Political strategists are not yet sold that Democrats rumored to be prospective 2028 presidential candidates have all that it takes to unite the party and retake the White House.

Failed 2024 candidates Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, former Obama White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and a handful of Democrat governors — Gavin Newsom of California, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Wes Moore of Maryland  — are all thought to be potentially sizing up runs for the White House in 2028 as Democrats try to fight their way out of the political wilderness. Even though there is still plenty of road to go before the campaign kicks off, the prospective candidates could find it quite difficult to unite the party and appeal to enough of America to win back the presidency, pundits told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“We are in what has been referred to as the ‘invisible primary’ phase of the election cycle, because it is so early and the public isn’t paying attention to these early machinations,” Len Foxwell, a Maryland-based Democratic strategist, told the DCNF. “The only ones who are participating in the process at this point are the prospective candidates themselves and a relatively small and insular ecosystem of donors and party activists and elected officials who do this sort of thing, either as a passion or as a profession. It’s a very small and limited process right now, but it’s definitely happening.”