By Jonathan D. Salant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

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With the 2018 midterms over, the political calendar instantly turned to 2020, when President Donald Trump is up for re-election.

The Democratic field threatens to be as unwieldy as the Republican race was in 2016. That's when Trump triumphed over 16 other GOP hopefuls.

There is no shortage of Democrats eyeing the 2020 contest, including U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who was helped when the New Jersey Legislature voted to make it clear that he could run for both president and re-election two years from now.

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U.S. Sen. Cory Booker addresses students at the University of New Hampshire in October. (Jonathan D. Salant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

The Washington Post this week ranked the top candidates for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, as it has done quarterly all year, and explained how each candidate earned a spot on the list.

Here is the Post's top 10:

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Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, right, speaks at the victory party for House Democratic candidate Jennifer Wexton, left. (AP Photo | Alex Brandon)

10. Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe

McAuliffe, a prolific fundraiser, put Iowa and New Hampshire on his fall itinerary.

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Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City. (Jeff Kowalsky | Bloomberg)

9. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg

The Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent is now a Democrat again and spent at least $38 million to help his new party in the midterms. That made him the third biggest spender in 2018, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

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Rep. Beto O'Rourke makes his concession speech at his election night party in El Paso, Texas, after being defeated by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. (AP Photo | Eric Gay)

8. Rep. Beto O'Rourke of Texas

O'Rourke raised an unheard of $70 million and made a race of it in challenging Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in deep-red Texas.

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Brown at a Senate hearing in July. (Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg)

7. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio

Brown won re-election easily on Tuesday even as Republicans gained throughout the state.

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6. U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York

After winning election overwhelmingly on Tuesday, Gillibrand went on CBS's "Late Show" Thursday and told host Stephen Colbert that she would look at running in 2020, "It is a moral question for me," she said. "I will give it a long, hard thought of consideration."

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U.S. Sen. Cory Booker addresses students at Dartmouth College in October. (Jonathan D. Salant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

5. Booker

"Booker can be hugely impressive; he can also be over the top," the Post said. An example of the latter, the newspaper said: His "I am Spartacus moment" during Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings, when he released documents that a Republican lawyer had sought to hide from the public. Some of those documents had been cleared for release before Booker's action.

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4. Former Vice President Joe Biden

Biden led the Democratic field in an October CNN poll, receiving 33 percent.

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U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris at the Senate Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. To her left is U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. (AP Photo | Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

3 U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.

The Post said that "perhaps nobody on this list has Harris’s upside, if she puts it all together."

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U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at a 2016 campaign rally at Penn State. (AP Photo | Mary Altaffer)

2. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

He was the runner-up to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and has a strong base of supporters.

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U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren addresses New Englanf business leaders in March 2017. (AP Photo | Steven Senne)

1. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

Warren took a DNA test that proved her claim that she had some Native American ancestry, trying to remove that as a distraction.

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How the Post ranked 'em in July

This was the Post's top 10 when the newspaper ranked the potential candidates in July:

1. Sanders

2. Warren

3. Harris

4. Biden

5. Booker

6. Gillibrand

7. Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick

8. McAuliffe

9. Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr.

10. Bloomberg

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More on 2020

The 2020 presidential campaign is just around the corner. Here's where Booker ranks.

Cory Booker just wowed 'em in New Hampshire. Here's how he can do it again in a 2020 run for president.

I chased Cory Booker all over Iowa to see what Dems think of him. Their answers are fascinating.

11 ways Cory Booker is wooing progressives as he eyes a run for president in 2020

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Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.