{"id":1335,"date":"2020-02-14T10:43:18","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T10:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewitnessexet.wpengine.com\/?p=1335"},"modified":"2021-10-10T15:18:14","modified_gmt":"2021-10-10T15:18:14","slug":"the-democratic-party-candidates-for-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewitnessexeter.co.uk\/?p=1335","title":{"rendered":"The Democratic Party candidates for President"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>5 Minute, 4 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n

With the presidential election fast-approaching in November, the race for the Democratic nomination is well underway. Although the number of candidates peaked at twenty-nine in mid-2019, only eight now remain, with just five of these candidates considered to have enough support to be selected to run against Donald Trump in November. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both\nregistered Democrat supporters and so-called \u2018independents\u2019 are eligible to\nvote in the party\u2019s primaries and caucuses, creating a diverse array of views\nfor the candidates to consider. This means that the Democratic Party is more\ndivided than ever before, with the five frontrunners falling into two distinct\ncategories: moderates and progressives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Moderates<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Considered\nby many to be the favourite ever since he announced his campaign last April,\nformer Vice-President (to Barack Obama, nonetheless) Joe Biden<\/strong> has\nstruggled since the primaries began on February 3rd<\/sup>. Biden spent 36\nyears in the Senate, as well as unsuccessfully running for president in 1998\nand 2008, before he became Vice-President in 2009, so is considered to be the\ncandidate with the greatest level of political experience. Biden\u2019s key message\nhas been to finish what he started when working with President Obama for eight\nyears, a message that has resonated well with moderate voters. However, Biden has\nhad a woeful start to the primaries, placing a disappointing fourth in Iowa and\nfinishing fifth in New Hampshire. Despite these poor results, the former VP is not\nyet out of the race. Biden is extremely popular amongst voters from minority\nbackgrounds, so is hopeful of picking up swathes of delegates on Super Tuesday\n(March 3rd<\/sup>), when states with high minority populations like Texas,\nCalifornia and North Carolina go to the polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

At the other end of the experience spectrum is 38-year-old Pete Buttigieg<\/strong>, whose only role in politics has been as the Mayor of South Bend, Indiana \u2013 a town of just 100,000 people. Despite his lack of experience, \u2018Mayor Pete\u2019 has taken the race by storm in recent months. After a shock win in the Iowa and an impressive second place finish in New Hampshire, it seems as though Buttigieg has cemented himself as \u2018the\u2019 moderate alternative for Democrat voters. His strong debate performances have wooed voters who see Biden as too old, too establishment and too tainted to defeat the progressive wing of the Democrat Party, and Donald Trump. For many voters, Buttigieg embodies the moderate principles that saw Biden positioned as the initial favourite for the nomination but without the historical baggage that accompanies the former Vice-President. For example, both candidates firmly support public healthcare as an \u2018option\u2019 for voters, rather than as a replacement for private healthcare policies, which is advocated by the progressive candidates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last of\nthe moderate candidates announced his candidacy on November 24th<\/sup>\n2019, which is extraordinarily late, considering some candidates had been\ncampaigning since January. Former Mayor of New York City and CEO of Bloomberg\nL.P., which took $10 billion in revenue in 2019, Michael Bloomberg<\/strong> has\nhad anything but a \u2018normal\u2019 campaign. Opting not to enter into the Iowa Caucus\nor the New Hampshire Primary, Bloomberg\u2019s unique campaign is focused on claiming\na significant number of the 1,357 delegates on offer on Super Tuesday. Having\npreviously said he wouldn\u2019t run for the nomination; Bloomberg entered the race\nat a late stage due to fears that no existing candidate had the ability to beat\nDonald Trump. Pitching himself as the most pragmatic of the candidates,\nBloomberg has centred his campaign on one issue: preventing four more years of\nDonald Trump. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Progressives<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Further to\nthe left of the Democratic Party are two senators who have been fighting since\nFebruary 2019 to earn the support of more radical voters. The first of the pair\nbecame was almost the architects of American politics\u2019 greatest upsets at the\nlast election in 2016. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders<\/strong> ran Hillary\nClinton extremely close in the 2016 Democrat primaries, collecting 43% of the national\nvote share and 1,865 of the 4,051 delegates available. Senator Sanders\u2019 success\nin 2016 signalled a shift in progressive politics in the USA; there was\nsuddenly a large faction of voters with an appetite for a social democrat to become\nPresident. Sanders\u2019 radical policies of \u2018Medicare For All\u2019 and a \u2018Green New\nDeal\u2019 have gone down well with voters, as he finished a close second to\nButtigieg in Iowa and clinched an important victory in the New Hampshire Primary.\nIf the Vermont Senator can maintain his current level of support, whilst\nfighting off rival progressive candidates, he will surely go one step further\nthan 2016 and seal the nomination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Having said\nthat, we must not rule out Senator Elizabeth Warren<\/strong>, the other\nprogressive frontrunner in the race. Despite finishing behind Sanders in Iowa\nand New Hampshire, the desire of Democrat voters to nominate a female candidate\nremains potent, following their view that Hillary Clinton was robbed of the presidency\nin 2016. Warren has gained a fiercely loyal following in the campaign so far,\ndue in part to her scathing attacks on the records of Biden and Buttigieg\nduring television debates. In addition, the Senator produced one of the most\ntalked about moments of the campaign so far, when she accused her long-time\nally Bernie Sanders of saying that a woman could not win the presidency. Whilst\nit remains to be seen whether or not Warren can close the gap to Sanders, it\ncannot be doubted that the 70-year-old Senator from Massachusetts has brought\nan unrivalled sense of energy and vitality to the campaign, which should see\nher continue to pursue the nomination to the very end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To secure the Democrat Party\u2019s nomination on the first ballot at July\u2019s Convention, a candidate will need to secure a majority of the 3,979 delegates on offer. With only two contests completed so far, there are certain to be several more twists and turns in the race to be the challenger to President Trump in November\u2019s election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Dom Daniells<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n \n
\n \n \"Happy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Happy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sad\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sad <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Excited\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Excited <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sleepy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sleepy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Angry\"\n <\/a>\n
Angry<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Surprise\"\n <\/a>\n
Surprise<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the presidential election fast-approaching in November, the race for the Democratic nomination is well underway. Although the number of candidates peaked at <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":1338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewitnessexeter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewitnessexeter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewitnessexeter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewitnessexeter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewitnessexeter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thewitnessexeter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewitnessexeter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewitnessexeter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewitnessexeter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewitnessexeter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}