Top Democrats Reportedly Grapple With ‘Fraught’ Question: Should 2028 Nominee Be a Straight White Guy?

(Photo by: Marijan Murat/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images

Top Democrats are grappling with a “fraught” question heading into 2028, according to a new report from Axios on Sunday — should the party’s next presidential nominee be a “straight, white, Christian man”?

Reporters Alex Thompson and Holly Otterbein wrote Dems are now wondering if that’s their “best bet” to succeed President Donald Trump, even though many members of the party are uncomfortable with it.

“Their fear, divulged with dismay in group chats, at cocktail parties and increasingly in public, is that parts of the electorate are too biased to support a woman or other diverse candidate for president,” Otterbein and Thompson reported.

That stands out, considering Hillary Clinton won the popular vote as the Democratic candidate in 2016 and ex-President Barack Obama served two terms as commander-in-chief.

Otterbein and Thompson said Obama’s victory in 2008 was “the high point for the party’s goal of boosting diversity in the executive branch”; they also wrote the party “takes pride in being a champion of women, people of color, the LGBTQ+ community and religious minorities.”

That pride may need to be temporarily checked, though, in order to win the next election. Axios reported top Dems have been fixated on the issue since last November, when former First Lady Michelle Obama said the USA is “not ready” for a woman to be president. 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is the favorite to be the next Democratic nominee, according to betting sites and prediction markets. Newsom currently has a 12% chance of winning the next election on Kalshi and a 17% chance on Polymarket; Vice President JD Vance is the favorite to win the election according to both sites — after Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefly leapfrogged him earlier this month. Vance has an 18% chance of being the next POTUS, per Kalshi and Polymarket.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is the fourth most-likely person to win the election on both sites, putting her directly in front of Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and ex-Vice President Kamala Harris, who are both being given a 3% chance of winning.

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