{"id":19818,"date":"2026-07-28T12:10:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T07:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=19818"},"modified":"2026-07-28T12:10:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T07:10:05","slug":"2028-democratic-power-rankings-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=19818","title":{"rendered":"2028 Democratic power rankings, right now"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/sFUbEd9xD0seR0VeS-3PigN1kto=\/0x0:1920x1080\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/25\/1784981667919.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>What Axios&#8217; Alex Thompson is hearing from Democratic insiders about the party&#8217;s most likely 2028 Democratic nominees, as told to Jim VandeHei for his weekly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/newsletters\/c-suite?utm_medium=native&amp;utm_source=axios_article&amp;utm_campaign=csuite\" target=\"_blank\">Axios C-Suite<\/a> newsletter:<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Kamala Harris.<\/strong> She is far ahead of every other contender with Black voters, still the most important voting bloc in a Democratic primary. Her allies argue that no one else is as prepared for a national campaign. She was a better candidate in 2024 than in 2020 and is working hard to be a better, more authentic, less cautious candidate in 2028. Harris is likely a beneficiary of Democrats&#8217; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/24\/democrats-2028-first-primary-south-carolina-nevada\" target=\"_blank\">preliminary choice<\/a> yesterday of South Carolina, instead of Nevada, for the first Democratic presidential primary of 2028.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>2. AOC.<\/strong> No one else can plausibly claim to be Bernie Sanders&#8217; rightful heir, and she channels where the energy of the party is right now. If Bernie endorses her on Day 1, she will raise $100 million without talking to a single donor. The question isn&#8217;t whether she&#8217;d be a top contender, but rather whether she decides to run for Senate instead.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Gavin Newsom.<\/strong> He&#8217;s the best political athlete in the field who can stand apart in the debates. He can convincingly argue that he&#8217;s done more than any other Democrat to push back against President Trump at a time when Democrats feel powerless. With his longtime connections in Silicon Valley and non-doomer views, he&#8217;ll also have access to deep pockets \u2014 but that California baggage is heavy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. TBD center-left candidate. <\/strong>Big business, the party establishment and some voters are desperate for a more moderate choice. They&#8217;ll have many options, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, Rahm Emanuel, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. At a time of populist anger, it&#8217;s unclear how big this lane is \u2014 and if it&#8217;s big enough for more than one candidate. Right now, it feels like an establishment fantasy.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcc8 <em>If you&#8217;re a CEO or on a CEO&#8217;s team: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/newsletters\/c-suite?utm_medium=native&amp;utm_source=axios_article&amp;utm_campaign=csuite\" target=\"_self\">Ask to join<\/a> Jim&#8217;s new weekly Axios C-Suite newsletter.<\/em><\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Axios&#8217; Alex Thompson is hearing from Democratic insiders about the party&#8217;s most likely 2028 Democratic nominees, as told to Jim VandeHei for his weekly Axios C-Suite newsletter: 1. Kamala Harris. She is far ahead of every other contender with Black voters, still the most important voting bloc in a Democratic primary. Her allies argue&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/sFUbEd9xD0seR0VeS-3PigN1kto=\/0x0:1920x1080\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/25\/1784981667919.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}