Who will Democrats pick to run for president in 2028 after midterm elections triumph?
The Democrats have enjoyed a hugely successful night in the U.S. midterm elections with a “blue tsunami” meaning they have won back control of both chambers of Congress.
Votes are still being counted in what has become a referendum on the second Trump presidency, but it is already clear voters have issued a stark rebuke to the commander-in-chief.
With the elections over, attention will now turn towards the 2028 presidential election and who will be the party’s candidate, as the Democrats look to take advantage of this new position of strength.
Here, The Independent takes a look at those whose stock is rising ahead of a defining Democratic primary beginning next year.
One person who is not yet on this list is Abdul El-Sayed, who will become the first Muslim senator in US history after winning a key Senate seat in the battleground state of Michigan. Running on a staunchly left-wing platform, including criticism of Israel’s war inside Gaza, he has gained nationwide attention, but made more centrist Democrats nervous.
The 39-year-old senator, who stormed to victory in his re-election bid for the Senate with more than 59 per cent of the vote, is a rising star within the party.
US-based prediction market platform Polymarket gives him a 24 per cent chance of winning the Democratic primary to become the party’s presidential nominee, after his electoral success saw a nine-point surge in recent hours.
Ossoff has built his popularity through his direct and unsparing criticism of Trump, who he described on Tuesday night as a “lame duck president”.
He has drawn comparisons to former president Barack Obama, a strong orator with an appeal to both progressives and centrists who represents a youthful choice in an era of ageing presidents.
“Together, we’ve affirmed that our task is not just to contain one president’s wickedness, but to heal the brokenness beneath,” Ossoff told a crowd of voters on Tuesday evening.
“The American people have rebuked the depravity, corruption and incompetence of the failed lame duck president Donald J. Trump.”
Polymarket now has him as the frontrunner to become the next U.S. president with an 18 per cent chance on Polymarket, leading Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez by four points and Vice President J.D. Vance by five.
The U.S. representative for New York’s 14th congressional district, known widely as AOC, has solidified her own standing in the midterms.
Ocasio-Cortez comfortably won re-election in her seat with more than 78 per cent of the vote, with 96 per cent of votes counted.
