Bernie Sanders has built one of the most durable movements in American politics. But many inside and outside of it are worrying what happens when he’s gone.
Sanders, at 83, is not interested in running for president for a third time. And while his barnstorming across the country with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez looked to some Democrats like a straightforward case of anointing his successor for the 2028 presidential campaign, progressives who know both elected officials said Sanders’ calculation — and hers — is far less clear.
Sanders confidants said he is not the type of politician to hand-pick his next in line. People who know Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said she is non-committal or, as her friend former Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) put it, “if the spirit moves her, she’ll do it — but she has to be moved by the spirit.” The result, to many progressives, is that for everything Sanders has done for the left, the independent senator from Vermont is also potentially leaving an agonizing vacuum behind him.
Saikat Chakrabarti, a former top aide to Ocasio-Cortez who has launched a campaign against Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said that Sanders has been “calling for people to run, and he’s calling for some sort of political revolution.”
But, he added, “I haven’t seen anything that’s indicating that he’s setting up infrastructure for something bigger than calling for it.”’
It’s a significant challenge for a wing of the Democratic Party that won the runner-up spot in two consecutive presidential primaries — and that has found renewed energy in President Donald Trump’s second term.
And Sanders’ alleged disinterest in succession-planning is hardly the only reason for the gap, either.
Many Sanders campaign alumni and other progressive operatives are fervently hoping that Ocasio-Cortez runs for the White House. With her star power, communication skills and fundraising prowess, they see her as uniquely qualified to pick up the mantle of the Sanders movement.
But people close to Ocasio-Cortez said it isn’t clear she wants to run.
One thing could inspire Ocasio-Cortez to jump into the 2028 presidential contest, according to Bowman: if there is a “void” in the race. Other allies of hers agreed that she would be disinclined to jump in unless she sees that deficit.
“The only way she ends up running is if things continue the way they’re going, where it’s just going down this dark path and no one really steps up,” said a person familiar with Ocasio-Cortez’s thinking who was granted anonymity to speak frankly. “And she kind of gets pressured into it, like she just feels it’s her moral obligation to do it.”
But, the person added, “She’d love for someone to be leading the party.”
A second person familiar with Ocasio-Cortez’s thinking cast her posture toward a potential run slightly differently, saying, “She’s more not focused on running for president than she is uninterested in it.”
Still, people in Ocasio-Cortez’s orbit said that she had to be persuaded to run for the House in the first place. They have described her experience of becoming famous overnight as, at times, taking a toll on her. And they’ve insisted that she is not carefully plotting her exact moves.
“She doesn’t think the same way that so many other people do. She’s not thinking about, like, ‘Oh, what’s the next step on the ladder?’” said Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “She really thinks about what’s right for the movement.”
At 35, Ocasio-Cortez has other paths available to her besides an imminent run for the White House, her allies say. She could continue building relationships in Congress and take a leadership role there. Some Democrats have encouraged her to challenge Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in the New York primary in 2028 after he roiled his party by voting to advance a GOP funding bill that avoided a government shutdown.
In a brief interview, Ocasio-Cortez declined to discuss a potential Senate bid, saying that her “central focus” is ensuring that the Democratic Party stands up for working Americans and works to stop GOP budget cuts.
“This is about the decisions that we made collectively and that we continue to make collectively as a party and a shift in strategy,” Ocasio-Cortez said when asked about whether Schumer should stay on as leader.
An Ocasio-Cortez spokesperson did not respond to a follow-up question about possible presidential ambitions.
Sanders was the second-place finisher in the 2016 and 2020 Democratic primaries, as well as a prolific small-dollar fundraiser. His friends and allies have said that he is not interested in running for president for a third time in 2028. Any candidate who can win over his supporters would have a key advantage in the next Democratic primary.
Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez are said to have a warm relationship and have been touring together for a series of rallies. Ari Rabin-Havt, Sanders’ former deputy campaign manager, said the Vermont senator has a “tremendous amount of respect for her.”
Ocasio-Cortez served as a volunteer organizer for Sanders’ 2016 campaign, endorsed him in his 2020 presidential bid at a pivotal moment, and has headlined rallies and introduced bills with him over the years. She installed former top Sanders aide Mike Casca as her chief of staff.
But Sanders is generally opposed to it’s-your-turn politics, his friends and allies said, though they did not outright dismiss the possibility of him offering an endorsement in an upcoming presidential race.
“He doesn’t believe in nepotism or that form of power where you hand your power to somebody. He believes people should step up because it’s the right thing,” said Rabin-Havt. “The truth is that it’s not Bernie’s job to hand his movement over. If another politician wants to take over that movement, it’s their job to go out and show they deserve it.”
Some progressives have complained that Sanders takes that tendency to the extreme. People who have worked with Sanders said it can be extraordinarily difficult to convince him to endorse candidates for office. When his son, Levi Sanders, ran for Congress in 2018, he did not endorse him.
Sanders’ aides have pushed back against such criticisms, saying he has endorsed numerous candidates, fundraised for them, and promoted liberal organizations. They’ve also argued that Sanders is unfairly expected to alone make up for the fact that the progressive left lacks the institutional infrastructure wielded by moderate Democrats. Sanders has also said that his current goal is to create an organization to find candidates to run as progressive Democrats and independents.
But even if Sanders went so far as to say that Ocasio-Cortez is his heir apparent, progressives said, it’s not obvious that would clear things up.
“If AOC wants to take leadership in this moment, that’s on her to take leadership,” said Chakrabarti. “The people who come to these rallies, they’re not into heir-based politics.”
Ocasio-Cortez is not the only progressive could potentially vie for Sanders’ mantle — and endorsement — in 2028. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Sanders’ 2020 campaign co-chair, has talked to Democrats about his potential interest in a presidential campaign. Khanna also has a relationship with Sanders, endorsed his 2020 campaign out of the gate, and was urged by some of Sanders’ former top advisers to launch a bid in 2024 in the event that then-President Joe Biden did not seek a second term.
Khanna recently told CNN that “there would be a lot of support” for Ocasio-Cortez if she challenged Schumer.
In a text to POLITICO, Khanna brushed aside a question about whether the Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez tour affected his future ambitions, saying “I love what Bernie and AOC are doing.”
The “crowds show people are angry at the cuts to Medicaid and education and concerned about their fellow citizens,” he said. “The Trump administration has awakened a sleeping giant — ordinary Americans are shedding off their apathy. I have never been more hopeful for what we can build.”
Sanders is often visibly annoyed when asked about political calculations, which he is known to dismiss as “Beltway gossip.” In a recent interview with ABC, he said Ocasio-Cortez is “extraordinary” and “inspires young people all over the country.” Asked if he’d like to see her in the Senate, he almost ended the interview.
“You want to do nonsense, do nonsense,” he said. “I don’t want to talk about inside-the-Beltway stuff.”
Brakkton Booker and Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.
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