(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Democrats flirting with the idea of running for president in 2028 are quietly distancing themselves from leftist, “woke” policies they once heralded.
Among them are former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich.
On Friday, Politico released a review of their recent actions and remarks, suggesting a nearly coordinated effort to appeal to moderate voters, a voting bloc Democrats have largely ignored in recent years.
Buttigieg, who once described American roads as racist and backed taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries for criminals, has removed his preferred pronouns from his social media bios.
Important reminder:
The Trump Administration inherited an FAA with rampant staffing issues.
Why?
Biden's Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was focused on combating racist roads. pic.twitter.com/0vk5l0tEXb
— Christian Collins (@CollinsforTX) May 9, 2025
At a University of Chicago forum, he questioned the real purpose of gender-related training.
“Is it caring for people’s different experiences and making sure no one is mistreated because of them, which I will always fight for?” Buttigieg asked. “Or is it making people sit through a training that looks like something out of ‘Portlandia,’ which I have also experienced.”
Moore, who rose in politics after rubbing his black identity on voters, vetoed legislation to commission a reparations study for black Americans.
“In light of the many important studies that have taken place on this issue over nearly three decades, now is the time to focus on the work itself,” Moore wrote in a press statement.
Wes Moore is giving Kamala vibes. Shape shifting language based on the room he’s in. Pushing hard to prove his “blackness”. Jamaican descent. Interesting to see how his 2028 campaign goes.
Would you vote for him? pic.twitter.com/pGzcoYzv7l
— Rev. Damien Thaddeus Jones (@NobleNegroe) June 4, 2025
Meanwhile, Newsom admitted that allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports was “unfair,” an abrupt break from his leftist embrace of transgenderism.
Emanuel, another potential presidential contender, urged the Democratic Party to move away from issues related to gender.
“Stop talking about bathrooms and locker rooms and start talking about the classroom,” Emanuel said. “If one child is trying to figure out their pronoun, I accept that, but the rest of the class doesn’t know what a pronoun is and can’t even define it.”
Real talk. We got ourselves into a cultural cul-de-sac.
We weren’t good on kitchen table issues or the family room. The only place we did well in the house was the bathroom. That’s the smallest room in the house. pic.twitter.com/gqPcWwHCQB
— Rahm Emanuel (@RahmEmanuel) April 16, 2025
Emanuel also scolded his own party as “weak and woke.” Slotkin echoed this sentiment, insisting the party needed more “alpha energy.”
The rhetorical shift comes after President Donald Trump swept the 2024 presidential election and led Republicans to retake the Senate and maintain their majority in the House.
Trump’s landslide victory was fueled by his success with male voters across all demographics.
