Even though we still have a while to go before campaigning for next year’s midterm elections begins in earnest, it looks like some Democrats are already lining up for a chance to run in the 2028 presidential election. Here’s who they are.
“Some people want us to be paying attention,” said CNN’s Edward-Isaac Dovere this week when asked why there’s already coverage of the Democratic hopefuls. “Gavin Newsom didn’t go to South Carolina just as any state to go to. He picked a state – a presidential primary state – so that we talk about it, as others have done.”
He was speaking of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent trip far from his home state. Newsom is just one Democrat who has been courting media attention this month. The Atlantic just reported that Rahm Emanuel – a former Chicago mayor and adviser to two Democratic presidents – has been “suddenly all over the news.”
Axios said “several Democrats” told the outlet this week that some Democrats are preparing for multiple candidates to jump in the field before the midterms next April. It organized the field of potential candidates who have recently visited primary states into three categories: governors, senators and other Democrats.
Governors include Newsom, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Tim Walz of Minnesota (who joined former Vice President Kamala Harris as her running mate during last year’s presidential election), Wes Moore of Maryland and JB Pritzker of Illinois. Mark Kelly of Arizona, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Ruben Gallego of Arizona, and Bernie Sanders of Vermont make up the senator category. Rep. Ro Khanna of California, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Emanuel were in the “other” category.
That’s not the end of the list of Democrats rumored to be eyeing a 2028 run. There are more governors on the list – Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Jared Polis of Colorado, and Phil Murphy of New Jersey. There are also more lawmakers, including Cory Booker of New Jersey, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Raphael Warnock of Georgia, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
Harris was considered a frontrunner in polls earlier this year, but reports have indicated that she’s focused on running to take Newsom’s place as governor of California.
Still, Axios noted that “the 2028 Democratic presidential primary is set to be the most wide-open field in a generation,” and “it could also be the longest presidential contest ever.” With so many contenders, things can seem a bit dizzying.
Last month, Emerson college asked poll respondents who they would vote for out of a pool of 14 candidates (Buttigieg, Harris, Newsom, Ocasio-Cortez, Shapiro, Sanders, Booker, Whitmer, Beshear, Pritzker, Moore, Klobuchar and Emanuel), “someone else” and “undecided.” At 23%, undecided was the top option. Out of the candidates, Buttigieg had the most support at 16%, followed by Harris at 13%, Newsom at 12% and both Ocasio-Cortez and Shapiro at 7%.
This month, Emerson polling pitted three of those potential candidates (Buttigieg, Newsom and Ocasio-Cortez) against Vice President JD Vance, the Republican frontrunner for 2028, in a hypothetical poll. Vance narrowly edged out all three candidates. Buttigieg performed the best at 43% to 44% while Newsom had 42% to Vance’s 45% and Ocasio-Cortez had 41% to Vance’s 44%.
In the Buttigieg/Vance and Newsom/Vance matchups, 13% of respondents were undecided. In the Ocasio-Cortez/Vance matchup, 15% were undecided.
“A key takeaway from the ballot tests is that about 13% of the electorate remains persuadable, while the other 87% have already settled on a party preference,” said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling.
According to Emerson polling, Vance has a support from a plurality of Republican presidential primary voters at 46%. That’s up from 30% in November.
Axios said that “Democrats are stashing millions of dollars, quietly hiring presidential-level campaign staff, fine-tuning potential stump speeches, sitting for glossy profiles, trying to grow their social media followings,” to prepare for the coming elections. It also said that Democrats mentioned in the article declined to comment or did not respond by the publishing deadline.
As if there weren’t already enough names to throw in the ring, the outlet also noted that “after Trump’s rise in the Republican Party and voter anger, there is always the possibility of an outsider coming in and demolishing the field.”