Joe Biden (D)
At 76 years old, Joe Biden ranks among the oldest of the Democratic candidates. His age, however, has not impeded his campaign’s success: the former Vice President was leading in 2020 polls even before announcing his candidacy. Biden’s political career began in 1972 when he won a contentious United States Senate race in Delaware, making him the nation’s fifth youngest-ever senator at 29 years old. He served in the Senate until 2009. Biden is best known for his time on the Committee of Foreign Relations, where he helped expand NATO and handle both the Gulf War and Iraq War. He also advocated for and helped pass stricter crime laws. After becoming Barack Obama’s Vice President in 2008, Biden managed behind-the-scenes roles on foreign relations, gun control, and bipartisan tax legislation. His message for the 2020 race has been centered around “unity” and defending the US against hate. Biden’s campaign has been shrouded in controversy since its beginning: this March, former Nevada politician Lucy Flores was the first of several woman to allege that Biden made them feel “uneasy” and “gross” with inappropriate touching. While he eventually apologized, many deemed his remorse insincere. More recently, progressives including Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez denounced his “middle-of-the-road” climate policy. 2020 will be Biden’s third presidential bid.
Michael Bennet (D)
54-year-old Michael Bennet currently serves as a US Senator from Colorado, and was formerly the Superintendent of Denver’s school system. In his 2020 campaign, Bennet has emphasized his commitment to quality, affordable education, and lauds his role in passing the 2015 Every Child Achieves Act as proof of his attempts to prevent federal overreach in public school districts across the country. Bennet is most famous for his part in the Gang of Eight, a bipartisan group of senators who tried and failed to pass immigration reform through compromise. While he does not think that Medicare For All is a viable option in the US, he does support a public healthcare option, as he says it could create a more competitive market and drive down insurance rates.
Bill de Blasio (D)
As mayor, Bill de Blasio introduced a universal pre-K system to New York City for every four-year-old and guaranteed two free meals a day, breakfast and lunch, to all public school students. He also raised the minimum wage to $15, ended the racial profiling-heavy Stop and Frisk policy, and mandated that all buildings in the city cut carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2030. His record is not without controversy. He’s been accused of neglecting his role as mayor to run for president. He has a toxic relationship with the police union, whose members literally turned their backs on him when he spoke at a cop’s funeral. Democratic Socialists like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez smashed his plan to attract the new headquarters for Amazon. De Blasio had negotiated a deal that provided $3.4 billion in grants and tax breaks for the company.
Cory Booker (D)
Cory Booker is the 50-year-old current junior Senator for New Jersey and former mayor of Newark. He is notably the only black man currently serving in the Senate. Booker supports the vast majority of mainstream Democratic positions, like the legalization of marijuana, ending the War on Drugs, and stricter gun control. In the Senate, he is well-known for advocating against almost all of Trump’s policies and positions. Booker is particularly known for his advocacy for progressive economic policies in order to fight wealth inequality. Growing up experiencing systemic discrimination, specifically in the housing market, has led him to care deeply about closing the racial wealth gap. For example, Booker is a strong proponent of “baby bonds” where newborns would receive a low risk savings account managed by the Treasury and would be able to access tens of thousands of dollars once they turn 18. Booker’s campaign doesn’t accept contributions from corporate PACs or registered lobbyists.
Steve Bullock (D)
Montana Governor Steve Bullock, who was re-elected in 2016 despite Trump winning the state by 20 percentage points, has referenced his moderate politics and bipartisan appeal as one of his central qualifications in the presidential race. Bullock has helped lead bipartisan campaign finance reforms in Montana, including requiring recipients of significant government contracts to disclose “dark money” contributions to elections. He has also proposed banning all Super PACs. Bullock criticized Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and has led conservation efforts in Montana. However, he has often protected the state’s coal industry, like by opposing the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan. He is pro-choice, and vetoed bills in 2017 that would have restricted late-term abortions. He passed Medicare expansions through the GOP-controlled Congress in Montana and has signed legislation aimed at lowering the premiums of private insurance. He has yet to declare whether he supports Medicare for All.
Pete Buttigieg (D)
37-year-old South Bend mayor, Rhodes Scholar, and Afghanistan War veteran Pete Buttigieg has vaulted from relative obscurity to polling among the top six Democratic candidates. “Mayor Pete” aims to win moderate and midwestern voters by touting his experience revitalizing South Bend’s economy after the crash of its auto industry and using traditionally Republican rhetoric like “freedom” and “security” to frame issues such as health care and climate change. At the same time, Buttigieg has sought to win younger and more liberal voters by emphasizing his age and proposing policy changes on climate change and gun control, such as a carbon tax and universal background checks. He has also proposed “Medicare for all those who want it,” a path that would move to a single-payer health care system but allow people to keep their private insurance for the time being if they want, which is a more moderate, gradual proposal than those from candidates like Harris and Warren. Finally, Buttigieg has made democratic reform the cornerstone of his platform; he supports ending the electoral college, redrawing gerrymandered districts, and exploring ways to make the Supreme Court less political, such as adding five justices who must be elected unanimously by the current justices. Buttigieg would be both the youngest and the first gay president, if elected.
Julián Castro (D)
Julián Castro is the former mayor of San Antonio and former cabinet secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration. When he was mayor of San Antonio, Castro persuaded voters to raise taxes an eighth of a percent to found a pre-kindergarten program. While he has offered no specifics, Castro supports “universal pre-kindergarten” and wants to make the first two years of higher education free. He has criticized the withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord. Castro has advocated for the requirement of universal background checks in gun sales and the ban of assault weapons. Castro supports Medicare for All, proposing to pay for the system by raising taxes on the wealthiest “0.05, 0.5 or 1 percent.” Castro has called for creating a path to citizenship for most undocumented people in the United States.
John Delaney (D)
John Delaney is a 56-year-old who currently represents Maryland’s sixth congressional district in the House of Representatives. During his time as a Congressman, Delaney introduced the Early Learning Act of 2017 — which aimed to increase early education accessibility in low income areas — and cosponsored the DREAMers Act in 2017. In the 2020 presidential race, his most prominent issue has been to end gerrymandering: he introduced a bill in 2017 that would institute “open primaries” for congressional elections and make Election Day a national holiday. In the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, Delaney wrote an op-ed that blamed the lack of congressional response on gerrymandered districts and their political implications. He has also advocated for universal healthcare, but makes sure to differentiate his plan with Medicare for All. Instead of completely eliminating private insurance, Delaney wants to introduce a new public insurance option for Americans under age 65, after which they would switch to existing Medicare options.
Tulsi Gabbard (D)
Tulsi Gabbard is a veteran of the Iraq War. She currently serves as the Congressional representative from the second District of Hawai’i. Relatively young, Gabbard is only 38-years-old and is the first Hindu and American Samoan elected to Congress. While Gabbard does support many measures to make living more affordable for all Americans, such as Medicare for All, her presidential campaign is actually foreign policy-focused. She opposes most American involvement abroad, especially regime-changes. She is opposed to American participation in the war in Syria. In her 2018 Congressional reelection campaign, she refused PAC money, and will continue to do so.
Kirsten Gillibrand (D)
Kirsten Gillibrand is a current Senator for the state of New York. She also is deeply invested in rebuilding the American economy through promoting small businesses. Gillibrand serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee and is a strong advocate for the U.S. armed forces. In past years, she has worked to pass bills intended to allocate aid to survivors of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and worked to repeal the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy that made it illegal for members of the military to openly identify as homosexual. Also, Gillibrand’s Hadiya Pendleton and Nyasia Pryear-Yard Gun Trafficking and Crime Prevention Act was one of the only pieces of gun control legislation to be openly supported by both parties and has recently spoken out about her immigration policies by saying that she would do away with the detention system entirely.
Mike Gravel (D)
Two teens from upstate New York run 88-year-old former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel’s Twitter account, and we’ll let them take it from here:
Most conservatives and most liberals operate with an astounding set of blinders, blind to the possibilities of politics. There are ways to resolve conflict outside of carpet-bombing weddings. There are ways to help people outside of expansions of tax credits.
For $1, you could buy a coffee sourced from exploited farmers in the global south OR you could buy the eternal satisfaction of seeing Mike call out America’s global exploitation on national TV.
“i believe in healthcare for all, a living wage, reproductive rights, a foreign policy of peace. you?”
“uh red team bad”
I sure do hope the faucets at @JoeBiden’s house are strong, with the amount of Iraqi blood on his hands
Kamala Harris (D)
Kamala Harris has served as a Senator from California since 2017, and is a former California Attorney General. Harris backs Bernie Sanders’s Medicare for All bill and has promised to enact the “College for All Act,” which promises to make college free for families making $125,000 and less per year. Harris has said that she would create a “national universal prekindergarten,” although she has not spoken of any specifics for her plan. Harris is vocal in her support of the Paris Climate Accord. Unlike many of her 2020 rivals, Harris has not called for ICE to be abolished. However, she opposed the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy which resulted in the separation of thousands of migrant children from their families. Harris co-sponsored the “REUNITE Act,” aimed to reunite separated families. Harris supports increased gun-control. As California Attorney General, she initiated a statewide sweep aimed to capture illegally-possessed firearms.
John Hickenlooper (D)
Former mayor of Denver and governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper has advertised himself as a candidate who can win bipartisan support. As governor, he worked with environmental advocates and oil companies alike to pass climate change policies, like making Colorado the first state to impose direct restrictions on methane emissions. Hickenlooper opposes the Green New Deal, saying that it sets unrealistic goals and does not work alongside businesses enough. He frequently references his pro-business record, as he trimmed down regulations in Colorado and oversaw the state’s economic boom while in office. Hickenlooper expanded Medicaid in Colorado. He has said that he supports universal health care, but that there are less disruptive ways to achieve universal coverage than overhauling the current system immediately and completely for Medicare for All. Finally, Hickenlooper signed legislation to both require universal background checks to buy firearms and ban high-capacity magazines all-together in Colorado.
Jay Inslee (D)
Inslee has served as the governor of Washington since 2013, and previously served in the House of Representatives from 1993 to 1995 and again from 1999 to 2012. Since declaring his presidential campaign, Inslee has made defeating climate change his central issue. Inslee is a proponent of the Green New Deal and has released the first two parts in a series of lengthy documents that outline how he would implement the program. Inslee’s “American Climate Mission” has four main pillars: transition the United States to 100 percent clean energy and net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, create jobs that will support the transition to renewable energy, advocate for environmental justice and economic opportunity in marginalized communities, and end America’s economic dependency on fossil fuels. To demonstrate his commitment to clean energy and combating climate change, Inslee’s campaign has vowed not to accept donations from fossil fuel or corporate PACs. While Inslee has formulated a robust action plan for tackling climate change, he hasn’t taken much of a stance on other pressing issues.
Amy Klobuchar (D)
Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar has made infrastructure and the economy her central campaign issues. Her trillion-dollar infrastructure proposal would aim to connect all Americans to broadband by 2022. She has proposed establishing a national paid leave program and mandatory sick leave, funded by employers, to support gig workers. She has advocated for stronger antitrust and consumer protection laws in the Senate, and has pushed to regulate drug prices. Klobuchar backs the Green New Deal and significant climate change action. She has supported Medicare Advantage, a moderate alternative to Medicare for All which would expand Medicare but not move to a single-payer system. Lastly, Klobuchar has proposed a $100 billion plan to address mental health problems and substance abuse, which includes taxing opioid manufacturers to pay for substance abuse treatment and prevention.
Wayne Messam (D)
“If a mayor from South Bend can do it, why not a mayor from Miramar?” So asked Wayne Messam, the youthful mayor of Miramar, a 140,000-person suburb of Miami. Messam, who is 44, has adopted a number of uniquely millennial-oriented positions. His central issue so far has been canceling all $1.5 trillion in student debt nationwide, a plank of his platform on which his campaign has published a 5,000-word policy. He’s also well-known for suing the state of Florida after they blocked his city’s efforts to ban guns from public buildings in the wake of the Parkland shooting, and was part of a coalition of mayors that publicly opposed President Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord. The son of Jamaican immigrants, Messam is the former president of the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials.
Seth Moulton (D)
Seth Moulton is a veteran and a congressman from Massachusetts who has served in the House since 2015. Moulton created the Serve America PAC, a committee that supports Democratic veterans running for office. Although Moulton fought in Iraq, he was a notable critic of the war. Unlike many other Democratic candidates, Moulton does not support Medicare for All. Instead, he advocates for improving the Affordable Care Act. In February, Moulton signed on as a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal. Moulton has said he wants to provide a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients.
Beto O’Rourke (D)
Beto O’Rourke is an El Paso native and a former member of the House of Representatives. In the past, O’Rourke has also run for the U.S. Senate and has raised more money than any Senate candidate in United States history, and won a higher percentage of the vote than any Democratic Senate candidate in Texas for 30 years. Throughout his campaign, he has emphasized his grassroots approach to the presidential race, touring early primary battleground states like Iowa extensively. He claims that there is no way for the US to overcome its challenges without first bringing everyday citizens together. While he has focused more on uniting ideology than policy, O’Rourke has voiced support for universal health care, restructuring the public school system, and starting impeachment proceedings for President Trump. He also enjoys delivering his campaign speeches while standing on tables.
Tim Ryan (D)
Tim Ryan, a 45-year-old congressman from Niles, Ohio, is a candidate known for changing his political positions. He had opposed abortion and the right to choose for a majority of his political career, but reversed his stance in 2015, saying that “we must trust women and families — not politicians” to make decisions around abortion. Two years later, he again switched positions on a contentious issue — despite past A-ratings from the NRA, he donated $20,000 to gun control organizations after the 2017 Las Vegas shooting. And while he has a similarly mixed voting record on immigration, he received low ratings from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and the US Border Control lobby group, indicating a more progressive political lean. In 2018, Ryan cosponsored three bills that addressed higher education accessibility, and has advocated for debt-free and tuition-free college as part of his 2020 campaign.
Bernie Sanders (I)
Bernie Sanders is the long-time senior senator from Vermont and a registered Independent. If elected president, he would be the first Jewish president as well as the oldest at age 77. He grew up in a working class family of Jewish Polish immigrants in Brooklyn. Sanders has a populist appeal and a devoted base from his 2016 presidential campaign that focused on fighting domestic income inequality. A self-proclaimed “Democratic Socialist” he emphasizes universal healthcare, universal higher education, and the expansion of social services. Further left than the establishment Democratic party, many believe Sanders’ leadership will make the Democratic party more progressive. Like many other Democratic nominees, he has refused funding from corporations and super PACs.
Eric Swalwell (D)
Eric Swalwell is currently a member of the House of Representatives and serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He believes that it is Congress’ duty to protect Americans, and has served on the Intelligence Modernization and Readiness Subcommittee that ensures that all US intelligence agencies are properly funded and run. Swalwell voted in favor of the Climate Action Now Act that would inhibit Donald Trump from using government funds to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accords. He’s currently polling at less than one percent, and has been attacked for a tweet comparing Trump’s phone call to Putin after the Mueller report to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor.
Donald Trump (R)
Immigration has been now-President Donald Trump’s main issue since he first announced his candidacy in a speech at Trump Tower in 2015. From the Muslim Ban to the massive increase in deportations, he has mostly followed through on his promise to “close up our borders,” although he has made little progress on his signature campaign promise to build a wall along the country’s border with Mexico. The actions of his Department of Education under Betsy DeVos may be of particular note to young voters at a college-prep school: the DoE has cut back rules requiring colleges to investigate allegations of sexual assault, tied federal funding for universities to their protection of free speech, and pushed for less oversight over lenders of student loans. The president is friendly towards fossil fuel companies and skeptical of climate change, supporting the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines and cutting the Environmental Protection Agency. Trump also seems to be sharing strategies with undemocratic leaders around the world. Beyond his well-documented relationships with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, Hungary’s Viktor Orban has used his country’s state-controlled media to tout a fence to keep out immigrants along the country’s southern border, and the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte, who calls Trump a “good friend,” has fostered paramilitary bike gangs that have killed over 12,000 people without trial. And young men who are U.S. citizens should make sure they register for Selective Service in case there’s a draft — the administration seems to be tilting towards war with Iran. Trump’s approval rating among members of his own party stands at 89 percent according to Gallup, higher than any president in recent history, so he is unlikely to face a primary challenge.
Elizabeth Warren (D)
Warren is a longtime advocate of bridging the wealth gap and rebuilding the American middle class. She aims to enact an “Ultra-Millionaire Tax” on America’s 75,000 wealthiest families to raise the capital to fund programs like the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and universal childcare. One of her central campaign promises is to create a transparent protocol for lobbying that bans foreign governments from hiring lobbyists and prevents lobbyists from holding government jobs. Warren advocates for criminal justice reform that ends racial discrimination in our justice system and “demands that everybody — no matter how wealthy or well-connected — is held accountable when they break the law.”
Bill Weld (R)
Bill Weld served two terms as Massachusetts governor in the 1990’s, and is the only Republican running against Donald Trump in the 2020 election so far. While in office, Weld was considered the most fiscally conservative governor in the nation, and is a supporter of the Trump administration’s 2017 tax overhaul bill — which cut taxes by two percent for people making over $500,000. He maintains a liberal stance on some social issues, including a abortion, protecting LGBTQ+ rights, and the need for legislation to fight climate change. Weld has pitched himself as a Libertarian aiming to make change in the Republican Party, but he has been criticized as being out of touch with the ideology and values of the Trump-era GOP.
Marianne Williamson (D)
Marianne Williamson has never held public office. In 2014 she ran as an Independent for California’s 33rd Congressional District, where she came in fourth place. Williamson is a self-help speaker and author. She prides herself on having a “holistic integrative perspective.” At her campaign kickoff, Williamson said she wanted to run for president “to engage voters in a more meaningful conversation about America, about our history, about how each of us fit into it, and how to create a sustainable future.” Williamson’s website boasts that as president, she would ban assault rifles, re-enter the Paris Climate Accords, and “speed up the process” for those seeking asylum in America.
Andrew Yang (D)
Andrew Yang is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and founder of Venture for America, an organization that supports American entrepreneurs. He was born in upstate New York to Taiwanese immigrants and is now a father to two young kids. If elected, he would be the first Asian-American president. Yang is known predominantly for his advocacy for a Universal Basic Income (UBI). He proposes a “Freedom Dividend” of a check of 1,000 dollars every month for all Americans over the age of 18.
Profiles were written by the Paper Tiger staff.
