Tag: 2028 elections

Battleground Democrats Are Snubbing Two 2028 Presidential Contenders

Democratic candidates in several of this fall’s most competitive House and Senate races are keeping Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and former Vice President Kamala Harris off their campaign trails – even though both women rank among the party’s leading prospects for the 2028 presidential nomination.

The Democratic bench for 2028 includes Harris, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Ocasio-Cortez, Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly. Two of those six are women of color, from the demographic the party has spent a decade calling its moral center and its electoral future. Both now sit on the do-not-call list in the districts that will decide control of Congress in this year’s midterm elections.

According to an Axios report, Democrats in several key battlegrounds are keeping Ocasio-Cortez at arm’s length. Party officials say candidates in other close races have told her team outright to stay away. That is an electability problem for a politician whose whole pitch to primary voters is that bold progressivism, including Medicare for All, wins more votes than cautious centrism does.

Candidates in tight races reject that theory today even though they embraced it only months ago in their primaries. Sam Forstag, a progressive House candidate in Montana, rallied with Ocasio-Cortez in May on his way to the Democratic nomination. He has since scrubbed her endorsement from his campaign website.

“The polling is atrocious for her,” a senior Democratic strategist working in a key swing district told Axios. “She’s a lightning rod.”

Her own team offered no evidence to the contrary. When Axios asked whether she had campaigned in person for any of the party’s top House or Senate candidates this cycle, her office could not point to a single one.

Her travel log shows where she is welcome, and it’s clearly not in races that matter. Ocasio-Cortez made stops in Buffalo and Ithaca this week but skipped New York’s competitive 17th District in the lower Hudson Valley. She also stumped for Florida Senate nominee Angie Nixon, a fellow member of the Democratic Socialists of America, in a state that has drifted so far red that no serious Democrat expects Nixon to flip the seat. Buttigieg, Kelly and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, by contrast, have all drawn invitations from Democrats in competitive districts and states over the past month.

Kamala Harris is also getting snubbed despite polling the best of any 2028 contender. Last month, The Hill reported that Democrats in the most competitive midterm contests were shutting her out in public. Iowa supplied the most brutal data point. At the Iowa State Fair in August, a reporter asked gubernatorial nominee Rob Sand whether he wanted Harris to campaign for him.

“No thanks,” Sand said. “Let’s move on. We need some new leadership.”

Josh Turek, the party’s Senate nominee in Iowa, got the same question and answered with a smiling “No.” In Alaska, Senate candidate Mary Peltola distanced herself from Harris after Harris’s political operation sent out a fundraising appeal on Peltola’s behalf without telling her first.

This pattern runs counter to every assumption baked into those primary polls. Harris is a former vice president, the first woman to hold the office, the party’s 2024 nominee and one of its most recognizable faces.

For a party that spent a decade insisting diversity was its destiny, this dynamic carries a certain irony. Democrats built their brand on elevating women of color, and the two women of color on their 2028 bench are getting the cold shoulder.

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Kamala Harris Is BACK To Lecture Us About AI

Former Vice President Kamala Harris discussed artificial intelligence and social-media algorithms during a recent Off Air with Big Boy interview released September 25. Host Big Boy asked Harris whether AI-driven personalization on TikTok and Instagram could divide Americans by determining which messages appear in each user’s feed.

Harris miserably warned that when users repeatedly receive similar content, they should recognize that they are “being targeted,” adding that platforms risk “trying to dumb people down.” Strangely using a flower metaphor, Harris said an algorithm might assume that because she viewed a yellow flower, she is interested only in yellow flowers—even though she might also want to see a pink one.

Big Boy followed her analogy by interjecting, “So here’s more yellow flowers,” before Harris argued that users must understand how algorithms manipulate their feeds and learn how to “psych it out a bit.” The exchange concerned a miserable and cringe warning about algorithms and it arose from Big Boy’s broader questions about AI, social media and misinformation.

Critics quickly roasted the remarks online, with one X user warning viewers they would “lose brain cells,” while another called the explanation “nightmare fuel.” Other detractors revived the familiar “word salad” criticism, mocked the yellow-and-pink-flower imagery and questioned Harris’ understanding of technology.

Later in the interview, Harris addressed a possible 2028 presidential campaign, telling Big Boy, “I am thinking about it, but I have not decided,” and promising to keep the audience posted. Big Boy replied that her indecision still offered supporters “hope,” while Harris’ answer echoed previous remarks that she “might” run again and remains publicly undecided about seeking the Democratic nomination in 2028.

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Try Not to Laugh as Kamala Harris Explains Artificial Intelligence and Algorithms 

During a recent podcast appearance, former Vice President Kamala Harris tried to explain artificial intelligence and algorithms. You can probably guess how well things went.

It is amazing to remember that when Joe Biden was president, he actually put her in charge of AI. She was his AI czar.

When you see this clip, you will fully realize what a disastrous decision that really was.

From Breitbart News:

Harris, the Democratic Party’s 2024 presidential nominee told the “Big Boy’s Neighborhood” podcast this week it’s time to “psyche it out a bit,” contending that algorithms are basically trying to diminish social media user’s curiosity.

“They’re trying to dumb people down with the assumption that people don’t have any interest beyond what they have already seen,” she said. “Think about that.”

The host nodded: “Oh yeah, the algorithm.”

Then Harris took a deep dive into the subject, launching into a flower metaphor to make her point.

“But the algorithm suggesting I have no more interest because I’m looking at this yellow flower,” she said. “I’m only interested in yellow flowers… as though my brain can’t handle the fact that there may be a pink flower, right, right, that I might be interested in looking at, right?”

It wasn’t immediately clear what the point was, but the Washington Times interpreted the words as “algorithms are manipulating people.”

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DSA blueprint for 2028: Elect AOC president — and reportedly replace Chuck Schumer with radical leftist Chi Ossé

Ultra-left Brooklyn Councilman Chi Ossé would reportedly challenge NY Sen. Chuck Schumer in 2028 while “Squad” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez runs for the White House — if the Democratic Socialists of America get their way.

Ossé visited Buffalo and Kingston this week, and the silver-spoon socialist sounded very much like a candidate seeking higher office.

“I think the era of wait-your-turn politics is over,” he told a packed crowd at Kingston’s Unicorn Bar Tuesday at a “Take Our Power Back” Mid-Hudson Valley DSA event.

“The time for us, the socialists, is right now,” he said, sitting on a bar stool on stage at the queer performance venue, Hell Gate reported.

In May he notoriously said, “Woke 1 was crazyyyy.” It was an attempt to defend his 2021 remarks that “a cis white man should not be the next speaker of the council.”

Ocasio-Cortez repeated Ossé’s “woke 1 was crazy” comment last month before announcing on national television she was freezing her eggs. “During lockdown, rhetoric in that time is not rhetoric that we would use today,” she said in an attempt to blame it all on pandemic stir-craze.

The remarks were seen by many as a signal that the two far-left pols are trying to water down their radical images in an effort to attract more moderate Dems.

In Kingston, Ossé, 28, pushed for government-run electricity, and worked the room and posed for photos during a private happy hour before the talk, Hell Gate reported.

The outlet reported that several DSA sources confirmed ongoing talks within the party to run Ossé for Schumer’s seat.

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“I Wouldn’t Do That to People” – Gavin Newsom Says He Won’t Run for President if Kamala Harris Runs During Fly Fishing Outing with Jake Tapper

California Governor Gavin Newsom dismissed speculation of a 2028 bid for the White House in a CNN interview on Monday. 

Holding fly rods, knee-deep in the Bitterroot River in Montana, CNN’s Jake Tapper and Newsom discussed the 2028 election, with Newsom saying he “would never” have usurped Biden in the 2024 election and he wouldn’t challenge Kamala if she tries to run again.

Newsom was calmly dismissing his White House ambitions while fly fishing in Montana with Jake Tapper, in an obvious appeal to voters.

“I wouldn’t run if she ran,” he said, adding that he “wouldn’t do that to her” or “waste everyone’s time.”

“Electorally, it’s a gift from God for everybody else. They’d enjoy the hell out of it, mutually assured destruction. It services no greater good,” he said of a primary race with the ex-VP and himself.

Tapper noted that “she had a shot, and you’ve never run, and she’s run twice,” which Newsom agreed with, calling it a “good” case to make.

However, Newsom said, “I wouldn’t do that to people,” noting the “pure crossover” between his and her base of supporters, friends, and donors.

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Gavin Newsom Says He Would Continue His Podcast if He Became President – Wonders What He Would Wear

Gavin Newsom recently did a puff interview with PBS and was asked if he would continue his podcast if he became president. His body language changed and he became positively giddy at the thought.

He then wondered aloud what he would wear for the broadcast.

How is anyone taking this man seriously as a governor, let alone as a presidential candidate?

If Newsom runs for president, he is going to have to answer a lot of questions about California.

Even the Associated Press knows it:

California made Gavin Newsom famous. Will it drag down his 2028 presidential ambitions?

Gavin Newsom’s secret is no secret here in South Carolina.

They were selling “Gavin 2028” buttons outside his events this past week as he trekked across the state that will hold Democrats’ first presidential primary. His allies, the state party chair, college presidents and pro-Newsom activists all openly hinted at his national aspirations. And people close to him privately referred to a White House campaign as “the next thing.”

Still, California’s Democratic governor has barely begun to address what may be his biggest political liability as he stakes a claim as an early front-runner in the Democratic Party’s 2028 shadow primary. That liability, South Carolina voters acknowledged this past week, is something he cannot change — his home state, California, is a symbol of modern-day liberalism that people across the political spectrum love to hate.

Vera DeVito, a 78-year-old Democrat who packed into one of Newsom’s eight public events across South Carolina, said she didn’t know much about him or his policies — except that he’s from the Golden State. On that basis alone, she suggested that supporting Newsom could be “risky.”

“It’s going to be hard for him to appeal to the whole country,” she said in the town of Summerville. “Everybody thinks California is different — especially in the South. They’re not crazy about California.”

People aren’t crazy about California because California is crazy for putting up with Gavin Newsom.

The state has lost population for the first time in history on his watch.

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Hunter Biden says potential presidential run would focus on addiction treatment for Americans

Former President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden said in an interview that he “may have to” run for president in 2028, however he maintained that he had not made up his mind.  

On an episode of “The Cats Roundtable” released on Sunday, radio host John Catsimatidis asked Biden, 56, if he had any plans to run for president.

“If I get your endorsement, I may have to,” he told Catsimatidis.

Pressed on the same question earlier, the former president’s son said, “I haven’t made up my mind.”

In the interview, Biden explained that if he were to run, his presidential campaign would focus on addiction treatment and awareness for Americans.

“The things I care most about is the 50 million Americans that are still suffering with their addictions,” Biden remarked.

When asked about his qualifications to run for office, Biden cited the United States Constitution.

“Here is my qualification for becoming president, if you believe in the Constitution of the United States of America that you swear to uphold and protect. I want the next president to commit to one thing: to adhering to the rule of law,” he said.

The remark stands in sharp contrast to Biden’s own legal history, coming just months after his father granted him a full and unconditional pardon in December 2024 — wiping away federal gun and tax convictions before sentencing.

Biden, who has spoken openly about his own addiction and once referred to himself as a “former crackhead,” also faced allegations that he traded on his father’s vice presidency for family enrichment. The scandal erupted after he left a laptop to be repaired at a local shop, where the owner ultimately turned it over to the FBI after discovering the alarming contents.

The device reportedly contained numerous explicit photos and videos documenting drug use and sexual acts, and it later served as evidence in his federal gun and tax trials.

Pointing to potential future leaders during the interview, Biden praised Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear (D-Ky.) and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D-Ill.), declaring, “The truth of the matter is that I think we have an incredible bench,” before adding, “I love Gavin Newsom, personally.”

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