This is about the election on Nov 7, 2028 (in 4 years).

Following the definition of "almost president" in my blog. For each of the Democratic and Republican primaries

• The person winning the most delegates based on state contests

• The runner up on delegates, but only if the winner is not a former president

Additionally, these unlikely conditions could trigger

• The person nominated at the convention. This covers "dark horse" primary winners.

• The first place candidate from the first ballot at the convention

• The second place candidate from the first ballot at the convention if the first place candidate isn't the winner or runner up on delegates

• Any candidate and their running mate if they get at least 10% of the popular vote in the general election or win at least one electoral vote in 2028. Faithless electors do not count.

https://pepeblog.substack.com/p/almost-presidents-2-senators

2025 Jan 24 - Edited to clarify that e.g. Kamala Harris is a dark horse candidate but this wouldn't cause Dean Phillips to become an almost president.