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“The battle to become the country’s next progressive leader in the mold of Bernie Sanders is heating up ahead of Democrats’ direction-defining Michigan Senate primary,” Politico reports.
”Nowhere is the jockeying and strategy unfolding behind the scenes more pronounced than between Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ro Khanna of California, who have taken disparate approaches to the midterms as they build out their political brands. Khanna’s go-everywhere mentality versus Ocasio-Cortez’s more selective involvement in key races this cycle will test their political acumen and relationships, potentially setting them up for a 2028 presidential race that could decide who will inherit the movement.”
Punchbowl News: “New Hampshire Democrats, furious at a DNC push to bump the state to third in the early nominating calendar, are pledging to hold their first-in-the-nation presidential primary anyway.”
”In conversations last week, Granite State Democrats running in 2026 struck a uniformly defiant tone. Each insisted the state must abide by New Hampshire law, which requires its presidential primary to fall at least seven days before any similar contest.”
“This month’s Democratic primaries in Michigan and Minnesota are already shaping up to be major battles about the party’s future, with voters heading to the polls to choose between moderate members of Congress and insurgent local candidates intent on shaking up the status quo,” NBC News reports.
“But on the sidelines of these at times contentious primaries, there’s another battle brewing — a potential early skirmish in Democrats’ 2028 presidential primary. Eight people who are widely expected to run for president in two years have endorsed candidates in the upcoming races.”
“Former Vice President Kamala Harris made a recent slate of suggestions to help Democrats win in future presidential elections, including ‘revisit the Electoral College.'” NewsNation reports.
Said Harris: “I know this is going to be controversial coming from me in particular — we need to revisit the Electoral College. We need to revisit the point of expanding the court to 13 justices like we have 13 district courts. We need to revisit, if they so want, statehood for Puerto Rico and D.C.”
“Kamala Harris is studying artificial intelligence and strategizing with civil rights leaders on voting rights. She’s recasting her political operation. And she’s been exploring philanthropic work to cement her legacy — if she doesn’t run for president,” Politico reports.
”For the second consecutive summer, political insiders are parsing her every move for clues about the former vice president’s electoral intentions — and reaching vastly different conclusions. Her increased visibility in early primary states and reported meetings with pro-Palestinian activists suggest that she’s in. Her $8.15 million beach house in Malibu, not so much.”
“President Donald Trump’s emergency appeal aimed at limiting the use of mail ballots is poised to test a controversial, 20-year-old Supreme Court principle that was intended to avoid chaos before elections,” CNN reports.
“The ‘Purcell principle,’ rooted in a 2006 Supreme Court decision, warns federal courts against making last-minute changes to voting rules. But the principle has never before been weighed in a Supreme Court case involving a federal election policy like Trump’s effort to give the U.S. Postal Service and the Department of Homeland Security a hand in screening state voter rolls for potential non-citizen voters.”
“How the 6-3 conservative majority deals with its self-created and oft-criticized rule in the Trump case could have practical implications for how the court handles the flood of litigation that will inevitably crash onto its docket this fall, and ahead of the 2028 presidential election.”
“Gavin Newsom is quietly banking a lot of goodwill among party organizers and elected officials in states — particularly in the South — that will be key in the midterms and the 2028 Democratic presidential primary,” Axios reports.
“Newsom has raised more than $1.7 million for critical state parties and their legislative committees so far this two-year cycle.”
“Jon Ossoff is having a moment. But some Democratic insiders are questioning whether he’s the real deal — or if a few slickly produced videos are making him look like more of a political juggernaut than he is,” Axios reports.
“The Georgia senator, 39, has catapulted into the 2028 conversation by making liberals on social media swoon over his viral clips of high-energy rallies and sharp takedowns of President Trump and Republicans.”
”Our conversations with Democratic strategists in Georgia and beyond — as well as aides to his potential 2028 rivals — revealed a mix of respect for Ossoff’s digital skills and skepticism that they add up to a serious presidential campaign-in-waiting.”
New York Post: Pete Buttigieg, AOC and Jon Ossoff poll ahead of Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris for White House run.
“The Wall Street Journal opinion page tried to stop Donald Trump a decade ago and again in 2024. Now, the standard-bearer of traditional conservatism is making an early case against his presumed heir,” Axios reports.
“Vice President JD Vance has the inside track for Trump’s endorsement. But there’s a not-insignificant GOP faction that never embraced Trump’s overhaul of the party — and is already arguing against handing the reins to Vance.”
”In a series of recent columns, Journal opinion writers have ripped Vance for being too self-promoting, too eager to court Tucker Carlson, and too thin-skinned.”
“Major Democratic donors are getting really anxious about 2028,” Politico reports.
“The Democratic National Committee has a massive cash deficit heading into November, and Chair Ken Martin is facing a growing onslaught of criticism for failing to build up reserves in the crucial years ahead of the presidential race. But the issue goes beyond his leadership.”
“More than half a dozen donors, bundlers and donor advisers, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said they’ve lost trust in the party’s top organization.”
“Three in 4 Democrats say they would be open to supporting a democratic socialist for president, but less than half of all Americans say they would vote for such a candidate,” according to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll.
“The findings from the recent survey show the ascendant strength of socialist-backed candidates among left-leaning voters — and the challenges that strength poses for a Democratic Party that is debating how to win mass appeal ahead of the 2028 presidential election.”
“He’s in the midst of a national book tour and his name often emerges as a potential leader of the Democratic National Committee. But former Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler has his sights set on something else: a U.S. Senate run in 2028,” NBC News reports.
“For months, Wikler has had discussions with insiders about running for future office, according to three people who spoke directly to him, including one who said he regularly talks to Wikler about his timing around a potential Senate campaign.”
“Democrats across the country agree that their new primary map will redraw the road to their party’s 2028 presidential nomination. But, as they look to what’s widely expected to be a crowded and competitive contest, no one is quite sure what turns it will take,” the New York Times reports.
“Instead of Iowa and New Hampshire, long the traditional openers of the primary process, Democratic candidates will navigate their way through a six-state gantlet that starts in South Carolina on Jan. 22, winds through Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Michigan and ends in Virginia on Feb. 29.”
“The cross-country sprint has significantly broadened the race — geographically, racially and ideologically, Democratic strategists say.”
“An aide who had an affair with Gavin Newsom more than 20 years ago when he was the mayor of San Francisco has written a detailed account of the relationship, which Vanity Fair published on Tuesday,” the New York Times reports.
“The first-person essay by the aide, Ruby Rippey, who was working as Mr. Newsom’s appointments secretary at the time, was published just as he finishes his final year as California governor and lays the groundwork for a possible presidential run in 2028.”
From the piece in Vanity Fair: “Nobody had been surprised when rumors about my affair surfaced long before treatment. Nearly everyone seemed to know except the one person who most needed to know: my husband. I had been sleeping with his boss, who was also mine, and the mayor of San Francisco. I had believed that getting sober would put my life back together. Instead, it left me alone with the truth.”
“A bipartisan bill aiming to penalize Moscow’s war in Ukraine has exposed a fissure among potential 2028 Democratic presidential contenders, some of whom worry the measure would turbocharge President Donald Trump’s power to impose tariffs and harm the economy,” NOTUS reports.
“The bill, titled the ‘Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026,’ could get a vote in the Senate as early as next week. It would authorize tariffs of up to 100% on the top five foreign purchasers of Russian crude oil and natural gas, which is a key source of revenue for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. The long-stalled bill gained fresh momentum after the sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham, its champion and original Republican sponsor.”
“A small but growing number of Democrats are embracing their own version of ‘America First’ in response to Donald Trump’s ongoing war with Iran in partnership with Israel,” Axios reports.
“Trump’s war is scrambling the politics of a slogan he once owned, fracturing the right even as some Democrats — including potential 2028 presidential candidates — embrace it.”
“Some progressive Democrats are fuming that the party’s new schedule for 2028 presidential primaries could make it harder for one of their own to win the party’s nomination,” Axios reports.
“From Wisconsin to Michigan to Maine, top Democrats are trying to halt the left wing’s momentum in the run-up to this year’s midterms, favoring relatively centrist candidates they see as more electable.”
“Some progressives view the elevation of South Carolina on the party’s 2028 primary calendar as part of that effort.”
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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