2020 Elections

Talking Points Memo reports: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) raised $18.2 million in his first six weeks as a candidate, his campaign announced, a large sum that will likely lead the Democratic presidential field. Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir said Tuesday morning that those donations had come from 900,000 donations, and the average donation was $20. That number of donors fell …

Politico reports: Kamala Harris on Monday announced raising $12 million over the first quarter of her presidential campaign, setting an early high bar for the sprawling Democratic field challenging President Donald Trump in 2020. Harris’ number is certain to be eclipsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas, who each raised about $6 million …

Mike Allen reports at Axios: Michael Bloomberg might still run for president in 2020, especially if former Vice President Joe Biden winds up not getting in, according to people who have discussed the matter with the former New York mayor. These people tell me that Bloomberg, 77, who announced March 5 that he wouldn’t run, might reconsider if a centrist …

CBS News reports: Lucy Flores, the woman who has accused former Vice President Joe Biden of making her uncomfortable by gripping her shoulders and kissing her head several years ago at a political event, says she would still support Biden in a general election match-up against President Trump. Asked if she would support the former vice president if he wins …

NBC News reports: As recently as 2006, when Pete Buttigieg was 24 years old, more than half of Americans said they would be “very uncomfortable” (34 percent) or have “reservations” (19 percent) about a gay or lesbian person running for president. That year, just five percent said they’d be enthusiastic about an LGBT candidate, according to an NBC/WSJ poll. An …

The Hill reports: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) holds a double-digit lead among young voters in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, according to a poll released Monday. Thirty-one percent of likely voters between 18 and 29 years old surveyed by Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School said they prefer the Vermont lawmaker in a hypothetical primary. Former Vice President Joe …

South Bend’s NBC News affiliate reports: South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg released early fundraising numbers from his presidential exploratory committee Monday morning. Buttigieg said on Twitter his committee raised more than $7 million in the first quarter, which ended Sunday. Buttigieg launched an exploratory committee for a 2020 presidential bid in January, but has not officially launched a campaign. Two …

CNBC reports: Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon on Friday claimed a Kamala Harris-Beto O’Rourke ticket has the “best shot” against President Donald Trump in the 2020 elections, but he also contended that the president will likely win reelection. “I think the best they’re going to have, and I don’t think these people will defeat him, I think a …

The Hill reports: A group backed by the Koch brothers is launching an ad campaign pushing lawmakers to reject Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s push to break up tech giants. Americans for Prosperity (AFP), a Koch-funded free market group, is running ads in Washington and in the states home to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee pushing back on Warren’s campaign proposal. …

From a fascinating Politico profile: Maybe the most noteworthy thing about Chasten Buttigieg’s sudden internet fame is that he has a public profile at all. At this stage in a presidential race, most candidates’ spouses are ornamental figures, taken gingerly out of the storage box for major announcements and gauzy videos, then stashed away until the call for the “60 …

From the Hollywood Reporter: The Human Rights Campaign announced Thursday that Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris of California, who has entered the 2020 presidential race, will attend the upcoming 2019 HRC Los Angeles dinner and speak on issues of equality. Harris will join Sen. Cory Booker, who is also scheduled to speak. The evening program will honor Christina Aguilera with the …

From his new interview with Vox: “The reality is that when people are economically or socially dislocated, they are always more vulnerable to being radicalized. And I think a lot of Americans are being radicalized by this administration. The experience of disruption that’s gone on, especially in the interior, has obviously made it more fertile to being taken advantage of …

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports: Wayne Messam, the mayor of Miramar, said in a video released Thursday morning that he’s running for president. “The promise of America belongs to all of us. That’s why I’m going to be running for president. To be your champion,” Messam said in the video. He formally kicks off the campaign on Saturday, with a …

NBC News reports: Terry McAuliffe is moving closer to a 2020 presidential run, Democrats close to the former Virginia governor said today. McAuliffe has been telling Democratic allies that he is leaning toward jumping into the Democratic presidential race next month, according to three people who have spoken to him. The former governor has long said he would make a …

Politico reports: Asked about his fellow Hoosier — Pence is the former governor of Indiana — Buttigieg said the vice president has been “consistently horrible” and said Americans face a danger of the continued radicalization with “what seems at best to be a level of negligence, if not encouragement, coming from the highest office in the land.” “I think the …

The Hill reports: “The idea is [for Joe Biden] to take you as a vice president to bolster his numbers in the primary,” The View co-host Joy Behar told Abrams on Wednesday. “What do you think of that?” “I think you don’t run for second place,” Abrams fired back, to applause from both “The View” co-hosts and the studio audience. …

The New York Post reports: Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg joked about brokering a “peace deal” between Chick-fil-A and the LGBT community during an interview on Tuesday. The openly gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana declared his appreciation for the fast food chain even though they have been accused of supporting causes that discriminate against the LGBT community. “I do not …

Via press release: When I first ran for Senate, I promised that I would give my all for the people of New Mexico. And I reminded myself that this Senate seat is not my seat. It is New Mexico’s seat. I was proud to serve as New Mexico’s Attorney General, then in the U.S. House, and now two terms as …

Politico reports: South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) surged into third place in a poll of the Iowa caucus released Sunday. Eleven percent of likely Democratic Iowa caucus-goers surveyed by Emerson Polling said they would pick Buttigieg to be their 2020 presidential nominee. Overall, Buttigieg placed third behind Former Vice President Joe Biden, at 25 percent, and Sen. Bernie …

Mediaite reports: The Trump campaign celebrated the release of Attorney General William Barr‘s summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller‘s findings with a video montage declaring, “Mueller proves them wrong!” The video itself is a series of all-caps headlines reading “DEMS HYPED COLLUSION WITH NO EVIDENCE,” and “MUELLER PROVES THEM WRONG” followed by a game show buzzer noise. The rest is …