Van Hollen takes his 2028 ‘kicking the tires’ tour to a Denver stage with Booker and Khanna

By Philippa Langstrom

WASHINGTON — Sen. Chris Van Hollen has spent much of 2026 saying he is “kicking the tires” on a run for president. Next month, he will do it in front of more than 2,000 Democrats in Denver.

The Maryland Democrat is among the latest names added to “What’s Next,” a post-midterm summit that Majority Democrats will host in Denver Nov. 12–14, CBS News reported Oct. 20. He will share the bill with Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a likely contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination who has described himself as a “long-shot presidential candidate”. The three join an earlier lineup that includes former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Sens. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), CBS reported.

Van Hollen has not declared a candidacy. But he has stopped being coy.

On the record, in his own words

“We need to be against the status quo, and that’s why I’ve been kicking the tires as I look at 2028,” Van Hollen said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Aug. 23, NBC News reported. Pressed on whether that meant he was thinking about running, he pointed to trips to New Hampshire and Iowa and said, “I very much want to be part of that debate, and I am kicking the tires, testing the waters.”

On the same program, asked whether he wanted to challenge Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) for the party’s top Senate job, Van Hollen said his focus was “not on majority leader, it’s on what Democrats stand for going into 2028.”

He went back to New Hampshire, the state that will still hold an early nominating contest in 2028, for a two-day swing in September. “You’ve got a lot of energy, a lot of momentum because people are fed up,” he told WMUR on Sept. 18, adding that he was still mulling a White House run. He used the visit to pitch ending what he called “ridiculous across-the-board tariffs” and a middle-class tax cut he has proposed so that people “just earning enough to get by” don’t pay federal income tax.

He also waded into the fight between the Democratic National Committee and New Hampshire over the primary calendar. “I’m hoping that we will have a conversation with the DNC to make sure that candidates can feel free to come to New Hampshire,” he told WMUR.

The Denver stage

Majority Democrats, chaired by Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.), was formed last year by largely moderate officials, according to CBS. That makes the Denver lineup notable: Van Hollen, Booker and Khanna all identify as progressives, and all three have introduced tax plans that CBS described as possible precursors to 2028 platforms.

“What’s Next is an opportunity for Democrats from every wing of the party to have the open and often difficult conversations we need to win in 2028,” Majority Democrats spokesperson Matt Corridoni told CBS. Organizers picked Denver in part because it is one of the cities under consideration for the 2028 Democratic National Convention, CBS reported.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger and New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill also plan to attend, according to CBS.

A crowded field, a home-state question

Van Hollen is hardly alone in looking. NBC’s August roundup listed California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Buttigieg, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Booker, Gallego and former Vice President Kamala Harris among Democrats who have left the door open. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also kept her 2028 plans open, and the formal paperwork field is already enormous: 488 people have filed to run for president, though few report raising money.

Van Hollen served in the House for more than a decade before joining the Senate in 2017, according to NBC. He won a second Senate term in 2022, which puts his seat on the 2028 ballot, the same year as the presidential race. He has not said how a White House bid would affect a reelection campaign; the Washington Inquisitor has asked his office.

The Washington Inquisitor has asked Van Hollen’s office, Booker’s office, Khanna’s office, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks’s office and Majority Democrats for comment and will update this story with any response.