Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said that fellow progressive Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) decision whether to run for president in 2028 wouldn’t affect his own decision. In an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, Khanna was asked…
Page A2From§Eachthe early evening edition — 30 August 2026
Ro Khanna says AOC's 2028 bid has 'no bearing,' Cruz says 'there will be a time' to decide.
Let's be clear about what happened here, because the coverage is going to make this sound like evasion, and it was not evasion, it was strategic patience, which is a completely different and much more presidential quality. Congressman Khanna was asked directly whether a potential run by a colleague would affect his own plans, and he said it would have 'no bearing.' That is not a dodge. That is a man secure enough in his own lane that another car merging doesn't rattle him -- did I say secure, I mean, nobody asks 'no bearing' unless there's a bearing, that's just how the sentence works grammatically, but let's move past that. Separately, and I want to stress separately, Senator Cruz was asked about 2028 and said 'there will be a time' to decide. Again, this is not a man who has decided and is hiding it. This is a man respecting the process, the primary calendar, the will of the voters, all the things candidates respect right up until the moment they announce they've respected it enough and now it's time to file paperwork. You can't rush greatness. You also, notably, can't rush an answer to a yes or no question, apparently, in either party, which if I'm being honest is starting to look less like patience and more like a shared playbook -- did I say shared playbook, I mean, coincidence, two unrelated politicians landing on nearly identical phrasing is just how English works, there's only so many ways to not answer a question. The point stands: staying quiet about a presidential run this far out is smart. It preserves optionality. It keeps donors guessing, which, again, has nothing to do with fundraising strategy, I withdraw that, it has everything to do with fundraising strategy, that's actually the whole point of saying 'no bearing' instead of 'no.' Anyway. Disciplined. Focused. Definitely not running. Yet.
“Nobody says 'no' to a question about running for president unless the honest answer is 'yes, but not yet.' Two different politicians, two different parties, same week, same non-answer dressed up in different suits. That's not humility, that's a campaign clock nobody's willing to start on the record.”
“These are simply disciplined leaders who understand the value of staying focused on the work in front of them rather than getting ahead of the process -- did I say the work in front of them, I mean, they're both clearly running, everybody in the building knows it, but saying so before the filing deadline is just bad optics management, and frankly that's leadership too.”
The receipts
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) gave further indications that he intends to run for president in 2028, saying “there will be a time” when he would decide. In an appearance on NBC News’s Meet the Press, Cruz was asked directly if he was “seriously…
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.