The following is a list of people who have been mentioned (by either themselves or others) as potential candidates in 2020. Folks are on the list whether or not they have claimed or disclaimed any interest in running. When an individual suggests publicly that he or she is not interested in running, their name is struck through. It should be noted that Senators who are up in 2018 deliver an obligatory denial that they are not planning to run for president. There is no penalty for changing their minds after they have been re-elected.
Ultimately, the list will narrow for a variety of reasons. Among those reasons is “opposition research” done by folks who are supporting other candidates. Events from a person’s past inevitably come to light in a presidential campaign and take on added significance as a result of the standards of the time. Another reason is the inability to raise enough money to be relevant.
The list of people without government experience is followed by a list of current or past government officials who have been mentioned or have done something to suggest they are thinking about running for president.
Dwayne Johnson – Actor
Bob Iger – Disney
Howard Schultz – Founder & Exec. Chairman, Starbucks
Mark Cuban – Businessman and Owner, Dallas Mavericks
Kanye West – Entertainer
Tom Steyer – Billionaire philanthropist
Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook
Mark Zuckerberg – CEO, Facebook
Oprah Winfrey – CEO, OWN
Michael Bloomberg, Businessman and former Mayor of New York
Andrew Cuomo (D) – Governor of New York
(Said during a gubernatorial debate related to his re-election campaign in New York that he intends if elected to serve the full 4-year term)
John Hickenlooper (D) – Governor of Colorado
Steve Bullock (D) – Governor of Montana
Jerry Brown (D) – Governor of California
Jay Inslee (D) – Governor of Washington
Gina Raimondo (D) – Governor of Rhode Island
Martin O’Malley (D) – former Governor of Maryland
Terry McAuliffe (D) – former Governor of Virginia
Deval Patrick (D) – former Governor of Massachusetts
Congressman John Delaney (D) – Announced 7/22/17
Congressman Luis V. Gutierrez (D)
Congressman Tim Ryan (D)
Congressman Seth Moulton (D
Congressperson Maxine Waters (D)
Congressperson Tulsi Gabbard (D)
Congressman Eric Swalwell (D)
Congressman Joe Kennedy (D)
Cory Booker (D) – U.S. Senator
Amy Klobuchar (D) – U.S. Senator
Kamala Harris (D) – U.S. Senator
Bernie Sanders (D) – U.S. Senator
Kirsten Gillibrand (D) – U.S. Senator
Tim Kaine (D) – U.S. Senator
Elizabeth Warren (D) – U.S. Senator
Chris Murphy (D) – U.S. Senator
Sherrod Brown (D) – U.S. Senator
Mark Warner (D) – U.S. Senator
Lincoln Chafee (D) – former mayor, Rhode Island governor and U.S. Senator
Al Franken (D) – former U.S. Senator
Eric Holder (D) – former Attorney General
Joe Biden (D) – former Vice President, former U.S. Senator
John Kerry (D) – former U.S. Senator, former Secretary of State, former general election candidate for president
Eric Garcetti (D) – Mayor of Los Angeles
Mitch Landrieu (D) – Mayor of New Orleans
Bill de Blasio (D) – Mayor of New York City
Pete Buttigieg (D) – Mayor South Bend, Indiana
Julian Castro (D) – former Secretary of HUD
For your prurient interest, the following is a July 2018 nationwide survey of folks who say they will vote in the 2020 Democratic primary:
Joe Biden 30%
Bernie Sanders 28%
Elizabeth Warren 13%
Cory Booker 8%
Kamala Harris 5%
A governor 2%
Howard Schultz 2%
Tom Steyer 1%
Mitch Landrieu 1%
[Democracy Corps & Greenberg Research 7/26/18]
Democratic Party officials voted at their recent summer meeting to strip superdelegates of much of their power in the presidential nominating process, infuriating many traditionalists while handing a victory to the party’s left flank.
The measure’s overwhelming approval – met by cheers in the room in Chicago – concluded a tense summer meeting of the Democratic National Committee which had labored over the issue since 2016. Superdelegates that year largely sided with Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders, enraging Sanders’ supporters. There were 716 superdelegates in 2016. (Superdelegates were added to the Democratic Party nominating process in 1982.)
Under the new rule, superdelegates – the members of Congress, DNC members and other top officials who made up about 15 percent of delegates that year – will not be allowed to vote on the first ballot at a contested national convention. The change could dramatically re-shape the calculous of future presidential campaigns, rendering candidates’ connections to superdelegates less significant. [Politico]