Less than 4 months into Trump's 2nd term, Dems are already eyeing the 2028 race

President Donald Trump has not even hit the four-month mark yet in his second tour of duty in the White House but that is not stopping Democrats from already looking ahead to the presidential campaign The very early moves in the next White House race by anticipated presidential contenders are clearly underway The latest comes from Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg who later served as Transportation secretary in former President Joe Biden's administration He is headlining a town hall with veterans on Tuesday in Cedar Rapids Iowa Iowa's caucuses for half a century kicked off both major political parties' presidential nominating calendars until the Democratic National Committee DNC demoted the Hawkeye State on their schedule TRUMP'S APPROVAL RATINGS SLIDE BUT DEMOCRATIC PARTY'S POLLS HIT ALL-TIME LOWSAnother probable contender two-term Illinois Gov J B Pritzker late last month gave the keynote address at a major state party fundraising gala in New Hampshire the state that for a century has held the first primary in the race for the White House Even though he says he is not laying the groundwork for a presidential run Maryland Gov Wes Moore later this month will headline a major state party fundraising dinner in South Carolina which the DNC anointed last cycle as their lead-off contest on the primary calendar Also making noise is two-term Democratic Kentucky Gov Andy Beshear who explained lately he would consider running for president if he felt he could successfully unite the country WHAT BERNIE SANDERS DECLARED IN A FOX NEWS DIGITAL INTERVIEW Additionally progressive firebrand Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York grabbed plenty of attention the past couple of months co-headlining a slew of large rallies across the country with longtime progressive champion Sen Bernie Sanders of Vermont which sparked plenty of speculation The Democratic Party has been in the political wilderness since last November's vote setbacks when Republicans won back control of the White House and the Senate and defended their fragile House majority Republicans additionally made gains among Black and Hispanic voters as well as younger voters all traditional members of the Democratic Party's base Since Trump's return to power an increasingly angry and energized base of Democrats has been pushing for party leaders to take a stronger stand in pushing back against the president's sweeping and controversial agenda during the opening months of his second administration Democrats are not only looking ahead to next year's midterms when they hope to make ballot box gains but also to the next presidential race There was a sense of hopelessness earlier this year among Democrats as Trump came in with his wrecking ball and it seemed like there was nothing but futile opposition to him longtime Democratic strategist and communication Chris Moyer communicated Fox News So thinking about a presidential race with anticipated candidates is a way to get specific hope back and look towards a future that doesn't include Trump Moyer a veteran of a handful of Democratic presidential campaigns noted the race is wide open and it won t be long before we see clear maneuvering from a litany of candidates The results of the midterm elections will have a major impact on the shape of the next White House race too For now however here is an early look at Democrats considered to be prospective presidential contenders After lying low as the Biden administration came to a close former Vice President Kamala Harris has picked up the political pace of late including headlining a major DNC fundraising event last week in New York City Among her campaign options that she is weighing is a run for the open governor's seat in her home state of California and another bid in for the White House A source in the former vice president's political orbit certified to Fox News Digital two months ago that Harris had reported allies she would decide by the end of summer on whether to launch a gubernatorial campaign Harris served as San Francisco district attorney California attorney general and represented the Golden State in the U S Senate before joining Biden's ticket and winning voting process as vice president Additionally Harris would be considered the clear frontrunner for governor in heavily blue California in the race to succeed term-limited Democrat Gov Gavin Newsom However early polling in the Democratic nomination race indicates that Harris would be the frontrunner thanks in part to her name recognition within her party While there are plenty of voices within the party who would like to move on from the Biden Harris era following Trump's sweeping conquest and there is little history of Democrats yearning for past defeated presidential nominees Trump has re-written the rules when it comes to defeated White House contenders making another run Likely buyers' remorse of a second Trump administration could boost the -year-old Harris in the years to come The progressive rock star and best-known lawmaker among the so-called Squad of diverse House Democrats in October turned the minimum age to run for president A few Democrats argue that a riveting messenger with star power is needed as the party's next nominee and Ocasio-Cortez is guaranteed to grab plenty of attention if she ultimately decides to run There is also speculation the four-term federal lawmaker from New York City may primary challenge Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York when he is up for re-election in California Gov Gavin Newsom was a top surrogate for Biden during the president's re-election bid With the blessing of the White House the two-term California governor debated then-Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov Ron DeSantis last year on Fox News Newsom's travels on behalf of Biden brought him to New Hampshire and South Carolina two crucial early voting states on the Democratic Party's nominating calendar After Harris his friend and fellow Californian replaced Biden atop the Democrats' ticket the governor continued after a pause his efforts to keep Trump from returning to the White House While Newsom and California's Democrat-dominated legislature took action to Trump-proof the Golden State the governor has also worked with Trump on key matters including January's wildfires that devastated parts of metropolitan Los Angeles Newsom also appears to have moderated on specific issues and invited well-known Trump allies Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon on his weekly podcast The -year-old Newsom who is term-limited completes his duties in Sacramento at the end of next year right around the time the presidential polling will start to heat up Illinois Gov J B Pritzker has become a leading voice in the Democrats' opposition to Trump and has taken efforts to Trump-proof his solidly blue state You come for my people you come through me Pritzker described reporters of his efforts to protect Illinois Pritzker was also a high-profile surrogate on behalf of Biden and then Harris during the cycle Those efforts brought Pritzker to Nevada a general ballot battleground state and an early-voting Democratic presidential primary state and New Hampshire Additionally the governor's latest trip to New Hampshire sparked more buzz However before he makes any decision about the -year-old governor must decide whether he will run in for a third term steering Illinois Two-term Michigan Gov Gretchen Whitmer grabbed plenty of attention and became a Democratic Party rising star in when she feuded with Trump over COVID- federal assistance and survived a foiled kidnapping attempt Trump at the time called her that woman from Michigan Along with Newsom and Pritzker Whitmer's name was floated as a attainable replacement for Biden following his disastrous debate performance against Trump in late June before the president endorsed Harris and the party instantly coalesced around the vice president Whitmer was a leading surrogate for Biden and then for Harris and made a big impression on Democratic activists during a stop this summer in New Hampshire on behalf of Harris However Whitmer was criticized by various in her party for appearing to cozy up to Trump during a White House visit earlier this spring The -year-old governor is term-limited and will leave office after the end of next year Gov Josh Shapiro the -year-old first-term governor of Pennsylvania was on Harris' short-list for vice presidential nominee Even though the vice president named Minnesota Gov Tim Walz as her running mate Shapiro remained a top surrogate on behalf of his party's national ticket However his two-day swing in New Hampshire during the final full week ahead of Vote Day did raise chosen eyebrows and speculation After Harris lost battleground Pennsylvania to Trump there was plenty of talk within the party that Harris had made the wrong choice for her running mate Shapiro who has a track record of taking on the first Trump administration as Pennsylvania attorney general is expected to play a similar role with Trump back in the White House The governor will be up for re-election in Maryland Gov Wes Moore is considered by several to be another Democratic Party rising star The -year-old Army veteran Rhodes Scholar and CEO of the charitable organization the Robin Hood Foundation during the coronavirus pandemic was elected two years ago Even though Moore mentioned in a latest interview on The View that he's not running in speculation persists fueled in part because of his upcoming stop in South Carolina Moore will be up for re-election in Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg who surpassed expectations during his Democratic presidential nomination run was a very progressing surrogate on behalf of Biden and later Harris during the cycle He helped raise a lot of money for the Democratic Party ticket including heading a top-dollar charity fundraiser in New Hampshire The -year-old former South Bend Indiana mayor and former naval officer who served in the war in Afghanistan is considered one of the party's biggest and brightest stars He was known as a top communicator for the administration including making frequent appearances on Fox News Fueling buzz about a feasible presidential run Buttigieg passed on a Senate bid in his adopted home state of Michigan and made a high-profile stop in Iowa on Tuesday Kentucky Gov Andy Beshear who was elected governor in and then re-elected in in red-state Kentucky was also on Harris' longer list for prospective running mates Beshear made plenty of new friends and contacts as he ventured to New Hampshire last month to headline the state Democratic Party's annual fall fundraising gala He served as Kentucky's attorney general before running for governor Beshear revealed last week in an interview with local state WDRB that if you'd demanded me a couple years ago if this is something I'd consider I supposedly wouldn't have But I don't want to leave a broken country to my kids And so if I'm somebody that can bring this nation together hopefully find chosen common ground it's something I'll consider Georgia Sen Raphael Warnock is a major performer in Washington as the Democratic minority in the Senate fights back against the second Trump administration Warnock who won Senate elections in and in battleground Georgia served as senior pastor at the famed Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta where Martin Luther King Jr once preached He is up for re-election in the Senate in Sen Cory Booker of New Jersey who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination is considered one of the party's the greater part talented orators Thanks to his run Booker made plenty of friends and allies in such early states as New Hampshire and South Carolina Booker made headlines six weeks ago by delivering a record-breaking -hour and -minute marathon speech from the floor of the Senate The speech protested the sweeping and controversial moves so far by Trump during his second administration as well as the operations of Elon Musk's Department of Executive Efficiency The -year-old senator is up for re-election in Since the November referendum Sen Chris Murphy of Connecticut has been very vocal about the measures Democrats need to take to win back working-class voters First elected to the House in and later to the Senate in the -year-old Murphy cruised to re-election this year by nearly points which means he would not have to decide between a re-election bid and a White House run in Rep Ro Khanna was a tireless surrogate on behalf of Biden and then Harris He has been a regular visitor to New Hampshire in the past couple of years including a high-profile debate last year against then-GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Khanna has grabbed plenty of attention so far this year as he has held town halls in Republican-controlled congressional districts and targeted Vice President JD Vance with events in the vice president's home state of Ohio and at Yale Law School where both politicians earned their legal degrees The -year-old sports TV personality sports radio host sports journalist and actor has grabbed a ton of attention this year as he has mulled a White House run and has even grabbed Trump's attention Another likely contender with plenty of star power is Mark Cuban The billionaire business mogul and part-owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks was a high-profile surrogate for Harris during her presidential polling campaign Former North Carolina Gov Roy Cooper who at the beginning of the year finished up his eighth and final year as governor took his name out of the Harris running mate speculation early in the process last summer Cooper served years as North Carolina's attorney general before winning electoral contest as governor The former governor is being heavily recruited by Democrats to try and flip a GOP-held Senate seat in North Carolina in next year's midterms New Mexico Gov Michelle Lujan Grisham is halfway through her second term steering New Mexico The governor a former member of Congress was a high-profile and busy surrogate on behalf of Harris during the final weeks of the campaign The -year-old Minnesota governor who served as Harris' running mate has two years remaining in his second term in office While the vice presidential nominee's capacity and enthusiasm on the campaign trail this year impressed plenty of Democratic strategists the final results of the voting will make any feasible future national run for Tim Walz hard Walz has stated he is not thinking of but he has been very busy so far this year heading events across the country and an upcoming stop in South Carolina is fueling more White House buzz Three other names keep coming up Gov Phil Murphy of New Jersey and former Chicago mayor former congressman former White House chief of staff and former ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel and Sen Ruben Gallego of battleground Arizona