Two years before the 2028 presidential race, the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is already locked in fierce competition over who will inherit the massive grassroots machine that twice propelled Bernie Sanders toward the White House. The stakes are enormous: the outcome will largely determine whether the hard left can mount a credible challenge for the nomination or whether the progressive lane fractures before voting even begins.
Interviews with major liberal groups, progressive operatives and elected officials reveal a field in flux. While Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez looms as the frontrunner for the progressive mantle, she is far from inevitable. California Rep. Ro Khanna is aggressively staking his own claim, and others including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Sens. Chris Murphy, Chris Van Hollen and Jon Ossoff are being seriously vetted by progressive leaders looking to expand their options.
Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution, the organization founded by Sanders, said the group's 8 million members remain open to multiple candidates after witnessing unexpected rises like that of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. "I don't think the field is written," Geevarghese said. "There's always somebody who's surprising."
AOC vs. Khanna: The Two-Person Race
Ocasio-Cortez possesses singular political gifts. She generates enormous, energetic crowds and has a superpower in small-dollar fundraising that could vault her to the top of any electoral field. Her name recognition is stratospheric and she consistently polls in the top five among potential Democratic White House candidates.
Khanna, by contrast, has landed high-profile wins including working across party lines to force the release of the Epstein files. His positions align most closely to Sanders' beyond Ocasio-Cortez, and he is the ranking member of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition with China. Yet he faces a significant problem: weak small-dollar fundraising and minimal name recognition, with no showing so far in early national polling.
"In the Bernie lane, those are the two, and then there's a gulf," said one operative deeply involved in progressive dynamics. "AOC is clearly the most popular."
Both candidates have been quietly recruiting Sanders-era talent. Ocasio-Cortez has attracted Sanders' former deputy chief of staff Mike Casca, now her chief of staff, along with progressive foreign policy expert Matt Duss and strategist Faiz Shakir. Khanna has secured veteran Sanders strategist Jeff Weaver as an adviser, plus the operatives who ran Sanders' successful campaigns in New Hampshire and Nevada. Julian Mulvey, who produced Sanders' most iconic campaign ads, is also backing Khanna.
Neither candidacy depends on the other's decision, according to sources familiar with their thinking. Ocasio-Cortez has not decided whether to run for Senate or mount a presidential bid, but has not ruled anything out.
The wildcard may be Sanders himself. His endorsement is viewed by multiple sources as the north star of any progressive primary. Should both Ocasio-Cortez and Khanna run, the consensus is Sanders would likely sit out initially to observe how the race develops. Sanders maintains a close relationship with both, though he shares a special bond with Ocasio-Cortez, whom he toured with during his successful "Fighting Oligarchy" tour post-November 2024. The crowds swelled into the tens of thousands when she joined him, a visible demonstration of her star power.
"I just think the entire shape of the race is different if AOC gets in vs. if she doesn't," said the co-chair of a major progressive organization. "Very hard to imagine any other candidates challenging her for the post-Bernie lane if she's in."
However, some progressives are urging Ocasio-Cortez to run for Senate instead, targeting New York Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's seat. Norm Solomon, executive director of RootsAction, argues she could build a wider base over the next decade and lacks the foreign policy seasoning that Khanna possesses through his committee work. Critics also panned her performance at the Munich Security Conference in February, though Ocasio-Cortez expressed frustration at hyperscrutiny that distorted her message on the working class and authoritarianism.
Mark Longabaugh, a veteran strategist from Sanders' campaigns, sees potential in both but thinks Khanna has an underrated advantage: he can attract the far left while still reaching the establishment wing of the party. "She'd start out as the front-runner progressive in the race if she decided to run," Longabaugh said of Ocasio-Cortez. "But going into '28, I think Ro can make a real strong move."
Beyond the two presumed heavyweights, progressives are exploring other options. Gov. Pritzker has won over skeptics with aggressive anti-ICE stances, early Trump opposition and support for taxing the rich, despite being a billionaire hotel heir. Van Hollen, Ossoff and Texas Senate candidate James Talarico are being praised for effective "top versus bottom" economic messaging. Even Murphy, not traditionally viewed as occupying the Bernie lane, has emerged as a leading voice on economic populism and breaking up concentrated economic power.
The ideological terrain has also shifted. Our Revolution's surveys show Medicare for All has fallen from its top concern ranking, replaced by government and corporate corruption. "You've got to be able to go up against corporate monopolies and entrenched power," Geevarghese said of any viable 2028 candidate. The group has even signaled openness to billionaire candidates like Steyer and Pritzker if they demonstrate commitment to those priorities.
Others maintain stricter demands: a $25-an-hour minimum wage, a billionaire tax and labeling Israel's Gaza actions a genocide. Ashik Siddique, national co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America, views Ocasio-Cortez as particularly compelling given her record and the DSA's recent endorsement of her for re-election.
Still, the lack of clarity presents risks. As one strategist warned, multiple candidates will move left during the primary, chipping away at Sanders' coalition and fragmenting the progressive lane before the race truly begins.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "The field is genuinely open, but the clock is ticking for candidates to build the infrastructure and name recognition that could rival AOC's starting position."
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