Charles Barkley has an ultimatum to the Democratic Party: he won’t vote for any other presidential candidate unless it’s Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro or Maryland Gov. Wes Moore.
Barkley, a Hall of Fame basketball star and TNT analyst, expressed his support for the two governors last week on the “Sports Illustrated Media Podcast with Jimmy Traina,” saying they were the only Democratic candidates he would support for president.
“As an independent, if the Democrats don’t get Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, or Wes Moore, the governor of Maryland — if they’re not the party’s leaders — I wouldn’t consider voting for anyone else,” Barkley told Traina. “I think Josh Shapiro is amazing. I think Wes Moore is amazing. If the Democratic Party does not pick one of those two, they’re going to lose my support forever as an Independent.”
Barkley also told the host he would never vote for President Donald Trump, saying he’s not his “cup of tea” and that he isn’t eligible to run again, anyway.
Barkley is not the only sports analyst who has said Moore and Shapiro would make good presidents.
Sports personality Stephen A. Smith previously expressed interest in Moore and Shapiro running for president, according to The Hill.
Smith has also said he has “no choice” but to consider a run for president —an idea Barkley does not support.
“Calm down, Stephen A. — Stephen A. is one of my friends, but come on, man, stop it,” Barkley said during the podcast. “It started as a joke, and he took it seriously. Come on, man. All I’m saying is, knock it off.”
Who else might run for president?
Even though the primary has not started, there has been speculation on who the Democratic presidential nominee will be for 2028.
An Echelon Insights poll conducted between April 10-14 found that former Vice President Kamala Harris was the top pick among voters but support for her has dropped when compared to a previous poll.
The poll found that 28% of respondents would support Harris, a 5% drop from Echelon’s last poll conducted between March 10-13. In that poll, the former vice president received 33% of respondents’ support.
Harris herself has not announced plans to run for president but there is speculation she may mount a campaign for governorship in California.
Eleven percent of respondents, however, said they would back New Jersey Senator Cory Booker as the nominee, a 9% increase from the last poll where he earned 2% of support.
Booker was the candidate with the second-highest percentage of support in the poll.
The senator has been lauded in Democratic social circles for his record-breaking 25-hour, 5-minute filibuster protesting President Donald Trump’s policies.
The Echelon poll in April featured a sample size of 1,014 likely voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5%. In March, it featured a sample size of 1,007 likely voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5%.
Another politician who people speculate could be a presidential nominee is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
In a video and Substack post, polling analyst Nate Silver and former FiveThirtyEight podcast host Galen Druke predicted that Ocasio-Cortez would be the nominee for Democrats in 2028.
The New York politician has recently been on tour with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, holding rallies and pushing Democrats to “fight oligarchy” coming from the Trump administration.
“I think she’s going to run,” Druke said. “If you’ve been following her moves in terms of her ‘Fight Oligarchy’ tour, in terms of the kind of content she’s putting out on social media.”
