A strategy memo from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign committee argues that she has grown from a progressive firebrand into a major national political force. The five-page document, shared with key allies, does not mention a possible 2028 presidential or Senate campaign. Instead, it presents her as one of the Democratic Party’s strongest advocates for working-class voters.
After Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, the memo says, Ocasio-Cortez began a nationwide effort to rebuild the party around economic populism and organize a broad movement for working families.
“Over the past two years, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez has built a record of success that extends beyond her own electoral victories,” the document says. It describes her as a powerful endorser in New York and nationally, adding that candidates in rural areas and competitive districts consider her support an asset in general elections.
The memo points to her fundraising operation, which it says has collected $38 million through more than 2 million contributions. The average donation was $17.56, and more than $3 million went to other Democratic candidates and state parties. It claims her small-donor fundraising operation is unmatched among House members and comparable to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ operation.
According to the document, conversations after the 2024 election with voters in Ocasio-Cortez’s district who split their tickets between Trump and her helped shape her approach. Those voters, the memo says, shared a deep frustration across party lines with a political establishment they saw as serving corporate billionaires rather than ordinary workers.
As Democrats tried to understand Trump’s victory, Ocasio-Cortez argued that winning back working-class voters would require a focus on economic populism, a challenge to concentrated wealth and power, and renewed efforts to strengthen American democracy, the memo says.
The document cites endorsements in consequential primary and general-election contests in California, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Montana. It points to Abdul El-Sayed’s Senate campaign in Michigan and Sam Forstag’s congressional primary win in Montana as examples of Ocasio-Cortez’s influence in rural and conservative-leaning areas.
Forstag was well behind in polling before appearing with Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders at a “Fighting Oligarchy” rally in Missoula. After her endorsement and the rally, he closed the gap and won the Democratic primary.
The memo describes a turning point after Ocasio-Cortez’s unsuccessful bid to become ranking member of the House Oversight Committee and a March 2025 budget standoff. During negotiations over a potential federal shutdown, Senate Democratic leaders accepted concessions. Ocasio-Cortez then shifted toward taking her message directly to voters.
At a rally in Idaho, she described the pressures she said people were facing: rising costs, fear of speaking openly, divisions intensified by online algorithms, and the erosion of rights and protections. “Understand that this, right now, is what it feels like to be governed by billionaires,” she said.
Since then, the memo says, Ocasio-Cortez has held large rallies in politically competitive, Republican-leaning and Democratic-leaning areas. It also highlights her endorsements in swing districts, Democratic primaries and New York City, her home base.
