Former Vice President Kamala Harris became the face of the Democratic Party in July 2024 after former President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race.
However, she failed to convince voters that her presidency would be different than that of Biden, who held an average job approval rating of 43%.
For the next two years, Republicans will have full control of the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives. The trifecta control is a major reversal of fortunes for Democrats, who have held two of the three since Biden beat President Donald Trump in 2020.
Harris’s performance in handing control of the government back to Trump and Republicans almost definitely means her future in national politics is done, at least in the short term. A lot will change between now and the next presidential election in 2028, but some Democrats are already jockeying for position at the front of the line to replace Biden and Harris as the party’s standard-bearer.
Without an incumbent candidate or partner, the 2028 Democratic primary is expected to be a wide-open contest that looks more like the slugfest in 2020 than the stifled affair in 2024.
Here is an advanced look at several people who are likely to be in the running for the presidential nomination and the job of representing the Democratic Party.
Gretchen Whitmer
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) was first elected in 2018 and reelected in 2022 for a final term.
While previously floated as a vice presidential candidate for Harris, Whitmer publicly declined, saying she would not leave Michigan. However, with her second term as governor ending in 2026, she will be freed up to pursue politics on the national stage.
Whitmer was also floated as a possible replacement for Biden before the former president endorsed Harris for the nomination. The Michigan governor’s performance has been well-received by her constituents, but it might be a difficult portfolio to present to the broader electorate.
In 2024, Michigan voters flipped back into the red column, sending Trump back to the White House for another term.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a self-described socialist, is taking advantage of the uncertainty surrounding the Democratic Party by positioning herself as a contender to take charge.
Ocasio-Cortez embraces left-wing ideals that clash with established party leadership positions, who believe the party needs a return to the center in an effort to regain lost and alienated voters.
Since March, Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) have participated in the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, visiting many red states such as Utah, Idaho, and Montana. Their rallies have garnered thousands of attendees and the attention of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who has said it is a reflection of Democrats’ fight against the “wrong” of the Trump administration.
Amid her tour with Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez has broken fundraising records. She raised $9.6 million in the first quarter of 2025, outraising representatives in some of the most competitive districts.
Ocasio-Cortez has not signaled that she is interested in running for president in 2028, but she has teamed up with Sanders, 83, who has made two previous runs for the White House. Some pundits consider the collaboration to be Sanders passing the torch to Ocasio-Cortez to push the socialist agenda.
Josh Shapiro
Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) appeared to have the position of being Harris’s running mate locked down until the final hour when she picked Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN).
Shapiro, another swing state governor, was elected in 2022 and has made a name for himself as a popular executive who Republicans acknowledge would be a formidable foe. His election was notable, given that he was the first governor to succeed a member of his party since 1966.
His 2022 win not only kept the line of Democratic succession intact but was also a major personal victory: He holds the record for receiving the most votes in a single election in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania was yet another blemish on Harris’s record, as her final day on the trail stumping in the state was not enough to put her over the top. Democrats selecting Shapiro to lead the national party could give them a leg up in a vital state that will almost certainly be as important four years from now as it was this cycle.
Wes Moore
Like Shapiro, Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD) was elected in 2022, making him the state’s first black governor and the third elected in the nation’s history.
When Biden faltered in his debate with Trump, sparking his eventual downfall, Moore was a clear replacement option on insiders’ lips.
Moore quickly shut down those discussions, insisting Biden was the future of the party.
The Maryland governor could have leaned into his resume as the youngest Democrat running a state in the country and the only current black governor. He has also received praise from both sides of the aisle for how he handled the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in March 2024.
Instead, Moore stood behind Biden, saying, “The president has always had our backs. We’re going to have his back as well.”
Pete Buttigieg
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg burst onto the national scene in 2020 when he first made his run for the presidency. The contest was short-lived as he dropped out in March of that year, though that was months longer than Harris lasted.
The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, then landed a position in the Biden administration.
After a shaky start to his tenure, he settled into his position and played a similar role for the Biden administration that Vice President JD Vance played for the Trump campaign. He is comfortable going on Sunday shows, including Fox News, to spar with Republicans and be an active voice speaking up in defense of Biden and his policies.
He also played an important role in the Harris-Walz campaign. He was even dubbed the Democratic Party’s “debate guru” when it was reported that he was coaching Walz ahead of his vice presidential debate against Vance.
Gavin Newsom
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has had his sights on the White House for years. There was a raft of speculation that he might challenge Biden in the primary fight, but it never really took off.
The California governor denied he ever had any intention of displacing the president or trying to strongarm Harris out of the way once she became the presumptive nominee. Like Moore, Newsom was careful to make it clear he was more comfortable being an attack dog for Biden and Harris than a replacement.
However, in four years, both Biden and Harris will be out of the picture, and his time leading California will be over, leaving the road to the White House wide open.
Newsom shares a similar problem with Whitmer in that his record running California might not play well outside the confines of a deep-blue electorate.
However, Newsom appears to have acknowledged that he must use the end of his tenure to prove to voters outside the Golden State that he is aware of how his state’s politics do not map perfectly onto the rest of the country.
He has worked to appeal to more centrist voters by addressing the homelessness crisis and trying to staunch his state’s fiscal bleeding.
Tim Walz
Fresh off losing a bid for vice president, Walz said he is not ruling out making a run for the White House in 2028.
“Well, I had a friend tell me, ‘Never turn down a job you haven’t been offered,’” Walz shared in an interview with the New Yorker in early March when asked whether he would run for president. “If I think I could offer something … I would certainly consider that. I’m also, though, not arrogant enough to believe there’s a lot of people that can do this.”
In February, Walz said he would not pursue his state’s open Senate seat in 2026 as Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) announced her plans to retire.
“He loves his job as Governor and he’s exploring the possibility of another term to continue his work to make Minnesota the best state in the country for kids,” Walz spokesman Teddy Tschann said in a statement.
In the middle of March, Walz hosted town halls in deep-red congressional districts in Iowa and Nebraska, admitting that he had been doing some “soul-searching” following his defeat in 2024. He sought to highlight how the Trump administration was making major cuts to the Education Department, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and entitlement programs such as Medicaid.
JB Pritzker
The two-term governor of Illinois has yet to announce whether he will run for a third term, with less than a year to go before the 2026 primary.
A billionaire, Pritzker has expanded his influence outside of Illinois by both establishing a fund, known as Think Big America, which funds abortion-rights ballot initiatives across the country and donating $500,000 in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
In March, Pritzker spoke at the Center for American Progress, a think tank, in which he homed in on fighting against Trump’s initiatives to downsize the federal government and the impactful role he will play as governor during Trump’s second administration.
“The bully pulpit that I get as governor gives me the opportunity at least to speak to what I think that our common American values are, and we are the center of the country, the heart of the country,” Pritzker said. “In the state of Illinois, we also have a state that is most reflective of the population of the entire United States. So it gives me that opportunity to talk about what I think is happening in the country and the dangers that I think we’re facing.”
Ro Khanna
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) is hosting town halls in GOP districts, introducing legislation that would adopt Trump’s “drain the swamp” initiative, and establishing a plan of attack for Democrats in an op-ed published by MSNBC, all of which signal that he may be seeking party top leadership in 2028.
In March, Khanna held three town halls in red districts in his state of California.
“The old guard needs to go,” Khanna said at a town hall in a GOP stronghold district in California. “I will assure you that there are a lot of next-generation Democrats who are going to stand up to Donald Trump and [Elon] Musk and believe we [shouldn’t] cooperate with them while they’re engaged in unconstitutional action.”
Khanna is also squaring up against Vance as he plans to make stops in April in Vance’s home state of Ohio and at Yale Law School, their alma mater.
The congressman is also seeking to make combating corruption a top priority of Democrats by introducing the Drain the Swamp Act. The act would prohibit White House officials from accepting gifts from lobbyists.
In addition, Khanna has been a fierce critic of Trump’s tapping of Musk in gutting the federal government.
“There is only one question that matters: What are you doing as a citizen to stop the dismantling of our government, including Medicaid and Social Security and our global leadership by headstrong billionaires,” Khanna spokeswoman Marie Baldassarre told the Washington Examiner. “Khanna believes this is table stakes for the next generation that seeks to lead. That is why he’s hosting town halls with over 1,000 people across the country and pushing to pass his bold political reform agenda, including banning PAC and lobbying money to ensure the American people have a voice again.”
Ruben Gallego
Elected in 2024, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) has joined the ranks of Democrats seeking to reshape the party’s messaging.
Gallego traveled to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick’s (R-PA) district, on Saturday to hold a town hall, during which he railed against Democrats for playing it “too effing safe all the time.” He said Democrats need to reach a broader audience by making an effort to appear on podcasts and more right-leaning media outlets, arguing that Democrats must reclaim their status as the “big tent party.”
“I think we just have to have a little more breathing room and say, ‘You know what? We better get out there again,’” Gallego said during the town hall.
Before the town hall, Gallego wrote in an op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer that Democrats are struggling to find a “clear plan” in their counterattacks against Trump.
“Democrats still look like the party that brought a knife to a gunfight,” Gallego wrote. “And honestly, it’s not as easy as just standing up to Donald Trump at every possible chance. Voters want Washington to work. They want their elected leaders to work together and solve problems, not score points.”
Not only is Gallego seeking to improve the Democratic National Committee’s messaging, but he has laid out a five-pillar plan for addressing border security.
“We don’t have to choose between border security and immigration reform,” Gallego said in a statement. “We can and should do both. Americans deserve the right to feel safe and know their border is secure, but for decades, Congress has tried and failed to take action because politics got in the way. It’s time to push forward and enact a plan that works.”
During a dinner held by the American Spectator Magazine in Washington, Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) said that by holding the town hall in Pennsylvania, Gallego is seeking a run for the White House. The idea has some Republicans scared.
Gallego even told NBC News ahead of his town hall that running for president has crossed his mind.
“Has it ever crossed my mind? F***ing of course, I’m an elected official, it crosses my mind,” he said.
Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Emanuel, the former Chicago mayor and Obama adviser, sat for an interview with the Wall Street Journal in which he called the Democratic Party’s current brand “weak and woke” and “toxic.”
Emanuel, who also served as Biden’s ambassador to Japan, said it’s not enough for Democrats to build an opposition against Trump.
“If you want the country to give you the keys to the car, somebody’s got to be articulating an agenda that’s fighting for America, not just fighting Trump,” Emanuel said. “The American dream has become unaffordable. It’s inaccessible. And that has to be unacceptable to us.”
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Emanuel has yet to indicate his future political endeavors, but did say it would be “awkward” if he ran for president at the same time as his longtime friend Pritzker.
“Of course it would be awkward,” Emanuel said. “We’re friends. He has something he wants to offer. I have something I want to offer.”
