertisement

There are now signs that outraged constituents have regained the power to steer their elected officials. Anger at Mr. Schumer and Senate Democrats last month prompted futile displays of opposition to Mr. Trump’s cabinet appointments. Democrats hosting town-hall events meant to hold Republicans accountable for the Trump agenda have found themselves facing liberal pushback for not being able to change the country’s course.

Taking the nation in a new direction will require, some progressives said, a sustained effort to demonstrate both popular opposition to Mr. Trump’s agenda and support for a liberal alternative.

“After the murder of George Floyd, you saw a massive outpouring,” said Keith Ellison, the Democratic attorney general of Minnesota, whom Mr. Sanders backed in 2017 to become the Democratic National Committee chairman. “You saw a lot of people making statements about police accountability, diversity, equity and inclusion. And then when the movement subsides, they’re ready to roll it all back.

“So there’s a lesson there. The lesson is you’re going to have to stay in the streets.”

Advertisement

News

Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

Published

on

Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

Three more people have been criminally charged with destruction of property at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Officers say they detained Cameron Thiers, Sophie Dennison-Gibby and Justin Carreno one Saturday afternoon in June and described in court documents witnessing them peeling and removing pieces of blue paint from the Reflecting Pool.

One officer “witnessed Carreno reach down into the reflecting pool and pull up a piece of the blue paint,” according to the court documents.

The officer who detained Dennison-Gibby “found 1 additional piece of the reflecting pool liner” in her purse, the documents said.

All three incidents were recorded on the officers’ body worn cameras, they said in the court documents.

Advertisement

Several “partnering law enforcement agencies assigned to the Reflecting Pool” working with US Park Police were involved in detaining the two men and one woman — including officers from Texas, Oklahoma, Montana and California.

One of the officers said in court documents that Thiers “admitted to removing a piece of blue sealant from the Reflecting Pool and still had it in his hand when I made contact with him.”

The three defendants were arraigned in court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges of destruction of property with a value less than $1,000. The judge ordered them to stay away from the Reflecting Pool.

Lawyers for Thiers and Dennison-Gibby declined to comment. CNN has reached out to Carreno’s attorney.

If found guilty of destruction of property, the defendants could be fined up to $1,000 and face a maximum of 180 days behind bars.

Advertisement

The New York Times first reported that three additional people had been charged with damaging the Reflecting Pool.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that vandals caused major damage to the pool by gashing the lining after his administration spent more than $14 million on renovations, though he has not provided evidence to support that claim. The officers who charged Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby did not accuse them of gashing the lining.

Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn was indicted by a grand jury in Washington, DC, last week for allegedly damaging the Reflecting Pool. Hearn — unlike Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby – was charged with destruction of property with a value of more than $1,000 which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, if convicted. He is set to be arraigned in court Thursday.

Crews began draining the Reflecting Pool over the weekend to make repairs, according to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, for the second time in three months.

The move comes after weeks of problems – algae blooms, green-hued water, a chipping bottom and the administration’s allegations of vandalism – that have plagued the iconic landmark, making its woes the subject of national interest.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

News

Supreme Court financial disclosures reveal how their books add to their income

Published

on

Supreme Court financial disclosures reveal how their books add to their income

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett speaks at the Reagan Library on Sept. 9, 2025, in Simi Valley, Calif. Barrett discussed and signed copies of her new book, Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution.

Mario Tama/Getty Images


hide caption



toggle caption

Advertisement

Mario Tama/Getty Images

Even as the Supreme Court was handing down one legal thunderbolt after another last week, the justices were quietly releasing their annual financial reports. Justice Samuel Alito was the only sitting justice to request an extension, which he has done for 15 years. The disclosures do not give a complete account of the justices’ total income and wealth, but they give insights into their concertgoing, guest professorships and even their involvement in youth sports.

In addition to their salaries, much of the justices’ reported income came from their book deals. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson led the pack earning more than $1.1 million last year for a total of roughly $4 million since her memoir, Lovely One, was published in 2024.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett and retired Justice Anthony Kennedy also reported income from published books. Earnings from their books ranged from $849,000 for Barrett, to $300,000 for Gorsuch and $88,000 for Sotomayor, whose books include her 2013 autobiography and five children’s books. Justice Clarence Thomas, who previously earned $1.5 million for his 2007 memoir, listed no publisher payments last year, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, one of 13 co-authors of a 2016 legal treatise, also received no payments last year. Kavanaugh is said to be working on a memoir but he listed no payments for the anticipated book. Alito does have a book coming out in the fall, but with his financial report still outstanding, there is no data on how much he was paid for the work in 2025.

Advertisement

The only two sitting justices who have not written books are Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan.

Many justices also earned income from teaching at law schools. Roberts reported income from New England Law, located in Boston, and Gorsuch reported teaching income from George Mason University in Virginia. Thomas taught classes at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and Barrett and Kavanaugh taught at Notre Dame Law School. Barrett graduated from the school and began teaching there 23 years ago; Kavanaugh has family connections to Notre Dame.

Continue Reading

News

Manhattan Building’s Columns Buckled Beneath New Addition, Images Show

Published

on

Manhattan Building’s Columns Buckled Beneath New Addition, Images Show

At least two structural columns buckled and failed in a 37-story office tower in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday, prompting evacuations of nearby streets and buildings. While city officials asserted that the tower was in no danger of collapsing completely, outside engineers said further failures in the structure could not be ruled out.

A pair of columns that failed completely were part of the tower’s existing structure. A New York Times review of images and videos from inside the building has found that several floors were added atop these columns.

Advertisement

City officials said in a news conference on Tuesday that the building was continuing to move, while they simultaneously assured the city that the building would not suffer “total collapse.” “The way this building is constructed, it’s a steel-frame building,” John Esposito, a chief in the Fire Department in New York, said at the afternoon news conference. “So, it would not be a total collapse. It would be more of a localized collapse.” Still, he said, “that remains our concern, that it’s moved.”

Advertisement

Engineers said that the movement itself was cause for concern. In a properly designed steel building, they said, loads should redistribute quickly to surviving structural supports if columns failed.

Joe DiPompeo, a former president of the Structural Engineering Institute at the American Society of Civil Engineers, said that if the structure had been overloaded, he would expect any movement “to happen very quickly,” rather than gradually.

“Generally when a column buckles, it’s a sudden failure,” Mr. DiPompeo said. He said that a full collapse remained unlikely given the redundancies built into the building codes.

Advertisement

Engineers often refer to the most dangerous possibility as a progressive collapse, a process in which structures near the initial failure become overstressed and also fail, potentially bringing down the building if the sequence continues. While unlikely, it cannot be ruled out, Mr. DiPompeo said.

Footage recorded from inside the building shows at least two structural columns appear to have failed completely, Mr. DiPompeo said. Other nonstructural, interior walls — or at least the metal “studs” that were in place to hold them up — also appear to have deformed.

Advertisement

“The only way that really happens is if the floor above them dropped. It looks like the floor above could have dropped a foot or two, which is obviously not a good situation,” Mr. DiPompeo said.

@fernando40tiktok.commarc via Storyful

Advertisement

Advertisement

Image from @fernando40tiktok.commarc via Storyful

Advertisement

Image from @Bogs4NY via X

Advertisement

The 37-story building is in the process of being converted from office space into residential units. Four new floors and a large vertical portion were added onto the existing building in recent months. The vertical portion consists of a stack of over a dozen new floors cantilevered out over the existing building below.

Engineers said that there was nothing inherently wrong with adding residential floors or the cantilevered section above the columns that failed, as long as the original structure and the modifications had properly accounted for the added weight and wind loads.

“The cantilever alone doesn’t change anything,” Mr. DiPompeo said, but it does put additional load on the columns underneath — a factor that should have been reflected in the design.

Advertisement

Nathan Berman, managing principal and founder of MetroLoft, the developer overseeing the conversion, said on Tuesday that “this incident is nothing more than a typical construction mishap.”

He said two columns near the northwest corner of the tower had bent under the weight of additions to the building above, most likely because those columns had not been properly reinforced, though he said an investigation would determine the cause. The rest of the columns, he said, “picked up the weight.” He estimated the affected floors above the failed columns had sagged by a maximum of four inches.

Advertisement

Mr. Berman said that he expected the problems to be fixed and the project to be completed with, at most, a slight delay.

On Tuesday evening, installation of temporary shoring was set to begin shortly, in order to help stabilize the 20th and 21st floors of the building.

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending