Former NBA superstar Charles Barkley said Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) are the two Democratic candidates who would earn his vote in the 2028 presidential race.
Barkley appeared on the
“Sports Illustrated Media With Jimmy Trania” podcast last week, where he was asked to weigh in on sports commentator Stephen A. Smith’s potential bid
.
“Stephen A is one of my friends, but I’m like, ‘Yo man, come on. Man stop it. Come on,’” Barkley said, noting that he thought Smith was joking when he originally said he could run if the Democratic Party didn’t have a better candidate.
Barkley criticized Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) as a “awful running mate” for former Vice President Kamala Harris in the recent election, but argued that Democrats lost the election “fair and square.”
“If the Democrats don’t get Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania or Wes Moore, the governor of Maryland, if they are not the leader or the team up for the Democratic Party, I would not even consider voting for anybody else other than one of those two,” Barkley said.
Barkley, an independent voter, argued that if the Democratic Party chooses another candidate outside of Shapiro or Moore, it would lose his support forever.
His remarks come as Smith, an ESPN commentator, has ramped up his talk
about running in the Democratic primary for the next presidential election.
As the party grapples with its 2024 losses and looks for someone new to lead, Smith has expressed interest in combating the Trump administration and GOP influence in the 2028 race.
Smith hasn’t said he would run, but his criticism of the Democratic Party and enthusiasm for a new leader have signaled he may jump in when the time comes, even as he’s considered to be somewhat of a political outsider.
Shapiro was rumored to have been in the running for Harris’s running mate
in the 2024 election, but he ultimately was not chosen and said he would like to continue serving the state of Pennsylvania.
After the election, he’s being eyed as a competitive candidate
in the 2028 primary. He has high approval ratings in his state. He’s also pro-Israel and may be viewed as a more center-left option for the party.
Moore has also been highlighted as someone people think should run. He was an avid supporter of former President Biden and has guided Maryland through the recovery efforts after the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed last year. As a veteran, he’s been viewed
as a contender should he choose to run.
Barkley said he thought both Shapiro and Moore were “amazing” candidates but cautioned that if the party doesn’t pick one of them, his support would disappear.
“If they don’t get Wes Moore or Josh Shapiro, I’m not voting for any Democrat other than those two,” he reiterated.
Record numbers of Black, Hispanic, Asian and Native women are serving in state legislatures this year, according to a new analysis
following the 2024 elections, but advocates for female representation in elected office say the numbers fall short of demographics.
The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at Rutgers University found that the number of female state lawmakers has continued to trend up nationally, with more than a third of state legislative seats now held by women — the largest segment ever recorded and more than five times the female representation in 1971. Women make up slightly more than half the U.S. population, according to Census data
.
CAWP’s analysis also found record-breaking diversity among the women elected.
Nearly 400 Black women are serving in statehouses this year, up from the previous record 386 set last year; 214 Latina state lawmakers this year bests last year’s record of 192; the 107 female legislators who identify as Asian American or Pacific Islander have broken the record of 100 set in 2023; and women who identify as Native American, Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian hold 44 seats, up from the record 36 set in 2023.
Only white women hold fewer state legislative seats in 2025 than they did in 2024, when broken down by racial and ethnic lines, CAWP found
.
The figures include women who identify as more than one racial or ethnic group, so some have been counted multiple times across categories.
“It’s encouraging to see increasing diversity among women serving in state legislative seats, but the broader context tells a different story,” CAWP director Debbie Walsh said in a statement on the findings. “The 2024 election led to only modest gains for the number of women holding state legislative seats, and women of all backgrounds are still significantly underrepresented in state legislatures.”
“Women now hold just a third of these seats, a significant improvement from the 11 percent they held 45 years ago, but still a long way from 50 percent,” she added.
Nearly two-thirds
, or 1,580, of the nation’s 2,469 female state lawmakers are Democrats, while 867 are Republicans and five are independents. Seventeen have no party affiliation, as elections for Nebraska’s unicameral legislature are nonpartisan.
The Nevada Legislature, which is the country’s third-smallest bicameral state legislature with just 63 members combined in the House and Senate, has the largest female representation at nearly 62 percent, according to CAWP’s report
. Women make up a razor-thin majority of state lawmakers in Colorado for the first time this year at 51 percent, or 51 of the 100 members.
West Virginia has the smallest female bloc at slightly less than 12 percent, or 16 of the state legislature’s 134 members.
Nathan Sage, a Democratic candidate hoping to unseat
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) in next year’s midterms, said he wants to “tear the Democratic Party down and build it back up from the from the studs.”
“I think that there’s a big portion of people that are in the middle, that are underrepresented, that are looking for representation,” Sage, who has highlighted his military background and emphasized the working class in his early campaign materials, said in an interview
with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart on Sunday. “And I want to be somebody that brings them to the Democratic Party, because I want to tear the Democratic party down and build it back up from the from the studs.”
He didn’t elaborate on his plans to dismantle the party during the MSNBC interview, but he emphasized he would focus on helping people who are struggling. His campaign website stresses
his belief that “billionaires and multi-national monopolies (have) bought up both parties.”
“We’re trying every day to make ends meet, and we’re trying to survive in a world right now that it just seems like, we’re the richest country in the world and it’s just not going our way,” Sage told Capehart. “I think that there’s a lot of people like me that are looking for help and looking for somebody to represent them.”
Sage, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is the party’s campaign arm for the Senate, didn’t immediately respond to The Hill’s requests for comment.
Ernst, who is seeking
a third term next year, won with nearly 52 percent of the vote the last time she was on the ballot in 2020 in a race that had been deemed a toss-up at one point.
An early poll released in December — after President Trump soundly won Iowa’s 2024 election with nearly 57 percent of the vote — found that
just under half of Iowa voters surveyed said they plan to vote for Ernst, also a military veteran, next year. The other half was split almost evenly between people who said they planned to vote for someone else and those who said they were undecided.
Ernst has held multiple GOP leadership posts and is the founder and chair of the Senate DOGE Caucus, which was formed to support the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that is spearheaded by tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Republicans currently hold 53 seats in the Senate and the chamber’s majority. Thirty-three Senate seats, two-thirds of which are held by Republicans including Ernst’s, are up for election next year.
Ernst could also face
a GOP primary challenger after receiving backlash
for initially resisting President Trump’s nomination of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth before ultimately voting
for the former Fox News personality.
In his campaign launch video
, Sage describes himself as a “dad, mechanic, sports radio host (and) child of a trailer park” while wearing a black hoodie emblazoned with an American flag.
“The D.C. elites, the ruling class, they don’t want me, but I think maybe you will,” Sage says in the ad, before he calls Ernst a “corporate Republican” and says he will “kick (her) a–” in the election.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee — the campaign arm that backs GOP candidates in the upper chamber — criticized Sage’s use of profanity and reaffirmed support for Ernst.
“Democrats seem obsessed with saying ‘f—ing’ and ‘a–‘ as the strategy to win back the voters that rejected them in 2024,” National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Nick Puglia said in a statement at the onset of Sage’s campaign last week. “It doesn’t matter which radical Democrat gets nominated in their messy primary because Iowans are going to re-elect Senator Joni Ernst to keep fighting for them in 2026.”
Asked about the GOP’s response, Sage defended his message and expletives he may use to convey it.
“I live in the real world,” he told Capehart. “I’m a working-class candidate; this is how we chat.”
“If you don’t like it, I’m sorry you have politicians on your side that say some evil things — you don’t hold them accountable,” he added. “I’m going to say the things that need to be said so people understand that we’re tired of what’s going on.”
A cardinal rule of American politics: It’s never too early to start thinking about the next election.
Some Democrats are already making moves that have stoked 2028 speculation, from California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s podcasts to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (N.Y.) recent series of rallies alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Right now, the field is wide open as there is no obvious front-runner. Former Vice President Kamala Harris has kept a relatively low profile since her loss to President Trump last November, and, even if she ran, she’d face serious opposition.
It’s almost three years before the first primaries will be held, but here are The Hill’s initial rankings of the 2028 Democratic contenders.
1. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.)
Ocasio-Cortez is simply the most exciting figure in Democratic politics.
Yes, she has a legion of detractors. But she also has charisma, authenticity and the ability to draw huge crowds to see her speak.
The “Fighting Oligarchy” tour with Sanders has felt like a passing of the torch. The 35-year-old AOC, as she is almost universally known, seems the obvious inheritor of Sanders’s mantle as the de facto leader of the left. Sanders, now 83, will surely never be a national candidate again.
There is no one else in the left-wing “lane” who could come close to competing with Ocasio-Cortez in a primary. That’s a real advantage in a race that could have a plethora of center-left candidates splitting the more moderate vote.
There are plenty of reasons for some Democrats to balk at the thought of Ocasio-Cortez as the party’s nominee.
Her youth itself could be a problem for some voters. Her haters loathe her just as passionately as her fans love her. And, perhaps most importantly of all, would a left-wing Latina from New York City really be the best option for a party that needs to win states like Michigan and Pennsylvania to take back the White House?
Still, Ocasio-Cortez’s deftness as a politician is sometimes overlooked. She is the leading Democrat of the social media age and a fundraising powerhouse.
The latest figures show she raised more than $9 million in the first quarter — an astronomical sum for a House member in a safe seat.
For now, she’d be the person to beat in a primary.
2. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has been in the news for rather grim reasons over the past week, after an arsonist struck the governor’s mansion in Harrisburg, Pa.
The suspect may suffer from mental illness but also allegedly cited the conflict in Gaza as a motivation in the attack. Shapiro, who is Jewish, has been among the most pro-Israel leading figures in the Democratic Party.
In any event, Shapiro is also among the most likely people to emerge as a real center-left challenger to a progressive like Ocasio-Cortez.
His boosters note his history of high approval ratings in his home state, his tendency to avoid a focus on divisive issues and his abilities as an orator — even though his speaking style sometimes elicits wry questions as to whether he is impersonating former President Obama.
Asked by Bill Maher last month whether he would run for president in 2028, the Pennsylvania governor dodged — and left the door wide open
.
“I’m not an expert in the D.C. stuff,” he said. “I live in the real world in Pennsylvania, where we have to balance budgets.”
It helps, of course, that Shapiro is from such an electorally crucial state.
Democrats had cause to reflect, rather ruefully, on Shapiro’s strengths following Harris’s November loss to Trump. The Pennsylvania governor had been among the finalists to be her running mate, only for Harris to eventually go for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz instead.
3. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer
Every picture tells a story — and the recent shot of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the Oval Office, putting a binder over her face to prevent photographs, tells a bad one for the Michigan governor.
In fairness to Whitmer, there have been suggestions that she was basically set up by Trump aides on that occasion.
Whitmer apparently had gone to the White House to meet with Trump about issues related to Michigan and the Great Lakes region. USA Today and other sources have reported she did not expect to be ushered into the Oval Office while Trump signed executive orders in front of the media.
Anyhow, primary voters in early 2028 will surely not be casting their ballots based on a single awkward experience in 2025.
Whitmer has a winning record in a key swing state and a sense of Midwestern practicality — “Fix the damn roads!” was a previous campaign slogan — and she has helped lead her party in the battle for abortion rights.
The Michigan governor also benefits from a public persona that is no-nonsense and humorous, helping make her a talk-show favorite.
If she runs, she’d instantly be seen as a top-tier contender.
4. California Gov. Gavin Newsom
Timing is everything, and the political calendar falls nicely for California Gov. Gavin Newsom. He will be term-limited out of office after the 2026 elections, just as the primary campaign looms.
The governor of the nation’s most populous state is an effective speaker and TV performer. He has tangled with Trump but he’s also tried more recently to reach out beyond the traditional Democratic base. Trenchantly right-wing guests including Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk have featured on his new podcast.
Newsom also emerged relatively unscathed, politically speaking, from the catastrophic Los Angeles wildfires — unlike the city’s mayor, Karen Bass.
Still, there are lingering questions around Newsom’s authenticity. And his overall persona — the classic affluent, tanned, liberal Californian — doesn’t exactly recommend him as the best candidate to carry the Rust Belt.
5. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore
Wes Moore is a candidate on the rise. He’s a powerful speaker, youthful at just 46, and a barrier-breaker as Maryland’s first Black governor.
He’s also media friendly — and has a big fan in Oprah Winfrey, who attended his inauguration. Moore may have potential to knit together the centrist and progressive sides of the Democratic Party.
He has only recently become nationally prominent, having been first elected in 2022. That could be an asset, to the extent that he’s not part of the political establishment, or a liability if a lack of experience leads to mistakes.
There’s something else that could go in Moore’s favor. If Democrats keep the same primary calendar as last time, South Carolina would be the first state to vote. Black voters usually cast around half of all the votes in the Palmetto State’s Democratic primary.
6. Former Vice President Kamala Harris
Harris is one of the most difficult of the Top 10 candidates to rank.
Early opinion polls tend to put her at the top of the heap. But that seems highly likely to be a consequence of name recognition more than anything else.
Harris’s campaign-trail performance as the 2024 nominee was by no means disastrous. She made a decent run while facing a steep gradient caused by multiple factors: then-President Biden’s unpopularity, the political wound that had been inflicted by high inflation, and the intense drama leading up to Biden’s withdrawal.
But she still lost. The initial excitement she spurred among Democrats seemed to fade. If there were high points, like her strong performance in her only TV debate with Trump, there were low ones too, like her telling the hosts of ABC’s “The View” that she couldn’t think of anything she would have done differently from Biden.
It’s far from clear Harris will run again, and a recent New York Times story suggested she might prefer to seek the governorship of California when Newsom leaves.
Either way, it’s hard to discern any ravenous appetite among the Democratic base for a third presidential campaign for Harris, after the 2024 effort and an underwhelming campaign in 2020.
7. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has brought plenty of fire to his verbal fights with Trump, on at least one occasion drawing a parallel between the new administration and the Nazis.
He has repeatedly argued that Trump is undercutting fundamental American values and has promised to do everything he can to stymie the MAGA agenda, including through the courts.
As the governor of a big state, Pritzker would demand real attention. A billionaire thanks primarily to his family’s ownership of the Hyatt hotel chain, he would also have all the resources he needs.
But whether he can maneuver past the people higher on this list is in doubt. His vast wealth also has its liabilities in a party where billionaires are more often excoriated than celebrated.
8. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had an impressive early showing during the 2020 Democratic primaries, especially in Iowa and New Hampshire.
He is one of the very best media performers in the party — a skill set he seems to relish putting to use in Fox News appearances.
Buttigieg has many fans among the party’s younger, more affluent supporters.
But he struggled badly with Black voters in 2020, and the highest elected office he’s ever held is mayor.
9. Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Emanuel has been reestablishing a high media profile now that his stint as U.S. ambassador to Japan is over.
In appearances with the likes of Maher, he has argued that his party has put too much focus on social issues, like trans rights, and too little on fighting crime and improving schools.
Emanuel is a storied figure in the party, having served as Obama’s chief of staff, an aide to former President Clinton and as an Illinois congressman. He’s a classic political fighter.
But he is widely disliked on the left, and he has a real vulnerability with progressives and Black voters over his conduct around the killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by a Chicago police officer.
Emanuel, Chicago mayor at the time, controversially delayed the release of dashcam video of the murder.
10. Media commentator Stephen A. Smith
Stephen A. Smith, best known for his ebullient sports analysis, seems determined to vault himself to the front if Democrats want a nonpolitician.
Smith has talked about being approached by unnamed officials to run, and he has lamented Democrats’ lack of direction.
Most political insiders think it’s all really about Smith’s penchant for self-promotion.
Then again, that’s what everyone thought about Trump a decade ago.
Also in the mix: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.) , Sen. John Fetterman (Pa.), Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.), Sen. Jon Ossoff (Ga.), Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
