Maggie Astor and Matt Stevens

<h1>Every Saturday, The New York Times is publishing “This Week in the 2020 Race”: a quick way to catch up on the presidential campaign and the field of 24 candidates for the Democratic nomination.</h1>

One candidate walks out, one candidate walks in

Three months to the day after he announced his presidential campaign, saying he was “burning the boats” behind him and would not run for reelection to Congress, Rep. Eric Swalwell of California ended his presidential campaign and said he would run for reelection to Congress.

Less than 24 hours later, California billionaire Tom Steyer — who had said in January that he would not run for president — said he would run for president, because the 2020 gods have decreed that the Democratic field shall not dip below two dozen.

Swalwell had centered his campaign on reducing gun violence, calling, among other things, for a mandatory federal buyback of assault weapons. But while gun control has been a much bigger issue in the 2020 race than in previous cycles, it was not enough to get Swalwell past 1% in the polls.

Steyer, the new entrant, is best known for his activism around climate change and for his efforts to persuade Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. He says he will spend $100 million on his campaign. That’s more than the five highest-polling Democrats have raised in the past three months combined.

Racial equity took center stage at the Essence Festival

Seven presidential candidates spoke last weekend at the Essence Festival, an annual music and culture event geared toward black women.

Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts used the occasion to introduce new proposals aimed at closing the racial wealth gap.

The centerpiece of Harris’ plan is a $100 billion fund to help people of color buy homes in historically redlined communities. She says it would help up to 4 million families or individuals with down payments and closing costs.

Warren called for new requirements for the recipients of the $500 billion in contracts the federal government awards each year: Contractors would have to pay women and people of color equally and would be barred from asking about past salaries and criminal records.

Also at the festival were Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado and Cory Booker of New Jersey, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas, and Mayors Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, and Bill de Blasio of New York.

Showing us the money

We learned a bit more about some of the candidates’ finances this past week, with new information about Warren’s second-quarter fundraising and former Vice President Joe Biden’s personal wealth.

On Monday, Warren’s campaign announced that she had raised $19.1 million in the past three months. At the moment, that puts her behind only Biden and Buttigieg for that period.

Then, on Tuesday, Biden’s campaign released his tax returns. The documents showed that Biden and his wife, Jill, reported an adjusted gross income of about $11 million in 2017 and $4.6 million in 2018 — far more than any of his major primary opponents. Harris and her husband have reported the next-highest income: $3.4 million over those two years.

A few debate updates

This week we learned that the third set of Democratic primary debates will be held in Houston. The city will play host to what could be a two-night event on Sept. 12 and 13. The debate (or debates) will be broadcast by ABC News and the Spanish-language network Univision.

The Democratic National Committee has tightened the requirements for the ABC debate such that less than half of the current 24-person field is likely to qualify. As a result, it could look and feel significantly different than the June debates and the ones coming up this month in Detroit.

We also got more information this week about those Detroit debates, which CNN will broadcast on July 30 and 31. They will be moderated by two of the network’s leading political correspondents, Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, along with prime-time anchor Don Lemon. And in a move borrowed from the world of reality television, CNN will broadcast a live drawing on July 18 in prime time to determine which of the qualifying candidates will appear on which night.

Warren has another plan, on immigration

Warren unveiled a key element of her policy agenda Thursday, a detailed proposal to overhaul the country’s immigration system.

She would seek to decriminalize unauthorized border crossings, establish judicial review for immigration cases and create an “Office of New Americans” that would provide services to immigrants transitioning into American society.

A Warren administration, she said, would also investigate allegations of criminal abuse of immigrants under the Trump administration and would allow far more refugees into the country.

Much of the rest of her plan, which she posted on Medium, is similar to what other candidates have suggested. She seeks to reverse what she calls “bigoted” policies imposed by the Trump administration, expand pathways to citizenship for immigrants and spend more on aid to Central America to help address the root causes of migration.

“Donald Trump wants to divide us — to pit worker against worker, neighbor against neighbor,” Warren wrote. “We can be better than this.”

In other policy news:

— Buttigieg, whose campaign is struggling to appeal to African-American voters, released a plan to “dismantle racist structures and systems” in the government. His goals include eliminating federal incarceration for drug possession and reducing sentences for other drug offenses; legalizing marijuana at the federal level; and abolishing the death penalty and mandatory minimum sentencing.

— Harris wants to provide $1 billion to eliminate rape kit backlogs and prevent future ones. To receive funding, states would have to report, every year, how many untested rape kits they had; process all new kits within a certain period of time; give victims status reports on their rape kits; and make the kits more accessible in rural areas.

— Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota released a “plan for seniors” that addresses Alzheimer’s disease, prescription drug costs and financial security in retirement. She is proposing more funding for caregivers, and for research on Alzheimer’s and other chronic conditions. Her plan also includes a perennial Democratic call to allow the government to negotiate prices directly with pharmaceutical companies, and a provision that would effectively increase Social Security taxes for wealthy Americans.

— Steyer introduced his first proposal, with the lofty goal of “fixing the broken political system in Washington.” The plan, which he described in a video, calls for imposing congressional term limits, establishing independent redistricting commissions to prevent gerrymandering, reversing the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling and introducing a “vote-at-home system.”

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/13/us/politics/2020-democrats-tom-steyer-houston-debate.html" link="null" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.

One Candidate In, One Candidate Out: This Week in the 2020 Race

Less than 24 hours later, California billionaire Tom Steyer — who had said in January that he would not run for president — said he would run for president, because the 2020 gods have decreed that the Democratic field shall not dip below two dozen.

One candidate in, one candidate out: This week in the 2020 race

— Harris dominates the debates

Twenty candidates took the stage this week for the first Democratic debates, and the biggest moment belonged to Kamala Harris, the senator from California.

Harris, appearing on Night 2, was a commanding presence from start to finish: casting herself as the proverbial adult in the room while the other candidates were shouting over one another and, by many viewers’ assessment, getting the best of former Vice President Joe Biden in an intensely personal exchange on race.

After a methodical, almost prosecutorial buildup and an instantly quotable interjection — “As the only black person on this stage, I would like to speak on the issue of race” — Harris confronted Biden over his recent nostalgic recollection of working with two segregationist senators.

“You also worked with them to oppose busing,” she said. “And, you know, there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me.”

Biden accused her of misrepresenting his position, defended his record on civil rights and — in a dig at Harris’ former profession — said he had chosen to be a public defender, not a prosecutor. But prominent Democrats think he emerged from the debate bruised.

— Castro has a moment

Julián Castro, the former housing secretary, was the breakout star of Night 1, especially when he talked about immigration. Sen. Elizabeth Warren also put in a strong performance, especially when it came to her economic plans. And the Democratic Party’s leftward shift was on full display.

Except for Warren, everyone on stage Wednesday was looking for a breakthrough moment to lift them out of single digits in the polls. Few got one — but some issues rarely discussed in such a prominent setting did.

Sen. Cory Booker became the first candidate to mention transgender rights in a presidential debate. Castro, meanwhile, made a point of calling for “reproductive justice,” which emphasizes the socioeconomic dynamics that make it harder for women of color and other marginalized groups to get abortions and other reproductive services.

What will come up in the next round of debates? We’ll find out on July 30 and 31. (That’s right, we’re doing this all again in a little over a month.)

— ‘A disgrace’: Candidates denounce gerrymandering ruling

The Supreme Court issued two decisions Thursday with sweeping implications for American democracy: one blocking, for now, the inclusion of a citizenship question in the 2020 census, and one allowing partisan gerrymandering to continue. (You can read more about the census decision here, and about the gerrymandering decision here.)

The candidates, essentially unanimous in both cases, praised the census ruling and denounced the gerrymandering ruling, which they called “a disgrace,” “undemocratic” and “a stain on our Constitution.”

While several candidates took the opportunity to highlight their voting-related policy proposals on Thursday, hardly any time was spent discussing gerrymandering during that evening’s debate.

— Warren released a plan to change elections

The Supreme Court’s rulings came just two days after Warren announced a plan to “strengthen our democracy.” The far-reaching proposal would create new standards for how federal elections are carried out across the country, as part of an effort to protect voting rights and make it easier for Americans to cast ballots.

Specifically, Warren said she would create a new federal agency, the Secure Democracy Administration; replace every voting machine with modern equipment; and require the use of a uniform federal ballot. She also called for uniform election rules, automatic voter registration and same-day registration nationwide, early voting and voting by mail, and making Election Day a holiday.

“Our elections are never going to be secure, fair or workable with so many jurisdictions each making their own rules — especially when some officials deliberately manipulate those rules to stop people from voting,” she wrote in a Medium post.

— In other policy news

Sen. Bernie Sanders, along with prominent House progressives, introduced legislation to eliminate all of the country’s student debt.

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke released a four-part plan to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, invest in a “state-of-the-art” health care system for veterans and expand support in other ways for veterans returning home.

Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington released a “Freedom From Fossil Fuels” plan, a set of 16 initiatives to reduce fossil fuel pollution. Among other things, the plan would end subsidies to oil, gas and coal companies and ban all new fossil fuel leasing on public lands.

Biden laid out his immigration policy vision in an op-ed for The Miami Herald. He said he would push Congress to make “Dreamers” American citizens, improve screening procedures at legal ports of entry and work to improve economic opportunity in Central America.

And on Friday, Warren announced a plan to rebuild the State Department. She said she would double the size of the Foreign Service and end the practice of awarding diplomatic posts to donors.

— Another Democrat is running. Yes, really.

Joe Sestak, a former congressman from Pennsylvania and former Navy admiral, declared his candidacy last weekend, bringing the Democratic field to a totally manageable two dozen.

His pitch? “Our country desperately needs a president with a depth of global experience and an understanding of all the elements of our nation’s power, from our economy and our diplomacy to the power of our ideals and our military, including its limitations,” he said.

Harris' debate, voting rights, yet another candidate this week in the 2020 race

Every Saturday, The New York Times is publishing “This Week in the 2020 Race”: a quick way to follow the presidential campaign and the field of 24 candidates for the Democratic nomination.

Harris' debate, voting rights, yet another candidate: this week in the 2020 race

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Maggie Astor and Matt Stevens

Articles written by the author

One candidate in, one candidate out: This week in the 2020 race

Harris' debate, voting rights, yet another candidate: this week in the 2020 race