The 2020 Presidential Election Has Begun
Monday, Feb. 3, 2020, will be the official start of the next presidential race at least in terms of voting.
On that date the Iowa caucuses will be held. It promises to be a fascinating thing to watch simply because once again one of the major parties will have more candidates than you can count on two hands and possibly two feet thrown in.
Numerous Democrats, some known nationally and some not as known, are already on the campaign trail. A few weeks ago we mentioned in this space those who had already officially begun their quest to become the Democratic nominee and to eventually unseat President Trump.
Those Democratic hopefuls included South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Bittigieg, former U.S. Housing Secretary Julian Castro of Texas, former Congressman John Delaney of Maryland, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, U.S. Senator Kamala Harris of California, Governor Jay Inslee of Washington, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, businessman Andrew Yang of New York and former college football coach Robby Wells of Georgia.
Since then U.S. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey and U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota have also launched their bids.
While that is a lost list of names, in reality, it is only going to continue to grow. There are also rumblings that former vice president Joe Biden is considering a run as well as 2016 candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
As mentioned before it remains to be seen at this point if Donald Trump will have any serious competition for the Republican nomination. While it is not unheard of for an incumbent president to have a primary challenge (remember the entertaining Pat Buchanan campaign in 1992 against George H.W. Bush and Ted Kennedy challenging President Jimmy Carter in 1980) it would take a political upset of epic proportions for the incumbent president to lose in his own party’s nomination process.
There is talk of a potential third party challenge in 2020 (outside of the Libertarian Party and Green Party) but we have not seen a legit independent candidate since Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996. The most persistent rumors continue to be John Kasich (Ohio) and Michael Bloomberg (New York).
Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is said to be considering an independent bid for the White House and has already made stops in Iowa.
It should be stressed, however, that any independent candidate faces tough odds to achieve ballot access in all 50 states and that really must happen for him or her to be viewed as legitimate and to have a chance at getting in the debates which has pretty much a closed party for those who are the Republican or Democratic nominees.
While Perot certainly gained his share of attention in 1992 and even was involved in the debates he did not win a single electoral vote in either of his campaigns. You have to go all the way back to 1968 when George Wallace formed his own political party and actually won five states in the presidential general election.
Former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld (who was the Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee in 2016) is reportedly considering a primary challenge to President Trump.
Jesse Ventura is also said to be considering running on the Green Party ticket. The former Minnesota governor, Navy Seal, actor and professional wrestler has said (in true pro wrestling style) that he could win a debate with President Trump due to his background in broadcasting and as a pro wrestler. It would certainly be an entertaining debate.
A Ventura candidacy would certainly make the race more fun to watch.
With President Trump flipping several swing states in 2016 the Democrats will certainly have their work cut out for them. While some would like for you to believe that President Trump is vulnerable he has proven time and time again that he can overcome any crisis which is in front of him. His core supporters are more loyal than even those of the most recent President Bush.
But first up will be the contests to decide the Democratic (and maybe Republican) nominee. After the Iowa caucus the campaign moves to New Hampshire (Feb. 11, 2020), Nevada (Feb. 22, 2020) and South Carolina (Feb. 29, 2020.)
Tuesday, March 3, 2020, will see several states voting including Alabama, California, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia. Georgia has not set its primary date yet but it will likely be in March.
Monticello native Chris Bridges is long time newspaper columnist. He has earned awards for his columns from the Georgia Press Association, the National Newspaper Association and the Georgia Sports Writers Association. He welcomes feedback from readers of The Monticello News at pchrisbridges@gmail.com.