Joe Sestak announced Sunday evening that he is dropping out of the 2020 presidential race, leaving the total number of Democrats left in the field at 17.
The big picture: Sestak was one of the last Democrats to join the race, clocking in as the 25th candidate as of June. Like many of his competitors, he struggled to gain name recognition within the crowded field, leaving him at 0% in most polls. He also failed to qualify for any Democratic debates.
Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) told ABC's "This Week" Sunday that House Democrats are "certainly hoping" President Trump and his counsel will participate in upcoming impeachment hearings, noting: "If he has not done anything wrong, we're certainly anxious to hear his explanation."
Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said on "Fox News Sunday" that the first witness Republicans will attempt to call in the upcoming impeachment hearing is House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).
Democrats say a very realistic scenario now calls for Pete Buttigieg to win Iowa, Elizabeth Warren to win New Hampshire, Joe Biden to win South Carolina and Bernie Sanders to win Nevada.
Why it matters: With Buttigieg's rise in Iowa and Warren's deflation, Democrats' 2020 race has no real front-runner as the big field begins the two-month holiday sprint to the caucuses on Feb. 3, 64 days from now.
Thousands of people in Hong Kong marched to the U.S. Consulate on Sunday in a show of thanks to Congress and President Trump for passing and signing a law supporting their cause last week. Riot police responded with canisters of tear gas and rubber bullets after demonstrators threw bricks and smoke bombs, AP reports.
The big picture: The marches ended a brief lull in demonstrations after the region held elections for its district council, which saw pro-democracy candidates win a landslide victory. Some protesters said the marches were necessary to pressure city leader Carrie Lam to make concessions, as she has only accepted one of their five demands thus far — the withdrawal of the extradition bill that set off the months-long crisis.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden took aim at President Trump and the impact of his tariffs on Iowa farmers, as he launched an eight-day "No Malarkey" barnstorm bus tour of the state Saturday.
We can overcome four years of Donald Trump, but eight years will literally, literally begin to change the character of this nation, and we cannot let that happen."
Twitter permanently suspended accounts for Danielle Stella, a Republican challenging Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) for her seat in 2020, after she twice tweeted that the congresswoman should be hanged, the Washington Post reports.
The big picture: Omar, the first Somalian-American member of Congress, has said she experiences spikes in death threats when conservatives, including President Trump, target her in attacks.
Former Vice President Joe Biden brought home more endorsements in November than at any other point since launching his 2020 campaign, FiveThirtyEight reports.
The state of play: Biden's "endorsement points" — calculated by the political influence of those endorsers — are far outpacing his competitors. Sen. Kamala Harris stands in second place, followed by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Bernie Sanders.
In just three weeks, billionaire Michael Bloomberg has captured a level of media attention that's eluded most 2020 Democrats with months on the trail and in debates.
The big picture: Recent stories about Bloomberg generated more social media interactions than Amy Klobuchar, Andrew Yang, Julián Castro or Tom Steyer have ever gotten, according to data from NewsWhip provided exclusively to Axios.
