Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe won’t run for president in 2020, the AP reports.
“McAuliffe had flirted with a Democratic presidential run for months, popping up in early voting states late last year and campaigning with candidates in Iowa and New Hampshire, but ultimately decided against mounting a bid.”
Yashar Ali: “I learned this week that not only has McAuliffe been working to marshal support (something he has now confirmed publicly), but he has told friends and supporters that he sees a major weakness in Biden.”
“According to a source familiar with a conversation McAuliffe had with an influential Democratic figure, McAuliffe said he believes that Biden is ‘tanking’ after multiple women said he made them uncomfortable when he touched them without consent.”
Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) is moving closer to a 2020 presidential run, CNN reports.
“McAuliffe has been telling Democratic allies that he is leaning toward jumping into the Democratic presidential race next month… The former governor has long said he would make a decision by the end of March, with a potential announcement later in April.”
Fformer Virginia Gov Terry McAuliffe (D) told CNN that he would like to run for president in 2020 and plans on making a decision by March 31.
Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) “is scheduled to visit Iowa next week to campaign for Democrats as he weighs a campaign for the 2020 presidential nomination,” the AP reports.
“Terry McAuliffe is spending 2018 on a cross-country tour promoting the next generation of Democratic governors — and hyping himself a little along the way,” Politico reports.
“The former Virginia governor has already held fundraisers for candidates in swing states like Michigan and Ohio. He’s in talks about trips to Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada — key early states in the presidential nominating process — and helping out Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams, who hopes to be the first Democrat to win that state’s governor’s race in two decades.”
“McAuliffe insists the activity has nothing to do with a potential run for president in 2020, saying that the midterms are his priority and that fellow Democrats have paid too little attention to state politics for too long. Republicans currently hold 33 governorships and 32 state legislatures, relegating Democrats to observer status in many states over the last decade, with huge implications on a range of policies and potentially the next round of redistricting, a favorite subject of McAuliffe’s.”
Richmond Times-Dispatch: “It’s been four years since he spent much time behind the wheel. McAuliffe got used to someone else doing the driving. With a laugh, he says he could get used to it again. Three months after leaving the Virginia governorship, the perquisites of which included a lumbering black SUV driven by a state trooper, McAuliffe is considering a second act: the presidency… These days, McAuliffe is doing what national prospects are supposed to do: traveling to key states, plumping for his party’s candidates, tweeting, talking — and listening.”
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) is “seriously” considering the 2020 presidential race, The Hill reports.
Said one McAuliffe friend: “He’s given me every indication that he’s taking it seriously. I don’t think he’s 100 percent decided that this is something he’s planning to do but it is something he’s seriously considering.”
USA Today: “Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Rep. Nancy Pelosi have been quietly courting major party donors during a series of weekend trips that illustrate how the Democratic Party’s road to rebuilding begins with changing the habits of labor unions and traditional donors.”
“The duo has traveled to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston and New York to try to convince traditional donor groups and grassroots organizations to channel more funding to local and state elections — with a particular focus on the next generation of governors who will oversee redistricting around the 2020 Census — as well as legal battles and ballot initiatives to challenge gerrymandered congressional districts.”
Said McAuliffe: “I don’t care who the president of the United States is, it doesn’t matter in the sense that, if we don’t have governors to stop these horrible maps, they’re going to pass a lot of this stuff at the state level. Politically, this is what I’m going to do. I’m obsessed.”
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) told Politico that the Russians had “treasonous” guidance from Americans in hacking the 2016 presidential election.
Said McAuliffe: “Somebody had to give these people a roadmap. So I believe somewhere in this, somebody was directing the Russians on whose names to use, what impact these certain people sending a memo would have on the American electorate. I mean, they just didn’t sit over in some cubicle over there somewhere in Moscow and figure this out.”
Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) told the Washington Post that the Clintons were done with politics.
Said McAuliffe: “I think so, sure. I don’t think Hillary has any interest in running again. I’ll let her speak for herself. I haven’t asked her that. I think the president’s probably going to go back, working on all the good deeds he’s done before in helping people around the globe. You know, there are elections. We’ve got to move forward.”
“The political organization of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, an influential Democrat with longstanding ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton, gave nearly $500,000 to the election campaign of the wife of an official at the Federal Bureau of Investigation who later helped oversee the investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s email use,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The Virginia Democratic Party, over which Mr. McAuliffe exerts considerable control, donated an additional $207,788 worth of support to Dr. McCabe’s campaign in the form of mailers… That adds up to slightly more than $675,000 to her candidacy from entities either directly under Mr. McAuliffe’s control or strongly influenced by him.”
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) “got crosswise with another powerful Clinton friend when he suggested Tuesday that Hillary Clinton might revert to her previous support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership once in office,” the Washington Post reports.
Said John Podesta: “Love Gov. McAuliffe, but he got this one flat wrong. Hillary opposes TPP before and after the election. Period. Full stop.”
Politico: “To say it was an unforced error is gross understatement: Trump tweeted out the story, and will almost certainly bring it up as proof ‘Crooked Hillary’ can’t be trusted.”
If Hillary Clinton wins, and Tim Kaine becomes vice president, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) will get to appoint someone to the U.S. Senate.
Politico: “The buzz in McAuliffe land is that he can appoint a placeholder, like the 77-year-old Chuck Robb, or someone who is a longer-term option like Rep. Don Beyer, Creigh Deeds, Attorney General Mark Herring or Anne Holton, the education secretary who is also Kaine’s wife. Tom Periello, a one-term congressman who is now at the State Department, could also be an option. McAuliffe WILL NOT appoint himself, sources close to him say.”
“It’s time to move on. This man has paid the price.”
— Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), in an interview with WTOP, on former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) after the Supreme Court overturned his corruption conviction.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) “is moving to head off a burgeoning controversy sparked by a federal probe that could have consequences for his close friend and political ally, Hillary Clinton,” The Hill reports.
“McAuliffe has launched a media blitz insisting the FBI will not find any wrongdoing in its investigation of contributions to his 2013 gubernatorial campaign.”
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) “is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the FBI and prosecutors from the Justice Department’s public integrity unit,” CNN reports.
“Terry McAuliffe tells political associates that he’s focused on his day job as Virginia governor, so he won’t have any formal responsibilities in his friend Hillary’s campaign,” Politico reports.
“But the Clinton loyalist, fundraiser and 2008 campaign chairman is already shaping a significant role for himself… Despite the daily demands of running the state he was elected to lead in 2013, he’s emerging as Hillary’s informal liaison to governors and the party’s biggest donors, while also keeping a finger on the pulse of the camp’s central operations in Brooklyn.”
☑️ Life in the Middle: Marginalized Moderate Senators In the Era of Polarization is available on Amazon. It takes a deep dive into the power of moderates and why we see them behave so precariously.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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