More than 450 candidates have already registered with the Federal Election Commission to run for president in 2020.
The election is still more than 600 days away, but the Democratic playing field is already looking crowded. Here are the people officially running and the people dropping hints that they probably will.
President Donald Trump
Some pundits thought political outsider Donald Trump might not like his job in the Oval Office, but he wasted no time registering to run for re-election. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, then-Deputy Press Secretary, told reporters, “Of course he’s running,” in June 2017. In February 2018, conservative-outlet Drudge Report confirmed it. Brad Parscale, who led Trump’s digital strategy in 2016, will be his campaign manager.
Qualifications: Trump graduated from University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He previously starred in a reality television show and made millions of dollars in real estate dealings. As President, he’s passed a tax bill that effectively lowered taxes for about 80% of Americans, according to the Tax Policy Center, appointed two conservative judges that were confirmed to the Supreme Court and has seen the unemployment rate remain low.
Rationale: From a historical angle, Trump’s a shoo-in for the 2020 GOP nomination. Only one elected president before him, Franklin Pierce, wanted but did not receive his party’s nomination to run for a second term.
Controversies: While Trump has benefitted from that stable economy — among other achievements — the Administration has taken countless hits for Trump’s former associates, his tweets and his policies. Two years after the election, he has not released his tax returns, his second Supreme Court pick was accused of sexual assault and his EPA chief resigned amid piling ethics complaints. His Administration has been sued over an immigration policy that separated migrant children from their families and has watched Trump’s former colleagues face charges and indictments for foreign lobbying, tax fraud and lying to federal officers.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard broke down barriers when she became the first Samoan-American and first Hindu elected to Congress. Before her election in 2012, she served the Hawaiian Army National Guard — first in Iraq and then Kuwait. Before that, Gabbard became the youngest woman ever elected in the state, when she won a Hawaii House seat at age 21. On Jan. 11, Gabbard declared she’s looking to break down another barrier by becoming America’s first woman president.
Qualifications: After being homeschooled for most of her life, Gabbard studied business at Hawaii Pacific University and graduated in 2009. Gabbard does not have an advanced degree, but does have experience serving on Honolulu’s city council, in Hawaii’s state legislature, in the Army National Guard and as a congresswoman.
Rationale: Gabbard has recently visited crucial states like Iowa and New Hampshire. She also wrote a book slated to be published this spring. Unlike Trump, Gabbard has wartime experience. She actually left Hawaii’s House in order to serve in Iraq. “I stepped down from the legislature where I served, and headed to a war zone,” she said at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. “As a combat veteran, I know the costs of war.”
Controversies: Gabbard is only 37, and has limited congressional experience in comparison to other Democrats expected to enter the ring. Other than her age, she’s also faced criticism for helping her father’s anti-gay organization, the Alliance for Traditional Marriage, around the early 2000s. The organization ran a successful campaign to give the state legislature power to “reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples”. There is evidence the group also supported conversion therapy, according to web archives. If elected, she’d be the youngest President in America’s history.
Julián Castro
You might know Julián Castro’s name from his previous roles as San Antonio’s mayor, or his more recent stint as former President Barack Obama’s Housing and Urban Development Secretary.
Qualifications: Castro graduated from Stanford University and Harvard Law School. Like Gabbard, he’s known for starting in politics at a young age. He became San Antonio’s youngest councilman in 2001 when he was 26. After one unsuccessful attempt, Castro was elected as San Antonio’s Mayor in 2009. In 2012, he became the first Latino to deliver the Democratic National Committee’s keynote address. He was named HUD Secretary in 2014 and was reportedly considered as a running mate by 2016 Democratic Nominee Hillary Clinton. Under Obama, Castro helped launch the ConnectHome initiative, which expanded affordable broadband internet access to public housing recipients in 27 cities.
Rationale: The native Texan has said he thinks he can be the “antidote to Trump” on hot-button issues like immigration. While speaking to a crowd of supporters in San Antonio, less than 200 miles from the southern border, Castro said the crisis America faces is one of leadership. “Donald Trump has failed to uphold the values of our great nation,” he said. “We have to have border security … but there’s a smart, and a humane way to do it. And there is no way in hell that caging children is keeping us safe.”
Controversies: The Office of the Special Counsel found that Castro violated the Hatch Act when he appeared to advocate for and against presidential candidates during an interview leading up to the 2016 election. “Now, taking off my HUD hat for a second and just speaking individually, it is very clear that Hillary Clinton is the most experienced, thoughtful, and prepared candidate for President that we have this year,” he had told Yahoo News anchor Katie Couric during the interview that took place at HUD’s broadcast studio. Castro later apologized for the indiscretion.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren
Sen. Elizabeth Warren has not officially announced her candidacy, but she did announce she was forming a exploratory committee in hopes of deciding soon. The Massachusetts Democrat has also visited New Hampshire and Iowa — the first two states to hold party contests — in recent weeks.
Qualifications: Warren earned degrees from the University of Houston and Rutgers Law School. Before her political career, Warren taught law at several schools, including the University of Houston, the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard. In 2012, she successfully beat incumbent Sen. Scott Brown, who had replaced Sen. Ted Kennedy after his death. She’s served as a Senator since then, winning re-election in 2018. She’s also known for advocating for the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which enforces rules for financial institutions, and for her progressive stances issues like student loan reform and corporate capitalism.
Rationale: Warren thinks she can help rebuild the middle class. In the video announcing the foundation of her exploratory committee, she discusses her childhood in Oklahoma, and how her mom had to find a minimum wage job after her dad suffered a heart attack. After he recovered, he eventually became a janitor. Her father “raised a daughter who got to be a public school teacher, a law professor and a senator. We got a real opportunity to build something,” Warren says in the video. “Working families today face a lot tougher path than my family did.”
Controversies: Warren released the results of a DNA test in attempt to debunk claims that she was not part Native American. She had faced pushback on the topic during previous election cycles after it was discovered she was listed as a minority in staff directories when she taught law. The report confirmed Native American genes were in her pedigree, but that the relative could have been from six to 10 generations ago. Some have criticized the connection as too distant to be of note.
Sen. Sherrod Brown
Like Warren, Sen. Sherrod Brown has not officially declared he’s running, but he has said he’s considering it. “I haven’t had this dream to be President my whole life or even as a kid or any time,” Brown told the Cincinnati Enquirer in November. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t considering it.” His wife, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Connie Schultz, said the couple will “know within the next two months” whether Brown is officially going for the nomination.
Qualifications: The Ohio Democrat received a bachelor’s degree from Yale and two Master’s degrees from Ohio State University. Before being elected to the Senate in 2006, Brown served as a state legislator, Ohio’s secretary of state, and a member of the House of Representatives for seven terms.
Rationale: Brown is a liberal Democrat and avid proponent of American manufacturing. He’s led opposition movements against the North American Free Trade Agreement and has argued for reform on Wall Street to protect individuals over corporations. A former public school teacher, one of Brown’s priorities is funding education and job training. His approval rating in Ohio, a crucial swing state that has been swinging more red than blue, is strong. In a recent favorability poll matching up Brown and Trump, Brown bested the sitting Commander-in-Chief, 48% to 42% in his home state. He thinks his brand of Midwestern liberalism could help sway blue collar voters who picked Trump in 2016: “Whether you swipe a badge or punch a clock, whether you work on a salary, whether you’re raising kids — I don’t think Washington gets the dignity of work,” he said in November.
Controversies: Brown’s first wife had alleged she feared for her safety and the safety of their children when they were getting divorced in the late 1980s. When GOP operatives tried to use his divorce papers for political gain in Brown’s most recent re-election campaign, his first wife pushed back against the claims: “I was proud to support Sherrod in 2006 and 2012 — just as I am this time around. Anyone who suggests he is not an honorable man is just wrong,” she said.
Rep. John Delaney
Rep. John Delaney doesn’t have the strongest national name recognition, nor has he been in Congress that long (elected 2012). Perhaps that is why he announced his 2020 campaign so early — July of 2017, early — to get ahead of better known Democratic competitors.
Qualifications: Delaney earned a bachelor’s degree from Columbia and a law degree from Georgetown. He also launched two companies that were traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The Democrat won his first election in 2012 after significant redistricting changes were made to Maryland’s map. As a member of Congress, Delaney has introduced legislation that would end partisan gerrymandering — a political tactic that arguably helped him get his job representing Maryland’s 6th district in the first place.
Rationale: Delaney spent the better part of 2018 visiting crucial electoral states. While he’s not the only politician to have done so, he appears to be one of the only Democrats to have been forthcoming about why he’s visiting. Honesty is the best policy, Delaney told to Politico. “We know they’re thinking about running for president or they’re planning on running for president, and we ask them that question directly, and they lie to us. And so our first introduction to them is based on a dishonest moment,” he said someone told him.
Controversies: Not many people outside of Delaney’s home state knows who he is. Even though he had visited Iowa more than 10 times in the last year, only about half of the likely Democratic caucus-goers knew who he was, Politico reported. Further, his views are more moderate than some of the other likely Democratic contenders. “I’m a big believer in the private economy and market forces, but I also believe there’s a role for government in setting the rules of the road and helping take care of the most vulnerable,” he said in 2017.
Richard Ojeda
Ojeda is a retired Army major, former Democratic state senator and failed West Virginia congressional candidate. Now, according to his November announcement, he wants to be President.
Qualifications: Unlike the current commander-in-chief, Ojeda has more than 20 years of military experience. On Jan. 14, he resigned from his post as a state senator in West Virginia, where he started gaining national notoriety for making a series of impassioned speeches advocating for teacher raises. He went on to lead the state’s teacher strike, which did help them secure them better pay.
Rationale: Ojeda didn’t attend Ivy League schools, hail from a political dynasty or make millions as a businessman, but he thinks he can represent the millions of Americans who also fall outside those categories. “We have not had people that have really fought for the working-class citizens in this country,” he said, regarding his decision to run.
Controversies: Ojeda admitted to voting for Trump in 2016, which could upset Democrats who abhor him. He also said he regrets the vote, which could upset conservative Trump supporters who may have considered a Democrat like Ojeda.
Former college football coach Robby Wells and Venture For America founder Andrew Yang have also all announced their intentions to seek the Democratic nomination in 2020.
