Emanuel targets GOP and Dems as he tests 2028 campaign

• He's hoping that his combination of being moderate on policy with a decidedly not-moderate temperament will distinguish himself among the other center-left candidates in the 2028 field.
• In his pitch, Emanuel zings Trump and Republicans, but also targets other factions of his party — old and new.

Driving the news: Emanuel got a warm reception Wednesday night in Water Valley, a rural town of about 3,500 a half-hour drive from the University of Mississippi in Oxford.

• Brandon Presley, Mississippi's Democratic nominee for governor in 2023 who ran the most competitive Democratic campaign in the state since 1999, hosted Emanuel at his home with locals and then introduced him at a town hall that drew more than 100 people.
• Emanuel got lots of head nods as he honed in on his education plans — expanding the school day and year, plus focusing on phonics and other basics — topics he's touted for months while plotting a 2028 run.

There were two reasons for Emanuel's visit: Mississippi, long one of the nation's worst-ranked states in student test scores, has increased reading levels over the past decade through some education changes he supports.

• And the state — along with the rest of the South — will be key in a Democratic presidential primary. (Former Vice President Harris is holding a book tour event in Jackson, Miss., this week.)

Reality check: Water Valley is in rural Mississippi but residents said it isn't politically representative of other rural areas in the deep-red state.

• One attendee at Emanuel's town hall noted that Water Valley boasted a business branded as "the only queer book store" in Mississippi.

Zoom in: Emanuel received the biggest applause of the night when he pledged to ban social media for all kids age 16 and younger.

• "This is a drug. It is nothing else but a drug," he said.
• "Democrats used to have a 20-point advantage on education over Republicans that has disappeared," he said later. "You cannot tell me what Kamala Harris and Joe Biden's educational policy was, or what other Democratic leaders' education reform policies are."

Emanuel also told Axios the Obama administration became far too cozy with the tech industry, which he said contributed to those companies having too much power today.

• "Tech companies' employees were overwhelmingly progressive Democrats in cities where there's all these cultural familiarities. They got a pass from the Democratic Party because of cultural affinity, in the same way that Big Oil gets a pass from Republicans."

The intrigue: Emanuel's steps toward a 2028 campaign have divided Democratic operatives who've known him for decades.

• Longtime Democratic operative Ron Klain told the House Oversight Committee last summer: "I think [Emanuel] will head fake a lot, but I do not think in the end Rahm will run."
• Klain told Axios that he stood by that assessment. "I think Rahm is trying to influence the direction of the debate in the party but I do not think he will be a candidate in 2028 — but that's his decision to make and I have not discussed it with him."
• David Axelrod, who has known Emanuel for decades and worked with him in the Obama White House, told Axios: "My read is that he's very serious and is on a year-end timetable for a go, no-go decision. But he's absolutely doing many of the things someone who is serious would need to do to take that next step."

So far, Emanuel has a small fraction of the team that other potential candidates have.

• A constellation of volunteers, former aides and part-time staffers are helping, but Emanuel has just one full-time employee.

What's next: Prospective Democratic presidential candidates often consult ex-presidents such as Obama and Clinton for advice, but Emanuel is unique in having been a sounding board for both.

• "I've talked to Clinton and Obama," he said, "but I gotta cut my own way."