There are 25 serious Democratic candidates running for president in 2020. Here’s your guide to each candidate. The ten candidates in the June 27 presidential debate are listed first, followed by the ten candidates in the June 26 debate, and then the five candidates who did not qualify. Candidates are ranked in order of their standing in the RealClearPolitics polling average.
By June 12, each of the debate candidates qualified for the debate by earning at least 1% support in three polls either nationally or in the early primary/caucus states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina.
June 27 Debate Candidates
Joe Biden
Joe Biden served as vice president during Obama’s administration. Prior to that, Biden served Delaware in the Senate for 36 years. Before his political career, Biden practiced law, and says he briefly thought of himself as a Republican. Biden also ran for president in 2008 and 1988.
Biden wants to increase federal education funding and require school districts to use the funding for higher salaries for educators. He also wants to use “the full force of our nation’s expertise and resources” to cure cancer, end opioid addiction, and improve mental health. Biden’s climate plan calls for 100% clean energy and net-zero emissions by 2050. Biden has consistently led national polls since campaign season began, and leads in most Iowa and New Hampshire polls. He also has the most major endorsements of the 2020 candidates.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 78
Home State: Delaware
Campaign website: joebiden.com
Current polling average: 32%
Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders has been representing Vermont in the Senate since 2007, and before that was Vermont’s representative in the House since 1991. Sanders was mayor of Burlington, Vermont, for eight years in the 1980s. Before that, he worked various jobs in New York City and Vermont and was a frequent (unsuccessful) candidate for office for the Liberty Union Party. Sanders also ran for president in 2016.
Sanders is a cosponsor of both the Green New Deal and introduced the Senate version of “Medicare for All” legislation. His latest proposal is the College for All Act, which would spend $48 billion a year to eliminate tuition and fees at public colleges and cancel the outstanding $1.6 trillion in student loan debt. While he doesn’t want to ban handguns, he wants extended background checks and a ban on the sale and distribution of automatic weapons. Sanders comes second in most national, Iowa, and New Hampshire polls and handily defeats Trump in most head-to-head polls.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 79
Home State: Vermont
Campaign website: berniesanders.com
Current polling average: 16.9%
Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris has been representing California in the Senate since 2017. Before that, she was California attorney general for six years and district attorney of San Francisco for seven years. Just after earning her law degree, Harris worked as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County.
Harris is a cosponsor of both the Green New Deal and “Medicare for All.” On guns, she wants to mandate universal background checks, renew the assault weapons ban, and end “gun manufacturer immunity.” She also wants to repeal the 2017 tax reform law and replace it with a $6,000 tax credit for “working families.” Harris generally polls in the upper-single digits in national, Iowa, and New Hampshire polls, and beats Trump in most general election polls.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 56
Home State: California
Campaign website: kamalaharris.org
Current polling average: 7%
Pete Buttigieg
Pete Buttigieg has been mayor of South Bend, Indiana, (population 101,166) since 2012. He ran unsuccessfully to be chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 2017. Buttigieg came out as gay during his successful 2015 re-election campaign. Before politics, Buttigieg was a consultant at McKinsey & Company. He later joined the Navy Reserve, and deployed to Afghanistan for seven months in 2014.
Buttigieg doesn’t want immediate “Medicare for All” but has a plan he calls “Medicare for All Who Want It” which would create a “Medicare-type public option” for healthcare that would compete with private insurers. He supports debt-free public college and wants to increase federal education spending directed toward teacher salaries. Buttigieg wants to end the federal ban on using taxpayer dollars to pay directly for abortions. He also wants to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour and wants to use the popular vote in presidential elections. Buttigieg’s campaign started slowly but has since gained momentum. While he’s still in the single digits in national polls, he gets double-digits and polls third or fourth in most Iowa and New Hampshire polls. In most head-to-head polls against Trump, Buttigieg has a slight lead.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 39
Home State: Indiana
Campaign website: peteforamerica.com
Current polling average: 6.6%
Kirsten Gillibrand
Kirsten Gillibrand has been serving New York in the Senate since 2009, when she was appointed to replace Hillary Clinton. Before that, she served one term in the House of Representatives and had won reelection for a second. Before her political career, Gillibrand worked as a lawyer both privately and for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Gillibrand supports government-guaranteed paid family leave and supports repeal of the Hyde Amendment, which keeps taxpayer dollars from directly funding abortions. On guns, Gillibrand wants to ban anyone on the terror watch list from purchasing a gun, and supports universal background checks as well as an assault rifle ban. She would end Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military. Gillibrand’s campaign has hardly registered in the polls.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 54
Home State: New York
Campaign website: kirstengillibrand.com
Current polling average: 0.5%
Michael Bennet
Michael Bennet has been serving Colorado in the Senate since 2009, when he was appointed to replace Ken Salazar, who joined the Obama administration as secretary of the interior. Before that, Bennet was superintendent of Denver Public Schools. Bennet also worked as chief of staff to then-mayor of Denver, John Hickenlooper, who later became governor and is now also running for president. Prior to his political career, Bennet was managing director of the Anschutz Investment Company (Philip Anschutz is owner of the Washington Examiner’s parent company).
Bennet has not cosponsored the Green New Deal or “Medicare for All,” but he does want to create a “Climate X Option to require power providers to offer zero-emission energy” and he supports a public option through his “Medicare X” plan. Bennet supports overturning the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision through a constitutional amendment, and he wants a lifetime ban on lobbying by former members of Congress. Bennet was a member of the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” that drafted immigration legislation that passed the Senate but never became law, and says he still supports that legislation’s provisions: a path to citizenship for illegal aliens, with improved border security and visa tracking. Bennet’s campaign has so far not had a significant impact in the polls.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 56
Home State: Colorado
Campaign website: michaelbennet.com
Current polling average: 0.4%
John Hickenlooper
John Hickenlooper served as governor of Colorado from 2011 through 2018. Prior to that, he was mayor of Denver for almost eight years. Before his political career, Hickenlooper worked as a geologist for Buckhorn Petroleum and later opened Wynkoop Brewing Company with business partners.
As governor, Hickenlooper signed a law that limited high-capacity magazines and implemented universal background checks. He also signed Medicaid expansion into law, and wants to reach universal health coverage without harming people who like their current coverage. Hickenlooper’s campaign has so far not made an impact on the polls.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 68
Home State: Colorado
Campaign website: hickenlooper.com
Current polling average: 0.3%
Eric Swalwell
Eric Swalwell has been representing California’s 15th congressional district since 2013. Prior to that, he was on the city council of Dublin, California. Swalwell worked as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County before his political career began.
Swalwell is a cosponsor of the Green New Deal and “Medicare for All.” He is proposing a mandatory nationwide ban and buyback program for “military-style semiautomatic assault weapons.” He supports a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and believes that Trump “very likely” has sealed indictments against him.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 40
Home State: California
Campaign website: ericswalwell.com
Current polling average: 0%
Marianne Williamson
Marianne Williamson is an activist and author who has never held elective office. She previously ran for Congress in California’s 33rd congressional district, but finished fourth out of 16 candidates. She has written 13 books, four of them New York Times number one bestsellers.
Williamson wants to eliminate the sale of assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons, and require universal background checks as well as “child safety locks” on all guns. She wants to increase the federal minimum wage to a rate that provides a living wage for that geographical area. She also wants to make the middle-class tax cuts from the 2017 tax reform permanent while repealing the corporate tax cuts in the same law. Her campaign has not so far made a significant impact in polls.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 68
Home State: California
Campaign website: marianne2020.com
Current polling average: 0%
Andrew Yang
Andrew Yang is a businessman and philanthropist who has never held elective office. Yang has been a corporate attorney, CEO of a test preparation company, and founder of the nonprofit workforce training organization Venture for America.
Yang’s largest focus is what he calls the “freedom dividend,” a form of universal basic income. Yang’s proposal would give every single U.S. citizen ages 18 and up $1,000 a month, funded by a value-added tax of 10% and by consolidating some existing welfare programs. Yang also wants to lower the voting age to 16, extend Daylight Saving Time year-round, make Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico states, legalize marijuana, and enact “Medicare for All,” among a plethora of other policy proposals. His campaign has not made a significant effect on the polls, but he has on occasion registered 2% support in national polling.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 46
Home State: New York
Campaign website: yang2020.com
Current polling average: 1.3%
June 26 Debate Candidates
Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth Warren has been serving Massachusetts in the Senate since 2013, after defeating Republican incumbent Scott Brown. She helped the Obama administration form the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and worked there as a special adviser for almost a year. She was a registered Republican in the 1990s. Before her political career, Warren was a legal academic for many years. After taking a DNA test that showed only a small portion of Native American ancestry in her DNA, Warren apologized to the Cherokee Nation, and she’s also apologized for identifying herself as an American Indian on forms.
Warren’s campaign has released a number of policy plans on varying topics from Puerto Rican debt relief to military housing. She wants to replace the Electoral College with a popular vote, institute an “Ultra-Millionaire Tax” on the richest 0.1% income-earners, and pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan. She also wants to cancel up to $50,000 in student loan debt per person and make public colleges tuition-free. Warren comes second or third in most recent national polls, usually with double-digit support, and she narrowly beats President Trump in most head-to-head polls.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 71
Home State: Massachusetts
Campaign website: elizabethwarren.com
Current polling average: 12.8%
Beto O’Rourke
Beto O’Rourke represented Texas’ 16th congressional district from 2013 through 2018. In 2018, he ran for the Senate against Ted Cruz, but lost by 2.7 percentage points. Before his political career, O’Rourke worked for a web design and software company that he co-founded.
O’Rourke wants to do away with the Hyde Amendment, which keeps taxpayer dollars from directly funding abortions. He also wants a universal healthcare system that would include government-funded access to abortion. He would immediately halt construction on the border wall and wants to reinstate net neutrality. His campaign initially attracted much attention and O’Rourke was third in some polls, but his poll numbers have since declined.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 48
Home State: Texas
Campaign website: betoorourke.com
Current polling average: 3.3%
Cory Booker
Cory Booker has been a senator from New Jersey since October 2013, when he won a special election to replace the late Frank Lautenberg. Prior to that, Booker was mayor of Newark since July 2006. Before his political career, Booker was an attorney. Booker has been vegetarian since 1992 and a vegan since 2014.
Booker is a co-sponsor of so-called Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. He helped pass the bipartisan First Step Act criminal justice reform law signed into law by Trump in 2018, and is lead sponsor of the Marijuana Justice Act, which would legalize marijuana at the federal level. He was initially seen as a likely major contender for the nomination, but lately has struggled to rise out of the single digits in national, Iowa, and New Hampshire polling. Recent head-to-head polls are mixed on whether Booker would beat Trump.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 51
Home state: New Jersey
Campaign website: corybooker.com
Current polling average: 2.3%
Julián Castro
Julián Castro was Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from July 2014 until the end of President Barack Obama’s administration. Prior to that, he was mayor of San Antonio for five years. Castro’s identical twin brother Joaquin represents Texas’ 20th congressional district. Before their political careers, both brothers worked at a law firm before starting their own firm.
Castro’s immigration plan includes a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who live and work in the U.S. and eliminate per-country limits on all visas. He believes “housing is a human right” and wants more housing vouchers for low-income residents, as well as a refundable renters’ tax credit “for middle-class Americans.” Castro struggles in national, Iowa, and New Hampshire polls, and occasionally gets 0% support in polls.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 46
Home state: Texas
Campaign website: julianforthefuture.com
Current polling average: 0.8%
Amy Klobuchar
Amy Klobuchar has represented Minnesota in the Senate since 2007. Prior to that, she was county attorney of Hennepin County, the largest county in Minnesota, home to Minneapolis. She also worked as a corporate lawyer and as a partner at two law firms.
Within the first 100 days of her would-be presidency, Klobuchar wants to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement and bring back stricter versions of the Clean Power Plan and fuel-economy standards. Klobuchar opposes a handgun ban but supports universal background checks and wants to prevent domestic abusers from buying or owning guns. She wants to pass immigration reform within her first year in office, including border security and a pathway to citizenship. Klobuchar attracted some interest and had a reputation for being slightly more moderate when she first launched her campaign, but her polling numbers still languish in the single digits.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 60
Home State: Minnesota
Campaign website: amyklobuchar.com
Current polling average: 0.9%
Tulsi Gabbard
Tulsi Gabbard has represented Hawaii’s second congressional district since 2013, and before that served briefly on the Honolulu City Council and in the Hawaii House of Representatives. Outside of politics, Gabbard served in the Hawai’i Army National Guard and voluntarily served two tours of duty in the Middle East. She still serves as a major in the Army National Guard and is the first female combat veteran to run for president.
Gabbard was strenuously opposed to gay marriage in the 1990s and early 2000s, but in 2012 switched and wanted same-sex marriage legalized nationwide. She met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in January 2017 and opposed the April 2017 U.S. missile strikes in Syria in response to the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons. Gabbard has not gained significant support in polls.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 39
Home State: Hawaii
Campaign website: tulsi2020.com
Current polling average: 0.8%
Tim Ryan
Tim Ryan has been representing Ohio in Congress since 2003. He’s well known for unsuccessfully challenging Nancy Pelosi as party leader in November 2016. He earned a law degree in 2000 and shortly after started his political career.
Ryan has been calling for “Medicare for All” for more than a decade, though he doesn’t want to eliminate private health insurance. He would rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement and wants the nation to be 100% carbon-neutral, but he is not a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal resolution. Ryan has posted his tax returns from the past decade on his campaign website. Ryan is not as well-known compared to most 2020 candidates and does not perform well in polls.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 47
Home State: Ohio
Campaign website: timryanforamerica.com
Current polling average: 0.6%
Bill de Blasio
Bill de Blasio has been mayor of New York City since 2014. Prior to that, he served as the city’s elected watchdog, Public Advocate, for four years. De Blasio was campaign manager for then-Rep. Charlie Rangel’s 1994 reelection campaign and for Hillary Clinton’s 2000 Senate campaign. He also spent time working for the New York City government and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
As mayor, de Blasio has opposed stop-and-frisk policing and supported universal pre-K for 4-year-olds. He wants a “universal healthcare system” and believes “Medicare for All” is a step toward that. He opposes the death penalty, believes Facebook, Amazon, and Google should be broken up, and believes President Trump has “committed impeachable offenses.” De Blasio has not managed to gain traction in national, Iowa, or New Hampshire polls.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 59
Home state: New York
Campaign website: billdeblasio.com
Current polling average: 0.4%
John Delaney
John Delaney was the first major Democrat to launch his presidential campaign, all the way back in July 2017. He represented Maryland’s sixth congressional district from 2013 through 2018, when he did not run for reelection. Before winning election to Congress, Delaney was a businessman, co-founding two loan companies.
Delaney has a $2 trillion infrastructure plan (paid for with increases in the corporate tax and gas tax) and a $4 trillion climate plan (paid for with a carbon “fee and dividend” proposal). He says he supports the Second Amendment, as well as universal background checks and limitations on certain “high-powered military-style weapons.” Despite being the first candidate to launch a campaign, he has not managed to gain widespread support in the polls.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 57
Home state: Maryland
Campaign website: johndelaney.com
Current polling average: 0.4%
Jay Inslee
Jay Inslee has been governor of Washington since 2013, and previously represented Washington in Congress for nearly two decades. Before starting his political career, Inslee was a criminal prosecutor and worked in a law firm.
Inslee’s primary campaign focus is on climate change. He wants to move to 100% clean energy by 2045, including a ban on federal fossil fuel leases. By 2030, he wants to require 100% carbon-neutral power and zero-emissions from new vehicles. He opposes the tax reform law passed in December 2017, calling it “billions of dollars in windfall tax breaks for fossil fuel companies.” Inslee has not gained traction in the polls.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 69
Home State: Washington
Campaign website: jayinslee.com
Current polling average: 0.4%
Candidates Who Did Not Qualify for the June 26/27 Debates
Steve Bullock
Steve Bullock has been governor of Montana since 2013.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 54
Home State: Montana
Campaign website: stevebullock.com
Current polling average: 0.5%
Mike Gravel
Mike Gravel served Alaska in the Senate from 1969 through 1980. He also ran for president in 2008 but earned little support.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 90
Home State: Alaska
Campaign website: mikegravel.org
Current polling average: 0%
Wayne Messam
Wayne Messam has been the mayor of Miramar, Florida, (population 122,041) since 2015.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 46
Home State: Florida
Campaign website: wayneforusa.com
Current polling average: 0%
Seth Moulton
Seth Moulton has been representing Massachusetts’ sixth congressional district since 2015.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 42
Home State: Massachusetts
Campaign website: sethmoulton.com
Current polling average: 0%
Joe Sestak
Joe Sestak represented Pennsylvania’s seventh congressional district from 2007 through 2010. He ran and lost the Senate election in Pennsylvania in 2010, and failed to get the Democratic Senate nomination in 2016.
Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 69
Home State: Pennsylvania
Campaign website: joesestak.com
Current polling average: 0%
