The Growing Democratic Party Field for 2020: Who Can Beat Trump?

A record number of candidates have announced their candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. From the Mayor of South Bend, Peter Buttigieg, to a Congresswoman from Hawaii, Tulsi Gabbard, folks from across the party are taking on long-shot bids. Remarkably, out of the eleven candidates who have announced for the Democratic nomination, six are women – a historic number. We are only in February of 2019 but the race to unseat President Donald J. Trump is in full swing.

There is turmoil surrounding what direction the Democratic party will pursue. The issue for the Democratic party is their “identity,” and there is no indication yet of what that is, while President Trump in his State of Union address explicitly stated, “America will never be a socialist country.” I believe the mystique, character, and sincerity of Congressman Beto O’Rourke (Texas) gives the Democratic party its best shot at winning back the presidency in 2020.

I recently spoke with Mr. Hess, my sophomore English teacher, to learn his thoughts on the 2020 Democratic field. Hess had firm opinions on the candidates running and future of the Democratic party. Mr. Hess stated, “[Congressman O’Rourke] Beto is a good candidate, I also like [Mayor Peter] Buttigieg, but he’s a little inexperienced. I think he could use Congressional or Gubernatorial experience before running for the White House.” When asked about the possibility of a moderate running, he went on to utter “[former Vice-President Biden] Joe, he’ll get the support of Democrats who miss Obama, but I don’t know if he has the gravitas to be President.”

From articles read and people I have talked too, the common theme suggests that “new leadership” is the answer for Democrats but so is finding a candidate who won’t take corporate money. There needs to be a balance in D.C., and I’ll echo a quote from CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, “Too many of you in office are playing a game you were never asked to play. Many of you are there too long and for the wrong reasons. The culture of opposition in place of progress has engendered such opposition that when an outsider with questionable credentials and even more suspect character became President largely on the promise to disrupt the rest of you and your insider intrigue.” We cannot solve the problems of the future without new solutions and stopping the political antics of the past.