AOC won't rule out primarying Chuck Schumer in 2022

close

Video

Pelosi, Schumer 'shenanigans' kept COVID aid from happening sooner: McConnell

Senate Majority Leader discusses what $900 billion package means for Americans, says vaccines ‘the only way’ to overcome pandemic.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., wouldn't rule out challenging her fellow Democrat Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for his Senate seat in an interview with newly founded Punchbowl News.

Ocasio-Cortez was asked if she had a timeline for making a decision on whether or not to challenge Schumer in 2022 and whether she thought he was doing a good job.

NEW YORK DEMOCRATIC BOSS WARNS AOC NOT TO CHALLENGE CHUCK SCHUMER

"It's a hard thing to say, too. We've had to deal with a fascist president and Mitch McConnell," she told Punchbowl News. "There are things you can do in the minority. There are also things you couldn't do with this minority because Senate rules changed."

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, speaks during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., Aug. 24, 2020. Photographer: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Getty Images)

"I like to think of myself as a good-faith actor and not make unfair critiques. But I do wonder," Ocasio-Cortez continued.

Ocasio-Cortez may be a star on social media, but her political power is still limited. In December, the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee voted to seat Rep. Kathleen Rice on a coveted committee over Ocasio-Cortez, her New York colleague, in the latest example of House Democrats bucking the firebrand who represents the Bronx and Queens.

This is not the first time that Ocasio-Cortez has declined to rule out interest in Schumer's seat. In April, when asked if she'd rule out a run against the most powerful Democrat in the U.S. Senate in 2022, she replied: "I don't know."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most liberal politicians in Washington, previously said she was not thinking of the Senate "in any serious way."

Fox News' Tyler Olson and Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.