As the mud settles from Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat by the hands of President-elect Donald Trump, Democrats are already jockeying to emerge because the celebration’s subsequent chief — trying to form the opposition response to Trump’s second time period and place themselves within the celebration’s 2028 presidential main.
Democrats who spoke with NBC News are maintaining their eyes on roughly two dozen celebration figures, together with quite a lot of governors and a handful of lawmakers who’ve carved out distinctive manufacturers and attracted nationwide followings, to see who might lead the celebration out of the approaching wilderness.
In specific, the deep bench of Democratic governors elected in 2018 and 2022 has the good thing about distance from President Joe Biden’s administration and the power to tackle Trump with state govt authority within the coming years — a step a number of potential contenders are already taking in particular legislative periods, the launch of recent advocacy teams and chest-beating statements.
Jared Leopold, a Democratic strategist and former high official on the Democratic Governors Association, famous that whereas the Democratic governors who ran for president in 2020 had been much less well-known, potential 2028 contenders like Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker “are all family names for many Democrats.”
“It can be key to see what the subsequent 12 months or two brings and what the form of Democratic pushback to Trumpism is,” stated Leopold, who labored on Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s 2020 presidential marketing campaign. “That will assist decide who’s ready to guide the celebration ahead.”
“Governors have a greater likelihood of breaking via this time than they did earlier than,” he stated. “And I additionally assume there’s not going to be as a lot to be achieved within the Senate with a deeper minority. So it will likely be tougher to interrupt via on the nationwide stage.”
And Democratic figures will discover that “it’s not simply sufficient to exist within the context of Trump” this time round, Democratic strategist Caitlin Legacki stated, placing a premium on those that can supply “proactive and constructive advocacy” for the celebration and their positions.
“I feel the ‘resistance’ in 2025 goes to look loads totally different than 2017,” Legacki stated. “People are exhausted, there’s much less cash, issues really feel darker. There simply isn’t an countless urge for food for resistance content material proper now. So those that are literally considering operating are going to should be much more artistic by way of having an affect and being seen.”
Attention turns to the celebration’s high-profile governors
Newsom and Pritzker are already wielding Trump as a foil. Just days after the election, Newsom introduced he would convene a particular session of the California state Legislature supposed to “safeguard California values and elementary rights within the face of an incoming Trump administration.” Trump elevated the plan with a public rebuke, posting that “Governor Gavin Newscum” was attempting to cease “the entire GREAT issues that may be achieved to ‘Make California Great Again.’”
Newsom visited the White House on Tuesday and Capitol Hill on Wednesday to pitch officers on safeguarding a few of his California priorities earlier than Trump takes workplace, whereas he invited his PAC’s e mail checklist to a Zoom dialogue he held for supporters.
Pritzker — who warned at a information convention two days after the election, “You come for my folks, you come via me” — introduced a brand new initiative Wednesday with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, himself a possible presidential aspirant, branded “Governors Safeguarding Democracy.”
Pritzker, a billionaire whose fortune stems from his household’s possession of the Hyatt resort chain, has revamped the Democratic Party construction in Illinois and spent hundreds of thousands bankrolling pro-abortion rights initiatives across the nation. He additionally presided over this summer season’s Democratic National Convention in his dwelling state.
“I feel the core query within the coming weeks and months is who seeks to combat again in opposition to Trump 2.0, and who seeks to make peace with it,” stated Ezra Levin, the co-founder of Indivisible, one of many key teams behind the rise of the so-called “resistance” to Trump’s first time period.
Then there are two rising Democratic stars occupying “blue wall” governorships. Shapiro and Whitmer each received landslide victories in 2022. Though each had been set again by Harris’ defeat in Pennsylvania and Michigan, their electoral data and prominence have put them firmly atop many Democrats’ presidential want lists.
“I’ve had a entrance row seat to her management for these final six years,” Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson replied in a textual content message when requested a couple of potential Whitmer run in 2028. “People love her, even when they disagree together with her. She has that distinctive mixture of grit and charm — a workhorse who genuinely cares about folks and doesn’t again down from a combat. She has what it takes to convey folks collectively and lead our nation.”
Whitmer, who’s term-limited in Michigan, drew consideration in March when she joked “see you in 2029” — earlier than winking — on the Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, D.C. She has not explicitly signaled curiosity in looking for the presidency following the 2024 vote.
Ditto for Shapiro, who has spent the times after the election targeted on financial improvement efforts in his state. A spokesman pointed to his post-election assertion: “I do know the pundits will analyze each facet of this election, however individually, I’m going to proceed to hearken to the great folks of Pennsylvania, present respect for his or her selections, and discover methods to convey folks again collectively and transfer the ball down the sphere to place factors on the board for all of us.”
Democrats who spoke with NBC News stated Shapiro performed the ultimate months of the marketing campaign properly after he was not chosen as Harris’ operating mate, producing headlines with a busy marketing campaign schedule on her behalf. Multiple individuals who spoke with NBC News pointed to a New York Magazine function on Shapiro’s closing efforts headlined “The Other Running Mate” as highlighting this dynamic.
“I feel there’s a 100% likelihood he’s operating for president,” stated one Pennsylvania Democrat, noting Shapiro’s mix of robust battleground-state approval rankings, donor connections and oratory expertise. “I simply don’t see how he doesn’t run.”
“I’d be very glad to be Josh Shapiro. But 4 years is a freaking eternity,” this individual added. “I imply, my God, the 106 days we simply lived via felt like an eternity.”
A second Pennsylvania Democrat stated Shapiro is more likely to “get quite a lot of strain” to run “as a result of there’s an enormous vacuum proper now.”
“And I feel what he’s going to inform everyone seems to be, ‘I’ve bought to deal with the price range. I’ve bought to deal with re-election. I’m targeted on Pennsylvania,’” this individual added. “But I feel he’s in all probability fascinated about it.”
Of course, Harris may make a 3rd bid for the White House, although her loss to Trump after elevating over $1 billion will weigh closely on many Democrats’ minds.
On the flip aspect, Harris was inside a couple of swing-state proportion factors of the presidency after spending simply over 100 days within the race and battling financial headwinds which have sunk events in energy all over the world. Whether Harris is as much as one other marketing campaign is a special query, a senior aide famous, and the reply will solely include time.
“We’re barely per week after the election,” the individual stated.
‘There’s a ton of individuals’
Democrats’ roster of presidential contenders is for certain to be wider than probably the most outstanding governors and the previous vp.
Swing-state senators together with Georgia’s Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock and Arizona’s Mark Kelly will be capable of tout electoral successes in powerful environments, whereas Ossoff can be entrance and middle in one of many greatest races of the 2026 midterm elections.
Another rising inventory to observe, Democratic insiders say, is Sen.-elect Ruben Gallego, a 44-year-old Latino Marine veteran who received in Arizona on the identical poll as Trump by placing a ways between himself from the nationwide celebration on immigration and different points.
Others, like Connecticut’s Chris Murphy and Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman, look considering shaping a brand new Democratic strategy on myriad points. Murphy went viral on X final week when he tweeted on how the celebration is “out of contact with the disaster of that means/objective fueling MAGA,” an thought he has been working via over the previous 12 months.
And Fetterman, who made an end-of-campaign look on outstanding podcaster Joe Rogan’s present, could possibly be on the forefront of adjusting how the celebration communicates with key demographics. (Fetterman stated “nah” when requested if he has curiosity in operating for president within the upcoming election, including, “Never get excessive by yourself provide.”)
Additional governors, like Maryland’s Wes Moore and Kentucky’s Andy Beshear, are additionally seen as more likely to form the celebration’s coming years within the wilderness. So too are candidates who ran in 2020, like Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who might give nationwide workplace one other look.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., will probably play key roles in shaping the way forward for the celebration’s progressive wing, and Khanna has made little try to cover his ambitions as he’s traveled the nation on “listening excursions” — together with to early main states like New Hampshire — with one other one anticipated quickly.
“In a traditional world, AOC must be lifted up by Gen Z,” the primary Pennsylvania Democrat stated, earlier than noting the technology’s rightward flip in 2024. “Another man nobody talks about, by the best way, is Ossoff, as a result of he form of retains quiet, however he’s nice. And Warnock. There’s a ton of individuals. It’s simply — who does what? Who can get the viral second?”
With the citizens in a foul temper and cynical about Washington, an outsider may play a job, too, with a number of Democrats suggesting that billionaire businessman Mark Cuban, who was a key Harris surrogate, or somebody like him may take the Democratic Party by storm.
“There is an urge for food and curiosity in folks with enterprise expertise,” Leopold stated. “So you can definitely see a businessperson like a Mark Cuban making a run.”
Asked if he had curiosity in looking for the presidency in 2028, Cuban advised NBC News “No” in an e mail. He gave the identical reply when requested if there may be anybody proper now he wish to see run or thinks will make an excellent presidential candidate.
Leopold stated Democratic main voters will before everything be on the lookout for candidates who “rise up for our values in what can be a number of years within the wilderness,” with “workhorses” being valued over “present horses.”
“My guess can be the 2028 cycle will look loads just like the 2020 or the 2004 cycle, the place for the Democrats it’s a, ‘Just win, child,’ cycle,” Leopold stated, citing former Oakland Raiders proprietor Al Davis’ famed mantra.
Robby Mook, Hillary Clinton’s 2016 marketing campaign supervisor, stated that “above all else, Democrats will need to decide a winner. They will prioritize charisma, attain and authenticity over purity.”
“I count on candidates will really feel emboldened to skip previous institution teams and media that need to make the first a gauntlet of litmus checks,” Mook stated, “and as a substitute select shops and influencers that enable them to marketing campaign on their very own phrases.”