Among the many problems Democrats faced in the 2024 election — former President Joe Biden’s obvious decline, a rejiggered ticket at the 11th hour, a slumbering economy and border crisis that Dems took too long to acknowledge — was their terrible timing.
When Biden won in 2020, it was with an implicit promise to be a one-term president, a transitional one, not a transformational one, a “bridge” as he called it.
“Look, I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else,” he said two months into his term. “There’s an entire generation of leaders you saw stand behind me. They are the future of this country.”
Except, he wasn’t a bridge at all. After spending the next three years playing coy about his 2024 plans, essentially boxing out any serious contenders from emerging, including his own vice president, he officially announced his candidacy for reelection in April of 2023. No longer transitional, he was now a bridge to more of the same. A crumbling one, at that.
His broken promise, followed by his months-long refusal to step aside despite brutal poll numbers and the urging of his party, meant no Dems got a real chance to offer up a different vision. Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., made an attempt, but without the Democratic National Committee’s imprimatur, it was never going to be a serious challenge to Biden.
By July of 2024, the writing was on the wall. Biden couldn’t keep running. He could barely keep being president. With only three-plus months left to campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz were left in a pretty undesirable position to try to beat an ascendant Donald Trump.
If Dems want to learn from past mistakes, there are a bunch they can choose from. But most urgently, they can’t wait again. They need to start running. Now.
The 2028 election may seem far away, but it isn’t. Voters need time to get to know their candidates, and the party needs a long runway to condition an environment for newcomers.
Unlike in 2024, Dems need to have a robust primary — a real one. If the plan is to just run Harris again, Harris who gave a valiant effort but lost all seven swing states to a convicted criminal, and box out other contenders, the Dems will lose. Not because Harris is a flawed candidate — though she is — but because Democratic voters feel cheated out of an actual contest, and they feel let down by leadership, which insisted for too long that Biden could get the job done.
A number of Dems look to be toying with a run.
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has been making the podcast rounds, and is set to headline a conspicuous town hall in Iowa later this month.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, an outspoken Trump critic, was in New Hampshire in April, where he gave a rousing speech to a group of Dem activists, officials and donors.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who’s long believed he was the Dems’ heir apparent, has been staking out some ground on his podcast, offering fresh criticism of his own party to appeal to moderates.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear recently said he’s contemplating a run.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., have been packing arenas in an off-puttingly named “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, but he’ll be 86-years-old in 2028, while AOC will be old enough to run for the first time.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania’s Sen. John Fetterman and Gov. Josh Shapiro’s names have also been bandied about in Dem circles.
Whatever you think of their qualifications or chances, there’s a sizable stable of Dems to take on Trump. That’s all fine and good, but they need to announce, not just flirt.
This isn’t a political climate in which Dems can afford to wait until 2027 to field their candidates. Other than a few, most of the aforementioned Dems don’t have huge national name ID. Remember, though Harris was the vice president of the United States when she was plopped onto the top of the ticket in 2024, undecided voters felt they didn’t know her.
Dems also need to coalesce around messages that will help them win in the midterms and 2028. So far, they haven’t found them. If presidential candidates announce sooner rather than later, some of those successful messages may emerge.
Trump’s approval numbers are bad, and plenty of voters want to start imagining and investing in a candidate who can beat whomever Republicans field. Dems, give voters what they want.
S.E. Cupp is the host of “S.E. Cupp Unfiltered” on CNN.
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