Eleven months into the US Democratic presidential nomination race, the prospect of two more candidates joining the crowded field has triggered worry that the party is struggling to find the right challenger to face US President Donald Trump.
Former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick on Thursday launched his belated bid, becoming the 18th candidate in the race less than three months before the first nomination votes are cast in Iowa.
Billionaire former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, a political moderate, recently filed to be on the ballot in multiple states, sending a stinging message that he doubts the current leading candidates can defeat Trump.
Even former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, the party’s failed 2016 nominee, said this week she would “never say never” to another presidential run.
None of them has been on the debate stage this year, and they have been absent from robust policy discussions that frame the battle between the party’s progressives and moderates.
However, the fact Patrick has jumped in and Bloomberg is flirting with doing so suggests the race remains unsettled, and that influential Democrats are not pleased with the current options.
“There’s a lot of turbulence within the party, a lot of angst” built up around “this overriding desire to find someone who can beat Trump,” said Matthew Dallek, a polital professor at George Washington University said.
Former US vice president Joe Biden, the frontrunner, launched his campaign as a unifier, but is now seen as a gaffe-prone candidate whose time may have passed.
His connection to the impeachment inquiry — Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company — could drag the candidate down and provide fodder for devastating Republican attack ads.
The prospect of progressive US Senator Elizabeth Warren as the nominee has raised fears, particularly among Democratic insiders, that the party has tilted too far left, leaving it unable to win over enough independents or Republicans frustrated with Trump.
Ditto for liberal US Senator Bernie Sanders, whom Republicans warn wants more socialism in the US.
“I think there’s a sense that Biden is not as strong or is more vulnerable than people thought, and that Elizabeth Warren is — among a lot of Democrats — not the person to go up against Donald Trump,” Dallek said.
And Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who has climbed into the top tier, might be seen as too young and inexperienced.
“Maybe they’re looking for a younger Biden, or a Biden with less baggage, or maybe a more experienced Buttigieg,” said Zachary Albert, an assistant professor of politics at Brandeis University.
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