AOC Fires Off Wicked Response After JD Vance IDs Her as 2028 Presidential Campaign Favorite

Reporter: JD Vance just said in an interview that he thinks you are going to be the leading Democratic candidate for president in 2028. What’s your response to that?

AOC: pic.twitter.com/s5qodMBiN1

— Acyn (@Acyn) June 30, 2026

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) had a quick-witted response to Vice President JD Vance’s assertion she’s the Democratic candidate to beat in 2028: “I hope he is.”

Vance suggested the idea that AOC as the top candidate for the Democrats is the “conventional wisdom” surrounding the election while speaking to Michael Knowles Tuesday. After Knowles asked about California Governor Gavin Newsom (D), Vance answered, “No, no, I don’t buy that. I think he hurt himself with his comment to an audience full of Black Americans, that ‘I’m low IQ, just like you’. [That’s] Sort of bad in a couple of different ways.”

Vance was referencing a comment Newsom made in February while promoting his book, Young Man in a Hurry, in Atlanta. “I’m not trying to impress you. I’m just trying to impress upon you. I’m like you,” he told the audience, who paid $45-100 for tickets to the event. “I’m no better than you, you know, I’m a 960 SAT guy … you’ve never seen me read a speech, because I can’t read a speech.”

Ocasio-Cortez was later approached by a reporter in D.C. who asked, “JD Vance said he thinks you’ll be the leading Democratic candidate for president in 2028. What’s your response?”

She paused, smiled, and answered, “I hope he is,” before walking away.

Vance is one of the favorites to win the Republican nomination in 2028 alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, but the Democratic field is considered to be wide open.

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