Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said she does not support a set of positions in the national Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) platform—including abolishing the Senate and eliminating the police and prison system—in an Aug. 9 interview on ABC’s “This Week.”
ABC’s Jonathan Karl read from the organization’s national program, adopted earlier this year, listing planks that included defunding the Department of War, closing overseas military bases, abolishing the police and prison system, granting amnesty to all immigrants in the country, replacing the Supreme Court, abolishing the Senate, and instituting public ownership of corporations and essential industries.
He then asked Ocasio-Cortez whether those were positions she supports.
“No,” she said. “But I think that this is a free country. Everyone can have all sorts of beliefs, and they can organize around them.”
She said her own focus is elsewhere.
“My job as an elected official is to guarantee healthcare in America,” she said.
Ocasio-Cortez said she belongs to the New York City DSA chapter and not the national organization, and compared a local chapter to a local union chapter.
The national organization withdrew its endorsement of her in 2024.
Asked what she would say to moderate Democrats who describe themselves as capitalists and argue that those DSA positions will hurt the party, Ocasio-Cortez said they are free to hold their own economic views.
She said in terms of “dooming” the party, “the idea that there’s a diversity of thought in America among everyday voting people is a fundamental fact of [the] country.”
She added that the party should concentrate on its plans to improve people’s lives rather than on what any individual believes.
Asked to define the difference between socialism and communism, she said the dividing line is democracy.
She said democratic socialists are “fundamentally pro-democracy,” believe in the ballot box, and respect the outcomes of elections.
The interview followed a major progressive win in Michigan’s Democratic primary for a U.S. Senate seat on Aug. 5, when Abdul El-Sayed beat Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) in that race.
El-Sayed has been tied to progressive views, but said he is not a democratic socialist.
Ocasio-Cortez described the moment as “a time of renewal” for the party and said the party is unifying ahead of November.
She said she has not made an endorsement in Wisconsin’s Aug. 11 Democratic primary for governor, in which state Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Wis.) is running with DSA backing.
Ocasio-Cortez said her focus is on winning back the House and positioning the party to win the Senate.
Pressed on positions such as defunding the police, which she initially supported in 2020, Ocasio-Cortez pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic period and said, “Of course, during lockdown, rhetoric in that time is not rhetoric that we would use today.”
She also noted that she has not endorsed primary challengers to sitting House Democrats this cycle, including candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, although she did endorse a slate of challengers in New York state legislative races.
She said not working in state government gives her more freedom to endorse there.
Asked about a New Hampshire poll showing her as the leading choice among Democrats for 2028, Ocasio-Cortez said she has not ruled out a presidential run but that the party has a responsibility to stay focused on the midterms and not any one person’s individual ambitions or plans.
Asked whether she might instead run for Senate against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), she said, “Anything is possible at this juncture.”
The Republican National Committee circulated a statement on the weekend interviews by its national press secretary Natalie Baldassarre.
“The Democrat Party is being driven off a cliff by socialists who are driving blindfolded while arguing about the view,” Baldassarre said.
The committee said that unless Democrats change course, every candidate on the ballot will have to answer for the party’s socialist wing.
The committee pointed to the same national platform items Karl raised, including eliminating the Senate, the presidency, and the Supreme Court, as well as abolishing the police and prisons.
It said Ocasio-Cortez had expressed excitement about a socialist takeover of the party by candidates who “answer to no master.”
Ocasio-Cortez used that phrase in the interview to describe insurgent candidates as not beholden to corporate interests or party bosses.
The committee also cited a CNN poll that said one-third of Democratic voters now identify as democratic socialists and a separate Fox poll that showed that a majority of Americans who identify as independents view socialism unfavorably.
The Epoch Times has reached out to Ocasio-Cortez’s office, the DSA, and the New York City chapter of DSA for comment.
