😧 Potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidates are introducing themselves to voters in a striking way: by documenting their childhood resentments, family chaos and fights with their parents.

Why it matters: Many presidential hopefuls carry painful memories from complicated childhoods. But few have discussed them as openly as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.

• Their frankness about their formative years and family dynamics is a way to shape their public stories before journalists do. It's also a sign of shifting taboos and a growing desire for candidates to appear relatable to voters.
• The governors' revelations on how their difficult relationships with their parents still shape them:

Josh Shapiro

📖 In his recent book, "Where We Keep the Light," Shapiro writes that he "had a happy childhood and, at points, an unhappy childhood home."

• He says his mother, Judi, could be unstable and that he and his siblings believed that "if we were good, we could stop the chaos and the yelling."
• Shapiro says he wrestled with whether to discuss such private family matters, but ultimately did because others have had similar experiences — and because his mother's behavior influenced his leadership style.
• "It explains why I always sought to solve problems," he writes. "I had to anticipate a problem or a pain point before there was a blowup."

When CBS' Gayle King pressed him on that passage last month, Shapiro said: "In many ways, and I hope she's able to see this one day, my mom is the hero in that book."

• Shapiro's complicated family dynamic was evident in his X post on Mother's Day last year, when he expressed gratitude to his mother-in-law, "who showed me unconditional love," and his mom, "who raised me to care about the world around me."

Gavin Newsom

The California governor is even more candid about his at-times fraught relationships with both parents, which he says left him caught between two worlds and fully accepted by neither.

• In his new book, "Young Man in a Hurry," Newsom recounts having dyslexia and how his mother, Tessa — who carried most of the burden of raising him and his sister — tried to console him over his struggles in school by saying "It's OK to be average, Gavin."
• She meant to comfort him, Newsom writes, but to him there were no "crueler words."
• He says that after his parents' divorce his father, Bill, was often absent, leaving him looking to give his father "reasons to be a bigger part" of his life.
• As part of his book tour, Newsom released an hourlong podcast with his sister, Hilary, in which they frankly discussed their parents' divorce, their different relationships with each, and the deaths of each.

Newsom also recalls being absent at times during his mother's final struggle with cancer, until she left him a voicemail in spring 2002 telling him that if he wanted to see her, he should do so before Thursday — "because that's going to be my last day on Earth."

• She had arranged for an assisted suicide, and Newsom writes that he realized he'd been "hiding from her, hiding from myself" because he didn't want to face her dying.
• When he and Hilary joined their mother on her final day, Newsom writes, she had a picture of the two siblings propped on her chest and said, "My works of art."

JB Pritzker

He hasn't written a memoir, but the Illinois governor has spoken openly about losing his father, Donald, to a heart attack when he was 7 and his mother to alcoholism when he was 17.

• In a recent interview with the New York Times, Pritzker recalled his mother, Sue, trying to explain her alcoholism when he was 8 or 9, and promising to overcome it.
• "Unfortunately she was never able to overcome it, and it overcame her and took her life," he said.
• As an heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune, that left Pritzker both an orphan and extraordinarily wealthy.

Read more.

— Alex Thompson, Holly Otterbein

💰 Pritzker is dodging questions about his past donations to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a lobbying group that has come under heavy criticism from many liberal Democrats.

Why it matters: Pritzker is among several likely Democratic presidential candidates who've distanced themselves from AIPAC as the group has become a U.S. political surrogate for support of Israel's actions in Gaza.

• They include Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, Newsom and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

🚘 Driving the news: Pritzker and aides have said in recent weeks that he previously supported AIPAC, but Pritzker's team declined to tell Axios how much he gave to the group.

• The Pritzker Family Foundation also donated to AIPAC-affiliated and pro-Israel organizations when Pritzker was president and director of the charity.
• The foundation gave $82,000 to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces from 2005 to 2010, per tax filings reviewed by Axios.
• From 2008 to 2016, the foundation contributed about $1.7 million to the American Israel Education Foundation, an AIPAC-affiliated charitable group that supports trips to Israel for members of Congress.
• The foundation gave to the group until at least 2020, but Pritzker's team told Axios he stepped away from the foundation in 2017.

Now Pritzker, who is Jewish, is attacking AIPAC.

• He told the New York Times' Lulu Garcia-Navarro this month that he abandoned AIPAC more than a decade ago when it "began to lean much more to the right and much more pro-Trump." He said it was more bipartisan when he was involved.
• Pritzker later told the Associated Press that AIPAC, whose allied groups spent more than $21 million on last week's primaries in Illinois, has lost its way.
• Pritzker has tried to walk a fine line — breaking with AIPAC over its affiliation with Trump rather than Israel's actions — and focusing most of his criticism on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rather than on the country itself.

🎙️ What they're saying: Pritzker spokesperson Alex Gough reiterated to us that Pritzker "withdrew his support" from AIPAC when it "became a pro-Trump organization."

• Patrick Dorton, a spokesperson for AIPAC's super PAC, told Axios the group is "extremely bipartisan," with "millions of pro-Israel Democratic members," and that it supports a strong U.S.-Israel alliance.

Read more.

— Holly Otterbein, Alex Thompson

A look at what potential 2028 Democratic presidential contenders are up to:

• New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made a surprise appearance in Carlisle, Pa., with other female House members to talk about affordability. She criticized "pervasive gambling," saying on X that it "turns life into a casino, traps people in addiction & debt, surges domestic violence, and fosters manipulation."
• Maryland Gov. Wes Moore filled out his March Madness brackets, picking Duke to win the men's tournament and his home state Maryland Terrapins to win the women's championship.
• Shapiro held an event aimed at protecting children from "the dangers of AI." He also appeared on the podcast "Talk Easy" and was asked about his poor relationship with another Pennsylvania Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman. Shapiro said he has "no beef" with Fetterman, adding: "John's got a lot of questions that I think he needs to answer for the people of Pennsylvania."
• Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stumped for a Democratic state Senate candidate in Michigan.
• Pritzker flexed his political muscle when his lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton, won a Senate primary after he poured millions into a super PAC backing her. Pritzker's reelection campaign also released a TV ad on affordability.
• Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear spoke in Vice President Vance's hometown of Middletown, Ohio, at a fundraiser for local Democrats with former Sen. Sherrod Brown. Beshear said Vance's book, "Hillbilly Elegy," was "just Hillbilly Hate — it was poverty tourism because he ain't from Appalachia."
• Emanuel told the Washington Post that the Democratic Party has lost the country on immigration: "Americans are struggling with health care costs and struggling with coverage, and you are raising your hand for free health care for somebody who broke the law to come into the country? You've got to be kidding me." He also campaigned in Wisconsin for the liberal candidate for a state Supreme Court seat.
• Booker is the latest potential 2028 candidate to be profiled by The Atlantic. The sub-headline: "Can Cory Booker, once the candidate of love, run for president and stay true to who he is?"
• Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen went on the left-wing "Mehdi Unfiltered" podcast and said "the Biden administration did nothing to hold the Netanyahu government to account, and now the Trump administration is not only doing nothing to hold them to account, but essentially just giving them a blank check to do whatever they want in Lebanon or in Iran."
• California Rep. Ro Khanna will speak at the AFL-CIO's Workers First AI summit Thursday in Washington.
• Axios has learned that Mark Cuban will headline WelcomeFest, the annual moderate Dems' bash, in June. Cuban deflected the notion that it's a precursor to a 2028 presidential campaign, telling us he's doing it "just to discuss health care."

Booker's upcoming memoir delves into one of the greatest feuds of his political career: the time he stared down comedian Conan O'Brien — or, as Booker calls him, "the Lanky Leprechaun of Late Night Lies."

📺 In 2009, when Booker was Newark's mayor, O'Brien cracked a joke about the city on "The Tonight Show."

• "The mayor of Newark, New Jersey, wants to set up a citywide program to improve residents' health," O'Brien said then.
• "The health care program would consist of a bus ticket out of Newark."

To Booker, those were fighting words. He took to social media to defend Newark's honor, he writes in "Stand," which is due out Tuesday.

• ✈️ Booker informed O'Brien that he was "officially" putting him on "the Newark, New Jersey, airport no-fly list."
• O'Brien shot back that he was banning Booker from the Burbank airport.
• Booker escalated, saying he was banning O'Brien from the entire state of New Jersey.

The passage is classic Booker: He's an unabashed cheerleader for his city, even if that means being a little corny.

• Eventually, the two men made peace. O'Brien apologized to Newark and Booker declared him welcome there.
• But Booker isn't sure whether O'Brien ever took him up on it.
• "Come on, Conan," Booker writes. "Meet me at a Jersey diner for some disco fries."

— Holly Otterbein