Kamala Harris Is Out: This Week in the 2020 Race

Hello, and welcome back to our weekly roundup of important moments in the 2020 Democratic primary. We were off last week for Thanksgiving. Did you miss us?

There is a lot to catch up on, so let’s get right to it.

Senator Kamala Harris of California ended her presidential campaign on Tuesday, capping a stunning fall for a candidate once considered a front-runner.

“My campaign for president simply doesn’t have the financial resources we need to continue,” Ms. Harris wrote in a Medium post to supporters. “I’m not a billionaire. I can’t fund my own campaign. And as the campaign has gone on, it’s become harder and harder to raise the money we need to compete. In good faith, I can’t tell you, my supporters and volunteers, that I have a path forward if I don’t believe I do.”

Former Representative Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania, whose campaign never got off the ground, dropped out on Sunday, and Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana followed suit the next morning.

Mr. Bullock had argued that his track record of winning in a heavily Republican state made him the Democrat best positioned to beat President Trump in 2020, but he conceded Monday that he would not be able to “break through to the top tier of this still-crowded field.”

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. angrily admonished a voter in Iowa who questioned his son’s overseas business dealings.

In an unusually heated exchange on Thursday, Mr. Biden called the man — who declined to identify himself to reporters — a “damn liar.” He went on to challenge the man to do push-ups, go running with him or take an I.Q. test with him, as the audience applauded.

At another point, he appeared to say, “Look, fat, look, here’s the deal.” (Later Thursday, Mr. Biden said he had not said “fat.” Symone D. Sanders, a senior adviser for the Biden campaign, said in a tweet that the candidate had begun to say “facts.”)

The man, who said he was an 83-year-old retired farmer, had told Mr. Biden he thought him “too old for the job” of president. Mr. Biden responded that he was “not sedentary” and fired back after the man said he would not be voting for him.

“You’re too old to vote for me,” Mr. Biden retorted.

  • The exchange instantly overshadowed the announcement that John F. Kerry, the former secretary of state, was endorsing Mr. Biden.

  • Our colleague Katie Glueck also reported on Mr. Biden’s “No Malarkey” bus tour, which the campaign hoped would help him regain his footing in Iowa and connect with rural voters.

Tom Steyer, the former hedge fund investor, qualified for the Dec. 19 debate after crossing the 200,000-donor threshold. Mr. Steyer, who has spent millions of dollars of his own money on ads, had already met the Democratic National Committee’s polling threshold.

Ms. Harris’s departure from the race means that with less than a week to go before the qualification deadline for the debate, only six candidates have made the cut.

Mr. Bloomberg proposed a sweeping set of gun control measures on Thursday, seeking to leverage his long record on the issue to set himself apart — though his plan closely resembles what other candidates have proposed.

He is calling for a national gun licensing system and stricter background checks, hundreds of millions of dollars in new enforcement spending, and a federal red-flag law that would let courts temporarily confiscate firearms from people deemed dangerous.

  • In an interview on CBS, Mr. Bloomberg again apologized for so-called stop-and-frisk policing, asserting that “nobody asked me about it until I started running for president,” even though he had defended the New York program as recently as January.

  • Mr. Booker proposed investing $100 billion in historically black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions. He also released a plan for rural America.

  • Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., said he would ensure “dignity and security in retirement” through a program he called Long-Term Care America.

  • Mr. Castro, the former housing secretary, wants to significantly expand federal food programs by offering free breakfast and lunch for all public school students.

  • Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota released a plan to expand national service opportunities. She also said she would update consumer and worker protections and strengthen collective bargaining.

  • Mr. Steyer released an affordable housing plan in which he pledged to invest $47 billion annually in construction and renovation, among other measures.

  • Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts released a plan for part-time workers that would, among other guarantees, require employers to give advance notice of work schedules.

  • Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont explained how he would provide universal high-speed internet for all Americans.

  • The self-help author Marianne Williamson unveiled her Whole Health Plan, which addresses unhealthy water and air, toxin exposure and food deserts.

  • We also conducted a survey of the candidates on abortion and found that the field has coalesced around an abortion rights agenda more far-reaching than anything past nominees have proposed.

One of the public services we perform for you involves signing up for every candidate’s email list and skimming the dozens of messages they send every day.

This week, we found that the candidates, wasting no time after Thanksgiving, have begun selling holiday-themed merchandise.

Looking for the perfect gift for the politics person in your life? Well, this is your lucky week! You can preorder a green crew-neck “Joe! Joe! Joe!” holiday sweater ($50) or buy a Yang winter sweater ($75). Those seeking stocking stuffers might enjoy a Tom’s tie enamel pin, or perhaps one of Mr. Booker’s head.

Happy shopping!



Source link