In the first two months of 2019, several political leaders from a variety of backgrounds have formally announced that they will be running for president in 2020 against the highly controversial Donald Trump.

The 2018 midterm elections could be a foreshadowing of voter feelings going into 2020, but this is not certain. However, it is important to note what happened in the midterms. To recap, Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives (winning over 30 seats), while the Senate expanded the number of Republican seats. Multiple governorships were flipped from Republican to Democrat, too.

What is more significant about the 2018 midterms, though, is the voter turnout. Undoubtedly, Donald Trump has produced extraordinary feelings and emotions in his tenure as president. That is why there was an unusual voter turnout of nearly 120 million Americans in the last midterm, which is almost 40 million more voters than were seen in the 2014 midterm. This is the highest voter turnout rate for midterm elections in over 50 years.

So far, reports from February show that 523 candidates have filed to run for president. Will a higher percentage of voters decide to come out and vote come November 3rd, 2020? If so, these are the important things to pay attention to:

Out of 523 filed candidates:

• 70 are listed as members of the Republican Party.
• 175 are listed as members of the Democratic Party.
• 20 are listed as members of the Libertarian Party.
• 13 are listed as members of the Green Party.

Since there are so many people that have filed to run, the Talon will list a handful of noteworthy names expected to have the most political name recognition.

It is also important to note that no major Republican leaders have officially announced that they are running for president in 2020 yet (except for Donald Trump).

Donald Trump remains the heavy favorite for the Republican ticket next election, as he will fight to be reelected. In fact, Trump filed for reelection the day he was inaugurated (January 20th, 2017).

NOTEWORTHY DEMOCRATIC PARTY CANDIDATES (DECLARED)

• Elizabeth Warren: Massachusetts senator who announced the use of an exploratory committee in December, 2018. On February 9, 2019, she formally committed to running for president in 2020.
• Amy Klobuchar: Senator from Minnesota who declared she would be running for president in 2020 on February 10, 2019.
• Kamala Harris: Senator from California who announced she was running for president on January 21, 2019.
• Cory Booker: New Jersey senator. He formally announced that he was running for president on February 1, 2019.
• John Delaney: Former Maryland representative. Delaney filed to run for president on August 10, 2017.

NOTEWORTHY INDEPENDENT / 3rd PARTY CANDIDATES (DECLARED)

• Howard Schultz: Former Starbucks CEO.

Many people have come out bashing the rumors of Schultz running, specifically citing that because he would be running as an independent he would take votes away from Democrats. Many Democrats fear that this would possibly help Trump get reelected.

**HONORABLE MENTIONS** (Potential candidates that have yet to formally announce that they are running in 2020)

• Bernie Sanders
• Joe Biden
• Beto O’Rourke
• Hillary Clinton (??)
• Roy Cooper
• Michael Bloomberg
• John Kasich
• Ted Cruz
• Nikki Haley
• Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
• Mark Zuckerberg
• Oprah Winfrey
• Bob Corker

All of the bulleted names above are merely speculation at this point, none have officially filed to run yet. Above all else, the race to win the next presidency will begin to heat up more and more as we get closer and closer to 2020.