How To Keep Track Of The Over 200 People Already Running For President

By Khushbu Shah


Though we’re over a year out from the next presidential election — mark your calendars for November 3, 2020! — nearly 200 people have already registered as Democratic presidential candidates. Yes, that’s right: two hundred. Some days, it feels like the number may be even higher, with nearly weekly announcements from politicians and personalities who would like to have a chance to tout their platforms — ranging from support for the New Green Deal, a universal healthcare system, raising the minimum wage, and dismantling ICE — on a national stage.


There’s still time for more people to announce their intentions in the coming months, though only one will eventually be tapped because the official Democratic contender at the Democratic National Convention in July 2020. Before then, the party will hold a series of primaries and caucuses, starting in Iowa on February 3, 2020, followed by New Hampshire on February 11. Though subsequent primary elections will take place in all 50 states, those two states are key for contenders to discern where stand and why they are going to fare running up to the convention.


The Democrats, obviously, aren’t the only people aiming to unseat Trump; as Vox notes, a number of Republicans have offered they might hope to run against the incumbent President, though others aspire to close the loophole that would permit for that. On the third-party level, Dario Hunter is seeking a bid as a candidate for the Green Party, while former Drag Race model Ronnie Kroell is running as an independent. And though former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced he was considering running for office as an independent candidate, he has however to prepare a formal bid.


Here’s a look at some of the notable candidates to keep an eye on so far, as we wait for primaries to whittle down the list.


Senator Cory Booker


Political experience: former mayor of Newark, New Jersey; current U.S. Senator for New Jersey


Booker has been a vocal opponent of President Trump, saying there really is a “urgent need” to oust the Republican president from office. Even before announcing his intention to run for president, he has been clear in his dislike for the current administration, and notably released confidential emails from Brett Kavanaugh during the latter’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing last year. His co-sponsoring of the “Medicare for All” bill and the “New Green Deal" to decrease the impact of climate change are his early campaign promises as he makes the rounds in the South. He is also quick to roast himself on social media; when someone criticized his jeans on Twitter, he joined in with an all-time diss from his own dad.


Pete Buttigieg


Political experience: current mayor of South Bend, Indiana


Back in 2016 — well before Buttigieg reported he was running on January 23, 2019 — the New York Times op-ed columnist Frank Bruni thought the wunderkind millennial had a shot at being the opening LGBTQ president of the United States. He’s 37 — mayor since he was 29, Rhodes scholar, as well as a Navy veteran —  and ready for a change. As he mentioned to the Washington Post in January,  “The case here's simple: That it’s time for a new generation of leadership in our country.” Though he hasn’t been also specific nevertheless about the policies he’d like give attention to throughout the campaign, he did tell NPR the election should be focused on "inter-generational justice."


Julián Castro


Political experience: former mayor of San Antonio, Texas; former U.S. Secretary of housing and urban development under the Obama administration


Castro reported his run in San Antonio on January 12, 2019, and said he wanted “to ensure that the possibilities that I’ve had are obtainable for every American.” The Stanford- and Harvard-educated politician has his sights on a universal pre-K program, universal higher education programs, and investment in education. He’s the opening and, for now, only major Latinx candidate to announce he’s running; his first campaign stop was to Puerto Rico in January.


John Delaney


Political experience: former U.S. Representative for Maryland's sixth congressional district


Delaney started his campaign in July 2017, well before most other Democrats had made official announcements, and was already stumping in Iowa by November 2018. One of the lesser-known candidates, the former representative is focusing his campaign on pushing for a universal healthcare system (though not one that is single-payer), universal minimum wage, and early-childhood education improvements, according to The Atlantic.


Representative Tulsi Gabbard


Political experience: current U.S. Representative for Hawaii’s second congressional district


Before she formally reported her run for president on January 11, 2019, the Iraq war veteran told Van Jones she could be campaigning on the platform of “war and peace.” She’s a candidate who has been surrounded by controversy: In 2017, she told CNN’s Jake Tapper she met Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad while on a “fact-finding mission”, without informing high-ranking Democrats, and denounced the U.S.-Backed opposition to al-Assad as “terrorists.” Critics have also pointed to her ties to anti-LGBTQ groups, including an anti-LGBTQ company operated by her father; she has since apologized for comments she made saying there really is a need to protect “traditional marriage” if she opposed gay marriage in the early 2000s. “In my past, I mentioned and considered things that were wrong, and worse, they were very hurtful to people in the LGBTQ community and to their loved ones,” she mentioned in a video statement this year, right around the time she reported she was running.


Senator Kirsten Gillibrand


Political experience: current U.S. Senator for New York


Gillibrand reported her run on the Late Show on January 15, 2019; she told CBS’s Stephen Colbert she wants to run “because as a young mom, I'm going to fight for other people's kids as hard as I would fight for my own.” In that vein, she’s focused on universal paid family member leave as one of her top agendas. Like other Democrats, she’s also called for abolishing the federal government’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement firm, better referred to as ICE.


Senator Kamala Harris


Political experience: former attorney general for California; current U.S. Senator for California


Harris reported her run for president on ABC’s Good Morning America on January 21, 2019; she chose Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to launch her campaign because revered civil rights leader was a source of inspiration for her run for office. A daughter of Indian and  Jamaican immigrants, Harris grew up in Oakland, and worked her way up from the San Francisco district attorney to attorney general before being elected as senator in 2017. Though some people have interpreted her record as attorney general as an indication that she might not be reformer she claims to be, Harris has stayed focused on the policy changes she advocates. Among the platforms at the forefront: a single-payer healthcare system plus a system to bring tax relief for low-income populations. She's also worked pop culture into her campaign in a way other candidates have nevertheless to: she is a Cardi B fan.


John Hickenlooper


Political experience: former governor of Colorado


In a campaign video released on March 4, 2019, Hickenlooper mentioned, "I'm running for president because we're facing a crisis that threatens everything we stand for.” Hickenlooper is a moderate Democrat who has historically supported the oil and gas industries.


Dario Hunter


Political experience: serves on the Board of Education for Youngstown, Ohio


The 35-year-old Ohio rabbi has entered the race, vying for the Green Party’s nomination. For now, he’s the only one. In an interview with Cleveland.Com, he heavily criticized the state of Israel, and mentioned,  “I don't believe the United States should be allocating any form of aid to Israel or any human-rights abusers.” His platform also includes a single-payer “Medicare For All” healthcare plan and he plans to transition the United States to renewable energy entirely.


Governor Jay Inslee


Political experience: current governor for Washington


Inslee officially threw his hat into the ring on March 1, 2019. Early polling released well before he had reported his candidacy showed only one percent of these responding saying they’d vote for Inslee. He has already began making the media rounds, speaking to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos about his central campaign platform: climate change, which has been his focus for months. “There is a large cost to our economy, our health and national security if we don't act," he instructed them network anchor. In 2017, he co-created the U.S. Climate Alliance, a bipartisan sort of states and territories that are devoted to upholding the 2015 Paris Agreement.


Senator Amy Klobuchar


Political experience: current U.S. Senator for Minnesota


She’s a three-term Minnesota senator who has won all of her elections by large margins, and calls herself “The Senator Next Door.” However her presidential run has already been mired by  previous personnel alleging that the senator subjected them to constant putdowns and demands; the New York Times notably announced that Klobuchar once angrily ate a fruit salad with a comb immediately after her personnel didn't remember to include a fork with her meal. Then, there were reports that though she publicly endorses paid family member leave, she did not support the same for her employees. She has remained focused on her key issues: lowering drug prices nevertheless stopping short of supporting "Medicare for All," protecting and regulating online data, and re-joining the Paris Agreement her beginning day in office.


Senator Bernie Sanders


Political experience: current U.S. Senator for Vermont


Bernie’s back. Sanders launched his second attempt at a presidential campaign with a very personalized rally cry from Brooklyn, New York on March 2, 2019. He lost to Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary in 2016 although, so far, he’s leading in several of the polls, and procured nearly $6 million dollars in campaign donations just 24 hours right after he reported he would run again, CNBC announced. Sanders is a self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist who led the charge for the “Medicare for All” bill, a single-payer government-run healthcare plan meant to replace the Affordable Care Act which Republicans have been dismantling for the last two years. He’s also a contributor for making America affordable for low and middle-income families, pushing for tuition-free college for all, as well as a livable wage.


Senator Elizabeth Warren


Political experience: current U.S. Senator for Massachusetts


immediately after establishing an exploratory committee at the end of 2018, Warren headed straight for Iowa and New Hampshire, battleground states that will serve as primary kickoffs for the 2020 election. The well-established Democrat has mostly didn't think about President Trump’s usual jabs, which include a derogatory nickname, which she has responded to by releasing the results of her own DNA test, which led to more jibes. Alternatively opposed to staying on the offensive, the veteran politician’s focus remains on economic inequality, and fighting corporate greed and political corruption.


William F. Weld