There is little doubt that progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a founding member of the leftist "Squad" in the House, remains a rising young star in the Democratic Party who is aiming for committee and caucus leadership roles and could even mount a presidential run in future election cycles.

Not everybody supports that, though, and reports indicate that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is actively working to thwart the rise of Ocasio-Cortez, in particular a bid to be the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, according to the Daily Mail.

Pelosi, who backs another contender for the same position and represents the Old Guard of the Democratic Party, has been at odds with the charismatic upstart progressive on multiple occasions since Ocasio-Cortez first entered the scene in 2018 with an upset primary win against a former Pelosi ally.

Pelosi working against AOC

Punchbowl News was the first to report that former Speaker Pelosi, who continues to wield tremendous but waning influence over House Democrats, was "actively working to tank" the efforts of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez to nab the top spot on the Oversight Committee.

Reporter Melanie Zanona noted, "Pelosi has been making calls & campaigning on behalf of Gerry Connolly, who’s running against AOC."

The journalist further observed that while Pelosi's support of Rep. Connolly (D-VA) was publicly known, it was her "behind-the-scenes maneuvering" that fully revealed the "amount of political capital" the former leader was willing to invest to influence the outcome of the contest.

Who will win the top role on the Oversight Committee?

The targets of former Speaker Pelosi's influence campaign are the members of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, per the Daily Beast, who will make recommendations following a meeting next week about which members should hold various top positions on the assorted committees.

Reports indicate that both Reps. Ocasio-Cortez and Connolly have told others that they believe they have sufficient support to be appointed as the ranking member of the Oversight Committee, which would set them up to be the committee chair if Democrats take back majority control of the House in the next election cycle.

According to Axios, however, Ocasio-Cortez may have the inside track toward winning that prime committee assignment, as one unnamed House Democrat familiar with the state of the contest told the outlet that the young congresswoman "has pretty much the entire [Oversight] Committee with her."

Another anonymous member of the House told the outlet their "gut tells me she gets it" and further surmised that Connolly's recent revelation that he's been diagnosed with cancer is actually "working against him" rather than garnering sympathetic support.

AOC the Democratic nominee?

Looking past the current committee assignment battle, the Washington Examiner reported on the growing talk of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez making a run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028 and the mixed reaction the speculation has received among political strategists.

"I believe the Democratic Party needs to move to the center on cultural issues and on fiscal issues, and be more fiscally disciplined and AOC represents the opposite," Democratic pollster Doug Schoen said during a recent Fox News appearance. "I think if she runs, it would be a disaster for the party, and I think her chance of getting nominated would be nil."

Yet, conservative commentator Monica Crowley sees the situation differently and suggested that people would be wise to take Ocasio-Cortez's rise in political stature more seriously.

"Just a word of warning to the Republicans, to my party, do not underestimate AOC," Crowley said. "She’s young, she’s vibrant, she’s attractive. I think she’s wrong on everything, but she does have real grassroots support, and all of the energy and activism in the Democrat Party remains with the revolutionary left, of which she is a part."