Thousands of registered Democrats in Onondaga County have quietly stopped voting.
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, known as AOC, came to Syracuse on Monday to try to bring them back.
The congresswoman's campaign has identified 6,314 inactive Democrats in the county. Voters land on the list when they skip consecutive federal elections or don't update their address after a notice from the county.
Her effort, called Project Reactivation, is a five-week push to re-engage local Democrats who have been marked inactive.
On Monday, Ocasio-Cortez ended a three-city upstate tour in Syracuse, following stops in Buffalo and Ithaca.
She had lunch with Syracuse Mayor Sharon Owens, then spoke to an invitation-only crowd of organizers and candidates at All Saints Roman Catholic Church.
Between now and the Nov. 3 midterm, the mobilization effort will include a mailer from Owens, phone banking and two weeks of door-knocking. Democrats need a net gain of three seats to retake the U.S. House of Representatives, and Ocasio-Cortez told the crowd the path runs through New York's Republican-held districts.
Her message to organizers was to stop avoiding places that look unwinnable.
"We cannot run away and give up on places because we think they're too red," she said. "We're not gonna do that. What we're going to do is if we see a county or a place that's very red, that's our invitation to lean in."
She told organizers that this approach worked for her before. When she first ran for the House eight years ago, she was a waitress with no money or connections who faced millions in opposition spending. Just weeks before the election, pollsters and consultants had her down by 35 points.
AOC said she didn't believe it, claiming the polls assumed a familiar electorate in the Bronx and Queens while her campaign was working to change it.
She said after her win, the groundwork was laid to help elect a generation of progressive officials, including Zohran Mamdani, now New York City's mayor, and state Sen. Kristen Gonzalez. She said it also produced a progressive caucus in the state Legislature.
Now she wants to take the model statewide.
"I don't want us to stop at New York City," she said. "I want every New Yorker in this state to have access to childcare when they want it or need it, to have the ability to access healthcare so that they don't have to choose between a prescription and a rent or their mortgage."
She argued New York is one of the few states with the capacity to elect candidates who can "tell the truth in a full-throated way." She named California and Massachusetts as others. If anyone is going to "light the spark" on guaranteed health care for every American, she said it has to start in New York.
Ocasio-Cortez said her drive from Buffalo to Ithaca took her past anti-AI data center signs in some of the state's most rural and conservative towns. She said Republicans aren't knocking on those doors.
"When you are neglected, you are going to be angry at those who neglected you," she said.
Her answer is persistence. She said she keeps showing up and keeps offering to be a friend. "Usually by the third time," she said, people are willing to hear her out.
The audience included local candidates such as Maurice Brown, a Democratic Socialist running as a Democrat in the 129th State Assembly District. He beat nearly 30-year incumbent Bill Magnarelli in the June primary. State Sen. Rachel May and Onondaga County Legislature Candidate Jo Bennett were also there, along with others running in regional and state races.
The tour has fueled speculation about Ocasio-Cortez's own future, including a possible U.S. Senate run or a presidential bid in 2028. Axios described the trip as a test run for a Senate campaign.
For now, Ocasio-Cortez says she’s focused on the midterms. "I will see you again very soon," she told the crowd as she closed.
