The Democratic Depth Chart with Van Lathan

The Press Box

The Ringer

Sports

4.4 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2026

⏱️ 77 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hello, media consumers! Today on The Press Box, we have a special episode! Bryan and Joel are joined in studio by The Ringer’s own Van Lathan to create a 2028 Democratic Nominee depth chart. The guys go through a list of potential candidates for the 2028 Democratic nomination for President, discussing the outlook and viability of each person. The list spans all the way from frontrunners like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Gavin Newsom, to long shots like John Stewart. The show wraps up with Van ranking them in order of who he thinks will win the nomination as of today. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (2:26) Gavin Newsom (7:20) Pete Buttigieg (16:12) Josh Shapiro (17:42) Kamala Harris (20:48) Tim Walz (25:46) Stephen A. Smith (26:27) Mark Cuban (28:03) JB Pritzker (32:08) Rahm Emmanuel (33:53) Bernie Sanders (35:54) Joe Biden (37:00) Wes Moore (37:35) Corey Booker (39:21) Michele Obama (40:40) Ruben Gallego (44:43) Mark Kelly (45:45) Bob Iger (47:47) Gretchen Whitmer (48:41) James Talarico (49:26) Andy Beshear (53:29) Liz Cheney (1:03:33) John Fetterman (1:03:56 Tech Mogul/Pop Culture Persona TBD (1:04:02) Jon Stewart (1:04:24) Hunter Biden (1:09:36) Putting the Candidates in Order (1:10:40) Jasmine Crockett (1:11:53) Ro Khanna (1:12:51) Hosts: Bryan Curtis and Joel Anderson Guest: Van Lathan Producer: Bruce Baldwin Additional Production Support: Conor Nevins, Ben Cruz, Chris Thomas Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	To succeed in the future of work, forward thinkers use AI to deliver measurable results.
0:05.0	Workday is the AI platform for HR and finance that frees you from the mundane, so you can focus on more meaningful work.
0:12.0	Workday, moving business forever forward.
0:19.0	Hello, media consumers.
0:21.6	Welcome to a very special edition of the press box.
0:24.4	It's Brian Curtis.
0:25.8	It's Joel Anderson.
0:27.1	It's producer Bruce Baldwin and making his press box debut.
0:31.0	Wrong.
0:31.5	No, no.
0:32.3	Not true.
0:32.9	No, no.
0:33.4	Making his press box debut with me.
0:35.3	That's very true.
0:36.2	Our friend.
0:54.5	Fan Lathen. I'm so excited. I'm so excited to be here on the press box. This is one of the ringer has a contingent of podcasts that are podcasts with prestige. This is one of them. It's you guys. It's the big pick. And that's pretty much it. Damn. Prestigious podcasts. And this is one of them. We just way late. Maybe the watch. The watch is probably there too. The watch is in the prestige. I kind of feel like if you ain't on Netflix, you don't really get to claim prestige. Tough. That's a tough thing to say. It's an indictment. And we can, I can see that Joel is on his shit. like he always is. I'm not, no, I'm good, man. I'm a little, for people to,
1:14.1	you know,
1:14.8	we, and we can i can see that joel is on his shit like he always is i'm not no i'm good man i'm good
1:12.9	i'm a little for people to you know meet me and vampa together at the tailgate i was on one last
1:18.3	night i felt really good i was rolling had a rough morning this morning on the road you know yeah so
1:24.1	i'm i'm i'm gonna be a little more subdued today you're gonna get to see to see more professional, Joel. That's what I'm talking about. I'm here to experience it. We wanted to bring you in, Van, because there are a lot of Democrats who are not officially running for president, but they're running for president. Yeah, right. They're running for president. So consider this the smoke-filled room. Oh, the secret headquarters of the media elite.
1:46.2	Christmas Adventures? Well, that is, that's one. You don't know that reference?
	...

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