Election Lawyers Prepare for 2028 Presidential Race
Left 67%
Center 33%
Right 0%
2 left · 1 center · 0 right
What happened
In the days following last week’s U.S. midterm elections, political professionals and analysts have begun publicly focusing on the 2028 presidential race. Bloomberg reports that election lawyers from both major parties are already preparing for legal and procedural battles expected around the 2028 election, including ballot access, voting rules, and post-election litigation. Separately, The Hill highlights historical data showing that in open-seat presidential races since World War II, the incumbent president’s party has lost seven out of eight such contests, and uses this pattern to argue that Democrats currently appear favored to win in 2028 unless economic conditions and presidential approval are unusually strong for the party in power. CBS News reports that Democratic officials and strategists are working to maintain and build on momentum from the recent midterms as they look ahead to 2028. No major right-leaning outlets have published comparable stories projecting a 2028 advantage for Democrats or detailing early 2028 legal preparations at this time.
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- How it developed
- When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Nov 13, 11:00 UTC by Bloomberg, with no named source. No article has named one since.
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This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
ONE-SIDED THIS WEEK.
No right-leaning outlet in the sources below has covered this story in the last two days;
Washington Examiner
reported it on 2026-10-31.
Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
The key information gap is that all current reporting presents a Democratic advantage in 2028 as structurally likely, but readers never see a detailed countercase. One analysis in The Hill cites an 'open-seat phenomenon' in which the incumbent party usually loses when a president is term-limited. It notes that since World War II the incumbent side has lost seven of eight such races, and argues that unless economic growth and approval ratings are unusually strong, this history favors a Democrat in 2028. Bloomberg instead focuses on election lawyers already 'gear[ing] up' for 2028 while midterm ballots are still being counted, highlighting legal maneuvering more than voter sentiment. CBS briefly echoes that Democrats are working to keep momentum into 2028 but offers no data, polling, or Republican response. Because right-leaning outlets have not covered the story at all, readers never hear whether anyone is challenging the use of this historical pattern as a prediction, or describing how Republicans interpret the early legal and organizing efforts.
What concrete evidence beyond a seven-of-eight historical statistic shows that Democrats are actually positioned to win the 2028 presidential race?
Bottom line
The Hill leans on an open-seat statistic, noting the incumbent side has lost seven of eight races, to argue history favors a Democrat in 2028. Bloomberg adds process detail about election lawyers gearing up for 2028, but with right-leaning outlets silent, no one in the coverage is pushing a clear counterargument to that Democratic edge.
The receipts — 2 facts one side's coverage lacks
- The Hill frames its 2028 prediction as conditional, stating that a Democratic win is less likely if economic growth and presidential approval are unusually strong for the incumbent party.
- CBS characterizes Democrats as working to keep their political momentum going into the 2028 presidential race.
The Left View
Left-leaning outlets frame the story as an early structural advantage for Democrats in the 2028 presidential race and an indicator of how seriously both parties are already treating that contest. Bloomberg focuses on concrete activity: election lawyers and party-aligned legal groups are beginning preparations for 2028, anticipating disputes over voting rules, redistricting fallout, and potential post-election challenges, even though the next presidential race is still two cycles away. The Hill emphasizes a data-driven argument based on the "open-seat" pattern, noting that when a president is not running for re-election, the sitting president’s party has lost seven of the last eight times since World War II; it concludes that, absent unusually strong economic performance and high presidential approval for the party in power, this pattern points to a likely Democratic win in 2028. CBS News gives a more restrained, process-focused account, noting that Democrats are trying to keep political momentum from the midterms going into the next presidential cycles, including 2028, through organizing and strategic planning, but without making firm predictions about the eventual outcome. As of now, no right-leaning outlets are running parallel pieces about 2028 legal groundwork or about historical trends favoring Democrats in that race.
Our Take (balanced)
This story is moderately substantive: it is grounded in specific, checkable elements (historical election data, named media analyses, and reports of early legal preparations) but also leans heavily on forward-looking interpretation. Established facts include: (1) Bloomberg reports that election lawyers are already organizing around anticipated 2028 legal battles; (2) historical data on open-seat presidential races since World War II show that the incumbent president’s party has usually lost when there is no sitting president on the ballot; and (3) CBS News confirms that Democratic strategists are openly discussing how to sustain midterm momentum into 2028. What remains speculative are the strong claims that Democrats are likely or "predicted" to win in 2028: those are analytical projections, not established outcomes, contingent on future economic conditions, presidential approval, candidate quality, and unforeseen events. The coverage gap is clear: as of now, no right-leaning outlet has reported on this particular combination of 2028 legal preparations and trend-based projections favoring Democrats. The key things to watch next are: concrete documentation of 2028 legal strategies (court filings, new election-related legislation, formal party initiatives), more detailed polling and modeling for 2028 as candidates emerge, and whether nonpartisan or right-leaning outlets begin publishing their own analyses of the structural landscape for the 2028 presidential race.
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