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Lefty Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is dipping her toe in the 2028 political waters as she launches an upstate New York voter outreach tour on DSA-friend turf, The Post has learned.
The far-left Dem is kicking off the tour in Buffalo to rally potential supporters before the midterm elections and amid continuing speculation that she may make a White House run in two years — joining Gov. Kathy Hochul for some upstate cred during the trip, Gothamist reported.
AOC’s team said she will be also be hitting up Syracuse and Ithaca, home to Cornell University, which counts several members of the Democratic Socialists of America on the city council — and sits in Tompkins County, one of only two in the Empire State that went for Bernie Sanders during the 2016 Democratic presidential primary.
Buffalo and Syracuse both voted to elect DSA members to local and state Assembly seats in June elections.
“ I think she brings a lot of energy to the process, engages young people in particular,” Hochul said during an interview on WNYC. “I’ve encouraged this. I have asked her and others to go statewide to create the momentum we need, the energy around this next election. So I think she’ll be very well-received.”
In addition to a string of speaking engagements, AOC’s upstate jaunt will include an “inactive voter training” session Thursday night, and said she will make a $300,000 contribution to state Democrats.
She announced earlier this week that 2028 was a make or break election year — telling the New York Times that if she loses bids for her House seat, the Senate or the White House, she’s packing it in.
Despite rampant speculation, she has not announced a run for either of the two higher offices.
Regardless, state Republican leaders are making it clear she’s not welcome upstate.
“We warned you about NYC socialism spreading upstate,” state Assembly Minority Leader Ed Ra [R-Nassau] posted on X. “Turns out it’s Kathy Hochul driving the bus.”
Erie County Republican Chairman Michael Kracker even warned that AOC’s mission seeks to shove her own party farther to the radical left.
“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is coming to Erie County to establish herself as the true leader of the New York Democratic Party, and local Democrats are falling in line, embracing her extreme socialist agenda without question,” Kracker said. “They don’t have to go along with it.”
Even former Golden Gloves boxing champ Joe “Baby Joe” Mesi, a lifelong Democrat, took a swing.
“The party I know fights for working people, not for radical politics that hurt them,” Mesi said. “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t speak for me, and she doesn’t speak for the Buffalo I grew up in.”
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