With the dust barely settling on the 2024 election, the look-ahead to 2028 has already begun in some quarters, especially for Democrats. Donald Trump will return to the White House after his sweeping victory over Kamala Harris, but Trump is entering his final term, making him a lame duck as soon as he takes office January 20th. That sets up a wide-open race to succeed him four years from now, with potential candidates already emerging on both sides.
For Republicans, the obvious front-runner is Vice President-elect JD Vance, who is an unquestioned rising superstar in the party, ascending to the White House after just two years in the U.S. Senate and before his 40th birthday. But Vance still faces a formidable bench of potential GOP nominees. "I don't think JD Vance is going to get a free pass to the nomination in 2028," says Bob Stein, Rice University political science professor. "I think there are too many Republicans---Ted Cruz, (Arkansas Senator) Tom Cotton, (Missouri Senator) Josh Hawley, and of course (Florida) Governor Ron DeSantis---who are looking to 2028 and trying to figure out is it time for me to make a run now."
As for Democrats, early candidates include California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. But Stein warns they have a lot of soul-searching to do as a party before finding a new leader. "Any Democrat that's going to come forward for '28 has to answer the question, how am I going to win, where am I going to find that coalition that puts me ahead?", he tells KTRH.
"Because the problem in this election (for Democrats) was not being able to address what I think is a wide swath of voters in this country who found that the Democratic Party did not represent them, did not speak to them."