Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has grown used to batting away chatter that she wants to run for higher office. “I’m trying not to speculate and engage in that“ she told me. “The stakes of what we’re contending with in this moment — the Voting Rights Act which was just gutted, redistricting with what’s happening in Louisiana — my primary focus is the House, and my primary focus is making sure that we win these midterms.”

She made a similar point a few days later when David Axelrod, President Barack Obama’s former chief advisor, asked point-blank if she is considering a run for the White House in 2028.  “They assume that my ambition is a title or a seat, and my ambition is way bigger than that. My ambition is to change this country,” Ocasio-Cortez said,  “Presidents come and go … elected officials come and go, but single-payer healthcare is forever.  A living wage is forever, workers’ rights are forever.”

She’s got a point. It’s not too soon for Democrats to start thinking about the long-term changes they’ll make if they gain some power in Washington this fall. “Republicans only hold a three-seat majority in the House of Representatives. This is the narrowest margin of any party since 1930,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the Minority Leader, wrote to party members in a confident “Dear Colleague” letter. “The failed GOP majority will not be able to gerrymander themselves back........

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