Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY) wants the 2028 Democratic presidential nominee to be someone like him — a fellow governor.
“I think Democratic governors should be the face of the Democratic Party,” Beshear, the head of the Democratic Governors Association, bluntly told Newsweek, touting their abilities to “get stuff done” in comparison to Washington lawmakers.
In a Tuesday evening conversation with fellow Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD) this week, Beshear made some of his clearest indications that his 2023 reelection might not be his final campaign.
“Sitting here today, I’m not sure that’s true,” Beshear said as part of a tour for his new book, Go and Do Likewise. Although he claimed his comments were not a presidential announcement, he also vowed that he wouldn’t “leave a broken country to my kids or to our future generations.”
The two Democratic governors also alluded to the fact that they could run as a team in the future. “Based on the time we’ve been here tonight, I think we’d make a pretty good team,” Beshear told Moore. The crowd ate it up.
But Democratic governors face heavy competition from popular House Democrats — and ones with large personalities and online followings — such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA), who are both contemplating a 2028 run. Former Vice President Kamala Harris and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg are also weighing another run for the White House, while others such as Sens. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), and Cory Booker (D-NJ) could all launch a presidential campaign in the future.
Democrats are seeking to retake the White House after the 2024 election decimated their big tent coalition and left the party largely rudderless. Yet which type of Democrat is best positioned to lead the party still roils the base, which remains unruly over issues such as Israel.
“The appeal of a governor might be that they could come in in much the way that Bill Clinton did in 1992, and say, ‘OK, I’m resetting what the party stands for, what the party looks like, or how the party approaches stuff,’” said Christopher Galdieri, a political scientist at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire.
But some Democrats said the 2028 nominee will likely come down to charisma, not necessarily whether they have served as governor or senator.
“I think big personalities matter more so right now,” said Michael Ceraso, a Democratic strategist who worked on Buttigieg’s presidential campaign.
Ceraso added he thinks gubernatorial experience could pose a liability in the primary field.
“I think some of these executives are going to be vulnerable to being picked apart, what they have and haven’t done,” he said.
The last Democratic governor to ascend to the White House was former President Bill Clinton in 1992. Clinton ran as a “New Democrat” and campaigned on the economic recession that occurred under former President George H.W. Bush. That same formula could boost Beshear, Moore, and other governors, such as Govs. JB Pritzker (D-IL), Josh Shapiro (D-PA), and Gavin Newsom (D-CA), all of whom have not hid from the fact they may have White House ambitions.
President Donald Trump and the Republican Party are facing a midterm electorate furious over the high cost of living, rising gas prices, and an unabated inflation rate.
Several potential 2028 Democratic candidates are raising and spending money to help the party win statewide and federal races this November. Some Democrats, like Newsom, have even taken to trolling Trump online to show the Democratic base they can fight back against the president. Polling shows that they have the advantage to flip the House and give the GOP a stronger fight for control of the Senate.
Beshear could campaign as being a two-term Democratic governor in a red state, but Kentucky’s poverty rate at 15.6% stands higher than the national rate of 10.6%, putting a dent on an affordability appeal. Newsom’s tactics of trolling Trump online come as he has angered Democrats over allowing David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance, which owns CBS, to gain control of Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN. (He denied pressuring California Attorney General Rob Bonta to settle with Paramount.)
Newsom has also recently said he wouldn’t run if Harris decides to run again, signaling her dominance among the party. The former vice president still continues to lead early polling of the primary race, but some prominent Democratic donors, such as Reid Hoffman, have cast doubt on Harris’s viability in a primary.
Pro-Palestinian Democrats may be skeptical of Shapiro, a Jewish Democrat and unabashed supporter of Israel. Shapiro may have also rubbed some Democrats the wrong way after Harris detailed her hesitations about not selecting him as her running mate in her book 107 Days. And some Democrats claim that Moore’s record needs beefing up and wonder if he can win battleground states necessary to retake the White House.
“I do think that Pritzker has the juice,” said Kaivan Shroff, a political communications professional and former 2024 Democratic delegate. “I think not enough people have been introduced to him, which is actually an opportunity because he’s very likable.”
Pritzker is making several moves that suggest he’s preparing for a White House run. He joined Democrats in Texas to criticize the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention earlier this month. His new Ready for the Fight PAC will spend $20 million boosting House Democrats this midterm cycle, and he announced he is assembling a panel to advise Illinois on artificial intelligence threats, a huge topic of conversation in Washington.
“He’s the wild card because arguably he’s got a lot of progressive stuff like fair wages, reproductive protections, and stuff in Illinois,” said Ceraso. “A lot of money has been poured into infrastructure in that state. He’s kind of goofy and kind of funny, and he’s kind of interesting enough. He’s good on the mic.”
Yet Democrats such as Ocasio-Cortez are also charismatic, youthful, and able to raise millions of dollars for the party. Ultimately, what may separate the governors from other lawmakers is the results of the midterm elections and whether Democrats can make inroads in red-leaning states.
“If Democrats do well in places like Texas and Kansas, I think that scrambles everybody’s thinking,” said Galdieri. “That’s the AOC-decides-to-run sort of signal because … all bets are off.
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“On the other hand, if they have the Democratic equivalent of what Republicans had in 2022, where they get the House by four or five seats and don’t flip many governorships and don’t get a majority in the Senate and don’t have a lot of success down-ticket, then I think that’s the scenario where it’s, ‘OK, who is the friendly white guy that we want to nominate?’”
Beshear alluded to the Democratic 2028 bench being wide and deep during his talk with Moore, even as he signaled his willingness to run. “Listen, we might have a lot of great candidates,” he said.