2028 fantasy draft: Democrats
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This week on Newsmakers. I'm surprised you even had me on. Comedian Bill Maher on his Mark Twain Award and the lost art of political debate. Just engage with the argument.
Tell me if I'm wrong about something and then we're going to be cool. But that's not what either extreme does in this country anymore.
Bill Maher on this week's Newsmakers. Watch or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
It may be a midterm year, but today we're taking our first real look at 2028. Who's going to run and who is going to win? Do we know the answers to those questions? No, we do not. But are we still going to make a lot of slightly educated guesses? Yes, we will. Whoa, new music.
Yes.
It is the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Miles Parks. I cover voting.
I'm Ashley Lopez. I cover politics. And I'm Tamara Keith, senior political correspondent.
And today on the show, another draft. We did this a couple months ago with competitive races with Stephen and Domenico.
What is the NPR Politics 2028 Democratic fantasy draft and who’s hosting it?
But today, we're going to hold a fantasy draft of candidates who we think are contenders in 2028. We're going to start with the Democrats. We're going to do the Republicans very soon. We're going to do this every so often between now... and the primaries, which will be upon us before we know it, guys.
They're already here. It's already happening.
I can't wait to see how our picks change over the next couple months and years. Does this all sound good?
Yeah. Yeah, sounds like a nerdy good time.
It sure does. And to make sure things are above board, as we like with all things here at NPR, we went out and got a draft commissioner to oversee this process. So let me introduce the NPR Politics Fantasy Draft Commissioner, Casey Murrell. Woo-hoo!
Woo-hoo!
Thank you, Miles. Thank you, fans. And welcome to the first NPR Politics 2028 Presidential Fantasy Draft.
I love this so much. This is great.
Here's how this will work. Each of you are going to draft two Democrats you think stand a decent chance of running for president, making it far into the primaries and ultimately winning their party's nomination. Now, when you make your pick, defend it. And for those of you who are sitting back, feel free to question it. We will do a snake draft in each round in the interest of fairness. So this means whoever picks last in the first round picks first in the second round. Does that make sense?
I think you lost me at snake draft. That's OK. It is quite all right.
I'll drive. I'll drive the ship. You just pick what Casey says. Pick. OK. All right. With that, the first pick in the Democrats draft goes to Ashley Lopez. Ashley, you are on the clock.
OK, so my pick is Georgia Senator John Ossoff.
Oh, with the first overall pick. OK.
I was debating someone with more name recognition, someone who Democrats wouldn't be taking as much of a risk taking them out of the Senate, let's say. But I'm picking him because I just feel like this. This is a candidate potentially who has been the most consistently good at messaging and doesn't seem to anger pretty much anyone. Like not very polarizing yet. It's very early. But so far, I just don't hear voters be angry about him, including from people in his own state. Like I hear from swing voters, people who supported Trump, you know, every month. And in Georgia, this was someone who like, even if voters didn't know a lot about him, they seemed to only have good things to say about him. And the things that they knew, even though they were limited, were positive.
And I think whoever's going to be president next is going to be young. I think we are watching... perhaps a pause, maybe not an all out end to the gerontocracy in America. And that is why. And he's also very telegenic, good speaker, talking about corruption, things that Americans care about.
And he certainly is someone who, as he's running for Senate this cycle, running for reelection, he has produced a lot of viral videos. He's had these big rallies, or at least they look big when you're watching them in viral videos. And his message is very effective at Tying into corruption, tying into the feeling that voters have that the system is rigged, that Republicans in charge are enriching themselves.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:00
2
What is the NPR Politics 2028 Democratic fantasy draft and who’s hosting it?
1:00–6:29
3
How will the draft rules work and who is the commissioner overseeing picks?
6:29–9:29
4
Why did Ashley pick John Ossoff as her first overall Democratic candidate?
9:29–23:43
5
What reasons did Tamara give for choosing Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro?
23:43–29:35