For Democrats Eyeing 2028, the First Test Is 'Money, Money, Money'

As soon as the midterms are over, presidential contenders are going to need to raise millions, quickly.

In just a few days, the Democrats who want to run for president in 2028 can finally be honest.

All year, these Democrats have sworn that they are focused on helping to win races in a midterm election that their party describes as existential. But stealthily, they have been preparing for what is likely to be an extravagantly expensive primary campaign.

With winks and nods, they are inviting major donors to lunch, daydreaming about super PACs and recruiting top fund-raising and strategizing talent for campaigns that technically don't exist yet. In Aspen or the Hamptons this summer, ambitious Democrats were pulling aside some of the richest people in the world to try to line up financial support ahead of time.

Gavin Newsom. Wes Moore. Josh Shapiro. Andy Beshear. JB Pritzker. All of these potential 2028 candidates and more have been laying the groundwork for campaigns, according to fund-raising invitations and interviews with more than two dozen Democratic donors and operatives involved in the behind-the-scenes discussions and preparations.

"It's just money, money, money," said Elizabeth Frawley Bagley, a longtime Democratic fund-raiser who separately hosted Mr. Moore, the governor of Maryland, and Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia on Nantucket this summer. "It's going to be wild."

Starting early has not been optional, Democratic fund-raisers say. With the first candidates expected to announce their campaigns as soon as the end of this year, there is expected to be intense financial pressure in a crowded field. Democratic National Committee fund-raisers are already being asked to raise money for access to "early bird" tickets to attend the party's 2028 primary debates.

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