The Latest: WA governor calls on rivals to scrap filibuster
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Latest on Democratic presidential candidates (all times local):
11:25 p.m.
Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg (BOO’-tuh-juhj) says he and Vice President Mike Pence have different views of their Christian faith and that he doesn’t understand Pence’s loyalty to President Donald Trump.
The mayor of South Bend, Indiana, says his feeling “is that the Scripture is about protecting the stranger, the prisoner, the poor person, and that idea of welcome.” That’s what I get in the Gospel when I’m in church.” He said Pence’s view “has a lot more to do with sexuality, a certain view of rectitude.”
Buttigieg says he is puzzled by Pence’s strong support for the president.
He asks how Pence “could allow himself to become the cheerleader of the porn star presidency?” and adds, “Is it that he stopped believing in Scripture, when he started believing in Donald Trump?”
Buttigieg made the comments at a CNN town hall Sunday night in Austin, Texas.
1:55 p.m.
Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper says he can’t see running for U.S. Senate if his presidential bid fails.
The Democrat says Sunday that he’s “not cut out” for the Senate. But Hickenlooper acknowledges he’s spoken with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. Colorado Republican Sen. Cory Gardner faces re-election in 2020.
Another Colorado Democrat, Sen. Michael Bennet, is also considering a White House run. Hickenlooper says the last time he spoke with Bennet, the senator seemed to indicate that jumping in the race was likely.
Hickenlooper was the last in a pack of 2020 candidates to speak at the South by Southwest Festival in Texas. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and former Obama Cabinet member Julian Castro also made appearances.
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12:30 p.m.
Sen. Bernie Sanders says ideas he embraced four years ago that seemed “radical and extreme” are now helping define Democrats’ presidential campaigns.
Said Sanders: “Virtually all of those ideas are supported by a majority of the American people, and they are being supported by Democratic candidates from school board to president of the United States.”
He delivered his remarks to a packed a hotel conference center in Concord, New Hampshire. The crowd braved a snow storm to see the Vermont senator in his first visit to the state since announcing his 2020 run.
Sanders topped Hillary Clinton by 22 points in the state’s 2016 primary, but he now faces a wider field of rivals.
He said: “This is where the political revolution took off. Thank you, New Hampshire.”
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11:30 a.m.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee says he’s challenging the U.S. senators in the 2020 Democratic presidential field to abolish the filibuster in their chamber.
The presidential hopeful on Sunday began a second day of Democratic candidates dropping in on the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas. Inslee joined the race this month and is running a campaign that’s almost singularly focused on climate change.
But Inslee says nothing will happen on the issue unless the Senate gets rid of the filibuster. That’s a procedural tool that requires a supermajority of 60 votes out of 100 to pass many big items, rather than a simple majority.
Six Democratic senators are running for president. Inslee called on them to “get religion and realize that the filibuster” is stopping them on major policy.
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10:35 a.m.
Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro isn’t ruling out direct payments to African-Americans for the legacy of slavery — a stand separating him from his 2020 rivals.
The former housing secretary says, “If under the Constitution we compensate people because we take their property, why wouldn’t you compensate people who actually were property.”
Other candidates are discussing tax credits and other subsidies, rather than direct payments for the labor and legal oppression of slaves and their descendants. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders would put resources into distressed communities such as “Medicare for All” and tuition-free college.
Castro tells CNN’s “State of the Union” he doesn’t think that’s the proper argument for reparations if “a big check needs to be written for a whole bunch of other stuff.”
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