2020 Democratic Presidential Primary — Tweet sharing MSNBC graphic of 20 Democratic candidates qualified for first 2020 debate

2020 Democratic Presidential Primary

2019eventdead

Published August 15, 2026

The 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary was the crowded year-long contest to pick the party's nominee against President Donald Trump, and its record-sized field turned it into an online meme fueled by viral announcement videos, two-night debates, and jokes about longshot candidates polling under 1%.

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Overview

The 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary was the party's selection process for a nominee to face sitting President Donald Trump1. What made it meme-worthy was the sheer size of the field, more than 20 major candidates entered, forcing the DNC to split its very first debate across two nights in Miami on June 26 and 27, 20191.

The race generated a steady stream of Twitter jokes, reaction images, and viral launch videos throughout 2019 and into early 2020. Recurring bits included a composite face mashup of every male candidate polling under one percent and running gags about how many senators were suddenly running at once3.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter / YouTube (viral spread)
Date
2019

Speculation about a challenger began the moment Trump won in 2016, with early attention landing on Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Kamala Harris, and former Vice President Joe Biden3. The announcement wave officially opened on December 31st, 2018, when Warren posted an exploratory committee video that pulled more than 730,000 views inside 24 hours3.

January 2019 turned into a near-weekly rollout. Representative Tulsi Gabbard declared on January 11th, followed the next day by former HUD Secretary Julián Castro, who launched in San Antonio and framed his run around his grandmother's 1922 crossing from Coahuila into Eagle Pass, Texas2.

How It Spread

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand joined on January 15th during a Late Show With Stephen Colbert appearance5. Kamala Harris announced on January 21st via a Twitter video and a Good Morning America segment, and Beto O'Rourke's supporters pushed the #Beto2020 hashtag well before his official launch, with celebrities like Olivia Wilde and Alyssa Milano boosting it4.

By June 13th, 2019, the DNC confirmed the 20 candidates who cleared the fundraising or polling threshold, cutting Montana Governor Steve Bullock, Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam, and Massachusetts Representative Seth Moulton from the first debate1. Because the field was so large, NBC divided the lineup into two ten-person nights, a split that itself became a meme when reporter Reid Epstein tweeted the color-coded groupings3. In April 2019, Twitter user @AndrewPaulJoyce posted a composite image of every male candidate polling below one percent, which pulled over 6,100 retweets and spawned comparisons to a Parks and Recreation congressman and to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell3.

On July 25th, 2019, Tulsi Gabbard's campaign sued Google for $50 million, alleging her ad account was suspended for six hours after the first debate while she was the most-searched candidate on the site3. On January 19th, 2020, the New York Times ran an unusual dual endorsement for Amy Klobuchar and Warren, meant to cover both the moderate and progressive wings, which prompted its own mashup image callbacks to the earlier composite gag6.

Frequently Asked Questions