Everyone has their two cents about how to talk politics, or not talk politics, or how silly we’ve become for talking about politics, at Thanksgiving. We suggest looking forward instead of dwelling on the miserable present: It’s never too early to speculate about who’ll jump into the next presidential race—particularly when doing so is guaranteed to bum out the whole family. We’re confining ourselves to Democrats and political outsiders on this list of more or less credibly rumored candidates, mostly just because there are so many of them. Rest assured: From the Nasty Women to the Bernie Bros to the Truckers for Trump, everyone around the table will find at least one of these 20 worth griping about.
Bill de Blasio
The recently re-elected, chronically tardy, and much too tall mayor of New York City sees an opening for a fiery progressive to lead the Democratic party out of the doldrums. It’s hardly the first time Big Bill’s lofty dreams have been on obvious display (among his 11 overseas trips as mayor include a stop to support G-20 protesters). His speaking engagement this December in Des Moines, Iowa, is pretty damning, though. So, for that matter, is a national negative ad campaign launched by his indefatigable bete noire: charter school founder Eva Moskowitz, who says she’s too busy starting new schools to run herself.
Joe Biden
Everyone’s favorite creepy uncle, who’ll be 77 by 2020, has a new book out and reportedly sees himself as the one guy who’s got what it takes to deprive Donald Trump a second term in office. Though the prevailing cultural winds don’t favor his handsy habits, he’s probably right that of all the old white guys positioned to take on Trump, and Bernie Sanders for that matter, few would likely fare better. A new Morning Consult poll gives him a 9-point lead over the president in the Midwest. Plus, Biden’s PAC runneth over.
Cory Booker
In a New Hampshire poll of Democratic voters last month, the New Jersey senator and former mayor of Newark came in fourth after the Granite State’s beloved groovy grandpa neighbor to the left Bernie Sanders, self-proclaimed shoo-in Joe Biden, and virally persistent progressive The three past and present senators who bested him in the first primary state all bring far better national—and New England—name recall, so that fourth place finish is nothing to turn up your nose at. Plus, he’s young and hip. He’s even dating an Instagram celebrity.
Sherrod Brown
The Ohio senator has the gruff and grumble old man bit down, and at 65 he’s not even that old so far as progressive Democrats go. As a populist Midwestern Democrat and a man who hasn’t been accused of sexual harassment he checks off all the boxes. He’s got his work cut out for him focusing on re-election in 2018 though, against a likely challenger in young Ohio Republican state treasurer Josh Mandel.
Julian Castro
He’s young! He’s Hispanic! He’s Texan! Does it matter that he has the same surname as an evil communist dictator? Probably not! Being a 42-year-old Ivy-educated Mexican-American mayor makes him the perfect immigration candidate. Demographics and the American Dream would be powerful forces in his favor.
James Comey
Writing a book, fixing his name on Twitter, accidentally starring in the last presidential election—is this the new path to the White House? When the former FBI director tweeted a picture of himself gazing at the sunset in an Iowa cornfield, he basically confirmed it. Plus, his forthcoming book will be titled A Higher Loyalty, in apparent reference to the loyalty Trump requested during a dinner at the White House.
Andrew Cuomo
The governor wouldn’t let the mayor run without him. And his aspirations have been easy to spot at least since last year’s Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, where he attempted an oratorical echo of his father. He further fueled rumors last week with a fundraising jaunt to California. Beverly Hills and San Francisco, where event attendees paid as much as $50,000 to brush elbows with Cuomo, are not usually within range for a New York governor staring down a re-election bid.
Eric Garcetti
The mayor of Los Angeles is “seriously considering” running for president. “There are 23 states with a population smaller than Los Angeles,” Garcetti told the New York Times. Everything about that sentence suggests he might not fare well with the sort of Democrat his party ought to be courting. But it may help, on the other hand, that he’s broadly popular and not particularly ideological. And there’s something oddly refreshing about how forthrightly he promotes his national ambitions.
Kirsten Gillibrand
Is she too vanilla? Too much of Clinton retread? It’s never too early to wonder—because Hillary Clinton’s successor in the Senate has long been a rumored presidential aspirant since she penned a splashy memoir that included details of sexual harassment on Capitol Hill. Gillibrand attempted to rid herself of the Clinton taint recently with a salient if opportunistic declaration, amid the hurricane of harassment news and reconsideration of the 42nd president’s misdeeds, that Bill Clinton should have resigned when he had the chance.
Kamala Harris
The junior senator from California strayed far from her state this summer—raising funds in the Hamptons and Martha’s Vineyard. Not unlike her potential primary opponents’ flimsy excuses for travelling to Iowa, Harris—who’s not up for reelection until 2022—claims her efforts on the opposite coast are aimed at supporting Californians and congressional Democrats.
John Hickenlooper
The Colorado governor was a rumored unity-ticket running mate for John Kasich this summer, until the Ohio governor squashed the prospect in late August. Which just means he might have to run against the term-limited outgoing governor of a purple state, who’s blessedly light on national baggage.
Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson
I think (hope) he’s a Republican—he spoke at the RNC in 2000—but what does that really mean anymore anyway? The Rock affirmed in a GQ profile titled “The Rock for President,” “I think that it’s a real possibility,” elevating buzz that began in earnest when he tweeted an op-ed urging him to run. He’s a registered independent and describes himself as a feminist. Plus, by reportedly not asking two-time Senate candidate Linda McMahon for advice, at least as of last June, he’s already making wise decisions in campaign politics.
Jason Kander
The sort of Democrat who didn’t win in 2016 is the sort of Democrat who might just save the party of #Resistance from itself. He lost to incumbent Missouri senator Roy Blunt, but won an aura of what-might-have-been—and that ought to be just what Democrats are looking for. Plus, he’s young, handsome, and hails from the forgotten middle part of America. Funnily enough, he keeps popping up in New Hampshire, too.
Amy Klobuchar
A straight-talking Midwesterner unafraid of media—and a woman! Up for re-election next year, Senator Klobuchar rode the fundraising circuit way out east to Martha’s Vineyard with some of her fellow rumored contenders. She reportedly found her way to Iowa as well. The senior senator from Minnesota told THE WEEKLY STANDARD at the Women’s Convention in Detroit, when asked about her 2020 ambitions, “I love my job. I love my state.” Which is just another way of not saying she’s ruled out running.
Terry McAuliffe
Like Hillary before him, the Clinton-connected outgoing governor of Virginia may be starting to feel like it’s his turn already. He’s been a loyal progressive from Richmond, and having served as chairman of the National Governors Association, his career already echos Bill Clinton’s. He’s not shy about his ambitions, telling the New York Times last year he “might” run—which is more than a lot of his list-mates have said.
Seth Moulton
A Harvard-educated Marine in his 30s ought to worry baby boomer Democrats clinging to their dreams of 2020. This two-term Massachusetts congressman’s war record probably ups his appeal to the average American, who has more confidence in the military than any other institution. His membership in the more moderate New Democrats and a comparatively bipartisan voting record would help him there too.
Chris Murphy
When he wasn’t walking across the state of Connecticut and tweeting deeply disturbing things about the intrusion of government into our natural lives—and, actually, then too—Senator Murphy was raising his profile. And probably not for nothing. His DNC speech, his self-righteous wringing of Trump nominees, and his prominent bipartisan battle for gun control bespeak higher ambitions. As do his not altogether convincing protests that all he’s only focused on winning reelection in 2018.
Elizabeth Warren
Is she too intense? A bit too much of a Clinton-meets-Sanders retread? These questions are going to keep coming up—because the progressive folk heroine and Massachusetts senator looks way better than Hillary Clinton did two years ago to the sort of Democratic voter who despises moderates and worries about income equality above all.
Bernie Sanders
While Kamala Harris cribs his single -ayer talking points, and his disproportionately youthful following casts around for a new leader but comes up empty, the septugenarian socialist senator might as well just run again. As a random undergraduate remarked on his way out of a Sanders speech at George Washington University last year after the election, “I think he should run in 2020. I think he will.” And, recall, after Trump’s election, Sanders did lean at least rhetorically to the populist center. A recent mildly convincing Vanity Fair essay makes the case that Sanders’s best sell will be a not-quite-so-far-left populism. He could have a solid shot at winning back his old coalition, and then some.
Mark Zuckerberg
Zuck is one whose “mysterious” trips to heartland sparked speculation that swiftly soured, turning up robot memes and disappointing data. His pizza pit stop with blue collar locals and his oh-so-candid but also professionally photographed heart to heart with auto workers convinced the nation that if he’s not running for president, he’s up to something even more creepy and ambitious…
Is this list comprehensive? No! Of course not! Now that you’re done bickering about presidential politics over dinner, you can make up over dessert—by complaining together about our imperfect list-making skills.
