A new report posted at Politico is confirming that already a “fear of losing again” is shaping the Democrats’ agenda, plans and thoughts about 2028.
Voters already have twice rejected women for the presidency, as President Donald Trump blew Hillary Clinton out of the race in 2016 and trounced Kamala Harris in 2024.
Harris herself expressed doubts that a homosexual man could make up part of a winning team, as she admitted she wanted Pete Buttigieg as her VP candidate in 2024 but discriminated against him because of his sexual orientation.
Politico talked with a number of Democrats, whose candidates often have “identity,” during the National Action Network convention in New York this week, and found repeatedly a negative perspective.
“Several black attendees openly questioned whether anyone other than a straight, white man can win the White House,” the report said.
Kim Williams, 63, of New York, told the publication, “The Democratic Party, they’re going to have to consider … who can win? Who can win, black, white, who can win?”
And Annette Wilcox, 69, of New York, said, “I don’t think [the country is] ready for another different type of person.”
Politico said it found evidence in the “shadow primary,” of “lingering concerns that America remains too bigoted” to accept a minority.
The report noted Sen. Ruben Gallego, a first-term Democrat from Arizona, said the party should not allow “fear” decide who runs.
“You could potentially miss some really great talent,” he said.
Another possible for 2028, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, said he doesn’t “know many people back in 2022 who thought that an African American who had never held political office in his life was gonna be the next governor of Maryland.”
Harris, who repeatedly has flirted with the idea of running again, despite her total collapse in the 2024 election, also admitted the limitations.
“In her latest book, she divulged that former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg — another 2028 contender who also made a pit-stop at NAN — was her top vice presidential pick in 2024. But she didn’t select him because she didn’t believe the country was ready for both a woman of color and a gay man in the White House.”
Aaliyah Payton, 30, from the Bronx, expressed, “I believe the current climate of this country is not ready for a black woman as president.”
The Democrats in 2020 expressed similar worries before picking a mentally declining Joe Biden as their candidate to win an election influenced by multiple undue factors.
“The debate within the Democratic Party over what kind of candidate is electable played out again most recently in Texas, where the Democratic Senate primary was defined by tensions over race and concerns over which candidate could unify enough Democrats, independents and disillusioned Republicans to flip the red state. Voters chose seminarian James Talarico, a white man, over political firebrand Jasmine Crockett, a black woman, in the end,” Politico reported.
No Democrats have yet officially announced for the 2028 race, the report confirmed. But possibles include Moore, Gallego, Harris, Buttigieg, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and California Rep. Ro Khanna.
