Former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said she is considering a run for president in 2028, but she also noted that the Democratic Party needs to fix perceptions that dogged it in the 2024 election.
Raimondo was the commerce secretary in the Biden administration from 2021 until January 2025, and before that, she was the governor of Rhode Island from 2015 to 2021. When David Axelrod asked her at a University of Chicago Institute of Politics event Tuesday if she was considering a run in 2028, she replied, “Yes.”
“I care deeply about this country. I’ve dedicated 15 years to public service, and if I think there’s a big way for me to serve again, including running, I’ll do it,” Raimondo said. “But I also, if I thought somebody else would be better, or better able to win, I’d get behind that person in a minute.”
The former commerce secretary also said the Democratic Party “has a huge amount of work to do” ahead of the next presidential election. She said the party needs to do some “introspection” and decide on its platform, policies, and tactics.
“How will we overcome this impression that we’re elitist, we’re out of touch, we don’t have our sense on the culture?” Raimondo said. “There’s so much to do. I don’t know how many cycles it’s gonna take. There’s a reason there were a dozen years between [former Presidents Jimmy] Carter and [Bill] Clinton. And I don’t know where we are in that cycle.”
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With the 2028 election more than three years away, Democrats are unlikely to declare their candidacy for the contest any time soon, but several have been floated as candidates. Former Vice President Kamala Harris and Govs. JB Pritzker (D-IL), Gavin Newsom (D-CA), Tim Walz (D-MN), and Josh Shapiro (D-PA) have been speculated by the media as 2028 candidates, along with other members of Congress and politicians.
On the Republican side, Vice President JD Vance is an early favorite to run to succeed President Donald Trump in 2028. Trump is ineligible to run for a third term but has been “trolling” in recent weeks about doing so.