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Sunrise behind the White House in December 2018: the dream of moving there in two years is driving many politicians around. (Image: Erik S. Lesser / EPA)
It will take more than a year to get to the presidential primaries, but several serious candidates have already thrown their hat into the ring. An overview
US President Donald Trump has just begun the second half of his term, but his opponents are already trying to succeed him. Even if the presidential elections of 3 November 2020 seem to be still far away, there is no time to lose in the American political system. To find serious opportunities, challengers must already create networks in states of strategic importance, seek contacts with potential donors, and place themselves in a favorable light with interest groups within the party. The moment of truth is beating practically in a year when the first primaries of the two big parties take place in Iowa on February 3, 2020. But even then, one or the other dream of the presidency will explode – for lack of of money, lack of support in your party, organizational weaknesses or a combination of all this.
republican
Applications officially declared
Donald Trump. (Photo: Reuters)
Donald Trump: That the current incumbent will seek re-election, he expressed unusually early. Already on the day of his oath, he presented the corresponding documents to the electoral commission; in February 2018 he appointed a campaign manager. With an approval rate of around 40% on average, Trump is not in a comfortable starting position, but for him at the moment it is more important to know that he knows the infidelity of the Republican Party. This makes it difficult for domestic party rivals to risk rebellion.
Potential candidates
So far, from the Republican side, apart from Trump, not a single known politician has announced a request for the presidential candidacy of his party. However, several exponents have prepared the ground for such a move. Count between them Bob Corker, which until recently was the influential Senate Senate's foreign policy committee and was one of the few Republican members of Congress to openly criticize Trump. Corker did not rule out an application with his own words. The same goes for Jeff Flake, which also withdrew from the Senate at the beginning of the year. He fueled speculation with several appearances in the important state of New Hampshire. Self-deprecatingly, Flake describes himself as the representative of a rare species called "Americanus Never-Trumpus, subspecies: Rino" (short for "Republicans in name only").
The up-to-date criticism of the party of Trump by an important party politician has come Mitt Romney. the failed 2012 presidential candidate, who has been a senator since January. A recent Romney application is currently considered unlikely. The presidential ambitions are also given to the Governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan. As a republican in a democratically dominated state, it is surprisingly well affirmed. It does not exclude an application.
Democrats
After the defeat of their presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in November 2016, the Democrats are looking for a rematch. So far, no clear favorite and no clear favorite has peeled inside the party. The race is therefore completely open. About a dozen serious questions are expected to be received in 2019. So far, five eminent party members have made their plans public.
Applications officially declared
Julian Castro. (Photo: Reuters)
Julian Castro: The former minister of housing (2014-17) under President Obama arrives from Texas, where he served as mayor of San Antonio before his time in Washington. The 44-year-old son of a civil rights activist with Mexican roots is one of the few candidates with executive experience. He studied at Stanford and Harvard, where he graduated as a law student. In 2016, he was speaking for the office of Vice President. It is in line with the Democratic Party on social and environmental issues.
Tulsi Gabbard. (Photo: Reuters)
Tulsi Gabbard: Born in 1981, the deputy comes from the overseas territory of American Samoa and grew up in Hawaii, where she was elected in parliament at the age of 21. In addition to his political career, he also exercised a military in the national guard of his constituent state. He has participated in a war effort in Iraq and currently has the degree of majorin. Gabbard is a practicing Hindu. Politically, she is more to the left of the party. He fought against the TPP free trade transpacific agreement and criticized President Obama's military policy in Syria. A dispute arose due to a meeting with the Syrian dictator Asad.
Kirsten Gillibrand. (Image: AP)
Kirsten Gillibrand: The 52-year-old Senator from New York followed in the footsteps of Hillary Clinton in 2009, when she was able to take the Senate Clinton seat after her appointment as Foreign Minister. He began his political career two years earlier as a representative. Gillibrand is a daughter of two lawyers and has also practiced this profession. Politically, he initially positioned himself in the conservative wing of his party, probably due to the more conservative tendency of his rural electoral college in New York. He therefore defended the right to free possession of arms. As a senator she has moved ever further to the left and is now heavily involved in the movement to combat sexual abuse.
Kamala Harris. (Photo: Reuters)
Kamala Harris: The Californian born in 1964 announced his application on Monday in a television interview and in a campaign video. Harris won a Senate seat in 2016 following a prosecutor's career. There, the daughter of a Tamil woman and a Jamaican woman, who became a professor of economics after her immigration to the United States, among others, as a follower of a liberal immigration policy occurred. Furthermore, it supports the transition to a complete public health insurance. In his video for the launch of the campaign, he underlines the importance of the American key values he wishes to defend.
Elizabeth Warren. (Image: AP)
Elizabeth Warren: The former Harvard professor and bankruptcy specialist has represented the state of Massachusetts in the Senate since 2013. He was recognized as the founding director of the Consumer Protection Authority for Financial Services. Warren, born in 1949, quickly became one of the party's best-known exponents. He pursues a pronounced course of left-wing economic policy and advertises in his campaign partly with populist means for the votes of economically-voted voters. The opponents accuse her of having played her Indian descent (negligible) for career reasons.
The lesser-known Democratic presidential candidates are the former congressman John Delaney and the war veteran Richard Ojeda. a senator in the West Virginia parliament.
Potential candidates
A whole series of other eminent Democrats expressed open or limited presidential ambitions. Include the Texan Beto O & # 39; Rourke. who had lost a feeling in the Senate elections in November against Ted Cruz, the senators Cory Booker from New Jersey, Sherrod Brown from Ohio e Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota and the former mayor of New York and billionaire Michael Bloomberg. a former republican. Also a renewed application of the second place in the Democratic primaries of 2016, Bernie Sanders. It is well conceivable. The presidential vice president continues to be infected by the presidential "virus" Joe Biden. He had twice tried in vain for the nomination of his party, but in today's polls, but thanks to his fame he is far ahead.
Independent and third parties
The two main US parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, have dominated presidential election campaigns for over 150 years. However, not all Americans feel represented by them. The dream of a realistic third-party candidate appears regularly, but always fails in the electoral system, which prefers the two big blocks. Third-party or non-party applicants run the risk of assuming the maximum role of spoilsport. This was the case, for example, in the case of Ross Perot in 1992 and the green candidate Ralph Nader in 2000. Nevertheless, it is conceivable that prominent politicians consider the candidacy as non-partisan if there is much room in the political center between President Trump and a potentially left-wing Democratic candidate.
For example, the former governor of Ohio thinks in this direction John Kasich. who lost against the Republicans in 2016 against Trump. Also the former president of Starbucks, the Democrat Howard Schultz. presumably considering an application as non-partisan. Unlike most other candidates, it should not worry about financing: it has a billions of dollars assets.
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