[We continue today with Part 2 of the article posted yesterday, where we are taking a look at the Democratic "bench," to see who might be considering a run for president in 2028. Yesterday we began with governors; today we move on to senators and other Democrats who might decide to become candidates.]

Senators

I will begin by saying that this section is probably going to be somewhat incomplete. Almost all senators entertain thoughts of becoming president at one point or another, so I'm sure there will be some surprises when 2028 rolls around. Most of these, however, fail to gain much traction on a national stage and wind up pulling out of the race pretty early, though. To give but one example, does anyone today remember Michael Bennet's 2020 presidential campaign? I certainly hadn't, and I follow politics pretty closely. So there will likely be at least a couple Democratic candidates next time around that few outside of their home state even recognize.

Due mostly to the age factor, I am not expecting Bernie Sanders to make another run at the White House next time around. He's still energetic and spry, but Biden's re-election campaign crashing and burning will likely mean the electorate is going to be looking for someone a lot younger (Sanders is already 83 years old). Sanders will still most likely have an influence on the race, since his ideas (economic populism) are exactly what Democrats should focus on in the aftermath of Trump's victory. But Sanders is not likely to be carrying the banner next time around.

Elizabeth Warren will also likely not be making another run for the presidency. She is younger than Bernie, but not by a whole lot (she is currently 75 years old). So she would face the same doubts about age that Bernie would, most likely. This is an ideological shame, since both Warren and Sanders are the two most solid progressives in the Democratic Party

There are two Democratic senators that seem almost guaranteed to run next time around, since they have both run previous presidential campaigns and are young enough for age not to be a major factor. So I would expect to see both Amy Klobuchar and Cory Booker throw their hats in the ring in 2028 as well.

Both Klobuchar and Booker have more name recognition than the average senator, and both have the ambition to run. Both also have segments of the political pundit class who think they are the perfect answer to Democratic woes -- and such support can go a long way during primary season.

Booker is a polished speaker and has an outsized personality. Klobuchar is a little more awkward when she speaks, and her persona is more that of a woman suburbanites can easily relate to. Neither one is a hardliner or ideologue, meaning they don't raise the ire of other factions of Democrats (the way some others do). It's impossible to know what the political landscape will be in 2028, but either Klobuchar or Booker would be seen as an acceptable nominee in normal times. But after four more years of Trump, the times may not be all that normal.

If the Democrats are seeking a strong personality with some abnormal characteristics, it certainly would be interesting to see John Fetterman run for president. He would shake up the Democratic side of things on a par with how Trump shook up the Republicans. Fetterman eschews political norms (and traditional suits) and is about as "everyman" as you can get within the party. He breaks with his party when he feels Democrats are going down inane rabbit holes, which many in the party might find a breath of fresh air after getting hammered by Republicans so hard on culture war issues this time around.

Fetterman is not shy about calling out Republican idiocy either, and as mentioned he is the ultimate "guy I'd enjoy having a beer with." He certainly would be a breath of fresh air in a Democratic primary. But of course there is one issue which might preclude him from even considering a run -- his medical condition. Fetterman has made great strides since he suffered a stroke, but he still uses a screen that types out what others are saying to him to process the words. That might be a bridge too far for the average American voter to put into the Oval Office, to be blunt. Which is a shame, because if Fetterman hadn't had his stroke he'd be the perfect answer to Donald Trump, in terms of wooing blue-collar voters back to the Democratic fold.

As I've already said, there are plenty of other Democrats in the Senate who could launch a presidential campaign as well. A few names spring to mind that wouldn't surprise me in the least -- Senators Mark Kelly, Tammy Baldwin, and Raphael Warnock. Each has their own style and their own strengths as a candidate, and they're not the only ones (just the ones that sprang to mind). I could even see Adam Schiff make a bid for the White House, even though he's just a senator-elect right now.

There's also an outside chance that a former senator might decide to run. Sherrod Brown would certainly be an interesting candidate, since he has championed the blue-collar vibe so well for so long. And I would personally love to see Al Franken make a run for the Oval Office, just because it would be so entertaining to watch. But Brown couldn't even get re-elected and Franken carries his own personal baggage as well, so this is probably just a flight of fancy on my part, I do admit.

Other Democrats

Then there's everyone else. There are plenty of Democrats who haven't made it to either a governor's office or the United States Senate who might be eager to run for the big prize next time around, in a wide-open primary. Some of them are pipe dreams (news flash: Michelle Obama is not going to run...) and some are probable contenders.

First and foremost among these is Pete Buttigieg. Buttigieg has already run for president, he's served in Biden's cabinet, and he has gone out of his way to reach out to voters outside the traditional Democratic base by becoming a fixture on Fox News and other non-friendly media outlets. Making his case to everyone in this fashion is either the task he was given by Biden or perhaps Buttigieg himself eyeing another presidential bid (running the same sort of shadow campaign that Gavin Newsom has been, in other words).

Buttigieg, of course, is gay. He would be a groundbreaking president for that fact alone. But the question of whether he could win will always be there -- is America truly ready to elect a gay president? That is unknown at this point, but it might be seen as too much of a gamble by Democratic primary voters. Or general election voters, for that matter.

Buttigieg does have his strong points. He is extremely good at explaining things, for one. That's why he's been such a prominent spokesperson for the Biden administration. He can talk about some giant piece of legislation in specific terms, breaking down exactly what it will do for people and why everyone should support the effort. Even on Fox News, which is something a whole lot of other Democrats either can't or won't do.

Whatever his chances ultimately turn out to be, it would actually surprise me more if Buttigieg doesn't run than if he does.

There are at least a handful of House members who are quite likely to run. Stepping up from a House seat to the White House is an almost-impossible task, but that's not going to stop a few from trying. At the least, I fully expect both Eric Swalwell and Ro Khanna to at least consider a presidential run in 2028. Both have been positioning themselves to do so ever since they arrived in the House, it seems to me. Both are pretty feisty characters (in their own way) and would be interesting to watch on the campaign trail. Both are also from California, meaning their options for political advancement are pretty limited within the state (a California Senate seat likely won't open up for many years to come, although either one might make a run for the governor's office when Newsom leaves). Both are solid progressives, but in a sort of practical way. But both might suffer from the same anti-California feelings (as well as: "We just tried that, let's try something else") that Newsom will have to face.

There's one House member who is also from California who wouldn't surprise me by jumping in to the 2028 race -- Katie Porter. She is about to become a "former House member," since instead of running for re-election she ran for the Senate instead. She didn't make it past California's top-two primary, however (she lost to Adam Schiff), so starting in January she won't be holding any elected office. She does have a national fan base among Democrats, though, mostly built through her memorable performances in committee hearings. But she couldn't even win in her own state, so it's more likely than not that she wouldn't even attempt a run at the White House.

And then there's the biggest Democratic name in the House: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. A.O.C. is an absolute rock star within the Democratic Party, and she is now old enough to run for president. She is about as progressive and liberal as they come, which would absolutely delight others who share her ideology, but she has also become a serious target of rightwing media attacks because of her unabashed liberalism.

A.O.C. would face not only ideological pushback, she is also a woman of color. So she might face a similar backlash within the Democratic Party as any California candidate will -- the feeling of: "We just tried that, and it didn't work." I haven't been mentioning sexism for every woman candidate on this list, but the problem will arise for all of them.

Would A.O.C. actually have a chance of winning? I have no idea. But she sure would run the feistiest campaign of anyone running, that much seems guaranteed, just by who she is. Her personality would out-shine just about any other Democrat in the race, but even that might not be enough to convince people to actually vote for her. Her winning the nomination would be the biggest gamble Democrats could take -- but one that might actually pay off.

Moving on from those holding elected office, we'll probably get a few gadfly candidates from the business world (or elsewhere). Billionaires can finance their own campaigns, and at least one or two might find it tempting to try. One who ran before probably won't, as Michael Bloomberg proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he just wasn't popular anywhere outside of New York City. But another one who ran before might decide to take a second crack at it, because it wouldn't surprise me at all if Andrew Yang made a second run. Nobody had ever heard of Yang before he did run, which means there could easily be a few others like him out there (who nobody's ever heard of) who also decide to spend some of their millions attempting to become president.

And there may be a few former politicians who make an attempt to become relevant in politics again by running for president. There usually are a few, although other than the ones I've already named nobody really springs to mind (Rahm Emanuel? Or maybe some ex-governor or another? I have no idea).

The final grab-bag category that must at least be mentioned in passing is we could see a Democrat from the world of entertainment decide to take the plunge. Donald Trump certainly proved that moving from the entertainment world into politics is not impossible (it never really was, just ask Ronald Reagan), and there are certainly a lot more Democrats in Hollywood than Republicans. Again, I have to admit that no names spring immediately to mind here (other than Taylor Swift, but I seriously doubt she's interested), but it wouldn't surprise me if some mega-celebrity decided the time was ripe to enter politics (at the very top). As I said, it certainly worked wonders for Trump, right?

Conclusion

As you can see, Democrats will have a lot to choose from in 2028. The field will likely be large in a very wide-open race. It is impossible to know which of these might have the best chance of winning, since nobody knows what will happen between now and the middle of 2026 (when the field will truly take shape, in the run-up to the primaries). So I can't put any odds on any of them being the winning answer for the Democratic Party at this point.

Democrats are still in their "autopsy" phase, and are likely to remain there for a while. Then will come their "resistance" phase, as they become the ultimate "out" party trying to obstruct as much of Trump's agenda as is humanly possible. But it will be the direction of Trump's presidency that determines which Democrat will have the best shot of winning next time around. How the public feels about what Trump is doing is going to determine how Democrats run their next campaign, even though Trump won't be on the ballot again. In some fashion or another, Democrats will present an alternative and try to persuade voters that it is a much better alternative than Republicans being in charge of everything in Washington. That's about all that can be said for certain, this far out.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant