Thursday, November 8, 2018

Another Name On The List

The midterms are over, so start your engines and take a deep breath. 2020 is officially underway. Last time around the first Republican to officially declare himself to be a candidate was Ted Cruz, on March 23, 2015. (There was far less suspense on the Democratic side last time, so I didn't keep much of a list, and Hillary didn't officially announce until June, 2015.) This time, with a Republican incumbent the suspense is on the Democratic side, and with so many potential candidates, I expect the official announcements to start any day now. (Yes, there are already two officially declared candidates on the list below, but they're not really, as the late Charles Krauthammer used to say, viable.)

Before we get any official announcements, however, I'm adding another name to the "Potential" list. Eric Swalwell is a Democratic Congressman from California and until I saw an item at Politico a few minutes ago I had never heard his name. Apparently he's been thinking about running for quite a while:

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell plans to run for president in 2020, according to a person close to the California congressman who is familiar with his plans. 

"He's definitely running," the source said. 

This week-end, Swalwell will be the first potential presidential candidate to visit Iowa after the midterms with a trip to meet the Asian & Latino Coalition in Des Moines and Iowa Democratic Party chairs in Dubuque. The travel to Iowa was first reported by NBC News and confirmed by POLITICO. 

The 37-year-old Swalwell has been positioning himself for a run over the past year, with several trips to early primary voting states and endorsements of three young congressional candidates in Iowa and New Hampshire through his Future Forum PAC. He has also asked for lists of potential staffers for the early-state contests. (Read the article here.)

I've added Rep. Swalwell's name to the Potential list, and remember, not every name on this list is "viable" as a future nominee or president, or even seriously interested in running, necessarily. It's just a list of every name I've ever seen mentioned, anywhere, as someone who might run in 2020. I expect that within six months or so, this list will have shrunk considerably and the "I'm not running'' list will have expanded.

Potential Democratic Candidates:
  1. Michael Avenatti (Lawyer, represents Stormy Daniels and others) added Oct. 1
  2. Joe Biden (Former VP)
  3. Michael Bloomberg (Former mayor of New York City)
  4. Peter Buttigieg (Mayor of South Bend, Indiana) added Sept. 8
  5. Cory Booker (New Jersey senator)
  6. Sherrod Brown (Ohio senator)
  7. Jerry Brown (Governor of California)
  8. Steve Bullock (Governor of Montana)
  9. Julian Castro (Former secretary of Housing and Urban Development) 
  10. Mark Cuban (Businessman, owner of the Dallas Mavericks)
  11. Bill de Blasio (Mayor of New York City)
  12. Tulsi Gabbard (Congresswoman from Hawaii) added Sept. 8
  13. Eric Garcetti (Mayor of Los Angeles) 
  14. Kirsten Gillibrand (New York senator)
  15. Luis Gutierrez (Congressman from Illinois)
  16. Kamala Harris (California senator)
  17. John Hickenlooper (Governor of Colorado) 
  18. Eric Holder (Former Attorney General)
  19. Jay Inslee (Governor of Washington)
  20. Tim Kaine (Virginia senator, 2016 VP nominee)
  21. Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota senator)
  22. Mitch Landrieu (Mayor of New Orleans)
  23. Terry McAuliffe (Former governor of Virginia)
  24. Jeff Merkley (Oregon senator)
  25. Seth Moulton (Congressman from Massachusetts) 
  26. Chris Murphy (Connecticut senator)
  27. Martin O'Malley (Former governor of Maryland, ran in 2016 primaries)
  28. Beto O'Rourke (Texas Congressman, running for the U.S. Senate) added Sept. 13
  29. Deval Patrick (Former governor of Massachusetts)
  30. Tim Ryan (Congressman from Ohio) added Sept. 8
  31. Bernie Sanders (Vermont senator, registered Independent, ran in 2016 primaries)
  32. Howard Schultz (Businessman, former CEO of Starbucks)
  33. Tom Steyer (Businessman) added Sept. 8
  34. Eric Swalwell (Congressman from California, added Nov. 8)
  35. Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts senator)
  36. Mark Zuckerberg (Businessman, founder of Facebook)
Declared Democratic Candidates, in order of their announcement 
John Delaney (July 28, 2017)
Andrew Yang (November 6, 2017) added Sept. 8

I'm Not Running
Oprah Winfrey
Andrew Cuomo
Sheryl Sandberg, added Sept. 8
Jason Kander, added Oct. 17
Robert Iger, added Oct. 22

Days until the presidential election: 725 

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