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patriotsnet · 3 years

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Who Are The Two Republicans Running For President

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Who Are The Two Republicans Running For President

: Andrew Jackson Vs Henry Clay Vs William Wirt

Two Republicans, Nine Thousand Democrats Running for President

Democratic-Republican Andrew Jackson was reelected in 1832 with 688,242 popular votes to 473,462 for National-Republican Henry Clay and 101,051 for Anti-Masonic candidate William Wirt. Jackson easily carried the Electoral College with 219 votes. Clay received only 49, and Wirt won the seven votes of Vermont. Martin Van Buren won the vice presidency with 189 votes against 97 for various other candidates.

The spoils system of political patronage, the tariff, and federal funding of internal improvements were major issues, but the most important was Jacksons veto of the rechartering of the Bank of the United States. National-Republicans attacked the veto, arguing that the Bank was needed to maintain a stable currency and economy. King Andrews veto, they asserted, was an abuse of executive power. In defense of Jacksons veto, Democratic-Republicans labeled the Bank an aristocratic institutiona monster. Suspicious of banking and of paper money, Jacksonians opposed the Bank for giving special privileges to private investors at government expense and charged that it fostered British control of the American economy.

The Anti-Masons convened the first national presidential nominating convention in Baltimore on September 26, 1831. The other parties soon followed suit, and the convention replaced the discredited caucus system of nomination.

: Benjamin Harrison Vs Grover Cleveland

In 1888 the Democratic Party nominated President Grover Cleveland and chose Allen G. Thurman of Ohio as his running mate, replacing Vice President Thomas Hendricks who had died in office.

After eight ballots, the Republican Party chose Benjamin Harrison, former senator from Indiana and the grandson of President William Henry Harrison. Levi P. Morton of New York was the vice-presidential nominee.

In the popular vote for president, Cleveland won with 5,540,050 votes to Harrisons 5,444,337. But Harrison received more votes in the Electoral College, 233 to Clevelands 168, and was therefore elected. The Republicans carried New York, President Clevelands political base.

The campaign of 1888 helped establish the Republicans as the party of high tariffs, which most Democrats, heavily supported by southern farmers, opposed. But memories of the Civil War also figured heavily in the election.

Northern veterans, organized in the Grand Army of the Republic, had been angered by Clevelands veto of pension legislation and his decision to return Confederate battle flags..

Two Republicans One Backed By Trump Head To Runoff In Texas Special Congressional Election

A plane flies across the sky beside the U.S. Capitol dome in Washington, U.S., January 15, 2020. REUTERS/Tom Brenner/File Photo

WASHINGTON, May 2 – A Texas Republican backed by former President Donald Trump has advanced to a runoff election to fill a U.S. House of Representatives vacancy left by the death of her husband, while Democrats were shut out of the contest.

Susan Wright, whose husband Ron Wright in February became the first sitting member of Congress to die of COVID-19, was the top vote-getter on Saturday in a crowded field of 23 candidates vying to represent the state’s 6th Congressional District. read more

Wright was headed to a runoff against another Republican in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs, a longtime Republican-held district.

Democrats had hoped to pick up the seat to expand their slim House majority. But they conceded Sunday they had missed the chance.

Wright received 19.2% of the vote, followed by former military fighter pilot Jake Ellzey, another Republican, who drew 13.8%, according to the Texas secretary of state’s office. Just 354 votes and less than half a percentage point separated Ellzey from Democrat Jana Lynne Sanchez, who was in third place with 13.4%.

“Democrats have come a long way toward competing in Texas, but we still have a long way to go,” Sanchez, the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants, said in a statement. “Two Republicans will be competing to represent this congressional district.”

Us Election 2020: Why Republicans Are Fighting In Georgia

The presidential election is over, and President-elect Joe Biden will be heading to the White House in January. But in Georgia, there are two more key political battles still under way.

All of the so-called battleground states have certified their results for the presidency, but next month, the outcomes of two critical US Senate races will determine the upper chamber’s balance of power.

Early voting began on Monday in the southern state for these 5 January run-off races that will shape Mr Biden’s first term.

Here’s what you need to know.

: James K Polk Vs Henry Clay Vs James Birney

The election of 1844 introduced expansion and slavery as important political issues and contributed to westward and southern growth and sectionalism. Southerners of both parties sought to annex Texas and expand slavery. Martin Van Buren angered southern Democrats by opposing annexation for that reason, and the Democratic convention cast aside the ex-president and front-runner for the first dark horse, Tennessees James K. Polk. After almost silently breaking with Van Buren over Texas, Pennsylvanias George M. Dallas was nominated for vice president to appease Van Burenites, and the party backed annexation and settling the Oregon boundary dispute with England. The abolitionist Liberty Party nominated Michigans James G. Birney. Trying to avoid controversy, the Whigs nominated anti-annexationist Henry Clay of Kentucky and Theodore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey. But, pressured by southerners, Clay endorsed annexation even though he was concerned it might cause war with Mexico and disunion, thereby losing support among antislavery Whigs.

Enough New Yorkers voted for Birney to throw 36 electoral votes and the election to Polk, who won the Electoral College 170-105 and a slim popular victory. John Tyler signed a joint congressional resolution admitting Texas, but Polk pursued Oregon and then northern Mexico in the Mexican-American War, aggravating tension over slavery and sectional balance and leading to the Compromise of 1850.

Us Ambassador To The United Nations

For more information on Haley’s tenure as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, please visit: Nikki Haley .

President Donald Trump announced Haley as his nominee for U.N. ambassador on November 23, 2016. On January 24, 2017, the Senate voted 96-4 to confirm Haley as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Sens. Bernie Sanders , Chris Coons , Tom Udall , and Martin Heinrich were the only senators to vote against her confirmation.

On October 9, 2018, Haley announced that she would resign from the position at the end of the year to take a break from public service. She formally resigned on December 31, 2018.

Whos Running In Georgias Us Senate Election Runoffs

Georgia will hold two special elections Jan. 5, with the results ultimately determining which party will control the U.S. Senate.

In the southeastern state of Georgia, a political candidate in a primary or general election must earn more than 50% of the votes. If no one in the race meets that threshold, the top two vote-getters enter into a runoff election.

One runoff race features incumbent Sen. David Perdue, a Republican who received 49.7% of the vote on Nov. 3, and Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff, who received 47.9%.

The other runoff race is for a seat vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, a Republican who received 25.9% of the vote on Nov. 3, will face the Rev. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat who received 32.9%.

Republicans need to win just one of the elections to retain control of the U.S. Senate. Democrats need to win both seats to force a 50-50 Senate. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would then be needed to cast tie-breaking votes when needed.

Here is a look at the candidates:

REPUBLICANS

Kelly Loeffler

David Perdue

DEMOCRATS

Jon Ossoff

Raphael Warnock

: Ronald Reagan Vs Jimmy Carter Vs John B Anderson

In 1980 President Jimmy Carter was opposed for the Democratic nomination by Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts in ten primaries. But Carter easily won the nomination at the Democratic convention. The party also renominated Walter Mondale for vice president.

Ronald Reagan, former governor of California, received the Republican nomination, and his chief challenger, George Bush, became the vice-presidential nominee. Representative John B. Anderson of Illinois, who had also sought the nomination, ran as an independent with Patrick J. Lucey, former Democratic governor of Wisconsin, as his running mate.

The two major issues of the campaign were the economy and the Iran Hostage Crisis. President Carter seemed unable to control inflation and had not succeeded in obtaining the release of American hostages in Tehran before the election.

Reagan won a landslide victory, and Republicans also gained control of the Senate for the first time in twenty-five years. Reagan received 43,904,153 popular votes in the election, and Carter, 35,483,883. Reagan won 489 votes in the Electoral College to Carters 49. John Anderson won no electoral votes, but got 5,720,060 popular votes.

: William Henry Harrison Vs Martin Van Buren

Trump Campaign Running Two Candidates For President In Wisconsin | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC

Aware that Van Burens problems gave them a good chance for victory, the Whigs rejected the candidacy of Henry Clay, their most prominent leader, because of his support for the unpopular Second Bank of the United States. Instead, stealing a page from the Democratic emphasis on Andrew Jacksons military exploits, they chose William Henry Harrison, a hero of early Indian wars and the War of 1812. The Whig vice-presidential nominee was John Tyler, a onetime Democrat who had broken with Jackson over his veto of the bill rechartering the Second Bank.

Studiously avoiding divisive issues like the Bank and internal improvements, the Whigs depicted Harrison as living in a log cabin and drinking hard cider. They used slogans like Tippecanoe and Tyler too, and Van, Van, Van/Van is a used-up man, to stir voters. Harrison won by a popular vote of 1,275,612 to 1,130,033, and an electoral margin of 234 to 60. But the victory proved to be a hollow one because Harrison died one month after his inauguration. Tyler, his successor, would not accept Whig economic doctrine, and the change in presidential politics had little effect on presidential policy.

: Thomas Jefferson Vs John Adams

The significance of the 1800 election lay in the fact that it entailed the first peaceful transfer of power between parties under the U.S. Constitution. Republican Thomas Jefferson succeeded Federalist John Adams. This peaceful transfer occurred despite defects in the Constitution that caused a breakdown of the electoral system.

During the campaign, Federalists attacked Jefferson as an un-Christian deist, tainted by his sympathy for the increasingly bloody French Revolution. Republicans criticized the Adams administrations foreign, defense and internal security policies; opposed the Federalist naval buildup and the creation of a standing army under Alexander Hamilton; sounded a call for freedom of speech, Republican editors having been targeted for prosecution under the Alien and Sedition Acts and denounced deficit spending by the federal government as a backhanded method of taxation without representation.

Although the Republicans in the same election had won a decisive majority of 65 to 39 in the House, election of the president fell to the outgoing House, which had a Federalist majority. But despite this majority, two state delegations split evenly, leading to another deadlock between Burr and Jefferson.

: George Washington Unopposed

George Washington was the first president of the United States.

The first presidential election was held on the first Wednesday of January in 1789. No one contested the election of George Washington, but he remained reluctant to run until the last minute, in part because he believed seeking the office would be dishonorable. Only when Alexander Hamilton and others convinced him that it would be dishonorable to refuse did he agree to run.

The Constitution allowed each state to decide how to choose its presidential electors. In 1789, only Pennsylvania and Maryland held elections for this purpose; elsewhere, the state legislatures chose the electors. This method caused some problems in New York, which was so divided between Federalists who supported the new Constitution and Antifederalists who opposed it that the legislature failed to choose either presidential electors or U.S. senators.

Before the adoption of the Twelfth Amendment, there was no separate ballot for president and vice president. Each elector cast two votes for president. The candidate with the largest number of electoral votes won the presidency, and the runner-up became vice president.

‘americans Will See The Current Two Options Are Not The Choice’

Jade Simmons is a multi-hyphenated woman. A former beauty queen, professional concert pianist, motivational speaker, rapper, mother, and ordained pastor.

As she puts it, she is an unconventional candidate, “but these are unconventional times”.

“This seemed to me to be a time when we couldn’t afford to do business as usual,” she says. “I’m the daughter of a civil rights activist, and the way my father raised me was that if you see voids, if you see injustices, you need to ask yourself if that might be you that needs to be leaning in.”

She says her goal is to create equal access to opportunity, through economic, educational and criminal justice reform. And in that spirit, she’s aiming to run “the least expensive campaign in the history of our nation”.

“We think it’s abominable that it costs now almost a billion dollars to run for president when the qualifications are that you are 35 years old, a US-born resident, and have lived here 14 years,” says Ms Simmons. “We’d rather spend that money on helping people.”

Full coverage of the US election

While the Republican and Democratic nominees will be on the ballot in all states, independents must meet an array of state deadlines and access requirements.

“I know it sounds wild, given the history of independents! We believe that if we stay standing long enough, there’s still some more disruption coming in – that most Americans are going to see that the current two options are not the choice.

: Franklin D Roosevelt Vs Alfred M Landon

In 1936 the Democratic Party nominated President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Vice President John Nance Garner. The Republican Party, strongly opposed to the New Deal and big government, chose Governor Alfred M. Landon of Kansas and Fred Knox of Illinois.

The 1936 presidential campaign focused on class to an unusual extent for American politics. Conservative Democrats such as Alfred E. Smith supported Landon. Eighty percent of newspapers endorsed the Republicans, accusing Roosevelt of imposing a centralized economy. Most businesspeople charged the New Deal with trying to destroy American individualism and threatening the nations liberty. But Roosevelt appealed to a coalition of western and southern farmers, industrial workers, urban ethnic voters, and reform-minded intellectuals. African-American voters, historically Republican, switched to FDR in record numbers.

In a referendum on the emerging welfare state, the Democratic Party won in a landslide27,751,612 popular votes for FDR to only 16,681,913 for Landon. The Republicans carried two statesMaine and Vermontwith eight electoral votes; Roosevelt received the remaining 523. The unprecedented success of FDR in 1936 marked the beginning of a long period of Democratic Party dominance.

: Donald J Trump Vs Hillary R Clinton

The 2016 election was unconventional in its level of divisiveness. Former first lady, New York Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton became the first woman to be nominated by a major party in a U.S. presidential election. Donald Trump, a New York real estate baron and reality TV star, was quick to mock fellow Republicans running for the nomination as well as his democratic opponent.

In what many political analysts considered a stunning upset, Trump, with his populist, nationalist campaign, lost the popular vote, but won the Electoral College, becoming the nation’s 45th president.

Popular Vote: 65,853,516 to 62,984,825 . Electoral College: 306 to 232 .

Former Un Ambassador Nikki Haley

Haley gets a lot of buzz, and she has been actively courting attention since leaving the Trump administration almost two years ago. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump even considered pulling her in last summer to replace Vice President Mike Pence on the 2020 ticket to help with Trump’s ailing numbers among women a move the husband-wife White House duo fervently denied.)

Haley moves up a notch based on consistent exposure since June, a prime speaking slot at the Republican National Convention on Monday night, and a strong showing of 11 percent support in the most-recent 2024 poll.

The former South Carolina governor can stake claim to being popular among the world of Washington pundits and professional political types, many of whom were interviewed for this story and spoke very highly of her. But she has also been dinged by some operatives as more of a media creation than a serious contender for 2024.

“Leaving the job was hard, but putting family first was more important. And I think now it’s about taking it a year at a time,” she said earlier this year during a meeting of the Federalist Society.

Abortion Rights Drinking Age Drugs And More

At present, Weld is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Self-described as strongly pro-choice when it comes to abortion rights, he is also said to believe that drug use should not be considered a criminal offense. He feels the drinking age should be lowered but has not stated at what age it should be set.

When it comes to matters of the military, Weld also draws a conservative line. He feels that America should withdraw its troops from foreign engagements and that the countrys efforts and resources should be refocused on domestic issues, in order to prosper. According to Aljhazeera.com, Weld previously supported bans on assault weapons in the US.

Democrat Jon Ossoff Declares Victory In Georgia Senate Runoff Election

Could compromise be on the way for 2 Republicans running for Senate seat?

Democrat Jon Ossoff declared victory over Georgia Republican David Perdue in a Wednesday morning speech to supporters in Atlanta, calling for unity to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic. No major news outlet has projected a win for the Democrat yet.

It is with humility that I thank the people of Georgia for electing me to serve you in the United States Senate,” Ossoff said.

Raphael Warnock is the projected winner in Georgia’s other Senate runoff race last night, meaning that if Ossoff’s win becomes official, Democrats will begin President-elect Bidens administration with control of both the House and Senate.

Ossoff currently leads Perdue by about 16,000 votes.

Perdue has not conceded the race. In a statement released last night, the campaign said they believed Perdue would still be victorious in the end.

Nicholas Wu

Wild Card: Donald Trump

Don’t forget the Grover Cleveland scenario.

Should Trump lose in November he’d likely dominate the political spotlight until he lets it go. And that has Republicans contemplating the fallout as an ex-president Trump gets peppered with questions about trying to join Cleveland in the history books by running again in 2024 with an aim of serving non-consecutive terms as president.

“At the very least, he’ll threaten to and f— with the field to get attention,” said one Republican strategist.

A former senior Trump White House aide predicted Trump if booted from office would taunt Biden daily while toying with the notion of getting back into politics, especially if the 2020 race ended with controversy. “It’d be day by day,” the person said. “It’s not in his DNA to lose. He’d want to be vindicated.”

Other people close to the president doubt he’d run again. “I think he walks away from it and that’s kind of that,” said Paul Winfree, a former White House deputy chief of staff on policy.

What Is A Voter

The Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act, which took effect January 1, 2011, created “voter-nominated” offices. The Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act does not apply to candidates running for U.S. President, county central committees, or local offices.

Most of the offices that were previously known as “partisan” are now known as “voter-nominated” offices. Voter-nominated offices are state constitutional offices, state legislative offices, and U.S. congressional offices. The only “partisan offices” now are the offices of U.S. President and county central committee.

Reasons Why So Many Republicans Are Running For President

The GOP presidential field for 2016 may be the largest-ever in either party, with eight formally-declared candidates and another eight widely expected to enter the race in the next few months. Here are seven reasons why there are so many Republicans seeking the White House:

1. The Fame Game

To put it simply, running for president can make a person famous, rich, deeply influential or all three, even if they lose. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was a serious candidate during his 2008 run, winning eight states. It’s unlikely he entered the race simply to gain fame.

But his unsuccessful campaign helped him get a show on Fox News. It’s hard to imagine he would have received such an opportunity without having run for president and become a favorite of the most conservative Republicans.

Read more from NBC News:Indictment taints former speaker Dennis Hastert’s reputation

After his unsuccessful campaign in 2012, Rick Santorum was tapped to run a company that makes Christian-themed movies. Herman Cain was a virtually unknown former businessman who is now popular among conservative activists after his campaign four years ago.

Sarah Palin didn’t actually run for president, but she’s perhaps the perfect example of how a national campaign can change a politician’s life. Her vice-presidential run turned into a book deal, a tv show and both fame and money that she never could have achieved as governor of Alaska.

Read More Ex-House Speaker Dennis Hastert indicted on federal charges

: Grover Cleveland Vs Benjamin Harrison Vs James B Weaver

The Republican party in 1892 nominated President Benjamin Harrison and replaced Vice President Levi P. Morton with Whitelaw Reid of New York. The Democrats also selected the familiar: former president Grover Cleveland and Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois. The Populist, or Peoples party, fielding candidates for the first time, nominated Gen. James B. Weaver of Iowa and James G. Field of Virginia.

The main difference between the Republicans and the Democrats in 1892 was their position on the tariff. The Republicans supported ever-increasing rates, whereas a substantial wing of the Democratic party pushed through a platform plank that demanded import taxes for revenue only. The Populists called for government ownership of the railroads and monetary reform, confronting these issues in a way the two major parties did not.

Cleveland, avenging his defeat of 1888, won the presidency, receiving 5,554,414 popular votes to Harrisons 5,190,801. Weaver and the Populists received 1,027,329. In the electoral college Cleveland, carrying the swing states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Indiana, garnered 277 votes to Harrisons 145.

Withdrew Before The Primaries

The following individuals participated in at least one authorized presidential debate but withdrew from the race before the Iowa caucuses on February 1, 2016. They are listed in order of exit, starting with the most recent.

Name

The following notable individuals filed as candidates with FEC by November 2015.

Name

Additionally, Peter Messina was on the ballot in Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Idaho.Tim Cook was on the ballot in Louisiana, New Hampshire and Arizona. Walter Iwachiw was on the ballot in Florida and New Hampshire.

What Makes The 2024 Presidential Election Unique

The lead up to the 2024 presidential election is different from past years because of former President Donald Trump. Hes eligible to run for a second term, and has publicly toyed with the idea while also weighing in on other Republicans he thinks could be the future of the party. If Trump does run in 2024, hed start out with unparalleled name ID and massive support, but if he doesnt, the field could be wide open for other Republicans hoping to win over his supporters. President Joe Biden said recently he expects to run for reelection in 2024.

Golden Trump statue at CPAC 2021 was no graven image, according to the artist

This early on, wannabe candidates must raise their profiles, show their commitment to the party, and raise money, one Republican strategist said, to get on peoples radars even when your candidacy is in a holding pattern.

Some of the most visible 2024 presidential candidates will surely flame out long before the Iowa caucus, and theres always the chance that the next Republican nominee isnt yet considered a serious player . Theres a million and one things that will happen between now and then that will shape the race in ways we cant now predict, but the invisible primary that comes before any votes are cast has started.

Heres your very early guide to some of 2024s Republican presidential candidates, based on early polling, interviews with Republican donors and strategists and results from online political betting markets.

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plusorminuscongress · 3 years

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New story in Politics from Time: Texas Democrats Faced Criticism for Fleeing to D.C.—But These Lawmakers See Their Gamble as a Deeply Personal Battle for the Future of Their State

The tears that slid down her cheeks took Texas state representative Senfronia Thompson, 82, by surprise.

Maybe they were drawn by the words of Virginia state senator Jennifer McClellan, a Black Democrat who this year launched an unsuccessful bid for governor, as she described the barriers that had made it difficult and at times impossible for her parents and her grandparents to vote. Maybe by the setting, outside a library in Alexandria, Va., less than 10 miles from Capitol Hill, where, the very year Thompson was born, a group of Black residents had staged a sit-in to demand integrated access. Or maybe it was the reminder that even after her five decades in the Texas House—longer than any other woman, Black person or Democrat—the tools and tactics of Jim Crow are still functioning. Here she was in the capital region on July 16, come to beg the U.S. Congress to do something to protect voting rights. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

”I think about how we had to come a long ways and watch signs that say ‘No Dogs. No Negroes. No Mexicans,’” Thompson says, to a bank of TV cameras at the library. “When dogs [were un]leashed on our people. When they were beaten. When they were bombed. When they were killed and all of the things we had to endure. Haven’t we done enough?”

Thompson’s voice rises, wavers, then breaks. “Haven’t we paid the price enough? What is it going to take for us to be able to be Americans in this country? I am an American.”

Four days earlier, Thompson and other Texas Democrats—a largely Latino and Black group—had arrived in the D.C. area in a strategic gambit, maybe even a desperate one, to leave their state’s Republican-controlled government without the total number of legislators required to pass laws. The reason: a slate of bills that would further restrict how and when voting happens in the state. Leaving the state is an option that Texas legislators last exercised in full almost 20 years ago, when Republicans—who had just recently come to power in the legislature—drew up a redistricting plan that looked likely to eliminate every Democrat from representing Texas in the U.S. Congress. In the end, the plan moved ahead.

Read more: In Texas, Democrats Go All In to Fight Voting Restrictions

This time, the caucus that left Texas has animated and irritated people across the political spectrum. Former Democratic U.S. Representative from Texas Beto O’Rourke managed to raise over $600,000 as of Thursday to cover what his team has described as the major costs of the Texas Democrats’ “fight against voter suppression.” And Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican who is reportedly interested in vying for the White House, has said publicly that he will have the lawmakers arrested when they come home.

Michael A. McCoy for TIMERep. Thompson speaks at a press conference on voting rights outside of the Kate Waller Barrett Branch Library in Alexandria, Va., on July 16.

“We need to find better ways than to fight each other over who is going to control what,” Thompson tells me later, not long after the charter bus we were riding on had taken us south on 14th Street, past the National Mall and the U.S. Capitol in the distance on our left, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture on our right. “Right now, that’s about all we do.”

In the American imagination, Texas is a quintessentially Western, white and rural space, as Texas-born Harvard historian Annette Gordon-Reed describes in her book Juneteenth. But in reality, Texas—the last Confederate state to free the enslaved—is now home to some of the nation’s largest Latino and Black populations, as well as five of the nation’s 15 largest cities. Almost 58% of Texans identify as Black, Latino or Asian, and the big cities on the Eastern side of the state are home to about 86% of the state’s entire population. These are the people in Texas who tend to vote for Democrats.

But that majority has not yet translated into power. Even after decades of speculation about Texas turning politically blue—and a 2020 election in which Trump won the state by a smaller than expected margin—only 13 of the 38-member Texas Congressional delegation are Democrats. The state’s gubernatorial mansion, both state legislative bodies and all 27 state-wide offices are held by Republicans. A combination of gerrymandering, lagging voter registration among Latinos and a history of lower-than-average voter turnout have together allowed Republicans to exercise disproportionate power despite a shrinking voter base. That, Texas Democrats argue, is the real reason—not concern about election integrity, which supporters of the bills argue they will address—that Texas Republicans want to make it harder to vote, and in ways they believe are most likely to constrain Latino and Black Texans.

Thompson and the other lawmakers who decamped argue that the voting measures in question would mean that the already slow movement of political power in Texas—away from the state’s mostly white, rural and Republican districts, toward fast-expanding urban centers and their surrounding suburbs—will grind to an undemocratic standstill.

”I thought, for a long time, that racism—the really bad, violent, dangerous stuff—was in the past,” Thompson says. “I thought for a long time we were moving forward…but how strange it is that we are here, in the capital of a country known for innovation, to deal with the reality that some folks think it’s a crime if there’s an election and they don’t win. Some folks running the state of Texas think there’s something terribly wrong if it looks like some time soon, they won’t have all power and all control.”

Michael A. McCoy for TIMETexas Representative Jasmine Crockett holds a handbag with the words “Protect Black People” in Washington, D.C., on July 16.

The day before Thompson spoke so emphatically in Virginia, representative Celia Israel celebrated her 57th birthday, if it can be called a celebration so far from family and most friends. It was supposed to have been her wedding day, too. Another Texas Democrat, Israel—a Latina who represents a district that includes Austin— had planned to wed her partner of 26 years, Celinda Garza, in a ceremony on the Texas House of Representatives floor, then honeymoon in Big Bend National Park. Instead, she found herself here at the U.S. Capitol in a small room, all dark wood paneling and gilded light fixtures, enumerating just what was at stake in that power battle back home.

“We’re here to really just let you know how emotional this is for us,” Israel tells U.S. Representative Adriano Espaillat, an Afro-Latino Democrat from New York. “This is heartfelt. We love our state.”

Republicans so completely dominate policy in Texas right now, she begins to explain, that during this year’s regular session Texas lawmakers approved gun carrying without a permit and an abortion ban as early as six weeks gestation, without exceptions for rape or incest. While Israel doesn’t mention this, they also approved abortion restrictions that put some enforcement power in the hands of private citizens. And Abbott signed into law a state tax revenue penalty for major cities that remove any money from police budgets.

Texas representative Jarvis Johnson, a Black Democrat who represents a portion of Houston and who was there with Israel, picked up the thread. At least 53 of the more than 500 people arrested over the Jan. 6 insurrection live in Texas, according to a database compiled by USA Today, more than many other states. A video has been making the rounds of a meeting of Texas Republicans, in which they discuss a plan to send an “army” to heavily Black and Latino precincts in Houston where they claim voter fraud happens. That’s an idea that leaves Jarvis and others concerned about the possibility of armed and angry Trump supporters descending on their cities.

One of the Texas bills that prompted the lawmakers to leave would allow some of these same people to join the ranks of poll watchers, who may stand close enough to voters to observe their actions and hear any conversations—and who are allowed to do so while armed. Jarvis tells Israel and Espaillat that the possibility brings to mind the intimidation tactics once favored by Jim Crow-era local law enforcement and the Klu Klux Klan. For similar reasons, while he’s in D.C., Jarvis is worried about his 20 year old son, his namesake, driving a car registered in his name. Jarvis fears what could happen if his son passes the wrong police officer who has heard Abbott say the lawmakers “fled,” are wanted and subject to arrest upon sight. It’s language another Black Texas Democrat told me brings to mind the pursuit of runaway slaves and lost animals.

Michael A. McCoy for TIMEMembers of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus stand for a portrait at Kate Waller Barrett Branch Library in Alexandria, Va. on July 16.

Read more: Texas Was Already One of the Hardest States to Vote in. It May Get Even Harder

There are also more subtle ways the Texas Democrats think the voting bills and the political fight over them could change who votes in the state. Around the country, Black and Latino workers are somewhat more likely to be assigned to evening and night shifts; one pending bill would eliminate 24-hour voting, an option offered in Houston in 2020 that some believe contributed mightily to higher than usual turnout. In addition, under the pending Texas bills, polling site workers—the people who administer election sites, often retirees—could face criminal penalties for honest mistakes.

The success of the Texas Democrats’ voting rights mission in D.C. is far from certain. There are at least three possible resolutions: Democrats could relent and return to Texas; that is unlikely to happen soon. Texas Republicans could agree to a compromise bill that addresses some or their concerns; this seems even more unlikely. Or, Congress could implement a federal law that bans or overrides some elements of proposals like the Texas bills. This is the possibility in which the Texas Democrats have placed their faith. And they’re not the only ones hoping for action in that realm: Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democratic Congresswoman, was arrested on July 15 for protesting the failure of the U.S. Senate to take up the For the People Act or the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

So Espaillat isn’t the only person at the Capitol whom the Texas Democrats are meeting with. Israel tells Espaillat that some of her colleagues had “a really good meeting” with U.S. Senator Joseph Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia and one of two white Democrats, along with Senator Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona, who have thus far refused to vote for new federal voting rights legislation and expressed unwillingness to end the filibuster. Both Manchin and Sinema hail from states where voters are almost evenly split between the two major parties. There have also been meetings with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Vice President Kamala Harris. And Texas Democrats have also joined in protest actions and press conferences with a number of civic and political organizations including Black Voters Matter. As Texas representative John Bucy III, a white Democrat who represents Austin and several suburbs, put it, the group is taking just about all meetings. Bucy is prepared to stay in Washington, D.C., so long that he brought his entire family. Still, many political analysts believe the Texas Democrats are unlikely to prevail.

“My goal is for us to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” Israel tells Espaillat. “Let’s find the three or four good things that we can get through these senators and let’s move forward.”

Then it’s back to the hotel, followed by a return to the Capitol Hill area for a visit to the U.S. Supreme Court, via a misdirected Uber that first goes to the U.S. Court of Appeals. It’s just after 5:00 p.m. and Israel and some of her colleagues, a group of women lawmakers, want to use the building as a backdrop to record videos for social media. After all, that’s where in 2013 the court eviscerated part of the Voting Rights Act, making way for bills like those proposed in Texas.

Michael A. McCoy for TIMETexas Representative Cecilia Israel attends a rally outside of AFL–CIO in Washington, D.C., on July 15, 2021.

“Gay marriage was made legal [here] in 2015,” Israel says, when it’s her turn to speak. “I was supposed to get married but I’m a runaway bride. And I’m running from a really bad governor and running from a state that has so many misplaced priorities…This is our job right now, to speak up for the state that we love and the country that we love.”

Aug. 6 will mark the 56th anniversary of the day when another Texan, then President Lyndon Johnson, signed that 1965 voting rights law. He and some of the lawmakers who backed it were prompted in part by the violent way that voting rights protesters were confronted, beaten and nearly killed on their march from Selma, Ala. Back in 1965, a young Mitch McConnell was there to watch the Voting Rights Act become law. He supported its contents and voted to renew it after he joined the Senate. For almost five decades, the Voting Rights Act required states with a history of voting discrimination, including Texas, to seek federal approval for voting-related changes. The Supreme Court stuck down that provision. As Senate Majority Leader, McConnell in 2020 refused to hold a vote on a new version of the Voting Rights Act.

Inside the antechamber where they met, Israel, Jarvis, Espaillat and his aides had all gone maskless, in keeping with CDC guidelines for those who have been vaccinated against the novel coronavirus. Days later, Israel became one of several Texas Democrats in the delegation to test positive for a breakthrough case of COVID-19. In-person activity largely came to a halt. But, before it did, Thompson, the Texas Black caucus and two members of the Mexican American caucus had their event in Virginia.

Read more: Texas Lawmaker in D.C. on Testing Positive for COVID-19: ‘Let This Be a Reminder’

There, Thompson tells me it was the first time in at least 30 years she can remember crying, in public about politics. Someone gave her a tissue.

Thompson is a practicing lawyer, not afraid of a leopard-print blazer. When she talks politics, it’s clear that the woman known as “Ms. T” has seen a lot of history and plans to shape the future.

“We deserve the same rights and consideration that everybody has,” Thompson says. But a deep level of “inhumanity” runs through so much of American politics, she says—that, and power games.

Thompson tells me that she, like anyone might, once entertained dreams of moving up the political ladder, but that moments like this one remind her that she is where she needs to be. The national attention the Texas delegation is garnering is nice, but it will only matter if it comes with a successful defense of voting rights, the cornerstone of a truly inclusive and representative democracy, she says.

Michael A. McCoy for TIMEMembers of the Texas Democratic delegation stand for a portrait on Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., on July 15.

When the bus stops again, we’re at The Park at 14th, one of those downtown restaurants that, before the pandemic, made brunch a big part of D.C. weekend culture. State representative Jasmine Crockett, a freshman Texas lawmaker and Black Democrat who represents a district that includes parts of the Dallas area, stands near the door making calls as other lawmakers stream inside. She’s wearing a red blazer, matching Converse and carrying a black purse embossed with the words “PROTECT BLACK PEOPLE.”

Crockett, the only Black freshman this session, had told me that what shocked and troubled her most in this, her first year in the legislature, were the obvious assumptions about who should have power over what happens in Texas—and the lengths to which people were willing to go to maintain that status quo.

“I have no doubt in my mind what’s going on,” she said. “[Republicans] see their power dissipating. It’s a matter of, ‘if we don’t stop those Black people and them brown ones from deciding to vote, then we’re screwed.’”

This session, Republicans voted to restrict the ability of gang members—presumed to be “Black and brown,” Crockett says—to carry guns, but refused to curtail the gun rights of those who meet the federal definition of a white supremacist. This was the moment where Crockett found herself in tears on the Texas House floor.

“That was the one lesson I learned this session,” she says. “There is no logic in the leg.”

And so the Texas Democrats are planning to stay, for some time. They have until the Senate’s session ends on Aug. 6 to convince federal lawmakers to do something to protect voting rights. And yet many political observers think that the dramatic act of leaving the state ultimately cannot be sustained or effective. The governor has called a second special session that could run into early September. Eventually, in September, the regular session will start up again.

Inside The Park, while trying to figure out where in D.C. she can go for her weekly wash and set, Thompson inadvertently begins to hold a kind of advisory court for younger, Black women in the state-lawmaking world. If Democrats had managed to flip more seats in the Texas House, Thompson would likely be it’s speaker right now. Instead, a Maryland Delegate sitting immediately to Thompson’s right asks her how long she’s been in the legislature.

Michael A. McCoy for TIMERep. Thompson on a bus during an interview with a journalist in Washington, D.C., on July 16.

“Fifty years,” Thompson says.

“And, you are not exhausted?” the Maryland lawmaker asks.

In Maryland, Democrats had a supermajority in 2020. So when lawmakers took on police reforms during that session, Democrats resolved to let Republicans have their say, to debate or interrupt as little as possible, then pass the legislation in question. But it became trying for the Democratic lawmaker to hear her mostly white Republican colleagues opine at length about things like the financial needs of officers and their families, without so much as a mention of the toll the disproportionate number of Black and Latino people killed by police takes on those families. A Virginia lawmaker seated to Thompson’s left, who at the library gave an impassioned speech about the danger of rolling back civil rights gains, commiserated. She said she found herself oddly grateful that the pandemic forced their police reform hearings to take place over Zoom, a space where she could participate, camera off, eyerolls obscured.

Didn’t Thompson feel it too?

“No,” Thompson says as a smile spreads across her face.

What these women need is self care, she says, to work hard for the right things and the clear conscience that brings. Yes, there are frustrations: For example, many aspects of a Texas policing reform bill Thompson named in honor of George Floyd did not survive Texas House Republican opposition. Some did, after Thompson told her colleagues she wants the same freedom they have, not to live in fear their children will be killed by police, but even those measures died in the Texas Senate. She hasn’t given up, so she’ll need to get back to Texas eventually, where there is work to be done.

“I still wake up,” she says, “ready to kick ass every day.”

By Janell Ross/Washington, D.C. on July 23, 2021 at 02:19PM

#Time #politics #PlusOrMinusCongress #±Congress #Indega±#IndegaPlusOrMinus #TimeMag #TimeMagazine

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newstfionline · 3 years

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Tuesday, June 22, 2021

U.S. extends travel restrictions at Canada, Mexico land borders through July 21 (Reuters) U.S. land borders with Canada and Mexico will remain closed to non-essential travel until at least July 21, the U.S. Homeland Security Department said on Sunday. The 30-day extension came after Canada announced its own extension on Friday of the requirements that were set to expire on Monday and have been in place since March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Bipartisanship Has Sailed (NBC News) President Biden’s desire for bipartisan support for his legislative priorities definitely seems like wishful thinking. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is unequivocal when he says he is “one-hundred percent” focused on stopping any legislation the Biden administration wants to advance, or any Supreme Court vacancies they’d like to fill. In reality, with a 50-50 split in the Senate, and one of those Democrats—Joe Manchin (D-WV)—relishing his power to hold up progress, Democrats will simply stay stuck between a rock and a hard place, unless they’re willing to scale back their bills in an attempt to at least keep their caucus together.

Rhode Island Makes Financial Literacy A Required Class For All High School Students (Morning News) Forget high school financial literacy for a moment––adult financial literacy in America is shockingly low. The U.S. national debt recently soared past $30 trillion, leaving pensioners and younger generations wondering how the federal government will meet all its outstanding obligations. If Congress can’t even set a balanced budget, what hope is there for the rest of us? Meanwhile over half of U.S. adults say they’re financially anxious, and over three quarters live paycheck to paycheck. One Rhode Island school is leading the way to a better future. Personal finance classes at Tolman High School are preparing students to be financially responsible adults as they make their way in the world. Class of ‘21 salutatorian Hanatha Konte told reporters at the Breeze, “The classes really broke everything down for me in a way I understood.” The success of teaching students how to manage money and balance their household finances has led Rhode Island to pass a bill requiring the class for all high schoolers in the state.

Claudette regains tropical storm strength after 13 deaths (AP) Claudette regained tropical storm status Monday morning as it neared the coast of the Carolinas less than two days after 13 people died—including eight children in a multi-vehicle crash—due to the effects of the storm in Alabama. Monday morning, Claudette had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph), the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. The storm was located 65 miles (100 kilometers) east-southeast of Raleigh, North Carolina, and moving east-northeast at 25 mph (41 kph), forecasters said. The storm was expected to move into the Atlantic Ocean later in the morning, then travel near or south of Nova Scotia on Tuesday.

Fear shakes Mexico border city after violence leaves 18 dead (AP) Fear has invaded the Mexican border city of Reynosa after gunmen in vehicles killed 14 people, including taxis drivers, workers and a nursing student, and security forces responded with operations that left four suspects dead. While this city across the border from McAllen, Texas is used to cartel violence as a key trafficking point, the 14 victims in Saturday’s attacks appeared to be what Tamaulipas Gov. Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca called “innocent citizens” rather than members of one gang killed by a rival. The attacks took place in several neighborhoods in eastern Reynosa, according to the Tamaulipas state agency that coordinates security forces, and sparked a deployment of the military, National Guard and state police across the city. Images posted on social media showed bodies in the streets. Local businessman Misael Chavarria Garza said many businesses closed early Saturday after the attacks and people were very scared as helicopters flew overhead.

Colombians have thronged to anti-government protests. Hundreds have gone missing. (Washington Post) Juan Esteban Torres left his home on the afternoon of May 18 to join an anti-government protest in Caldas, Colombia. Millions across the country had taken to the streets in daily demonstrations against rising poverty, inequality and police brutality. Torres, his brother says, believed they deserved support. Security camera footage gathered by his family shows the 27-year-old walking between the protest and his home. No one has seen him since. “We said goodbye,” Daniel Torres said, “and we never saw him again.” While many of the thousands of demonstrations that have roiled Colombia over the last two months have been peaceful, security forces have responded to some with force, including 20 deaths through June 7. Now protesters and human rights advocates say they’re seeing the revival of another familiar tactic from Colombia’s long civil conflict: disappearances. Hundreds of people in the South American nation have gone missing since the protests erupted in late April. According to the attorney general’s office, 84 remain unaccounted for. Advocates say this is the first time they’ve seen so many disappearances associated with demonstrations.

Far right falters as conservatives lead French regional vote (AP) Marine Le Pen’s far-right party stumbled, French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrists crashed and incumbent conservatives surged ahead in the first round of regional elections Sunday that were dominated by security issues and a record-low turnout. What was meant to be a vote centered on local concerns like transportation, schools and infrastructure turned into a dress rehearsal for next year’s presidential vote, as would-be presidential hopefuls seized on the regional campaign to test ideas and win followers. Macron’s rivals on left and right notably denounced his government’s handling of the pandemic. The wrangling appeared to turn off some voters, and less than 34% showed up, according to polling agencies.

West hits Belarus with new sanctions over Ryanair 'piracy' (Reuters) Western powers hit Belarus with a wave of new sanctions on Monday in a coordinated response to Minsk’s forced landing of a Ryanair plane last month to arrest a journalist on board, an act that is set to prompt further economic sanctions. The European Union, the United States, Britain and Canada blacklisted more officials, lawmakers and ministers from the administration of President Alexander Lukashenko, whose air force intercepted the Ryanair plane flying between Athens and Vilnius on May 23 in what the West called state piracy. In Monday’s mix of travel bans, asset freezes and sanctions on state-owned Belarusian companies, Western governments sought to escalate their pressure on Lukashenko, who is accused of rigging elections last August and cracking down on the opposition to prolong his now 27 years in power. There was no immediate reaction from Lukashenko who has denied rigging the vote, accused the arrested journalist Roman Protasevich of plotting a revolution, and increasingly turned to Russia for support.

Taliban Enter Key Cities in Afghanistan’s North After Swift Offensive (NYT) The Taliban entered two provincial capitals in northern Afghanistan Sunday, local officials said, the culmination of an insurgent offensive that has overrun dozens of rural districts and forced the surrender and capture of hundreds of government forces and their military equipment in recent weeks. In Kunduz city, the capital of the province of the same name, the Taliban seized the city’s entrance before dispersing throughout its neighborhoods. Kunduz was briefly taken by the Taliban in 2015 and 2016 before they were pushed back by American airstrikes, special operations forces and Afghan security forces. The setbacks come at a harrowing moment for Afghanistan. American and international troops, now mostly based in Kabul, the capital, and at Bagram airfield, are set to leave the country in weeks.

Iran’s nuclear power (Foreign Policy) Iran’s only nuclear power plant experienced an unexplained emergency shutdown on Sunday that authorities say could last through the week. Tavanir, Iran’s state electric company, said that repair work would continue until Friday but offered no further details. Gholamali Rakhshanimehr, an official with Tavanir, has warned of power outages as a result of the plant shutdown.

Hong Kong’s Lam says China has helped restore ‘stability’ (The Hill) The chief executive of Hong Kong on Sunday said China has helped restore “stability” in the city. Reuters reported that Chief Executive Carrie Lam said Hong Kong’s strategy to improve its standing as a global financial hub involves an increase in integration with mainland China. Lam’s comments come as non-Chinese investors in Hong Kong are becoming increasingly concerned that rights and freedoms are disappearing in the city, after Beijing imposed a national security law following mass protests in 2019, Reuters reported.

Tokyo Olympics to allow limit of 10,000 local fans in venues (AP) The Tokyo Olympics will allow some local fans to attend when the games open in just over a month, organizing committee officials and the IOC said on Monday. Organizers set a limit of 50% of capacity up to a maximum of 10,000 fans for all Olympic venues. Fans from abroad were banned several months ago. Officials say local fans will be under strict rules. They will not be allowed to cheer, must wear masks, and are being told to go straight home afterward.

Ethiopia’s historic election overshadowed by crises and conflict (Washington Post) Ethiopia is set to hold a twice-delayed national election on Monday in what the government has heralded as a long-awaited emergence into multiparty democracy. But a cascade of major crises in Africa’s second-most populous country has thrown the vote into disarray, leaving millions unable to vote. Foremost among them is a disastrous seven-month-old civil war in the northern region of Tigray. All sides have been accused of war crimes, and humanitarian groups say hundreds of thousands in Tigray are experiencing famine conditions. The election itself has been weakened by widespread insecurity, logistical issues and political disputes. Tigray will not take part in the vote at all, and about a fifth of polling stations in the rest of the country will not open on Monday because of security concerns or improperly printed ballots, according to the country’s election commission. The closed polling stations tend to be in areas where opposition parties claim support. Those closures as well as the jailing of numerous prominent government critics have led some of the country’s biggest opposition parties to boycott the election.

#headlines #news

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expatimes · 4 years

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Who’s who in Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial

Former US President Donald Trump will face his second impeachment trial in the United States Senate this week.

The trial is set to begin just under a month after the US House of Representatives impeached Trump for “incitement of insurrection” in relation to the deadly January 6 storming of the US Capitol and to repeated false claims the US election was stolen from him.

The proceedings will mark the first time a former president has faced an impeachment trial.

Two-thirds of the 100-member Senate would need to vote to convict Trump, and with Democrats only holding 50 seats in the chamber, that is considered unlikely.

Nine House Democrats, appointed as so-called “impeachment managers”, will argue that Trump pointed the rioters “like a loaded cannon” towards the Capitol and that his actions and words in the weeks leading up to the insurrection contributed to the violence.

Trump’s defence team will argue that a speech he gave before the riot is protected under the First Amendment of the US Constitution, that he was denied due process, and that the proceedings are unconstitutional as Trump is no longer in office.

While a conviction would not remove Trump, who will not testify during the trial, from office, it could lead to him being barred from holding future federal office through a subsequent Senate vote.

Here is who’s who in Trump’s impeachment trial:

Senator Patrick Leahy, president pro tempore of the Senate

Senator Patrick Leahy

Democrat Leahy is the longest-serving senator in the chamber, and is third in the line of presidential succession. He will preside over the trial, a role typically reserved for the chief justice of the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice John Roberts presided over Trump’s first impeachment trial, as is required by the US Constitution. Roberts declined to participate in this trial, however, and there is no law regarding who should preside over the impeachment trial of a former president.

Leahy will perform key duties, including reading questions submitted by legislators. He can also theoretically rule on the admissibility of evidence, but can be overruled by a Senate vote.

Leahy has shrugged off criticism from Republicans that he would not be objective in the role.

“I have presided over hundreds of hours in my time in the Senate. I don’t think anybody has ever suggested I was anything but impartial in those hundreds of hours,” he told reporters in January.

Former President Donald Trump

Trump served a single term in office before losing to Democrat Joe Biden.

He maintained the election was marred by widespread fraud, without producing any evidence to support the claim. An array of legal challenges and recounts spurred by Trump and his allies uniformly failed to change the vote results in any state.

The former president refused to acknowledge Biden’s victory before leaving office on January 20, and only acknowledged a new administration would be taking over after the storming of the US Capitol.

Trump remains banned from major social media platforms and has been living in Florida since leaving the White House.

Senator Chuck Schumer, Senate majority leader

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer

Schumer became the Senate majority leader last month after Democrats won dual run-offs in Georgia.

The party currently controls 50 seats in the chamber and Vice President Kamala Harris will cast deciding votes.

As Senate Majority leader, Schumer was responsible for setting the format and schedule of the impeachment trial.

Mitch McConnell, Senate minority leader

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

McConnell is the most powerful Republican in the Senate and has led negotiations with Schumer about the shape of the trial.

He condemned Trump’s actions early on, saying the president fed his supporters lies that directly resulted in the Capitol riot. But he also rebuffed efforts to hold Trump’s trial before he left office.

McConnell voted in favour of a motion that deemed proceeding with the trial unconstitutional because Trump was no longer in office.

House impeachment managers:

Jamie Raskin, representative from Maryland

Representative Jamie Raskin

Raskin, a former constitutional law professor at American University, will serve as the lead impeachment manager, the de facto lead prosecutor in the case.

Raskin began drafting the article of impeachment against Trump shortly after the Capitol storming. He had also worked on Trump’s first impeachment in December 2019, but was not an impeachment manager then.

He has represented his Maryland district in Congress since 2017.

Diana Degette, representative from Colorado

Representative Diana DeGette

Degette, who was elected to the House in 1996, presided over the chamber’s debate about impeaching Trump in 2019.

Before becoming a legislator, Degette was a civil rights lawyer.

Degette is currently serving her 13th term in office.

David Cicilline, representative from Rhode Island

Representative David Cicilline

Cicilline helped draft the most recent article of impeachment against Trump. He had investigated Trump as a member of the House Judiciary Committee during his first impeachment.

Cicilline previously worked as a public defender and was mayor of Providence, Rhode Island.

“The president must be held accountable,” Cicilline wrote in a recent New York Times opinion piece. “That can happen only by impeaching him for a second time and convicting him in the Senate.”

Joaquin Castro, representative from Texas

Representative Joaquin Castro

Castro, 46, is a member of the House Intelligence Committee, which held investigative hearings in Trump’s first impeachment in 2019.

He is a former leader of the Hispanic caucus and a critic of Trump’s immigration policies.

A Mexican-American legislator born in the state of Texas, Castro is serving his fifth term in Congress. His twin brother Julio ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

Eric Swalwell, representative from California

Representative Eric Swalwell

Swalwell is on the House intelligence and judiciary committees and was involved in investigating Trump’s first impeachment.

He is a former prosecutor who in 2019 briefly sought the Democratic nomination for president.

The 40-year-old is serving his fifth term in Congress.

Ted Lieu, representative from California

Representative Ted Lieu

Lieu is a former Air Force officer who was a prosecutor in the force’s legal branch, the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He is now a colonel in the Air Force Reserve.

Lieu is a co-sponsor of the most recent article of impeachment against Trump, along with Raskin and Cicilline.

Stacey Plaskett, representative from US Virgin Islands

Representative Stacey Plaskett

Plaskett, a 54-year-old former prosecutor, represents the Virgin Islands, a US territory.

Before being elected to Congress in 2014, she was an assistant district attorney in the Bronx borough of New York City and senior counsel at the Department of Justice.

As Plaskett represents a US territory, she is not a voting member of the House.

Joe Neguse, representative from Colorado

Representative Joe Neguse

Neguse is serving his second term in Congress.

The son of refugees from Eritrea, he is Colorado’s first African American congressman.

He is a member of the Judiciary Committee and earlier in his career was a litigator in private practice.

Madeleine Dean, representative from Pennsylvania

Representative Madeleine Dean

Dean is a former member of the Pennsylvania state legislature, where she served four terms before being elected to Congress in 2018.

Earlier, she worked as a lawyer in private practice and taught writing and ethics at LaSalle University.

She is a member of the Judiciary Committee.

Trump’s defence lawyers:

David Schoen

Schoen, a civil rights and criminal defence lawyer, previously represented Trump’s former adviser Roger Stone, who was convicted in November 2019 of lying under oath to lawmakers investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Trump pardoned Stone in December 2020, weeks before leaving office.

Schoen also reportedly considered becoming accused child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s lead lawyer, meeting with Epstein days before he killed himself in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan.

Bruce Castor

Castor is a former Pennsylvania district attorney known for his decision not to prosecute Bill Cosby in 2005 after a woman accused the entertainer of sexual assault.

In 2017, Castor sued Cosby’s accuser in the case for defamation, claiming she destroyed his political career.

Read full article: https://expatimes.com/?p=17846&feed_id=32681

#Donald #DonaldTrump #impeachment #News #trial #Trumps #UnitedStates #USCanada #Whos

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bigyack-com · 5 years

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Trump’s Trade Deal Steals a Page From Democrats’ Playbook

WASHINGTON — House Democrats return to Washington on Monday facing a difficult choice: Should they hand President Trump a victory in the midst of a heated impeachment battle or walk away from one of the most progressive trade pacts ever negotiated by either party?The Trump administration agreed with Canada and Mexico on revisions to the North American Free Trade Agreement one year ago, but the deal still needs the approval of Congress. A handshake agreement with the administration in the coming days would give the Democratic caucus a tangible accomplishment on an issue that has animated its base. It could also give Democrats a chance to lock in long-sought policy changes to a trade pact they criticize as prioritizing corporations over workers, laying the groundwork for future trade agreements.Those factors have coaxed Democrats to the table at an improbable moment, when Washington is split by partisan fights and deeply divided over an impeachment inquiry. After months of talks, including through the Thanksgiving break, both sides say they’re in the final phase of negotiations. But Democrats insist the administration must make more changes to the labor, environmental and other provisions before Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California will bring legislation implementing the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement to a vote.“By any standard, what we’ve already negotiated is substantially better than NAFTA,” said Representative Richard E. Neal of Massachusetts, who is heading the Democratic group negotiating with the administration. “Labor enforcement, in my judgment, is the last hurdle.”The deal presents a dilemma for Democrats because it contains measures they have supported for years, from requiring more of a car’s parts to be made in North America to rolling back a special system of arbitration for corporations and strengthening Mexican labor unions.In borrowing from the Democrats’ playbook, the revised pact reflects Mr. Trump’s populist trade approach — one that has blurred party lines and appealed to many of the blue-collar workers Democrats once counted among their base. It also reflects a broader backlash to more traditional free trade deals, which have been criticized for hollowing out American manufacturing and eliminating jobs.“Taken as a whole, it looks more like an agreement that would’ve been negotiated under the Obama administration,” said Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio and a former trade representative during the George W. Bush administration, who supports the pact. “There are some aspects to it that Democrats have been calling for, for decades.”In fact, it goes so far to the left of traditional Republican views on trade that some congressional Republicans only grudgingly support it — or may vote against the final deal. Senator Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania, one of the most ardent Republican critics of the deal, has called the pact “a complete departure from the free trade agreements we’ve pursued through our history” and urged fellow Republicans to vote it down. “If we adopt this agreement, it will be the first time that I know of in the history of the Republic that we will agree to a new trade agreement that is designed to diminish trade,” Mr. Toomey said at a hearing in July, sitting next to a large red sign that said: “NAFTA > U.S.M.C.A.”Still, most Republicans have supported the pact and urged rapid action. If the deal is not approved soon, proponents fear it could become the target of more frequent attacks by Democratic presidential candidates, making it even more difficult for Democrats in Congress to vote for the pact.Mr. Trump has spent weeks accusing Ms. Pelosi of being “grossly incompetent” and prioritizing impeachment over a trade deal that could benefit workers. “She’s incapable of moving it,” Mr. Trump said last week, warning that a “great trade deal for the farmers, manufacturers, workers of all types, including unions” could fall apart if the Democrats don’t take action. While long demonized by Mr. Trump, Democrats and labor unions, NAFTA has become critical to companies and consumers across North America, guiding commerce around the continent for a quarter century. Entire industries have grown up around the trade agreement, which allows goods like cars, avocados and textiles to flow tariff free among Canada, Mexico and the United States. But Mr. Trump and other critics have blamed the deal for encouraging companies to move their factories to Mexico. The president has routinely called NAFTA the “worst trade deal ever made” and promised during his campaign that he would rewrite it in America’s favor — or scrap it altogether.The revised pact took over a year of rancorous talks to complete, resulting in a complex 2,082-page agreement covering a wide range of topics. While much of it simply updates NAFTA for the 21st century, it also contains changes intended to encourage manufacturing in the United States, including by raising how much of a car must be made in North America to qualify for zero tariffs. The new agreement requires at least 70 percent of an automaker’s steel and aluminum to be bought in North America, which could help boost United States metal production. And 40 to 45 percent of a car’s content must be made by workers earning an average wage of $16 an hour. That $16 floor is an effort to force auto companies to either raise low wages in Mexico or hire more workers in the United States and Canada, an outcome Democrats have long supported.It also rolls back a special system of arbitration for corporations that the Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has criticized as allowing companies to bypass the American legal system and Trump administration officials describe as an incentive for companies to send their factories abroad.The pact also includes, at least on paper, provisions that aim to do away with sham Mexican labor unions that have done little to help workers by requiring every company in Mexico to seek worker approval of collective bargaining agreements by secret ballot in the next four years. Some Democrats are skeptical that the Mexican government will allocate the necessary funds to ensure that companies are complying with these changes. But if the rules are enforced, Democrats say they may help stem the flow of jobs to Mexico and put American workers on a more equal footing. Several sticking points remain, including a provision that offers an advanced class of drugs 10 years of protection from cheaper alternatives, which Democratic lawmakers say would lock in high drug prices. Other Democratic proposals aim to add teeth to the pact’s labor and environmental provisions. Democrats want to reverse a change made by the Trump administration that they say essentially guts NAFTA’s enforcement system. They are also arguing for additional resources that would allow customs officials to inspect factories or stop goods at the border if companies violate labor rules. Mr. Neal told reporters late last month that he believed House Democrats could soon work out their differences with Robert Lighthizer, Mr. Trump’s trade representative. Ms. Pelosi, who has continued to suggest that she wants to “get to yes” on the deal, responded to Mr. Trump’s rebuke last week by saying that she needed to see the administration’s commitments in writing before moving forward. The agreement still has skeptics, including labor leaders and others on the left.“Unless Donald Trump agrees to add stronger labor and environmental standards and enforcement, and secures progress on labor reforms in Mexico, NAFTA job outsourcing will continue,” said Lori Wallach, the director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch. “And the Big Pharma giveaways Trump added must go: They make U.S.M.C.A. worse than NAFTA.”But Democrats say that if the additional changes they are seeking get made, the deal would be more progressive than the original NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership — both of which were negotiated by Democratic administrations. Mr. Trump pulled the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership within days of taking office.Jesús Seade, Mexico’s chief negotiator for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, said many tweaks Democrats want are “improvements.” “If the amendments suggested are acceptable improvements, then there’s no reason we should not be shaking hands next week,” he said on Friday, after meeting with Canadian officials.Some congressional Republicans, who generally oppose unions and believe the deal’s new rules could burden auto companies, have been taken aback by how far the administration has gone to woo Democrats. At a private lunch on June 11 at the Capitol, Republican senators peppered Vice President Mike Pence with questions about why the administration was not lobbying Democrats harder to back the deal. Mr. Pence claimed that it already had the support of 80 Democrats, a high number that caught some Republicans by surprise, according to a person familiar with the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity. “What’s in it for Pelosi?” asked Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska. Mr. Pence responded that the pact had the most aggressive labor and automotive standards ever put in a trade agreement — an admission for some Republicans in the room that it was the worst trade agreement they had been asked to support.Jennifer Hillman, a trade expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, said many of Mr. Lighthizer and Mr. Trump’s views on trade “are basically borrowing what Democrats have said for many, many years.”“To the extent that Trump gained votes in the industrial Midwest, it was by espousing Democratic trade ideas,” she said. Throughout the negotiations, Mr. Lighthizer has kept up a steady dialogue with labor unions like the United Steelworkers and Democrats like Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Neal and Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio. At times, Mr. Lighthizer appeared more at odds with congressional Republicans and traditional allies like the Chamber of Commerce, who he said should give up “a little bit of the sugar” that had sweetened trade agreements for multinational corporations.“If you can get some labor unions on board, Democrats on board, mainstream Republicans on board, I think you can get big numbers,” Mr. Lighthizer said in January 2018. “If you do, that’s going to change the way all of us look at these kind of deals.” Source link Read the full article

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cksmart-world · 5 years

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The Completely Unnecessary News Analysis

by Christopher Smart

July 30, 2019

A MIRACULOUS MAYOR'S RACE

Do you believe in miracles? Well, the campaign to elect Salt Lake City's next mayor is chock full of great ideas that could solve our most pressing problems. One candidate wants to move the Inland Port to Wendover. Is that a good idea, or what? Instead of having all those warehouses and trucks and congestion and air pollution, we just put it out in the desert. Another candidate would move the oil refineries on Salt Lake City's north end. Talk about miracles. He hasn't said where they would be moved, but the possibilities are endless. How about Rob Bishop's backyard — he really likes fossil fuels. Not to miss such an opportunity, we assigned the Creativity Department here at Smart Bomb to come up with more great stuff candidates could promise: They could pledge to take the salt out of The Great Salt Lake. Fresh water would be so much better. They could promise to pass an ordinance against ugly, new apartment buildings. That would be grand. And they might even pledge a mass transit system that works for everyone. Oh, wait, that's already been promised — a bunch of times. Oh well, as Jake Barnes said to Lady Brett Ashley in The Sun Also Rises: “It's pretty to think about.”

Bummer — Utah Gets Medicaid Expansion

It's a dark day for Utah lawmakers: Voters are getting what they asked for. (We are not making this up.) Last year, Utahns, through a voter initiative, told the Grinches on Capital Hill that they wanted to expand Medicaid under provisions outlined in the Affordable Care Act, aka ObamaCare. Not so fast, said Republican legislators, who found the suggestion tantamount to socialism. Just 'cause the voters want something, doesn't mean they get it — well, not in Utah, anyway. The Republican caucus put their heads together — as they often do — to cheap it. So what if a few more thousand people go without health care — the slackers. As luck would or wouldn't have it, the Trump Administration unexpectedly denied the Legislature's proposal because the White House braintrust hopes pending litigation elsewhere in the country will succeed in finding ObamaCare unconstitutional. That would result in loss of coverage for about 20 million Americans — but hey, it's just collateral damage. For now, ObamaCare is still the law of the land and Utah lawmakers and the governor will be forced to fully expand Medicaid as outlined in the ACA. It’s such dumb luck — but in Utah, you gotta take it when you can get it.

What If Republicans Renounced Racism?

What if President Trump didn't call Congressman Elija Cummings a “brutal bully” whose district in Baltimore is a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess, [Where] no human being would want to live.” What if President Trump didn't tell four freshmen congresswomen of color to “go back where you came from.” What if President Trump didn't say Mexican immigrants are “rapists.” What if President Trump didn't say there were “good people on both sides” after a white supremacist rally turned violent in Charlottesville. What if President Trump didn't imply that federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel could not fairly hear the case against Trump University because of his Mexican heritage. What if President Trump didn't refuse to renounce white nationalist and former KKK leader David Duke. What if President Trump didn't put an immigration ban on Muslims. What if Mr. Trump, before he was president, didn't posit that Barack Obama could be a muslim from Kenya. What if Utah's political leaders and Republicans in Washington didn't remain silent in the face of Trump's blatant racism, calculated to divide the country for political gain. And what if pigs could fly?

Victimhood by Jason Chaffetz

This is really horrible. Former Republican Congressman Jason “Benghazi” Chaffetz is a victim of meanness and he is coming out with a new book to prove it. You remember Jason, the one-time chairman of the House Oversight Committee who orchestrated a half-dozen probes into Hillary Clinton for killing everyone in the American embassy in Libya. Jason's first book, "The Deep State: How an Army of Bureaucrats Protected Barack Obama and Is Working to Destroy the Trump Agenda," is a real eye-opener. Who knew that the Russia investigation was really a ploy to turn America into a place where people get healthcare? As chairman of the Oversight Committee in 2017, it was Jason's job to hold President Trump accountable. Unfortunately, Jason had to spend more time with his family. Now that he's thought things over, Jason realizes that he was targeted by socialists and Democrats. And he has proof: Some people yelled at him in a 2017 town hall meeting and chanted, “Do Your Job.” His new book, “Power Grab: The Liberal Scheme to Undermine Trump, the GOP and Our Republic,” explains the whole thing. And even though the president hates reading stuff, he can get all he needs from the title.

Well, that just about does it for July 2019, a time that Americans will one day look back on and say, “What the fuck?” Nonetheless, here in Utah, we do have a lot to be thankful for: It's hotter in London and Paris than it is here. (Think of all the dough we saved not traveling there.) We don't have Boris Johnson. (Wilson and the band say they'd trade Trump for Johnson any day.) Speaking of Trump, he hasn't called us a horrible shit-hole, infested with big rats. We can be thankful for that. And the Olympics aren't coming anytime soon. Rob Bishop isn't running for another term in Congress. And Pat Bagley is still drawing cartoons for The Salt Lake Tribune.

We're now into the Dog Days of Summer and for the staff here at Smart Bomb that means feet in the pool and Mai Tais in the hands. Nothing is really possible between now and Labor Day. That's just the way it is — so you don't have to feel guilty. All right Wilson, tell the guys to put down those stupid, little umbrellas and take us out with a little something that will leave us in the deep chill:

We skipped a light fandango / Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor / I was feeling kinda seasick / The crowd called out for more / The room was humming harder / As the ceiling flew away / When we called out for another drink / The waiter brought a tray...

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patriotsnet · 3 years

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Are Any Republicans Running Against President Trump

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/are-any-republicans-running-against-president-trump/

Are Any Republicans Running Against President Trump

List Of Republicans Who Opposed The Donald Trump 2016 Presidential Campaign

This article is part of a series about

This is a list of and who announced their opposition to the election of Donald Trump, the 2016 Republican Party nominee and eventual winner of the election, as the President of the United States. It also includes former Republicans who left the party due to their opposition to Trump and as well as Republicans who endorsed a different candidate. It includes Republican presidential primary election candidates that announced opposition to Trump as the nominee. Some of the Republicans on this list threw their support to Trump after he won the presidential election, while many of them continue to oppose Trump. Offices listed are those held at the time of the 2016 election.

List Of Registered 2024 Presidential Candidates

The following table lists candidates who filed with the FEC to run for president. Some applicants used pseudonyms; candidate names and party affiliations are written as they appeared on the FEC website on the date that they initially filed with the FEC.

Candidates who have filed for the 2024 presidential election Candidate

Iowa Republican Presidential Caucuses

Jump to navigationJump to search

The 2020 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses took place on Monday, February 3, 2020, as the first caucus or primary in the Republican Party presidential primaries for the 2020 presidential election. The Iowa caucuses are a closed caucus, with Iowa awarding 40 pledged delegates to the Republican National Convention, allocated on the basis of the results of the caucuses. Incumbent president Donald Trump received about 97 percent of the vote to clinch 39 delegates, while Bill Weld received enough votes to clinch 1 delegate.

Other Former Federal Government Officials

The Weekly StandardBill Kristol

Charles Fried, United States Solicitor General; Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

David K. Garman, Former Assistant Secretary and Under Secretary of Energy

George Will

Steve Baer, former president, United Republican Fund of Illinois

Juan Hernandez, political consultant, co-founder of Hispanic Republicans of Texas

Matt Higgins, former press secretary for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani

Stuart Stevens, political consultant and strategist

Mac Stipanovich, strategist and lobbyist; former Chief of Staff to Bob Martinez

Rick Wilson, political consultant and former Republican strategist.

Whos Running For President In 2020

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge President Trump in the 2020 race.

The field of Democratic presidential candidates was historically large, but all others have dropped out. Mr. Trump had also picked up a few Republican challengers, but they have also ended their campaigns.

Running

Has run for president twice .

Is known for his down-to-earth personality and his ability to connect with working-class voters.

His eight years as Barack Obamas vice president are a major selling point for many Democrats.

Signature issues: Restoring Americas standing on the global stage; adding a public option to the Affordable Care Act; strengthening economic protections for low-income workers in industries like manufacturing and fast food.

Main legislative accomplishment as president: a that chiefly benefited corporations and wealthy investors.

Has focused on undoing the policies of the Obama administration, including on health care, environmental regulation and immigration.

Was impeached by the House of Representatives for seeking to pressure Ukraine to smear his political rivals, but was acquitted by the Senate.

Signature issues: Restricting immigration and building a wall at the Mexican border; renegotiating or canceling international deals on trade, arms control and climate change; withdrawing American troops from overseas.

Ended his second bid for the Democratic nomination in April 2020, after a series of losses to Mr. Biden.

Sen Tom Cotton Of Arkansas

Cotton needs to work on his pushups. The 44-year-old senator did 22 pushups onstage at a Republican fundraiser in Iowa alongside Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and he barely had any depth. Grassleys werent any better, but he gets a pass for being 87 years old, and he runs four days a week. The contest was for a good cause: to raise awareness of the average 22 veterans a day who take their life.

Cottons remarks at the fundraiser were an early preview of what could become a campaign stump speech. He attacked Biden, critical race theory and China, according to in Des Moines. He also offered his full throated endorsement of the Iowa caucus, which is something candidates who want to win the Iowa caucus do.

Why should there be any change to the Republicans first in the nation status just because the Democrats cant run a caucus? Cotton said, referencing Democrats delayed caucus results in 2020. Iowa has had this status now going back decades and that develops more than just a custom or habit, it develops a tradition of civic engagement unlike you see almost anywhere else in the country.

Maryland Gov Larry Hogan

Hogan, 64, is a two-term governor and cancer survivor who underwent chemotherapy while in office. He was declared cancer-free in 2015. A moderate, Hogan told The Washington Post that he saw the 2024 Republican primary as a competition between 10 or 12 or more people fighting in the same lane to carry on the mantle of Donald Trump and another lane straight up the middle that would be much less crowded. Though he said it was too early to say whether he saw himself in that lane, Hogan wrote in his 2020 memoir Still Standing that members of Trumps cabinet approached him about challenging Trump in the GOP 2020 primary.

Sen Josh Hawley Of Missouri

Though controversial, Hawley, 41, is a fundraising machine and hes quickly made a name for himself. The blowback Hawley faced for objecting to Bidens Electoral College win included a lost book deal and calls for him to resign from students at the law school where he previously taught. His mentor, former Sen. John Danforth of Missouri, said that supporting Hawley was the biggest mistake Ive ever made in my life.

Still, he brought in more than $1.5 million between Jan. 1 and March 5, according to , and fundraising appeals in his name from the National Republican Senatorial Committee brought in more cash than any other Republican except NRSC Chair Sen. Rick Scott of Florida. Just because youre toxic in Washington doesnt mean you cant build a meaningful base of support nationally.

One Republican strategist compared the possibility of Hawley 2024 to Cruz in 2016. Hes not especially well-liked by his colleagues , but hes built a national profile for himself and become a leading Republican voice opposed to big technology companies.

Hawley and his wife, Erin, have three children. He got his start in politics as Missouri attorney general before being elected to the Senate in 2018. Hawley graduated from Stanford and Yale Law.

Who Are The Republicans Challenging Trump For 2020 Nomination

Only one candidate is now vying to defeat Trump for Republican nomination in the 2020 presidential race.

While the pool of Democrats vying for the partys presidential nomination was among the largest and most diverse in the history of the United States, President Donald Trump faced a much smaller cadre of challengers for the Republican ticket in 2020.

After two Republicans dropped out, only one opponent remains in the race against Trump. Thats in contrast to the three remaining contenders in the Democratic field, which once had more than two dozen candidates.

In a statement in April, the Republican National Convention said the Republican Party is firmly behind Trump and any effort to challenge the presidents nomination is bound to go absolutely nowhere, prompting criticism that Republican leaders are making it impossible for another candidate to succeed.

Here is a look at the now sole Republican challenging Trump.

‘the Stars Have Aligned For Both Parties’ Interests’

Trump employed a scorched-earth brand of politics throughout his presidency, and often undercut his own efforts. In 2019, he abruptly pulled out of infrastructure talks with Democrats as they started investigating his administration. “Infrastructure week” soon became a running gag referring to his repeated failures at passing a new bill.

Biden, on the other hand, is applying the opposite approach. He’s had an unyielding faith in bipartisanship and repeatedly sought compromise with Republicans. That hasn’t always panned out Biden muscled through a $1.9 trillion stimulus law earlier this year without any GOP support once negotiations collapsed.

Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the second-ranked Senate Republican, serves as a barometer of where many rank-and-file Republicans stand. Thune pushed back against Trump’s recent criticisms, saying he believed each side’s political interests have aligned recently. Infrastructure has long been something popular with voters.

“I disagree with former President Trump on that,” he told Insider. “You want to celebrate successes no matter when they happen. It just so happened the stars aligned right now for both sides to come together on this.”

“As is always the case up here, timing is everything,” he said.

“I’m not sure the nature of his objections,” Cassidy said in an interview with Insider, referring to Trump. “Somehow, he says it’s a win for I view it as a win for the American people.”

Emboldened ‘unchanged’ Trump Looks To Re

The set of advisers around Trump now is a familiar mix of his top 2020 campaign aides and others who have moved in and out of his orbit over time. They include Miller, Susie Wiles, Bill Stepien, Justin Clark, Corey Lewandowski and Brad Parscale.

While his schedule isn’t set yet, according to Trump’s camp, his coming stops are likely to include efforts to help Ohio congressional candidate Max Miller, a former White House aide looking to win a primary against Rep. Anthony Gonzales, who voted to impeach Trump this year; Jody Hice, who is trying to unseat fellow Republican Brad Raffensperger as Georgia secretary of state after Raffensperger defied Trump and validated the state’s electoral votes; and Alabama Senate candidate Mo Brooks, according to Trump’s camp.

Trump’s ongoing influence with Republican voters helps explain why most GOP officeholders stick so closely to him. Republicans spared him a conviction in the Senate after the House impeached him for stoking the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, House GOP leaders have made it clear that they view his engagement as essential to their hopes of retaking the chamber, and Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., was deposed as Republican Conference Chair this year over her repeated rebukes of Trump.

Those numbers suggest that Trump could be in a strong position to win a Republican primary but lose the general election in 3½ years. A former Trump campaign operative made that case while discussing Trump’s ambitions.

What Makes The 2024 Presidential Election Unique

Golden Trump statue at CPAC 2021 was no graven image, according to the artist

Here Are All Of The House Republicans Who Voted To Impeach Donald Trump

Ten members of the GOP joined with Democrats in the vote.

President Donald Trump impeached for ‘incitement of insurrection’

The House of Representatives has voted to impeach President Donald Trump — making him the only president in American history to be impeached twice.

Unlike his first impeachment in 2019, 10 Republicans joined Democrats to charge Trump for the “incitement of insurrection” for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol with a final vote of 232-197.

Some Republicans may have feared for their own safety if they voted for impeachment, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of those who voted against Trump, said. Kinzinger told ABC’s “Powerhouse Politics” podcast that some members of his party are likely holding back from voting for impeachment due to fear of highlighting their own participation in supporting the president’s false claims of election fraud.

Democrat Jason Crow, of Colorado, relayed similar thoughts in an interview with MSNBC on Wednesday morning.

“I had a lot of conversations with my Republican colleagues last night, and a couple of them broke down in tears talking to me and saying that they are afraid for their lives if they vote for this impeachment,” he said.

Here is a list of the 10 Republicans who took a stance against Trump:

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.“It’s not going to be some ‘Kumbaya moment’ on the floor — it’s going to be an awakening by the American people to hold their leaders accountable to their rhetoric,”

Intraparty Clashes Could Derail Midterm Election Efforts

Bridget BowmanKate AckleyStephanie Akin

Donald Trump left office Wednesday, leaving in his wake a Republican Party that is out of power and divided, with just 21 months to unite before the 2022 elections.

Since Trump was sworn in as president four years ago, Republicans have lost control of the White House, the House and the Senate. In the last two weeks of his term, a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol and 10 Republicans voted to impeach the president from their own party.

But Trump still wielded his influence over the GOP. After the Capitol attack, 147 Republicans in Congress sided with him, voting against certifying two states electors.

The 2022 midterms will be the first chance for the GOP to define itself in a post-Trump era. Conversations with two dozen Republicans, many involved in congressional campaigns, revealed a party divided over Trump, their midterm prospects and the state of the GOP itself.

When you talk to people about what we stand for versus what the Democrats stand for, were very unified, Florida Sen. Rick Scott, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a recent interview.

But GOP consultant Alex Conant, who has worked for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, described a party in crisis.

Political disaster doesnt begin to describe how bad this is for Republicans, Conant said.

Ohio Governor John Kasich

Kasich, like Fiorina, also may want another shot at the job. He was one of the candidates Trump felled in the 2016 primary. Despite that, he has remained dedicated to his vision for the GOP.

“I have a right to define what it means to be a conservative and what it means to be a Republican,” he told New York magazine in October. “I think my definition is a lot better than what the other people are doing.”

Voters didn’t take to his philosophy in 2016; Kasich managed to win only his home state. But unlike other Republicans who have spoken out against Trump and seen their polling numbers subsequently drop, Kasich’s constituency has remained supportive, the Washington Post noted.

Kasich also appears to have shifted his position on another presidential run. Asked on CNN’s State of the Union in March whether he would look to primary Trump, he repeatedly answered “no.” A month later Kasich shifted, saying it was “very unlikely” he would seek higher office again.

Then in May, just a couple weeks later, he told Bill Maher he doesn’t know what his plans are.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he said, talking about a 2020 run. “I’m going to keep a voice, but I can’t predict to youI never thought I would be governor, I never thought I’d go back into politics.”

‘it’s Making My Job More Challenging’

Previewing what to expect in November, states shattered mail-in voting and overall turnout records during primaries held since the pandemic started.

More:Michigan health experts urge voting absentee to reduce coronavirus risk on Election Day

Pennsylvania, which voted last fall to become a no-excuse absentee voting state, saw 1.5 million people vote by mail for its presidential primary June 2 nearly 18 times the 84,000 who did in 2016, accounting for more than half the overall 2.87 million votes.

“Let’s put it this way: It’s making my job more challenging,” Tabas, the Pennsylvania Republican Party chairman, said of Trump’s rhetoric on vote-by-mail. “I have to explain why … especially since I don’t disagree with him in large part, but it’s the law. That ship has already sailed.”

Reluctance among Republicans to request mail-in ballots could present a problem for the GOP if the pandemic intensifies in battleground states in the weeks leading up to Election Day.

Tabas said he’s not worried about it hurting Trump’s chances in Pennsylvania where he said Republicans would “walk over coals” to vote for Trump. “Even if there’s consolidation of the polls, even if there are risks because of the COVID, they will come out,” he said.

More:Atlanta Hawks to transform State Farm Arena into massive voting station for 2020 elections

Sen Tim Scott Of South Carolina

One thing Scott has going for him that other potential 2024 contenders do not is a bunch of their endorsements. Scotts up for reelection next year, and in an kicking off his campaign released last week, Republicans including Cruz, Pompeo, Haley and Pence all backed his candidacy. Scott is positioning himself as a Trump-friendly conservative. In his ad, he included a clip of Trump calling him a friend of mine, and at a rally for his reelection, Scott said he wanted to make sure this wasnt a centrist crowd after asking them to boo Biden louder, according to The State.

Republicans Not Named Trump Who Could Run In 2024

Julia Manchester

A growing number of Republicans are already jockeying ahead of 2024 as they await former President TrumpDonald TrumpCapitol Police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt says he saved lives on Jan. 6Biden presses Fox’s Doocey about Trump-Taliban dealBiden says deadly attack won’t alter US evacuation mission in Afghanistans decision on another possible White House run.

While Trump has not confirmed whether he will launch a third presidential bid, he has repeatedly teased the idea since losing the election in 2020.

I’m absolutely enthused. I look forward to doing an announcement at the right time, Trump said earlier this month. As you know, it’s very early. But I think people are going to be very, very happy when I make a certain announcement.

But that hasnt stopped speculation from building around other high-profile Republicans seen as potential heirs apparent to the former president.

Here are nine Republicans not named Trump who could run for president in 2024.

Ron DeSantisBiden’s stumble on Afghanistan shouldn’t overshadow what he’s accomplished so farMaskless dad assaulted student who confronted him, police sayTampa Bay residents asked to conserve water to conserve COVID-19 oxygen supply

DeSantis came in second place behind Trump in the Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll in Orlando earlier this year.

DeSantis, who is running for reelection in 2022, also offered a preview of whats to come in his political future.

Rick Scott

‘i Don’t Like It But It’s The Rules’

Bishop, the Fond du Lac County Republican Party chairman, said the issue is more serious than the party establishment acknowledges.

“A lot of the inside Republicans, who understand politics and electioneering and work in the infrastructure, they’ll whisper to me that I’m right, but they don’t want to say it publicly because there’s a backlash,” Bishop said.

He said voters in the “most Trumpy towns” in rural parts of his county lack the nearby early voting sites like the state’s big Democratic cities have. He said mail-in voting is a way for Republicans “to offset the Democrats’ early voting advantage.” But not if they don’t take advantage.

“I think the president, not only is he hurting himself with his position, I’m terrified he’s hurting down-ballot Republicans,” Bishop said. “I think in Wisconsin, it’s going to be close, and I want to make sure all Republican voters are able to vote.”

Go big or play it safe? Electoral map widens for Joe Biden and Democrats but with risk

Bishop said he counters that “there’s actually no evidence that there’s more fraud with the mail-in balloting than the regular balloting.” They rebut with examples of people getting caught cheating, to which Bishop tells them, “You’re kind of proving my point. We caught them.”

“I try to go through it and why I think it can actually help us, but it’s not like a 30-second answer,” he said. “It takes me 10 minutes for me to explain it all and try to get people to understand why I’m pushing for it.”

Trump Challengers: 10 Republicans Who Could Run For President In 2020

Ryan Sit Donald TrumpMike PenceBen SasseBob Corker

President Donald Trump faced down a crowded field of GOP presidential hopefuls in 2016 as a political outsider, but he could see a packed stage of Republican challengers again in 2020only as an incumbent this time.

Trump made few political friends during his ascent to the White House. He made headlines making fun of his competition, doling out nicknames”low energy Jeb Bush,” “Little Marco Rubio,” “Lyin’ Ted Cruz”along the way. The president’s diplomatic dexterity hasn’t noticeably improved much since taking office. Senators Rubio and Cruz have improved their relationship with Trump since his inauguration, but other lawmakers from within his party have emerged as outspoken critics, fueling speculation he may face a stiff presidential primary race in 2020.

Here are 10 Republicans who may challenge Trump:

Republican Party Presidential Primaries

Jump to navigationJump to searchRepublican National Convention

First place by first-instance vote

Donald Trump

Presidential primaries and caucuses of the Republican Party took place in many U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories from February 3 to August 11, 2020, to elect most of the 2,550 delegates to send to the Republican National Convention. Delegates to the national convention in other states were elected by the respective state party organizations. The delegates to the national convention voted on the first ballot to select Donald Trump as the Republican Party’s presidential nominee for president of the United States in the 2020 election, and selected Mike Pence as the vice-presidential nominee.

President Donald Trump informally launched his bid for reelection on February 18, 2017. He launched his reelection campaign earlier in his presidency than any of his predecessors did. He was followed by former governor of MassachusettsBill Weld, who announced his on April 15, 2019, and former Illinois congressmanJoe Walsh, who declared his candidacy on August 25, 2019. Former governor of South Carolina and U.S. representativeMark Sanford launched a primary challenge on September 8, 2019. In addition, businessman Rocky De La Fuente entered the race on May 16, 2019, but was not widely recognized as a major candidate.

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statetalks · 3 years

Text

Are Any Republicans Running Against President Trump

List Of Republicans Who Opposed The Donald Trump 2016 Presidential Campaign

youtube

This article is part of a series about

List Of Registered 2024 Presidential Candidates

Iowa Republican Presidential Caucuses

Jump to navigationJump to search

Other Former Federal Government Officials

The Weekly StandardBill Kristol

Charles Fried, United States Solicitor General; Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

David K. Garman, Former Assistant Secretary and Under Secretary of Energy

George Will

Steve Baer, former president, United Republican Fund of Illinois

Juan Hernandez, political consultant, co-founder of Hispanic Republicans of Texas

Matt Higgins, former press secretary for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani

Stuart Stevens, political consultant and strategist

Mac Stipanovich, strategist and lobbyist; former Chief of Staff to Bob Martinez

Rick Wilson, political consultant and former Republican strategist.

Whos Running For President In 2020

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge President Trump in the 2020 race.

Running

Has run for president twice .

Is known for his down-to-earth personality and his ability to connect with working-class voters.

His eight years as Barack Obamas vice president are a major selling point for many Democrats.

Main legislative accomplishment as president: a that chiefly benefited corporations and wealthy investors.

Has focused on undoing the policies of the Obama administration, including on health care, environmental regulation and immigration.

Was impeached by the House of Representatives for seeking to pressure Ukraine to smear his political rivals, but was acquitted by the Senate.

Ended his second bid for the Democratic nomination in April 2020, after a series of losses to Mr. Biden.

Sen Tom Cotton Of Arkansas

Maryland Gov Larry Hogan

Sen Josh Hawley Of Missouri

Hawley and his wife, Erin, have three children. He got his start in politics as Missouri attorney general before being elected to the Senate in 2018. Hawley graduated from Stanford and Yale Law.

Who Are The Republicans Challenging Trump For 2020 Nomination

youtube

Only one candidate is now vying to defeat Trump for Republican nomination in the 2020 presidential race.

Here is a look at the now sole Republican challenging Trump.

‘the Stars Have Aligned For Both Parties’ Interests’

“As is always the case up here, timing is everything,” he said.

“I’m not sure the nature of his objections,” Cassidy said in an interview with Insider, referring to Trump. “Somehow, he says it’s a win for I view it as a win for the American people.”

Emboldened ‘unchanged’ Trump Looks To Re

What Makes The 2024 Presidential Election Unique

Golden Trump statue at CPAC 2021 was no graven image, according to the artist

Here Are All Of The House Republicans Who Voted To Impeach Donald Trump

Ten members of the GOP joined with Democrats in the vote.

President Donald Trump impeached for ‘incitement of insurrection’

The House of Representatives has voted to impeach President Donald Trump — making him the only president in American history to be impeached twice.

Democrat Jason Crow, of Colorado, relayed similar thoughts in an interview with MSNBC on Wednesday morning.

Here is a list of the 10 Republicans who took a stance against Trump:

Intraparty Clashes Could Derail Midterm Election Efforts

Bridget BowmanKate AckleyStephanie Akin

Donald Trump left office Wednesday, leaving in his wake a Republican Party that is out of power and divided, with just 21 months to unite before the 2022 elections.

But Trump still wielded his influence over the GOP. After the Capitol attack, 147 Republicans in Congress sided with him, voting against certifying two states electors.

But GOP consultant Alex Conant, who has worked for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, described a party in crisis.

Political disaster doesnt begin to describe how bad this is for Republicans, Conant said.

Ohio Governor John Kasich

Kasich, like Fiorina, also may want another shot at the job. He was one of the candidates Trump felled in the 2016 primary. Despite that, he has remained dedicated to his vision for the GOP.

Then in May, just a couple weeks later, he told Bill Maher he doesn’t know what his plans are.

‘it’s Making My Job More Challenging’

Previewing what to expect in November, states shattered mail-in voting and overall turnout records during primaries held since the pandemic started.

More:Michigan health experts urge voting absentee to reduce coronavirus risk on Election Day

Reluctance among Republicans to request mail-in ballots could present a problem for the GOP if the pandemic intensifies in battleground states in the weeks leading up to Election Day.

More:Atlanta Hawks to transform State Farm Arena into massive voting station for 2020 elections

Sen Tim Scott Of South Carolina

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Republicans Not Named Trump Who Could Run In 2024

Julia Manchester

While Trump has not confirmed whether he will launch a third presidential bid, he has repeatedly teased the idea since losing the election in 2020.

But that hasnt stopped speculation from building around other high-profile Republicans seen as potential heirs apparent to the former president.

Here are nine Republicans not named Trump who could run for president in 2024.

DeSantis came in second place behind Trump in the Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll in Orlando earlier this year.

DeSantis, who is running for reelection in 2022, also offered a preview of whats to come in his political future.

Rick Scott

‘i Don’t Like It But It’s The Rules’

Bishop, the Fond du Lac County Republican Party chairman, said the issue is more serious than the party establishment acknowledges.

Go big or play it safe? Electoral map widens for Joe Biden and Democrats but with risk

Trump Challengers: 10 Republicans Who Could Run For President In 2020

Ryan Sit Donald TrumpMike PenceBen SasseBob Corker

Here are 10 Republicans who may challenge Trump:

Republican Party Presidential Primaries

Jump to navigationJump to searchRepublican National Convention

First place by first-instance vote

Donald Trump

source https://www.patriotsnet.com/are-any-republicans-running-against-president-trump/

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omgstupendousbouquetbasement · 6 years

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Pelosi Suggests Trump Delay State of the Union Address

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Wednesday that President Donald Trump delay his State of the Union address later this month unless the record-setting partial government shutdown ends this week, or present the speech in writing. Pelosi, the leader of the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, cited security preparations needed for the annual high-profile event before Congress, which is scheduled for Jan. 29. In a letter to Trump, she noted the U.S. Secret Service, which guards Trump and his family, and the Homeland Security agency have not been funded during the 26-day shutdown, "with critical departments hamstrung by furloughs." Trump's security detail has been working without pay. But Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the agencies "are fully prepared to support and secure the State of the Union. We thank the Service for their mission focus and dedication and for all they do each day to secure our homeland." In asking Trump to delay his State of the Union address, Pelosi, a staunch opponent of his call for taxpayer funding of a wall at the U.S.-Mexican border to thwart illegal migrants, said she would work with him to find a suitable date for the speech after the government is reopened or he could hand the speech in writing to Congress on Jan. 29. The U.S. Constitution calls for presidents from "time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union." Throughout the 19th century and until about a hundred years ago, the messages were delivered in writing. In recent years, both Republican and Democratic presidents have used the nationally televised speeches to outline their legislative agendas, often leaving one party's lawmakers cheering and applauding while the other's sits silently. Postponing the speech beyond the shutdown would deny the president a highly visible platform in which he could continue to pressure Democrats to meet his demand for more than $5 billion in taxpayer funding for the wall. Democrats have offered $1.3 billion in new border security funding, but none specifically for a wall. Meeting with lawmakers Trump and aides met Wednesday at the White House with Democratic and Republican lawmakers from a group that calls itself the Problem Solvers Caucus about the shutdown and his call for a wall. Later, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders called it a "constructive meeting. ...They listened to one another and now both have a good understanding of what the other wants. We look forward to more conversations like this." But there was no immediate end in sight for the shutdown, the longest in American history. Financial strain On Tuesday, Kevin Hassett, the chairman of Trump's Council of Economic Advisers, doubled the previous estimate of the cost of the shutdown, saying the country's robust economy has already lost a half percentage point from the government closures, during which 800,000 government workers have been furloughed or forced to work without pay. He said quarterly economic growth is being reduced by .13 of a percent each week the shutdown continues. Trump is set Wednesday to sign a bill to guarantee that federal workers, regardless of whether they were forced to work or furloughed during the shutdown, eventually get paid their lost wages, as has been done during previous shutdowns during the past several decades. Workers for private contract companies hired by the government, however, are unlikely to recoup lost wages. If the shutdown lasts another week, government workers will miss their second paycheck this month. Trading blame While Trump and Democratic leaders blame each other for the situation dragging on, a number of recent polls have put more of the responsibility on the president. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Tuesday indicated 51 percent of respondents blame Trump and 34 percent blame congressional Democrats. In the same poll, 62 percent of people said they support adding more border patrol agents, and there was a roughly even split of 43 percent of people both supporting and opposing additional fencing at the border. The Senate and House are to be in recess next week, but leaders in both chambers have said that break will be canceled if the shutdown is still in effect. from Blogger http://bit.ly/2SZGxjt via IFTTT

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jennymanrique · 6 years

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Wave of Latino candidates bringing more diversity to North Texas politics

Jorge Contreras, Texas state director of the Working Families Party, leads a workshop for progressive candidates who want to run for public office in May elections in Dallas. Photo: Ben Torres

When North Texas voters head to the polls this May, they will elect more than 100 mayors, city council members, school board trustees and other public officials — including, possibly, the first Hispanic mayor in Dallas history.

Unlike cities with large Latino populations, such as Los Angeles or San Antonio, Dallas has never had a Latino mayor.

Already, the list of hopefuls to replace Mayor Mike Rawlings includes three Hispanic names: Regina Montoya, former head of the Mayor's Task Force on Poverty; Miguel Solis, Dallas school board trustee and president of the Latino Center for Leadership Development; and former Republican representative Jason Villalba, who announced his candidacy this Tuesday.

"These are people with an important political background. ... It should be noted in the past we’ve had Latino candidates [for mayor], but never a woman," said Valerie Martínez-Ebers, director of Latina/o and Mexican-American Studies at the University of North Texas.

"There has been a tremendous change in terms of female leadership. Unlike male motivation — both white and Latino — women run with a political reason focused on helping their communities. Men feel motivated by power and prestige and a desire to advance their careers."

Montoya became the first Latina candidate for the job when she announced her bid in November.

"Not only am I the first female candidate here in Dallas, but really there has never been a Latina mayor in any of the main U.S. cities in the history of this country," Montoya said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News.

Legislative diversity

Montoya worked in the Clinton administration and has been a member of the DFW International Airport board and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF).

"Not only is Dallas ready for a Latina mayor, we owe it to the city," Montoya said.

"We owe it to the young Latinas who attend, for example, Thomas Jefferson Middle School, where my mom taught for many years. Or to the 38 percent of children who live in extreme poverty in Dallas," she said.

Montoya led an unsuccessful campaign in 2000 to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions in Texas’ 5th District.

She recalled that one of her most fervent volunteers was current state Rep. Victoria Neave, now in her second term as a lawmaker but who at the time was a middle school student.

"We women are all in this battle," Montoya said.

Three North Texas Latinas — Jessica González, Terry Meza and Ana María Ramos — were newly elected to the Legislature in the midterm elections.

That means this year’s Legislature has 32 women, up from the previous total of 29. Female candidates helped the Democratic Party win 12 formerly Republican-held seats.

"I'm very excited about 2019,” Neave said. "We want other young women to realize that they can, too. It's us women who work on issues impacting women's lives like domestic violence and sexual assault, as we have promoted platforms like the women's march to make ourselves heard."

While North Texas’ legislative caucus is becoming more diversity, Hispanic representation in eight city councils — Arlington, Dallas, Fort Worth, Garland, Grand Prairie, Irving, Mesquite and Richardson — is poor.

Of 66 members on these bodies, only six are Latino. (And only eight are black.)

In other words, white council members older than 50 decide the fate of North Texans.

Keeping momentum

"The Latino vote and African-American vote in city elections in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are the worst in the country," said Jorge Contreras, director of Working Families Party in Texas.

"In cities like Arlington, just 0.5 % of Latinos vote in local elections,” Contreras said. “What we're trying to do is recruit and train young and diverse candidates who can inspire those voters.”

A few days before Christmas, Contreras was leading a workshop for a group of about 60 progressive candidates who will run in May’s local elections.

The candidates learned about strategies and campaign planning, recruiting volunteers, communication and fundraising practices, among other topics.

"The Latino vote inspired by Beto O'Rourke’s grassroot campaign was impressive. We don't want to lose that momentum," Contreras said.

"But the candidates contending in statewide elections don't manage the education system for your children, nor do they decide whether your neighborhood streets are clean,” he said. “We must make sure those who get to those posts look like the communities they represent."

Analyst Martínez-Ebers said that Latino participation is up in comparison with previous elections. "But the number of those who register is bigger than those who indeed turn out to vote," she said.

"Disinformation discourages people, as does the fact that candidates don't campaign for them, don't reach out to them. If a candidate shows voters that their issues are important for them, that creates a voting habit."

According to Democratic Party data, national Latino voter turnout in the 2018 midterms was up 174 percent from the 2014 midterms, a leap that helped the party gain 34 seats in the U.S. House.

But getting that Hispanic enthusiasm and energy to carry over to local polls, with cities like Dallas and Fort Worth having among the nation's worst turnout rates, is no small challenge.

Moreover, the median age of voters turning out in local elections is 62 for Dallas and 66 for Fort Worth, while only 2% of Latinos ages 18 to 49 turn out, according to electoral data analyzed by Texas Working Families Party.

Another obstacle shown in the data is that in Dallas, 32 percent of voters live in "voting deserts," or neighborhoods where voter turnout is lower than half the average for the city. In Fort Worth, the figure is 25 percent.

Latinos in the ticket

Even though city elections are nonpartisan — meaning candidates don’t run under a party affiliation -- some of the new Latino faces running for office have volunteered for Democratic campaigns in the past.

That's the case of Giovanni Valderas, an alumnus of the Latino Center for Leadership Development, who announced in October his bid to represent north Oak Cliff in the Dallas City Council’s District 1 seat.

Valderas had already worked for the campaigns of Paula Rosales, who in November was elected Dallas county judge, and current council member Omar Narváez.

"Working for those campaigns helped me to overcome the fear of knocking on doors of strangers and asking for their support," said Valderas, who as an artist and deputy director of Kirk Hopper Fine Art, is the brain behind Casitas Tristes, little piñatas mimicking real estate signs that are placed in sites deemed to be contributing to gentrification.

"Initially, that was the hard part, but now it's very exciting for me getting to know the voters and their struggles to get to the end of each month,” he said. “Our elected officials forget that and see us [Latinos] just as numbers."

Valderas' platform includes affordable housing for his district, as he thinks developers in Oak Cliff are killing not only the chance for people to pay a lease or buy a house, but for Latino businesses to get subsidies to survive.

He says Oak Cliff covers neighborhoods "beyond Bishop Arts" that the city has forgotten and where service infrastructure should be improved.

"We need to provide safe neighborhoods and safe streets, but at the same time, working with schools so they become more of a cultural and community centers," he said.

Six staffers work on Valderas' campaign, but he continues to recruit volunteers for what he calls "the Chancla Squad" (flip-flop squad). He said he’s running for council to change "a narrative about Latinos which isn't true."

"I have a Spanish version in my website for Spanish-speaking people,” he said. “I share their values, and I believe if most elected officials are rich, Latinos won't feel empathy or representation."

Dan Barrios, candidate for Place 3 on the Richardson City Council — held since 2011 by Scott Dunn — said his city has a diversity deficit, pointing out that the body is made largely of “grey-haired white men.”

Volunteer Pam Thompson (left) and candidate Dan Barrios, both of Richardson, speak with an educator during a candidate workshop conducted by the Texas Working Families Party. The workshop helps aspiring minority candidates to run for office.

"We need more than a chair at the table for everyone — more voices celebrating diversity. And most important, to not forget the people who elect us."

A South Texas native, Barrios said he wants to push for affordable housing in Richardson and to help ensure small businesses aren’t ousted by newly arrived big corporations.

Meanwhile, for his campaign, his wife and 10-year-old son are helping him by making shirts and buttons. Barrios’ Facebook page already has nearly 1,000 followers, and he hopes to lead people to the polls.

"Each small step contributes to create a coalition,” he said. “If traditionally we Latinos have not been pushed to run, it's up to us doing it now — from the base and humbly.”

Originally published here

Want to read this story in Spanish? Click here

#English #North Texas #Dallas #Arlington #Richardson #Garland #Grand Prairie #Oak Cliff #Giovanni Balderas #Dan Barrios #Regina Montoya #Jessica González #Victoria Neave #Fort Worth #Irving #Mesquite

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