CNN | April 19, 2026
“Quietly, someone no one had been thinking about as a 2028 contender showed up to a meeting of Democratic activists here and started to incept a presidential campaign — including for himself.
‘You can begin to dream about the America that should be. Because we are not going back to where we were. It’s like when New Orleans got destroyed by Katrina,’ he told a gathering of the Young Democrats of America. ‘We grabbed our past — that was important, that told us who we are. We got rid of the mistakes we made. And we looked forward to a new day.’
Multiple people in the room who listened to his toast told CNN later they’d been surprised how much it felt like a soft launch. Upward of two dozen Democrats are already writing books, touring potential early primary states or otherwise setting up presidential campaigns-in-waiting. Most are better known than Landrieu. But with few registering as more than a blip in early polls, plenty of less familiar names see an opening.”