BS BULLETIN:

• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she has been meeting and working with activists from the Make America Healthy Again movement championed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and embraced by President Donald Trump.
• AOC says Democrats underestimated MAHA’s role in Trump’s coalition and argues the left shares common ground with the movement on food safety, corporate influence and distrust of America’s health system.
• The outreach is attracting extra attention because Ocasio-Cortez has refused to rule out a 2028 presidential campaign — or a Senate challenge to Chuck Schumer.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has apparently found some voters on the Trump side of the political divide worth talking to.

And they wear MAHA hats.

The progressive New York congresswoman has been quietly reaching out to activists in the Make America Healthy Again movement, an unusual political courtship that is drawing new attention as speculation builds over what AOC might do in 2028.

“I actually meet with MAHA activists, I work with MAHA advocates because a lot of them really don’t believe that their fight is partisan — and it’s not, in many ways,” Ocasio-Cortez said during a July interview on “The Majority Report.”

The comments have received renewed attention following a Politico report examining her months-long outreach to the movement.

AOC says she sees legitimate common ground.

“We do have extraordinary corruption in our agricultural system, in our big corporate system as well,” she said. “This is an area where both parties and our entire political system has been compromised.”

That puts one of America’s most prominent democratic socialists in the unusual position of finding agreement with a movement that became closely associated with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump and the MAGA coalition.

MAHA has pushed issues including food additives, pesticides, ultra-processed foods and corporate influence over government health agencies.

Kennedy, now Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary, has made those issues a major part of the administration’s health agenda.

In August, HHS announced proposed federal actions involving ultra-processed foods and increased disclosure surrounding food ingredients.

But AOC believes Democrats missed something politically important about MAHA after the 2024 election.

While much of the post-election analysis focused on Trump’s success reaching young men through podcasts, Ocasio-Cortez argues that analysts overlooked another constituency attracted to Trump’s coalition:

Women concerned about health and food.

“I actually think a lot of it was MAHA,” she said of Trump’s gains.

Polling suggests the movement’s appeal extends well beyond committed Republicans.

A KFF survey earlier this year found 41 percent of American adults identified at least somewhat with MAHA, while considerably larger majorities expressed concerns about food additives and pesticides.

And cracks have recently emerged between some MAHA activists and the Trump administration.

Activists have complained that the EPA hasn’t moved aggressively enough on pesticides, chemicals and other environmental-health issues they consider central to the movement. Some have openly said their future votes will depend on issues rather than party loyalty.

That creates an obvious political opportunity.

AOC isn’t the only Democrat who has noticed it.

Sen. Cory Booker has also praised some Kennedy-backed initiatives, including additional testing for contaminants in infant formula and efforts to improve school food.

But Ocasio-Cortez’s outreach carries another layer.

She’s increasingly being discussed as a possible 2028 presidential candidate.

Asked last month whether she might run for president — or challenge Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer in New York — AOC declined to close either door.

“Anything is possible at this juncture,” she said.

She has also recently adopted a more pragmatic tone about some of the progressive movement’s rhetoric from the first Trump era.

None of that means AOC is suddenly joining MAHA, much less MAGA.

The disagreements remain enormous, particularly on vaccines, Trump and the broader direction of the country.

But politics creates strange coalitions.

And one of the Democratic Party’s biggest progressive stars appears to have concluded that a slice of Trump’s winning coalition may be available for the taking.

MY QUICK TAKE

Now this is interesting.

AOC looked at the Trump coalition and apparently didn’t just ask, “How do we defeat these people?” She asked, “Which ones can I steal?”

Whatever you think of her politics, that’s smarter than pretending 77 million Trump voters suddenly disappeared after Election Day.

And if AOC starts showing up in a MAHA hat drinking raw milk, then we’ll know 2028 is officially underway.

DBS WIRE SOURCES:

• Political Wire — Inside Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s MAHA outreach
• Fox News — AOC reportedly reached out to MAHA leaders ahead of possible 2028 run
• Washington Examiner — AOC says she’s aligned with MAHA advocates on some policies
• Axios — AOC is leaving her 2028 options open
• HHS — Secretary Kennedy announces MAHA food policy reforms
• Associated Press — EPA’s MAHA frustrations create tensions with activists