What Kind of Candidate Should the Democrats Run for President in 2028?

The final results of the 2024 U.S. presidential election are still being determined with about 97% of the votes tabulated. Republican Donald Trump has already won the presidency and electoral college with 312 votes, and he will win the popular vote by a few million votes as well.

Trump has already received over 75 million votes, exceeding the 74.2 million he had in 2020. Even if Vice President Kamala Harris ends up getting to 74 million in defeat, it looks like turnout is going to be down from the 2020 election.

Democrats have been in scramble mode the last week in trying to figure out who to blame for the shocking loss as the Republicans also look to have a 53-47 Senate majority and control of the House of Representatives as well.

It’s not that enough people didn’t come out to vote for the Democrats in 2024. It’s that they lost too many votes from virtually all groups to the Republicans, including Latinos, Black males, youth voters, first-time voters, independents, etc. When that happens, you really have to question your core beliefs, messaging and leadership.

The Democrats are going to have to come up with a much better plan for winning the 2028 election, but some eye-opening remarks from voters should have them thinking outside the box when it comes to finding that candidate. The people are clearly not looking for a normal politician anymore as evidenced by the numbers at the political betting sites.

AOC Gets Shocking Answers from Split Ticket Voters

One of the reasons the Democrats lost the 2024 election is because of how many voters either split their votes among the parties or how many people decided to just vote for Trump for President, leaving the other state races blank for the Senate and the House.

For example, Pennsylvania was considered a key swing state and part of the Blue Wall that Trump turned red again like he did in 2016. In Pennsylvania, over 140,000 more people voted for Trump for President than they did for Republican Senator Dave McCormick, who still defeated incumbent Democrat Bob Casey by fewer than 30,000 votes. But Casey only received roughly 39,000 fewer votes than Harris did in the state. In Wisconsin, another Blue Wall state, Trump defeated Harris by just under 30,000 votes. However, Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin defeated Republican Eric Hovde by a very similar margin just under 30,000 votes.

This case of split voting got New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez interested, so she took to Instagram to ask voters why they would vote for her and Trump. The responses were very interesting.

AOC asked her followers who split their ballots either for Trump/her or Trump/downballot Dem to explain why and posted the replies: pic.twitter.com/LuTcD29szt

— aaron from queens 🇵🇸 (@aaronnarraph) November 11, 2024

Basically, people are tired of “establishment politicians” and they don’t trust them to fight for them. Even though Trump and AOC couldn’t be more different in policies, people will equate them for being “authentic” and purportedly fighting for the working class.

Trump had zero political experience before running in 2015. He was a true outsider, but he was also a known commodity as a celebrity, and people care about that in America. Trying to sell the public on Kamala Harris, a career prosecutor and politician, in a few months was always going to be hard to pull off.

However, if your takeaway from this is that the 35-year-old AOC, who will be eligible to run for POTUS in 2028, should be the Democratic candidate, then you’re taking all the wrong lessons here.

First, FOX News and right-wing echo chambers have been building up a campaign of vitriol against AOC for years. They would be relentless in attacking her in a presidential run. Also, she’ll be painted as a New York elite in a general election, and that’ll be almost impossible to sell to the country.

As for the people saying former First Lady Michelle Obama would have fared better than Harris. Please, let’s just be honest, a lot of people still don’t want to vote for a woman to be president. They’ve tried it twice and it failed miserably.

Is Gavin Newsom a Viable Candidate for 2028?

California Governor Gavin Newsom (+400 at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review to learn more)) is tied with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro for the best odds to be the Democratic nominee in 2028. Newsom has the name recognition, appearance and willingness to argue with Republicans that could serve him well. He also has an interesting history as he used to be married to Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is currently engaged to Donald Trump Jr, so there’s something for the 2028 soap opera.

But again, will he not just be painted as a crazy liberal from California who is soft on crime and supports all the “woke” topics that Biden and Harris didn’t run on either? That’s what will happen to his candidacy, and good luck finding votes for him from the rural and working class in the Blue Wall states that have basically become must-win states for Democrats to win the Electoral College.

It’s a similar problem with Pete Buttigieg (“Mayor Pete”), the Secretary of Transportation who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2020. His mind is sharp, he can debate his points well, he goes on FOX News, and he’s young, which could be huge if he ends up having to run against JD Vance, the Vice President Elect and odds-on favorite to win 2028. But Buttigieg will be attacked for being part of Biden’s “failed” administration, for being a career politician who has dreamed of being president since he was a child, and yes, they’ll use the fact that he is gay against him.

It’s becoming more and more apparent that policy didn’t decide this election. Traditional measures used to judge the economy like the unemployment rate, inflation rate, stock market, etc. weren’t strongly considered as all of those numbers were doing well under Biden-Harris by Election Day.

People are out here voting on vibes, familiar faces, and remembering better times before the pandemic hit in 2020. That’s why the Democrats may need to think way outside the box for who they choose in 2028, because rolling out Bill Clinton’s wife or Barack Obama’s wife or Joe Biden’s VP just isn’t the solution right now. They need an outsider who can bring about a cult of personality in the Democratic party with a better message that reaches more people.

What About a Political-Minded TV Host?

As Nancy Pelosi realizes she’s losing her grip on power in the Democratic party, she may need to entertain the idea of an entertainer taking over for 2028. While we can’t say for sure that Donald Trump won’t want to stay in power even though he’s reached his term limit, it’s more likely than not they won’t have to beat Trump in 2028.

But they’ll have to beat someone like him with the same base. That’s why I don’t think it’s insane to suggest you might have to think outside the box and nominate someone like Stephen Colbert (The Late Show) or Jon Stewart (The Daily Show), who have a long history of doing late-night TV with an eye on political humor and discourse. Before you say that’s insane, let’s remember that the host of The Apprentice and guest star in Home Alone 2 is about to have his 2nd term in the White House.

There’s also precedent elsewhere in the world in the name of Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine. Yes, Zelenskyy was essentially the Stephen Colbert of Ukraine. He had a popular comedy show on TV called Servant of the People (2015-19), where he played a fictional high school teacher who became the President of Ukraine. Then it really happened in 2019, and now he’s a wartime leader who has stood up to the Russian invasion by Vladimir Putin since 2022.

You never know where you’ll find your next leader. In a world where Trump is nominating disgraced Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz to be his next Attorney General, no idea is too crazy. Not even running Stephen Colbert on a Democratic ticket in 2028 is that crazy. Plus, he’s a white man on TV that people know. That’s checking multiple boxes these days.

It just doesn’t seem possible to win anymore with a traditional candidate. However, the saving grace for the Democrats may be this simple. If they sit back and let Trump run a terrible administration with the people he’s bringing in, then maybe enough people will be begging for normalcy and a traditional politician come 2028.

Then you can go through your options of Newsom, Buttigieg, Michelle Obama, and anyone else to compete with a JD Vance, Ron DeSantis, or Nikki Haley in 2028.

But we have no clue what these next 4 years will bring. We just know for a fact that the Democrats have to make some drastic changes because that Clinton/Obama/Biden era is over.