2020 Democratic Hopefuls Flock to California Seeking Early Edge

[left-of-center2012]

Most of the Democratic presidential hopefuls are converging on San Francisco this weekend in the biggest single gathering of the candidates so far this year, all bidding for advantage in a state that’s set to play a pivotal role early in the 2020 race. Fourteen of the 23 candidates in the race are planning to attend the three-day California Democratic Party convention that begins Friday. Most of those at the top of the field plan to be there, including home-state Senator Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren. The notable exception is Joe Biden, who instead will be delivering an address at a Human Rights Campaign fundraiser Saturday in Ohio.

The candidates will be making rapid-fire pitches to California’s top elected and party officials and putting themselves in front of voters in the nation’s most populous state. Perhaps as important, they also have a chance to reach the activists who will be the backbone of any campaign in a massive and crucial primary battleground.

“The delegates who are attending are activists, the kind of people who went to Orange County and the Central Valley to help us make gains in Congress in the midterm election,” said Representative Zoe Lofgren, who chairs the California Democratic congressional delegation. The convention is a chance for the presidential candidates to reach “an army of volunteers.”

Many of the candidates will also appear at a policy forum for MoveOn, the progressive advocacy organization, that will be held on Saturday in San Francisco. California is the biggest single prize in the nomination race and it’s taken on added importance in 2020. The state moved its primary back into the Super Tuesday round of voting, joining at least 13 other states on March 3 after votes in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-31/2020-democratic-hopefuls-flock-to-california-seeking-early-edge

[deurbano]

1. My daughter, a delegate, just left home (we live in SF) for the first day's activities.

She's excited! I'll be with her as her attendant tomorrow and Sunday, so I'll get to see most of the candidates when they speak, too.