The Iowa caucuses are about a year away, which means those planning to join what promises to be a crowded 2020 presidential campaign field are beginning to formally announce their candidacies.
From former Vice President Joe Biden to failed 2018 Texas Senate candidate Rep. Beto O'Rourke, speculation abounds about the wide field of potential Democratic candidates.
And there's always the chance of a Republican emerging to challenge President Donald Trump in the primary or a third party candidate emerging in the general election. John Kasich, a former Ohio governor and fierce critic of Trump, has hinted he is considering both of those options.
There's also the chance for a wild card, too. Will Bernie Sanders give it another go? What about Howard Schultz?
Here's a breakdown of the people who have taken steps toward or officially announced their candidacies.
Cory Booker
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker announced his long-anticipated decision the same way many Americans have come to know him, on Twitter, presenting himself as a healer of the country’s deep divisions and stressing the importance of "collective action."
"I believe that we can build a country where no one is forgotten, no one is left behind," Booker, 49, told his supporters in a rousing, 2-minute-and-25-second video.
Booker came to prominence as the mayor of Newark and then as New Jersey’s first African-American senator after winning a special election in 2013. Booker can point to a record of backing liberal policies, from marriage equality and abortion rights to marijuana legalization and criminal-justice reform.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) is joining the crowd of Democrats in the run for presidency in 2020. Here are 5 things you should know about the New Jersey senator. USA TODAY
Pete Buttigieg
Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, launched his campaign for president with a video message promising to bring a "fresh start" to the White House.
The 37-year-old Democrat would be the first openly gay presidential nominee from a major political party if he manages to emerge victorious in the primary.
Buttigieg was elected South Bend's mayor in 2012. In his campaign video, he points to national headlines that once called it a dying city. He led South Bend's 100,000 residents to a comeback, he said, "by taking our eyes off the rear-view mirror."
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is considered a popular young leader in the national Democratic Party. Here's why. Dwight Adams/IndyStar
Julian Castro
The former San Antonio mayor, who also served as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration, threw his hat into the ring early, announcing the formation of an exploratory committee in mid-December and formally declaring his candidacy on Jan. 12.
Castro, 44, made a splash six years ago as the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention in 2012. The grandson of a Mexican immigrant and son of a Latina activist, he would be among the youngest candidates in the field and the most prominent Latino. His twin brother, Joaquin Castro, is a Democratic congressman from Texas.
John Delaney
You may not have heard of Maryland Rep. John Delaney, but he's been a 2020 presidential candidate since July 2017.
Delaney, who founded two publicly traded companies, joined the House in 2013. He said his campaign will be focused on building up infrastructure to keep the U.S. globally competitive, along with international tax reform and a greater embrace of immigration.
Tulsi Gabbard
Rep. Gabbard first announced on CNN in January that she had decided to run for president before officially launching her campaign with a speech in Oahu, Hawaii, on Feb. 2.
"When we raise our right hand and volunteer to serve, we set aside our own interests to serve our country, to fight for all Americans. We serve as one, indivisible, united, unbreakable – united by this bond of love for each other and love for our country," she said in her Oahu speech. "It is in this spirit that today I announce my candidacy for president of the United States of America."
The Hawaii congresswoman was elected in 2012. An Iraq veteran, Gabbard, 37, serves on the House Armed Services Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The congresswoman from Hawaii is joining a growing pool of Democrats ready to take on President Trump in 2020. Here are 5 things to know about Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. USA TODAY
Kirsten Gillibrand
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, launched her campaign for the nation's highest office on Jan. 15, on CBS' Late Show with Stephen Colbert, telling the late-night comedian she would file to create an exploratory 2020 committee.
In a clip released by CBS, Gillibrand said she would run a campaign that emphasizes health care as a human right, improving public schools and improving job-training programs.
“I’m going to run for president of the United States because as a young mom, I’m going to fight for other people’s kids as hard as I fight for my own," she told Colbert.
Kirsten Gillibrand announces 2020 run AP
Kamala Harris
Sen. Kamala Harris of California made her announcement on Jan. 21 during an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America" and, six days later, formally opened her campaign with a rally in her hometown of Oakland, California.
"I feel a sense of responsibility to stand up for who we are," she said.
Harris, 54, was born and raised in Oakland. In 2017, Harris, whose mother emigrated to the USA from India, became the first South Asian-American, and the second African-American female, senator in U.S. history, according to her biography on her Senate page.
Amy Klobuchar
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar threw her hat in the ring at an outdoor event on a freezing afternoon in Minneapolis on Feb. 10.
Klobuchar, 58, hopes her working-class, Midwestern background will help her seize the middle ground in a Democratic primary where many of the candidates who have announced so far have generally appealed to the party's progressive wing.
"I don't come from money. But what I do have is this: I have grit. I have family. I have friends. I have neighbors. I have all of you who are willing to come out in the middle of the winter, all of you who took the time to watch us today from home, all of you who are willing to stand up and say people matter," she said as she announced her candidacy with temperatures hovering in the high teens.
Elizabeth Warren
The two-term Massachusetts senator formally launched her 2020 campaign at a Feb. 9 rally in her home state after becoming one of the first candidates to form an exploratory committee in December.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, 69, came into the national spotlight for her passionate criticism of Wall Street, the banking industry and large corporations after the 2008 financial crisis hit. Then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appointed her the chair on a panel to oversee the federal bailout in response to the crisis.
Warren won her Senate seat in 2012, defeating incumbent Republican Scott Brown and handily won re-election in 2018. A leader of her party's liberal wing, she has advocated for progressive policies such as "Medicare for all."
Andrew Yang
Entrepreneur Andrew Yang, 44, is making a longshot bid for the White House on a platform focused on addressing the threat posed to American jobs by new technology.
"It became clear to me that job creation will not outpace the massive impending job loss due to automation. Those days are simply over," he says in his biography on his campaign website. "Once I understood the magnitude of this problem, and that even our most forward-thinking politicians were not going to take the steps necessary to stem the tide, I had no choice but to act."
Yang's platform also includes providing every American 18 and older with a basic universal income of $1,000 a month.
President Donald Trump
Trump filed for re-election the day he was inaugurated, and his campaign already has raised $100 million and begun airing TV and digital ads. He has said he intends to keep Vice President Mike Pence on the ticket. So far, no Republicans have emerged to challenge the president in the primary.
Who's out?
- Former West Virginia state Sen. Richard Ojeda dropped out of the race on Jan. 25, 2019, telling supporters he didn't want them donating money to a campaign with little chance of success.
Contributing: Susan Page, Christal Hayes and Emma Kinery, USA TODAY; Vic Ryckaert, Indianapolis Star; Nicholas Pugliese, Trenton Bureau; The Associated Press.
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