Published June 10, 2026
The early list of potential 2028 Democratic presidential nominees is pretty familiar. Former vice president Kamala Harris and California Gov. Gavin Newsom lead early polls, though Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (New York) capture attention, too. Former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg is young and politically talented, as is Sen. Jon Ossoff (Georgia). Like Ossoff, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has proved he can win on red terrain.
There are several others, but here’s a tip: Keep an eye on Ro Khanna, because his time in the sun is coming.
Khanna is a transparently ambitious, ultraprogressive congressman from Silicon Valley. He first ran for Congress in 2004, at 27, against long-serving Rep. Tom Lantos, and got annihilated. Many young men would leave the arena after such an uninspiring debut, but not Khanna. Instead, he picked himself up, cultivated ties among the Valley’s tech elite and served in President Barack Obama’s Commerce Department.
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Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, is a globally recognized expert on American elections and policy as well as global populism.
