“I would just say, like — I don’t think about it quite that way. In terms of the job, like — I don’t want to be, like, ambitious for ambition’s sake.”
— Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ), quoted by the Washington Post, refusing to rule out a presidential bid in 2028.
Ronald Brownstein: “Judging by their choices since this month’s Democratic sweep, both the White House and congressional Republicans are vastly underestimating the party’s risk in 2028 if President Donald Trump remains as unpopular as he is now.”
“Dazed Republicans picking through the wreckage of their losses may console themselves with the thought that Trump’s dire approval ratings won’t pose as large a threat to the GOP in 2028, since he will be leaving the White House. But history strongly suggests that confidence is misplaced.”
“Outgoing presidents have cast a larger shadow than even many political professionals assume in the election to succeed them — especially when that retiring president faces widespread public discontent, as Trump does now. While popular outgoing presidents haven’t always ensured victory for their designated successors, the inverse has almost always been true: When the outgoing president is unpopular, his party has rarely won the election to replace him.”
Nate Silver: “Usually, I take a highly quantitative approach to politics. There are statistical methods to quantify ideology on a left-right scale. Indeed, the 2028 candidates will inevitably be organized through progressive and moderate ‘lanes.’ It’s relevant to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s chances, for instance, that the left lane isn’t crowded because the two most prominent progressives either can’t run for president (Mr. Mamdani is a naturalized citizen) or won’t because of age (Bernie Sanders is 85).”
“But progressive versus moderate doesn’t fully capture how the Democrats will seek to differentiate themselves and to update the party’s image. Sometimes when you’re projecting into the future, you need to do something more subjective.”
“I decided to focus on another dimension: ‘fighter’ versus ‘uniter.’ For this, I looked at how they communicate. The Democratic Party is a broad coalition and offers multiple modes of appealing to voters in different parts of the country, which I believe gives the Democrats an advantage. Republicans in the Trump era are almost entirely stuck in one mode: fight.”
“Even as Democrats across the country continue to revel in their sweeping midterm election victories, politicians, donors and campaign strategists have quickly begun looking ahead to what is widely expected to be a crowded and contentious 2028 presidential campaign,” the New York Times reports.
“Would-be Democratic presidential candidates have spread across the globe over the past week, headlining events aimed at lifting their national profiles, appearing with foreign leaders, schmoozing donors and scouting for political talent at happy hours with ambitious campaign operatives.”
Washington Sun: 2028 Democrats don’t want to pick a lane.
“The Democratic Socialists of America’s New York City chapter officially urged Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Saturday to launch a presidential run in 2028,” CNN reports.
“The resolution passed by the New York City DSA is not an official endorsement. But it is the latest effort by democratic socialists to urge Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most prominent members of their movement, to run for the White House.”
“Democrats have improbably won at least 55 Senate seats in the upcoming Congress. Kirsten Gillibrand is already looking for a path to a filibuster-proof 60,” Politico reports.
“The Senate Democratic campaign chair, in an interview with Politico after last week’s sweeping wins, laid out the possibility of flipping seven more seats in 2028, when the party faces a more favorable map but could also face a referendum on their own leadership in Congress after two years in power.”
“President Donald Trump’s days of naming conservatives to the federal bench may be ending, but members of the Federalist Society, the powerhouse that helped Republican administrations transform the judiciary, are down, not out, and already anticipating 2028,” CNN reports.
“The mood at their annual lawyers convention in Washington, DC, held the week after the Blue-wave election trounced Republicans, was strikingly sanguine. That’s partly because, since its founding in the early 1980s, the Federalist Society’s mission has been to wage battle against a perceived dominant liberal culture.”
“A sense of grievance is in the group’s DNA.”
Punchbowl News: “Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) is going all in to try to oust Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.”
“Van Hollen told reporters on Friday at a conference for Democratic leaders in Denver that he will not run for president in 2028. Some Democrats were skeptical that Van Hollen was primarily challenging Schumer as majority leader to boost his profile for a presidential primary bid. Van Hollen is clearly aiming to shut that down.”
Said Van Hollen: “I’m no longer pursuing that. I believe the size and scale of these majorities provide opportunity for the United States Senate to answer the call of the American people. I think this is a really important moment for our country, and we can’t go back to business as usual in the United States Senate.”
“Van Hollen was considering a run for president. The 2028 race is still two years out, so we’ll see what happens.”
Washington Post: “MAGA is certainly muddled, as its rank-and-file voters look to leaders outside of the Trump administration, have crossed over to Democrats or disengaged from politics altogether. There is no consensus about who should run in 2028 and plenty of skepticism for Vice President JD Vance, who once seemed the heir apparent. Like Trump or not, everyone agrees his vacuum will be hard to fill.”
“Right-wing influencers increasingly critical of Trump were declaring themselves vindicated by his rebuke in the midterms.”
“AI safety advocate and former Oklahoma Rep. Brad Carson is likely to run for president,” Politico reports.
“The ‘blue dog’ Democrat’s interest in potentially running — as well as a push from like-minded donor groups — underscores how AI safety advocates are feeling emboldened after the midterm results in which many Democrats won while campaigning on data center backlash and big tech skepticism.”
“Vice President JD Vance isn’t out of the 2028 presidential race — at least not yet,” the Washington Post reports.
“Detractors and even some well-wishers began writing his political obituary after Republicans’ historic drubbing in the midterm elections, surmising that the vice president — tied to a president with an all-time-low approval rating — sees the 2028 election as a lost cause.”
“But Vance is still more likely to run for president than not, according to several close allies with knowledge of his thinking.”
“Vice President JD Vance has given serious consideration to not running for president in 2028 after last week’s calamitous midterm elections,” CNN reports.
“While Vance has yet to make up his mind, interviews with roughly a dozen allies and advisers reveal a vice president wrestling with his political ambitions, the fracturing of the MAGA coalition and the demands of fatherhood. They described him as deeply committed to rebuilding the movement that won in 2024 but uncertain over whether he should be the one to lead it.”
Said one of Vance’s allies: “I wouldn’t be surprised by any decision he makes. He’s only 42. He’s young enough that he can have a comeback should this environment make success impossible. It just may not be his time.”
“Former Vice President Mike Pence isn’t ruling out another run for the White House in 2028,” Fox News reports.
The New Republic: Mike Pence tears into Trump and Vance for midterm “reckoning.”
“The legal battlefields for the 2028 presidential race are already taking shape, even as ballots are still being counted in last week’s U.S. midterm elections,” Bloomberg reports.
“Court fights over efforts by President Donald Trump and his administration to assert more control leading up to the Nov. 3 contests have laid a foundation for what advocates on both sides agree will be more legal wrangling before Americans choose his successor in two years.”
“Progressives are spoiling for a party-defining fight next year with President Donald Trump, using the same hardball tactic Republicans used last year to skirt the filibuster and muscle tax cuts through Congress,” Politico reports.
“As they prepare to take control of the House and Senate next year, some lawmakers on the left are pushing their colleagues to send Trump sweeping legislation chock full of Democratic priorities by way of the budget reconciliation process. They’re floating the idea even though they know there’s no chance it will become law, but that’s not the point. Rather, the purpose is to pick a big, showy fight with the president, and put a spotlight on the Democratic platform ahead of the 2028 presidential election.”
“Mitch Landrieu, the former mayor of New Orleans, is weighing a run for president in 2028,” MS NOW reports.
“But his party’s sweeping victories in last week’s midterm elections have pushed back his timeline for a decision.”
“Newly minted NRSC Chair Bernie Moreno (R-OH) is stacking a team to claw back Senate seats for Republicans in 2028,” Axios reports.
“Moreno has the unenviable job of chipping away at a healthy Democratic majority in just two years, with an unhelpful map, an unpopular war and an unpredictable boss in the White House.”
“Moreno is bringing in top GOP brass to assess what went wrong in 2026, reassure top donors and map out a 2028 comeback.”
Matt Lewis: “Donald Trump isn’t listening. Smart politicians adapt and overcome. But Trump is immune to feedback. Elevating Stephen Miller to chief of staff is proof that he has no plans to course correct and is going to double down on all the same kinds of things that led to his 2026 midterm drubbing.”
“Other Republican politicians aren’t listening to voters either. If they were, they wouldn’t have selected right-wing Rep. Jim Jordan as their leader in the House or rallied around Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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