Democrat republican center right left freedom liberal libertarian

Shirt
https://soldbytoosdae.myshopify.com/products/joe-rogan-andrew-tate-2024

Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to navigation
Sign in
The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian
Support us

News
Opinion
Sport
Culture
Lifestyle
Show More

Search input
Search
google-searchSearch
Support us
Print subscriptions

Search jobs
Digital Archive
Guardian Puzzles app
Guardian Licensing
The Guardian app
Video
Podcasts
Pictures
Inside the Guardian
Guardian Weekly
Crosswords
Wordiply
Corrections
Facebook
Twitter
USWorldEnvironmentUS PoliticsSoccerBusinessTechScienceNewslettersFight for democracy
More
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
US Senate
This article is more than 5 months old
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ‘not planning’ to run for Senate seat in 2024
This article is more than 5 months old
Decision clears way for incumbent New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand to run for re-election unopposed by congresswoman

Edward Helmore
Sun 30 Apr 2023 12.02 EDT
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will not run for a seat in the US Senate next year, according to her office, clearing the way for incumbent New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat, to run for re-election unopposed by the progressive congresswoman.

“She is not planning to run for Senate in 2024. She is not planning to primary Gillibrand,” Lauren Hitt, Ocasio-Cortez’s spokesperson, told Politico.

Gillibrand, who launched her re-election campaign in January for a third Senate term, was widely believed to be facing a number of potential challengers in the state primary, including Ocasio-Cortez.

The announcement follows indications from other New York progressives, including Mondaire Jones and representatives Jamaal Bowman and Ritchie Torres, that they are not considering a challenge.

New York Democrats were hit hard in the midterm elections last year and the loss of four seats to Republican candidates is widely blamed for the party losing control of Congress. Avoiding an acrimonious challenge from the progressive wing of the party, and concentrating on recovering the 2022 losses, is considered to be Democrats’ political priority.

“I think it’s divisive. And unless you think you can win, it’s divisive unnecessarily,” Jay Jacobs, chair of the New York Democratic party, told Politico. “It’s using up resources we need to preserve for more coordinated work and the rest.”

Camille Rivera, a New York-based progressive strategist, said that an intra-Democrat contest “could be pretty bruising and give a Republican a leg up”.

Signs of a deal between Ocasio-Cortez and Gillibrand came after rumors of a Senate seat challenge began to circulate last year. Gillibrand has faced criticism for her part in forcing former senator Al Franken’s resignation, accepting donations from indicted crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried and ties to Wall Street.

But Ocasio-Cortez’s staff’s choice of language – “not planning to run” is not the same as “not running”. Bronx representative Jamaal Bowman told the outlet he heard AOC’s name “weeks ago or months ago maybe” as a primary contender but hadn’t heard it since.

Ocasio-Cortez’s indication comes as high-profile progressives have said they’ll support Joe Biden’s re-election bid, despite misgivings about parts of his agenda. Ocasio-Cortez has said she “unequivocally” supports the party’s nominees.

Since Biden’s re-election soft launch on Tuesday, the sitting president has received endorsements from congressional progressive caucus leader Pramila Jayapal, representative Ro Khanna, and squad members Ilhan Omar, Greg Casar and Delia Ramirez.

skip past newsletter promotion
Sign up to First Thing

Free daily newsletter
Our US morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters

Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
after newsletter promotion
The endorsements come despite disquiet about Biden’s recent push to the middle on crime, energy policy and immigration.

“I think that people are looking at the incredible accomplishments, particularly the investments in climate change and equity, racial justice, and seeing that this is night and day from what anyone else has been able to do,” Jayapal told the Hill.

Senator Elizabeth Warren has said she’s “delighted” about Biden’s decision. “I’m in all the way,” she told the outlet.

Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who ran for the Democrat nomination against Biden in 2020, told CNN’s State of the Union Sunday: “If you believe in democracy, you want to see more people vote, not fewer people vote, I think the choice is pretty clear, and that choice is Biden.”

But Sanders leaned on Biden to be stronger on working-class issues, and urged the president and the party “to make it clear that we believe in a government that represents all, not just the few; take on the greed of the insurance companies, the drug companies, Wall Street, all the big money interests; and start delivering for working-class people.”

“You do that, I think Biden is going to win in a landslide,” Sanders added.

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I was hoping you would consider taking the step of supporting the Guardian’s journalism.

From Elon Musk to Rupert Murdoch, a small number of billionaire owners have a powerful hold on so much of the information that reaches the public about what’s happening in the world. The Guardian is different. We have no billionaire owner or shareholders to consider. Our journalism is produced to serve the public interest – not profit motives.

And we avoid the trap that befalls much US media – the tendency, born of a desire to please all sides, to engage in false equivalence in the name of neutrality. While fairness guides everything we do, we know there is a right and a wrong position in the fight against racism and for reproductive justice. When we report on issues like the climate crisis, we’re not afraid to name who is responsible. And as a global news organization, we’re able to provide a fresh, outsider perspective on US politics – one so often missing from the insular American media bubble.

Around the world, readers can access the Guardian’s paywall-free journalism because of our unique reader-supported model. That’s because of people like you. Our readers keep us independent, beholden to no outside influence and accessible to everyone – whether they can afford to pay for news, or not.

If you can, please consider supporting us just once from $1, or better yet, support us every month with a little more. Thank you.

Betsy Reed

Editor, Guardian US

Betsy Reed, Editor Headshot for Guardian US Epic

Contribution frequency

Single

Monthly

Annual

Contribution amount

$5 per month

$7 per month

Other
Continue
Remind me in November
Accepted payment methods: Visa, Mastercard, American Express and PayPal
Explore more on these topics
US Senate
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Kirsten Gillibrand
New York
US politics
Democrats
news
Reuse this content

Related stories

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is subject of House ethics investigation
8 Dec 2022

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gets engaged to longtime partner Riley Roberts
19 May 2022

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announces positive Covid test
9 Jan 2022

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorses Maya Wiley for New York mayor
5 Jun 2021

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to endorse Bernie Sanders for president
16 Oct 2019

Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez move to declare climate crisis official emergency
8 Jul 2019

Trump calls Ocasio-Cortez 'Evita' in new book American Carnage
7 Jul 2019

Four restaurants in the Bronx feel the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez effect
23 Jun 2019
48
More from Headlines

Extreme weather
43 million children displaced in past six years, Unicef reports
3h ago

Texas
Biden criticized for waiving 26 laws for border wall
11h ago

Donald Trump
Ex-president allegedly shared potentially sensitive information about US subs with Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt
13m ago

California
Gynecologist accused of sexual abuse at university found dead
5h ago

Turkey
US shoots down Turkish drone flying near its troops in Syria
4h ago

Elon Musk
Billionaire under investigation by US agency for $44bn takeover of Twitter
2h ago

Naples
Italy plans for mass evacuation as quakes continue around supervolcano
7h ago

Dianne Feinstein
Memorial honors trailblazing senator: ‘She was a lioness’
1h ago

Yevgeny Prigozhin
Onboard grenade blast caused plane crash that killed Wagner boss, claims Putin
6h ago

Dick Butkus
Marauding Hall of Fame Chicago Bears linebacker dies aged 80
2h ago
3
Most viewed
Most ViewedAcross The Guardian
Most ViewedIn US News
Most viewed Across the Guardian
‘Bear attack bad’: final message of Canadian couple killed by grizzly
Italy plans for mass evacuation as quakes continue around supervolcano
Trump cannot be prosecuted for actions committed while in office, lawyers argue
Gynecologist accused of sexual abuse at a California university found dead
Trump given seven days to submit list of firms that will lose New York business licenses
‘A new form of warfare’: how Ukraine reclaimed the Black Sea from Russian forces
Onboard grenade blast caused plane crash that killed Wagner boss, claims Putin
Gun-related deaths of US children are rising at ‘alarming’ rate, study reveals
‘Lowlife with small brain and big mouth’: Trump hits out at ex-aide Kelly
Donald Trump allegedly shared potentially sensitive information about US subs with Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt
Most commented
Bushfires one day, floods the next: why Australia can expect more ‘compound events’

Most shared
‘Bear attack bad’: final message of Canadian couple killed by grizzly

USWorldEnvironmentUS PoliticsSoccerBusinessTechScienceNewslettersFight for democracy
More
News
Opinion
Sport
Culture
Lifestyle
Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning
Sign up for our email
About us
Help
Complaints & corrections
SecureDrop
Work for us
California resident – Do Not Sell
Privacy policy
Cookie policy
Terms & conditions
Contact us
All topics
All writers
Digital newspaper archive
Facebook
YouTube
Instagram
LinkedIn
Twitter
Newsletters
Advertise with us
Guardian Labs
Search jobs
Support the Guardian
Available for everyone, funded by readers
Support us
Back to top
© 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. (modern)