This archive report was first published on 1 September 2019.
Presidential Campaign Update ¶
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York has ended her presidential campaign, citing the importance of a voice on the debate stage. The Democratic field has narrowed to 20 candidates, with the next debate set for September 12 in Houston.
On August 28, Senator Gillibrand told our colleague Alex Burns that she didn’t see a way to win once it became clear she would fail to qualify for next month’s Democratic debate.
“I think being able to have a voice on a debate stage, when other candidates have that, is really important,” she said, “and without it, I just didn’t see our path.”
The next debate will feature 10 candidates, including former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who have not yet shared a debate stage.
Other candidates who qualified for the debate include Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., Julián Castro, the former housing secretary, Senator Kamala Harris of California, Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Former Representative Beto O’Rourke of Texas, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Andrew Yang, a tech entrepreneur, and Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, who criticized the debate qualification process.
Roller-Coaster Week in Polling ¶
The week began with a Monmouth University poll showing dramatic movement in the Democratic race, with Mr. Sanders and Ms. Warren at 20 percent each and Mr. Biden at 19 percent — down 13 percentage points from a Monmouth poll taken two months earlier.
However, after several other polls showed a picture much more in line with the Biden-leading status quo, Monmouth’s polling director, Patrick Murray, said it was clear that his survey had been an outlier.
Trump Gets a New Republican Challenger ¶
Former Representative Joe Walsh of Illinois announced a long-shot primary challenge to President Trump on Sunday.
Policy News ¶
Ms. Harris announced a new plan on Thursday focused on strengthening protections for people with disabilities. She promised to use executive action to ensure that federal agencies required funding recipients to prove that projects would be fully accessible before receiving money.
Mr. O’Rourke unveiled a “Trade For America” plan, which would end the trade wars begun by Mr. Trump and seek to modernize the World Trade Organization. Mr. Sanders released a media reform plan to protect journalists from what he said was “billionaire influence, corporate consolidation and Donald Trump’s assault on the free press.”
