New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez downplayed questions over her desire to run in the 2028 Presidential Elections during a political forum in Chicago on Friday.
When questioned about running for the presidency, she said, "My ambition is to change the country
The Bronx congresswoman's response comes amid widespread speculation that she will announce a bid for the White House in the Democratic primaries.
The question was pitched by Democratic strategist David Axelrod while he hosted a conversation at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics.
“What’s funny is they assume my ambition is a title or a seat,” Ocasio-Cortez told Axelrod. “My ambition is to change this country. Presidents come and go. Senate, House seats, elected officials come and go."
"But single-payer healthcare is forever," she continued, referencing her longstanding platform supporting national, universal healthcare, before launching into a list of her other policy positions.
'Living wage, workers' rights are forever,' AOC says
"A living wage is forever, workers' rights are forever, women's rights, all of that," she said, discussing her views on economic, racial, and social issues.
"To a finer point to your question is that when you aren't attached, when you haven't been fantasizing about being this or that since the time you were seven years old, it is tremendously liberating," she added.
“Conditions change radically all the time. So I make my response less to an attachment to some positional title or position and working backward from there,” she concluded.
An April Harvard CAPS/Harris poll showed former vice president Kamala Harris as the frontrunner among Democratic candidates, supported by 24% of voters, followed by California Governor Gavin Newsom with 12% of voters' support.
Ocasio-Cortez and former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg followed, each at 9%.