NPR

Happy New Year, 2020 Is Here

The next presidential election doesn't happen for another 22 months, but the campaign is now already under way — with plenty of potential candidates making news this week.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont speaks to the press in November. Sanders hasn't officially decided on another presidential run — yet.

Happy New Year, it's already 2020. Or might as well be.

This is how elections work in this country — the presidential campaign cycle begins the year before the presidential election, and when it's a potentially large field, it pushes further and further back.

And that is what's happening. Elizabeth Warren, the progressive senator from Massachusetts, got a lot of attention for her New Year's Eve video announcement that she had launched an exploratory bid for president.

She's far from the only one making moves (or getting scrutiny – see ). Five candidates have already officially announced at

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