Although Donald Trump has already launched is re-election campaign, only one Democrat so far — Maryland Rep. John Delaney — has thrown his hat in the 2020 ring. The vast majority of presidential prospects have remained coy about their plans — but few have explicitly ruled out a White House bid.
The dodge has been expressed in various ways by those in the ranks of potential candidates — some more likely than others. These are some of the ways a few of the most speculated about 2020 contenders have said that they’re “not not running.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden
December 2016: After jokingly saying he would run in 2020, the former vice president clarified: “I’m not committing not to run. I’m not committing to anything. I learned a long time ago fate has a strange way of intervening.”
May 18, 2017: “At this point, no one in my family or I have made the judgment to run.”
July 22, 2017: “My focus now, our focus now, is to get a Democratic Congress elected in 2018,” he said at OZY Fest, according to a CBS report.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ)
March 2017: “Let’s talk about people and purpose now. I want to be authentic in who I am right now. I want to be a person of purpose not thinking of a future office.”
July 2017: “I don’t know what the future’s going to bring. I’m not making predictions, but I want to unleash the fullness of who I am right now, and I want to call out injustice where I see it.”
California Gov. Jerry Brown
March 2017: “I don’t think I’m running for office,” he said during a press conference. “”But I’d be 82 then … Don’t rule it out.”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo
September 15, 2017: “I love what I’m doing. I’m focusing on being the best governor in the state. i have a reelection next year … and as you know, I’m a linear guy. I focus on one thing at a time. i want to do the best job i can between now and reelection, run for reelection, and I’m not planning any strategy or tactics beyond that.”
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA)
September 2017: Asked about 2020, Harris responded: “I don’t even know what I’m having for dinner.”
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper
August 2017: Amid reports of a 2020 unity ticket with Gov. John Kasich, Hickenlooper said “I don’t think it’s in the cards. It’s fun to talk about, but it’s not in the cards.” He added, “Tom (Perez) would kill me.”
Jason Kander
June 2017: “I’m flattered that people suggest that at all, but I really, truly am focused on making sure that we’re still holding elections in this country. If I’m successful at that, then maybe one day I’ll be in one.”
Ohio Gov. John Kasich
May 2017: “You never want to say never to anything. You never know.”
May 2017: “I’m going to finish my term in 18 months as governor of our state, pull the state together and get it to do better and better and better. That’s what I’m all about — and giving everybody a shot. And then I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m going to keep a voice, but I can’t predict to you — I never thought I would be governor, I never thought I’d go back into politics.”
August 20, 2017: Asked if he would challenge President Trump, he said: “I’m rooting for him to get it together.”
Former Secretary of State John Kerry
September 20, 2017: “I don’t have any plans right now, honestly.”
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu
July 2017: “You’d never rule out running (for) anything, you never say never about anything, but I’m not running.”
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA)
September 2017: “I’m flattered by the question and I appreciate the encouragement that a lot of people have given me. But the reality is that I am squarely focused on 2018.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
July 2017: “I’m not taking (2020) off the table. I just have not made any decisions and I think it’s much too early.”
July 2017: “We’ve got three years before the presidential election. We’ve got plenty of time for candidates or potential candidates to make decisions.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
August 2017: Speaking at Netroots Nation, Warren alluded to a potential run: “We’re going to fight to put more women in positions of power from committee rooms to boardrooms to that really nice oval-shaped room at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”
August 2017: “We can’t be a party and we can’t be a nation that says ‘horse race to horse race, let’s just see what happens every four years and let’s get all excited about speculating who’s going to be in the race in four years.’ I get up every day worried about the fights in front of us right now.”