In about a year, the people of the United States are going to be hitting the voting booths in an attempt to pick the best possible candidate for the United States President. Candidates are already lining up; newspapers are starting to compile research and people are picking sides.
This is the first time that I’ve ever been able to vote and I want to make sure I’m going into the next election with a solid preference and an educated reason why I support that candidate. I figured they best way to start who to see who was already running.
After a quick google search, I found a list of potential candidates compiled by the New York Times. Each person had a couple of key running points, a few of their issues and a quote pertaining to why they want to be president.
So far, there are 25 candidates running, 23 of which are Democrat, and only 2 are Republican.
| Democrat: | ||
| Bennet | Biden | Booker |
| Bullock | Buttigieg | Castro |
| De Blasio | Demaney | Gabbard |
| Gillibrand | Harris | Hickenlooper |
| Inslee | Klobuchar | Messam |
| Moulton | O’Rourke | Ryan |
| Sanders | Swalwell | Warren |
| Williamson | Yang |
| Republican | |
| Trump | Weld |
Let’s a take a look at each one.
As I read each individuals quote, I immediately ruled out people who seemed to want to be president just to get Trump out of office, people who seem to push a certain agenda, or who seem like they might divide our country rather than bring it together.
| Democrat: | ||
| Bennet | Booker | |
| Buttigieg | ||
| De Blasio | Demaney | Gabbard |
| Harris | Hickenlooper | |
| | Messam | |
| O’Rourke | Ryan | |
| Sanders | Swalwell | |
| Williamson | Yang |
| Republican | |
| Trump | Weld |
The next thing I did was look for people who seemed qualified. It’s appropriate for the person who would be running our country to have a background in politics or to have started and built a business from the ground up. I ruled out anyone who doesn’t meet these guidelines. There were only two people who didn’t fit for this category, but I also ruled out Messam because his quote was very off-putting (he wanted to be our “Champion”).
| Democrat: | ||
| Bennet | Booker | |
| Buttigieg | ||
| De Blasio | Demaney | Gabbard |
| Harris | Hickenlooper | |
| | ||
| O’Rourke | Ryan | |
| Sanders | Swalwell | |
| Republican | |
| Trump | Weld |
After all of this, there are twelve Democrats left, and two Republicans.
Democrat:
Cory Booker, Senator from New Jersey; former mayor of Newark
Michael Bennet,
Senator from Colorado
Pete Buttigieg, Mayor of South Bend, Ind.; military veteran
Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City
John Delaney, Former congressman from Maryland; former businessman
Tulsi Gabbard, Congresswoman from Hawaii; Army National Guard veteran
Kamala Harris, Senator from California; former attorney general of California; former San Francisco district attorney
John Hickenlooper, Former governor of Colorado; former mayor of Denver
Beto O’Rourke, Former congressman from Texas; 2018 Senate candidate
Tim Ryan, Congressman from Ohio; former congressional staffer
Bernie Sanders, Senator from Vermont; former congressman
Eric Swalwell, Congressman from California
Republican:
Donald J. Trump,U.S. president; real estate developer; reality television star
William F. Weld, Former governor of Massachusetts; former federal prosecutor
Overall, I have to say that so far, I’m shocked with just how many Democrats are running, and I’m very curious to why there’s such a giant imbalance of candidates between Democrats and Republicans.
