The clues of a possible future run inside Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s tour of New York State

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With her supporters and critics alike debating what she’ll do next, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s multi-day swing to parts of New York State hundreds of miles from her district gave some clues of what a potential statewide run – or a national one – might look like.

There were meetings with local mayors, a stop at a harvest festival and a packed town hall at Cornell University. She campaigned with moderate battleground Democratic Rep. Josh Riley, who won his last election by three points and reached out to her traditional allies within the Democratic Socialists of America.

Ocasio-Cortez herself is resisting the idea that every move should be viewed through the lens of whether she will run for Senate or president in 2028, telling CNN that for now she’s focused on being reelected to the House.

Her allies see her tour as evidence that she is building something larger than a congressional operation. Republicans, meanwhile, are using her presence upstate to argue that the Democratic Party is moving further toward the political left.

“She has this ability to draw people. She’s quite charismatic, quite friendly, and people really respond to her, which I saw today on the visit,” Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan told reporters following her visit.

“This is the first time I did a public event with her but I watched how people throughout the building responded to her, and if you see the number of my staff … usually they’re not out here for a press conference, and I don’t think they’re out here to look at me.”

Ryan declined to say what her next political move should be but heaped praise on her for inspiring a new generation of political activism.

Ocasio-Cortez and the mayor took a tour of City Hall, where a handful of blushing staffers asked for photos. They also went to Gabriel’s Gate, a Buffalo institution where plates of wings and French fries are served piled high.

They talked municipal government, the need for universal childcare, and how the Trump administration’s latest round of tariffs has hurt some businesses in the city, which is just across the Niagara River from Canada.

At an organizer training session held inside a contemporary art center in Buffalo, organizers talked about the need to focus on voters who have become inactive — meaning they have missed the last two federal elections putting them at risk of being purged from voter rolls.

While it wasn’t Ocasio-Cortez’s first time in Buffalo, this time she said she was bringing a message about the upcoming midterm elections along with a plan to organize inactive voters in communities across New York.

“There are inactive voters everywhere in the country and sometimes people put that fault on the voter, but I think a lot of it sometimes is the fault of a government that hasn’t reached out to people and hasn’t touched people and shown what can be done for the public good,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

Ocasio-Cortez’s team says the effort will target inactive Democratic voters statewide, including nearly 5,000 in Erie County, a Democratic-leaning but politically competitive part of western New York where the party’s left wing has notched several wins in recent years.

Democratic socialist Adam Bojak, who won the Democratic June primary nomination in a three-way race for Buffalo’s 149th Assembly District, also held a private meeting with Ocasio-Cortez.

Bojak’s race is seen as the latest sign that DSA’s electoral footprint is extending far beyond New York City. Bojak, a Buffalo DSA member, defeated the Democratic Party-backed candidate with nearly 50 percent of the vote after his campaign knocked on 25,000 doors and raised six figures from small donors. Ocasio-Cortez, one of the nation’s most prominent democratic socialists, rejoined the DSA’s New York City chapter in August.

“Our policies are extremely popular across the political spectrum,” Bojak told CNN. “It doesn’t matter what letter is next to your name, people know that they want universal childcare, universal healthcare and they want to tax the rich, so the things that we’re fighting for are broadly popular, regardless of the party affiliation of the person you’re talking to.”

Bojak is on track to win the general election in November. He would become the first DSA member elected to the State Legislature from western New York.

Ocasio-Cortez’s 14th District in New York City is among the bluest in the country. Buffalo, Syracuse and parts of upstate New York present a very different political landscape, with Democrats competing for support among working-class and suburban voters in communities where Republicans remain competitive.

Hours before Ocasio-Cortez was set to meet with Buffalo’s mayor, local Republicans and moderate Democrats gathered in front of the cameras to argue that the progressive wing of the Democratic Party was gaining too much influence in western New York, warning that their politics are largely out of step with the more moderate long-term Democrats who live in the region.

Erie County Republican Chairman Michael Kracker told CNN he sees the Democratic party divide as an opportunity.

“Whether they’re in charge of the New York Democratic Party apparatus or not, AOC and Zohran Mamdani are the ideological leaders of today’s Democratic Party, and I think that puts them out of step with a lot of moderate, old-school Democrats, and that’s where I think there’s opportunities for the Republican Party to say, we welcome your voices in our party.”

While resisting the 2028 talk, Ocasio-Cortez did make clear to reporters she saw her brand of politics working in rural areas as well.

“The whole point of this is to not write off or make assumptions about a single person or a single voter in the state of New York,” she said.

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在她的支持者和批评者都在争论她下一步会做什么之际，众议员亚历山大·奥卡西奥-科尔特斯 (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 前往距离其选区数百英里的纽约州部分地区进行了为期数天的巡回访问，这为她可能进行的全州竞选——或者全国竞选——提供了一些线索。

她会见了当地市长，参加了一个丰收节，并在康奈尔大学举行了一场座无虚席的市政厅会议。她与温和派民主党众议员乔什·莱利一起竞选，莱利上次选举仅以三个百分点的优势获胜。她还与美国民主社会主义者协会内部的传统盟友进行了接触。

奥卡西奥-科尔特斯本人并不认同应该从她是否会在 2028 年竞选参议员或总统的角度来看待她的每一个举动，她告诉 CNN，目前她专注于连任众议员。

她的盟友认为，此次巡视表明她正在构建的远不止国会运作。与此同时，共和党人则利用她此次在纽约州北部的行程，声称民主党正在进一步向左翼靠拢。

“她有一种吸引人的能力。她很有魅力，也很友善，人们对她很有好感，我今天在她访问期间就看到了这一点，”布法罗市长肖恩·瑞安在她访问结束后告诉记者。

“这是我第一次和她一起参加公开活动，但我观察了整栋楼里人们对她的反应，如果你看看我的工作人员人数……他们通常不会来参加新闻发布会，我想他们也不是来看我的。”

瑞安拒绝透露她下一步的政治行动计划，但对她激励了新一代的政治活动家表示高度赞扬。

奥卡西奥-科尔特斯和市长参观了市政厅，期间几位脸红的工作人员请求合影。他们还去了布法罗的一家老字号餐厅——加布里埃尔之门，这家餐厅以供应堆得满满的鸡翅和薯条而闻名。

他们讨论了市政管理、普及儿童保育的必要性，以及特朗普政府最新一轮关税如何损害了该市的一些企业。该市位于尼亚加拉河对岸，与加拿大隔河相望。

在布法罗一家当代艺术中心举行的组织者培训会议上，组织者们谈到需要关注那些已经变得不活跃的选民——这意味着他们错过了最近两次联邦选举，这使他们面临被从选民名册中清除的风险。

虽然这并非奥卡西奥-科尔特斯第一次来到布法罗，但这一次她说，她带来了有关即将到来的中期选举的信息，以及一项在纽约州各地社区组织不活跃选民的计划。

奥卡西奥-科尔特斯说：“全国各地都有不活跃的选民，有时人们会把这归咎于选民，但我认为很多时候这是政府的错，政府没有接触民众，没有触动民众，没有向民众展示可以为公众利益做些什么。”

奥卡西奥-科尔特斯的团队表示，这项活动将以全州不活跃的民主党选民为目标，其中包括伊利县的近 5000 名选民。伊利县是纽约州西部一个倾向于民主党但政治竞争激烈的地区，近年来该党的左翼在该县取得了多次胜利。

在布法罗第 149 选区民主党初选中，民主社会主义者亚当·博亚克 (Adam Bojak) 在三方角逐中胜出，赢得了民主党初选提名。他也与奥卡西奥-科尔特斯 (Ocas​​io-Cortez) 举行了私人会面。

博雅克的胜选被视为民主社会主义者协会（DSA）的选举影响力远超纽约市的最新迹象。博雅克是布法罗DSA成员，他的竞选团队挨家挨户敲门拜访了25000户选民，并从小额捐款者那里筹集了六位数的资金，最终以近50%的得票率击败了民主党支持的候选人。奥卡西奥-科尔特斯是美国最杰出的民主社会主义者之一，她于8月重新加入了DSA纽约市分会。

博雅克告诉CNN：“我们的政策在各个政治派别都非常受欢迎。无论你的名字后面跟着什么字母，人们都知道他们想要全民儿童保育、全民医疗保健，他们想要向富人征税，所以我们为之奋斗的这些政策是广受欢迎的，与你交谈的人的党派无关。”

博亚克有望赢得11月的大选。他将成为纽约州西部首位当选州议员的民主社会主义者协会成员。

奥卡西奥-科尔特斯所在的纽约市第14选区是全美最倾向民主党的选区之一。而布法罗、锡拉丘兹以及纽约州北部部分地区则呈现出截然不同的政治格局，民主党人在这些地区与共和党人展开激烈的竞争，力图赢得工薪阶层和郊区选民的支持。

在奥卡西奥-科尔特斯与布法罗市长会面的几个小时前，当地共和党人和温和派民主党人聚集在镜头前，声称民主党的进步派在纽约西部获得了过多的影响力，并警告说，他们的政治立场与居住在该地区的较为温和的长期民主党人的立场大相径庭。

伊利县共和党主席迈克尔·克拉克告诉 CNN，他认为民主党的分裂是一个机会。

“无论AOC和佐兰·马姆达尼是否掌控着纽约民主党的运作机制，她们都是当今民主党的意识形态领袖。我认为这使她们与许多温和派、老派民主党人格格不入，而我认为共和党有机会借此机会表示：我们欢迎你们的声音加入我们的党。”

尽管奥卡西奥-科尔特斯拒绝谈论 2028 年的竞选，但她确实向记者明确表示，她认为自己的政治理念在农村地区也行得通。

她说：“关键在于不要轻视或妄下断言纽约州的任何一个人或任何一位选民。”