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CNN
4 hours ago
- Politics
- CNN
Analysis: Democrats are making 2028 moves. Here's what to know
Democrats who will run for president in 2028 are already quietly, and not so quietly, making moves. They're visiting early primary states, workshopping material and formulating plans. This week, it's Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear in South Carolina. Last week, it was California Gov. Gavin Newsom. CNN's Edward-Isaac Dovere is closely watching all of it. We talked in DC about the list of potential candidates, their strengths and weaknesses, and what are the signs they're actually serious about stepping in the ring. The conversation, edited for length, is below. WOLF: The next general election isn't until 2028. Why are we paying attention to this right now? DOVERE: First of all, because some people want us to be paying attention. Gavin Newsom didn't go to South Carolina just as any state to go to. He picked a state — a presidential primary state — so that we talk about it, as others have done. JB Pritzker was in New Hampshire at the end of April; Pete Buttigieg went to Iowa, even though it's not quite a presidential state anymore. This is an ongoing process of the candidates trying to get people to pay attention and to workshop some of their material. But you also see among a lot of Democrats a deep desire to get past the Donald Trump era, even though the Trump era is still very new. One of the things even that Newsom was saying in South Carolina was, 'We can put an end to this in 18 months.' He's talking about the midterms, but it's that thought that Democrats don't need to just wallow in the horror and misery that they've been in since Election Day of 2024. WOLF: Biden forced a lot of changes in the primary process for Democrats, including Iowa not really being an early state for them anymore. What's the early map going to look like? DOVERE: Biden did push through some changes, especially making South Carolina first. But some of the other changes, particularly moving Iowa off of the early-state calendar, were very much supported by a lot of other people in the Democratic National Coalition. We'll see what the calendar ends up looking like. The chances that Iowa gets back to a primary position seem very low. That said, the chances that New Hampshire gets back to the first-in-the-nation spot that actually is required by New Hampshire state law seem much higher. We won't know the full answer on the calendar until at least sometime in 2026, and there is a lot of wrangling and back-and-forth among the states and among the DNC members. What is definitely true, though, is that no matter what arrangement will come, it seems that New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada will remain early. Where exactly they are is a little bit unclear. WOLF: Why could he win and why would he have trouble? DOVERE: Newsom had a real breakout moment over the response to what was going on in Los Angeles a couple weeks ago, and that very quickly identified him in people's minds as the face of the actual resistance to what Trump was doing, rather than just talking about it. He is a very skilled retail campaigner and speaker. But there are obstacles he'll have to overcome — people who think that he's maybe too California. He was the mayor of San Francisco, too liberal in some people's minds. Too slick. Just having a California air to him — all that stuff is what he needs to overcome. Other than Kamala Harris, there's never been a Democratic nominee from the West Coast. WOLF: OK, Kamala Harris. Could she do it again in a crowded primary? DOVERE: She's obviously thinking about running for governor of California, and I've done reporting that says that she's leaning in that direction. What is also clear is that she and her closest advisers realize that it's one or the other — you can't run for governor and then turn around and run for president right away. WOLF: Unless your name is Richard Nixon. DOVERE: Well, he ran for governor in 1962, lost, and then didn't end up running for president again until 1968. Her goal, if she runs, would be to win and not repeat the Nixon thing. WOLF: Moving east, in the middle of the country, there's JB Pritzker and Rahm Emanuel in Illinois; there's new Michigan resident Pete Buttigieg and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Let's start with Buttigieg, someone who actually won an early contest in 2020. DOVERE: The Bernie Sanders folks would still protest this, but Buttigieg did win the Iowa caucuses, and he came in a healthy second in the New Hampshire primary. He has spent the first six months of Trump's second presidency doing a lot of podcasts and outreach to what would be classified these days as the 'manosphere,' or the Republican-leaning or low-propensity voters. He regularly is embraced by Democrats for the way that he's able to break down Democratic arguments and break apart Republican arguments. That said, his jobs leading up to now have been to be the mayor of a pretty small city — South Bend, Indiana. And then he was transportation secretary. But part of his theory from when he was running in 2019, and he and I talked about it then, was that we are living in an age of Donald Trump's politics, where it's more about what you're able to do and how you're able to communicate what you're doing than about exactly what job you've had in government. Maybe that's an opening for him. I think that most people assume that he would be a reasonably strong contender, at least if he runs. WOLF: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is an obvious choice, but she's said she's not running. DOVERE: A lot of people say they won't run for president until they do. Barack Obama insisted he wasn't running. Whitmer has a lot of strength in Michigan, obviously a key state for Democrats. She's won two tough races there by, in the end, pretty comfortable margins. She is quite popular in Michigan, as far as one can be in these polarized times. And she has, in these first six months of Trump, taken a different route than a lot of other Democrats. She's tried to find ways to work with Trump, and she feels like that is a good way of being the governor and also delivering for swing areas of the state. Of course, that has frustrated a lot of Democrats who feel like she's been used by Trump and turned into a prop by him, whether it was at the Oval Office when they had that meeting a couple months ago, or when he then flew to Michigan to announce this new shipbuilding investment and had her come to the podium. She would say she did get the investment, and it makes a big difference for Michigan shipbuilding. WOLF: Let's go across the lake to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, the only billionaire on the list, yes. Would the democratic socialist wing of the Democratic Party go for a billionaire? DOVERE: I sat in New Hampshire at the end of April when Pritzker was there to speak to the big Democratic dinner there, and I asked him that exact question. When there was such a push among a lot of Democrats against the wealthy and oligarchs and all that, how would they vote for a billionaire? He said to me, it's about values, and he feels like he's been pushing the values. He's not apologetic about his family wealth. In fact, he says that he has used it toward helping other Democrats win, and through his personal political donations and a PAC he has put quite a few dollars into everything from state parties to specific campaigns to ballot initiative efforts. His strength would be that he's running for reelection now to a third term. A lot of things that he has done as governor fall into the category of Trump-proofing the state, and some fall into the category of just trying to make the state a center-left laboratory for all sorts of things. WOLF: There is a former mayor of Chicago who is clearly trying to set up the idea that he would run. Is Rahm Emanuel (a CNN contributor, former White House chief of staff, former ambassador and former congressman) actually serious? DOVERE: He is talking about running more in terms of the concept of what he would bring to the argument, or to the debate of how Democrats should be moderate and how they should talk about things in a different way than in the normal way of a potential candidate. WOLF: Moving South, what about a moderate governor from an otherwise-red state? DOVERE: That's Andy Beshear's argument: that he's won, and won comfortably, among the types of voters that most Democrats have given up even trying to appeal to, and done it in a state — Kentucky — that hasn't had a Democrat other than him and his father competitive statewide for years. He's done it while not shying away from Democratic positions on issues like abortion rights and even trans kids, but as he also spends some time in South Carolina this week, he's unabashedly starting to test how much appetite there is for his lower key — in both positions and personality — approach. WOLF: Let's go to the mid-Atlantic. Let's talk about Wes Moore (governor of Maryland), and then Josh Shapiro (governor of Pennsylvania). DOVERE: Wes Moore is clearly a very charismatic, appealing figure who has caught the eye of a lot of the Democratic intelligentsia for having a motivational, optimistic approach to how he speaks. He does not have as much of a legislative record as some of the other governors, which is notable in that Democrats have full control of the legislature in Maryland. So there may be some questions about what he has done and what he has been able to actually make happen when he's up against other governors, although he has also said he's not running for president. WOLF: Josh Shapiro clearly is somebody that everybody is watching. Will he run? DOVERE: We don't even have an official announcement that he's running for a second term as governor, although he obviously will. What he has managed to do, from when he was attorney general through when he was running for governor, through three years as governor, is have extremely high popularity ratings in Pennsylvania. That's among Democrats and Republicans, and in a state that has become such a swing state. For someone who is an unabashed Democrat to have that kind of reception is really a demonstration of the way that he approaches his governing and his outreach to the state. He has been very low-profile in terms of national politics over the course of these first six months of the Trump term. Most people probably haven't heard from him at all, other than that terrible incident with the arson of the governor's mansion when he was there with his family on the first night of Passover. That is a deliberate effort for him to stay focused on Pennsylvania. One of the questions over the next year or two, as he runs through reelection, is how much does he start to pop onto the national radar? WOLF: Usually a list like this is full of senators. Who could be on it? DOVERE: I would put Cory Booker from New Jersey, Chris Murphy from Connecticut, Mark Kelly from Arizona and Ruben Gallego from Arizona. WOLF: We've had Bernie Sanders as a very popular alternative in recent elections. He must be too old at this point. Who inherits his mantle? DOVERE: Who are we to say who is too old? He will turn 87 by Election Day 2028 — that would make him by far the oldest president that we've ever had, even outdoing the Biden and Trump records. Most people do not expect that he will be running for president again. The question of who inherits his mantle is a big one, and most people would put their money on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is going to have some decisions coming up about whether she sets her eyes on running for president or running for Senate. There's an election in 2028 — that is Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's seat, whether he decides to run, or she runs against him, or whether she just builds up her power by gaining seniority in the House. She's obviously quite young, and she has done more with her House seat already than almost anybody ever has in that amount of time. If not her, then I think there is a big open question about who it would be. Rep. Ro Khanna, the congressman from California who was a co-chair of Sanders' campaign in 2020, has been making clear that he is exploring a presidential run and hoping to have some of that support. If she doesn't run and he doesn't get that kind of support, then I think there would be a question of whether there's someone else that could be the right vessel for that, or whether it would diffuse between multiple candidates. WOLF: What about a complete outsider? There's a boomlet of interest in the ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith. Is there room for a wild card? DOVERE: Trump is the first person in history to be president without having served in a military or government role beforehand. So who knows. There are a lot of people who you could see thinking that they would be that person. There was some reporting four years ago that Bob Iger, the Disney CEO, talked about maybe he should run. Whether it would be businesspeople or celebrities, Trump has made it clear that you could come from outside the political scene and do it. Other people who have thought about it have turned away because they have not wanted to have their lives picked over the way that we do to political candidates. There's even a new movie in which John Cena plays the president of the United States, and the gimmick is that he is an action hero who then just gets elected because of that. WOLF: Arnold Schwarzenegger, if he'd been born in the US. Or the Rock. DOVERE: Who was born in the US. WOLF: What sets off your spidey sense that somebody is getting serious about a run? DOVERE: The early state visits. If they start talking about national politics a lot more. Shapiro is a good example of somebody who gets talked about a lot but doesn't actually discuss national politics that much. If, all of a sudden, he's talking about Donald Trump a lot more, or what Democrats should stand for, that would be a reason to start thinking about him or whoever else is starting to do it. Then there are the things that happen behind the scenes — starting to reach out to interested donors or the sort of Democratic elders, brain trust, whatever you want to call it. As we get closer to 2027, when people will start launching their campaigns, there'll be outreach to staff and things and quiet invitations to reporters to come and meet the candidate. WOLF: So when you have an interview with one of these guys, we know that they're running. DOVERE: When I was sitting with Pritzker in New Hampshire, we were talking and at the end of the interview I said so can we just fast-forward through this and to say like you're running for president? He said, no, not yet.
Free Malaysia Today
3 days ago
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Cameroon's Biya, 92, brushes off health fears in bid for new term
Paul Biya has held a tight grip on power since taking over as Cameroon's president in 1982. (AP pic) YAOUNDE : In June 2004, on returning from yet another extended stay abroad, Cameroon President Paul Biya came down from his plane and poked fun at rumours he was dead. 'People are interested in my funeral,' he told reporters. 'I'll see them in 20 years.' That was 21 years ago, and the world's oldest serving head of state still has no plans to go anywhere. Yesterday he announced on X he would run in Cameroon's presidential election scheduled for Oct 12, seeking an eighth term that could keep him in office until he is nearly 100. Biya has held a tight grip on power since taking over as president in 1982 from his one-time mentor Ahmadou Ahidjo, whom he later sidelined and forced into exile. Now, an unprecedented public outcry in the press and on social media since his announcement suggests cracks in that power base, and doubts in his ability to keep going, may be growing. 'Nous sommes foutus' ('We are screwed!') was the front-page headline in today's edition of Le Messager newspaper next to a picture of Biya. The cocoa and oil-producing Central African nation faces a host of economic and security challenges, notably a conflict with Anglophone separatists and threats from Nigeria-based Islamist fighters in the north. Meanwhile Biya, 92, remains largely out of public view, spurring widespread speculation over who is really in charge. 'Most of us don't believe Biya is actually running the country anymore. His decision to run again, if it's really his, shows just how out of touch the system is,' tech entrepreneur Rebecca Enonchong told Reuters. Communications minister Rene Emmanuel Sadi did not immediately respond to a request for comment today. He has previously said Biya is in good health and that speculation to the contrary was 'pure fantasy and imagination' by critics aiming to destabilise the country. Last year, the government banned public discussion of Biya's health – though that order has been largely ignored by Cameroon's vociferous press. Calls to step aside Cameroon has had just two presidents since independence from France and Britain in the early 1960s and is likely to face a messy succession crisis if Biya becomes too ill to remain in office or dies. In 2008, Biya signed a constitutional amendment removing a two-term limit for the presidency. That paved the way for landslide wins in 2011 and 2018, according to official figures, though his opponents complained of irregularities including ballot stuffing and intimidation, which the government denied. Not much has changed since the last vote, both on the security front and for Cameroonians grappling daily with poor access to basic amenities from roads and water to electricity and waste management. 'These issues are not new. They have simply intensified because the situation keeps worsening,' said Pippie Hugues Marcelline, research policy analyst at the Yaounde-based Nkafu Policy Institute, a think tank. What is different this year, Marcelline said, is 'the level of engagement and awareness' about Biya's performance. 'A president needs to be seen in charge and in control. The absence of the president from the public is enough evidence that age is not on his side.' Prominent human rights lawyer Alice Nkom published a video last week on YouTube appealing to Biya to step aside. 'The legs are no longer holding up, the brain is no longer working. I'm telling you this because I'm in this situation, because I'm in my 80s,' she said. 'I know what has changed in me and what I can no longer give to Cameroonians.' Perhaps more worrying for Biya, two former allies have recently quit the ruling coalition and announced plans to run in the election separately. Enonchong, the tech entrepreneur, told Reuters she did not think Cameroonians would accept another Biya term. But analyst Raoul Sumo Tayo said that, despite the many obstacles, Biya should not be counted out. 'The ruling party can successfully rally the administrative elite and utilise outdated electoral practices,' he said, referring to what he described as fraudulent tactics. 'It might just secure an eighth term for Paul Biya.'
BBC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Cameroon President Biya, 92, wan run for eighth term
Cameroonian President Paul Biya, wey don dey near 100 years, say im wan run for im number eight term. Biya wey already dey 92 years, don be president of Camerron since 1982 and now, im na di world oldest head of state. Im bin win one seven years term for 2018, for elections wey many of di kontri pipo no gree show to cast dia vote, plus accuse of irregularities. Biya forever stay in office, na sake of one controversial amendment wey di kontri bin do for dia constitution for 2008 wey bin remove presidential term limits. Inside one post wey im do for im posted on X yesterday, Oga Biya say: "I be candidate for 12 October 2025 presidential election. Rest assure say my determination to serve you dey commensurate wit di serious challenges wey dey face us. Togeda, e no get challenges wey we no fit meet." "Di best still dey come," im say. Im announcement dey occur as two of im long-term staunch supporters distant diasef from am for June. Di two former supporters, Issa Tchiroma Bakary and Bello Bouba Maigari don already declare dia own candidacies for position of president . Issa Tchiroma Bakary wey bin be prominent minister for Biya goment bin stop to support am in hope say e go end di 92-year-old forty years grab to power for di October elections. Tchiroma wey switch go one rival say: "A kontri no fit exist for di service of one man." Im bin serve as tok-tok pesin for Biya goment, and until e resign for June dis year, im bin dey serve as di kontri employment minister. News don dey fly upanda for some time now about di health condition of di president. Di president dey make frequent private trips abroad and dem dey even describe am as "honorary citizen" of Geneva. Presidential hopefuls get until 21 July to submit dia candidacies for di 12 October election. Maurice Kamto wey bin come second for di 2018 presidential election, dey expected to contest again and im go be Biya greatest challenge.
Al Jazeera
3 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Cameroon's 92-year-old president seeks eighth term in office
Cameroon's president, Paul Biya, who is 92 years old, has announced plans to run for an eighth term in this year's presidential election on October 12. Biya, who is the world's oldest serving head of state, made the announcement in posts on X on Sunday in both French and English. 'I am a candidate in the presidential election,' he wrote. 'Rest assured that my determination to serve you matches the urgency of the challenges we face.' Biya, who is seeking a new term that could keep him in office until he is nearly 100, came to power more than four decades ago in 1982, when his predecessor, Ahmadou Ahidjo, resigned. His health is the subject of frequent speculation, most recently last year when he disappeared from public view for 42 days. His re-election bid had been widely anticipated but not formally confirmed until Sunday's social media post. Biya had been posting regularly on his verified X handle in the buildup to the announcement. In 2018, in a first, he also used social media to announce his candidacy for that year's presidential contest, marking a rare direct engagement with the public on digital platforms. Members of the governing Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) and other supporters have since last year publicly called for Biya to seek another term. But opposition parties and some civil society groups argue his long rule has stifled economic and democratic development. Two former allies have quit the governing coalition and announced plans to separately run in the election. 'President Biya's announcement to run again is a clear sign of Cameroon's stalled political transition. After over 40 years in power, what the country needs is renewal – not repetition. Cameroonians deserve democratic change and accountable leadership,' Nkongho Felix Agbor, a human rights advocate and lawyer, told The Associated Press news agency. Sunday's announcement is sure to revive debate over Biya's fitness for office. He seldom makes public appearances, often delegating responsibilities to the powerful chief of staff of the president's office. Last October, he returned to Cameroon after a 42-day absence, which had sparked speculation he was unwell. The government claimed he was fine but banned any discussion of his health, saying it was a matter of national security. Biya scrapped term limits in 2008, clearing the way for him to run indefinitely. He won the 2018 election with 71.28 percent of the vote, though opposition parties alleged widespread irregularities. The cocoa- and oil-producing Central African nation, which has had just two presidents since independence from France and the United Kingdom in the early 1960s, is likely to face a messy succession crisis if Biya were to become too ill to remain in office or die. Besides Biya, several opposition figures have also declared their intention to run, including 2018 runner-up Maurice Kamto of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, Joshua Osih of the Social Democratic Front, lawyer Akere Muna and Cabral Libii of the Cameroon Party for National Reconciliation. All have criticised Biya's long period as head of state and called for reforms to ensure a fair vote in 2025. Under Biya, Cameroon has faced economic challenges and insecurity on several fronts, including a drawn-out separatist conflict in its English-speaking regions and ongoing incursions from the Boko Haram armed group in the north.
Irish Times
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Opposition parties likely to announce own preferred presidential candidate rather than agreed one
Left-leaning parties in the Dáil are likely to nominate their own preferred candidates to stand in the presidential election rather than gather around an agreed candidate, a meeting of Opposition leaders has heard. Opposition leaders met on Wednesday evening in Leinster House to discuss their approach to the election, which is likely to take place in late October or early November. The meeting was attended by: Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald; acting Social Democrats leader Cian O'Callaghan; Labour leader Ivana Bacik; Paul Murphy from People Before Profit (PBP): and Roderic O'Gorman of the Green Party. The Social Democrats and PBP indicated they were close to the end of their internal processes. Mr Murphy is understood to have told the meeting the party would likely endorse Independent TD Catherine Connolly if she declared her interest. READ MORE The Social Democrats are also close to completing their process and, while it has not been stated it publicly, it is likelythey would also be minded to back Ms Connolly. Ms McDonald, Ms Bacik and Mr O'Gorman indicated their internal deliberations have yet to be completed and it could be late summer, or early autumn, before they declare their intentions. The leaders did discuss leading candidates, with the Independent Senator Frances Black also being mentioned. 'I would say that Catherine Connolly is the front-runner at this stage,' said a source. Ms Connolly has said she would keep an 'open mind' about running if she could 'unite the Opposition'. The source saidit was likely that individual parties would nominate their preferred candidates and that it would then be up to other Opposition parties, who have not declared, to come on board at a later stage. That happened in the 1990 election when Mary Robinson was endorsed by Labour, and later by Democratic Left. It also happened in 1997 when the Progressive Democrats announced several days after her nomination, that the party would support the Fianna Fáil candidate, Mary McAleese. A person with knowledge of the meeting said that the Sinn Féin leader 'kept her cards close to her chest' and that Ms McDonald did not give an indication of what the party's intentions would be. Mr O'Gorman also said his party was currently considering its position.
