Nia-Malika Henderson, Columnist

Can AOC Be the New Chuck Schumer?

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is energizing tens of thousands of progressives across the country, making a stark contrast to the unpopular senior senator from New York.

April 28, 2025 at 10:00 AM UTC

By Nia-Malika Henderson

Nia-Malika Henderson is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. A former senior political reporter for CNN and the Washington Post, she has covered politics and campaigns for almost two decades.

Rallying.
Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty Images

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Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the congresswoman who famously knocked off a moderate incumbent to win her seat in the House and has rankled the establishment since arriving in Washington in 2019, is now one of the most popular Democrats in New York state according to a new Siena poll.

It’s not hard to understand why. She is everything Democratic Party stalwarts aren’t — young, authentic, charismatic, savvy on social media, plain-spoken and part of a movement. She is energizing tens of thousands of progressives across the country, raising her profile and the question of what her future will be in a leaderless Democratic Party.