A top Democrat has revealed he’s leaning toward a 2028 presidential run.
Rahm Emanuel, the former Chicago mayor and chief of staff to Barack Obama, is teasing that he is “more yes than no” about running for president because he can see the many “things that are ailing the country.”
Emanuel, 66, served as ambassador to Japan under the Biden administration and in Congress in the early 2000s. He thought he had done everything he wanted to do in politics—but he now tells Rolling Stone that his mind is changing after making rounds across the country.
“Give me a percentage likelihood you’re going to run for president,” Rolling Stone’s Matt Bai asked him in an interview.
Emanuel responded, “Let me do it another way. If I do it, I’m going to just announce it. I’m not going to do one of these exploratories. You need to be honest with people or don’t.”
The feisty Democrat said his wife, Amy Rule, often pokes fun at him for saying in interviews that he will not decide on a presidential run until he has had a “final family discussion.”
“She goes, ‘I’m here!’ Waving me down. ‘I’m here!’” he said. “So look, when people were talking to me about this when I first came back from Japan, I thought it was ridiculous. I had done everything I wanted to do, and then as I circled it around the country, I thought that things that are ailing the country, troubling the country, I at least had a scratch of an idea of what it takes to start to answer that.”
He continued, “So I would be honest. I’m more yes than no. I haven’t made a full decision because I want to make sure that we get through this successfully, meaning winning the midterms, and then I’m going to make a final decision.”
Though Emanuel has not committed to a presidential campaign, he has been making media rounds, touring key swing states, and unveiling policy proposals over the past few months.
One Democratic adviser to another potential 2028 contender previously told Politico that they do not see Emanuel as a threat.
“Electorally I don’t think he’ll be a threat, but he has an ability to shape the race in other ways,” the person said. “He’s good at getting reporters to cover him, and he is shameless in a good way: He’s not afraid of putting himself out there.”
Another Democratic strategist told the outlet, “He’s both provocative, but trying to lay down a marker that he thinks is popular with a broader electorate.”
However, Emanuel put up an unfazed front in his conversation with Rolling Stone.
“What if all the polls tell you it’s not your moment, you can’t win? You do it anyway?” Bai asked him.
“Well, first of all, Bill Clinton was at two percent. Barack Obama was 55 points behind Hillary. This is not a prediction-market type of decision,” he shot back. “The one thing that I won’t do is look back and say I would’ve, could’ve, should’ve. That I will not do.”
