AOC’s Bold Strategy to Challenge Donald Trump on His Own Territory

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is set to take the Democratic resistance on the road, making appearances in GOP-held congressional districts in Pennsylvania and New York in the near future.

AOC revealed her plans to the Associated Press in a story on Monday, following Senator Bernie Sanders, another progressive, who recently drew large crowds in Warren, Michigan during a stop on his ‘Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here’ tour.

The New York Democrat said she would be joining Sanders on the road soon and also be doing the solo appearances. 

‘You look around – who else is doing it? No one,’ Ocasio-Cortez remarked. ‘My hope is that the dam will break in terms of Democrats going on the offense … We need to take the argument directly to the people.’

On Saturday, more than 6,000 people were packed into three different auditoriums for Sanders’ joint appearance with United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain. 

Sanders said he was targeting Congressional districts that narrowly went to President Donald Trump, like Warren, a Detroit suburb. 

The Vermont independent also made stops in Altoona and Kenosha, Wisconsin.  

He’s using the push to encourage swing members of Congress to vote against a funding bill that slahes Medicaid, food stamps and other social programs.

Michigan and Wisconsin – and also Pennsylvania, where AOC will travel – have been the most important swing states in modern politics.

They make up the three ‘blue wall’ states that went to Trump in the 2016 election – states Biden won back four years later. 

They again swung to Trump in 2024, when he defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. 

And while New York leans Democratic at the presidential level, it could help Democrats win back the House in 2026 with its handful of swing districts. 

Since Democrats have found themselves booted from the White House and in the minority in both the House and Senate, party leaders have struggled to find their footing. 

On Tuesday, Democrats responded to Trump’s joint address before Congress by holding up signs, wearing pink and protesting. 

Even members of their own party found their actions to be performative.

‘Why are democrats just sitting there? The signs are not landing. It is giving bingo! Sigh,’ said MSNBC host Symone Sanders, who was Bernie Sanders’ 2016 press secretary before going to work for Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign.

Bernie Sanders had kicked off his Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here’ in February, first traveling to Omaha, Nebraska and Iowa City, Iowa, before this weekend’s trip to Wisconsin and Michigan.   

‘It’s not about whether Bernie should or shouldn’t be doing this. It’s about that we all should,’ Ocasio-Cortez told the AP. 

She noted that Sanders – who came up short in his 2016 and 2020 runs for the Democratic nomination after being thwarted by more moderate candidates – holds a distinct position in American politics. 

During those runs, Sanders’ crowds would far outnumber people coming out to see Hillary Clinton and Biden, ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic shutting campaign rallies down. 

‘But he is unique in this country, and so long as we are blessed to have that capacity on our side, I think we should be thankful for it,’ AOC said of Sanders.