A Running List of 2020 Presidential Candidates

Ready or not, the end of the 2018 midterms brought the unofficial start of the 2020 presidential race. Several Democrats have already announced their candidacy and started campaigning. Here’s what we know about those candidates seeking a 2020 nomination. (Note: This list will be updated as other candidates join the race.)

Democratic Candidates

• Andrew Yang is an American entrepreneur and the founder of Venture for America, whose mission is to revitalize American cities and communities through entrepreneurship by training recent graduates and young professionals to work for startups in emerging cities throughout the United States. In 2015, he was acknowledged by the Obama White House as a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship.
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., announced her candidacy on New Year’s Eve and has already started campaigning in Iowa. A public school teacher, turned professor, turned Senator, Warren has made waves recently for taking on big pharma and crony capitalism. 
• Former Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) announced that he would not be seeking re-election to represent Maryland’s 6th Congressional District so that he could focus on his presidential run. He was first elected to the House on Nov. 6, 2012. Prior to his background in politics, Delaney was the founder of two New York Stock Exchange companies, as well as Blueprint Maryland, a nonprofit organization focused on the creation of jobs in Maryland’s private sector
• Julián Castro was the former secretary of housing and urban development nominated by President Barack Obama on May 23, 2014 and confirmed by the Senate on July 9, 2014. He started in local politics, where he was a member of the San Antonio City Council, and, from 2009 to 2014, he was elected Mayor of San Antonio. As he was serving the Department of Housing and Urban development, Castro accomplished a goal when the Federal Housing Administration lowered mortgage insurance premiums to make homeownership more affordable for responsible families.
• Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., announced on Martin Luther King Jr. Day that she plans to run for president in the 2020 election. Harris is the first black woman to announce her presidential campaign and the fourth woman in the field. She kicked off her announcement saying that the time has come to fight against what she views as the injustice of the last two years of the Trump administration.
• Former House Rep. and current U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., will dive into the rough waters of Presidential candidacy in 2020. She has a long history of advocating for women’s rights and victims of sexual assault, and is expected to make those a key part of her platform. One of her drawbacks is that she has a history of shifting her views on issues like gun control, which may leave her open for some hard questions during the primaries. 
• Former State Sen. Richard Ojeda, D-W.Va., represented District 7 of the West Virginia State Senate from 2016 to 2019. He resigned on Jan. 10, 2019 to run for president. Previously, he ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018, losing to State Del. Carol Miller (R) in the Nov. 6, 2018 general election for West Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District. He has openly supported the West Virginia Medical Cannabis Act and other changes in laws related to cannabis.
• Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, is the country’s first Hindu and Samoan-American Congressional member. Gabbard is a veteran of the Hawaii Army National Guard and was deployed to Iraq and Kuwait. Since 2013, she has served as representative of Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes Honolulu, and supports universal healthcare, the $15 minimum wage, and the decriminalization of Cannabis. She has recently been under fire for her flip flop on same-sex marriage in 2012.

Republican Candidates

• Current President Donald Trump. Sitting presidents typically run unopposed within their own party, but there have been rumors of challengers. TBD on whether anyone else will actually seek the Republican party nomination.

Independent Candidates

• Check back for updates in this category.

People to Watch

• Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.
• Former gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas
• Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.
• Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.
• Former Vice President Joe Biden
• Mark Cuban
• Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, D-N.Y.
• Former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, D-Ga.

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