We are months away from the true beginning of the 2028 Presidential race, which will be in full blossom the day after the Midterm Elections take place on Tuesday, November 3, 2026.
However, already, there are clearcut signs of activities and planning moving ahead, with the strong likelihood that we might see an overwhelming number of Democrats announcing for President, with the number possibly as high as in the mid 20s, similar to several past Presidential campaigns.
Many contenders will not be taken seriously, but even announcing for President gains lots of publicity and attention for any future ambitions.
At this point, the following ten potential contenders for the White House on the Democratic side, would seem to be the following in no specific order:
California Governor Gavin Newsom
Illinois Governor JD Pritzker
Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear
Maryland Governor Wes Moore
Arizona Senator Mark Kelly
Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy
New Jersey Senator Cory Booker
Former Vice President Kamala Harris (California)
There is speculation about a wide variety of other potential candidates.
Other seen as far less likely include:
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer
Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin
Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego
Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff
Hawaii Governor Josh Green
Colorado Governor Jared Polis
Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock
Those from the House of Representatives mentioned, although never has a member of the lower house of Congress been nominated, with the one exception of James A. Garfield, for the Republicans in 1880, while also a candidate for the US Senate, which he won on the same day he won the White House, are:
New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
California Congressman Ro Khanna
From outside government, those mentioned include
Stephen A. Smith, sports media personality
Jon Stewart, commedian and commentator
Mark Cuban, Entrepreneur and Television Personality
Rahm Emanuel, former Ambassador to Japan and Mayor of Chicago
At this point, the odds would be very great that one of the first group of ten would be the nominee.
However, within that group, “negative” factors could be that
Kamala Harris is African American, Asian American, and female
Wes Moore and Cory Booker are African American
JD Pritzker and Josh Shapiro are Jewish
Pete Buttigieg is gay
Only Gavin Newsom, Andy Beshear, Mark Kelly, and Chris Murphy would be seen as “traditional” contenders, meaning they are white male and straight, a sad commentary on America, that one even needs to mention that being a woman, or African American, or Jewish, or gay, is outside the so called “mainstream” of American politics in the past!
If we analyzed the remaining listed potential candidates for the Democrats, it would show the following:
Female—Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Gretchen Whitmer, Elissa Slotkin
African American or Asian American—Raphael Warnock, Stephen A. Smith, Ro Khanna
Latino American—Ruben Gallego, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Jewish—Elissa Slotkin, Jon Ossoff, Josh Green, Jared Polis, Jon Stewart, Mark Cuban, Rahm Emanuel
Gay—Jared Polis
So in conclusion, IF these various distinguishing factors are seen as detrimental in a Presidential campaign, then the choice that is left is only:
Gavin Newsom, Andy Beshear, Mark Kelly, Chris Murphy