Link. In part -
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said Monday she will not divulge if she will challenge Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in 2022 for his Senate seat.
“I know it drives everybody nuts, but the way that I really feel about this and the way that I really approach my politics and my political career is that I do not look at things and I do not set my course positionally,” Ocasio-Cortez told CNN.
[...] “I’m not commenting on that.”
When asked in January, Ocasio-Cortez gave a similar answer, saying, “[I am] very much in a place where I’m trying to decide what is the most effective thing I can do to help our Congress, our [political] process, and our country actually address the issues of climate change, health care, wage inequality, etc.”
Ocasio-Cortez, [...] has presumably put pressure on Schumer to bend further left.
For example, when the Biden administration announced they would attempt to extend the eviction moratorium, Schumer took the opportunity outside the capitol building to celebrate with far-left Rep. Cory Bush (D-MO), who pressured the administration to do so.
[...] New York Times reported in February Schumer was engaging Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ocasio-Cortez, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
The “meeting was one in a series of steps Mr. Schumer has taken to win over leaders of the left in New York and Washington ahead of his campaign for re-election in 2022,” the Times reported. “Armed with a sweeping set of policy promises, he is courting the activists, organizers and next-generation elected officials in New York who would likely make up the backbone of an effort to dethrone him, should one ever arise.”
Ocasio-Cortez presumably understands Schumer’s maneuvers, telling Punchbowl News, “He and I have an open relationship, we speak to each other regularly.”
There is the old saying, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."
That saying necessarily is a two-way street.
One implication Crabgrass reads from such "tea leaves" is that if AOC takes a Senate run in New York, Mellman would be there, and others, to where a Nina Turner run against Portman in Ohio would be big, but back-burner big.
The guess here is AOC will keep the House seat, unless she can do a costless primary challenge to Schumer (i.e., if NY law would allow her putting her name into two federal primaries at once or if she tests the waters but moves from Senate candidate to House primary candidate prior to the cutoff filing date before the primary voting).
She's kept Biden in reach, without any commentary on him equal to Turner's. Neither wants hostility from the other.
(Given recent events, AOC could end up Governor. Unlikely, but there is an opening.)