electoralism

The standouts

• California Gov. Gavin Newsom
• Josh Shapiro

The middle of the park

• Kamala Harris
• Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona)
• Pete Buttigieg
• JB Pritzker
• Wes Moore
• Andy Beshear
• Rahm Emanuel

The dark horses

• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
• Gretchen Whitmer
• Ro Khanna (D-CA)
• Any number of U.S. senators: The Democratic field is so wide open that it’s hard to count out anyone at this point.
  • Sen. Cory Booker, of New Jersey, ran for president during the 2020 cycle; questions about whether he might run again intensified after he broke the record for longest floor speech in the Senate in modern history last spring.
  • Like Kelly, Sen. Elissa Slotkin, of Michigan, took part in the video on refusing illegal orders. She said she’s received 1,000 threats for her role in the video, but that she refuses to back down from its message: “The intimidation is the point, and I’m not going to go along with that.”
  • Sen. Chris Murphy, of Connecticut, has been a prominent Democratic voice on foreign policy for many years. He also regularly says Trump is trying to steal the midterms.
  • Sen. Chris Van Hollen, of Maryland, traveled to El Salvador to support illegally deported Kilmar Abrego García, who lives in Maryland.
• Stephen A. Smith or another celebrity: The ESPN commentator is no fan of Trump, but he said he’s considering running for president, pitching himself as a centrist. He recently told CBS he’s “giving strong consideration to being on that debate stage for 2027,” and that he plans to make a decision on running this year.
• Democrats I’ve talked to say to leave room for surprise candidates. “There may be someone running we’ve never thought of,” a senior national Democratic strategist said.