Meet the Democrats seen as up-and-comers for 2028 — or maybe sooner
By Deepa Shivaram
Monday, July 1, 2024 • 12:41 PM EDT
Heard on All Things Considered
President Biden is adamant that he will continue his 2024 reelection bid — despite calls from some Democrats to consider dropping out because they’re worried his dismal debate performance last week means the party will lose in November.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, was the first congressional Democrat to publicly call on Biden to step aside. Other leaders in the party have said Biden is best placed to take on former President Donald Trump.
But overall, the conversation has brought up a key question for the party: if not Biden, then who?
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Several Democrats believed to have presidential ambitions for the 2028 election have now been thrown into the spotlight as potential Biden replacements for 2024 — though all of them have declared they support the president’s run.
Democratic operatives like Adrianne Shropshire, who leads BlackPAC, have said taking Biden off the top of the ticket is a bad idea for these contenders now — and in the future.
“What they don’t want to do is find themselves in a place four years from now, eight years from now, when they’re trying to run, and Americans, including Democrats, have lost confidence in the party itself to manage itself,” Shropshire said.
Here’s a list of some of the names being floated:
Vice President Kamala Harris
Already number two on the ticket, there are several current and former Democratic leaders who have said Harris is the obvious, and only, choice to replace Biden. Harris, 59, has a national profile and name recognition that other contenders wouldn’t have time to build before November.
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She’s been a consistently high fundraiser for Biden and the party. She has also been traveling more for the campaign, with events aimed at engaging with voters of color, younger voters and women — especially on issues of reproductive rights, a focal point for the Biden campaign since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling in 2022.
Harris, like Biden, has struggled with low approval ratings. Early on as vice president, she stumbled in her handling of the root causes of migration. But she has built up her foreign policy chops. Some in the party like close Biden ally Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., and progressive Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., have said they would back Harris if Biden were to step aside.
Harris, though, has not wavered in supporting Biden, telling a CBS reporter this week, “Joe Biden is our nominee. We beat Trump once and we are going to beat him again.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom
A former mayor of San Francisco, Newsom, 56, is in his second term as governor — surviving a recall election in 2021. He is known for his progressive policies, including prisoner rehabilitation, public safe drug-use clinics for overdose patients and new legal strategies to promote gun control.
Newsom has long been an adversary to conservatives, debating Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last year in a primetime debate on Fox News. He has worked to raise his profile with trips around the country, as well as to Israel and China.
There have been some scandals in his political career dating back before his first gubernatorial run in 2008, but he remains a top party leader who has remained loyal to Biden, and helping raise money for the campaign. After the presidential debate in Atlanta, Newsom was in the spin room for the Biden campaign, defending the president.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer
Whitmer, a co-chair of the Biden campaign, gained national attention during the COVID-19 pandemic with strict lockdown guidelines. Three men were later convicted for supporting a plot to kidnap her because of her COVID policies.
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As governor of a critical swing state, Whitmer has championed gun safety legislation, electric car manufacturing and abortion rights. Whitmer, 52, has repeatedly pledged her support for Biden in 2024. Her forthcoming political memoir, “True Gretch,” will be released this July, and may boost her national profile further.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore
Moore, 45, is the only sitting Black governor, and the third ever to be elected in the United States. He has been described as a “rising star” in the Democratic Party.
Moore recently gained national attention for pardoning 175,000 low-level marijuana convictions in his state. He and Biden shared a close working relationship after Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed earlier this year.
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Moore was pressed into action in the aftermath of Biden’s debate, doing a series of interviews to defend the president while on a tour across Wisconsin to try to energize Black voters. Moore said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that he will not try to seek the DNC nomination after calls for Biden to drop out of the race, and pledged his full support for the president.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg
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Buttigieg, 42, is the former mayor of South Bend, Ind,, and a one-time candidate for chair of the Democratic National Committee. He became more well-known after he ran for president in 2020.
In the Biden administration, Buttigieg has gone after airlines and railways. But he has also taken on culture war issues like LGBTQ rights. Buttigieg is the first openly gay man confirmed to a cabinet position.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro
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Shapiro, 51, attracted attention during his 2022 gubernatorial race against Doug Mastriano, a right-wing, Trump-backed candidate who promoted Trump’s lies about election fraud in 2020.
Shapiro previously served as the state’s attorney general, and is popular in the critical swing state.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker
Pritzker, 59, has been governor since 2019, and is currently serving his second term. He is a progressive — and a billionaire — who has aggressively attacked Trump over his legal woes.
He has expressed support for Biden after the debate, but in a recent CNN interview, said: “Right now, Joe Biden is our nominee, and I’m 100% on board with supporting him as our nominee unless he makes some other decision.”
NPR's Clayton Kincaide contributed to this report.
Transcript
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
In the aftermath of President Biden's disastrous debate performance last week, Democrats have both privately and publicly stated that he should step down from the ticket. The Biden campaign has been adamant that he will not drop out. But if he did, there is a long list of younger Democrats who may be considered as his replacement. NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram has more.
DEEPA SHIVARAM, BYLINE: Two days after the first debate between President Biden and former President Donald Trump, Maryland Governor Wes Moore was out of cookout in Milwaukee, Wis. It was one of eight events he did over the weekend for the Biden campaign, primarily reaching out to Black voters. It was supposed to be a chance to drum up enthusiasm. But instead, he had to defend the president after his lackluster debate. Here's Moore in one of the several media interviews he did over the weekend, this one with CBS.
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WES MOORE: He got back up, and he got back to work.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: But...
MOORE: And that's the thing I think people need to remember. All of us get knocked down.
SHIVARAM: Before the debate, Moore was one of the long list of governors floated as contenders for the 2028 election, along with Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer and Gavin Newsom from California. But then came that high-stakes debate, where Biden struggled to find his words and make his case. That led to more voters expressing concern over his ability to do another four years in the job. And some lawmakers have gone public. Congressman Lloyd Doggett told Morning Edition he thinks Biden should step down.
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LLOYD DOGGETT: I think that he is far behind and that we have to put a best possibility forward instead of putting forward the same person that some called the double haters have rejected. We need to add some enthusiasm and excitement in our campaign.
SHIVARAM: Now some of these 2028ers are also now being talked about as a replacement for Biden on the 2024 ticket, and so is Vice President Harris. Recent polling from CNN shows she fares better than Biden in a matchup against Trump, but she and other Democrats have all responded similarly.
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KAMALA HARRIS: Joe Biden is our nominee. We beat Trump once, and we're going to beat him again, period.
SHIVARAM: Harris has been on the road raising money and rallying with supporters in the past few days. Newsom, for his part, was in the spin room after the debate last Thursday and has been consistently fundraising for Biden. Whitmer, one of the Biden campaign's co-chairs, has been providing critical support to Biden in her swing state of Michigan. But most of the governors haven't had the time they'd need to build a national profile where they could beat Trump. Caitlin Jewitt, a professor of politics at Virginia Tech, says that's a problem.
CAITLIN JEWITT: There is no obvious choice, and that makes this idea - that Biden should step aside and things will be better - concerning to me.
SHIVARAM: All of these leaders have continued to back Biden publicly and have largely ignored calls to have their own name on the top of the ticket. Democratic operatives say this is smart. Adrianne Shropshire does outreach to Black voters with BlackPAC. She wants Biden to stay in the race, and she says replacing him on the ticket at this late point would be disastrous for Democrats now and in the future, especially for younger politicians with presidential ambitions.
ADRIANNE SHROPSHIRE: What they don't want to do is find themselves in a place four years from now, eight years from now, when they're trying to run, and Americans - including Democrats - have lost confidence in the party itself to manage itself.
SHIVARAM: But polls have long shown that voters have real issues with Biden's ability to lead the party. Biden, though, has said he's staying in the race and will fight harder. But concerns remain high enough that Democratic governors last night met in person at the White House, including Whitmer and Newsom. And soon, Biden will be back on the road. On Friday, he'll be in Wisconsin and take part in a closely watched interview with ABC.
Deepa Shivaram, NPR News, the White House.