Former Obama Staffer Reportedly Considering 2028 Presidential Run

Rahm Emanuel, former Chicago mayor and Barack Obama’s first chief of staff, reportedly is considering a 2028 presidential bid.

Emanuel, 65, most recently served as the United States ambassador to Japan in the Biden administration.

NEW – Obama’s former chief of Staff and Biden’s ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, plans to run for president in 2028 — POLITICO pic.twitter.com/mCqhnnvgsO

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) March 12, 2025

From POLITICO:

Which brings us what many of you have probably been thinking since the first sentence: Really, Rahm for President?

“20 years ago it would have been an article in The Onion,” cracked Doug Sosnik, who worked with Emanuel in the Clinton White House and now thinks the pugilistic man may meet the moment and that no other potential contender is nearly as qualified.

David Axelrod, a longtime friend of Rahm, has also warmed to the idea. “Who has more relevant experience?” Axelrod asked, adding that Emanuel has two other alluring assets for his party right now. “He understands how to win and speaks bluntly in an idiom that most folks understand.”

I’ve wondered if Rahm may land on a White House bid since seeing him in Tokyo shortly after last year’s election, when he was still ensconced in the onetime home of Douglas MacArthur but inserting himself in all manner of post-mortem stories by retailing good quote.

In the weeks after Democrats lost the presidency, Emanuel was like a lusty knife-and-fork man eyeing the buffet laid out before him. He wanted to dig into it all: DNC chair immediately, Illinois governor in 2026, the state’s maybe-soon-to-be-open Senate seat held by Richard J. Durbin the same year, Chicago mayor in 2027 and yes the presidency in 2028.

However, the party chair contest became a student government race among committee members, Gov. JB Pritzker is widely seen as seeking a third term, Emanuel surely doesn’t want to risk ending his career losing a primary for a Senate seat he doesn’t crave and he’s already been mayor.

NEW: Rahm Emanuel (D), former mayor of Chicago and Obama chief of staff, prepares to run for president in 2028 – POLITICO pic.twitter.com/CHVMpFNdU7

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 12, 2025

JUST IN: Barack Obama still wants his FOURTH term.

In related news, Obama’s former chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, plans to run for president in 2028 pic.twitter.com/VIqJEPxeMk

— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) March 12, 2025

The Daily Caller reports:

Emanuel returned from serving as U.S. ambassador to Japan in January, spending the past two months aggressively increasing his public profile with high-profile media appearances, speeches for liberal organizations like Democracy Forward and a regular column in The Washington Post, according to a Politico article published Wednesday. Despite not holding elected office since leaving the Chicago mayor’s office in 2019, Emanuel’s re-entry into domestic politics has fueled speculation about his presidential ambitions.

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“I’ve only been back two months, and I have no idea what I’m doing,” Emanuel told Politico. “I’m not done with public service and I’m hoping public service is not done with me.”

Since returning to the U.S. in January, Emanuel has appeared on major political podcasts, television networks and speaking engagements nationwide. In recent events, he has tested campaign-style messaging around education, criticizing Democrats from becoming sidetracked by lofty social debates and urging a renewed focus on educational standards.

“I don’t want to hear another word about the locker room. I don’t want to hear another word about the bathroom. You better start focusing on the classroom … In seventh grade, if I had known I could’ve said the word ‘they’ and gotten in the girls’ bathroom, I would’ve done it,” Emanuel told Bill Maher on Feb. 28. “We are literally a superpower, we’re facing off against China with 1.4 billion people and two-thirds of our children can’t read eighth grade level.”