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2020 Election - Democratic Non-Candidates

Long Shots [alphabetical order]

  1. Louisville Mayor Gregory E. Fischer was on Charlie Rose 14 August 2017, and was clearly ready for prime time - articulate, outsider, businessman, etc. But the great mentioner seems not to have noticed.
  2. Andrew Gillum's governor's race in Florida against Republican Ron DeSantis got a lot of attention, including from Trump. Gillum isn’t a big fan of Donald Trump. "This president is wrong for Florida on almost every issue, and as governor, I will fight against each and every one of his wrong-headed, racist and sexist policies," Gillum said in a video. "The Donald Trump presidency shouldn't even make it through 2018. He should be impeached now." Gillum said, drawing laughter from the audience, said “Donald Trump is weak, and he performs as all weak people do. They become bullies... This is not Russia. You shouldn’t have to kiss the ring of the president of the United States for the president to see to the goodwill of the third largest state in all of America..." Gillum said of DeSantis " he has only continued in the course of his campaign to draw all the attention he can to the color of my skin. And the truth is, you know what? I’m black. I’ve been black I’ll my life and as far as I know, I’ll die black.”
  3. Gary Johnson was included in a January 2019 Washington Post / ABC public opinion poll, but received less than 1% support.
  4. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia is fluent in Spanish, having started his public service career by taking a year off from Harvard to run a technical school founded by Jesuit missionaries in Honduras. He was elected to the Senate in 2012 and serves on the Armed Services, Budget, Foreign Relations and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committees. Kaine made his national debut as Hillary Clinton's running mate in 2016. Despite his nice-guy demeanor that makes him perpetually resemble a suburban dad, was the designated attack dog.
  5. Joe Kennedy was included in a January 2019 Washington Post / ABC public opinion poll, but received less than 1% support.
  6. Dennis Kucinich was included in a January 2019 Washington Post / ABC public opinion poll, but received less than 1% support.
  7. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu has gotten plaudits for his stewardship of the Big Easy and his compelling speaking style.
  8. Jia Lee was included in a January 2019 Washington Post / ABC public opinion poll, but received less than 1% support.
  9. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe had only brief tenure as a politician (only four years as governor, after many years behind the scenes), and close ties to the Clintons, whom many Democrats would like to forget.
  10. Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton traveled to Nevada as he considers a presidential bid.
  11. Sen. Chris Murphy (CT), said he “can't imagine leaving the Senate until I've gotten a victory on this issue of gun violence.”
  12. Bobby Scott was included in a January 2019 Washington Post / ABC public opinion poll, but received less than 1% support.
  13. Kyrsten Sinema was included in a January 2019 Washington Post / ABC public opinion poll, but received less than 1% support.
  14. Mark Warner was included in a January 2019 Washington Post / ABC public opinion poll, but received less than 1% support.

Very Long Shots [alphabetical order]

  1. Stacey Abrams ran on the Democratic ticket for Georgia's 2018 governor's race. Abrams was credited with registering tens of thousands of new minority voters through her non-profit, the New Georgia Project. She has previously declined to identify the donors funding her initiative, according to local media. By January 2019 she was discussing a possible challenge to Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) in 2020.
  2. Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown campaigned for his third term in 2018. He's tough on trade but hardly a protectionist, as progressive as Warren but willing to work with fellow Ohioan Rob Portman, a Republican Senator, to write legislation to address their state's opioid crisis. He said by some to be uniquely capable of winning tough Midwest battlegrounds in the next presidential election. His perpetually wrinkled suits and shaggy hair are trademarks. After winning the Senate seat in 2006 again asserted himself as the rare liberal who could win statewide consistently in an increasingly conservative state. NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, was Brown’s signature issue. He campaigned against it in his first House race in 1992. Brown’s Dignity of Work message has origins in a speech Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave in support of striking Memphis sanitation workers. Brown said on 07 March 2019 he would not enter the 2020 U.S. presidential race, but would work to help the party recapture the White House and battle Republican President Donald Trump’s “phony populism.”
  3. Former Secretary of State and two-time presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was thinking about a run for the White House again in 2020. Despite her poor track record as a presidential candidate, Clinton seems to be doing anything but hide from the limelight. Philippe Reines, who was an aide to Clinton during her tenure as Secretary of State, recently said the chance Clinton gives it another shot is "somewhere between highly unlikely and zero… but it's not zero," The Hill reported 19 October 2018. New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin suggested 25 October 2018 that "she has been biding her time and building an organization and making good with a lot of people on the left by giving them money, the old fashioned way. I think she's been building her credibility with the [2016 presidential nominee] Bernie Sanders' wing of the [Democratic] party, which, of course, she was at war with two years ago. And I think that she is doing other things, giving speeches. She started recently calling White House reporters, which is a very interesting development. That is not something a normal citizen would do. She is also, with her husband, going to be doing a speaking tour over the next six months right after the midterms — again, not something you would do if you were trying to hide from the limelight". In January 2007, Hillary announced her first bid for the Democratic nomination to be America's president. In April 2015, she announced her second attempt. To put each candidacy together, she and her advisors likely spent many months (even years) planning ahead. American has Clinton fatigue. Clinton, who lost the 2016 U.S. presidential election to Donald Trump, ruled herself out of a rematch in 2020 as he seeks a second term in the White House. "I'm not running, but I'm going to keep working, and speaking, and standing up for what I believe," Clinton said in a New York television interview 05 March 2019.
  4. New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo never really signaled any presidential aspirations.
  5. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez [aka AOC], rising left-wing rock star, made history in the 06 November 2018 mid-term elections as the youngest woman elected to Congress, in a safe Democratic Party stronghold in New York, U.S. media projected. The 29-year-old had championed her working class and Puerto Rican roots, moonlighting as a bartender until defeating a Democratic grandee in a party primary earlier in the year, capturing imaginations around the country. She trounced Republican opponent Anthony Pappas in her constituency, a Democratic stronghold in a diverse part of Queens and the Bronx. AOC, as she is known, was born in 1989, and would be too young to run for President in 2020 - the age limit is 35 years old.
  6. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, a former Rhodes Scholar who has spent much of his professional life in city government, said 29 January 2019 he was not running for his party’s nomination for president.
  7. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), talented, articulate, highly visible. Gillibrand announced 28 August 2019 she was dropping out of the race amid low poll numbers. She was one of the candidates who did not qualify for the next debate set to take place in September. Based on an analysis of bill sponsorship by GovTrack, Gillibrand is a "far-left Democratic leader" as of July 2014. Gillibrand was rated as a "far-left Democrat" in June 2013. Each year National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of Congress voted in the previous year - Gillibrand ranked first in the liberal rankings in 2011. Once the proud owner of an A rating from the National Rifle Association, Gillibrand saw her grade plummet to an F after she was appointed to the Senate. A rural centrist from the closest thing that New York has to "real America", she spent years asa Wall Street-financed, corporate lawyer. When Gillibrand ran for Congress, she adopted positions that gave her the best chance to win. When she was appointed to the Senate and faced a new set of voters, those same positions became a liability.

  8. John Hickenlooper Hickenlooper abandoned White House hopes in August 2019. He was included in a January 2019 Washington Post / ABC public opinion poll, but received less than 1% support. The former Colorado Governor has no name recognition in early primary states. But his folksy charm coupled with a track record on the economy, health care and the environment will play well in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Hickenlooper on 04 March 2019 announced he is running for president, launching a 2020 campaign in which he will lean on his Western roots and decades of executive experience.
  9. Former attorney general Eric Holder stated in March 2019 he would not run.
  10. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon stated in March 2019 he would not run.
  11. Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts announced 23 April 2019 he was mounting a bid for president in 2020, expanding the Democratic field to at least 19 candidates. Moulton, 40, a Marine veteran who served in Iraq and three-term congressman from Massachusetts, is known as an outspoken critic of his own party. Moulton plans to focus his campaign on patriotism, security and service, he said, which are the points where Trump is "weakest." During his time in Congress, he's also been a loud advocate for banning semi-automatic assault weapons. Moulton had yet to garner 1 percent of support in any qualifying poll since he began his campaign.

  12. Oprah Winfrey for president was something of a running theme throughout the Golden Globes on 07 January 2018, beginning with Seth Meyers' opening monologue. She has said she'll never run for public office but, why not? She has pretty high approval ratings among everyone. She's universally known. She'd raise the money quite easily. She's a billionaire, so she could say she has business chops. There isn't any clear Democratic favorite that would clear the field at the moment. Oprah said she's out. She said running isn't in her “spirit” or her “DNA.” “If God actually wanted me to run, wouldn't God kind of tell me? And I haven't heard that,” she said




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