The 14 Democrats running for president and everything else you should know about 2020

The biggest questions about the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, answered.

The 2020 presidential primary campaign field has started to winnow down, but there are still new candidates jumping into the race four months to go until the first states vote.

Any Democrat with dreams of occupying the Oval Office can see Donald Trump is a vulnerable president who hasn’t broadened his appeal beyond his base. A lot of them are running for their party’s nomination next year to be its standard-bearer in the 2020 election.

There is a clear top tier of four candidates: former Vice President Joe Biden — the early, if unimposing, frontrunner; Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has steadily risen to the top of the field; Sen. Bernie Sanders with his solid base of left voters; and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who has been trending upward lately.

After an early boomlet, Sens. Kamala Harris sank in the polls and became in early December the first once-major contender to drop out. Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, and entrepreneur Andrew Yang have also been in the fray for months. A fair number of candidates have left the race: former US Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, among others.

The field has been expanding up until the last minute. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg filed for the Alabama primary right before the deadline. Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has entered the race. Even Hillary Clinton is taking calls encouraging her to run again, though she says it is exceedingly unlikely she’d seek the White House for a third time.

The Democratic field includes a record number of women and nonwhite candidates, a mix of high-wattage stars and lesser-known contenders who believe they can navigate a fractured field to victory. The debates started in June, with most candidates getting a chance to appear on stage, but the number of participants started to winnow in the third debate in September. The next Democratic debate will be held on January 14.

Whoever emerges from the Democratic primary will face Trump, who along with the Republican National Committee has already raised more than $300 million for reelection to a second term. Recent history tells us Americans usually give their presidents another four years. That should lend Trump an advantage. But the president has been historically unpopular during his first term, and he’s now mired in an impeachment inquiry after an explosive scandal in which he asked the Ukrainian president for political dirt on Biden. Impeachment polling doesn’t look great for Trump.

The last few months have demonstrated really anything can happen. It’s silly to pretend anybody knows how this campaign is going to end, and the 2016 election should have humbled all political prognosticators. Still, the 2020 campaign has already started. Here is what you need to know to get oriented.

Who is running for president in the 2020 election?

On the Republican side, there is of course President Donald Trump.

A few Republican officials — former Ohio Gov. John Kasich and popular Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan — have hinted they might challenge the president in a primary. But any primary challenger would be a huge underdog against the sitting president. Republican leaders have said they want to protect Trump by potentially having state parties change the rules for their primaries to guard against an insurgency.

The GOPers trying to supplant him are former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, a libertarian-leaning Republican who has officially entered the race former radio host and former Rep. Joe Walsh, who has apologized for saying racist things on Twitter. Former Rep. Mark Sanford, an ideological conservative who was a member of the Freedom Caucus while he was in the House, briefly pursued a primary challenge, but he has already dropped out. No other Republican is going to topple Trump, we can safely say.

On the Democratic side, the field is mostly set after these unexpected late entries, and candidates have started to drop out. The contenders, in rough order of standing, are:

Former Vice President Joe Biden: Biden thought hard about running in 2016, but he decided against it, being so soon after his son Beau’s death and with the party establishment uniformly behind Hillary Clinton. He’s still very popular with Democratic voters, and the former veep apparently wasn’t sure any of the other potential candidates would beat Trump. Though surely inflated by name recognition, Biden had a sizable early lead in the early Democratic national polls. However, Warren briefly (and very narrowly) surpassed him.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA): The Massachusetts senator is proudly progressive, though she tends to position herself as wanting to fix capitalism rather than replace it. She wants to outflank Trump on trade and give workers seats on corporate boards and tax extreme wealth. Warren got on the ground early in Iowa and other early states, and like Sanders, is not seeking money from high-dollar donors. (You might have also heard about her releasing a DNA test in an attempt to prove she had Native American roots — a poorly executed early attempt to rebut Trump’s “Pocahontas” taunts.)

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT): The 2016 runner-up is running again. He has the biggest grassroots base of any potential candidate, and he has been the leader of the push to move the party leftward. A more competitive field has presented Sanders with a very different race this time. And Sanders recently had a heart attack while on the campaign trail; while he’s recovering, he has openly said he won’t be able to get back to the breakneck speed of events he once had. Still, for many of the Democratic left, Sanders is the only candidate with the credibility to pursue their top-tier issues, like Medicare-for-all.

South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg: Something of a viral political star, though he leads a city of “just” 100,000 people, Buttigieg is a military veteran and a Rhodes scholar, and he would be the first openly LGBTQ president in American history. Redevelopment and infrastructure projects have been staples of his tenure as mayor, but he’s also gotten plenty of questions of how he handled racial issues in South Bend.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ): The former Newark, New Jersey, mayor and part-time firefighter is another fresh face with big ideas like savings accounts for newborns, and he’s also running in a Democratic primary with a lot of black voters. He’ll have to contend, though, with his work promoting charter schools (not a favorite of the teachers unions), the perception that he’s close with Wall Street, and the fact he can’t seem to break out of low single digits in the polls.

Andrew Yang: A humanitarian-mind entrepreneur who also served in the Obama administration. He’s running on a policy platform that includes, among other things, a universal basic income that would pay out $1,000 a month to every American over age 18.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN): She will look to blend her folksy, Midwestern manner with some crossover appeal, given her history of working across the aisle with Republicans and winning elections handily in a purplish state. Klobuchar is also known for her willingness to crack down on big tech firms focused on privacy and antitrust issues. She is struggling with a lack of name recognition, however, and she has been the subject of several reports about her alleged harsh treatment of staff.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI): Gabbard fires up a certain strain of antiwar progressive. She’s faced tough questions, though, about her apparent friendliness with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and her past comments on LGBTQ rights.

Tom Steyer: The billionaire Democratic donor has decided to enter the arena himself. He first rose to political prominence for his focus on combatting climate change and lately he has been on a crusade to convince congressional Democrats to impeach Trump. Steyer is positioning himself as a (well-funded) outsider running against a host of lifelong politicians.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg: Bloomberg had toyed with a Democratic presidential run, even though he governed the country’s biggest city as an independent, for a while now. Late in the game, he seems to have decided to finally take a shot, filing for the primary in Alabama ahead of the deadline there. He has a few policy wins that he can tout to Democratic voters, mostly notable on guns, but a centrist billionaire with some policy ideas that are anathema to the progressive base has not been a successful model in 2020 so far.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick: Patrick had sworn off a presidential bid months ago, but he’s reversed course and jumped into the campaign. The ex-governor is a longtime friend and ally of Barack Obama, and he’s trying to position himself as a candidate who can maintain unity within the party and country while still trying to tackle the big problems that have given the more left candidates such lift in the campaign. Whether he’ll succeed is another story: Cory Booker has a similar profile and hasn’t caught on so far, Democratic voters said they were already happy with the candidates they had before Patrick joined in, and he arguably lacks a signature progressive policy achievement despite eight years governing a liberal state with a Democratic legislature.

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO): Bennet is a well-regarded but nationally little-known senator. He tacks toward the center ideologically. The passion that fuels his candidacy is a fervent frustration with the way Washington works now. Bennet believes Americans are not nearly as divided as the parties in Washington and is positioning himself accordingly.

Former Rep. John Delaney: The most notable thing about Delaney is he’s been running for president for over two years, more or less living in Iowa, the first state on the presidential calendar. He was the first choice of just 1 percent of Iowa Democrats in a December 2018 poll.

Marianne Williamson: A self-proclaimed “bitch for God” who has been a spiritual adviser to Oprah. Her previous political experience is a failed run for Congress as an independent in 2014.

Who has dropped out of the 2020 presidential campaign?

Quite a few Democrats have already given up the ghost.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA): The former California attorney general started generating White House hype almost as soon as she got to the Senate in 2017. As a younger black woman, she personified the Democratic Party’s changing nature. She had endorsed Medicare-for-all and proposed a major middle-class tax credit, though her days as a prosecutor presented problems with the progressive grassroots. Harris made a big splash in early polls, but she dropped after stumbles over health care and never recovered.

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke: The former Texas Congress member was once 2020’s biggest wild card. O’Rourke built a historically successful fundraising apparatus during his losing 2018 Senate run against Ted Cruz. He’s young, and he gives a good speech. Obama’s old hands seem to like him. The open question was whether his self-evidenced political talents were matched by policy substance.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio: De Blasio, mayor of America’s biggest city and already the unlikely victor of a contentious Democratic primary to get there, touted his progressive achievements in the Big Apple as a model for the nation: enacting universal pre-K, ending stop-and-frisk, and an ambitious local health care program.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY): Gillibrand had evolved over the years from a centrist Democrat in the House to a progressive. She endorsed Medicare-for-all and universal paid family leave; a pillar of her Senate career has been cracking down on sexual assault in the military. Gillibrand was presenting herself as a young mom in tune with the #MeToo era and the Democratic women who powered the party to historic wins in the 2018 midterms.

Former San Antonio mayor and HUD Secretary Julián Castro: Castro got VP buzz in prior elections; this time, he ran in his own right after serving in Barack Obama’s Cabinet on an aspirational message as the grandson of immigrants.

Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper: Hickenlooper is a moderate ex-governor who pitched his ability to work across the aisle. On the issues, he touted his record on gun violence, environmental regulations, and expanding Medicaid. He conveyed an everyman persona, having founded a Denver brewery before he ever ran for public office. He decided to run for the Democratic nomination to challenge GOP Sen. Cory Gardner in 2020 instead.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee: Inslee centered his work on environmental issues and the threat of climate change. He has pushed a bill to get his home state off coal energy and all other carbon-producing energy sources by 2045. It hasn’t always been smooth — voters in Washington rejected an Inslee-supported carbon fee in 2015 — but the governor hoped to quickly build a profile by focusing relentlessly on the dire threat to humanity. He has opted instead to seek a third term as governor.

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA): Another Pelosi skeptic who helped lead the unsuccessful rebellion to stop her from becoming House Speaker again in 2016. Moulton, who represents a district in Massachusetts and is an Iraq War veteran, positioned himself as a moderate in contrast to the socialist energy animating the left and seeking to take over his party.

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH): The Ohio Congress member pitched himself as the Democratic answer for Trump Country, arguing he can connect with the blue-collar workers the party has lost in the Midwest. He cited the closure of the Lordstown GM plant in his home state as part of his motivation for running. Ryan has a history of long-shot bids: He challenged Nancy Pelosi for the House Democratic leader post in 2016.

Former Sen. Mike Gravel: The 88-year-old former senator, famed for reading the Pentagon Papers into the congressional record, ran 2020’s oddest campaign. Two teenagers convinced Gravel to launch a protest candidacy targeting the center-left and the forever war of mainstream American foreign policy. He endorsed Gabbard and Sanders after he’d exited the race.

Miramar, Florida, Mayor Wayne Messam: The mayor of a Miami suburb, it seemed safe to assume Messam had the lowest name recognition of any Democrat in the race. The son of Jamaican immigrants, he’s raised wages for city workers as mayor and confronted the Republican-led state government over gun control. He recently departed the massive field.

Former Rep. Joe Sestak: The retired three-star admiral and former Pennsylvania representative in Congress was a late entry to the race, announcing his campaign three days before the first Democratic debates. Sestak pitched himself heavily on his naval experience — his campaign logo prominently features the moniker “Adm. Joe” — and the global leadership experience he says it provides.

Who else might run for president in the 2020 election?

Well, never say never, but the field might finally be set. There were a handful of names we were still watching throughout the summer — former senator, secretary of state, and presidential nominee John Kerry and Georgia state senator Stacey Abrams chief among them — but both have since said they will not run. Hillary Clinton would shake up the race if she decided to join, but she continues to tamp down on the speculation she could run again. People are going to start voting soon. We should have all the candidates we’re going to get.

When do candidates have to decide whether or not to run?

Each state has its own filing deadline for federal candidates. A couple states — Alabama and Arkansas — have already had their deadlines pass. South Dakota, on the other hand, doesn’t close the door on candidates until the end of March.

More realistically, it’s difficult to imagine a candidate being viable if they don’t start competing, at the absolute latest, in California or Texas on Super Tuesday, March 3, when they’ll already have missed the first four primary states. Nine other states vote on Super Tuesday too. California’s filing deadline is December 13 and Texas’s is December 9. We are in the final stretch for any other candidates to get off the sidelines and make a run.

When are the next 2020 Democratic presidential primary election debates?

The Democratic National Committee announced it would hold 12 debates, starting in June 2019 and extending into 2020.

The next Democratic debate is January 14 and will be held in Des Moines, Iowa. It should be a much more intimate affair than the 12-candidate extravaganza at the fourth debate in October. Candidates must secure at least 225,000 individual donors. They must also reach 5 percent in the polls in four Democratic National Committee (DNC) approved national surveys or 7 percent in two DNC approved polls from the four earliest primary and caucus states: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada.

The candidates who have met the polling and donor thresholds are:

• Former Vice President Joe Biden
• Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren
• Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders
• South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg
• Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar

That leaves, Andrew Yang and Tom Steyer, who did qualify for the last debate before the thresholds increased again for January, on the bubble.

When are the 2020 Democratic presidential primary election and caucus nights?

The votes that matter won’t be cast for another six months. We have months of formal announcements, speeches, policy rollouts, campaign gossip, unpredictable polling, and some debates before any elections happen, when candidates start collecting the delegates they’ll need to claim the nomination.

Early momentum is always critical, especially in a big field with so many candidates trying to prove that they’re viable. With that in mind, the first two months of the primary schedule:

• February 3: Iowa caucuses
• February 11: New Hampshire primary
• February 22: Nevada caucuses
• February 29: South Carolina primary
• March 3 (“Super Tuesday”): Alabama, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Vermont primaries
• March 7: Louisiana primary
• March 10: Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio primaries; North Dakota caucuses
• March 17: Arizona, Florida, Illinois primaries

There are at least three more months of primaries and caucuses after that. But the candidates will focus their attention and organizing on the earlier states, and we should know a lot more about the field and the strongest candidates once the first sprint is over.

How do you win the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination?

The short version is you have to win a majority of the delegates.

Every state has different rules for its primary elections or caucuses in terms of allocating delegates. Candidates win delegates proportional to where they finish in the results, though they generally have to hit a minimum threshold of 15 percent to be awarded any delegates.

In terms of numbers, there will be an estimated 3,768 delegates for the 2020 Democratic National Convention (where the nominee will be formally selected) up for grabs during the primary elections. One candidate needs to win at least 1,885 delegates to be nominated.

You might hear talk of a “brokered” or “contested” convention if no candidate gets the necessary delegates to win on the first ballot. But that hasn’t happened for decades, and it’s way too early to think that will happen in 2020. That doesn’t mean it’s not a possibility, but let’s wait for some votes to come in before we start up that parlor game.

Democrats have made one major change from the 2016 primary on “superdelegates” — elected officials, party leaders, and other prominent Democrats who have votes in addition to the regular delegates awarded by state elections. In the past, superdelegates didn’t have to follow any rules and could back whichever candidate they desire and make up their minds at any point in the process. When most of them endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016, it gave her a built-in delegate advantage over Bernie Sanders, though she still won enough votes independent of the superdelegates to secure the nomination.

In a series of reforms, the DNC has stripped superdelegates of a vote on the first ballot. So unless the convention has to move to second or third votes because no candidate has a sufficient number of delegates — something that hasn’t happened since the 1950s — superdelegates won’t matter in 2020. (Arguably, they never did. Many pointed out it was unlikely for superdelegates to use their power to overturn the outcome of the primary system, but it nevertheless created consternation within the party.)

Okay. So who will be the next president?

Ha! You almost got me.