In a fiery address to New Hampshire Democrats, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker condemned what he described as President Trump’s “authoritarian power grabs” while also blasting the “do-nothing” Democrats in his party — stating it is “time to fight everywhere, all at once,” the Washington Post reports.

“The billionaire Democratic governor repeatedly brought the crowd to its feet with acidic attacks on the morals and ethics of the president, adviser and top donor Elon Musk, as well as members of the president’s Cabinet.”

A new Yale Youth Poll finds that Sen. John Fettermann (D-PA) and ESPN host Stephen A. Smith are the only two individuals who registered negative net favorability ratings among more than a dozen names floated to young Democratic voters recently.

The highest rated were Kamala Harris, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Pete Buttigieg. 

“If JB Pritzker runs for the Democratic presidential nomination, he will be betting his party’s best prospect is a political punch-throwing heavyset billionaire who inherited massive wealth. While that sounds like President Trump, the two-term Illinois governor would be wagering on himself,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune, has become one of the most-outspoken critics of Trump at a time Democrats are struggling to counter him. Wealth has long opened doors for Pritzker and there are signs he wants the next one to be into the Oval Office.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) “raised nearly $10 million in the first three months of 2025, a stunning total for a House member and almost two-thirds of what she raised total in 2023 and 2024 combined,” the Daily Beast reports.

“These funds came from more than 250,000 individual donors, with an average contribution of $21. Know what that sounds a lot like? The fundraising haul of a presidential candidate.”

“Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) unleashed an early 2028 attack on Vice President J.D. Vance Tuesday, attempting to frame President Trump’s heir apparent as a threat to the Constitution while comparing him to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin,” NBC News reports.

Said Khanna, at Yale Law School: “Vance has not only declared war on the courts, but on the universities. And it is no accident. As Stephen Kotkin observed in his study of Stalin, strongmen do not fear recessions or even failed wars as much as they fear the university.”

New York Times: “Friends, former aides and advisers say Ms. Harris still thinks she would have beaten Mr. Trump if she’d had more than 107 days to campaign — the implication being that former President Joe Biden should have quit the race earlier.”

“Yet some of her closest allies say she is leaning against another White House run in 2028 and, instead, toward a campaign for governor of California in 2026. Her political choice is binary, she has told people: She can run for governor or president, but not both.”

“Sen. Ted Cruz stuck out his neck to critique Donald Trump’s actions on tariffs, warning they could have resulted in a political ‘bloodbath’ for the party had the president not partially reversed course Wednesday. But it’s not the first time since Trump’s return to office that the Texas Republican has broken ranks to advance his own agenda,” Politico reports.

“Since becoming chair in January of the Senate Commerce Committee, Cruz — who has signaled abiding presidential ambitions — has found ways to assert his own priorities, even if it involves breaking with Trump and other Republicans in the process.”

“In a rare appearance after her loss in November’s presidential election, former Vice President and potential gubernatorial candidate Kamala Harris on Thursday decried the rollback of fundamental rights under President Trump, urged people to prioritize self-care and pledged to remain active in the fight to safeguard constitutional protection,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

Said Harris: “We can’t go out there and do battle if we don’t take care of ourselves and each other. I’ll see you out there. I’m not going anywhere.

“I want to emphasize what Cory Booker did over the last 24 hours may have changed the course of political history. I watched a lot of it. I listened to words. I listened to phrases. How he presents himself did criticize Donald Trump. Of course he did. But he struck the kind of tone that grassroots Democrats are looking for. He gave them a reason to fight. He gave them a reason to stand up and say, this is my country too. Of course, every Republican watching will say, this is nonsense.  But he is not speaking just to Republicans, he’s speaking to Americans, and what I saw over the last 25 hours absolutely blew me away. And just as you sometimes make projections or predictions, I’m gonna do one right here. That speech puts Cory Booker as one of the leaders for the Democratic Party for 2028.”

— GOP pollster Frank Luntz, on NewsNation.

Julian Zelizer: “Wisconsin is more than just a battleground state; it’s a bellwether. This election isn’t only about measuring enthusiasm for Trump’s second term. It’s also a critical test of how well each party is faring in the ongoing battles over the institutions responsible for overseeing elections in 2026 and 2028.”

“Rahm Emanuel, a veteran Democratic leader and political brawler widely seen as a 2028 presidential contender, is coming to Wall Street. Emanuel, who served most recently as Joe Biden’s ambassador to Japan, is rejoining investment bank Centerview Partners, where he worked from 2019 to 2021 counseling CEOs on mergers, regulation, and political matters,” Semafor reports.

“Centerview is a logical place for Emanuel to hang his hat as he weighs a White House campaign. It’s home to heavyweight Democratic fundraisers, including co-founder Blair Effron, and has a client list whose CEOs would be valuable allies in a centrist run.”

“As a Republican, I would not be open to the idea of Barack Obama running for a third term. So I think folks have to be careful here.”

— Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), on CNN, discussing the possibility of Donald Trump serving a third term as president.

“J.D. Vance is set to host a fundraiser on Monday night in New York City, his first for the Republican National Committee as vice president,” Axios reports.

“The move shows how Vance is maintaining, and building, his fundraising network ahead of a possible 2028 White House bid.”

President Trump did not rule out the possibility of seeking a third term in the White House, which is prohibited by the Constitution under the 22nd Amendment, telling NBC News that there were methods for doing so and clarifying that he was “not joking.”

Said Trump: “A lot of people want me to do it. But, I mean, I basically tell them we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration.”