2020 Elections

Axios reports: Several Democratic presidential candidates defended fellow 2020 contender Sen. Kamala Harris on Saturday against false online accusations about her race and U.S. citizenship — with many calling the attacks racist. A social media researcher, cited in the NYT and Buzzfeed, aggregated at least 12 tweets questioning Harris’ race during the first Democratic primary debate, saying “it has all …

The Daily Beast reports: On Friday, exactly 50 years after the Stonewall Riots helped ignite the modern gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights movement, the LGBTQ Victory Fund announced that it was endorsing Buttigieg for president, the first presidential endorsement in the organization’s history. “Every day that Pete is in the race, from the standpoint of an LGBT activist, he …

The Washington Post reports: Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) said Friday that she does not support abolishing private health insurance in the United States, saying she misheard a question from NBC’s moderators about Medicare-for-all during the presidential debate. Thursday night, Harris alone joined Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in raising her hand when all of the candidates were asked if they …

Let’s just hope this isn’t premature celebrating: Democratic presidential candidates celebrated the Thursday morning’s Supreme Court decision blocking the Trump administration’s request to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. Chief Justice john Roberts joined with the court’s liberal wing in a decision ruling 5-4 the Trump administration did not give adequate reason for adding the question. YES — …

The Hill reports: The conservative Drudge Report’s instant poll shows Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) as the biggest winner of the first night of the Democratic presidential debates, with nearly 45 percent of the vote just after 8:00 a.m. Thursday morning. The unscientific online poll shows Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) at a distant second with 11.2 percent, followed by Rep. John …

The Los Angeles Times reports: The Democrats vying to challenge President Trump will no doubt take turns denouncing him when they gather in Miami for their first debate on Wednesday and Thursday. Will they be as combative toward one another? For the opening round on Wednesday, center stage will belong to Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and former Rep. Beto …

Axios reports: In an interview at the annual Aspen Ideas Festival, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called for the federal government to shoulder the burden in election security, saying the social network doesn’t “have the tools to make the Russian government stop.” Over the past year, the Facebook CEO has continued to explain and defend the tech company’s stance on data …

“We’re going to talk about the issues. There will be nobody talking about hand size. There will be nobody talking about silly nicknames for their opponents, we’ll leave that to the Republicans. I think people want to know what do you stand for, what are you going to fight for and will you fight for the issues that matter to …

Politico reports: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday did not commit to conceding the primary even if it became clear he would not be the nominee, a move that traces back to 2016 when the senator was facing down then-Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. In an afternoon interview, MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt asked Sanders if he would leave the race before the …

Politico reports: As Democrats spar on the debate stage this week, the president’s campaign will be unleashing dozens of Donald Trump backers on the airwaves in 2020 swing states, blasting out any embarrassing moments on social media and dispatching talking points to ensure everyone stays on message. It’s all part of a robust response Team Trump has rapidly pulled together …

Politico reports: Alabama Republicans are showing little appetite for giving former state Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore another shot at winning a U.S. Senate seat, two years after he blew what should have been a gimme election in the ruby red state after being embroiled in a sordid personal scandal. A new survey from the Alabama-based polling firm Cygnal shows …

Montgomery’s NBC News affiliate reports: John Merrill officially announced Tuesday he will run for the U.S. Senate. Merrill made the announcement around 10 a.m. Tuesday, releasing a video on social media. The Senate seat is currently held by Democrat Doug Jones, who defeated Republican Roy Moore in a 2017 special election. In addition to Merrill and Moore, the GOP field …

Reuters reports: An Emerson Polling survey released Tuesday found both former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) leading President Trump by 10 points nationally. The poll, conducted June 21-24 among 1,096 voters, found the two Democratic presidential hopefuls both ahead of Trump in a hypothetical matchup, 55 percent to 45 percent. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also led …

NBC News reports: Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders top a new straw poll from progressive group MoveOn.org, illuminating how the packed field of candidates is coming into focus for more left-leaning Democratic voters just before the first debate of the 2020 cycle. The poll, being released Tuesday and which NBC News is the first to report, shows Warren is …

Mediaite reports: The Wall Street Journal‘s editorial page — which arguably has more clout and influence with leaders on the right than any outlet in America — is floating a bold idea: President Donald Trump should dump Vice President Mike Pence from the ticket in 2020, and instead run with former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley. In a Journal op-ed posted …

The Associated Press reports: Nearly two dozen Democratic presidential candidates have crisscrossed the country for six months selling their vision for the United States. But, on the eve of the first debates in the campaign , a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows most Democratic voters haven’t fully tuned in. Only 22% of Democrats …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Supreme Court, approaching the end of its current term, is due to issue rulings in the coming days in major cases including the Trump administration’s bid to add a contentious citizenship question to the 2020 census and efforts by voters to curb the partisan manipulation of electoral district boundaries. The court, which has a 5-4 conservative …

South Carolina’s The State reports: Nearly all of the Democrats running for president are in Columbia Saturday where they will get a chance to make their pitch to voters. Twenty-two candidates are expected to speak at the S.C. Democratic Party Convention, and 20 will take the stage at the Planned Parenthood Action Fund presidential forum, the first of its kind …

NBC News reports: Multiple other Republican candidates have announced their own bids for the state’s Republican nomination to take on Jones in 2020. Moore told NBC News: “If people want them, they’ll elect them. But I have a strong base here. And they’ll elect me.” He said the potential addition of Jeff Sessions, who served as senator from Alabama prior …

The New York Times reports: While his 2020 rivals mingled with large friendly crowds at a Democratic fish fry in South Carolina Friday night, Mayor Pete Buttigieg found himself somewhere very different, wading into an emotional knot of protesters at the South Bend Police Department, some of whom cursed him, interrupted him and shouted a list of demands through a …