In the early run-up to 2020, would-be candidates are skipping Iowa and New Hampshire for a new set of must-stop destinations: big battleground states like Florida, Ohio and Michigan.

Wary of planting a Trump-sized target on their backs so far out from the election, many potential 2020 hopefuls are avoiding headline-drawing trips to traditional primary-season destinations like Des Moines, Manchester, Columbia and Las Vegas. Instead, at least half a dozen Democrats with the potential to become serious contenders — including Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey — have been quietly visiting battleground states that will likely be front-and-center in the next presidential election.


The official purpose of the trips is almost always to raise money for colleagues up for reelection in 2018. But the visits also provide White House wannabes an easy way to build in-state credibility and ties to local power-players and contributors who may prove influential three years down the line.

“It’s smart politics because electability is going to be such a big factor in this primary: Are you going to be able to beat Donald Trump? And do well in these big battlegrounds? So they’re going to build support in Florida and Ohio and Virginia. They’re going to grow their networks there,” said Democratic operative Scott Arceneaux, the Florida Democratic Party’s former executive director.

“It’s the nationalization of our politics: You don’t have to go to Des Moines to be on TV in Des Moines,” he added. “You can do a rally in Philly and be seen on MSNBC in Manchester."

Not everyone is playing coy with their travel. Seeing little reason to skate under the radar, the two best-known potential 2020 contenders — former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — have both repeatedly visited early voting states like New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina this year. A range of little-known long-shots have barnstormed them as well, in bids to increase their own recognition.

But for the collection of statewide officials whose political profiles fall somewhere in between, Milwaukee, Cincinnati and Richmond have provided less fraught venues for building political capital. Among the top destinations, according to itineraries reviewed by POLITICO: states that Trump famously flipped from Democratic hands in 2016 and which now have Democratic senators facing tough challenges.

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Warren and Booker have visited Michigan and Wisconsin, where Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Tammy Baldwin are up for reelection and Democrats are aiming to take back the governorships. Ohio, home to both Sen. Sherrod Brown’s reelection effort and another open gubernatorial race, has also played host to the pair, as well as to Harris and Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee — another possible candidate and the next Democratic Governors Association chairman — also recently swung through Ohio and met with local party leaders, and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is due to speak at a state party dinner in Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday before the Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls' debate.

Florida, another top battleground state with tough Senate and gubernatorial races in 2018, has also seen an influx of potential presidential candidates: Biden and Booker both dropped by earlier this year; McAuliffe visited for a Palm Beach County Democrats fundraising dinner this month; former Housing Secretary Julián Castro swung by for a state party conference on Friday; and Harris scheduled a series of fundraising events in the state next month.

While McAuliffe has been closely involved in this year's race to elect his successor in Virginia, and Biden has stepped in to back Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, others are now getting involved, as well: Harris is appearing on the trail in Richmond and Glen Allen on Sunday.

With upward of 40 Democrats considering presidential runs, trips to politically potent states that don’t usually host presidential hopefuls so early can help potential contenders break through the crowded landscape, said strategists who’ve worked on previous campaigns. Plus, at a time that Democratic officials are eager to be seen as helping to rebuild the party, scheduling local fundraisers is an easy way to gain national-level goodwill as well as connections to local donors, activists and elected officials.

Nonetheless, the frequent travelers consistently insist the trips have nothing to do with 2020. Booker opened a recent fundraising email by declaring, “I’m in Wisconsin today for one reason, and her name is Tammy Baldwin.”

The idea is to help Democrats in what’s shaping up to be a brutal midterm season, the lawmakers say. Many of them have also visited more reliably Democratic states like Washington and New Mexico on behalf of colleagues, and some have gone out of their way to send checks to vulnerable fellow lawmakers without fanfare.

There was little national notice when Warren sent a fundraising email for Rep. Jacky Rosen, running for Senate in early state Nevada, for example. And in a recent note carrying the subject line, “Why I went to Ohio and Wisconsin,” Warren told backers her latest trip was all about 2018.

Even behind the scenes, the potential candidates are wary of the potential appearance of running precampaigns. After watching with horror as Trump unleashed on Hillary Clinton for two years during the past election cycle, none of them are eager to become the president’s next punching bag more than two years before voting even begins.

“Even when we call people to give them credit, they say it’s not about ’20 — they haven’t wanted to make it about that, they’ve made it clear,” said David Pepper, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party. "The reason they’re here in states like Ohio, given what happened last year, is if we’re going to win in ’18 and ’20, we need to do well here.”

The traditional early states certainly haven't lost their relevance: Several lesser-known Democrats are fanning out across Iowa and New Hampshire. Local and national operatives still expect the gubernatorial races in each of the four earliest-voting primary states to become highly visited contests once 2018 actually begins.

“People can be a lot more obvious than they used to be about these things, the rules have changed,” said Democratic strategist Dave Hamrick. “No one bats an eye anymore about politicians going to Iowa and New Hampshire."