Marianne Williamson becomes 2024 Democratic primary’s 1st presidential challenger

Donald Trump: The former president officially launched his campaign in November, days after the midterm elections. And he never really stopped running after 2020, continuing to hold campaign-style rallies with supporters.

Nikki Haley: Haley launched her presidential campaign Feb. 14. It was a shift from her previous insistence she would not run against Trump. "It's time for a new generation of leadership to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose," she said in a video announcing her bid.

Ron DeSantis: The Florida governor emerged as the top alternative to Trump in many conservatives' eyes after his dominant reelection victory. A DeSantis announcement is likely months away, with Florida currently in the middle of its legislative session. But his memoir, accompanied by a media blitz, will drop at the end of February, and top advisers are building a political infrastructure.

Mike Pence: The former vice president's split with Trump over the events of Jan. 6, 2021, kicked off a consistent return to political travel. He has made clear that he believes the GOP will move on from Trump. "I think we're going to have new leadership in this party and in this country," Pence told CBS in January.

Tim Scott: The South Carolina senator would make a second Palmetto State Republican in the 2024 field if, as expected, he enters the race in the near future. Scott is building a political infrastructure, including hiring for a super PAC, and is set to visit Iowa for an event his team billed as focused on "faith in America."

Ted Cruz: The Texas senator and 2016 GOP contender has not ruled out another presidential bid. But he is also seeking reelection in 2024. "I think there will be plenty of time to discuss the 2024 presidential race. I'm running for reelection to the Senate," he told the CBS affiliate in Dallas in February.

Glenn Youngkin: The Virginia governor's 2021 victory offered Republicans a new playbook focused on parental power in education. His political travel, including stops for a series of Republican gubernatorial candidates last year, makes clear Youngkin has ambitions beyond Virginia. He faced a setback to his push for a 15-week abortion ban when Democrats won a state senate special election earlier this year, expanding their narrow majority.

Chris Sununu: The New Hampshire governor's timeline isn't clear, but he recently established a political action committee that borrowed his state's motto: "Live Free or Die." He has positioned himself as a strong Trump opponent and alternative within the GOP. He would also start with the advantage of being universally known in an early-voting state. "I think America as a whole is looking for results-driven leadership that calls the balls and strikes like they see them and is super transparent," Sununu told Axios this week.

Kristi Noem: The South Dakota governor who won reelection in November has certainly cultivated a national profile, becoming a regular at conservative gatherings and donor confabs. But she hasn't committed to a presidential run. "I'm not convinced that I need to run for president," she told CBS in January.

Greg Abbott: The Texas governor who cruised past a 2020 presidential contender, former Rep. Beto O'Rourke, to win his third term in November is unlikely to make any official 2024 moves until his state's legislative session wraps up at the end of May. He told Fox News in January that a 2024 run "is it's not something I'm ruling in right now. I'm focused on Texas, period."

Larry Hogan: The former Maryland governor is another Trump opponent. He told Fox News he is giving a 2024 run "very serious consideration."

Asa Hutchinson: The former Arkansas governor is a rare Republican from a deep-red state who has been willing to criticize Trump. Now weeks removed from office, he also doesn't have the at-home responsibilities facing other governors. He told CBS that he'll decide on a 2024 by "probably April." He said he believes voters are "looking for someone that is not going to be creating chaos, but also has got the record of being a governor, of lowering taxes."

Chris Christie: The former New Jersey governor is one of several 2024 GOP prospects headed to Texas for a private donor gathering in late February, along with Pence, Haley, Scott, Sununu and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. Christie said on ABC earlier this year he doesn't believe Trump could beat President Joe Biden in 2024.

Mike Pompeo: Trump's secretary of state and the former Kansas congressman said during a tour for his new book, "Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love," that he would decide on a presidential run in the coming months. He's been among the Republicans most openly considering a run, traveling to early-voting states for more than a year.

Liz Cheney: The former Wyoming congresswoman who emerged as the foremost GOP critic of Trump's lies about widespread election fraud lost her House seat to a Trump-backed primary challenger. She launched a political action committee last year and made clear she intends to try to purge the GOP of Trump's influence. But what that means in the context of a potential 2024 bid is not yet clear.

Will Hurd: The former Texas congressman who represented a border district recently traveled to New Hampshire, an early-voting state, though it's not clear whether or when he would enter the race. "I always have an open mind about how to serve my country," he told Fox News.

Brian Kemp: The Georgia governor, who fended off a Trump-backed primary challenge on the way to reelection last year, has added political staffers and is sometimes mentioned as a vice presidential prospect.

Rick Scott: The Florida senator has said he won't run for president, but things can change. He has taken steps to build his national profile.

Josh Hawley: The Missouri senator has also said he won't run but, like Scott, has taken steps to build his national profile.

10. Chris Murphy: The Connecticut senator is at the center of negotiations for a new legislation on guns in the wake of the mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. He is also an articulate voice on liberal policy, but by no means a strict ideologue. "He seems to understand that politics is the art of accomplishing the possible, not merely aiming for the impossible and blaming the opposition," wrote political analyst Stu Rothenberg in a column earlier this month that speculated about what's next for Murphy. Murphy isn't receiving much attention as a potential 2024 candidate, but I think he would be an intriguing one if he did decide to run.

9. Roy Cooper: Getting elected -- and re-elected -- as a Democrat in North Carolina is no simple thing to do. But that's exactly what Cooper has done. And there is a template for a southern governor (Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter) to run for and win the White House. As The New York Times noted in a story late last year, Cooper has a record that could appeal to Democratic primary voters: He helped repeal a bill that required people at government-run facilities to use bathrooms that corresponded to the gender on their birth certificate. He has also issued executive orders on paid parental leave and carbon neutrality. Cooper's biggest issue in a 2024 race? He isn't well known nationally. At all.

8. Cory Booker: The New Jersey senator's 2020 presidential campaign never really got out of the starting blocks. But many of the things that made Booker appealing on paper in 2020 remain true: He is a charismatic and articulate politician with a healthy dose of star power. Plus, having run and lost once for the Democratic nomination, he is likely to be wiser about a bid the second time around. Of course, the fact that Booker's last effort was unsuccessful raises the question of "why,? which Booker would have to answer in order to gain traction in a subsequent race.

7. Amy Klobuchar: Unlike Booker, the Minnesota senator did have a moment in the 2020 race. In the days leading up to the New Hampshire primary, she looked like the momentum candidate and looked like she had a chance to pull of an upset win. She wound up finishing third, behind Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg. Less than a month later, she was out of the race and throwing her support to Biden. The way she ran -- and the way she ended her campaign -- earned Klobuchar kudos, which could be useful if she runs again in 2024.

6. Elizabeth Warren: My eyebrows were raised when Warren took to the pages of The New York Times in April with an op-ed entitled: "Democrats Can Avoid Disaster in November." Her argument was that Democrats needed to pass as much of their agenda as possible before November and that voters would reward them for doing so. Which, well, questionable. The op-ed included these lines: "Despite pandemic relief, infrastructure investments and the historic Supreme Court confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson, we promised more -- and voters remember those promises." Whoa! That sort of language puts Warren in a position to say "I told you so" if Democrats, as expected, get clobbered at the polls in 2022. And could serve as a launching pad for a second bid for the White House.

5. Gavin Newsom: A funny thing happened when Republicans in California tried to recall Newsom as governor: it made him much, much stronger. Newsom not only easily defeated the 2021 recall effort, but is now a huge favorite to win a second term this November. That recall effort also gave Newsom massive amounts of national exposure to the donor and activist class, which would come in handy if he decided to run in 2024. Newsom, at least at the moment, is playing coy. "It's not even on my radar," he told the San Francisco Chronicle in May of a potential presidential bid. Which, fine. But Newsom has always had BIG ambitions.

4. Pete Buttigieg: When Buttigieg, the breakout star of the 2020 Democratic presidential race, took the job as secretary of Transportation in the Biden administration, many observers wondered why. After all, it isn't the sort of lofty perch that positions like Attorney General or Secretary of State are. But Buttigieg has proven his doubters wrong, emerging as the face of the decidedly popular infrastructure bill. It turns out that doling out federal dollars for local projects is a very good way to build goodwill. Buttigieg is among the most natural politicians in the Democratic Party and, at age 40, can afford to wait if the 2024 or even 2028 field doesn't look promising for him.

3. Bernie Sanders: Most people assumed that the 2020 presidential race would be the Vermont senator's last. After all, he's now 80 years old, and with two unsuccessful national bids behind him, it seemed that Sanders was likely to ride into the political sunset. Nope! "In the event of an open 2024 Democratic presidential primary, Sen. Sanders has not ruled out another run for president, so we advise that you answer any questions about 2024 with that in mind," wrote Sanders adviser Faiz Shakir in a memo to allies in April. While Sanders has ruled out challenging Biden in a 2024 Democratic primary, it's easy to see him consider another run if Biden bows out. And Sanders remains the best-known -- and most well-liked -- candidate among liberals in the country.

2. Kamala Harris: The vice president appears to have steadied the ship somewhat after a decidedly rocky first year-plus in office. While Harris' political stock has taken a major hit, she would still start an open 2024 Democratic race as the frontrunner, thanks in large part to her support from Black voters. While she would start as the favorite, it's still hard to see Harris clearing the field after her struggles, so far, as Biden's second-in-command.

1. Joe Biden: There's zero question that Biden is in bad political shape at the moment -- approval ratings in the high 30s, gas at $5 a gallon, inflation the highest it has been in 40 years. There's also zero question that if Biden decides he wants to run for a second term, he will almost certainly be the party's nominee -- and probably won't have to fight all that hard for it. It's an open question as to whether that is the best thing for Democrats nationally.