# Frontrunners for Democratic presidential nomination in 2028 **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 16, 2025, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frontrunners-for-democratic-presidential-nomination-in-2028/1013036 "2025-01-16T06:50:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frontrunners-for-democratic-presidential-nomination-in-2028/1013036/201 "2025-01-28T17:04:54Z")
It’ll be interesting to watch what Walz can do here in Minnesota, with a state senate that is tied and the house currently a one-seat Republican majority, with a vacant seat and a looming special election. That election is in a heavily Democratic district, so the house will also be tied. He got quite a few progressive laws passed last year when the DFL (Minnesota Democratic party) controlled both houses, but he’ll have to do a lot of negotiating across the aisle to get anything done this term. If he can play it right, it’s a point he can run on. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frontrunners-for-democratic-presidential-nomination-in-2028/1013036/202 "2025-01-28T17:15:39Z")
Not to hijack, but how does that work? Is there a tiebreaking procedure, or can they just not pass anything without at least one vote from each party? ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frontrunners-for-democratic-presidential-nomination-in-2028/1013036/203 "2025-01-28T18:24:03Z")
Here’s an interesting question for you all: Some people think that being Jewish is a problem for a candidate and that we should go with a Christian. What do people think about how Raphael Warnock’s chances might be affected by being an ordained Christian minister? I think some voters might find that appealing. On the other hand, Jesus is not very popular among the low-information younger/progressive voters; is there a danger people might just assume he has right-wing social views and tune him out? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frontrunners-for-democratic-presidential-nomination-in-2028/1013036/204 "2025-01-28T18:28:04Z")
I think his blackness is more of an obstacle than his being a Christian minister. Yeah, Obama-- but he really **was** a one-hit-wonder rock star. But what the heck do I know… not much, and less every day… 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frontrunners-for-democratic-presidential-nomination-in-2028/1013036/205 "2025-01-28T18:35:18Z")
Well, it’s been amply established that voters perceive Black candidates as being more liberal than they actually are, So maybe if they perceive ministers as being more conservative than they actually are, it could balance out! “Mr. Burns, you have every disease known to man, but luckily they’re all fighting each other to a standstill”. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frontrunners-for-democratic-presidential-nomination-in-2028/1013036/206 "2025-01-28T18:39:20Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > Agreed with this thought as well. I’ve already argued the focus at this point should be strategy for the 2026 midterms and how to win back some of the purple statehouses. > > Sadly most Democrats and posters don’t see it that way. It’s 2028 or nothing. What are we supposed to talk about there? We aren’t going to have a “strategy” for the midterms, we’re going to have 435 strategies in the House and 33 in the Senate. Likewise, you can’t have a general discussion about “how to win back statehouses”. If people want to have a thread devoted to a particular district or State, that would be great, but I think most States don’t have enough Dopers to sustain a thread. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frontrunners-for-democratic-presidential-nomination-in-2028/1013036/207 "2025-01-28T18:45:53Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > How long in advance of 2008 was Barack Obama a “household name”? Outside of Illinois, certainly no earlier than 2004/2005. Prior to then, he had been in the Illinois state senate starting in 1997, and then won a U.S. Senate seat in 2004, in a contest that he might well have not won if the initial GOP nominee, Jack Ryan, had not been forced to drop out due to a sex scandal. Also in 2004, Obama also gave a keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention, which did give him a fair amount of national visibility, especially within the party; it’s likely that most Americans had never even heard of him before then. Even when he ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, he was still a first-term Senator, and I’m not sure how much of a “household name” he was before he started winning primaries. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frontrunners-for-democratic-presidential-nomination-in-2028/1013036/208 "2025-01-28T18:52:50Z")
> **[Pete Buttigieg Weighs US Senate Run | Transport Topics](https://www.ttnews.com/articles/pete-buttigieg-senate-run)** > > Pete Buttigieg is taking a serious look at seeking a Senate seat in Michigan after Sen. Gary Peters announced he wouldn’t run for another term, according to a person familiar with his thinking. This is a good move for Buttigieg. I don’t think he’d win for president, but he has a good shot at the Senate. This could be a good strategy in general for Dems to take back some power. Have people with national name recognition run for for congressional positions. Their name recognition means they’d have a good chance at winning, and also that they’d be interviewed a lot by national media. It gives the Dems a way to regain power and continue to get their message out. Then later on, it would be an easier path for a presidential run. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frontrunners-for-democratic-presidential-nomination-in-2028/1013036/209 "2025-01-28T18:59:21Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > > > How long in advance of 2008 was Barack Obama a “household name”? > > Outside of Illinois, certainly no earlier than 2004/2005. Exactly. In fact, I found something I wrote in 2004 right after the convention: “Assuming the Republicans win in 2008, or Kerry wins in both 2004 and 2008, pencil in Senator Obama for a VP nomination in 2012.” ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frontrunners-for-democratic-presidential-nomination-in-2028/1013036/210 "2025-01-28T19:31:20Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > > [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > > > Agreed with this thought as well. I’ve already argued the focus at this point should be strategy for the 2026 midterms and how to win back some of the purple statehouses. > > > > Sadly most Democrats and posters don’t see it that way. It’s 2028 or nothing. > > What are we supposed to talk about there? We aren’t going to have a “strategy” for the midterms, we’re going to have 435 strategies in the House and 33 in the Senate. Likewise, you can’t have a general discussion about “how to win back statehouses”. If people want to have a thread devoted to a particular district or State, that would be great, but I think most States don’t have enough Dopers to sustain a thread. [Eric Holder](https://democraticredistricting.com) gets it even if most Democrats don’t. I won’t continue with this here because it would be hijacking the thread but getting control back of state legislatures is being ignored by too many people. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frontrunners-for-democratic-presidential-nomination-in-2028/1013036/211 "2025-01-28T19:48:40Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > I think people here really underestimate the number of swing voters. Yes, they decide the elections. > [@joebuck20](#): > > I personally know two types of Trump voters. There is a third. Older conservative Republicans who have voted the straight GOP ticket all their lives. > [@joebuck20](#): > > I also know Trump voters who readily acknowledge that the guy is a flaming ass clown, but thought he might bring down inflation, or liked that he talked tough on China, or just got off on the idea of someone so brazenly flipping both middle fingers at the political establishment. Yep. The price of eggs is going UP! > [@filmore](#): > > This is a good move for Buttigieg. I don’t think he’d win for president, but he has a good shot at the Senate. I concur. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frontrunners-for-democratic-presidential-nomination-in-2028/1013036/212 "2025-01-28T19:56:28Z")
Well, feel free to start a thread about it if you want. Your link promises that if you donate money to Eric Holder, his organization will work to “fight gerrymandering”, “educate and mobilize the grassroots”, and “push for reform”. I think I’d need a lot more detail before I would consider that a “strategy” rather than a “fundraising email”. They seem specifically focused on preparing for fights about redistricting in State legislatures. I don’t think anyone is going to argue that’s unimportant. Potentially there could be an interesting discussion about whether that’s the _most_ effective way to direct our donations. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frontrunners-for-democratic-presidential-nomination-in-2028/1013036/213 "2025-01-28T22:37:29Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > Not to hijack, but how does that work? Is there a tiebreaking procedure, or can they just not pass anything without at least one vote from each party? In the Minnesota state senate, the tie is due to the death of a DFL senator. The special election is today, and the Democratic candidate is likely to win. The house is tied, but a Democrat’s residency was challenged and ruled invalid. Walz scheduled a special election for today for that seat, but the state Supreme Court ruled that that election was scheduled too early, and will now probably be in March. In the meantime, Republicans hold a 67-66 advantage, so they thought they had the majority. However, the Democratic house members have boycotted attending, preventing a quorum of a true majority. The state Secretary of State, a Democrat, called the term into session, and without a quorum, he dismissed the house in a matter of minutes. Republicans were furious, and decided they had the majority, and thus selected a speaker and committee chairs. Democrats went to the state Supreme Court, which ruled on their side. The Republicans and Democrats are back to negotiating how to manage the session until the special election, when an expected Democratic victory will return the house to a 67-67 tie, with shared leadership and commitees, somehow. How Walz handles this and reduces the temperature will be a test of how he can work with a divided political environment. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frontrunners-for-democratic-presidential-nomination-in-2028/1013036/214 "2025-01-29T07:18:12Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > Also, I wonder why nobody is talking about Tim Walz. > [@Thing.Fish](#): > > I’d buy Beshear or Whitmer at those prices. How about **Walz with Beshear**? ---
**Author:** ![MethidManTMA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@MethidManTMA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MethidManTMA)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frontrunners-for-democratic-presidential-nomination-in-2028/1013036/215 "2025-01-29T10:17:36Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Problem is that to some here, realism should acknowledge that no Trump voter will ever change while there are lots of left-leaning voters who will stay home unless the nominee is lefty. To me, the opposite is true — elections are won in the center. And, given the small sample size of presidential elections, it is hard to show who is correct. Right, because that worked _so_ well for Clinton and Harris… Seriously, it should be well-understood by now, especially after what happened very recently, that that is _not_ a winning strategy anymore. Harris went out of her way to cater to centrists, and not only did she not get enough votes from them, she alienated many _leftist_ voters, the very group that’s supposed to be the Democratic party’s bread and butter, which resulted in them either staying home or voting third-party. I saw with my very own eyes how a lot of my fellow left-wingers winced over Harris taking on centrist positions on certain issues. In trying to appeal to all, she appealed to none while Drumpf went full blast appealing to his base and it paid off. If _centrist_ candidates can’t even get enough _centrist_ voters, then what good are they? I’ll say this again, we need a strong _leftist_ leader who the people can see as an ally against the capitalist establishment. Having a strong base and keeping them engaged is the _real_ key to success. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frontrunners-for-democratic-presidential-nomination-in-2028/1013036/216 "2025-01-29T14:59:25Z")
So, to summarize the thread, we all agree that the lesson we’ve learned from the 2024 campaign is that the Democrats need to do exactly what we already thought they should have been doing. ---
**Author:** ![YellowDog51](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a5b964/32.png) [@YellowDog51](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YellowDog51)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frontrunners-for-democratic-presidential-nomination-in-2028/1013036/217 "2025-01-29T15:37:04Z")
So Gary Peters (D-Michigan) has announced he’s not running for another term in 2026. That puts a D seat in greater jeopardy, but also may tee up an opportunity for Gretchen Whitmer (currently in her second term) to raise her profile. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frontrunners-for-democratic-presidential-nomination-in-2028/1013036/218 "2025-01-29T16:23:58Z")
[Whitmer has already said she will not be running for Senate.](https://www.wxyz.com/news/whitmer-wont-run-for-open-u-s-senate-seat-but-buttigieg-reportedly-considering-it) This was yesterday so you must have missed it. ---
**Author:** ![YellowDog51](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a5b964/32.png) [@YellowDog51](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YellowDog51)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frontrunners-for-democratic-presidential-nomination-in-2028/1013036/219 "2025-01-29T20:20:26Z")
Yes - missed that. Sorry to hear it. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frontrunners-for-democratic-presidential-nomination-in-2028/1013036/220 "2025-01-29T20:48:32Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > So, to summarize the thread, we all agree that the lesson we’ve learned from the 2024 campaign is that the Democrats need to do exactly what we already thought they should have been doing. The Dems needs to encourage the GOP and trump to get inflation high- which trump seems to be doing. That was Harris/Bidens mistake- not using their magic powers to reduce inflation overnight. Shame on them! 😇 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frontrunners-for-democratic-presidential-nomination-in-2028/1013036.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frontrunners-for-democratic-presidential-nomination-in-2028/1013036.md?page=12)