2020 Daily Trail Markers: Democrats look beyond first debate
FROM THE CANDIDATES
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS: CBS News campaign reporter Stephanie Ramirez reports that in the hours leading up to the second round of the first 2020 Democratic debate, Harris' congressional office spent the day pumping-out a couple Senate-related actions. In the various press releases, Harris joined New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez and several other lawmakers in calling for the president to grant temporary protected status (TPS) to Venezuelans. She and other colleagues also issued a press release introducing what she called "the first ever bipartisan U.S. Senate resolution to honor the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall uprising." Harris is expected to show her prosecutorial questioning and debating skills on the stage in Miami tonight.
GOV. JOHN HICKENLOOPER: The former Colorado governor spent a few hours before tonight's debate taking questions in an "Ask Me Anything" session on Reddit. Some of the questions ranged from igneous rocks (a geologist question) to why he is not running for Senate instead of president. Ramirez says Hickenlooper also faced online criticism for welcoming the legalization of Marijuana in his run for president. Critics have pointed out that Hickenlooper was originally against legalizing recreational marijuana when the issue came up in Colorado. Hickenlooper, in his answer, also called on the federal government to study marijuana use and update banking laws around marijuana. He wants the criminal justice system to expunge and reduce sentences for those who have been convicted for low-level, non-violent marijuana offenses. Supporters can expect Hickenlooper to call for a rejection of "democratic socialism" while on stage against a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
BETO O'ROURKE: CBS News campaign reporter LaCrai Mitchell reports that South Carolina Rep. Marvin Pendarvis says it was an experience of a lifetime to be invited to the Democratic debate as a guest of candidate Beto O'Rourke. While some reports noted that O'Rourke did not have the breakout moment that some say he needed, surrogate Pendarvis disagreed, saying he thinks he did well on the issues of climate change, health care and immigration policy reform. "Going into the debate, he needed to stay on message on the issues that he'd always been talking about on the campaign trail," said Pendarvis. "And so if you look at some of his answers to those questions, I think he stayed on message despite some attempts by some of the other candidates to get him off message."
STATELY COVERAGE
DOWN SOUTH: As the Supreme Court handed down a ruling on gerrymandering, which will leave the issue of drawing congressional districts to the states, South Carolina's state parties weighed in on the decision. Mitchell says South Carolina GOP chairman Drew McKissick says that politics don't have a place in the courts and that today's ruling is a win for keeping the judiciary out of politics. "While Democrats will continue to try and win in court because they can't win at the ballot box, I agree with the majority opinion which stated that the solution does not lie with the federal judiciary," said McKissick.
On the other side of the aisle, South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Trav Robertson Jr. released a statement as well, stating the court's ruling is a slap in the face to American democracy. "Republicans will continue their shell game by creating super-majority districts to silence communities of color and artificially boost the number of GOP seats," said Robertson. "The fact is that fair redistricting means less seats for Republicans and they are more concerned with winning than with preserving our democracy."
The Supreme Court ruled on a North Carolina case in which districts were drawn by the state's Republican-controlled legislature. Pendarvis, the Democratic congressman, said today's ruling will likely play to the benefit of the state GOP.
"In a state where Democrats have been in the minority for some time and every election many seats go unchallenged because of the makeup of the maps, I would imagine it's going to continue to embolden our own legislature," said Pendarvis. "It's unfortunate because it doesn't give Democrats any political cover to be able to seek any guidance from the Supreme Court as to exactly how they'd rule on such a thing."
MONEY MATTERS
ON THE $$$: Recode published figures on Wednesday illustrating where donations from employees of tech giants ended up in the last quarter. CBS News campaign reporter Alex Tin says some are no surprise, like Washington Gov. Jay Inslee leading among Washington-based Amazon and Microsoft. Harris ranks towards the top among California-based Facebook and Twitter. But New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker also received a significant amount of donations, whose Stanford credentials and (sometimes fraught) Silicon Valley ties are well-documented. And over at Google, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders far outstrip their West Coast 2020 competitors.
Joe Biden may give these candidates a race for their money this Friday when he heads to the Bay Area for a fundraising sweep. But with some events reportedly hosted by former tech company executives and investors, the former vice president could be competing for donors who run in different circles than the engineers and designers donating to Warren and Sanders. Most of the top Warren and Sanders donors are infrequent political contributors at best, some with little to no donations on record from the 2016 presidential race.
