NEW YORK — The 2028 Democratic presidential primary unofficially began during the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network convention, where 10 individuals who could launch a bid for the country’s highest office spoke to the crowd.
Many of them claimed they were mainly focused on this year’s midterm elections and would decide on a presidential campaign in the future. But others, like former Vice President Kamala Harris, admitted they were seriously contemplating a White House run.
The annual gathering gave potential 2028 Democrats the chance to test drive their message before hundreds of black civil rights leaders, media figures, and activists. Black voters are a key part of the Democratic Party’s coalition and were instrumental in helping rescue future victor Joe Biden’s struggling 2020 presidential primary bid after back-to-back losses in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada.
No Democrat made any major gaffes during their remarks, but there were clear favorites in the crowd. The Washington Examiner ranked the presidential hopefuls by how well they were received at the convention.
1. Kamala Harris
By far the most popular Democrat at the four-day convention in New York was Harris, the party’s failed 2024 nominee.
Hours before she appeared onstage for a fireside chat with Sharpton, every single seat at the Sheraton Times Square Hotel ballroom was filled. When Harris eventually appeared onstage, the former vice president received a standing ovation.
Members of Harris’s sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, were decked out in pink-and-green attire in support of her throughout the convention. Harris was repeatedly encouraged by the crowd to launch a third presidential campaign before she eventually conceded it was a possibility. Some attendees even brought their children to hear the former vice president speak.
“I might,” Harris told Sharpton about running in 2028, to the delight of the audience. “I am thinking about it.”
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“Let me also say this: I served for four years, being a heartbeat away from the presidency of the United States,” Harris said. “I spent countless hours in my West Wing office, footsteps away from the Oval Office. I spent countless hours in the Oval Office, in the Situation Room. I know what the job is, and I know what it requires.”
Although several attendees told the Washington Examiner they were backing Harris, some black attendees expressed caution that another campaign may not be successful for the former vice president.
2. Wes Moore
Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, the first black chief executive of Maryland, is considered a rising star in the Democratic Party, and the level of support he got at the convention proved it.
During his fireside chat with Sharpton, Moore was asked if he would consider running for president in 2028. Before the first-term governor could finish speaking, several members of the crowd provided the answer with applause and cheers.
“Say yes!” some attendees even stood up and yelled at Moore.
Moore, for his part, demurred about a 2028 run, saying he was focused on reelection and helping Democrats win back the House and Senate in this year’s midterm elections.
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“I now have, because I keep a clock on my desk, I got 278 days left in my first term,” Moore said on Thursday. “And by the way, I’m going back to the people of Maryland in November, because I’m gonna bring this thing back.”
But many attendees told the Washington Examiner they wanted him to seek the White House, and some even claimed that as a black man, he could be better poised for success than Harris.
3. Cory Booker
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) surprised the convention by making a quick appearance on Saturday, where, instead of participating in a fireside chat as all the other 2028 hopefuls did, he gave a roughly 12-minute passionate speech to the crowd.
The speech made specific references to several civil rights legends, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Booker electrified the crowd with his call never to forget the contributions that black Americans made to the nation.
“My fellow Americans, from [sailor] Crispus Attucks to [former President] Barack Obama, black people have been a part of this nation,” said Booker. “We redeemed the soul of our country time and time again, from labor rights to union rights to suffrage rights, we have fought in every major battle.”
“And it wasn’t who was president in the United States. [Abraham] Lincoln did not free the slaves. We freed the slaves,” Booker continued, his voice rising as the crowd clapped and cheered. “It is our power that has made this nation who it is.”
Sharpton, who joined Booker onstage, jokingly called him “Reverend Cory Booker.” The New Jersey senator then convinced the crowd to do something no other 2028 hopeful did: take a group selfie on the stage.
4. Ruben Gallego
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) may not have had the star power of Harris or Moore, but his ability to connect President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation agenda with civil rights “was effective,” Sharpton told the New York Times.
The Arizona senator claimed the Latino community has been “woken up” by the Trump administration’s efforts to deport illegal immigrants and by the chaos that unfolded in Minnesota after two American citizens were killed while protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“I think for a while, the Latino community kind of thought that they would be exempt from the worst reaches of a government overreach, and now they kind of got, you know, woken up,” Gallego said, earning some applause from the audience.
“And because of that, I think you are seeing some great political coalition,” he continued. “You’re seeing some districts in this country, especially like districts that have a good coalition of black and brown voters, voting together in unison, right? And I’m hoping my people, Latinos, have learned their lesson.”
He earned more approval by criticizing the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota at the hands of immigration enforcement officials.
“If they’re willing to kill, you know, two middle-class white people on camera, then deny it to our face, what do you think they’re doing to black and Latino people when there’s no camera, and there’s no accountability?” he said. “And that should freak us all out.”
Gallego, like many others, also dodged the 2028 question. “So I am focused on 2026 first. I’m focused on three babies,” he told Sharpton, earning more laughter from the crowd. “I’m going to be a good team player, make sure the Democrats win in 2026, and then we’ll deal with those questions post-2026.”
5. Mark Kelly
Mild-mannered Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) fired up a crowd as he chatted with Sharpton on Saturday about the need for Democrats to fight back against income inequality, push for diversity, equality, and inclusion policies, and ban stock trading among members of Congress.
He also earned approval for excoriating the Trump administration over the Iran war. Sharpton claimed that Kelly won some credit for attending a reception with the convention’s delegates, according to the New York Times.
“Donald Trump, he is not a strategic thinker. I mean, that’s the root of his problem,” Kelly said of the Iran war. “Everybody heard the analogy of when somebody is playing chess, the other side and our side is playing checkers. Donald Trump isn’t even playing checkers.”
Kelly claimed the U.S. would need to back up NATO allies, a break from Trump’s recent attacks against the alliance, to facilitate peace with Iran. He also slammed Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, and Vice President JD Vance, who were in Islamabad, Pakistan, to negotiate a peace deal.
“You’ve got to build these relationships back up with our allies in the region and with NATO, and then you got to get the Iranians to the table and have a serious discussion,” he said. “You can’t send the two real estate developers to negotiate a peace with another nation.”
6. Andy Beshear
Before Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY) had even begun his fireside chat, a few attendees in the crowd stood up and declared that the Kentucky governor was a “good guy,” causing Sharpton to single them out in his opening remarks.
“I think our Louisville chapters’ making a lot of noise,” said Sharpton.
Beshear then went on to impress the crowd with a biblical anecdote about the good Samaritan before seguing to how his father, former Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, enacted the Affordable Care Act in Kentucky.
“I was raised to believe in that golden rule that says I love my neighbor as myself, and the parable of the good Samaritan that says that everyone is my neighbor,” he said. “And so my faith informs me in everything that I do.
Because of his father’s work with the ACA, Beshear claimed, “We saw 600,000 people get healthcare coverage that had never had it.”
“We expanded Medicaid in a way that when I became governor, and the [COVID-19] pandemic hit, we had enough beds because of the Affordable Care Act and expanded Medicaid,” Beshear continued as the crowd cheered.
He also touted his work to restore voting rights to thousands of Kentuckians who had completed sentences for nonviolent crimes while in office.
“On my third day in office as Kentucky’s governor, I signed a bill that restored the voting rights of 200,000 Kentuckians that can now participate in our great democracy,” he said to the approval of the crowd.
Beshear did raise eyebrows when he suggested he could run for office again.
“I don’t have any announcement, but I will not leave a broken country to my kids or anyone else’s kids or grandkids,” he said.
According to Beshear, his 2023 reelection campaign “may not have been my last run.”
7. JB Pritzker
When Sharpton asked Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) his customary question about whether he would run in 2028, the governor joked, “I feel like I’m on The Price is Right, right?”
“People are yelling out the answers,” said Pritzker, as some in the crowd pushed him to run for president.
At least one attendee told the Washington Examiner they favored a Pritzker run, although they conceded any 2028 Democratic primary candidate would face a hard time against Harris. The governor said his main priority is winning reelection.
JB PRITZKER SAYS HE’LL BE ‘INVOLVED’ IN 2028 RACE
“First of all, I’m running for reelection as governor right now,” he told the audience. “Everybody from Illinois, can I count on your vote?”
“I’ve been involved every presidential election in one fashion or another, probably since, in fact, I know since I was an adult and able to vote,” he continued. “I’ve been involved in some fashion or another, and I’m going to be more involved than ever before in 2028 because we can’t lose.”
8. Josh Shapiro
Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) stirred laughter when he claimed, “That’s my church,” to a person in the crowd at the convention.
“You don’t think a Jew can go to a Baptist church,” Shapiro joked with Sharpton.
“All right, if you say so, that’s fine,” Sharpton responded.
During his fireside chat, Shapiro summed up his entire governing philosophy as “GST,” or “get stuff done.”
“My whole reason for being in this business is that I believe government can be a force for good in people’s lives,” said Shapiro. “My faith teaches me to serve. Part of my Scripture teaches me that no one is required to complete the task, but neither are we free to refrain from it.”
It may have worked with one elderly black woman, who declined to give her full name, saying she “loved” Shapiro.
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But Shapiro also warned Democrats that winning in 2028 will involve moving beyond Trump.
“Our affirmative vision … can’t just be about banging Donald Trump every day,” Shapiro said. “It has to be about what we are going to do to make people’s lives better.”
9. Pete Buttigieg
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had the unenviable task of following Harris after her speech on Friday — several attendees had left the ballroom before he appeared onstage.
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Buttigieg received polite applause from the crowd, but the energy was notably lower compared to when Harris spoke less than an hour before him.
Unfortunately for Buttigieg, several attendees also claimed that his identity as a gay man wouldn’t help him among black voters, many of whom do not support homosexuality on religious grounds. But he did win some plaudits for his erudition and work as the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, helping decrease poverty for his black constituents.
10. Ro Khanna
With so many other 2028 contenders, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) barely stood out. He lacked the fiery speech of Booker, the popularity of Harris, the charisma of Moore, and the conviviality of Pritzker.
Not one person the Washington Examiner talked to mentioned Khanna as a presidential contender they would back, not a good sign for a future run.
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As Sharpton told the New York Times, “I don’t think they saw him really in the presidential, even though he’s rumored to be looking at it.”
That didn’t stop Khanna from teasing a presidential run, though. “Maybe I have something to offer and contribute with humility to our nation at this moment,” he said.