Who's running in the 2020 US presidential election? We're keeping track of all the candidates to formally declare their candidacy in the race for the White House. The list below follows the order in which it became clear the candidates would run.
John Delaney
- Delaney was the United States Representative for Maryland's 6th congressional district until January 2019.
- Delaney was the first candidate to put his hand up for the Democrats, all the way back in July 2017. He says he declared early because he knew he would be running the race from behind.
- He is in favour of increasing the corporate tax rate to fund infrastructure initiatives and restoring the top income tax to pre-Trump levels while positioning himself as the candidate for the global order.
- Has faced hostile audiences when criticising socialist elements of the field.
Andrew Yang
- Yang is a successful entrepreneur who was acknowledged by the Obama administration as a 'Presidential Ambassador of Global Entrepreneurship'.
- He filed his paperwork to run for president on the day of the 2018 midterm elections (6 November 2018).
- Has had elements of online success. Supporters known as the 'Yang Gang' and has a relatively successful range of merchandise labelled MATH (Make America Think Harder).
- His candidacy is unique for its focus of the impact of artificial intelligence on the workforce as well as his signature policy of a universal basic income of US$1,000 per month for every American over the age of 18.
Elizabeth Warren
- Warren is the Senior United States Senator from Massachusetts. She joined Congress in 2013 after campaigning hard against Wall Street interests, but she still raised more than any other Senate candidate in the 2012 election.
- She kicked off her 2020 campaign in earnest when she announced her formation of an exploratory committee on the last day of 2018.
- Warren has been pinned as a potential successor to Bernie Sanders as the leader of the economic progressives in the Democratic Party since his failed 2016 bid, but with the Senator from Vermont now running, Warren has focused on creating her own brand. Their biggest difference lies in the fact that Warren pledges to fix a broken economic system, whereas Sanders advocates sweeping it away and rebuilding it from scratch.
- She favours higher taxes for the rich, evaluating trade deals on the basis of outcomes for US workers and Medicare for all.
Tulsi Gabbard
- Gabbard is a congresswoman from Hawaii and an Iraq War veteran.
- She was the first Samoan American and the first Hindu to be elected to Congress when she won her House race in 2012.
- Gabbard has drawn significant criticism for meeting with the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in 2017 and for her previous outspoken opposition to same-sex marriage. Gabbard was also among the first Democrats to meet with the Trump administration transition team after the 2016 election.
- Gabbard has been a particularly polarising figure in the race following an accusation from Hillary Clinton that she may be a Russian agent.
Julián Castro
- Castro is the former mayor of San Antonio and became the youngest member of the Obama administration cabinet when he served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in 2014.
- He was strongly speculated to be a potential running mate for Hillary Clinton at the 2016 election.
- He has an identical twin brother, Joaquin, who serves as a House Democrat.
Kirsten Gillibrand (Dropped Out)
- Gillibrand has been a junior US Senator from New York since 2009 after a stint in the House from 2007.
- During her time in the Senate, Gillibrand came to prominence due to her outspoken criticism of sexual harassment and assault as well as LGBTIQ rights in the US military – she was among the leaders of the movement to remove the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
- Prior to her political career, Gillibrand was a successful corporate lawyer.
- Her economic and social positions in the past have been broadly considered as moderate, but have shifted toward the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.
Kamala Harris
- Harris was elected in 2017 as a first-term Senator for California after previously having served as the District Attorney General of San Francisco and then was the Attorney General for California between 2010-16.
- Harris’ “tough stance” on crime during her tenure as Attorney General has been under scrutiny since her name was floated as a potential candidate and in the wake of criminal justice reform on the Hill.
- Her star rose during the controversial confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh where clips of Senator Harris drawing on her experience as a prosecutor to grill the nominee went viral.
- Her popularity surged after a strong performance in the first debate, but has fallen back significantly.
- Harris has stated she will focus a great deal of her attention on the Iowa caucuses.
Pete Buttigieg
- Buttigieg is the 32nd Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, a position he has held since 2012. Prior to this he worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company.
- At 37, he is the youngest candidate in the field and would be both the youngest and first openly gay person to be elected President of the United States if his bid is successful.
- Buttigieg is an active naval reservist and deployed to Afghanistan in 2015.
- 'Mayor Pete' distinguished himself early in the race after a series of well-received appearances on Fox News. Was the first Democratic Candidate to embrace opportunities on the network.
- Buttigieg has struggled to gain the support of black voters.
- He is focussing on early-voting states and polling particularly well in Iowa.
Marianne Williamson
- Williamson is a self-help and spiritual author. She has a long list of New York Times bestsellers to her name and regularly appeared as a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show while it was airing.
- She says she is running because the United States needs a "moral and spiritual awakening".
- In 2014 Williamson run unsuccessfully for the House in California’s 33rd congressional district.
Cory Booker
- Booker currently serves as the junior US senator from New Jersey, a post he has held since 2013. Prior to this, he was the 36th Mayor of Newark, a role he prioritised over an offer to serve in the leadership of the Obama-initiated White House Office of Urban Affairs.
- Booker has gained recognition in the last year for his championing of criminal justice reform and his willingness to release what he said were confidential documents during the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanagh which allegedly showed the nominee’s support for racial profiling. It was later clarified that these documents were already public.
- Senator Booker’s close financial ties to Wall Street in comparison to other candidate’s colder stance will likely be a source of tension during his campaign.
Amy Klobuchar
- Klobuchar is the senior Senator from Minnesota. She became the first woman to hold this position when she was elected in 2006. She previously worked as a county attorney and lawyer in Minnesota.
- Her ability to bridge the rural-urban divide exploited by Trump will be central to her 2020 campaign – at the 2018 midterms, Klobuchar won 43 counties that Donald Trump won in 2016.
- Klobuchar has focused on affordable healthcare, combatting voter suppression and reducing the role of money in politics but overall, she has not moved as far left as other Democratic presidential hopefuls.
- Her campaign launch has been marred by reports that she has been an overdemanding boss and allegedly mistreated her staffers.
Bernie Sanders
- Sanders is a junior Senator from Vermont, a position he has held since 2007. Prior to this, he spent 16 years as an independent in the House of Representatives - the longest term in Congressional history for any independent.
- At 77, Sanders is the oldest candidate in the field and the only candidate who is running for a second time.
- Sanders became a political star in the 2016 race for the Democratic nomination which he lost to Hillary Clinton.
- His campaign, which included 'Medicare for all' and positions radically left of the traditional Democratic platform, shifted the goalposts for the party and heralded a new era of young progressives. He claims he is natural choice to lead the revolution he started.
- Sanders suffered a heart attack in September, but this has not affected his polling numbers.
Jay Inslee (Dropped Out)
- Inslee has been the Governor of Washington since 2013, prior to which he served two stints in the US House of Representatives and as a regional director for the Health Department in the Clinton administration.
- He has long been a champion of sustainability and in 2007 he co-authored a book advocating massive investment in green energy jobs and policies that would slash carbon emissions. His ideas were not dissimilar to those encompassed in the 'Green New Deal' and his bid proposes that he is the right person to take the helm of the movement.
- Inslee's campaign headquarters will be in Seattle - the only HQ located on the West Coast in the current field of Democratic hopefuls.
John Hickenlooper (Dropped Out)
- Hickenlooper was the 42nd Governor of Colorado from 2011 to January 2019. Prior to this he was the Mayor of Denver, the city in which he previously ran a brewing company after being laid off as a geologist.
- He has a strong record of success running as a moderate Democrat in the purple state of Colorado on issues like gun control, Medicaid and the death penalty.
- He says he has proven he can unite people in the way that is expected of the president.
- Will now contest the Senate in Colorado.
Wayne Messam
- Messam has served as the Mayor of Miramar, Florida since 2015. He was the city's first black mayor and has worked to increase gun control measures.
- He is a strong advocate of forgiving student debts.
- He was part of the NCAA Division I-A winning Florida Seminoles in 1993 and was an undrafted squad member for the Cincinnati Bengals in 1997.
Beto O'Rourke (Dropped Out)
- The former Texas congressman attracted attention during his failed bid to unseat Republican Senator Ted Cruz in the 2018 midterm elections.
- O'Rourke launched his bid to become the Democratic nominee with a video announcement calling for action on climate change, income inequality and the affordability of healthcare.
- He has praised the Green New Deal, a far-reaching set of proposals introduced by progressives led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
- O'Rourke has struggled to maintain the momentum from his 2018 Senate race and is being encouraged to run for the Senate in 2020.
Tim Ryan (Dropped Out)
- Ryan is currently a Representative for Ohio’s 13th Congressional District. He has been serving in this role since 2003.
- In 2016, he unsuccessfully challenged Nancy Pelosi for the leadership of the Democratic Party. He still insists that generational change is needed.
- His key issue will be rebuilding the middle class, something he says can only be done with big business onside.
Mike Gravel
- The 88-year-old former Senator from Alaska is running a symbolic campaign aimed only at securing his place on the debate stage. He missed the threshold for the first debates.
- Gravel’s campaign is being run by a team of young students who are seeking to challenge the foreign policy of the Democratic Party.
- Gravel made his name for reading the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record in the 1970s. He previously ran for the Democratic nomination in 2008.
- Reached the qualification level for the second debate but stage places were already full.
- Did not qualify for the third debate.
Eric Swalwell (Dropped Out)
- Swalwell currently serves as the Representative for California’s 15th congressional district. He is running a campaign primarily focused on gun control.
- At 38, if he were successful in his bid, he would be the youngest person to secure the presidency.
- He has ruled out accepting donations from corporate political action committees.
- Swalwell dropped out, citing the need to "be honest about our own candidacy's viability." He is not pursuing re-election in his congressional seat.
Joe Biden
- This is the former Vice President's third tilt at the Democratic nomination. His first was in 1987, and his second in 2008 during which he agreed to be Barack Obama's running mate.
- Biden will be 77 when the election is held in November 2020. If he is elected, he will be the oldest person to win the race for the Oval Office.
- The former seven-term Senator from Delaware has launched his campaign with a focus on uniting the middle class and restoring the global reputation of the US. He has long been one of the most outspoken critics of Trump, infamously stating his desire to "take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him" during the 2016 campaign.
- Biden has had to address many aspects of his past record including accusations of inappropriate behaviour and his relationship with segregationists. This came to a head in the first debate when he was challenged by Senator Harris on stage.
Seth Moulton (Dropped Out)
- Moulton has served as the US Representative for Massachusetts's 6th congressional district since 2015 after upsetting the Democratic incumbent. Prior to this he attended Harvard and served as a captain in the United States Marine Corps.
- He has been a strong advocate for a generational shift in the Democratic Party. He was the foremost public critic of Nancy Pelosi's bid for the speakership of the House.
- He distinguished himself from the field with an avowed focus on national security.
Michael Bennet
- Bennet currently serves as senior Senator for Colorado. His announcement was delayed while he underwent treatment for prostate cancer.
- He was the former chief of staff to John Hickenlooper, another 2020 hopeful for the Democrats.
- Bennet has focused on artificial intelligence policy and increased infrastructure spending.
- Did not qualify for the third debate.
Steve Bullock
- Bullock currently serves as the governor of Montana and previously served as its attorney general.
- Has a strong record of working with Republicans on progressive policies.
- Has a strong focus on campaign finance reform.
- Bullock has qualified for the second debate.
- Did not qualify for the third debate.
Bill de Blasio (Dropped Out)
- Currently serves as the Mayor of New York City, a post he has held since 2014.
- Was a staunch supporter of Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.
- He promised to take on the wealthy elite and says his track-record as mayor proves he is capable.
Joe Sestak
- Sestak formerly served in the House of Representatives as the member for Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district between 2007-2011.
- He previously served as an officer in the US navy.
- In 2010, Sestak won an unlikely nomination as the Democratic candidate for a Pennsylvania Senate seat.
Tom Steyer
- Steyer has previously been one of the Democrats' largest donors.
- Steyer says he will inject $100 million into his own campaign.
- He has a strong record of climate activism.