Democrats' not-so-secret midterm campaigns for the White House

While the midterms are officially about electing 36 governors and 470 members of Congress, a burgeoning group of prominent and wannabe prominent Democrats are using this political season to pursue a higher aspiration: The 2028 presidential nomination.

The days when political protocol required early White House hopefuls to be coy?

"I'm thinking about it," said former Vice President Kamala Harris, the party's late-breaking nominee in 2024. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg acknowledged that he's "more inclined than not" to run. Asked by USA TODAY to name a reason he might not run, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear cited only objections from his family − then noted that his wife and two children had always supported his campaigns.

More: New 2028 presidential poll shows 2 potential frontrunners

The GOP has a presumptive 2028 nominee in Vice President JD Vance, although he is likely to face challengers. (Vance's prediction to NBC: "It is really obvious to me that, at this very moment, [Texas Sen.] Ted Cruz is running for president.")

But Democrats are heading toward a big roster and a fierce battle over the 2028 nomination. While Harris leads early polls, no dominant frontrunner defines the race. The field is wide open and so is the direction of the party amid a rising debate between advocates in the middle and those on the left.

Consider the lanes: The governors, with seven or so regularly mentioned. The senators, with at least nine early prospects. The progressives, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and California Rep. Ro Khanna. A handful of formers who are out of government and want back in, among them Rahm Emanuel, who is not only a former Chicago mayor and House member but also a former ambassador and White House chief of staff.

Here are five ways they and others are pursuing the White House now.

More: Kamala Harris, Ocasio-Cortez and the rocky midterms campaign trail

Like the guy in the Johnny Cash song, Pete Buttigieg has been everywhere.

In the two years since he lost his job as transportation secretary with President Donald Trump's inauguration, Buttigieg has visited 37 states, Politico first calculated, and campaigned in person for about half of the 100 candidates he has endorsed. In the final weeks before the midterms, spokesman Sean Manning says his travel schedule includes at least six states, including Michigan and Virginia, which hold early 2028 primaries.

Buttigieg signals his ambitions with the name of his political action committee: Win the Era.

Buttigieg, a former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has made several stops in South Carolina, which has been designated by the Democratic National Committee as the first presidential primary.

That helps explain why New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, Beshear, Emanuel and Khanna have also had South Carolina on their itineraries this fall.

Not to mention Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly. He spent the Oct. 9-11 weekend on a swing through Michigan with his wife, former congresswoman Gabby Giffords. During the midterms, he's been on the road, too. To more than 15 states. So far.

Send a check

Sending a check to a campaign or holding a fundraiser for a candidate is a way to make connections and gather chits.

Kamala Harris has headlined fundraisers for Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate David Crowley and Nevada gubernatorial candidate Aaron Ford, among others, and she's scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the annual Fulton County Democratic Party fundraiser on Oct. 30 in Atlanta.

When Texas gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa was gaining ground in her challenge to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, she had just $4 million in the bank, according to Texas campaign records. The Democratic Governors Association − whose chairman happens to be Beshear − and Pritzker each dispatched $1 million to help.

Pritzker, a billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, has been particularly generous, dispensing tens of millions of dollars during this cycle outside his home state of Illinois. He has contributed to the House Majority PAC, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and to Senate nominees Roy Cooper in North Carolina and Jon Ossoff in Georgia, among others.

In the contest to criticize President Donald Trump − a risk-free enterprise for Democrats − Newsom has taken the early lead.

"The gravest threat to American democracy," Newsom said of Trump, warning Americans, "Wake up: You will lose your country." He called the president "corrupt and unstable" and his deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles a "brazen abuse of power."

Then there was Trump's comment Oct. 5 at a Nebraska rally, discussing the Iran war: "They can take out a city. Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego." (The White House later said the president meant that the cities were vulnerable to an attack, not that he was inviting one.)

"He is deranged and dangerous," Newsom said in response. He directed California's State Threat Assessment Center "to actively monitor the situation in the event that foreign actors interpret the President's remarks as an invitation to target California."

Bash fellow Democrats

That's an even more reliable way to get attention: Scold fellow Democrats.

Newsom has criticized some Democrats for not doing more to confront Republicans.

Pritzker has accused some Democrats of lacking the backbone to counter GOP attacks on hot-button issues like transgender rights. "Those same do-nothing Democrats want to blame our losses on our defense of Black people, of trans kids, of immigrants, instead of their own lack of guts and gumption."

And Emanuel has put a critique of the Democratic Party at the center of his message.

"We've lost the plot because the party got un-anchored," he told a Fox News podcast, by focusing on the culture wars instead of the concerns of middle-class voters about the economy and education. "You are worried about bathroom access and locker room access," he said. "Why don't you focus on classroom excellence?"

Blasting what he calls the party's "leftward lurch," he labels himself a "raging moderate."

To win in 2028? Try someone like, well, me

Emanuel says a raging moderate could succeed in winning back the White House in 2028 − that is, someone like him. He's released a series of policy proposals, including restricting children's access to social media and banning federal workers from betting on the predictions market.

AOC says contenders in the midterms like Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed are proving that voices advocating significant progressive change − say, someone like her − can energize new voters and reinvigorate the party. "We have written a check on the left, saying if you champion these policies that have popular support, we can win," she said in remarks at a New York fundraiser leaked to ABC. "And now it is time to cash in."

Beshear argues the presidential appeal of governors who have records of solving problems and reaching across partisan lines. "I believe that our candidate should be a Democratic governor, and there's lots of Democratic governors that appear to be looking at this, and there's lots of great ones," he told USA TODAY.