Welcome to the Thursday, Dec. 3, Brew.

Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

1. Looking at endorsements from noteworthy influencers of 2020
2. Comparing Biden’s Cabinet announcements to 2016 and 2008
3. Federal Register update

Looking at endorsements from noteworthy influencers of 2020

This year, Ballotpedia tracked candidate endorsements from five noteworthy influencers: President-elect Joe Biden (D), former President Barack Obama (D), Vice President Mike Pence (R), President Donald Trump (R), and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I). Of these five, Pence-endorsed candidates won their elections 70% of the time. On the other end, Biden-endorsed candidates won 41% of the time.

Below is a breakdown of the numbers behind the endorsements. All counts are as of Dec. 2.

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Comparing Biden’s Cabinet announcements to 2016 and 2008

After presidential electors make their selections on Dec. 14, Joe Biden will be inaugurated on Jan. 20. We’re tracking Biden's presidential transition team, potential cabinet appointees, and the different policy positions of those individuals in our daily newsletter, the Transition Tracker.

One of our features has taken a look at how long it took the projected winner of the three most recent presidential elections—Barack Obama (D) in 2008, Donald Trump (R) in 2016, and Joe Biden (R) 2020—to announce nominees for Cabinet and Cabinet-rank positions.

White House chief of staff was the first position to be announced by all three, with Obama taking the shortest time (two days after the election) and Biden the longest (eight days after).

With the exception of the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, which was not Cabinet-rank in Trump's administration, Trump had named all of his nominees 72 days out.

Obama took 45 days to do the same. (The director of national intelligence was not a Cabinet-rank position in his administration.)

The chart below compares the amount of time it took each president-elect to announce each Cabinet and Cabinet-rank position.

Click here to subscribe to our Transition Tracker newsletter, where we’ll keep you up-to-date on the latest presidential transition news.

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Federal Register update

From time to time, we bring you an update on the Federal Register, a daily journal of federal government activity that includes presidential documents, proposed and final rules, and public notices. Here’s an update on last week’s activity.

From Nov. 23 to Nov. 27, the Federal Register grew by 1,824 pages for a year-to-date total of 76,418 pages. Over the same period in 2019 and 2018, the Federal Register reached 65,906 pages and 62,240 pages, respectively. As of Nov. 27, the 2020 total led the 2019 total by 10,512 pages and the 2018 total by 14,178 pages. 

The Federal Register hit an all-time high of 95,894 pages in 2016.

To track changes to the Federal Register between 2017 and 2020, click the link below. And for even more context, click here for yearly information about additions to the Federal Register from 1936 to 2018.

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