Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez raised eyebrows when she suggested Americans may have already elected a gay man as president.
Ocasio-Cortez, a.k.a. AOC, was the youngest member of Congress in 2018 when she was elected to the House of Representatives by New Yorkers. She was mixing drinks at the bar where she worked in NYC on election night.
Now AOC has shaken up the political world again by suggesting that a gay man may have already served as U.S. president.
TMZ‘s Charlie Cotton bumped into the congresswoman as she ramps up her reelection campaign.
Charlie asked AOC, “What do you think we’re going to have first: Are we going to have a female president first, or a gay president?”
The question seemed to catch AOC off guard. She hesitated before responding, “Well, we don’t know if we’ve already had a gay president, to be honest with you. I think there are chances that maybe we have, I dunno.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was asked if she believes whether a female or a gay president will move to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. first. ? pic.twitter.com/n5yCc0mOws
— TMZ (@TMZ) April 29, 2026
There have been rumors over the years, but nothing concrete has ever been proven.
Pete Buttigieg, the openly gay former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, ran for president in 2020. The closest Buttigieg came to the White House was as former President Joe Biden’s transportation secretary.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris said in her 2025 book, 107 Days, that she decided against picking Buttigieg as her running mate because a black woman and a gay man on the same ticket was “too big of a risk.”
Buttigieg was straight forward when asked if America has ever had gay presidents. He said, “statistically it’s almost certain” that a former U.S. president is gay.