Rep. Gabbard (D-Hawaii) says she's not running for House seat in 2020, will continue presidential campaign
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) announced on Friday that she would not seek re-election to Congress in 2020. In a Twitter post, Gabbard said she was fully committed to her presidential campaign and would not be running for her U.S. House seat as a result. She was first elected to represent Hawaii's 2nd Congressional District in 2012 and won re-election in 2018 with more than 77 percent of the vote.
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Gabbard is the seventh Democratic member of the U.S. House to announce she would not be seeking re-election in 2020 and is the second one to do so in October. There are also 18 Republican members of the U.S. House to announce 2020 retirements so far. In the 2018 election cycle, 52 members of the U.S. House—18 Democrats and 34 Republicans—did not seek re-election.
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Currently, Democrats hold a 235-199 majority in the U.S. House with one independent member of the chamber. In November 2020, all 435 seats will be up for election. Ballotpedia has identified 73 U.S. House races as general election battlegrounds. Of the 71 seats, 42 are held by Democrats and 29 are held by Republicans heading into the election.
Rep. Rooney (R-Fla.) announces he's not running for re-election in 2020
On Saturday, October 19, Rep. Francis Rooney (R) announced that he would not seek re-election in Florida's 19th Congressional District in 2020. He was first elected to Congress in 2016; he won an open-seat race to replace Rep. Curt Clawson (R). Rooney won his second term in 2018 with 62.3% of the vote.
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Rooney's announcement was made on the Fox News television channel. He said, "I've done what I came to do. And I want to be a model for term limits. [...] I thought the idea was you came and did your public service and left, you accomplish what you want to accomplish and you left. And that’s what I want to be an example to do. And I’m also really tired of the intense partisanship that seems to stop us from solving the big questions that America needs solved."
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Rooney is the 18th Republican member of the U.S. House to announce he would not seek re-election in 2020. At the time of his announcement, six Democratic members of the U.S. House had also announced their intention not to seek re-election. In 2018, 52 members of the U.S. House—18 Democrats and 34 Republicans—did not run for re-election.
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Democrats hold a 234-197 majority in the U.S. House with three vacancies and one independent member of the chamber. In November 2020, all 435 seats will be up for election. Ballotpedia has identified 71 U.S. House races as general election battlegrounds. Of the 71 seats, 42 are held by Democrats and 29 are held by Republicans.
In our latest episode of Beyond the Headlines, we look at how the 206 counties that voted Trump-Obama-Obama voted in the 2018 elections.
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Klobuchar becomes ninth presidential candidate to qualify for next Democratic debate
Amy Klobuchar qualified for the fifth Democratic presidential primary debate this week after reaching 3% support in four national polls. She joins Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Tom Steyer, and Andrew Yang.
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To qualify, a candidate must receive donations from at least 165,000 unique donors and meet one of two polling thresholds: (1) 3% support in four national or early state polls or (2) 5% support in two early state polls.
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MSNBC also announced this week that Rachel Maddow, Andrea Mitchell, Kristen Welker, and Ashley Parker will moderate the debate on Nov. 20.
RNC outraises DNC, Democratic House campaign committee outraises GOP counterpart through September 30
The Republican National Committee (RNC) has outraised its Democratic counterpart by more than two-to-one for a fifth consecutive month, while the Democratic Senate committee outraised its Republican counterpart for a third consecutive month, according to campaign finance reports filed with the FEC in October.
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So far in the 2020 cycle, the RNC, NRSC, and NRCC have raised 32.7% more than the DNC, DSCC, and DCCC ($276.8 million to $199.0 million). The Republican fundraising advantage is up from 31.5% in September reports.
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At this point in the 2016 campaign cycle, the RNC had a smaller 53.3% fundraising advantage over the DNC ($80.7 million to $46.7 million).
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The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) raised $6.8 million and spent $5.3 million in the period, while the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) raised $5.1 million and spent $3.6 million. So far in the 2020 cycle, the NRSC has raised 7.1% more than the DSCC ($47.7 million to $44.5 million). The NRSC's 7.1% fundraising advantage is down from 12.3% in September and 16.6% in August.
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On the House side, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) raised $12.9 million and spent $5.5 million. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) raised $7.8 million and spent $5.7 million. So far in the 2020 cycle, the DCCC has raised 38.4% more than the NRCC ($89.1 million to $60.4 million). The DCCC's 38.4% fundraising advantage is up from 36.6% in September and 34.6% in August.
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At this point in the 2018 campaign cycle, Democrats led in both Senate and House fundraising, although their advantage in the House was smaller than in this cycle. The DSCC had raised 33.7% more than the NRSC ($40.3 million to $34.4 million), while the DCCC had raised 11.4% more than the NRCC ($81.4 million to $72.6 million).
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Republicans continue to lead in national committee fundraising. The Republican National Committee (RNC) raised $27.3 million and spent $22.0 million, while the Democratic National Committee (DNC) raised $7.0 million and spent $6.6 million. So far in the 2020 cycle, the RNC has raised 88.2% more than the DNC ($168.7 million to $65.4 million). The RNC's 88.2% fundraising advantage is up from 83.0% in September and 80.0% in August.
Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) withdraws from Democratic presidential race
On Thursday, Tim Ryan announced he was withdrawing from the 2020 presidential race after campaigning for seven months. He said in a video posted to social media, “I got into this race in April to really give voice to the forgotten people of our country. I look forward to continuing that fight.” He will be running for re-election in Ohio's 13th Congressional District.
Yang remains leader among Democratic presidential candidates in Ballotpedia pageviews
Andrew Yang's campaign page on Ballotpedia received 3,685 views for the week of October 13-19. Yang's pageview figure represents 14.6% of the pageviews for all Democratic candidates during the week. Elizabeth Warren had 13.5% of the pageviews for the week, followed by Joe Biden with 12.8%. This is Yang's first time leading in pageviews since the week of September 15-21; Warren led in pageviews for the three weeks after that.
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Every Democratic candidate received more pageviews last week than the week before. The three greatest week-over-week increases were 125% for Tulsi Gabbard, 84.5% for Cory Booker, and 83.8% for Pete Buttigieg.
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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.
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Andrew Yang remains the leader in overall pageviews this year with 130,933. He is followed by Buttigieg with 124,396 and by Biden with 114,636.
Senate confirms Walker to U.S. District Court judgeship
The U.S. Senate confirmed nominee Justin Walker to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky on Thursday. Overall, the Senate has confirmed 157 of President Trump’s Article III judicial nominees—two Supreme Court justices, 43 appellate court judges, 110 district court judges, and two U.S. Court of International Trade judges—since January 2017. At the end of the 115th Congress in January 2019, the Senate had confirmed 85 of the president’s judicial nominees.
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The Senate confirmed Walker on a vote of 50-41, with only Republican senators voting "yea." Forty Democratic senators and independent Sen. Angus King of Maine voted against Walker's nomination. Nine senators did not vote.
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The United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky is one of 94 U.S. District Courts. They are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. After Walker receives his judicial commission and takes his oath, the court will have no vacancies, three Republican-appointed judges, and two Democrat-appointed judges.
Congress is in session
Both the Senate and 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?
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On Monday, Trump held a Cabinet meeting.
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On Tuesday, Trump received his intelligence briefing and had lunch with the secretary of state.
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On Wednesday, Trump spoke at the 9th Annual Shale Insight Conference in Pittsburgh, PA.
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On Thursday, Trump participated in the Diwali Ceremonial Lighting of the Diya and presented a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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On Friday, Trump spoke at the 2019 Second Step Presidential Justice Forum.
Federal judiciary
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