Savewith a NBCUniversal ProfileCreate your free profile or log in to save this articleOct. 2, 2025, 6:03 PM EDTBy Ryan Nobles, Frank Thorp V and Kyle StewartWASHINGTON — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has become a leading figure in the fight over government funding, but it’s not a role she has asked for. Rather, it’s a role Republicans have thrust upon her.“Chuck Schumer is terrified he’s going to get a primary challenge from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday. “The reason why the American people’s government is shut down is because Chuck Schumer is listening to the far-left radicals in his own party because he’s terrified of a primary challenge.”Republican after Republican has used Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive star, as a foil in their argument that Democrats are going overboard in their demands to end the shutdown. They claim she and the left wing of the party are pressuring their more moderate leadership to hold firm.Ocasio-Cortez made it clear in an interview with NBC News that Democratic leadership is driving the party’s strategy. “They’re saying this stuff about me in the press, and the fact of the matter is I can tell you, in the seven years that I’ve been here, they [Republican leaders] have never given me a single phone call, because they know what the truth is,” she said. “They know that the people that they need to be negotiating with, and who they are negotiating with, are Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer,” the House and Senate Democratic leaders, both of New York. Vance; House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La..; Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.; and President Donald Trump continue to claim Schumer, in particular, is feeling pressure because of the possibility that Ocasio-Cortez might want to challenge him in the Senate primary in 2028. Ocasio-Cortez, who is in her fourth term, didn’t rule out a Senate bid but instead said it’s not something with which voters are concerned.“People are going to die. Nobody cares about some election years from now. They care about if their kids can get insulin, if they can put food on the table,” she said.She said that her caucus remains “tremendously united” in its demands to end the shutdown and that she and her fellow Democrats aren’t intimidated by White House threats around mass layoffs and funding cuts. She said it’s not necessary for her to be front and center in the negotiations.“It is so important to understand that these people are all talk. They are all talk. They are negotiating with Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, and Democratic leadership and Democrats are united to that end.” Ryan NoblesRyan Nobles is Chief Capitol Hill Correspondent for NBC News.Frank Thorp VFrank Thorp V is a producer and off-air reporter covering Congress for NBC News, managing coverage of the Senate.Kyle StewartKyle Stewart is a producer and off-air reporter covering Congress for NBC News, managing coverage of the House.Brennan Leach contributed.