Interviews during 2018-2020: on Government Reform
Tom Steyer:
Opposes Citizens United decision
In a November 2014 interview, Steyer said that he opposes Citizens United vs. FEC,
a 2010 Supreme Court decision which allows unlimited corporate donations to super PACs.
Source: Townhall.com on 2020 Democratic primary
Jul 9, 2019
Pete Buttigieg:
Provide new opportunities for voluntary public service
Buttigieg is proposing a massive expansion of national service programs, to build a network of 1 million members by 2026. He would quadruple the number of service opportunities to a million high school graduates, establishing new service corps,
including a Climate Corps, Community Health Corps and Intergenerational Service Corps, all of which would be overseen by a new chief service officer who would be part of the White House National Security Council and Domestic Policy Council.
Source: Reuters coverage of 2020 Democratic primary
Jul 3, 2019
Beto O`Rourke:
Same-day voter registration; make election day a holiday
O'Rourke, a former congressman from Texas, a state with tough voter ID laws that critics say disproportionately affect the ability of minorities to vote, unveiled proposal to allow the registration of an additional 50 million U.S. voters.O'Rourke
said as president he would spearhead a nationwide effort to allow voters in every state to register on election day, and to make registration automatic every time a citizen does business with a government office, such as getting a driver's license.
O'Rourke says that by combining the two measures in all 50 states, at least 50 million more voters would be registered. He also wants to make U.S. voting day a national holiday, making it easier for people to get to the polls, expand voting by mail,
extend early voting and place polling stations in easily accessible, "iconic" locations.
O'Rourke said he would also work with Congress to crack down on voter ID laws, which he said "reduce turnout, period."
Source: Reuters news service on 2020 Democratic primary
Jun 5, 2019
Beto O`Rourke:
Term limits for Congress and the Supreme Court
A key part of O'Rourke's voting rights plan would be to set term limits for politicians, to give young people incentive to vote for new candidates. He proposes limiting membership of the US House of Representatives and Senate to 12 years, and requiring
Supreme Court justices--currently appointed for life--to step down after 18 years. Those moves would require a constitutional amendment, which requires a 2/3 majority vote in both the House and Senate, and ratification by 3/4 of state legislatures.
Source: Reuters news service on 2020 Democratic primary
Jun 5, 2019
Kirsten Gillibrand:
Public financing of elections through voter choice
Under Gillibrand's plan, every eligible voter could register for vouchers to donate up to $100 in a primary election and $100 in a general election each cycle, either all at once or in $10 increments to one or more candidates over time.
Each participant would get a separate $200 pool for House, Senate and presidential contests for a total maximum donation of $600 for those federal offices.
To be eligible to receive "Democracy Dollars," a candidate would have to voluntarily agree to forgo any contributions larger than $200 per donor.
The campaign didn't provide an estimate of the total cost of the plan, but said it would pay for the voucher program by limiting a corporate deduction for executive compensation, which it estimates would raise $60 billion over 10 years.
Source: NBC News, "Democracy Dollars," on 2020 Democratic primary
May 1, 2019
Bernie Sanders:
Citizens United is most disastrous decisions in history
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is backing an amendment to "abolish the Electoral College" introduced by Senator Brian Schatz, while Senators Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, and Bernie Sanders have signaled their willingness to address the Electoral College's
anti-democratic impact, as have former representative Beto O'Rourke and former housing secretary Juli n Castro. Possible presidential contender Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, says: "The Electoral College needs to go, because
it's made our society less and less democratic." Buttigieg sees that move as part of a democracy agenda that includes ending gerrymandering, extending voting rights, and, probably, amending the Constitution to reverse the damage done by the
Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision. (Sanders has already proposed amendments to overturn Citizens United, which he decries as "one of the most disastrous decisions in [the Court's] history.")
Source: The Nation, "Electoral College," on 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 22, 2019
Elizabeth Warren:
Constitutional Amendment to protect the right to vote
Warren says that "we need a constitutional amendment that protects the right to vote for every American citizen and to make sure that vote gets counted," is not the only presidential contender going big on democracy issues. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is
backing an amendment to "abolish the Electoral College" introduced by Senator Brian Schatz, while Senators Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, and Bernie Sanders have signaled their willingness to address the Electoral College's anti-democratic impact, as have
former representative Beto O'Rourke and former housing secretary Juli n Castro. Possible presidential contender Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, says: "The Electoral College needs to go, because it's made our society less and less
democratic." Buttigieg sees that move as part of a democracy agenda that includes action on Citizens United. Sanders has already proposed amendments to overturn Citizens United, which he decries as "one of the most disastrous decisions in history."
Source: The Nation, "Electoral College," on 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 22, 2019
Pete Buttigieg:
Abolish Electoral College; it makes society less democratic
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is backing an amendment to "abolish the Electoral College" introduced by Senator Brian Schatz, while Senators Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, and Bernie Sanders have signaled their willingness to address the Electoral College's
anti-democratic impact, as have former representative Beto O'Rourke and former housing secretary Juli n Castro. Possible presidential contender Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, says: "The Electoral College needs to go, because
it's made our society less and less democratic." Buttigieg sees that move as part of a democracy agenda that includes ending gerrymandering, extending voting rights, and, probably, amending the Constitution to reverse the damage done by the
Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision. (Sanders has already proposed amendments to overturn Citizens United, which he decries as "one of the most disastrous decisions in [the Court's] history.")
Source: The Nation, "Electoral College," on 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 22, 2019
Marianne Williamson:
DC should have representation in Congress
In terms of D.C., of course, you should have representation. I think when the founders said that D.C. should not have representation, they simply did not foresee a time when the kind of population in
D.C. would exist as it does now. Absolutely D.C. should have representation.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 14, 2019
Marianne Williamson:
Must address election security & Russian interference
Contrary to the way this president behaves, I would actually listen to the U.S. intelligence agencies. The U.S. intelligence agencies have an uncommon uniformity on this issue. They're very clear that there has been Russian interference. I will make it
clear to the American people, number one, that I agree with our intelligence agencies that this is happening and, number two, that we're on it. In terms of the voting machines, we must have paper ballots. We absolutely must have paper ballots.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 14, 2019
Elizabeth Warren:
Every vote matters: so abolish the Electoral College
The 2016 presidential election offered a reminder of just how much work remains to be done to ensure that the will of the people is reflected in our election results. At a March town-hall meeting in Mississippi, Senator Elizabeth Warren declared, "Every
vote matters, and the way we can make that happen is [to] have national voting, and that means [getting] rid of the Electoral College." The crowd responded with what The New York Times described as "one of her longest ovations of the night."
Warren, who also says that "we need a constitutional amendment that protects the right to vote for every American citizen and to make sure that vote gets counted," is not the only presidential contender going big on democracy issues. Sen. Kirsten
Gillibrand is backing an amendment to "abolish the Electoral College" introduced by Sen. Brian Schatz, while Senators Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, & Bernie Sanders have signaled their willingness to address the Electoral College's anti-democratic impact.
Source: The Nation magazine on 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 8, 2019
Democratic Party:
$2M to register 200,000 Florida non-voters
The Florida Democratic Party says it will spend $2 million in the next year to register 200,000 voters ahead of next year's presidential primary. There are currently 4.96 million registered Democrats in the state compared to 4.7 million Republicans and
nearly 3.6 million voters with no party affiliation.Trump's campaign is heavily focused on Florida, the biggest swing state in the nation, with 29 of the 270 electoral college votes needed to win. Without the Sunshine State,
Trump's path to victory narrows significantly. If a Democrat can carry Florida in 2020, he or she could win the White House by capturing just one other swing state--WI, MI, OH, or PA--if the remaining states voted the way they did in 2016.
Democrats
say they have identified as many as four million Floridians eligible to vote who are not registered. Florida party officials say they plan to partner with data science firms and hire dozens of full-time organizers as part of the new $2 million effort.
Source: Politico.com, "Florida," on 2020 Democratic primary
Mar 20, 2019
Mike Bloomberg:
Fund voter registration in FL, WI, OH, MI, and PA
Former New York Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg announced last month that rather than seek the presidency as a Democrat, he would fund a voter registration, persuasion and turnout effort in Florida, Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
"Whoever the nominee is likely won't be decided until late into 2020, and whoever that nominee is will face a very large and well-funded campaign in waiting," a Bloomberg adviser, who led Obama's battleground effort in 2012, told
POLITICO last month.
"As we looked at the gaps in the current ecosystem, we said, 'Could we set something up right now that could provide the infrastructure, provide the data and technology
to whomever the eventually nominee is so they're not at such a disadvantage once the primary is over?'" the adviser said. "We can."
Source: Politico.com, "Florida," on 2020 Democratic primary
Mar 20, 2019
Pete Buttigieg:
Need to depoliticize Supreme Court
We need some kind of structural reform that makes the court less political. We can't go on where every time there's a vacancy, there's this apocalyptic ideological battle. One idea that I think is interesting is, you have 15 members, but only ten
of them are appointed in the political fashion. Five of them can only be seated by unanimous agreement of the other ten. There are other ideas that have been floated too about term limits or about rotating justices up from the appellate bench.
Source: Fox News Sunday 2019 interviews for 2020 Democratic primary
Mar 19, 2019
Beto O`Rourke:
Increase Supreme Court to 15 independent Justices
A voter asked about adding more justices to the Supreme Court to tilt its ideological balance. "There's nothing in the Constitution that defines how many people should sit on that court," O'Rourke said. "What if there were five justices selected by
Democrats, five Justices selected by Republicans, and those 10 then picked five more justices independent of those who chose the first 10? I think that's an idea that we should explore."
That kind of public deliberation is exactly what many supporters like about his approach to policy. They say O'Rourke, instead of being confined by ideology, is open-minded and flexible, wanting
to hear the evidence before making up his mind. "There's no sense in campaigning if you already know every single answer," O'Rourke said.
Source: Alex Seitz-Wald, NBC News, on 2020 Democratic primary
Mar 15, 2019
Beto O`Rourke:
Supports term limits for Congress
One of O'Rourke's campaign promises was to limit the number of terms he served. Term limits were an issue O'Rourke believed in, but it weakened his hand as a freshman in Congress, where long-term ambition translates to seats on powerful committees.
O'Rourke was initially appointed to the Veterans Affairs Committee. He would come to dislike Washington. O'Rourke tried defining himself as an independent voice in Congress, willing to buck party orthodoxy.
Source: Joe Hagan in Vanity Fair on 2020 Democratic primary
Mar 13, 2019
Amy Klobuchar:
Automatically register citizens to vote when they turn 18
Amy Klobuchar is trying to lay claim to the moderate middle. But that can be a tough sell, particularly when many of her rivals are touting big-ticket progressive goals like universal healthcare, free college education and aggressive attempts to address
income inequality.Her big idea: She offered a number of proposals during her time on stage [at the SXSW conference]--bringing broadband to rural areas, lowering prescription drug prices and some kind of transactional tax on technology companies that
sell information about their users. When I asked her to name her top idea, she opted for one she hadn't mentioned--passing a law automatically registering all citizens to vote when they turn 18.
Her biggest obstacle:
Raising the massive amount of money to fund a presidential campaign was her biggest obstacle, she told me. Allegations that she has been verbally abusive towards her Senate staff have dogged the early days of her campaign, however.
Source: BBC.com on 2020 Democratic primary contenders at 2019 SXSW
Mar 12, 2019
Jay Inslee:
End the filibuster; it dooms good legislation
One big idea [that Gov. Jay Inslee] threw his weight behind [at the SXSW conference] in Austin was eliminating the legislative blocking tactic known as the filibuster in the US Senate: "Anyone who says they want to do anything of any significance in the
next several years has to be in favour of ending the filibuster or they're not serious," Mr Inslee told me. "So if you say you're serious about climate change, but you're not categorically against the filibuster, then you're dooming the US to failure."
Source: BBC.com on 2020 Democratic primary contenders at 2019 SXSW
Mar 12, 2019
John Delaney:
Nationally televised debates between President and Congress
His big idea: As part of his effort to find common ground with political opponents, Mr Delaney promises that as president he would hold nationally televised debates with Congress once every three months.
Think of it like question time in the British Parliament, but not as often and (probably) with less creative insults.
Source: BBC.com on 2020 Democratic primary contenders at 2019 SXSW
Mar 12, 2019
Pete Buttigieg:
Open to expanding judiciary in reaction to GOP actions
Buttigieg was asked whether he would be open to adding four seats to the nation's highest court and expanding the size of lower courts to combat the Republican Party's recent success in assembling a right-wing judiciary branch. Buttigieg said it was
unwise to dismiss the proposal, which he called "no more a shattering of norms than what's already been done to get the judiciary to where it is today.""Very bold, very ambitious ideas need a hearing right now," the mayor added.
Source: Common Dreams e-zine on 2020 Democratic primary
Feb 20, 2019
Pete Buttigieg:
Get rid of the Electoral College
Buttigieg said, "We can't nibble around the edges of a system that no longer works." [One reporter] asked, "What is your idea that is so big that nobody would mistake it for nibbling around the edges?" Buttigieg answered, " Well, first of all, we've
got to repair our democracy. The Electoral College needs to go, because it's made our society less and less democratic." He went on in this vein, suggesting that electoral reform was essential.
Source: The New Yorker on 2020 Democratic primary
Feb 9, 2019
Andrew Yang:
Make Puerto Rico a state
Yang wants to make the U.S. territory of
Puerto Rico an official state.
Source: Townhall.com: 2020 Democratic primary "Candidate profiles"
Feb 6, 2019
Steve Bullock:
Unlimited corporate spending has impacted our elections
Bullock launches into his dark money pitch straightaway. He talks about the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling and how unlimited corporate spending has impacted our elections. "Think about 2004. Five million dollars of dark money, undisclosed money,
was spent in our federal elections. Fast-forward eight years, and it was $300 million. A 6,000% increase in just eight years in dark money pouring into our election."And that's why he tries to establish the stakes of that political spending as a
central concern to the future of democracy: "If we wanna address all the other big issues in our electoral system, in our political system, if we really want to address income inequality, if we want to address health care," he continues, "you're not
gonna be able to do it unless you also address the way money is affecting our system." This, above all else, is the Bullock pitch: You wanna do all this progressive work? None of it can happen until we excise the very root of the blockage.
Source: Buzzfeed.com on 2020 Democratic primary
Sep 29, 2018
Steve Bullock:
Signed the Montana Disclose Act into law
That's when Bullock first started going after his political white whale: dark money in politics, which, in a series of twists and turns, led him all the way to the Supreme Court. Bullock's crusade didn't ultimately affect
Citizens United, but it nonetheless positioned him for his 2012 run for governor. Once in office, working with a bipartisan group of lawmakers, he'd eventually sign the
Montana Disclose Act into law, which requires any groups funding election-related communication to disclose their donors. Earlier this summer, he signed an executive order requiring all recipients of government contracts to disclose
political spending; he features prominently in a dark money documentary, made by his high school classmate, currently making the indie circuit rounds.
Source: Buzzfeed.com on 2020 Democratic primary
Sep 29, 2018
Page last updated: Dec 01, 2021