Democrats: The 2028 race has begun

California Gov. Gavin Newsom tours rural counties in South Carolina on July 8, 2025

(Image credit: Sean Rayford / Getty Images)

published 28 July 2025

The 2028 Democratic primaries have already kicked off in South Carolina, said Brakkton Booker and Elena Schneider in Politico. A host of presidential hopefuls have descended on the early primary state, testing stump speeches, previewing lines of attack against President Trump and the GOP, and aiming to "introduce themselves to a set of influential voters." Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have toured some of the state's rural counties. In May, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland headlined state party events where they rubbed elbows with South Carolina kingmaker Rep. Jim Clyburn. "As the party scrambles to find a path forward," said Michelle Cottle in The New York Times, its moderate, highly popular governors "should be the face of the Democratic Party." Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly is a "pragmatic centrist" who has rescued the state from fiscal disaster. Govs. Beshear, Moore, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania are also proven problem solvers and vote getters. Outside the Beltway, "there's a good farm team" in state capitols.

Democrats already have an obvious "central message" in 2026 and 2028, said Lauren Egan in The Bulwark. In the midterms, they should portray Donald Trump, his policies, and the entire GOP "as a protection racket for the elites." Trump's frantic efforts to shield himself from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, combined with the brutal Medicaid cuts in his budget, will enable Democrats to say: "Trump kept the Epstein files secret, protecting his rich business friends while also giving them tax breaks paid for by your health care." Democrats now have "a cohesive narrative" that Trump and the GOP are "not a scourge of, but a protector of" the rich and powerful.

To win elections, Democrats first need to resolve their "identity crisis," said Catherine Rampell in The Washington Post. The party's brand is badly damaged, and Democrats now stand at "a fork in the road." One road leads to the progressive populism championed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, which "scapegoats" billionaires and Big Tech for the country's "complicated social problems." But raising taxes on billionaires alone won't fix what ails America. The other road leads to the "pragmatist, technocrat-driven approach" that enabled Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama to win two elections each. For Democrats, "replicating Trump's populism is not the answer."