- AOC during a Sunday interview declined to say whether she would back President Biden in 2024.
- While on CNN's "State of the Union," the congresswoman said she was focused on the 2022 midterms.
- "Right now we need to focus on winning a majority instead of a presidential election," she said.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York on Sunday declined to say whether she would back President Joe Biden in 2024, a sign that progressives may be continuing to weigh their options for the upcoming contest.
During an interview on CNN's "State of the Union," host Dana Bash asked Ocasio-Cortez whether she would support the president's expected reelection campaign.
"I'm focused on winning this [House] majority right now and preserving a majority this year and 2022, so we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Ocasio-Cortez said. "But I think if the president has a vision, that's something, certainly, we're all willing to entertain and examine when the time comes."
Bash responded: "That's not a yes."
Ocasio-Cortez proceeded to praise Biden's performance so far, but said she wanted to focus on more pressing races this year in lieu of engaging in a presidential contest that's more than two years away.
"I think we should endorse when we get to it, but I believe that the president has been doing a very good job so far," the congresswoman said. "Should he run again, I think it's — we'll take a look at it. Right now we need to focus on winning a majority instead of a presidential election."
Despite Ocasio-Cortez's solid working relationship with Biden, she has still been critical of the president for what she sees as his timidness in using executive orders to enact policies that progressives have long sought.
In a New York magazine interview published in March, Ocasio-Cortez noted that she and nearly 100 other members of the House Progressive Caucus had urged the president to sign executive orders on several issues, notably the cancellation of student-loan debt and an expansion of protections for immigrants.
And she sent out a warning to the administration — stressing that it needed to do more to improve the lives of ordinary Americans and boost voter enthusiasm ahead of a midterm election cycle where Republicans are favored to make gains.
"If the president does pursue and start to govern decisively using executive action and other tools at his disposal, I think we're in the game," she said at the time. "But if we decide to just kind of sit back for the rest of the year and not change people's lives — yeah, I do think we're in trouble."
As one of the most prominent progressive politicians in the country, Ocasio-Cortez has also been ideologically aligned with independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont — whom she endorsed for the White House in 2019 as he was campaigning to be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2020.
They have both pushed for more progressive policies than Biden has been willing to support, including Medicare for All and a more expansive Green New Deal.
And Sanders' team has not ruled out the two-time presidential candidate running for president again if Biden chooses not to pursue a reelection bid.