Democratic presidential candidates introducing themselves to voters
Five Democratic senators vying for their party’s nomination to challenge President Donald Trump in 2020 fanned out across the country Saturday to campaign and meet voters.
Kamala Harris of California spent her second straight day in the pivotal early-voting state of South Carolina, holding a town hall meeting in Columbia, the capital. Also visiting the state was Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who met with an estimated 800 voters in Greenville before heading to Georgia — an unusual early stop for a White House hopeful but one that signals Democratic hopes to make inroads in the South.
Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York both focused on New Hampshire. Booker made his first visit to there since joining the race earlier this month, holding a question-and-answer session with more than 400 voters in Portsmouth.
Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, made her own uncommon choice for early campaigning by visiting Wisconsin before heading to Iowa, home to the nation’s first caucus.
And a Democratic heavyweight who’s yet to address his 2020 plans, former Vice President Joe Biden, made his own high-profile appearance at the Munich Security Conference.
Some highlights:
Cory Booker
The New Jersey senator plans to spend three days in New Hampshire, which casts the first votes in the 2020 primary, and he kicked off the swing with a freewheeling “conversation” that drew questions on health care, the environment and foreign relations.
Booker is one of several Democratic presidential contenders who back legislation that would transition the United States to universal health insurance coverage, but he acknowledged Saturday that compromise may be necessary to get major health care legislation through the Senate.
Booker told voters in New Hampshire there are a “lot of pathways” to achieving universal health coverage, noting that just lowering Medicare eligibility to age 55 would be “a step in the right direction.”
Kamala Harris
The California senator visited a handful of female-owned businesses in Columbia, South Carolina, on the second day of a swing through the early-voting state.
Harris walked along Lady Street and stopped in Styled by Naida, a black-owned business, and made several purchases, including a wide-brimmed teal hat. The candidate also met with a group of women leaders at a restaurant a block away.
At a town hall in West Columbia, a voter told Harris that most Democrats are looking for someone who will defeat Trump in 2020.
Joe Biden
The former vice president isn’t officially part of the 2020 presidential race, but he bolstered his case for a potential candidacy by speaking to an international audience about the need to restore America’s ability to claim leadership in the world.
Without saying President Donald Trump’s name, Biden said in a speech at the Munich Security Conference that current policies do not reflect the country as he perceives it.
“The America I see values basic human decency, not snatching children from their parents or turning our backs on refugees at our border. Americans know that’s not right,” Biden said.
He said the U.S. doesn’t want to turn its back on its closest allies and cherishes democracy, the rule of law and a free press, telling the conference that the America he sees “stands up to the aggression of dictators and against strongmen who rule by coercion, corruption and violence.”