Congratulations on surviving another week in American politics. We would reassure you that next week will be calmer, but we’re not allowed to lie.
Here’s a look at what happened in the 2020 presidential race this week.
Buttigieg named his McKinsey clients
On Tuesday, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., released the names of nine clients he advised as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, after McKinsey agreed to loosen a nondisclosure agreement he had signed.
The list included Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Best Buy, the Natural Resources Defense Council and several federal agencies.
Mr. Buttigieg had come under pressure, especially from Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, to release more details about his employment history and fund-raising. In another concession to transparency this week, his campaign announced that it would open his fund-raisers to reporters. And on Friday, it released the names of its “bundlers” — people who have raised $25,000 or more for Mr. Buttigieg.
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Our colleague Shane Goldmacher, who covers campaign finance, went through the list of 113 bundlers and told us they range from a student at Boston College to Agnes Gund, an octogenarian arts patron. “There are former ambassadors under President Obama, and figures from Hollywood and tech,” he says. “Just under half (52) are from either California or New York; another 16 are from Washington D.C., Virginia and Maryland.”
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Here is the full story about Mr. Buttigieg’s client list, and more about the transparency criticism.
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For her part, Ms. Warren released a detailed accounting of her compensation for 30 years of legal work. She also went on the offensive in a speech in New Hampshire, calling it “naïve” for her opponents to avoid directly challenging wealthy Americans.
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In a broader challenge for Mr. Buttigieg, voters on the left have grown increasingly frustrated with his moderate proposals.
The next debate stage is set …
The entrepreneur Andrew Yang earned 4 percent support in a Quinnipiac poll this week and qualified for next week’s Democratic debate just two days before the deadline. His entry brings the lineup to seven and ensures that the candidates onstage will not all be white.
Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who was also on the cusp of qualifying, did not get the final poll she needed. Even before the deadline, she had announced that she would not participate in the debate if she made the cut.
… but a labor dispute might affect it
The next debate is scheduled for Thursday at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. It was moved there in response to a labor dispute at the original venue, the University of California, Los Angeles. But now there is a dispute at Loyola Marymount, too.
Members of Unite Here Local 11, a union representing food service employees at the university, are in contentious negotiations with the food service provider Sodexo and could picket outside the debate. All seven qualified candidates said they would not cross a picket line, raising the prospect of a debate boycott. But unions have used similar threats before as leverage in negotiations, and the dispute could be resolved before the debate.
The Democratic National Committee said it would not expect candidates to cross a picket line and was “working with all stakeholders to find an acceptable resolution.”
Biden on immigration, and other new plans
Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. released an immigration plan on Wednesday that would reverse Mr. Trump’s policies, restoring the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, lifting limits on asylum applications and setting a much higher cap on refugees. In the long term, he is calling for a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
In contrast to the more liberal candidates in the race, however, Mr. Biden would not decriminalize unauthorized border crossings or restructure Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
He also released a $4 billion plan to address instability in Central America, which has been a major driver of both asylum applications and illegal immigration.
In other policy news:
Three candidates — Mr. Buttigieg, Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey and the former hedge fund executive Tom Steyer — released education-related plans this week.
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Mr. Booker’s education proposal includes $200 billion for school infrastructure, teacher raises of up to $15,000 and support for charter schools.
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Mr. Buttigieg’s plan would provide universal child care and prekindergarten, triple funding for Title I schools and establish an “Education Access Corps” to prepare teachers to work in those schools.
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Mr. Steyer said he would invest $125 billion in historically black colleges and universities and create an H.B.C.U. Board of Regents.
We also got an array of policy details from the rest of the field.
And finally …
Ms. Warren snagged the coveted Megan Rapinoe endorsement, and during their phone call, Ms. Rapinoe shared a women’s national soccer team saying.
“I don’t know if you can cuss on here, but it’s L.F.G., so let’s do this,” she said.
“All right, Megan, you and me,” Ms. Warren said, laughing. “L.F.G.”
Within hours, the phrase was on a T-shirt in Ms. Warren’s campaign store.