Choose your fighter: Who’s in the ring for the 2028 US presidential race

The midterms are yesterday’s news; it's now time to make like an American and speculate wildly over who is running for U.S. president in 2028.

But why, as Singaporeans, do we care?

Fair question. Short answer: look at your electricity bill.

About 95 per cent of Singapore’s power comes from imported natural gas. When the U.S. went to war with Iran in February and the Strait of Hormuz was choked off, Asian LNG prices roughly tripled. By July, households here were paying the highest electricity tariff in Singapore’s history, after a 17 per cent jump in a single quarter.

Bills have eased since, but SP Group has warned they could climb again if the Middle East flares up.

In other words, who sits in the Oval Office in 2029 is, quite literally, a line item on your utilities bill.

Any other reasons? Just for fun, I guess. (Also, almost none of the nicknames are really in use. Except the Viceroy one)

The Democrats:

The Democrats have just completed a generational win against the Republican Party in the 2026 midterm elections, even though they are only marginally more popular as a party.

The Democrats will also have to contend with their greatest enemy: other factions of the Democratic Party.

The Democrats have already begun what could be a bitter fight between progressives and establishment figures over who the Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader should be.

And these will by no means be the only names in contention, especially with every Democrat and their mother having such a strong showing in 2026.

So there is a great opportunity to be seized in 2028, but the party will still have to choose carefully.

Jon “Newbama” Ossoff, Senator from Georgia

Ossoff is a picture-perfect politician, articulate, and has positioned himself just a shade to the left of centre.

Already touted as the “new Barack Obama” in some circles, he is young, dynamic, and projects hope and change without scaring business leaders.

Highly popular, he won re-election by about 18 percentage points, so comprehensively that he was amongst the first senatorial results to be called after polls closed.

As of Nov. 6, he is the frontrunner on gambling sites like Kalshi to be the victor in 2028, and his ability to appeal across a spectrum of voters, Democrat, Republican, and independent, will be a cornerstone of any bid.

Ossoff has pledged to serve his full six-year term as Senator. But you know which young, telegenic senator said the same, then changed his mind?

Barack Obama.

Alexandria “The Progressive” Ocasio-Cortez, Congresswoman for New York

A mentee of progressive titan Bernie Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez burst onto the stage in 2018, the other time Donald Trump lost the House in a midterm, ousting a Democratic grandee along the way.

Ocasio-Cortez has been labeled a polarising figure, but she pioneered the policy positions that were at the heart of 2026's Democratic wave.

She is also pragmatic about her role as a progressive Latina woman possibly harming her overall chances in 2028.

When asked if she might run, the alternative option appears to be a Senate run for Chuck Schumer's seat (whether he wants to leave it or not), she said that her ambition is not bounded by a position, and that "her ambition is to change the country".

Her real aim, perhaps, is to "make presidents", rather than merely be one.

Gavin “Guv’nor” Newsom, Governor of California

Newsom is wrapping up a relatively successful two-term governorship of California, and paired with his previous role as mayor of San Francisco, he has something that Ossoff and AOC don’t: executive experience.

Newsom has spent his time building a resume of addressing nuts-and-bolts issues, like healthcare, climate issues, and housing; and has built a record that voters can judge him by, for good or for ill.

He’s on this list because California is an anchor state in Democratic presidential calculations, but also because of the prominence he gained trolling Trump via social media, aping Trump’s bombastic style, and leading the party's retaliation to Republican gerrymandering.

But two years is a long time to build momentum and what political operatives call “name recognition.”

Bonus fighter: JB "The progressive billionaire" Pritzker

Newsom is more recognisable, but there is a better fit for the "experienced governor": Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, the progressive billionaire.

Pritzker is heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune, and is an odd fit amongst progressives, but his record of pragmatic fiscal policy and liberal social policy puts him in the same position as Ossoff, able to appeal to both wings of his party.

He also has the support of Illinois, which backed him by over 20 percentage points for his third term, and he’s spent a significant amount of time and money during the midterms travelling to back other Democrats.

The Republicans

The body of the Republican Congressional Majority is barely cold, and already the Republicans are casting about for something to blame for the losses.

The party of the president almost always loses seats during midterms, but the scale and nature of the loss is staggering.

In the same way that California is the foundation of any Democratic presidential victory, so Texas is for Republicans.

Prominent Fox News co-host Jesse Watters said what many political observers feel to be true: if the Republican Party cannot win back Texas, the party will “never sniff the White House ever again.”

JD “The Vice” Vance

JD Vance is heir apparent to the Trump Trump.

In modern times, sitting vice presidents who seek their party’s presidential nomination almost always win it: think Richard Nixon in 1960, Hubert Humphrey in 1968, George H.W. Bush in 1988 and Al Gore in 2000.

Prior to election day, Vance was leading prediction markets like Kalshi’s to win in 2028, no doubt due to a belief that Trump’s 2024 victory had irrevocably changed the U.S.’s electoral map.

After Nov. 3, that no longer looks like a good bet, with the recrimination over the massive scale of losses starting almost right away, with Vance himself blaming his boss’s war for the losses.

But for Vance to bask in the warm glow of Trump’s success, he must also face the heat when things begin to melt down.

Marco “The Viceroy” Rubio

In 2013, Hillary Clinton stepped down after a relatively successful stint as Secretary of State just after national election, to eventually start a second attempt to win the presidency.

Rubio looks set to echo this; he too lost a primary to his eventual boss in his first attempt, was also previously in the Senate, and he’s probably going to end up testifying in the Senate for a quagmire in the MENA region.

As an executor of the president’s will, Rubio is ultimately judged less for achievements, but on his ability to carry out his job without major issues, something that he has managed to do despite the turbulent nature of Trump’s foreign policy.

The nickname refers to him being mockingly called the “Viceroy of Venezuela," as Rubio was effectively put in charge of the new Venezuelan government’s compliance with U.S. demands after its former president Nicolas Maduro was seized in January 2026.

But there are probably worse things to be associated with than the more successful of Trump’s two major overseas adventures, especially when it's the only one going to plan.

Chris “Never Trumper” Christie

The case for Chris Christie isn’t really his two-term governorship of New Jersey; others, such as Florida’s Ron DeSantis, can claim the same.

Rather, it’s that Christie became a strident opponent of Trump from within the Republican Party, breaking with him after Trump falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen.

Christie has said he is considering a third run at the presidency, and he offers something neither Vance nor Rubio can: a clean break from the Trump era. Since the midterms, he has gone further, declaring that “the Trump era is over”.

As it becomes clear that Trumpism is not the winning formula many Republicans hoped it would be, a door is opening for Trump’s critics to steer the party back towards what they consider traditional Republican values: smaller government and fiscal responsibility.

The catch: he didn’t win a single state in either of his last two runs.

The Outsiders

Donald Trump's main appeal was that he would be a consummate outsider to an electorate craving the end of business as usual.

That energy is still there to be claimed, and there is a chance that a serious contender from outside the two party structure might emerge, as Trump himself did.

Tucker “The Show” Carlson

Carlson is a prominent, perhaps the most prominent, conservative commentator, and he has broken publicly with Trump over the Iran war, going as far as calling for the president’s removal.

If he does, he has some of the benefits of Christie, and possibly some of the same motivations.

If Trump is the father of the MAGA movement, Carlson might be its godfather.

He is accused of spending much of his recent career cultivating and growing the conspiratorial, right wing, and at times racist elements of the movement.

Should he run, he has a unique platform to do it from: a huge social media following, plus years as the host of a primetime show on Fox News.

The catch? He says he won’t. Carlson has laughed off the idea of a presidential bid, though he has teased starting a third party, which is arguably the more outsider move anyway.