John Delaney
Delaney, a 55-year-old businessman and former Maryland Congressional representative, has been running for president almost as long as President Donald Trump has been in office: He announced his campaign in July 2017, according to Boston radio station WBUR.
Hillary Clinton’s surprising loss “made me say, ‘We have to think differently about everything,’ ” Delaney, a Democrat who left office earlier this year, told WBUR. “We really need to move to a bit of a post-partisan world where we actually start solving problems.”
In his WBUR interview, Delaney outlined more moderate positions than many of his Democratic colleagues. For example, he said he supports “a system of universal health care where every American has health care as a fundamental right” but does not believed in a government-backed “Medicare-for-all.” He also said he believes in a compromise on border security that includes some physical barriers between the U.S. and Mexico.
Andrew Yang
Yang, the 44-year-old founder of Venture for America (described by the New York Times as “a Teach for America for Entrepreneurs”), has been running for president for more than a year. He’s built his campaign on a pledge to provide a universal basic income of $1,000 each month for every American adult.
According to the Times, Yang is pushing such a policy as a response to what he believes could be an economic catastrophe wrought by increasing automation, leaving many Americans without jobs.
“I’m a capitalist,” he told the paper last year, “and I believe that universal basic income is necessary for capitalism to continue.”
“I know the country my sons will grow up in is going to be very different than the one I grew up in,” Yang says on his campaign website, “and I want to look back at my life knowing I did everything in my power to create the kind of future our children deserve.”
According to PBS, Yang recently crossed the donor threshold to be included in upcoming debates among the Democratic primary candidates where he is likely to make the biggest splash among those without formal political experience.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren
At the end of December, the Massachusetts Democrat, 69, began her presidential bid.
The former Harvard bankruptcy law professor — who has drawn headlines for a DNA test she took to prove she has Native American heritage — is known for advocating for more regulations on Wall Street and big corporations. Before joining the Senate she was an adviser to President Obama.
“If you work hard and play by the rules, you ought to be able to take care of yourself and the people you love,” Warren said in her video announcement.
“We can make our democracy work for all of us,” she continued. “We can make our economy work for all of us.”
Julián Castro
The former secretary of housing and urban development, 44, announced he was running in January in San Antonio, Texas, where he was mayor before joining President Barack Obama‘s administration. If elected, he would become the country’s first Latino president.
Castro, who was raised by his grandmother, a Mexican immigrant, is a longtime supporter of LGBTQ rights and early childhood education and in 2010, he fought for federal funding to jumpstart green jobs.
“I am not a frontrunner in this race, but I have not been a frontrunner at any time in my life,” Castro told CNN before his official announcement. “My family’s story is a testament to what is possible when this country gets it right.”
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard
The 37-year-old Iraq War veteran, who represents parts of Hawaii in the House of Representatives, announced in January she was running. Gabbard is both the first American Samoan and Hindu member of Congress. An economic progressive and critic of America’s armed interventions abroad, she has faced scrutiny for being socially conservative, according to Vox, though she has reversed some of her positions and is pro-choice and now supports same-sex marriage.
“There are a lot of challenges that are facing the American people that I’m concerned about and that I want to help solve,” Gabbard said on The Van Jones Show when she made her announcement. She added that health care, criminal justice reform and climate change would be key issues in her campaign.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand
The New York Democrat, 52, announced in January she was throwing her hat in the ring while appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The two-term senator has a reputation as a fierce dissenter of President Trump, calling on him to resign over sexual assault allegations (which the president has denied).
Gillibrand has also been vocal about gun reform and advocates for the rights of women, the LGBTQ community and people of color.
“As a young mom, I’m going to fight for other people’s kids as hard as I would fight for my own,” she told Colbert of her decision to run. “You are never going to accomplish any of these things if you don’t take on the systems of power that make all of it impossible.”
Sen. Kamala Harris
The 54-year-old California Democrat announced her candidacy on Martin Luther King Jr. Day while also paying tribute to Shirley Chisholm, the first black Congresswoman and first black woman to seek the nomination for president for one of America’s two major parties.
Harris, a former prosecutor from the Oakland area, told Good Morning America: “My entire career has been focused on keeping people safe.”
While her law enforcement background has drawn scrutiny from some progressives, she has supported criminal justice reform, pushed for reforming bail for suspects and prioritized lowering maternal death rates, according to the New York Times. Her “signature proposal … would provide lower-income families with monthly cash payments of up to $500,” the paper reports.
Pete Buttigieg
The 37-year-old Democratic mayor of South Bend, Indiana, announced his campaign in late January. He enters as the first openly LGTBQ candidate to run for the presidency, according to the LGBTQ Victory Fund.
His announcement came in a tweet along with an introductory video where Buttigieg touched on his generational identity as a millennial and a campaign based on “walking away from the politics of the past.”
Though a presumptive longshot, given his low national profile, Buttigieg’s Midwestern roots have possible cache after President Trump narrowly won the 2016 election thanks to victories in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Buttigieg is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, serving in the Navy throughout his deployment. He was born and raised in South Bend, CNN reports. He continued on to Harvard University and later became a consultant at McKinsey.
Sen. Cory Booker
The U.S. Senator from New Jersey announced his campaign for the Democratic nomination for president on Feb. 1, releasing a video on his website.
Outlining his intentions, the 49-year-old said, “I grew up knowing that the only way we can make change is when people come together.”
Booker — a graduate of Stanford University and Yale Law School — was elected as mayor of Newark, New Jersey, in 2006, serving until he was elected to the Senate and assumed office in 2013.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar
The Minnesota Democrat had a fatefully dramatic announcement in mid-February as snow fell all around.
A three-term senator, Klobuchar, 58, is widely popular in her state. Pundits view her candidacy as viable thanks to her Midwestern background, as Democrats lost the presidency in 2016 by razor-thin margins in a few Midwestern states
But Klobuchar has also recently stirred a larger national profile — in part thanks to her questioning last year of then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh at his confirmation hearing amid his sexual misconduct allegations, which he denied.
Klobuchar has said she is in support of universal health care, combatting climate change and expanding voter registration access.
“For too long, leaders in Washington have sat on the sidelines while others try to figure out what to do about our changing economy and its impact on our lives, what to do about the disruptive nature of new technologies, income inequality, the political and geographic divides, the changing climate, the tumult in our world,” she said at her announcement, continuing:
“Let’s stop seeing those obstacles as obstacles on our path. Let’s see those obstacles as our path.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders
In mid-February, Sanders, 77, announced he would again seek the Democratic nomination for president having lost in 2016 to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Sanders, a longtime independent senator from Vermont who often votes with Democrats, re-enters a world of presidential politics vastly different than his last campaign, in large part thanks to him.
Since launching a underdog effort four years ago which quickly found national support, many of Sanders’ policies — such as universal health care and free public college — have become central liberal proposals.
“We began the political revolution in the 2016 campaign and now it’s time to move the revolution forward and make sure that vision, those ideas, are implemented into policy,” Sanders said in announcing he would run again.
Gov. Jay Inslee
The Washington governor, 68, announced his candidacy on March 1 with a clear message: He is not afraid to talk about climate change.
In his announcement video, while focusing on his decades-long commitment to environmental policy, Inslee argued he will be the “only candidate” who “will make defeating climate change our nation’s No. 1 priority.” His broader policy platform is also progressive.
Inslee’s political career is decades long, according to CNN: He was first elected to the Washington House of Representatives in 1989. He was subsequently elected to Congress twice and became governor in 2013. The AP reported that under Inslee’s governorship, Washington became the first state to sue Trump in 2017 over his temporary ban on immigration from several majority-Muslim countries.
Gov. John Hickenlooper
Hickenlooper, who was governor of Colorado from 2011 to 2019, announced in March he was competing for the Democratic nomination for president.
“Ultimately I’m running for president because I believe that not only can I beat Donald Trump, but that I am the person that can bring people together on the other side and actually get stuff done,” he said on Good Morning America. “The division is keeping us from addressing big issues like climate change and the soaring costs of health care.”
Hickenlooper described himself as a “pragmatic progressive.” Before being elected governor, he served as mayor of Denver and worked as a geologist and restauranteur.
His campaign website touts his previous work expanding pre-K, focusing on job creation and leading the state through natural disasters and the Auroroa movie theater mass shooting.
Beto O’Rourke
The 46-year-old former Democratic representative from Texas broke into the national consciousness last year with a much discussed run against Sen. Ted Cruz.
Though O’Rourke lost, the El Paso politician did so by a narrow margin, given Texas’ Republican history.
“The challenges we face are the greatest in living memory. No one person can meet them on their own. Only this country can do that, and only if we build a movement that includes all of us,” O’Rourke wrote along with his March 14 announcement video.
So far, he’s made immigration and a firm stance against the president’s call for a tighter border central to his message.
Chris Reep
A 55-year-old Republican of the Inland Empire, California, announced his campaign in early April. He enters as the first white collar candidate to run for the presidency.
Reep is a veteran, he served in the United States Air Force. He was born and raised in Southern California and has a Master’s Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Leadership and Management. He also holds a degree in Information Technology. He doesn’t just want to make America Great Again, he stated “Let’s Make America United.”
He believe we can come together as one and still hold on to our core values as a nation!
President Donald Trump
In a highly unusual move, Trump actually began running for re-election before he was sworn-in for his first term. According to the Washington Post, he was spending money on 2020 efforts as early as Nov. 24, 2016.
The president’s surprising win in 2016 has made the pundit class conflicted about predictions for re-election, though the common arguments against Trump include his historically low approval rating, even though presidents are historically much more often re-elected than not.
As the New York Times detailed in January, Trump may yet face another unusual development: a challenger from within his own party for the Republican nomination. Candidates include former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a longtime Trump critic, and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.
In January, Trump boasted to his liberal opponents: “The Democrats know they can’t win based on all of [my] achievements.”
Next Up: Joe Biden?
The Democratic field is already crowded only a few months into 2019 — with primaries not set for another year — but there are still more potential nominees as the party looks for its best challenger to President Trump.
Republicans, meanwhile, have remained mum about confirming a challenge to Trump for the party’s nomination.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, 76, has argued he’s the most qualified person for the job. While he chose not to run in 2016, he has not yet made up his mind about 2020.
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