Democrats groan when you ask them about it. The party is still sifting through the wreckage of the last presidential campaign while trying to win the midterm elections in November. Nearly every competitive primary this year is cast as a replay of the factional battles of 2016: the establishment Hillary Clinton wing versus the progressives galvanized by Bernie Sanders.

But the 2020 presidential race is fast approaching and what happens this year will reverberate into a likely challenge against President Trump. And unless something major happens in the Russia investigation or the incumbent has second thoughts about another term, Republican insiders expect their nominee to be Trump.