The primary of the Podcast of Democrats 2028 is on track.
From Govs. Gavin Newsom of California, Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Gretchen Whitmer from Michigan to the former transport secretary Pete Buttigieg, the potential presidential contenders follow the example of President Donald Trump, who often made attractive podcasts to young men during his campaign in 2024.
Liberal strategists recognize that Trump has shown that democratic candidates must master the space of the podcast, which is generally more loose and freer than a press conference or a traditional media interview.
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“The way politicians communicate and must be seen by their public change,” said Liz Minnella, who collected fundraising for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and launched this year Connect Forward, a group to support liberal influencers. “I hate giving him credit, but he found a way to connect with people, to talk to them like human beings in non -political speech.”
Newsom, for a long time derived by the conservatives as a liberal of San Francisco, welcomed the conservatives on his podcast and agreed with them on questions such as trans participation in female sports. Beshear, a lower -profile democrat in a red state, welcomed his teenagers to teach him to use the slang of youth “skibidi”.
The contenders probably 2028 have already produced many hours of content. Here is an overview of key moments and what we have learned about the field so far.
“ Be You, Boo ‘by Andy Beshear
This file photo shows Governor Andy Beshear speaking at a press conference in 2023 in Louisville, Kentucky. Photo by Luke Sharrett / Getty Images.
Launching “The Andy Beshear Podcast” earlier this year, the governor of Kentucky has now welcomed a donor, a former ambassador, businessmen whom he calls friends and American senator Amy Klobuchar, who ran for the 2020 presidential appointment.
He even brought his two children to explain the words of high school students, asking them to explain to him how to use terms like “skibidi” to say that something seems good, or “do it for intrigue” to say that you take a risk on something despite a potentially bad result.
From his first episode, the 47 -year -old politician describes certain rules and says that the first is “Be authentic, you be You, Boo”.
The governor did not respond to a request for comments on his strategy, but above all took the position of dissection and distribution of the opposition to Trump policies, such as potential cups in Medicaid and the use of the signal messaging application by the national security team of the president to discuss sensitive military operations.
In one of the most recent episodes of Beshear earlier this month, his producer poses to the governor a frequent question of the listener: are you going to present yourself to the presidency?
“If it was three years ago, it was something we would never have thought of,” said Beshear, sitting next to his wife, Britainy. “But I am determined not to leave a broken country to my children or to someone else. Now, what it looks like in the future, I don’t know. My work right now is to try to raise as many leaders as possible throughout the country which, let’s hope, focus on good things with the right message to reappear the faith of the American people.”
Gretchen Whitmer talks about the embrace
Gretchen Whitmer, governor of Michigan, smiles from the scene of day 4 of the National Democrat Convention of 2024 (DNC) to the United Center in Chicago, Illinois .. Reuters / Kevin Wurm
Whitmer recently appeared on “Pod Save America” for a shorter interview than other contenders did not do it on podcasts. Whitmer had received a backlash for sharing a hug with the president last month at his arrival in his country of origin, less than a month after protecting his face from the cameras during an appearance of an oval office alongside Trump.
Whitmer and Trump announced a new hunting mission in a national guard base outside Detroit which is considered a major economic engine for the region.
“This is a BFD,” she said on the podcast, referring if not directly by saying a profane sentence that begins with “big” and ends with “deal”.
“This does not mean that I have abandoned one of my values. It does not mean that I will not stand up and fight when we have to do it, but this is one of those moments when, as a civil servant, you remember, your work is to put a service above yourself and that’s what it was.”
Gavin Newsom gives micro to Maga figures
In February, the Governor of California launched “This is Gavin Newsom” as what he called a mechanism to speak “directly with people with whom I do not agree, people I look at and you – listeners”.
Until now, he has had a wide range of guests, including the former Stratege Trump Steve Bannon and the conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, as well as Klobuchar and the Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz, Harris 2024 package.
Conversations were mainly chummy. Newsom – which has been broken in recent weeks with California’s legislature and has faced liberal criticisms for its positioning on trans, immigration and homeless issues – set up for having given a platform to some of the greatest criticisms of its party.
Newsom has also aroused criticism of opposing the participation of trans athletes in female sports.
“I think it is a problem of equity, I fully agree with you about it,” Newsom told Kirk in his first episode. “It is a problem of equity – it’s deeply unfair.”
The list of diversified guests could be part of the attempt by Newsom from self-brand as a centrist before a possible 2028 race, hearing conservative criticism while trying to assume the coat of his party.
In March, the governor told Bill Maher de Hbo that the Democrats had developed a “toxic” brand and criticized some in the party who did not want to “have a conversation” with their opponents.
Buttigieg says that Democrats must reach “people who do not think like us”
File photo: Pete Buttigieg speaks in September 2024 at the local training center of the 190 Association in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Photo by Craig Hudson / Reuters
The appearance of Buttigieg on the “flagrant” podcast of Andrew Schulz occurred for months after the actor sat with Trump.
During three hours sitting with Schulz, Buttigieg wore a beard while he was speaking with a frankness of his personal life, describing his experiences serving in the army before leaving publicly as gay and raising his biracial children, even laughing at his personal life.
But above all, Buttigieg – who spoke in Iowa earlier this month – discussed his time in politics and accused Trump of not having held the economic promises of the 2024 campaign.
“We have to meet people who do not think like us and do not see the world as we do, at the same time, legitimately, become smarter and better and make better choices and have better positions, and just to persuade,” said buttigieg.
The editor-in-chief of the Associated Press Amelia Thomson-Deveaux in Washington contributed to this report.