Newsletters – Page 3 – Ballotpedia News

January 14, 2020 at 2:31 PM

On Dec. 26, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that public-sector unions cannot be required to refund fees paid prior to Janus v. AFSCME. In Janus, the U.S. Supreme Court held that compulsory collection of union fees violates workers’ free-speech and associational rights.

Who are the parties to the suit? The plaintiffs are Dale Danielson, Benjamin Rast, and Tamara Roberson, all Washington state employees. The defendants are Gov. Jay Inslee (D), David Schumacher, Director of Washington State Office of Financial Management, and American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 28.

What is at issue? The plaintiffs first filed their class-action lawsuit on March 15, 2018 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. In their original filing, the plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of compulsory fee collection and sought refunds of “all agency fees that were unlawfully collected from Plaintiffs and their fellow class members.” On June 27, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Janus v. AFSCME. In light of Janus, AFSCME Council 28 requested that the district court dismiss the suit as moot. The district court granted this request. The plaintiffs appealed that decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

How did the court rule? On Dec. 26, a three-judge panel of the appeals court unanimously affirmed the district court’s decision. Judge Jacqueline Nguyen wrote the court’s opinion, which was joined by Judges Ronald Gould and Gregory Presnell. Nguyen wrote, “Throughout the country, public sector employees brought claims for monetary relief against the unions pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Many unions asserted a good faith defense in response. Joining a growing consensus, the district court here ruled in favor of the union. We affirm and hold that private parties may invoke an affirmative defense of good faith to retrospective monetary liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, where they acted in direct reliance on then-binding Supreme Court precedent and presumptively-valid state law.”

Nguyen was appointed to the court by President Barack Obama (D). Gould and Presnell were appointed by President Bill Clinton (D).

Case information: The case name and number are Danielson v. Inslee (3:18-cv-05206- RJB).

What we’ve been reading

The big picture

Number of relevant bills by state

We are currently tracking 49 pieces of legislation dealing with public-sector employee union policy. On the map below, a darker shade of green indicates a greater number of relevant bills. Click here for a complete list of all the bills we’re tracking.

Number of relevant bills by current legislative status

Number of relevant bills by partisan status of sponsor(s)

Recent legislative actions

Below is a complete list of relevant legislative actions taken since our last issue. Bills are listed in alphabetical order, first by state then by bill number.

Maine LD1960: This bill would make communications between municipal/state workers and their unions confidential in proceedings before the Maine Labor Relations Board.
- Introduced and referred to Judiciary Committee Jan. 8.
Missouri HB1906: This bill would require public employees to provide annual written or electronic authorization for payroll deductions of union dues.
- Introduced Jan. 8.
New Hampshire HB1290: This bill would require the state public employee labor relations board to permit employees to vote by mail in certification elections.
- Introduced and referred to House Labor, Industrial, and Rehabilitative Services Committee Jan. 8.
New Hampshire HB1322: This bill would prohibit university system funds from being used to oppose the formation of unions.
- Introduced and referred to House Labor, Industrial, and Rehabilitative Services Committee Jan. 8.
New Hampshire HB1399: This bill would allow a bargaining unit to request certification of its union/representative.
- Introduced and referred to House Labor, Industrial, and Rehabilitative Services Committee Jan. 8.
New Hampshire HB1554: This bill would provide for changes to public employee voting in certification elections.
- Introduced and referred to House Labor, Industrial, and Rehabilitative Services Committee Jan. 8.
New Hampshire SB448: This bill would require the state public employee labor relations board to certify a union as a bargaining unit’s exclusive representative if that union receives a “majority written authorization.”
- Introduced and referred to Senate Commerce Committee Jan. 8.
Virginia HB327: This bill would allow state and local government employers to recognize any union as the bargaining agent of any public employees.
- Introduced Jan. 1.
Virginia HB582: This bill would repeal the existing prohibition against collective bargaining by public employees.
- Introduced Jan. 1

Bold Justice: Here’s to a new year—and new cases!

By Sara Reynolds

In Newsletters

January 13, 2020 at 11:42 AM

We #SCOTUS, so you don’t have to

Arguments

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in five cases this week. Click here to read more about SCOTUS’ current term.

In its October 2018 term, SCOTUS heard arguments in 69 cases. Click here to read more about SCOTUS’ previous term.

Click the links below to read more about the specific cases SCOTUS will hear this week:

January 13

In Lucky Brand Dungarees v. Marcel Fashion Group, apparel companies Marcel Fashion Group, Inc. (“Marcel”) and Lucky Brand Dungarees, Inc. (“Lucky Brand”) filed several lawsuits against each other for trademark infringement. In 2011, Marcel sued Lucky Brand a third time for trademark infringement. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled a previous lawsuit barred Marcel from suing Lucky Brand. On appeal, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision.

On remand, Lucky Brand moved to dismiss the suit, arguing a previous legal settlement agreement barred Marcel from suing Lucky Brand. The district court agreed, dismissing the case. Marcel appealed to the 2nd Circuit, which vacated the Southern District of New York’s ruling and remanded the case a second time.

Lucky Brand appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing the 2nd Circuit’s decision conflicted with decisions from other circuit courts on similar issues.

The issue: Whether, when a plaintiff asserts new claims, federal preclusion principles—which are intended to prevent the same issue or claim from being relitigated between the same parties—can bar a defendant from raising defenses that were not actually litigated and resolved in any prior case between the parties.
In Thole v. U.S. Bank, James Thole and Sherry Smith sued U.S. Bank over its management of a defined benefit pension plan. Thole and Smith alleged the bank violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and engaged in prohibited transactions, causing the plan to become underfunded.

U.S. Bank sought to dismiss the case, arguing the plaintiffs did not have the legal right to sue and the statute of limitations had run out on the ERISA claims. The district court dismissed in part and granted in part U.S. Bank’s motion.

In 2014, the plan became overfunded. The district court dismissed the case as moot. Thole and Smith appealed to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, which affirmed the district court’s ruling.

The plaintiffs then petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case, arguing the 8th Circuit’s ruling conflicted with other circuit court decisions.

The issues:
(1) May an ERISA plan participant or beneficiary seek injunctive relief against fiduciary misconduct under 29 U.S.C. 1132(a)(3) without demonstrating actual or imminent financial loss?

(2) May an ERISA plan participant or beneficiary seek restoration of plan losses caused by fiduciary breach under 29 U.S.C. 1132(a)(2) demonstrating actual or imminent financial loss?

(3) Whether petitioners have demonstrated Article III standing.

29 U.S.C. 1132(a) deals with civil enforcement and says a participant or beneficiary can bring civil action to recover benefits, enforce or clarify rights, or ask for “appropriate relief.”

January 14

In Kelly v. United States, William Baroni and Bridget Kelly were convicted of defrauding federally funded programs, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, and conspiracy against civil rights.

Baroni and Kelly allegedly participated in a scheme to reduce local traffic lanes on the George Washington Bridge, which spans Fort Lee, New Jersey, and New York City, to punish Fort Lee’s mayor for refusing to endorse Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) 2013 re-election bid. The alleged scheme became known as “Bridgegate.”

Baroni and Kelly appealed their convictions to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. The 3rd Circuit affirmed the fraud convictions but reversed and vacated the civil rights convictions.

Kelly appealed the 3rd Circuit’s ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing the 3rd Circuit decision conflicted with U.S. Supreme Court precedent and decisions from other circuit courts.

The issue: Does a public official “defraud” the government of its property by advancing a “public policy reason” for an official decision that is not her subjective “real reason” for making the decision?

Romag Fasteners v. Fossil concerns federal trademark law. Romag Fasteners, Inc., sued Fossil for patent and trademark infringement in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut. A jury found Fossil guilty of unintentional patent and trademark infringement. The jury decided Fossil should pay more than $6.8 million in profits to Romag.

In a separate trial, the district court ruled Romag was not entitled to receive profits because Fossil’s infringement was unintentional.

On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling that the infringement was unintentional.

Romag appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the court to clarify a circuit court split on requiring proof of willful infringement for rewarding profits.

The issue: Whether, under section 35 of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1117(a), willful infringement is a prerequisite for an award of an infringer’s profits for a violation of section 43(a), id. § 1125(a).

The Lanham Act provides for a national system of trademark registration and trademark protection for federally registered marks.

January 15

In Babb v. Wilkie, Dr. Noris Babb, a pharmacist working at the VA Medical Center in Bay Pines, Florida, sued the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) secretary, alleging age and gender discrimination and a hostile work environment. The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida rejected Babb’s claims, granting summary judgment to the VA secretary.

On appeal, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the district court’s ruling on Babb’s gender discrimination claim and affirmed the district court’s ruling on Babb’s age discrimination and hostile work environment claims. The court remanded the case.

Babb petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for review, arguing the 11th Circuit’s decision disadvantaged federal employees bringing discrimination claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967.

The issue: Whether the federal-sector provision of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, which provides that personnel actions affecting agency employees aged 40 years or older shall be made free from any “discrimination based on age,” 29 U.S.C. §633a(a), requires a plaintiff to prove that age was a but-for cause of the challenged personnel action.

But-for causation indicates that but for an action, the result would not have happened.

Upcoming SCOTUS dates

Here are upcoming dates of interest in January:

January 13:
- SCOTUS will release orders.
- SCOTUS will hear arguments in two cases.
January 14: SCOTUS will hear arguments in two cases.
January 15: SCOTUS will hear arguments in one case.
January 17: SCOTUS will conference. A conference is a private meeting of the justices.

SCOTUS trivia

The Supreme Court originally had only six justices. Your question for the week: Who was the first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court?

Choose an answer to find out!

Federal court action

Confirmations

The Senate has confirmed 15 nominees since our December 9 issue.

Patrick Bumatay and Lawrence VanDyke, confirmed to two seats on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. After they received their judicial commissions, the court had:
- No vacancies.
- 13 Republican-appointed judges and 16 Democrat-appointed judges.
Matthew McFarland, confirmed to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. After he received his judicial commission, the court had:
- One vacancy.
- Four Republican-appointed judges and three Democrat-appointed judges.
Anuraag Singhal, confirmed to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. After he received his judicial commission, the court had:
- One vacancy.
- Ten Republican-appointed judges and seven Democrat-appointed judges.
Bernard Jones and Jodi Dishman, confirmed to two seats on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. After they received their judicial commissions, the court had:
- One vacancy.
- Six Republican-appointed judges and no Democrat-appointed judges.
Kea Riggs, confirmed to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. After she received her judicial commission, the court had:
- Two vacancies.
- Three Republican-appointed judges and two Democrat-appointed judges.
Daniel Traynor, confirmed to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota. After he received his judicial commission, the court had:
- One vacancy
- One Republican-appointed judge and no Democrat-appointed judges.
Stephanie Dawkins Davis, confirmed to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. After she received her judicial commission, the court had:
- No vacancies.
- Four Republican-appointed judges and 11 Democrat-appointed judges.
Robert J. Colville, confirmed to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. After he received his judicial commission, the court had:
- Two vacancies
- Six Republican-appointed judges and two Democrat-appointed judges.
Karen Marston and John Gallagher, confirmed to two seats on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. After they received their judicial commissions, the court had:
- One vacancy.
- 12 Republican-appointed judges and nine Democrat-appointed judges.
Mary Kay Vyskocil and Lewis Liman, confirmed to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. After they received their judicial commissions, the court had:
- Four vacancies.
- Five Republican-appointed judges and 19 Democrat-appointed judges.
Gary R. Brown, confirmed to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. After he received his judicial commission, the court had:
- Two vacancies.
- Seven Republican-appointed judges and six Democrat-appointed judges.

Overall, the Senate has confirmed 187 of President Trump’s judicial nominees—133 district court judges, 50 appeals court judges, two Court of International Trade judges, and two Supreme Court justices—since January 2017.

Nominations

President Trump has announced four new Article III nominees since our December 9 edition.

John Badalamenti of Florida to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
Stephen McGlynn of Illinois to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.
Thomas Cullen of Virginia to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia.
Anna Manasco of Alabama to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

The president has announced 238 Article III judicial nominations since taking office January 20, 2017. The president named 69 judicial nominees in 2017, 92 in 2018, and 77 in 2019. For more information on the president’s judicial nominees, click here.

Vacancies

The federal judiciary currently has 81 vacancies. As of publication, there were 16 pending nominations.

According to the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts, an additional 12 judges have announced their intention to leave active judicial status during Trump’s first term.

For more information on judicial vacancies during Trump’s first term, click here.

Committee action

The Senate Judiciary Committee has not reported any new nominees out of committee since our December 9 edition.

Do you love judicial nomination, confirmation, and vacancy information? We figured you might. Our monthly Federal Vacancy Count, published at the start of each month, monitors all the faces and places moving in, moving out, and moving on in the federal judiciary. Click here for our most current count.

Need a daily fix of judicial nomination, confirmation, and vacancy information? Click here for continuing updates on the status of all federal judicial nominees.

Or, if you prefer, we also maintain a list of individuals President Trump has nominated.

Court in the spotlight

In each issue of Bold Justice, we highlight a federal court you should know more about. Right now, we’re taking a closer look at the 94 U.S. District Courts. The district courts are the general trial courts of the U.S. federal court system.

There is at least one judicial district for each state, and one each for Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.

In this edition, we’re visiting the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. The District of New Jersey has original jurisdiction over cases filed in New Jersey. Decisions of the court may be appealed to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals.

The District of New Jersey has 17 authorized judgeships. There are currently six vacancies. The breakdown of current active judges by appointing president is:

George W. Bush (R): Four judges
Barack Obama (D): Seven judges

Williamson ends presidential campaign

By Emily Aubert

In Newsletters

January 13, 2020 at 10:16 AM

Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing

January 13, 2020: Marianne Williamson ended her presidential campaign on Friday. Tom Steyer has the largest staff in South Carolina.

What is the latest month in which a major party held a presidential nominating convention?

Notable Quotes of the Day

“It would surprise me if an underdog won. At this point, it would be near-impossible for someone to beat Biden, Warren, Buttigieg and Sanders, given their campaign and field operation. The other surprising thing could be the number of voters who are unaffiliated with a party who take Democratic ballots in the open primary. That will go up significantly, and if not, that would be very surprising.”

– Melanie Levesque, New Hampshire state senator

“At this point in 2016, Sanders was at 50 percent in the polls. He ended up winning with about 61 percent. Now he’s in the mid-20s. That’s a pretty significant loss of support, yet the media seems to think he is doing well. The media is also missing the potential that there may be no clear winner here. Any candidate who finishes with more than 15 percent of the vote picks up delegates under the party rules. Let’s say there are four people who win delegates, then we’re on to Nevada and South Carolina!”

– Kathy Sullivan, former New Hampshire Democratic Party chairwoman

Democrats

Michael Bennet campaigned in New Hampshire on Sunday with stops in Manchester and Bedford.
Rep. Colin Allred (Texas), who previously backed Julián Castro, endorsed Joe Biden on Monday.
Michael Bloomberg wrote an op-ed for CNN on the primary calendar, critiquing Iowa’s and New Hampshire’s status as the first states to vote.
Rep. Dave Loebsack (Iowa) endorsed Pete Buttigieg on Sunday.
John Delaney continues to campaign in Iowa with stops in Griswold and Cumberland on Monday.
Tulsi Gabbard will campaign in South Carolina on Monday with a stop in Lexington.
Amy Klobuchar launched a six-figure ad campaign in Iowa for three versions of a clip called “People.” Two ads feature state Sen. Liz Mathis and state Rep. Ruth Ann Gaines.
Deval Patrick raised $2.2 million in the last six weeks of the fourth quarter of 2019.
SEA/SEIU Local 1984 in New Hampshire endorsed Bernie Sanders, splitting from its national affiliate which has remained neutral in the primary.
With 82 paid staffers, Tom Steyer has the largest staff in South Carolina, according to a survey by The Post and Courier. Sanders and Buttigieg followed with 72 and 50 staffers, respectively.
Elizabeth Warren discussed defense spending and military issues in an interview with Task and Purpose.
Marianne Williamson ended her presidential campaign on Friday. “The primaries might be tightly contested among the top contenders, and I don’t want to get in the way of a progressive candidate winning any of them,” she said in a statement.
Andrew Yang is holding town halls in Iowa on Monday and Tuesday. Stops include Newton, Des Moines, and Ames.

Republicans

Donald Trump discussed the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and impeachment in an interview on Fox News on Friday. McClatchy DC profiled the Trump campaign’s microtargeting of undecided women voters.
Bill Weld will speak at an economic forum sponsored by the Community College System of New Hampshire on Tuesday.

What We’re Reading

Flashback: January 13, 2016

As part of a $4.6 million ad buy, Jeb Bush released an ad focused on drug policy and his daughter’s experience with addiction.

Click here to learn more.

Ballotpedia’s Weekly Presidential News Briefing: January 4-10, 2020

By Emily Aubert

In Newsletters

January 10, 2020 at 1:39 PM

Ballotpedia's Weekly Presidential News Briefing

Every weekday, Ballotpedia tracks the events that matter in the 2020 presidential election.

Now, we’re bringing you the highlights from our daily briefings in a weekly format so you can stay up-to-date on the 2020 election with one weekly email.

Here’s the latest from the campaign trail.

State Spotlight

Notable Quotes of the Week

“But past presidential cycles may well look more predictable in hindsight than they were in real time. …

For example, few look back on 2012 as a highly suspenseful cycle. But eight years ago, it was far from clear that Obama would win a second term. In mid-December 2011, his approval in the Gallup Poll was just 42%, 3 points lower than the latest Trump reading in the Gallup this month.

Back then, on the Republican side, half a dozen contenders topped the polls for at least a week or two late in 2011 and it took months to winnow the field. The nomination fell to Mitt Romney, who ran a creditable race and had a plausible scenario for winning through October. On election night, his staff was so confident that they did not even prepare a concession speech in case he lost.”

– Ron Elving, NPR News

“In the new year, with the caucuses rapidly approaching, no candidate (save for Delaney) is embarking on an Iowa-or-bust strategy. Back in 2008, between Dec. 1 and the caucuses on Jan. 3, the top candidates spent at least 23 of the campaign’s final 34 days in Iowa. But this month, Buttigieg isn’t scheduled to return until Jan. 12, and in the meantime has spent three days in the Super Tuesday state of Texas. After a couple of days in Iowa at the start of the year, Klobuchar went to Nevada and New Hampshire. Sanders left last Sunday and won’t be back until this Saturday. For the first half of the month, Warren is campaigning in the state only on the weekends, while last Tuesday she held a rally with Julián Castro in New York. Biden hasn’t been to Iowa since Sunday, relying for now on a bus tour of surrogates.”

– Bill Scher, Politico

Week in Review

Steyer sixth candidate to qualify for Jan. 14 debate

Six candidates have qualified for the Democratic presidential primary debate on Jan. 14: Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, and Elizabeth Warren.

Steyer qualified late Thursday after two Fox News polls in South Carolina and Nevada showed him at 15 percent and 12 percent, respectively.

Wolf Blitzer, Abby Phillip, and Brianne Pfannenstiel will moderate the event at Drake University in Iowa. The deadline to qualify is Friday.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said that the debate would be rescheduled if it conflicted with the impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate.

Trump, Sanders top Q4 fundraising

Year-end financial reports are due Jan. 31 to the Federal Election Commission. Several candidates have released their fourth-quarter numbers early:

Bernie Sanders: $34.5 million
Pete Buttigieg: $24.7 million
Joe Biden: $22.7 million
Elizabeth Warren: $21.2 million
Andrew Yang: $16.5 million
Amy Klobuchar: $11.4 million
Cory Booker: $6.6 million
Tulsi Gabbard: $3.4 million

Donald Trump topped all Democrats, bringing in $46 million in the fourth quarter. This total surpasses Barack Obama’s fourth-quarter haul in 2011 by $4 million.

Trump, Bloomberg spend $10M each on Superbowl ads

Donald Trump and Michael Bloomberg are both spending $10 million each on 60 seconds of airtime during the Super Bowl on Feb. 2.

The first voting contest of the year takes place the following day in Iowa on Feb. 3.

Bloomberg has also expanded his campaign staff to 800 employees, hiring 500 organizers and staff members in more than 30 states across the country. Another 300 staffers work at his national headquarters in New York City.

Congressional endorsements take center stage

Reps. Chrissy Houlahan and Conor Lamb—both from battleground districts in Pennsylvania—and Elaine Luria (Va.) endorsed Joe Biden on Sunday.

Rep. Anthony Brown (Md.) endorsed Pete Buttigieg on Thursday. Brown, the first member of the Congressional Black Caucus to back Buttigieg, will serve as his campaign’s first national co-chair.

Bernie Sanders is holding several campaign events in Iowa on Saturday and Sunday with Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ro Khanna.

Over the weekend, Elizabeth Warren is also holding campaign events in Iowa with former 2020 presidential candidate Julián Castro and Rep. Katie Porter.

Want more? Find the daily details here:

Poll Spotlight

Staff Spotlight

Gabrielle Farrell is a Democratic staffer with experience in political communication. She previously worked as press secretary on Warren’s 2018 U.S. Senate campaign. Farrell received a bachelor’s degree from Bryn Mawr College in 2012 and a master’s from Northeastern University in 2017.

Previous campaign work:

2018 Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) U.S. Senate campaign, press secretary
2017 Martin Walsh (Mass.) Boston mayoral campaign, press secretary

Other experience:

2018: New Hampshire Democratic Party, director of communications
2016-2017: Boston Public Schools, deputy chief of staff, communications
2014-2016: Office of Mayor Martin J. Walsh
- 2015-2016: Associate press secretary
- 2014-2015: Press assistant
2012-2014: Project Bread
- 2013-2014: External affairs associate
- 2012-2013: Communications associate

What We’re Reading

FiveThirtyEight: Who Will Win The 2020 Democratic Nomination?

Flashback: January 6-10, 2016

January 6, 2016: Gary Johnson, who previously served as the Republican governor of New Mexico, announced he was running for the Libertarian nomination for president.
January 7, 2016: Planned Parenthood endorsed Hillary Clinton, marking the first-ever presidential primary endorsement from the organization.
January 8, 2016: Politico reported polling showed that Donald Trump’s based extended beyond “conservative, blue-collar men … to pro-choice Republicans, independents and even registered Democrats unnerved, primarily, by illegal immigration.”
January 9, 2016: Ed Brookover, a former national field director for the Republican National Committee, replaced Barry Bennett as Ben Carson’s campaign manager.
January 10, 2016: White House Chief of Staff Dennis McDonough said that President Barack Obama would wait until the general election to support a candidate. “We’ll do exactly what has been done in the past, which is when the nominee will be set, then the President will be out there,” McDonough said.

Trivia Corner

Four states are tied for the most Democratic wins in presidential elections since 1900. Which of the following is not one of them?

Click here to learn more.

Steyer qualifies for January debate with double-digit showing in S.C. and Nevada

By Emily Aubert

In Newsletters

January 10, 2020 at 12:15 PM

January 10, 2020: Six candidates have qualified for Tuesday’s Democratic presidential primary debate. Donald Trump focused on the economy, the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, and Democratic primary candidates at his rally in Ohio.

Each Friday, we highlight a presidential candidate’s key campaign staffer.

Daily Presidential News Briefing, Staffer Spotlight - Gabrielle Farrell

Previous campaign work:

2018 Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) U.S. Senate campaign, press secretary
2017 Martin Walsh (Mass.) Boston mayoral campaign, press secretary

Other experience:

2018: New Hampshire Democratic Party, director of communications
2016-2017: Boston Public Schools, deputy chief of staff, communications
2014-2016: Office of Mayor Martin J. Walsh
- 2015-2016: Associate press secretary
- 2014-2015: Press assistant
2012-2014: Project Bread
- 2013-2014: External affairs associate
- 2012-2013: Communications associate

Notable Quote of the Day

“With Iowa very much up for grabs — no single Democrat has emerged as a dominant front-runner here — the state’s small but growing population of Latinos is getting unprecedented attention. … In party caucuses where fewer than 172,000 people voted in the last presidential cycle, the Democratic candidates figure that driving up turnout even modestly among the roughly 80,000 eligible Iowa Latinos could tip the balance.”

– Evan Halper, The San Diego Union-Tribune