Tom Perez and Keith Ellison emerged as the favored candidates of the majority of DNC members.

Other candidates included Sally Boynton Brown, Pete Buttigieg, future DNC chairman Jaime Harrison, Sam Ronan, and Jehmu Greene.

[7] Calling for a return to the fifty-state strategy, Howard Dean, a former Governor of Vermont who served as chairman of the DNC from 2005 to 2009, announced his candidacy on November 10.

[11] That day, South Carolina Democratic Party chairman Jaime Harrison also declared himself a candidate.

[13] On December 16, 2016, Sally Boynton Brown, executive director of the Idaho Democratic Party, announced her candidacy.

[25] Ilyse Hogue, the President of NARAL Pro-Choice America, and Representative Steve Israel of New York announced that they would not run.

[26][27][28] DNC Vice-chair R. T. Rybak considered a run, then chose to endorse Ellison when the latter announced his candidacy.

[47] They participated in two debates: the first at George Washington University, hosted by The Huffington Post, on January 18[48] and the second in Atlanta, sponsored and aired nationally by CNN, on February 22.