Is AOC ready to run for president?

Is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez laying the groundwork for a run for president in 2028? And would the Democrats really pick her as a nominee?

This week AOC has been back making headlines with comments over freezing her eggs, distancing herself from the so-called “woke 1” era of Democratic politics and hinting at a future run for the White House.

Speculation of a future presidential run has raised a debate over whether the U.S is ready to vote for a left-wing candidate in the next presidential election and whether the party can shake off previous policies that have been unpopular with voters.

Despite the success of the Democratic Socialists of America in recent primary races, the group suffered a setback this week in Wisconsin when its primary candidate, Francesca Hong, lost to centrist candidate David Crowley in the race for state governor.

Could AOC be a unifying figure within the party, or will voters be reluctant to let her shrug off comments she’s made in the past?

HOSTS:
• Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter
• Sarah Smith, North America Editor
• Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent

GET IN TOUCH:
• Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB
• Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480
• Email Americast@bbc.co.uk
• Or use #Americast

This episode was made by Jack Maclaren with Alix Pickles and Grace Reeve. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app.

You can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Americast”. It works on most smart speakers.

US Election Unspun: Sign up for Anthony’s BBC newsletter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155

Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including Newscast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.

Newscast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl
Radical: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r
The Global Story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsd