Mark Halperin says he thinks Chuck Schumer ‘has to quit’ if AOC ‘runs against him’

Political analyst Mark Halperin said Friday that if Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez challenges Democratic New York Sen. Chuck Schumer in 2028, he believes Schumer would need to drop out.

Democrats have both privately and publicly urged Ocasio-Cortez to challenge Schumer in the 2028 New York Senate primary if he runs for reelection, NBC News reported. Halperin said on “The Morning Meeting” that Ocasio-Cortez has clear lines of attack that could be difficult for Schumer to counter.

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“If she ran against him, I know exactly what she would say to try to beat him. It’s very hard for me to imagine how Schumer could come back because the way to try to beat her would be to go negative on her — ‘she’s inexperienced, she’s too left-wing.’ It seems to me that all that would backfire,” Halperin said. “And so I think if she runs against him, he has to quit the race because I don’t think he can defend himself against her.”

Halperin also referenced a new poll that has Ocasio-Cortez leading Schumer in a hypothetical Democratic Senate primary, although he said “it’s not necessarily the greatest poll in the world.”

The Data For Progress’s poll, published Friday, found the congresswoman beating the senator 55% to 36% in the potential matchup.

Schumer, the Senate minority leader, has experienced substantial criticism from within his own party since his decision to assist in passing a GOP-backed funding bill to avert a government shutdown.

Former Clinton pollster Mark Penn also cautioned in March that Ocasio-Cortez challenging Schumer could deal a devastating blow to their party.

“I don’t think she’s going to challenge Schumer, but if she does, I mean, already the Democratic ratings are down to 29%. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Penn said. “That means the left base is with the Democratic Party and the moderates are all leaving the party. So AOC taking off Schumer, wow, that could finish this party off. This could put it into the wilderness the way the Labour Party was for a decade.”

Polling from CNN/SSRS and NBC News published in March found Democratic Party popularity at 29% and 27%, respectively — record lows.

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