In a crowded and sometimes chaotic primary, five candidates have defined the contours of the race so far. This is what the Democratic presidential campaign looked like on the ground in 2019.
In a crowded and sometimes chaotic primary, five candidates have defined the contours of the race so far. This is what the Democratic presidential campaign looked like on the ground in 2019.
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How We Got to 2020: Five Campaigns in Photos
Text byIsabella Grullón PazDec. 30, 2019
Call it the Year of Many Candidates. In 2019, the Democratic presidential field was the largest and most diverse in modern political history, with as many as two dozen contenders running at the same time.
Fifteen are still in the race, and as they turn the corner into 2020 the outcome is far from certain. But for most of the last year, a handful of candidates have defined the primary: four who now lead the field, and one whose run ended in early disappointment.
Photographers for The New York Times followed those candidates all year. Here is what they saw.
Joseph R.
Biden Jr.
The former vice president is seeking the top job once more, after unsuccessful runs in 1988 and 2008. This time — for the first time — he entered the Democratic primary as a front-runner. But his bid to be the moderate consensus candidate was tested from the start.
Mr. Biden has led the Democratic field in national polls for the entire year. Even after Senator Kamala Harris clashed with him on busing and school segregation in the first debate, his support dipped only briefly. But he hasn’t been able to break away from the pack.
Amid gaffes and missteps, he has stood firm on defending the Affordable Care Act and has pitched himself as a more moderate candidate who can win over independents and Republicans. He has also relied on considerable support from black voters.
But he is struggling in a crucial state: Iowa, where the Democratic caucuses will kick off the primary season on Feb. 3. Mr. Biden never made it past Iowa in his previous two presidential campaigns. This time, he is hoping for a solid performance that can build momentum.
Elizabeth
Warren
The Massachusetts senator did not wait until 2019 to enter the race, beginning her run last Dec. 31. She soon defined herself as the candidate with “a plan for that,” calling herself a capitalist who would rein in the excesses of capitalism. That policy-centric agenda would make her a top contender after a sluggish start.
Ms. Warren shunned wealthy donors for this race, relying instead on grass-roots contributions — and she wasn’t raising much money at first. By the spring, her campaign was stumbling and analysts wondered if her ideas-first strategy would resonate with voters.
In April, Ms. Warren became the first major candidate to call for the impeachment of President Trump, injecting new life into her campaign. Liberal voters latched onto her policy plans as she rode a wave of rising poll numbers through the summer.
For a time, she was seen as a co-leader in the polls with Mr. Biden. Audiences at her rallies chanted “Big, structural change!” But by late fall, her polling had plateaued. Many Democrats raised concerns about her plan to pay for “Medicare for all.”
Ms. Warren is still a top contender, but after her slip from the top she is looking for a surge of support to carry her through the early-voting states. And she is changing her above-the-fray approach, more directly criticizing her Democratic opponents.
Bernie
Sanders
For much of his career, the Vermont senator was a progressive outlier. He joined the 2020 race as a progressive leader. His championing of issues like Medicare for all and a $15 minimum wage has pushed the Democratic Party to the left and made him a hero among many liberals and young voters since his first run for president in 2016.
Mr. Sanders’s grass-roots donors propelled him financially from the start of his campaign. And the loyalty he commands from his supporters made him a steady presence near the top of the polls in the early-voting states and nationally.
His candidacy could have stalled when he had a heart attack in the fall. But he bounced back with key endorsements — including from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is popular on the left — reclaiming his perch as a leader of the liberal wing of the party.
He’s ending the year flush with cash and has strong polling numbers in key states like California. Though he is competing for liberal voters with Ms. Warren and other rivals, his team is hoping his base of supporters can help carry him to the nomination.
Pete
Buttigieg
The mayor of South Bend, Ind., was virtually unknown nationally when he began his campaign — and became the young celebrity the party didn’t see coming. Mr. Buttigieg, who would be the first openly gay president, has called for generational change, and is aligning himself with the party’s moderate wing.
An appearance on CNN in March helped Mr. Buttigieg draw attention. He went from being considered a long shot to raising $7 million in the first quarter of the year. By April, he was holding a huge kickoff rally in South Bend. Suddenly, he was a serious competitor.
When a white South Bend police officer fatally shot a black man in June, Mr. Buttigieg left the campaign trail. The shooting highlighted rifts between the mayor and many of his black constituents, and Mr. Buttigieg has struggled to attract support from black voters in the primary.
Though Mr. Buttigieg has trailed Mr. Biden, Mr. Sanders and Ms. Warren in national polling, he has leapfrogged them in Iowa. Framing himself as the moderate alternative to Mr. Biden — who is 40 years older — he’s banking on a victory in the first caucus state.
Kamala
Harris
The California senator joined the race as a potential front-runner and barrier-breaking candidate, and her campaign showed early promise as she vied to become the first black woman to win a major party’s presidential nomination. But her withdrawal in December was one of the most surprising twists of the primary.
The biggest moment of her candidacy came in the June debate, when she challenged Mr. Biden over his record on race and busing. She spiked in the polls and donations poured in, and “that little girl was me” became one of the memorable lines of the campaign.
But her momentum slowed as her campaign failed to pinpoint a specific message. In the fall, she began laying off staff and putting all her efforts toward Iowa after initially dismissing the state. She was running out of time — and money.
Ms. Harris was the first candidate to fall out of the top tier and end her campaign. Her exit highlighted several political dynamics in the primary: the difficulty of trying to bridge the gulf between moderates and liberals; the high financial demands of the race; and the idea that voters of color are looking for more than just a candidate who looks like them.
Photographs byJenn Ackerman, Bridget Bennett, Tom Brenner, Joe Buglewicz, Tiffany Brown Anderson, Gabriella Demczuk, Allison Farrand, Mark Felix, Elizabeth Frantz, Demetrius Freeman, Jordan Gale, Brittany Greeson, Todd Heisler, Lauren Justice, Tamir Kalifa, Maddie McGarvey, Audra Melton, Doug Mills, Brittainy Newman, Ilana Panich-Linsman, Swikar Patel, Erin Schaff, Alyssa Schukar, Sarah Silbiger, Hilary Swift, Eric Thayer, Mason Trinca, John Tully and Jim WilsonTop and Stack Photographs byJenn Ackerman, Bridget Bennett, Tom Brenner, Allison Farrand, Mark Felix, Elizabeth Frantz, Demetrius Freeman, Jordan Gale, Todd Heisler, Lauren Justice, Tamir Kalifa, Maddie McGarvey, Audra Melton, Ilana Panich-Linsman, Erin Schaff, Hilary Swift, Eric Thayer