Bill de Blasio Bows Out, Elizabeth Warren’s Big Speech: This Week in the 2020 Race

Mr. de Blasio’s campaign never quite caught on, and his announcement came less than two weeks before the qualification deadline for the October debate. His inclusion in the event was growing less likely by the day.

“I feel like I’ve contributed all I can to this primary campaign, and it’s clearly not my time,” he said in an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I’m going to end my presidential campaign, continue my work as mayor of New York City, and I’m going to keep speaking up for working people.”

Monday was big for Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

She received the endorsement of the Working Families Party, a labor-aligned progressive group that endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont during the last presidential cycle.

She released a 6,000-word anti-corruption plan, which would make the release of tax returns automatic for candidates for federal office, make it illegal for elected officials to become lobbyists and strengthen ethics requirements for federal judges.

And in a speech at a rally in Manhattan that drew thousands to Washington Square Park, she forcefully attacked corruption and invoked the power of women to bring about sweeping change.

Ms. Warren delivered the speech blocks from the site of the Triangle shirtwaist factory fire of 1911, which killed 146 garment workers, most of them immigrant women. It was one of the deadliest industrial disasters in the nation’s history.

“The tragic story of the Triangle factory fire is a story about power,” Ms. Warren said. “A story of what happens when the rich and the powerful take control of government and use it to increase their own profits while they stick it to working people. But what happened in the aftermath of the fire is a different story about power — a story about our power, a story about what’s possible when we fight together as one.”

With five months to go before the New Hampshire primary, Mr. Sanders overhauled his operations in the state, which he won by more than 22 percentage points in 2016.

Mr. Sanders, who hails from neighboring Vermont, almost certainly must win New Hampshire again next year to have a chance at the nomination.

The campaign also parted ways with its political director in Iowa, according to a report that surfaced later in the week. Read more about that move here.

Several candidates called for the impeachment of Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh after The New York Times published new information about allegations of sexual misconduct against him.

Ms. Warren, Mr. Sanders and Senator Kamala Harris of California were among those who called for the justice’s impeachment.

“He was put on the Court through a sham process and his place on the Court is an insult to the pursuit of truth and justice,” Ms. Harris wrote.

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. called the revelations “profoundly troubling” but stopped short of demanding impeachment. Instead, he called for an investigation into “whether the Trump administration and Senate Republicans pressured the F.B.I. to ignore evidence.”

Former Representative Beto O’Rourke of Texas released a plan on Thursday to legalize marijuana, expunge all possession convictions and regulate the substance the way alcohol is regulated. Sales would be limited to adults, smoking would be banned in public areas, and advertising would be restricted.

He also wants to tax the marijuana industry and invest the revenue in the communities of color disproportionately affected by the war on drugs.

Every Democratic candidate supports decriminalizing marijuana, and most, including Mr. O’Rourke, support full legalization. But six candidates — Mr. Biden, Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana, Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, Mayor Wayne Messam of Miramar, Fla., and former Representative Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania — want to leave the question of legalization up to the states.

  • Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey unveiled a plan to bolster workers’ rights. It would protect the right to organize for all workers, including those in the gig economy; end anti-union “right-to-work” laws; and change the way capital gains are taxed.

  • Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., released a disaster preparedness plan to help communities prepare for and recover from storms. It aims to improve coordination between federal agencies and storm victims, fortify infrastructure and strengthen the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

  • Mr. Buttigieg also detailed his “Medicare for All Who Want It” plan, which seeks to ensure universal access to coverage by allowing all Americans to opt in to a public-coverage alternative.

  • Mr. Sanders introduced a $2.5 trillion housing proposal that calls for more public and affordable housing, as well as a national rent control law that would cap annual rent increases at 3 percent or one and a half times the inflation rate, whichever was higher.

  • Tom Steyer, the former hedge fund executive, released a “justice-centered climate plan,” which he said would create nearly 46 million jobs over 10 years. He also promised to create a civilian climate corps as part of a broad “national service plan,” which would aim for a million annual participants by 2025.

Overheard on the campaign trail?

“I’m moving to Iowa,” Ms. Harris joked in a comment to Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii that included an expletive and was overheard by a reporter.

The state of California did not immediately respond to a request for comment.



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