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Hickenlooper becomes fourth Democrat to end 2020 presidential campaign

• Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) announced Thursday he would end his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. In a statement and video, Hickenlooper said in part, “This morning, I’m announcing that I’m no longer running for President. While this campaign didn’t have the outcome we were hoping for, every moment has been worthwhile & I’m thankful to our entire team.” Hickenlooper has said he is considering running for the U.S. Senate.

• Hickenlooper announced he was running for president on March 4. He served two terms as governor of Colorado and was also mayor of Denver. Hickenlooper participated in both Democratic primary debates—on June 27 and July 30—held so far. He campaigned the third-most days of any Democratic presidential candidate in Iowa—21—through the end of July.

• Hickenlooper is the fourth Democratic elected official or notable public figure—after Richard Ojeda (W. Va.), Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), and Mike Gravel (Alaska)—to exit the Democratic presidential primary. 

• In the 2016 presidential race, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry was the first Republican elected official or notable public figure to leave the race. Perry suspended his campaign Sept. 11, 2015, after announcing his candidacy on June 4, 2015.

Additional satellite groups air ads in NC-09 special election 

• Three satellite groups began airing new campaign ads Friday ahead of the September 10 special election in North Carolina's 9th Congressional District.

• The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) began airing a new ad opposing Dan Bishop (R) costing $626,000. Last week the DCCC released a memo stating it would spend more than $2 million toward the race on non-advertising efforts, such as increasing voter turnout.

• The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC)—which reserved $2.6 million in airtime in the district—began airing its third ad opposing Dan McCready (D) this week.

• Also, Stand Up Republic—a PAC founded by 2016 independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin—released two ads opposing Dan Bishop (R). The Washington Post reported that Stand Up Republic and American Values PAC—founded by Mindy Finn, McMullin's 2016 running mate—plan to spend a combined $500,000 on ads in the district.

• Bishop, McCready, Jeff Scott (L), and Allen Smith (G) are running in the special election which was called after the state board of elections did not certify the results of the 2018 congressional race following allegations of absentee ballot fraud. McCready was also the Democratic nominee in 2018.

Trump administration revises rules for immigrants who use government assistance

• The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a final rule that changes how the federal government screens immigrants who might become dependent on government services. According to the 837-page rule, agencies may deny immigrants a visa or a green card if they have used food stamps, Medicaid, housing subsidies, or other public benefits.

• The new rule amends a 1999 guidance document to expand the factors agencies may consider when deciding those cases. Per the 1999 guidance, only public cash assistance or long-term institutionalization at government expense counted as evidence that an immigrant was at risk of being a public charge. Prior to this week’s rule, agencies could deny immigrants continued legal status if they determined that the immigrants were likely to rely on public benefits. 

• Guidance is a term in administrative law used to describe a variety of documents created by government agencies to explain, interpret, or advise interested parties about rules, laws, and procedures. Guidance documents clarify and affect how agencies administer regulations and programs. However, they are not legally binding in the same way as rules issued through one of the rulemaking processes of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

• In this case, the agencies followed informal procedures and issued the immigration rule after announcing a proposal and giving the public a chance to offer feedback. The agencies scheduled the rule to go into effect in October, 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register.

Steyer reaches donor threshold for third and fourth Democratic debates

• Tom Steyer announced Tuesday that he had reached the donor threshold for both the September and October Democratic presidential primary debates by having 130,000 individual contributors. With three qualifying polls, he is also one short of the polling threshold. Steyer—who entered the race July 9—spent more than $10 million on Facebook and television ads introducing himself to voters in national and early primary state markets.

• The following nine candidates have already qualified: Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Andrew Yang.

• Two other candidates—Julián Castro and Tulsi Gabbard—have also met the fundraising threshold for the next debates. Castro needs one more qualifying poll result and Gabbard needs three. 

Biden leads Democratic presidential candidates in weekly Ballotpedia pageviews 

• Joe Biden's campaign page on Ballotpedia received 5,493 pageviews for the week of August 4-10. Biden's pageview figure represents 9.0% of the pageviews for all Democratic candidates during the week. Andrew Yang had 8.8% of pageviews for the week, followed by Elizabeth Warren with 6.1%.

• Every Democratic campaign other than Beto O'Rourke's experienced a decline in pageviews of 12% or more relative to the previous week when the second Democratic debate took place. 

  • Marianne Williamson, who led in pageviews that week, registered the largest week-over-week decline at 57.9%. 

  • O'Rourke's pageviews increased by 12.6%, bringing him from 17th-most pageviews among Democrats the week of the debate to ninth-most this past week.

• Each week, we report the number of pageviews received by 2020 presidential campaigns on Ballotpedia. These numbers show which candidates are getting our readers' attention.

• The leader in overall pageviews this year is Pete Buttigieg with 100,087, followed by Andrew Yang with 89,471 and Kamala Harris with 87,236.

• On the GOP side, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld had 17,841 pageviews to President Trump's 1,988.

Is Congress in session?

Neither the Senate nor the House will be in session next week. Click here to see the full calendar for the first session of the 116th Congress.

Where was the president last week?

• On Monday, Trump had no public events scheduled.

• On Tuesday, Trump delivered remarks on America’s Energy Dominance and Manufacturing Revival in Monaca, PA.

• On Wednesday, Trump had no public events scheduled.

• On Thursday, Trump spoke at a Keep America Great rally in Manchester, NH.

• On Friday, Trump had no public events scheduled.

Federal Judiciary

• 112 federal judicial vacancies

• 39 pending nominations

• 11 future federal judicial vacancies

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