Democratic leaders such as Pete Buttigieg, Andy Beshear and JB Pritzker are filling the void in New Jersey and Virginia after Joe Biden and Kamala Harris retreat.
Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom consider running for president in 2028
Former Vice President Kamala Harris and California Governor Gavin Newsom have said they are considering running for president in 2028.
WASHINGTON — A year after President Donald Trump gutted the party, the Democratic Party’s newest presidential candidate has largely disappeared from the race, opening the door to many others plotting to take on Kamala Harris in the 2028 race for the White House.
Harris is currently on a book tour and has his sights set on California. Ahead of the pivotal 2026 midterm elections, voters in their home states are set to make their first in-person appearance on the 2025 campaign on Saturday as they decide which side they will take in the battle with Trump over redrawing Congressional lines.
But neither Harris nor former President Joe Biden, who withdrew the Democratic nomination last year under political pressure, are directly campaigning for their party’s nomination in this year’s only gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey.
Instead, Democrats are turning to familiar forces in these campaigns during political crises. Former President Barack Obama has appeared in campaign ads in California and is scheduled to headline a rally this weekend with Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger in Virginia.
Many politicians who have been talked about as potential candidates in 2028 often make stops in one or both states where gubernatorial races are held, often showing off their resumes in an effort to differentiate themselves from the Democratic Party’s deep base of supporters who want to be part of the Democratic Party’s rebuilding story.
“For many Democrats, it’s a turning of the page,” said Jim Manley, a veteran Democratic strategist. “As a party, we are searching hard for our future leadership. Unfortunately, we have not found one yet.”
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who will lead the Democratic Governors Association next year, was quick to tout his electoral success as a second-term Democrat in red states that Trump decisively won during an Oct. 29 livestream for candidates of both parties.
“I live and breathe proof that Democrats can and should win everywhere,” Beshear said.
Other prominent figures, including former 2020 presidential candidates Sen. Cory Booker (D.N.J.) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), also joined the call, calling for a landslide Democratic victory and the need to turn the election into an anti-Trump referendum.
“This is our chance to show that the MAGA world doesn’t win when it comes to what people want,” Booker said on an Oct. 29 livestream.
More people stopped by, including Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who stumbled in Virginia, as well as events in both states, including former Biden Cabinet staffer Pete Buttigieg, California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, and former Japanese ambassador and Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Mr. Khanna and Mr. Emanuel are also campaigning in New York City, where 34-year-old Congressman Zoran Mamdani has excited progressives with his bid to become mayor of the nation’s largest city. Another 2028 candidate, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, said Mamdani’s candidacy represents new hope for the city and the nation.
He suggested that while voters are rallying behind democratic socialists to oppose the Trump administration, they are also supporting a “bygone” Democratic establishment exemplified by former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent for mayor.
“It’s going to take all of us, but to be honest, it always has been,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “It’s no coincidence that the very forces Zoran faces in this race mirror the conditions we face nationally.”
President Trump called Mamdani a “communist” and said it would be a “fluke” if the politician he threatened to arrest was elected on November 4. Still, Trump, a New York City native who defeated Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa in the race, has not joined moderate Republicans in supporting Cuomo.
In Virginia, President Trump has supported the re-election of the state’s attorney general, Jason Miyares, while keeping Republican gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earl Sears at arm’s length. Miyares will face Democrat Jay Jones. President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance called on Jones to withdraw from the race, citing violent text messages.
President Trump is supporting Jack Ciatelli in New Jersey and campaigning virtually for the Republican Party. However, neither Mr. Trump nor Mr. Vance has directly campaigned in the two states that were badly defeated by Democrats in 2024.
Biden is largely out of the picture for 2025.
Biden has been less active politically as the 82-year-old former president battles prostate cancer. He completed a course of radiation therapy in late October. But he hasn’t completely disappeared from the public eye.
While accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute in Boston on October 27, Mr. Biden said the country’s “democracy is at stake” and declared that “this is not the time to give up.”
“These are dark days,” Biden said. “But our country is one of the only countries in the world that has overcome every crisis we’ve faced, time and time again, and bounced back stronger than when we went into it.”
The former president will also headline the Nebraska Democratic Party’s annual gala on Nov. 7.
Biden’s press secretary had no comment.
Harris is on a book tour promoting her campaign memoir “107 Days,” which is mostly sold out. However, there are no tour dates on the calendar for the week leading up to Election Day. Her next stop is Seattle on November 4, Election Day.
In her book, Harris criticized Biden’s aides for refusing to tell the aging president that he should not seek reelection. He also said he was urged to distance himself from Biden by David Plouffe, a former White House staffer and senior adviser to President Obama’s 2024 campaign.
“People hate Joe Biden,” she said Plouffe told her.
For the 2025 campaign, Harris’ engagement was primarily digital. She sent fundraising emails to Spanberger and recorded robocalls to Cheryl.
In an Oct. 30 video, the former 2024 Democratic presidential candidate endorsed the Proposition 50 movement in California, where potential 2028 rival Gavin Newsom is spearheading the fight against Trump in the 2026 midterm elections, in which he accused Trump and the Republican Party of “trying to rig the system around Congressional maps.” She is scheduled to attend a rally in California on Saturday in support of the ballot initiative.
Ms. Harris reluctantly endorsed Ms. Mamdani in a television interview and did not appear on any of the Democratic candidates running this fall. She recently held a private fundraiser for former Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who is running for the state’s vacant Senate seat in next year’s election.
A spokesperson for Mr. Spanberger’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Sherrill did not directly respond to a question from USA TODAY during an October editorial board meeting with USA TODAY Network partner Bergen Record about whether she would welcome Harris to the trail. Sherrill said his campaign creates invitations based on who people ask to visit.
The congressman, who is in a tight race with Republican Jack Ciatelli, said voters want to hear more about Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s anti-violence plan, while Latino voters are asking about Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego.
“If people want to meet (Harris) and ask for her at a rally, she’s certainly someone who…a lot of people were excited about her book tour, and she still has that kind of appeal,” Sherrill said.
“If so, if people want her, we will reach out.”
A spokeswoman for Ms. Harris said that Ms. Spanberger and Ms. Sheryl had invited her, but it did not work with her schedule.
Harris considers his future
Harris recently admitted that she is considering running for president again.
“I’m not done yet,” she told the BBC at the end of October. “I’ve lived my entire career as a life of service, and it’s in my bones.”
But early polls in the campaign suggest party members are ready to move forward. An October survey of Democratic primary voters conducted by the University of New Hampshire placed Harris in fourth place in the likely 2028 race, ahead of Buttigieg, Newsom and Ocasio-Cortez.
In the poll, 55% of people had a favorable rating for Harris, 26% were neutral, and 17% had an unfavorable opinion, with few people unsure about their opinion of her.
By comparison, Buttigieg, the most popular Democrat in the poll, had an approval rating of 81%, with 9% neutral, 6% unfavorable and 4% undecided. Newsom’s approval rating was 58%, with 24% neutral, 10% opposed and 8% expressing uncertainty.
Most primary voters in early-voting states were still forming their minds about other potential candidates, including Beshear, Gallego, Khanna and Moore.
One prominent Democratic lawmaker, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the former president and vice president, said the survey was evidence that Harris’ appeal is waning. The party’s newest presidential candidate shouldn’t be left behind a year after his historic run, the people said.
Democrats suggested Harris could continue to help the party in targeted ways. But Biden is done, the official said.
obama factor
The party’s most recent standard-bearer has been largely absent from the public eye, but Obama, the most popular Democrat, has stepped forward to fill the void.
He cut ads for California’s redistricting play by Sherrill, Spanberger and Newsom. Virginia’s ads focus on the economy, voting rights, and abortion access. The New Jersey spot focuses on the economy and security, reminding voters that Sherrill is a former federal prosecutor, mother, and Navy veteran.
Obama plans to campaign for Sherrill in Newark on November 1st and for Spanberger in Norfolk on the final weekend.
In announcing his appearance, Sherrill said, “President Obama reminds us of what we can accomplish when we as leaders are fearless and take on big challenges.”
Manley, a Democratic strategist and longtime assistant to Capitol Hill leadership, said it’s “about time” for Obama to take on a more high-profile role in the current political debate.
The former president has been out of office for nearly nine years. Still, he is seen as the Democratic Party’s best hope to take on Trump, who held a telephonic rally for Ciatarelli to start early voting in New Jersey.
“His fastball is still there,” Manley said of Obama. “And he’s still hugely popular around the base, and no one speaks like him.”
Santiago Mayer, executive director of Tomorrow’s Voters, said President Obama stirred nostalgia for Gen Z during the campaign because he was the last person to serve as president before the far-right shift in national politics.
Meyer said of his presence, “I think it’s going to draw a lot of people who are excited to see a return to normalcy, who are excited to see that excitement, to see that energy, to see the energy of change that Obama actually represented.”
Gen Z voters still have a lot of love for Harris, said the 23-year-old liberal activist, whose group has helped organize youth support for Spanberger and Sherrill. Mayer said Trump’s double-digit demographic support hindered his campaign, but support from young people should not be underestimated.
