By all accounts, FDR likely would've stayed out of the 1932 Election if there was no Depression. That was his initial plan, as he was looking towards 1936 because he believed early on that Hoover's re-election was inevitable. So if 1929 was more a Panic and minor recession rather than a Depression, then FDR isn't running. As for who the Dems nominate in 1932, they would want to save any good candidate (Hull/FDR/ect) for 1936 when Hoover retires from politics and someone runs in his place. Garner really ran an active campaign for the Presidency in 1932, so if anything we might get Hoover v Smith 2.0. For more info on this, talk to my friend Octosteel. I can try and get people in touch with them if interested, since they have more knowledge on this subject than myself.
Depends on who he's facing. If he's facing a superstar like his cousin TR Jr., it'll be tough and he'll probably lose. If he faces someone like Patterson or the like, he wins, but barely. By this time in history, the Democratic Party were known for four things : Rum, Romanism, Rebellion, and Economic Downturn. Your grandparents and parents would be able to tell you about how bad the recessions under Cleveland and Wilson were but will tell about the economic progress under McKinley, Roosevelt, Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover (before the Depression). The other three things America deeply disliked. Why else do you think every Democratic Victory between the end of the Civil War and 1932 excluding the insanity of 1912 was so close? Because people associated the Democrats as the Party that isn't good for America. Each victory was slim and happened only because of a single state, New York in 1884 and 1892 and California in 1916, due to the failings of the campaign of the Republican Candidate (Blaine and Harrison against Cleveland, Hughes against Wilson).
A better choice for FDR would be to try make his own political party shortly after the 1932 election, rally support and attract disaffected Dems to said party in the in between years and then run in 1936 under that party. The Democrats were dying out by the 30s (The Republicans were making interesting gains into the once solid south in the 1920s), the Depression saved them. Period.
