Republicans aren’t the only ones getting makeovers.
Some high-profile Democrats have been quietly shedding pounds, rethinking their wardrobes, and even growing facial hair to make sure they’re ready for the cameras—and for a potential 2028 run.
“Appearance matters,” James Carville, a Democratic strategist who led Bill Clinton’s successful campaign in 1992, told Axios. “No one’s going to say, ‘I’m not going to vote for someone because they’re not attractive.’ They won’t admit to it. But it certainly matters.”
While conservatives go under the knife to achieve “Mar-a-Lago Face”—defined by full cheeks, plump lips, and taut skin a la Ivanka Trump—Democrats have been changing their appearances in their own ways.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, for example, has lost a few pounds—drawing the attention of President Donald Trump, who couldn’t stop himself from noticing his Democratic foe’s weight loss even as he was in the middle of a tirade.
“Pritzker is an incompetent. His family threw him out of the business, he ran for governor, and now I understand he wants to be president. But I noticed he lost a little weight, so maybe he has a chance,” Trump said in August. Pritzker, 60, told Politico at the time that his weight loss was “just for health.”
The Illinois governor was elusive when NBC Chicago prodded him on his use of weight loss drugs like GLP-1: “You know, I think I’m not going to answer that question, partly because I think there are a lot of people who are on those GLP-1s and… you know, it’s kind of none of anybody’s business,” he said in September. “If I can get in a groove where I’m eating right and I’m exercising, that can be nothing but good.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, 61, has also been looking slimmer. He has spoken openly about his love of running in the past, telling Runner’s World last year the hobby helps make him “calmer and more collected.”
“I run for my physical and mental health, as well as the wonderful community,” he said.
A Walz aide told Axios that he amped up his running routine and trained for a 10-mile race with his daughter earlier this year.
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, 43, a mainstay in discussions about potential Democratic presidential candidates, has been sporting a scruffier look since he grew out his beard.
“There were very few days that I didn’t have to shave the whole time that I was in office and then suddenly I didn’t have to worry about that,” he told New York’s Power 105.1 FM in July. “So I started out just not shaving every day and then we went on a vacation. I came back with a beard. I thought, ‘I’m going to keep this for a while.’”
Josh Shapiro, meanwhile, embarked on a makeover in 2022 when he was first elected governor of Pennsylvania, according to Axios.
Shapiro, 52, has been donning more tailored suits, though he often pairs them with sneakers and continues to go tie-less. He has proudly embraced his signature look in social media posts.
… I wear the same thing every day.
“I wear the same thing every day,” he wrote in a TikTok. “Navy suit, no tie.”
The Democratic politicians’ teams did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday.
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