Democrats, start your engines

GREENVILLE, S.C.—The next presidential election is nearly 1,200 days away, but Democratic hopefuls are already roaming through conservative states, hoping to get an early edge in primary races.

“Every year, the calendar gets earlier and earlier,” said Nate Leupp, president of the 4th District Republican Club in Greenville, S.C. “[The Democrats] see that the Republicans are likely to unify behind our vice president [in the 2028 election]. If they have to go through a hotly contested primary, which they will, it gives them less time to unify behind their nominee.”

South Carolina has voted for Republican presidential candidates in every election since 1980. Both U.S. senators and six out of the state’s seven U.S. House members are Republicans. South Carolina was the first state to hold a Democratic presidential primary last year at the request of former President Joe Biden. President Donald Trump chose the rural town of Pickens, S.C., to hold the first rally of his reelection bid in 2023, and 76% of the county voted for him in November. Now, the state Democratic Party is inviting candidates to stump in those same areas in a long-shot bid to make inroads into conservative territory.

“This is about building partnerships, uplifting communities, and showing rural voters they aren’t forgotten,” state Democratic Party Chairwoman Christale Spain said in a news release announcing a two-day tour earlier this month with California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

It’s also about capitalizing on frustration with the GOP. According to a June Emerson poll, 18% of voters are undecided about which party they would choose on a generic 2026 congressional ballot. A RealClearPolitics aggregate poll found that roughly 52% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s job performance thus far, roughly equivalent to the same month in his first term.

Although no candidate has formally launched a campaign, several prominent Democrats are already meeting prospective voters and trying out talking points.

Gavin Newsom

The California governor made appearances at eight South Carolina Democratic Party events on a two-day tour earlier this month. The party invited him to speak about the economy, given his leadership of the nation’s most populous state. He criticized the Trump administration’s economic agenda and the recently passed Big Beautiful Bill.

“We’re in a reverse America,” Newsom said, arguing that the bill would give tax breaks to the rich and increase burdens on the poor.

Newsom repeated the line at a later event, this time talking about cultural issues.

“What we’re experiencing is America in reverse,” he told attendees in Camden, S.C. “They’re trying to bring us back to a pre-1960s world on voting rights. You know it well. Civil rights, LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, and not just access to abortion, but also access to simple reproductive care, contraception. … It’s a moment that few of us could have imagined.”

Newsom is term-limited and will leave the governor’s office in January 2027.

Andy Beshear

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is also term-limited and will leave office by 2027. He made his first stop in the northwestern part of the state earlier this month at the annual AFL-CIO convention in Greenville, S.C.

“If you don’t know me, I’m the guy who’s won three straight races in deep red Kentucky,” he introduced himself to attendees, most of whom mispronounced his name as “Breshear,” in a downtown hotel. “I’m the guy that’s beaten Mitch McConnell’s handpicked candidate. I’m the guy that’s beaten Donald Trump’s handpicked candidate. … We win by staying true to our values of compassion, of empathy, and of doing right by our neighbors.”

Beshear has less national name recognition than Newsom, but that is changing. The latest issue of Vogue magazine includes a profile of Beshear, complete with dreamy pictures of him playing baseball with his children and lounging with his wife and dog in the Kentucky governor’s mansion. He has also been picked to lead the Democratic Governors Association next year, which will campaign heavily to claim governor’s seats in 18 states with no incumbent in 2026.

Beshear has only ever run in off-year elections—never on the same ballot as Trump. But he said he has the winning formula to make the Democratic brand popular again. At a private reception in Greenville, he urged candidates and voters to cut back on “advocacy speak.”

“I come from a state that was ravaged by the opioid epidemic,” Beshear said. Then he criticized the common term “substance use disorder” to describe it. “We didn’t lose them to substance use disorder; we lost them to addiction. It’s mean, it’s nasty, and it takes people from us. And to address it in the right way, we’ve got to talk about it for what it is.”

He offered other tips on his tour across the state: Democrats should explain why they believe what they believe rather than just citing statistics, and they should tone down political rhetoric.

Attendees said they appreciated Beshear’s noncombative tone. Lynn Ramirez, a state executive committee delegate with the Greenville Democratic Party, told me that the governor’s track record of winning as a Democrat in a Republican state could be a model for the future. Another attendee, Sharon Wallace, drove up from Tennessee to hear him.

“I’m so tired of the negativity and the division in our country, and I’m just ready for someone to pull us together,” she told me.

Ro Khanna

U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said he was not considering a presidential run even as he scheduled his “Benefits Over Billionaires” tour in early primary states such as Georgia and South Carolina. He promotes what he calls a “new economic patriotism.” He says that if Democrats accuse the Trump administration of aiding the rich instead of the working class, it can help to shore up support for the 2026 midterms. At a town hall in Goose Creek, S.C., Khanna said he had invited Rep. Nancy Mace, the Republican who represents the district.

“Explain why you think it’s a good policy to have tax breaks for the billionaires in Silicon Valley and cuts of $1 trillion to Medicaid,” he motioned to an empty chair reserved for Mace, who didn’t attend. “My problem is that the Republicans who voted for [the Big Beautiful Bill] are not explaining their votes to their constituents.”

Khanna admitted that he represents some of the richest people in the country in his Silicon Valley district, but he said he wants the economy to benefit the working class.

“Raise your hand if you think my constituents need a tax break,” he said, after telling a story about a woman who drove 45 minutes to a hospital to give birth because her nearest hospital closed. He repeated the same story at stops all across the state.

At the town halls, attendees flocked to the open microphone to ask questions, most along the lines of asking the Democratic Party for a clear plan. Khanna characterized his policies as part of a battle between the rich and the poor.

“Let’s be on the side of the public,” he said. “That’s why I don’t take any PAC money. That’s why I’ve never taken a dime of lobbyist money.”

Khanna is up for reelection in 2026.