Monday, February 4, 2019: The Trump campaign is launching a state-by-state effort to prevent a primary challenger in 2020. Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe says he would like to run for president and will make a decision by March.
Share the latest from the campaign trail.
   
Democrats
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Sen. Cory Booker hired Christale Spain, who worked on the 2016 Sanders presidential campaign, to be his state director in South Carolina. Clay Middleton is also joining Booker's team as a senior political adviser.
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South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg said he did not think a single-payer healthcare system necessitated ending private insurance. “If the framework we're using is Medicare, a lot of people who have Medicare also have Medicare supplements, Medicare Advantage, something like that," he said.
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Rep. Tulsi Gabbard formally kicked off her campaign in Hawaii Saturday. Watch the full speech here.
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Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand will travel to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on President’s Day, making her second visit to the state as a presidential candidate.
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Sen. Kamala Harris announced that she would bring Trisha Pesiri-Dybvik, an air traffic controller who was furloughed during the government shutdown, as her guest to the State of the Union.
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Vox published an analysis of Booker’s and Harris’ affordable housing plans. Read more here.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren apologized to the Cherokee Nation for her use of a DNA test to show Native American heritage and for any impact it had on how people understand tribal citizenship.
Republicans
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The Associated Press reported on President Donald Trump’s local campaign efforts to prevent a primary challenge in 2020. “One early success for Trump's campaign was in Massachusetts, where Trump backer and former state Rep. Jim Lyons last month defeated the candidate backed by Massachusetts Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, a Trump critic, to serve as the state party chairman,” the article noted.
On the Cusp: Tracking Potential Candidates
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Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) said he would make a decision about running for president by March 31. “I’d like to do it,” McAuliffe added.
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Sarah Longwell, the executive director of Defending Democracy Together, a group trying to recruit a Republican challenger to Trump, wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post putting forward Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), former Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), and former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld (R) as possible contenders. Absent from that list was Sen. Mitt Romney (R). "He made clear he's not running for president, and I believe him," said former Romney adviser Ron Kaufman.
What We’re Reading
Flashback: February 4, 2015
The Wall Street Journal reported that Jennifer Palmieri, who served as White House communications director for President Barack Obama, planned to leave her administration job to join former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign as communications director.
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