Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is not jumping on the push by her fellow Democratic Socialists of America to abolish the Senate.
Instead, the New York Democrat is looking for wiggle room, arguing the upper chamber needs significant changes while also saying that eliminating it would be a heavy lift.
“That is, of course, a constitutional question,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez told reporters on Capitol Hill when pressed Thursday about DSA’s plan to remake the legislative branch.
The DSA’s newly approved platform calls for doing away with the Senate and replacing the presidency with a prime minister-style executive and judiciary chosen by — and subordinate to — Congress.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said she is no fan of the Senate.
“We’ve all got our complaints,” she said. “I don’t support the filibuster. I don’t support elements of this institution that we know were founded on Jim Crow.”
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To amend the Constitution, either two-thirds of both houses of Congress must vote in favor of an amendment, or two-thirds of state legislatures must apply for a constitutional convention. The latter option has never occurred. By either method, three-quarters of state legislatures have to approve the amendment.
The DSA platform also called for ending all economic and military assistance to Israel and to “prosecute U.S. and Israeli leaders responsible for the genocide in Gaza.”
The DSA has exercised growing electoral power in recent cycles. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s victory last year stunned the political establishment, and the momentum has carried into Democratic primaries this year.
DSA‑endorsed candidates in New York City and Denver have won deep‑blue congressional districts, all but assuring they will be elected to Congress and strengthening the far‑left’s influence inside the Democratic Party.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is an early favorite for a DSA endorsement if she runs for president in 2028, though the group continues to debate whether it should back a candidate.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez emphasized Thursday that she is not currently running for any other office — and therefore not seeking any endorsements.
“I could run for dog catcher,” she said with a chuckle. “So I think any situation is hypothetical.”
Her relationship with the national DSA is somewhat complicated, although it was part of her political rise.
The national DSA rescinded its endorsement of the congresswoman in 2024 in protest of her vote for a House resolution that recognized denying Israel’s right to exist as antisemitism.
The group also alleged the congresswoman had “conflated anti-Zionism with antisemitism and condemned boycotting Zionist institutions.”
Zionism is an ideology that calls for a homeland for Jews in Israel.
“That organization unendorsed me some time ago,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said. “The city chapter is important to me and remains important to me as a sitting Congresswoman, but it’s the people who stick with you [who] are the ones that are there.”
The New York City chapter of DSA has continued to support Ms. Ocasio-Cortez despite her rift with the national group.
