A trove of Democrats are already working on presidential campaigns for 2028, attempting to fill the power vacuum left by the retirement of Joe Biden and the failure of Kamala Harris. Steve Peoples, Meg Kinnard, and Holly Ramer of the AP note nearly a half dozen Democrats who are already making efforts to win their party’s nomination. They write:

Nearly a half dozen others have made recent pilgrimages to South Carolina, New Hampshire and Iowa — states that traditionally host the nation’s opening presidential nomination contests. Still other ambitious Democrats are having private conversations with officials on the ground there.

The voters in these states are used to seeing presidential contenders months or even years before most of the country, but the political jockeying in 2025 for the 2028 presidential contest appears to be playing out earlier, with more frequency and with less pretense than ever before.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom was referred to as a presidential candidate at one stop in his two-day South Carolina tour last week. Voters shouted “2028!” after he insisted he was there simply to strengthen the party ahead of the 2026 midterms. South Carolina has virtually no competitive midterm contests.

Term-limited Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who acknowledges he’s considering a 2028 bid, will spend two days touring South Carolina this week. He will focus on union members in addition to the state’s Black community in a speech that could draw an implicit contrast with Newsom on cultural issues, according to excerpts of his planned remarks obtained by The Associated Press.

California Congressman Ro Khanna, a progressive aligned with the Bernie Sanders ’ wing of the Democratic Party, will target Black voters when he’s in the state a few days later with the son of a civil rights leader.

And former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is having private conversations with key South Carolina Democrats, including presidential primary kingmaker Rep. Jim Clyburn, in which Emanuel indicated strong interest in a presidential run. That’s according to Clyburn himself, who said he’s also had direct contact with Beshear and Khanna after appearing alongside Newsom last week and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore in May.

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