Democratic strategist and pollster Mark Penn offered a grave prediction for his party if it chose Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as its 2028 presidential nominee, as some early reporting suggests could happen. His comments to Fox News come as “AOC” has been traveling the country, mostly to Democrat-heavy regions, with ‘Independent’ Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont to carp on the Trump administration and to spread their socialist mantra.
Guest host Kellyanne Conway began the segment this way: “So Mark Penn, the ace pollster, break it all down for us. Do people want that young, fresh blood, a little bit socialist? Are they going to go back to someone like Kamala Harris and think if she had more time? Are we missing the point here altogether? Are there governors or Stephen A. Smith? And by the way, what are the attributes that the Democratic Party is looking for? Is it the economy? Is it immigration? Is it social justice? Is it climate? What’s going on? Tell us about the polls in your party.”
He responded: “Well, you know that in a situation like this, where the party essentially has none of the branches of government and lost an election significantly and handily, that there is no leader of the party. And AOC is trying to fill that vacuum. Bernie Sanders, frankly, he could get, as we’ve seen, 30, 40 percent of a Democratic primary. So if she’s going to have a significant base, he’s clearly passing the torch to her. And there is a strong left-wing base in the Democratic Party. Remember, Democrats got one state in 1972, and they got one state in 1984.”
Penn added: “So the Democratic Party has been in the wilderness multiple times when it goes too far to the left. And so the possibility of that is real. I think in terms of Harris, no way she is going to come back in a presidential race, no way that she would ever win a presidential primary. But Adam Schiff is a senator, believe it or not, from California, after his completely disreputable record in the House. And so I don’t think it’s far-fetched that she might wind up governor of California, because California does not seem to kind of wake up to the nightmare that its elected officials have put itself in, as a state that’s losing population, has an incredible erosion of its tax base as a fiscal situation, a crime situation, a transportation situation.
“So I don’t know what’s going to happen in the long term. California seems to be solidly in the Democratic camp. So she could come back as governor. She’s not going to be the presidential candidate,” Penn said before making a stunning prediction if AOC were to snag the nomination in 2028. “I don’t think AOC is going to be the nominee of the party. If it is, I think it will be back to one state.”