Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told supporters at a fundraiser for Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed that his victory in Michigan could reshape national politics, saying the race “could break open the entire political calculus of America,” according to audio of her remarks obtained by ABC News.
“If Abdul can win in Michigan, anybody can win anywhere,” Ocasio-Cortez said at the Monday night event, ABC News reported. El-Sayed is set to face Republican former congressman Mike Rogers in a Senate contest that could help determine control of the upper chamber.
Ocasio-Cortez framed El-Sayed’s candidacy as a test of whether progressive policies and candidates can prevail outside traditional liberal strongholds. “Can you imagine five years ago, four years ago saying that the Democratic nominee for Senate in a statewide race in Michigan just after Democrats lost to Donald Trump, is a man, a Muslim doctor, by the name of Abdul El-Sayed?” she asked, according to the audio.
DCCC seeks ads criticizing GOP approach to AI and data centers across dozens of House races
Clock shows 2:57
ABC News noted that Donald Trump won Michigan in the 2024 presidential election with about 50% of the vote. If elected to the Senate, El-Sayed would be the first Muslim senator, the report said.
Ocasio-Cortez urged activists to convert past policy promises into electoral victories. “We have written a check on the left, saying if you champion these policies that have popular support, we can win. And now it is time to cash in. Now it is time to go out and show what we are capable of,” she said at the fundraiser, per ABC News.
National strategy, not a single race
She described the effort as broader than one campaign or cycle. Ocasio-Cortez, who has traveled across the country and within New York State as she weighs her political future and potential runs for higher office in 2028, said “this project is not about one race, it’s not about one cycle” or “any one person,” according to ABC News.
Ocasio-Cortez also outlined organizing plans beyond Michigan: “We are going to be organizing voters in disenfranchised communities across the South. We are going to work to elect people like [congressional candidate] Justin Pearson in Tennessee. We are going to work to elect people like [Senate candidate] Angie Nixon in Florida, and we are going to break the electoral map everywhere. Everywhere, because that is what it is going to take to guarantee health care to every American in the United States,” she said, as reported by ABC News.
Asked earlier this year by ABC News’ Jon Karl about her own presidential ambitions, Ocasio-Cortez replied, “I haven’t ruled out the possibility,” the network reported.
