1. Candidate lineup determined for second Democratic presidential debate
2. Three veto referendum efforts underway in Maine
3. Delaware, New York raise age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21

Candidate lineup determined for second Democratic presidential debate

The candidate lineup for the second Democratic presidential debate July 30 and 31 in Detroit, Michigan. Host network CNN determined the participants in a live, on-air drawing. 

Twenty candidates qualified for the debate, with 10 scheduled to participate each night. Here is the lineup of candidates for each night of the debate.

Here are the candidates for Tuesday, July 30:

• Steve Bullock

• Pete Buttigieg

• John Delaney

• John Hickenlooper

• Amy Klobuchar

• Beto O’Rourke

• Tim Ryan

• Bernie Sanders 

• Elizabeth Warren

• Marianne Williamson

The other half of the candidates will debate Wednesday, July 31:

• Michael Bennet

• Joe Biden

• Bill de Blasio 

• Cory Booker

• Julián Castro

• Tulsi Gabbard

• Kirsten Gillibrand

• Kamala Harris

• Jay Inslee

• Andrew Yang

Wayne Messam, Seth Moulton, Joe Sestak, and Tom Steyer did not reach the polling or fundraising qualification requirements for this debate. Mike Gravel achieved the fundraising threshold but did not make the debate stage because tiebreaker rules favored candidates who qualified via polling.

All 25 Democratic candidates will have to meet a new set of debate criteria to appear in the third presidential primary debate in September in Houston.

Candidates must reach 2 percent support or more in four qualifying national or early state polls and receive donations from at least 130,000 unique donors and a minimum of 400 unique donors per state in at least 20 states. Five candidates have qualified so far—Biden, Buttigieg, Harris, Sanders, and Warren.

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Three veto referendum efforts underway in Maine 

Three organizations have launched veto referendums in Maine since the legislature adjourned on June 20. A veto referendum is a type of citizen-initiated ballot measure that asks voters whether to uphold or repeal a law passed by the state legislature. Twenty-three states currently have a process for veto referendums at the statewide level. 

• Mainers for Health and Parental Rights is leading the campaign to overturn Legislative Document 798 (LD 798). LD 798 eliminates religious and philosophical, but not medical, exemptions from vaccination requirements for students to attend schools and colleges and employees of health care facilities. 

  The Maine House of Representatives passed LD 798 by a vote of 79-62.  The state Senate passed it 19-16. Most Democrats—74 out of 88 in the House and 18 of 21 in the Senate—voted in favor. Most Republicans—51 of 56 in the House and 13 of 14 in the Senate—voted against it. 

• Concerned Women for America of Maine is leading the campaign to overturn Legislative Document 820 (LD 820). LD 820 requires MaineCare—Maine’s Medicaid program—and private insurance companies that provide coverage for maternity services to also cover abortion services. LD 820 also allows religious employers to request an exemption from providing a health care plan that covers abortion services, except to preserve the life or health of the mother.

  The Maine House of Representatives passed LD 1313 by a vote of 82-59 with 79 Democrats and three independents voting in favor and 51 Republicans, six Democrats and 2 independents voting against. The Senate approved the legislation 19-16, with all votes in support coming from Democrats and all 14 Republicans joining two Democrats to oppose it. 

• The Maine Hospice Council filed a veto referendum against a law that legalized physician-assisted death in the state. Legislative Document 1313 (LD 1313) allows adults suffering from a terminal illness to request medications that can be self-administered to end his or her life. 

  LD 1313 passed by a 73-72 vote in the House. Sixty-eight Democrats joined one Republican and four independents to pass the measure. Fifty-three Republicans joined 17 Democrats and two independents voted against.  The Senate approved the law 19-16, with 18 Democrats and one Republican supporting it, and 13 Republicans and three Democrats opposing the measure.

  Maine became the eighth state to enact a law providing for physician-assisted death. Three of those states—Colorado (2016), Oregon (1994), and Washington (2008)—authorized physician-assisted death through citizen-initiated ballot measures. Voters in Maine rejected a physician-assisted death ballot initiative in 2000, 51.3% to 48.7%. 

The referendum campaigns have until September 18 to collect the 63,067 valid signatures required to earn a spot on the ballot. If the measures are certified, they could appear on the ballot either on November 5, 2019, or June 9, 2020, depending on when signatures are submitted and verified.

Since Maine adopted the referendum process in 1908, there have been 30 veto referendums on the ballot. Voters overturned 18 pieces of legislation and upheld 12. The last veto referendum was in 2018 when voters overturned legislation that would have postponed and repealed ranked-choice voting.

Delaware, New York raise age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21

A Delaware law increasing the minimum age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21 took effect July 16, becoming the 9th state to raise the age restriction since 2015.  

Gov. John Carney (D) signed the law April 17 after it passed the state House by a 25-16 vote and the state Senate by a 14-6 vote. 

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed legislation—also on July 16—to raise that state’s minimum age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21. The bill, which passed the state Assembly by a 120-26 vote and the state Senate by a 52-9 vote, takes effect November 13.

The minimum age to purchase or use tobacco is 18 in 38 states, 19 in three states, and 21 in the remaining nine. Eight states—including New York—that currently have a minimum age of 18 or 19 have enacted legislation that will raise the minimum age to 21. 

Tobacco age restrictions can take the form of limits on the sale of tobacco by age, limits on tobacco possession by age, or a combination of the two. New Jersey passed the first law regulating the sale of tobacco by age in 1883, setting a minimum age of 16. By 1920, 46 states had implemented an age limit for tobacco sales, of which 14 set the limit at 21. During the interwar period, state laws trended toward a limit of 18 years, and all states with a minimum age to purchase tobacco of 21 decreased it.