You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news. Your regular Significant Digits host, Oliver Roeder, is out, so Erin Doherty, FiveThirtyEight’s politics intern, will be taking over for part of this week. (Don’t worry, Oliver will be back.) In the meantime, got a significant digit? Send it along to @erin_dohh.
10 candidates
Tonight, 10 candidates vying for the Democratic presidential nominee will take the stage in Miami for night one of the first Democratic primary debate. It’s not yet clear exactly what impact the debate will have on the 2020 Democratic primary. Perhaps it will pique interest among voters, or maybe it will generate support for the lower-tier candidates. The only thing I can say for certain is that FiveThirtyEight staffers will be watching. And live blogging. And snacking. [FiveThirtyEight]
1 billion spam calls
After a historic number of robocalls (4.7 billion in May alone) and spam calls were received by American consumers this year, federal and state authorities announced a crackdown on Tuesday. The plan, called “Operation Call It Quits” by the Federal Trade Commission, will bring cases against the dozens of illegal robocaller companies responsible for placing an estimated 1 billion spam calls on American consumers. [The Washington Post]
$20 bill
After the Treasury Department announced in 2016 that the $20 bill would get a face swap, with Harriet Tubman replacing Andrew Jackson on the bill, progress on the project has come to a halt. The initial announcement said that Tubman would be on the bill by 2020, but last month, the Treasury Secretary announced that the project would be delayed until 2028. In response to the changing timeline, the Treasury Department’s acting inspector general announced that he would conduct an investigation into what caused the delay. [NPR]
698 elected officials
The total number of LGBTQ elected officials in the United States is 698, the highest that number has ever been. The current count marks a 25 percent increase in LGBTQ representation in elected office from 2018, according to the Victory Institute, an organization that tracks the number of LGBTQ individuals in office. [NBC News]
$3 billion
That’s how much the Tokyo 2020 Olympics have received in domestic sponsorships thus far, already topping what the London 2012 games raised, which was considered a record at the time. The upcoming Games have also generated buzz among fans, with 7.5 million citizens registering for the ticket lottery in hopes of getting their hands on a coveted ticket. [Reuters]
73-year-old woman
Kathy Kehoe from a northeastern suburb of Philadelphia used just a shovel and courage to kill a cobra that was sneaking around her patio. Kehoe, 73 years-old, killed the 4 to 5-foot long snake while fully aware of the risks of her encounter. “I knew what I was doing was dangerous, I’m not a fool,” she told the Associated Press on Tuesday. “I just acted. I thought of the kids and other people in this community and I said ‘I can’t let this thing get away.’” [AP News]
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If you see a significant digit in the wild, please send it to @erin_dohh (for now).