Original article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

In addition to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, said the senator, “you’ve got a lot of great young people right now in the Progressive Caucus in the House… And that gives me a lot of optimism about our political future.”

Despite the Trump administration’s increasing assaults on immigrant communities, the political left, and the rule of law, US Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday said he is optimistic “about our political future” when he looks at progressive leaders including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

In excerpts of the latest episode of “The Axios Show” by the news outlet Axios, which is set to be released in full on Friday, Sanders (I-Vt.) weighed in on the recent news that Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is considering a presidential run in 2028.

When host Alex Thompson asked him whether Ocasio-Cortez would be a “formidable” candidate, Sanders replied, “I think she would.”

He added that a number of other Democratic elected officials would also be good candidates, and said the congresswoman’s future political moves are “her decision to make.” Ocasio-Cortez has also been named as a potential challenger to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in 2026.

Sanders spoke about Ocasio-Cortez’s ability to connect with voters she meets in person.

“I’ve been out on the streets with her, people come up, and how she responds to people is so incredibly genuine and open,” he said. “It’s just something that’s a gift that she has. It’s a quality that she has, she’s a great speaker out there.”

While progressive electoral successes like Ocasio-Cortez’s have often been dismissed by centrist Democrats and Republicans who claim left-wing candidates don’t have appeal outside of deep-blue urban areas like New York City, the congresswoman—who’s often called by her nickname, AOC—has received warm receptions in conservative, rural parts of the country, including when speaking to crowds of thousands with Sanders on his Fighting Oligarchy Tour this year.

“She comes from the working class, she was a kid who was cleaning houses with her mother,” he said. “She knows what it’s like not to have any money and she’s going out, fighting for working families all over this country.”

Sanders emphasized that the Democratic Party has an increasingly deep bench of left-wing political leaders, naming Reps. Greg Casar (Texas), Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), and Maxwell Alejandro Frost (Fla.).

“I do want to say, it’s not just Alexandria,” he said. “You’ve got a lot of great young people right now in the Progressive Caucus in the House…I mean literally dozens… And that gives me a lot of optimism about our political future.”

Sanders also spoke about Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, who is running a campaign focused on lifting up the working class in the primary against multiple candidates, including Gov. Janet Mills, as the party aims to unseat Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).

Platner has been the subject of controversy in recent days over deleted Reddit posts he wrote in the past and a tattoo that resembled a Nazi symbol—one that he got while serving in the military and that didn’t prevent him from being approved to reenlist. He announced Wednesday that he had gotten the tattoo covered with another image, before continuing his campaign with a town hall where he spoke to hundreds of Maine voters.

When Thompson asked Sanders about Platner’s controversies, he answered that he is “not overly impressed by a squad of media running around saying, ‘What do you think about the tattoo on Graham Platner’s chest?’”

“Between you and me, there might be one or two more important issues,” he said before speaking about the progressive oyster farmer’s impressive campaign rallies and the “dark period” he went through in the past.

“He went through some very difficult experiences in the military,” said Sanders. “Seeing his friends killed… He went to the VA and by the way, he says they rebuilt his life. He went into a dark period in his life. I suspect that Graham Platner is not the only American to have gone through a dark period.”

“The guy that I saw up on the stage in Portland, Maine, rather a brilliant guy,” said the senator. “Really a strong fighter for the working class, very articulate, very smart and what he said is, ‘Yeah, I went through a dark period and said stupid things. I am not the person that I was back then.’”

“And I think as a nation,” he added, “especially given the fact that we have a president who was convicted of 34 felonies, maybe we have to do a little bit of forgiveness.”

Original article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).