Matt Stevens and Maggie Astor

‘Clearly not my time’

Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York, who entered the Democratic presidential race on the hopes that his brand of urban progressive leadership could appeal on a national scale, said Friday that he was ending his candidacy.

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.”

A big day for Warren

Monday was big for Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

She received the endorsement of the Working Families Party, a labor-aligned progressive group that endorsed Sen. 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.

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,” 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.”

Sanders shakes up his operation

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

Sanders, who hails from neighboring Vermont, almost certainly must win New Hampshire again 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.

‘A sham process’: Democrats call for Kavanaugh’s impeachment

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

Warren, Sanders and Sen. 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,” Harris wrote.

Former Vice President Joe Biden 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 FBI to ignore evidence.”

Regulating marijuana like alcohol

Former Rep. 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 O’Rourke, support full legalization. But six candidates — Biden, Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, Mayor Wayne Messam of Miramar, Florida, and former Rep. Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania — want to leave the question of legalization up to the states.

In other policy news:

— Sen. 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, Indiana, 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.

— 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.

— 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% or 1 1/2 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 1 million annual participants by 2025.

Overheard on the campaign trail?

“I’m moving to Iowa,” Harris joked in a comment to Sen. 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.

Harris’ remark came as her campaign announced a new push in the state. In a call with reporters Thursday morning, aides said they hoped to position Harris for a late-breaking Iowa surge. And they set a firm target: a top-three finish.

Harris’ team sent out a fundraising email based on her quip. And, of course, there are already T-shirts.

This article originally appeared in

De Blasio Bows Out, Warren's Big Speech: This Week in the 2020 Race

The Democratic field got a little bit smaller this past week, shrinking to 19 candidates. Here’s our weekly catch-up on the 2020 election and some moments you may have missed.

Every Saturday morning, we’re publishing “This Week in the 2020 Race,” bringing you the key moments — from speeches and surprises among the candidates to new policies and polls that are influencing the campaign.

It’s a quick way to follow the presidential campaign and the sprawling field of 23 Democratic candidates. Trust us, we know how hard it is to keep up.

The debate lineups take shape

After countless pleas to donors from candidates, much media prognostication and more than a little complaining, the Democratic National Committee pared the historically large field of presidential candidates who will appear in the first debates to 20. (Sorry, Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana, Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts and Mayor Wayne Messam of Miramar, Florida.)

Then NBC News stepped in Friday and set the lineups for the pair of debates, which are slated for later this month in Miami.

The second night will be stacked: Former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Sen. Kamala Harris of California and Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, will share the stage June 27.

The first night will be, well, less stacked, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts seems poised to dominate. She’ll square off against former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and others June 26.

Trump and Biden spar in Iowa

According to Biden, President Donald Trump poses “an existential threat” to the country, its international standing and its values.

Biden, Trump said, was “a loser,” “a sleepy guy” and “the weakest mentally” — a candidate whom “people don’t respect.”

Our colleagues in Iowa followed Biden and Trump as they traveled through the battleground state Tuesday, calling it “the most ferocious day of attacks in the 6-month-old presidential campaign” — and one that offered voters a preview of what a general election matchup between the two men might look like.

Sanders leans in to democratic socialism

In an aggressive attempt to defuse voter concerns about his electability, Sanders sought to define his brand of democratic socialism in a speech in Washington on Wednesday.

Sanders presented his vision of the ideology not as a set of extreme principles, but as a matter of “economic rights.” And he argued that his core political beliefs are embodied by long-standing, popular programs like Social Security and Medicare.

“Today in the 21st century, we must take up the unfinished business of the New Deal and carry it to completion,” he said.

Insights from a pair of polls

It can seem like a new poll is released every day, and national polls may not tell us much about an election in which states carry the weight.

But we were struck by a new Quinnipiac University poll that showed only 10 candidates for the Democratic nomination registering any support. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Julián Castro, the former housing secretary, were among those who failed to reach the 1% mark.

Monmouth University also released its first survey of Nevada Democratic voters this past week, which showed Warren ahead of Sanders in the state. She trailed only Biden, who maintained a comfortable lead in Nevada, a key early-voting state.

A plan to address lead poisoning

Remember Flint? At least one candidate does.

Last weekend, Castro became the first Democratic presidential candidate to visit Flint, Michigan. Then, on Monday, he released a plan to combat lead poisoning. The plan called for a presidential task force to examine the major public health issue, as well as for increases in funding for lead remediation.

The proposal from Castro, who also participated in a Fox News town hall during the week, at least momentarily placed the spotlight back on the clean water crisis in Flint. More than five years in, it’s still far from over. As The Times reported earlier this year, the mayor of Flint is still telling residents to drink only bottled or filtered water.

“We’re back to where we first started, where we’re yelling and screaming,” a community advocate, Melissa Mays, said. “And it seems like nobody can hear us.”

And in other policy news:

— O’Rourke released a plan to protect LGBTQ rights, as well as a voter registration tool kit.

— Harris released what she called a “road map to citizenship” for the hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers.

— And Warren said she would create a “Small Business Equity Fund” of $7 billion to help level the playing field for entrepreneurs of color.

Democratic Debates, Sanders on Socialism, New Polls: This Week in the 2020 Race

We’re trying something new in our 2020 presidential campaign coverage.

Democratic debates, sanders on socialism, new polls: This week in the 2020 race

Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana, Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts and Mayor Wayne Messam of Miramar, Florida, did not qualify, and will be left out of the debates June 26-27 in Miami, according to a news release sent out Thursday night.

The candidates who made the cut — a full list appears at the end of this article — did so by registering 1% support in three polls, receiving donations from 65,000 people, or both.

To determine the 10-candidate lineup for each debate, the committee has said it will evenly and randomly divide top-tier candidates across the two nights. NBC News, which is moderating the first debates, will select the lineups Friday.

The June debates will be the first time many Americans see the Democratic field. For candidates outside the top tier, the debates present a chance for a breakout moment — though they will have to fight for airtime with nine other people on the stage each night.

Bullock, who kicked off his campaign May 14, has been outspoken about his displeasure with the party and the methods it used to pare down the field. In emails to donors, he complained vociferously after a poll that would have helped qualify him for the debates was excluded from consideration. And on Thursday, Bullock’s campaign said it had lobbied the DNC for inclusion in the debates one more time, arguing again that the disqualified poll should be counted

Two other polls released this week gave Bullock a pair of additional chances to meet the threshold. Had he received 1% support in either of those polls, Bullock would have become the 21st candidate to qualify for the June debates, and that would have forced officials to employ tiebreakers to determine which candidate would be excluded.

In anticipation of the bad news expected Thursday, he put out a statement emphasizing, as he has repeatedly over the past few weeks, that he had delayed entering the race in order to work with the Montana Legislature to renew the state’s Medicaid expansion.

“While 20 candidates are on the debate stage in Miami, I will be talking directly to voters about my record of passing progressive priorities in a state Trump won, the importance of winning the places we lost, and how we are going to beat Donald Trump once and for all,” Bullock said.

Moulton has yet to garner 1% of support in any qualifying poll since he began his campaign to become the Democratic nominee in April. This week, a spokesman for the campaign declined to say how many people had donated.

“I knew that getting in so late that I’d probably miss the first debate,” Moulton said Thursday. “The DNC debates are not going to determine the nominee. The American people are.”

He added, “I recognize I have to play a bit of catch-up, but I don’t have any regrets for getting in late.”

Messam has also struggled to gain attention, having reached the 1% threshold in only one poll. The campaign did not respond to requests for comment this week about its fundraising efforts and Messam’s status in the debates.

The uphill climb toward the nomination is only getting steeper for long shot candidates like Bullock, Moulton and Messam.

About two weeks ago, the Democratic National Committee announced that it would toughen the requirements for participation in the fall debates. To qualify for the party’s third debate, scheduled for mid-September, candidates will have to attract donations from 130,000 individuals and register at least 2% in four state or national polls from a list of approved surveys.

More than half of the sprawling field is at risk of falling short of that threshold, and news of the more stringent rules sent shock waves through the campaigns on the margins. Some of the most vulnerable candidates have argued that the standard forces them to spend time and money recruiting donors, rather than investing in staff or online advertising.

“We set forth the rules early,” Tom Perez, the party chairman, told The Times this week. “We communicated them clearly to everybody. We got no objections when we communicated the rules of participation.”

But that has not stopped some candidates from complaining. Some have maintained that party officials are winnowing the field far too early, or that the mechanics of qualifying for the debates are unfair. Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington has insisted — to little avail — that party officials reserve a debate exclusively for climate change.

“I believe everybody is, in fact, getting a fair shake,” Perez said. “At the end of the day it’s going to be up to voters.”

The 20 candidates who appear to have qualified, in alphabetical order, are: Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado; former Vice President Joe Biden; Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey; Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana; former Housing Secretary Julián Castro; Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York; former Rep. John Delaney of Maryland; Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii; Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York; Sen. Kamala Harris of California; former Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado; Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington; Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota; former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas; Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio; Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont; Rep. Eric Swalwell of California; Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts; self-help author Marianne Williamson; and former tech executive Andrew Yang.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/13/us/politics/democratic-debates-2020.html" id="ec275a6d-546d-3ac0-a2a1-cc2d3b021b11">The New York Times</a>.

3 Democrats Fail to Make Cut for the First Debates

The Democratic National Committee announced the candidates who qualified for the first debates of the 2020 presidential campaign Thursday, chopping the historically large field of 23 contenders down to the 20 available slots.

3 Democrats fail to make cut for the first debates

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Matt Stevens and Maggie Astor

Articles written by the author

De Blasio Bows Out, Warren's Big Speech: This Week in the 2020 Race

Democratic debates, sanders on socialism, new polls: This week in the 2020 race

3 Democrats fail to make cut for the first debates