() California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New York’s U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are among the leading candidates predicted to secure the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, according to the predictive market site Kalshi.
Kalshi, a regulated exchange and prediction market that allows trading on the outcome of real-world events, places Newsom and Ocasio-Cortez in the top two spots, pulling 20% and 15% of the market. Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is trending behind the two leaders in the predictive polling as of Friday, with 10%.
Newsom has long said that he had no sights set on the White House. More recently, Newsom has been at odds with President Donald Trump over the deployment of Marines to Los Angeles in the wake of anti-ICE protests.
Cal Matters reported that as of earlier this year, Newsom had “sub-zero interest” in a presidential run. However, he recently told the Wall Street Journal that he would wait to see if a run for the Oval Office made sense.
“I’m not thinking about running, but it’s a path that I could see unfold,” he told the newspaper.
Ocasio-Cortez has dodged questions about a possible run for the Democratic nomination in 2028. But she has picked up national notoriety as part of the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour with Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Many pundits also predicted a future White House run based on an Instagram video in which Ocasio-Cortez said during a rally, “I’m a girl from the Bronx. To be welcomed here in this state, all of us together, seeing our common cause, this is what this country is all about.”
