J.B. Pritzker, a billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, has spent tens of millions of dollars outside Illinois this cycle. His checks have gone to the House Majority PAC, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Senate nominees including Roy Cooper in North Carolina and Jon Ossoff in Georgia. He’s among the Democrats using the 2026 midterms to audition for the 2028 presidential nomination.
The midterms officially center on electing 36 governors and 470 members of Congress. According to USA TODAY’s reporting, the days when early White House hopefuls had to be coy are over.
Who Profits
Money is moving through the party, and it’s coming from the top. When Texas gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa gained ground against Gov. Greg Abbott, she had $4 million in the bank, according to Texas campaign records. The Democratic Governors Association, chaired by Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, sent $1 million. Pritzker chipped in another $1 million.
Donors expect something in return. Each check from a presidential prospect adds to a ledger of favors owed in the primary states.
Kamala Harris will spend Oct. 21 to Oct. 30 in New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Nevada and Georgia, with a virtual event in Florida, according to a schedule her office shared with The Associated Press. Nevada holds the second 2028 nominating contest, after South Carolina; New Hampshire comes third. Harris has also headlined fundraisers for Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate David Crowley and Nevada gubernatorial candidate Aaron Ford. She says she’s “thinking about” another run after losing the 2024 general election to Donald Trump, two years ago.
Pete Buttigieg has visited 37 states in the two years since Trump’s inauguration ended his job as transportation secretary, Politico calculated. He has campaigned in person for about half of the 100 candidates he’s endorsed. His political action committee is called Win the Era. He’s “more inclined than not” to run.
Labor in the Itinerary
On Oct. 21 in Nevada, Harris will meet Culinary Workers Union members. It’s the only stop on her published schedule built around organized labor. Her other events focus on candidates, a reproductive care discussion in New Hampshire, voter protection events and the Fulton County Democratic Party’s annual gala in Atlanta on Oct. 30.
Who Fights Over the Party’s Direction
The field is wide open, and so is the party’s direction. Harris leads early polls, but no dominant frontrunner defines the race. The contenders include seven or so regularly mentioned governors, at least nine early Senate prospects, and progressives such as New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and California Rep. Ro Khanna.
Rahm Emanuel, a former Chicago mayor, House member, ambassador and White House chief of staff, calls himself a “raging moderate” and blasts the party’s “leftward lurch.” “We’ve lost the plot because the party got un-anchored,” he told a Fox News podcast. His proposals include restricting children’s access to social media and banning federal workers from betting on the predictions market.
Pritzker took the opposite tack. “Those same do-nothing Democrats want to blame our losses on our defense of Black people, of trans kids, of immigrants, instead of their own lack of guts and gumption,” he said.
Ocasio-Cortez points to Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed as proof progressive candidates can energize new voters. “We have written a check on the left, saying if you champion these policies that have popular support, we can win,” she said at a New York fundraiser leaked to ABC. “And now it is time to cash in.”
Florida Senate nominee Angie Nixon, a state lawmaker who identifies as a democratic socialist, draws backing from left-flank activists who criticized Harris as too moderate in 2024. Harris will headline a virtual organizing event with Nixon while she’s in Georgia.
The Opposition Frame
California Gov. Gavin Newsom called Trump “corrupt and unstable” and described the deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles as a “brazen abuse of power.” At an Oct. 5 Nebraska rally, while discussing the Iran war, Trump said: “They can take out a city. Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego.” The White House later said the president meant the cities were vulnerable, not that he was inviting an attack. Newsom directed California’s State Threat Assessment Center to monitor the situation.
The Republican side is settled for now. Vice President JD Vance is the presumptive 2028 nominee, though he’s likely to face challengers.
Beshear argues the nominee should be a governor with a record of solving problems and reaching across partisan lines. Asked why he might not run, he cited only objections from his family.