Pete Buttigieg 2020

News, Analysis and Opinion from POLITICO

  1. 2020 Elections

    The back-stage tech tool that knits together all of Democrats’ data

    Democratic campaigns used Civis Analytics' Platform to compile various data streams in one place.

    Democratic campaign tools have become household names after four years of anti-Trump fervor and organizing, from the behemoth donor platform ActBlue to the organizing app Mobilize and more. Behind the scenes, another tech tool was stitching together all the data for campaigns seeking the full picture of their supporters’ activity.

    Civis Analytics, a data analytics firm that grew out of Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, worked with Joe Biden’s campaign as well as most of his major Democratic rivals in the primary. One of the firm’s top offerings was a piece of software called “Platform” — a central repository for all the data campaigns collect. The tool ported in information from all manners of different tools used by campaigns, matched identifying information in different formats into single voter records, and put it in one place so, for example, the teams recruiting volunteers can see in-close-to real time who has bought campaign T-shirts.

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  2. 2020 elections

    Biden transition team shapes up with Obama-Biden alum hires

    The new group provides the most insight so far into how a Biden administration would look.

    Updated

    A Biden administration-in-waiting is slowly taking shape.

    On the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, the Biden transition team announced a long list of new hires, advisers and co-chairs to lead the effort to staff up a potential administration.

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  3. 2020 elections

    Biden is already forming a government. Here's what his Cabinet could look like.

    An array of officials, from progressives like Elizabeth Warren to establishment types like Susan Rice, are seen as likely for key posts.

    Sherrod Brown, the progressive senator from Ohio, says he’s talking with the Biden campaign about “where he needs to look and who he needs to look at” as he begins to form a potential administration.

    Other people in positions of power, both inside and outside government, are engaged in similar conversations.

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  4. 2020 Elections

    As decision day nears, VP hopefuls rake in big money for Biden

    Biden first and foremost wants a governing partner. But fundraising prowess is unquestionably a plus.

    Updated

    The Democrats vying to be Joe Biden’s running mate have made the rounds of the Sunday shows. They’ve enlisted surrogates to talk them up to the vetting committee and have been preparing for their one-on-one interviews with Biden himself.

    But as the vetting process enters its final stage, there's another lesser-noticed facet to the veepstakes: how much cash the contenders have raised for him, and their ability to juice donations if they're chosen.

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  5. 2020 elections

    Buttigieg helps Biden raise $1M at 'grassroots' fundraiser

    The event is the latest effort by the former South Bend, Ind., mayor to boost his party's presidential nominee.

    Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg are co-hosting the former vice president's first "grassroots" fundraiser during the coronavirus pandemic — bringing in $1 million for a campaign that initially struggled to attract small-dollar donations.

    More than 35,000 people signed up for the Friday afternoon event, after Biden and Buttigieg sent the fundraising request to their respective email lists. The average donation was $26, according to a source close to the organizers.

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  6. 2020 elections

    Buttigieg: 'Time for rethinking what campaigning looks like' amid coronavirus

    The highly contagious nature of the coronavirus has prompted a reconsideration of traditional retail politics amid the Democratic primary fight.

    Former Democratic White House hopeful Pete Buttigieg said Monday that the spread of coronavirus should trigger a shift in the way presidential campaigns operate.

    "I do think this is a time for rethinking what campaigning looks like, and it's a good moment for that," the former South Bend, Ind., mayor told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

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  7. 2020 Elections

    Here's what happens to the 2020 dropouts' delegates

    Mike Bloomberg, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar's delegates can vote their consciences, and dropping out also cuts down their numbers.

    Mike Bloomberg had a disastrous Super Tuesday that ultimately spelled the end of his campaign. But he didn’t come away entirely empty-handed.

    The former New York City mayor won 53 delegates and counting, according to the most recent tally. Combined with the delegates won by Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, over 85 pledged delegates were awarded to a candidate no longer in the race. And now, with the remaining candidates racing to hit the magic number of 1,991 pledged delegates to win the nomination, questions abound about what happens to the delegates of the candidates who have stepped aside.

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  8. 2020 elections

    Biden scoops up Buttigieg fundraisers

    As Pete Buttigieg endorsed Joe Biden on Monday, Biden's staff and supporters were encouraging his top fundraisers to jump aboard, too.

    Soon after Pete Buttigieg endorsed Joe Biden for president on Monday night, top Biden advisers Greg Schultz and Sheila Nix were on the phone with about 40 Buttigieg bundlers asking them to join the team, too.

    The call, arranged within hours of Buttigieg’s departure of the race, was aimed at recruiting Buttigieg’s most passionate fundraisers looking for their next act in the presidential race. And it’s part of a bigger behind-the-scenes push, running in parallel to the string of prominent public endorsements flowing Biden’s way, urging Democrats that now is the time to unite behind the former vice president.

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  9. 2020 elections

    Inside Bernie's 'secret strategy' to win huge in California

    Learning from his 2016 experience, Sanders put down roots in the Golden State by targeting Latinos and independents.

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — By almost every measure, Bernie Sanders is running far ahead of the pack here.

    Public and internal polls from campaigns show Sanders with a big lead in California — owed to broad-based support from young people and communities of color and years of organizing in the state. The question now among political insiders is not whether Sanders will win the delegate-rich, Super Tuesday state, but by how much.

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  10. Super Tuesday

    How to watch Super Tuesday like a pro

    California alone offers nearly three times as many delegates as the first four early voting states combined.

    Updated

    There are more states voting on Super Tuesday, and more delegates at stake, than on any other primary day in 2020 — roughly one-third of all Democratic delegates will get parceled out.

    The big prize is California, a state that once came so late in the primary season that it rarely mattered. Not today: In the four early states that have voted so far — Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — 155 delegates have been up for grabs. California alone offers nearly three times that many.

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  11. 2020 elections

    ‘Rocket fuel’: How black voters could deliver a Super Tuesday windfall to Biden

    The ex-veep could pad his delegate totals by running up the score in some of the most delegate-rich congressional districts on the map.

    He doesn’t have the cash, the devoted base, or the expansive organization that Bernie Sanders can point to across the Super Tuesday map.

    But Joe Biden has at least one asset that will help offset his expected losses to Sanders — his strength with African American voters gives him an opportunity to pick up delegates in some of the most delegate-rich congressional districts on the map.

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  12. 2020 Elections

    Beto O’Rourke endorses Biden

    He joined Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar as converts to the cause.

    Updated

    Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, a once 2020 contender, endorsed Joe Biden on Monday night.

    O’Rourke gained prominence on the national stage in 2018 when he mounted a challenge to Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and came within 3 points of capturing the seat.

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  13. 2020 Elections

    How Biden engineered his astonishing comeback

    A poll plus a big-name endorsement put the struggling ex-VP back in the thick of the nomination fight in a matter of days.

    Updated

    The ground started to shift in Joe Biden's favor even before his landslide win in South Carolina.

    Two days before the make-or-break primary, Monmouth University released a poll showing the former vice president with a staggering 20-point lead. That followed a critical endorsement from powerful congressional leader Jim Clyburn. Biden's campaign — for months beset by a comedy of errors, low enthusiasm and lackluster fundraising — knew what this likely meant. So did a slew of Democrats sitting on the sidelines.

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  14. 2020 elections

    Inside the sudden end of Pete Buttigieg’s campaign

    The former mayor concluded this weekend that his path had closed, before warning against Bernie Sanders' approach in his dropout speech.

    Soon after midnight on Sunday morning, Pete Buttigieg convened his senior advisers on a conference call. Sitting in a car after flying to Georgia from his last rally in Raleigh, N.C., Buttigieg told them the campaign was over.

    Buttigieg’s staff had just briefed top donors two days earlier about his plans to push forward in the presidential race, looking deep into the March primary calendar for friendly Midwestern states. But in the hours between those two calls, Buttigieg’s disappointing fourth-place finish in South Carolina’s primary — and Joe Biden’s stronger-than-expected win there — squeezed the delegate math of the 2020 race.

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  15. 2020 Elections

    Buttigieg drops out of presidential race

    The former mayor echoed recent criticism of Bernie Sanders' campaign strategy in his speech leaving the 2020 race.

    Updated

    Pete Buttigieg dropped out of the 2020 presidential race Sunday night after a roller-coaster campaign that saw him rise from total obscurity to Iowa victor — only to stall out as the Democratic primary race turned to more diverse states.

    The 38-year-old former South Bend, Ind., mayor’s exit comes two days before Super Tuesday, opening up a wider path for former Vice President Joe Biden to become the moderate alternative to Bernie Sanders.

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  16. south carolina primary

    South Carolina blows up the 2020 primary

    If there was a best case scenario for Joe Biden, this was it.

    The result was so lopsided that South Carolina was called the minute polls closed. For the first time in weeks, the presidential primary once again looked like a race.

    Not only had Joe Biden resurrected his campaign and put a dent in Bernie Sanders‘ juggernaut, the poor performance of Biden’s centrist rivals prompted new calls for their withdrawal. One opponent, billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, dropped out.

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  17. 2020 elections

    Biden gets a late burst of cash at a key moment

    The former vice president's campaign is showing new signs of strength after a rough early-state start.

    Joe Biden, who just days ago appeared at risk of losing the donors he relies on to power his campaign, is receiving a much-needed jolt of cash as he heads into the South Carolina primary.

    Biden’s campaign fundraising has popped upward since Tuesday’s debate, totaling $2 million in four days ahead of the South Carolina primary. Supporters are coming out to his rescue: Hollywood fundraiser James Costos told POLITICO on Friday that he’s backing Biden and will be planning events and traveling for him in the coming weeks. And the pro-Biden Unite the Country super PAC raised $2.5 million on Thursday alone, enabling the group to book and then expand its first Super Tuesday ad buy, a seven-figure spend on digital and radio ads.

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  18. 2020 elections

    Buttigieg trudges toward low finish in South Carolina

    The former mayor's black outreach never got anywhere, according to polls and interviews with state Democrats.

    GREENVILLE, S.C. — Just hours before the South Carolina primary, Pete Buttigieg is still introducing himself.

    Facing trouble breaking in with black voters, who comprise 60 percent of the South Carolina Democratic electorate, Buttigieg has leaned on intimate events to make some inroads. And on Thursday afternoon, Buttigieg shook hands and greeted each of the nine African American health care leaders gathered by his campaign for an invitation-only roundtable in Greenville.

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  19. 2020 Elections

    Bloomberg tumbles heading into Super Tuesday

    Sources close to Bloomberg's campaign acknowledge his polls are not looking good.

    The Mike Bloomberg bubble has burst.

    After a steady, weekslong climb in national polls, fueled by extravagant spending on ads, staff and events, Bloomberg’s presidential campaign has plateaued. The abrupt reversal of fortune, triggered by his disastrous debate performance in Las Vegas, has tarnished the former New York mayor’s sheen and injected uncertainty about whether he will rack up enough delegates on Super Tuesday to keep his campaign alive.

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  20. 2020 democratic debates

    A Bernie slayer fails to emerge at Tuesday's debate

    None of his rivals had the time or the skill to convince voters that the democratic socialist is a radical who would ensure Trump's reelection.

    CHARLESTON, S.C. — Democrats had two chances to halt Bernie Sanders’ march toward the nomination after his triumph in Nevada: Tuesday night’s Democratic debate and the South Carolina primary on Saturday.

    Now, they’re down to the South Carolina primary.

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