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Several political figures on both sides of the aisle raised their profile in 2024 and are poised to become key voices in their respective parties in 2025 and beyond.
Democrats suffered a major blow in 2024, a year in which President Biden withdrew from the political race and was replaced by Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who both lost the College Electoral like the popular vote in November. Looking forward, several Democrats are expected to fill this leadership void heading into the midterms.”
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro
Shapiro was widely considered the strongest vice presidential candidate to join Harris’ ticket this summer, and Harris received criticism for his decision to select Walz. Shapiro, seen as a moderate by some, has been the state’s governor since January 2023 and will face a re-election test in 2026 before any possible 2028 bid.
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Rising stars from both sides are expected to emerge in 2025. (Getty Images)
Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes make it a key state in the presidential election, making Shapiro’s position as the state’s governor an attractive attribute for any presidential candidate.
“Probably the biggest winner of election night,” Triad Strategies’ Mike Manzo he told ABC 27 last month “If 2026 turns out to be a bad period for Republicans, (Shapiro) is sitting at the top of the ticket for Pennsylvania. You know, so if he gets away with it next January, it’s in Iowa.”
House Representative Pat Ryan
Ryan, who represents New York’s 18th congressional district, was considered one of the most vulnerable incumbents heading into the November election, but defeated his Republican challenger by 14 points in a swing district.
Since the election, Ryan has been one of the the more open democrats about what went wrong at his party in November.
“First of all, if you use the words ‘moderate’ or ‘progressive’ you’re missing the whole damn point,” Ryan. wrote to X. “It’s not ideological. It’s about who fights for the people vs. who empowers and empowers the elites even more.”
“Most importantly, I told people exactly who was ripping them off, and I grounded it locally. It’s the billionaires and big corporations making record profits while the rest of us struggle.”
Josh Shapiro (Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images)
Ryan wrote, “It’s not enough to throw these seemingly disparate policies at people. We need to articulate a unifying principle and tell people clearly who is to blame. For me, it was freedom and patriotism . And the fault lies with the same elites, in both parties, who have run this country for too long.”
Senator-elect Angela Alsobrooks
Alsobrooks, who previously served as Prince George’s County executive in the suburbs of the nation’s capital, defeated popular Republican Larry Hogan by 11 points in the Maryland Senate race, becoming the first black candidate to win a Maryland Senate race.
Alsobrooks campaigned heavily against gun control and abortion and won clear support from women, black and Latino voters, urban voters and college graduates over Hogan, according to AP VoteCast, a broad survey of more than 3,700 voters of the state Although Alsobrooks underperformed VP Harris among suburban and moderate voters, majorities backed her over Hogan in the heavily blue state.
“Sometimes we fight together and work to build a better future for all of our children,” Alsobrooks said after his victory in November. “And to those Marylanders whose support I have yet to win, I may not have won your vote, but I want you to know that I hear your voice and I will be your senator, too.”
Wes Moore, Governor of Maryland
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is also believed to be a voice on the rise in the Democratic Party after being elected as the state’s first black governor in 2022.
Moore, a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and a Rhodes Scholar, served as a captain in the Army before spending time as an investment banker and has tagged himself a “social moderate and strong fiscal conservative”.
California Governor Gavin Newsom (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Moore’s leadership was put in the national spotlight this year, when a container ship slammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore Harbor, causing a collapse that killed six construction workers.
In a publish to X after the disaster, Moore said, “We are tough in Maryland. We are strong in Baltimore. In the face of danger, we resist. In the face of heartbreak, we come together and come back stronger. That’s what we’ve done. Always done, that’s what we’ll keep doing it.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom
Although Newsom is not a political newcomer, he is expected to be one of the leading candidates to run for the presidency on the Democratic side in 2028 after establishing himself as one of the main replacements for Biden and Harris during the last presidential cycle
Newsom, who has served as governor of California since 2019, is term-limited once his current term ends in January 2027.
Republicans will enter the new year in control of the White House and Congress as the party prepares for four years of Trump’s leadership, while other Republicans will rise to become party leaders as the ‘attention shifts to determine which voices will shape the party in the party. years to come during and after Trump’s term.
JD Vance, R-Ohio (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Vice President Elect JD Vance
Vance, 40, will be the presumptive favorite for the presidency in 2028 given his position as Trump’s vice president and is expected to be one of the most prominent voices in the Republican Party for years to come.
“The vice president will be in the cat seat. There’s no question about it,” Republican consultant Dave Carney told Fox News Digital last month. Carney, a veteran of numerous Republican presidential campaigns over the past four decades, he said Vance “is the guy to beat.”
David Kochel, another longtime GOP strategist with a lot of presidential campaign experience, told Fox News that Vance is the favorite because of “the size and scope of last week’s victory and the implicit step of Donald Trump’s torch.”
House Representative Byron Donalds
Donalds, who has represented Florida’s 19th congressional district since 2019, was a leading surrogate for Trump on the 2024 election campaign and was widely believed to be on the short list of vice presidential candidates.
The Florida congressman has been an outspoken voice on cable news promoting Trump’s agenda and has also been one of the most prominent voices pulling back against the media’s attacks on Trump, often appearing on liberal networks defending the president-elect in hostile environments.
Donalds served on the Financial Services Committee and the Committee on Government Oversight and Accountability in the 118th Congress and was a member of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus, the Freedom Caucus, and the Republican Study Committee.
Senator-elect Bernie Moreno
Cleveland-area businessman Bernie Moreno finished with Dem. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s 17-year term in the Senate in November in a state that Trump won by 11 points.
Since being elected senator, Moreno has established himself as one of Trump’s staunchest allies and was the first freshman senator to publicly advocate and support Trump’s cabinet pick and is expected to be one of Trump’s top representatives in Congress.
Moreno, a supporter of term limits, has pledged to serve only two six-year terms in the Senate.
Elected representative Abraham Hamadeh
Hamadeh previously served as a prosecutor and Army intelligence officer before being elected to represent Arizona’s 8th Congressional District in November.
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Vivek Ramaswamy, president and co-founder of Strive Asset Management, center, arrives to meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Dec. 5, 2024. (Al Drago)
The 33-year-old, born to Syrian immigrants, has been a vocal supporter of Trump and the “Make America Great Again” Agenda, and he he told Fox News Digital last month that he and his fellow Republicans “will hit the ground running with something very historic in the first hundred days.”
Hamadeh is to serve on both the Veterans Affairs Committee and the Armed Services Committee in the 119th Congress.
“I am honored to serve on the Veterans Affairs and Armed Services Committees — two assignments I intentionally sought because our veterans and military deserve leaders who will fight for them,” Hamadeh told Fox News Digital in a statement about the assignments. of his committee. “Putting America first starts with defending our homeland and honoring our veterans and their families.”
“During my campaign, I made a promise to put veterans’ issues at the forefront of our national priorities, and today I am proud to deliver on that promise. This is a ‘promises made, promises kept’ moment as I lead office to honor our military leaders, support those who have served our nation, and ensure our veterans receive the care and respect they have earned is a privilege.”
Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy
Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur believed to have a net worth of around $1 billion, burst onto the political scene in 2023 after throwing his hat into the 2024 presidential race before dropping out of January 2024 and quickly became a primary surrogate for the Trump campaign.
Ramaswamy was appointed to co-head, along with Space X and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the Department of Government Efficiency, which will focus its efforts on cutting federal spending when the new administration takes over in January.
The 39-year-old southwest Ohio native has been floated as a candidate to replace outgoing Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, and Ramaswamy hasn’t ruled out the possibility and said he’s open to considering it.
Paul Steinhauser of Fox News Digital and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
