The News Caravan

Tag: Dems

  • Republicans are winning more Latino votes. But rising turnout still benefits Dems.

    Republicans are winning more Latino votes. But rising turnout still benefits Dems.

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    Despite having a Latina candidate in the race in Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Democrats’ Senate overall vote share in Nevada fell to 62 percent among Latinos, compared to fellow Sen. Jacky Rosen’s 67 percent among the demographic in 2018, according to exit polls.

    And in Arizona, the ratio for Democratic Senate hopefuls fell even more dramatically. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema enjoyed a 70 percent victory over her Republican opponent in 2018 among Latinos, while incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly fought for his 58 percent from the same demographic. Biden won about 61 percent of the Latino vote in 2020 in both states.

    Yet Latino voters still boosted Cortez Masto, Kelly and Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs enough to victory over their Republican counterparts, who took larger shares of white voters who make up the voting majority — bridging gaps as high as the 18-point deficit between Cortez Masto and Adam Laxalt among white voters.

    Voto Latino conducted the analysis because of the large impact the two states had in the midterms. By analyzing precinct data, the organization’s projections show even modest increases of Latino turnout by 2.5 or 5 percentage points would net a fraction of a percentage for Democrats in a two-way race — boosting someone like Cortez Masto’s vote shares that much more, in a race that ultimately saw her and Republican Adam Laxalt separated by less than 1 point.

    Voto Latino president María Teresa Kumar said she was unsurprised by the results, adding that even a little more investment would have avoided such a “close contest.”

    “The reason we did this analysis was, had there been some investment based on historical participation of the Latino community of the last several years, wiser decisions would have been made,” Kumar said.

    Latinos have become a growing voting contingent that both Republicans and Democrats have sought in the past two cycles, from releasing more ads in Spanish to boosting congressional surrogates to turn out votership.

    Outside of the close contests in Arizona, where Democrats lost their overall Congressional majority, candidates in majority-Latino districts were reelected — including Reps. Raúl Grijalva and Ruben Gallego, who has now announced his candidacy for Senate.

    “What Nevada and Arizona really give you a very crisp picture of is how important every voter is when you’re looking at [increasingly] razor thin margins in many elections,” said Clarissa Martinez De Castro, vice president of the Latino Vote Initiative at UnidosUS. “Latinos are increasingly a factor in the winning equation in more places than people have traditionally thought, like… California, Texas, Florida. The reality is that the numbers are growing all over.”

    Latinos are the nation’s youngest demographic, with a median age under 30 and a growing young adult voter base, millions of whom will newly be eligible to vote by 2024. Experts say they could be convinced to turn out to vote, and for Democratic candidates — if the party continues to adapt their playbook outside the “white soccer mom” mentality.

    This is why the turnout factor has to include data-driven analysis, Kumar added. Among Latinos, many young people may not yet see voting as the first option to secure rights for their community, she said. But that doesn’t mean they are automatically and permanently low-propensity.

    “The majority of Latino voters are under the age of 33,” Kumar said. “By default, they’re low-propensity. It doesn’t mean they’re detached — they’re just flowing into the process. They should be taken seriously because they have the ear of their family in a way no party does.”

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    #Republicans #winning #Latino #votes #rising #turnout #benefits #Dems
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • Manchin keeps ’em guessing, from Senate Dems to the House GOP

    Manchin keeps ’em guessing, from Senate Dems to the House GOP

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    Manchin says he’s not deciding on anything until the end of the year and is also pointedly refusing to rule out a presidential run on a third-party ticket. That gives him roughly nine more months to keep Washington guessing. In the meantime, he’ll keep exerting his political leverage, at least until he runs and Republicans start to limit his opportunities or a retirement announcement saps his Senate sway.

    And the West Virginian is well aware of that limited window to maximize his current role as the GOP’s best bipartisan dealmaking partner and the Senate Energy Committee chair. This week alone, he announced opposition to Biden’s proposed IRS commissioner, tanked the nomination of an FCC commissioner and has “serious concerns’’ about Interior nominee Laura Daniel-Davis.

    “If you can’t do the job the last two years because you’re in cycle, that tells you what’s wrong with this place. That’s why I haven’t made any commitment or a decision,” Manchin said in an interview this week.

    It seems not a day goes by without Manchin tweaking the Biden administration over something. He thrashed the president’s team Wednesday for “putting their radical climate agenda ahead of our nation’s energy security” then on Thursday said White House advisor John Podesta was “irresponsible” in comments about Chinese energy production.

    In his typical style, Manchin says none of those moves have anything to do with his reelection decision.

    “I’m just trying to do the right thing. I’m just trying to get things implemented. The country desperately needs energy security,” Manchin said. “And if you can’t implement a bill that basically is all about national security … it’s bullshit.”

    There’s also a critical new ingredient to his legislative success in the newly empowered House GOP. Manchin spent the first two years of Biden’s presidency cutting deals with more liberal Democrats, only to get kneecapped by Senate Republicans on his final push for an energy permitting deal.

    Yet for the moment, the House Republican majority is staying open to collaboration with Manchin on the topic, regardless of his political future — as long as any cross-Capitol compromise delivers a win for them, too.

    “There’s a lot of motivation all around for us to do something on permitting reform,” said Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah), who is so devoted to an energy deal that he turned down a spot on a more sought-after House committee to work on it.

    Senate Democrats are similarly playing it cool when it comes to the parlor game of what Manchin might be thinking about 2024. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), who chairs the party’s campaign arm, said he’d had conversations with Manchin about running again but is taking a light touch.

    “He has time. It’s not like we have a lot of Democrats wanting to run in West Virginia. And if he decides to run, I am confident he will win,” Peters said.

    Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.) is already running for the seat, but Republicans are also looking to land West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice in their primary. They see the Democrat-turned-Republican as the strongest possible recruit to force Manchin into retirement.

    “It would certainly make me think twice, if I was in his shoes,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).

    Amid the political intrigue, House Republicans are downright buoyant about their chances of reaching a Manchin-blessed deal on energy permitting that would help speed the way for construction of major fossil-fuel and other projects. It helps that the genial West Virginian has personally spoken with nearly every major House player on the issue, from Speaker Kevin McCarthy to GOP panel chairs to the Democrats who are quietly supportive of his push.

    Several House Republicans who’ve spoken with Manchin said they’ve given little thought to what he — the pivotal vote on some of Biden’s biggest wins — will choose to do next year. The same goes for whether a bipartisan permitting agreement could help him achieve it.

    Natural Resources Committee Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) spoke to Manchin this week, and Westerman said each is committed to getting a result. Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) brushed aside potential GOP concerns that a deal could help lift Manchin to reelection: “My goal is to get a substantial permitting bill on the president’s desk.”

    Rep. Carol Miller (R-W.Va.), whose GOP colleague Mooney is running for that Senate seat next year, said of Manchin: “I would work with anyone on permitting.”

    Senate Republicans are more committed to defeating Manchin because West Virginia could easily determine who holds the Senate majority next year. They blocked attempts at attaching permitting legislation to year-end spending deals last year, in part out of retribution for Manchin’s dealmaking with Biden on Democrats’ massive party-line tax, health care and climate bill.

    Now they’re questioning whether the rest of Manchin’s party would really follow him on a sweeping energy permitting deal with the House GOP.

    “I do believe I can make a deal with Manchin. I’m not sure how many other Democrats would come on board,” said Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, his Republican counterpart on the Energy Committee.

    Manchin said Democrats would “be hypocritical” to shun work on an energy bill just because it’s led by the GOP House. He called his work last year a “roadmap” for Republicans to follow; 40 Senate Democratic caucus members supported his bill last year.

    And he’s putting out feelers of his own. As Republicans steer their party-line energy package to the floor this month, Manchin has asked some of his House Democratic colleagues about the GOP’s plans.

    “He said, ‘Let me know what the Republicans are looking at, because I want to do something,’” said Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, another conservative Democrat who’s been talking to the GOP on energy.

    Asked how he’s reading the tea leaves on Manchin’s fate in 2024, Cuellar replied: “He wants to legislate.”

    Still, Manchin isn’t totally tuned out of politics. He inquired about where his fellow red-state Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana stood in the lead-up to announcing a reelection bid.

    But now, as Manchin wreaks havoc on the Biden administration, Tester has no plans to push Manchin on 2024.

    “Joe being Joe, it’s just what Joe does,” Tester said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he runs. I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t.”

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    #Manchin #guessing #Senate #Dems #House #GOP
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • D.C. crime rollback energizes House GOP efforts to squeeze Dems

    D.C. crime rollback energizes House GOP efforts to squeeze Dems

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    Democrats insist the effort turned to their advantage, since plenty of their incumbents welcomed the chance to distance themselves from President Joe Biden. Still, Wednesday’s vote ends weeks of Democratic angst over D.C.’s liberal crime bill, a particularly potent subject after their party’s humiliating losses in deep blue New York that ultimately cost them control of the House last November.

    In the initial House vote in February, the vast majority of the House Democrats stuck with Biden — only to have him reverse his position, with Senate Democrats lining up behind him. And even as Senate Democrats emphasize that the circumstances surrounding the D.C. bill are unique, they’re also resigned to the reality that there are more disapproval votes to come.

    “Unfortunately, the agenda on the Republican side is to just look for division and have investigations,” said Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, the No. 3 Senate Democrat. “I would expect them to continue to look for ways to divide people and play politics.”

    They won’t have to wait long. Republicans plan to use the same playbook to symbolically reject other Biden administration moves — including a vote this week on a wonky water rule that would cement broad authority for federal agencies to regulate streams and wetlands, an extremely unpopular policy in farm-heavy states.

    For much of the House GOP conference, it’s seen as a win-win: A chance to declare their policy position, while putting vulnerable Senate Democrats on the spot in a campaign cycle that heavily favors the GOP. Unlike most bills, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer can’t block GOP-led policy statements from reaching the floor and they require only a simple majority for passage. That means the chamber’s Republicans only need two Democrats to join them to send it to Biden’s desk under full attendance.

    On the water rule, for instance, several Republicans have been eagerly predicting they’ll win over Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.), two of the most endangered senators up this cycle who both hail from rural states. Manchin, who has not yet said whether he’s running for reelection, has already indicated he’ll support the measure, while Tester said Monday he is undecided.

    With Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) out due to a medical issue and Manchin a “yes” vote, it’s expected to pass the Senate next week, assuming full GOP attendance. And this time, Biden has threatened to whip out his veto pen, after declining to do so on the crime bill.

    “Our farmers and ranchers will be pissed about that,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.). Summing up the GOP approach generally, he added: “It’s an area that we can have some success. I don’t think it can be our only strategy. But we’re happy.”

    West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, said she is optimistic about her chamber passing the water resolution, even if it won’t have the degree of Democratic support that the D.C. crime bill disapproval resolution is expected to garner.

    “I would expect Democratic support, I wouldn’t expect it as a lot,” she said.

    And there are more disapproval resolutions in the works. Sens. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala) and John Boozman (R-Ark.) have introduced a resolution that would repeal a recent rule from the Department of Veterans Affairs that offered abortion counseling and services in certain cases. Manchin has already signed onto that effort as well.

    Manchin and Tester were also the only two Senate Democrats to support a resolution disapproving of a Biden administration policy that enables managers to consider climate change and social goals in retirement investing decisions. But it’s the D.C. crime bill that has drawn the most ire within the Democratic Party.

    Biden’s surprise decision to go along with the GOP’s push infuriated many House Democrats who voted against the repeal, some of whom will almost certainly face soft-on-crime attacks from Republicans in their reelection cycles. And it’s prompted some in the caucus to wonder if they should support future GOP-led measures even if the White House opposes them.

    “Like in any house, in any office, and any household, there can always be better communication,” Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) told reporters, though he stressed an otherwise “unified” relationship with the White House. Democrats had to “navigate what is a hostile environment” with Republican control of the House, he added, noting the potential political potency of the legislation undoing Biden administration policy.

    Still, it’s clear some are still feeling burned by the White House.

    When House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) brought up the Biden administration’s threat to veto the Obama-era water rule measure during a closed-door meeting Wednesday, there were some audible groans in the room, according to two people familiar with the situation.

    Across the Capitol, many Senate Democrats largely blame the discord between the D.C. Council and the city’s mayor for the dramatic back-and-forth. Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser vetoed the measure, only to have the city council override the veto — and then attempt to withdraw its plan earlier this week, in the face of congressional backlash.

    “The mayor and the police chief both opposed it, the head of the D.C. Council said, ‘OK guys, don’t vote on it, we’ll go back to the drawing board,’” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). “So, unfortunately, the whole process has been flawed.”

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    #D.C #crime #rollback #energizes #House #GOP #efforts #squeeze #Dems
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • Dems want to cut Fox off after lawsuit revelations

    Dems want to cut Fox off after lawsuit revelations

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    election 2022 georgia 21937

    “There is nothing in those documents to show they operate like a real news organization,” said Doug Gordon, a Democratic strategist. “If you are running a campaign in 2024, how do you in good faith hand your ads to Fox when you know they handed them over to Republicans? If there are any general election debates, how do you let Fox be a moderator?”

    There is no indication, at this juncture, that major Democratic entities are ready to halt their ad buys on Fox News, let alone its many affiliates. But that is partially because few Democratic campaigns or causes are currently spending ad money. In the interim, the Dominion lawsuit revelations have led to louder calls for the party to make a firm break from any involvement with the cable channel, whom they view as functionally a campaign arm for Republicans. Democrats spanning the ideological spectrum have even started calling on the White House Correspondents’ Association — the group of news reporters advocating for press access — to boot Fox News reporters from the briefing room.

    “They are arguably the most important entity of the American right and the Republican Party,” said Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg, suggesting that The Associated Press include in its stylebook that Fox News is not a news organization. “There needs to be a serious conversation now about whether Fox can continue to be a member of the White House Correspondents Association. Keeping them there seems not to be OK.”

    Even with its reputation for airing reliably conservative content, Fox News remains a major player in Democratic politics. More self-identified Democrats consistently watch the network than any other cable channel, according to Nielsen MRI Fusion. And a faction of Democrats sees value in both reaching those voters and trying to persuade the independents and Republican-leaning ones who tune into the channel.

    In the 2020 campaign cycle, the network hosted a presidential debate, accepted some $7.4 million in advertising from Joe Biden’s presidential campaign to Fox News, according to the tracking firm AdImpact, and held town halls with Democratic primary contenders. While Biden administration officials have selectively chosen to appear on Fox News for interviews, the president’s aides have also sought out opportunities to use the network as a cudgel against Republican lawmakers — whether on economic issues or matters of public safety.

    White House officials, for their part, describe their relationship with Fox employees who cover them closely as combative but mostly cordial. But they also view the Dominion lawsuit revelations as a cover of sorts to treat Fox News with a bit more frostiness than other media outlets. Biden aides have privately bristled at news reporters who just weeks ago piled on criticism of the president for side stepping a customary Super Bowl interview with Fox.

    “Regardless of any new revelations of media bias and hypocrisy during the 2020 campaign, Joe Biden won the most votes of any candidate in American history because of his vision for the middle class, his message, and his record,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement. “And anyone who is surprised by such revelations hasn’t been paying attention to — or watching — Fox News lately.”

    Bates and others have been trolling Fox of late, including sending a statement to the network for inclusion in a story questioning whether viewers and readers should trust Fox News’ reporting on Biden, citing executives’ reported kid-glove treatment of Trump. The White House statement to Fox was reported by Semafor.

    Fox, in turn, accused the White House of resorting to “junior varsity campaign style stunts.”

    Other Democrats want the president and his party to react more aggressively. On the House floor, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) teed off on censorship legislation, arguing “it would still be strange to say that Fox News was censoring itself” when it knowingly amplified 2020 election lies. MoveOn, the liberal advocacy outfit, urged cable service chief executives to make Fox News optional. And the Progressive Change Campaign Committee called for the White House Correspondents’ Association to remove Fox from the press pool.

    Congress’ top two Democrats also weighed in, writing to Murdoch to urge his network to stop spreading false election narratives and “admit on the air that they were wrong to engage in such negligent behavior.”

    Fox News has resisted covering the Dominion lawsuit. But in a statement, a Fox representative said, “Dominion’s lawsuit has always been more about what will generate headlines than what can withstand legal and factual scrutiny, as illustrated by them now being forced to slash their fanciful damages demand by more than half a billion dollars after their own expert debunked its implausible claims.”

    “Their summary judgment motion took an extreme, unsupported view of defamation law that would prevent journalists from basic reporting and their efforts to publicly smear FOX for covering and commenting on allegations by a sitting President of the United States should be recognized for what it is: a blatant violation of the First Amendment.”

    A Dominion spokesperson said in a statement: “The evidence will show that Dominion was a valuable, rapidly growing business that was executing on its plan to expand prior to the time that Fox began endorsing baseless lies about Dominion voting machines. Following Fox’s defamatory statements, Dominion’s business suffered enormously.”

    A spokesperson for Fox News said it not only tops competitors combined in the ratings, “but has the most politically diverse audience with more Democrats and Independents watching than either CNN and MSNBC. This is another predictable attack by left-wing groups desperate for attention and relevancy.”

    Intermittent lashings of Fox News from the left are not a new occurrence. Democratic politicians from the White House to statehouses have long weighed whether trying to reach the network’s coveted audience is worth the cost of appearing to legitimize the network. Those who advocate for engagement say it’s folly to imagine the channel will have less impact if the party ignores it. Those who call for a boycott argue it makes no sense to push the party’s agenda on daytime airwaves only to find it demonized at night. And increasingly, they think that whatever editorial line existed between its dayside hosts and its bombastic prime time names has become blurrier and blurrier.

    As the debate starts anew, several top strategists and communications aides said they believe the Dominion revelations will spur legitimate news organizations to stop treating Fox as one of their own.

    “Democrats reached a verdict on Fox News many years ago. The only open question is does the rest of the political media ecosystem treat them as legitimate or not?” asked Eric Schultz, a deputy press secretary under former President Barack Obama. “The latest revelations mostly call into question everybody else’s long-standing defense of the network.”

    But even those, like Schultz, who argue that Fox News’ reputation should be permanently tainted by the Dominion suit are reluctant to call for Democrats to completely shut out the network.

    “It would be like unilaterally not engaging on Facebook — in many ways a toxic platform but where millions of people get their information,” he said.

    James Carville, the veteran Democratic strategist, said there was no reason to approach the network differently now because of the Dominion lawsuit revelations.

    “They get viewers only because they tell viewers what they want to hear or see,” he said. “They want to be brainwashed. They show up at the front door of the cleaners. They leave their brain there — ‘wash and fold and I’ll pick it up.’”

    Instead, Carville offered that there was a utility to having the network as a foil, noting that Biden’s White House hasn’t suffered from having Fox News in the briefing room, led by network scion Peter Doocy.

    “Sites on the left love when they smack Peter Doocy back,” he said. “And usually, for more than half the people who see it, it’s Fox that looks stupid.”

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    #Dems #cut #Fox #lawsuit #revelations
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • House Dems strategize how to achieve a Speaker Hakeem Jeffries

    House Dems strategize how to achieve a Speaker Hakeem Jeffries

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    This year’s Baltimore gathering marked a fresh test not just for Jeffries, but for the entire new troika of leaders, including Clark and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.). While lawmakers wouldn’t draw direct comparisons to their former head trio, they were endlessly optimistic that the new generation of leaders would usher in a younger, more diverse and unified caucus — the last aspect essential if they want any hope of winning the House majority next year.

    “I’m feeling hope and I’m feeling possibility and seeing that we are putting people over politics, but I’m also seeing unity,” said Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio). “I think that it is a new time … that the young people we have in Congress today understand that we all stand on somebody’s shoulders, and the power of us standing together.”

    In a similar vein, Democrats are hoping to give members the “tools to be successful in the minority,” as one retreat session advertises — a particularly important lesson for the more than one-third of the caucus that has thus far served only in the majority. The panel will teach House Democrats how to effectively question witnesses in hearings and feature media savvy lawmakers such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.).

    Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas) lauded the “hell of a conference” Democrats organized.

    “I’ve seen a vast improvement on the panels, in terms of the makeup of the panels and discussions,” she said. “And it’s good to see that [Latino members] were on the stage and we were at the table.”

    Equipped with legislative wins from the previous Congress on landmark infrastructure and social spending bills, Democrats are gearing up to sell their message to the American public. They’re determined to avoid total policy irrelevance and are searching for bipartisan wins, even if they’re incremental ones on immigration or energy permitting, both of which sputtered out last term.

    “A lot of what we’re going to be doing is implementation of those bills” from last term, said Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (D-N.H.), chair of the centrist New Democrats. “But we won’t hesitate to move forward where we can. So I think we’ll find a way.”

    While Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.) expressed pervasive doubts that Congress could agree on “sweeping immigration reform,” he said smaller scale wins to protect so-called Dreamers, immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children, might be possible.

    Some turbulence interrupted the caucus’ generally high-spirited retreat. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus were caught off guard when news broke Thursday that President Joe Biden told Senate Democrats he would not veto a Republican-backed measure rolling back changes to D.C.’s criminal code.

    “This is news to me, and I’m very disappointed in it,” said Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), when asked by reporters about the measure. “I hope he continues to say he will oppose it.”

    But in other areas, Democrats were determined to set aside old feuds and focus on defeating Republicans. In one example, lawmakers made clear they were moving past drama that had engulfed the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, after Chair Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.) sparked backlash over the firing of a top staffer. Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), the second-ranked Hispanic Caucus member, publicly defended Barragán for the first time since the brouhaha.

    “First and foremost, the chairwoman has our full, unequivocal support,” he said at a press conference with members of the Hispanic Caucus at the retreat.

    Barragán also told reporters she’s working with the other Democratic groups to put out a statement opposing the Biden administration’s proposed tightening of the rules governing asylum for immigrants in the U.S.

    And for those policy priorities that can’t be achieved in a divided government, Democrats are readying lists of proposed executive orders to suggest to Biden, including new labor rules to make more workers eligible for overtime pay.

    Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said her group was preparing its “executive action agenda” to present to Biden following their own retreat scheduled for next week. Even as members pressed the White House to act, she indicated they were working in lockstep with the administration.

    “We’ve gone through this with the White House,” she said. “Many of the things, not everything, but many of the things on the agenda are things that we know that the White House wants to work with us on.”

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    #House #Dems #strategize #achieve #Speaker #Hakeem #Jeffries
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • Biden echoes House Dems’ early 2024 pitch: Look what we accomplished

    Biden echoes House Dems’ early 2024 pitch: Look what we accomplished

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    image

    In his nearly half-hour speech, he later told Democrats exactly what they were hoping to hear: “I promised to partner with you and coordinate with you to make sure the implementation of these laws is done efficiently and effectively, and let the American people know who did it. As they feel the benefits of the investment, you did it.”

    The lion’s share of caucus members cheered Biden on in Charm City, though several skipped his speech and stayed in D.C. for a tribute concert honoring singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell.

    “Folks are going to understand what you’ve done. We’re going to make sure of it,” Biden said about his 2024 plan.

    At one point, Biden even took a swing at Freedom Caucus member Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), suggesting her politics are driving Republicans to the Democratic Party.

    “A little bit more Marjorie Taylor Greene, a few more and you’re gonna have a lot of Republicans run on our way,” he joked to House Democrats as they laughed in the audience. “Isn’t she amazing? Oof.”

    Biden also took a handful of questions from lawmakers in a closed-door session following his remarks about the implementation of policies, the war in Ukraine, inflation, the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and workers rights, according to two people familiar with his remarks.

    Biden told lawmakers, “Russia has already lost” before clarifying to say that Russia wouldn’t be able to occupy Ukraine but could still destroy it, according to the people familiar with his remarks. He also predicted the Federal Reserve could hike interest rates by as much as 25 basis points over the next three quarters, the people said.

    Biden’s outreach to Hill Dems comes at a key point for the party. They have to run their 2024 message from both sides now, defending the White House and Senate while trying to take back the House. Divided government gives Democrats little room to legislatively deliver over the next two years, but also stops them from simply running against Republicans.

    So House Democrats are focusing instead on their major accomplishments from the last Congress, as the effects of those laws — some of which take years to implement — become more evident over time. They’re looking to the president to guide messaging on that front, as well as set realistic goals for what the party can achieve before 2024.

    Touting their track record, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who introduced the president, said their mantra of “People Over Politics” had been a “way of life” for Democrats as “we govern together under the leadership of President Biden and Speaker Pelosi in partnership with House Democrats and Senate Democrats.”

    The relaxed tone of this year’s gathering stands in contrast to last year’s chaotic dash to Philadelphia following a bruising rank-and-file revolt over a spending deal. There had even been questions about canceling that retreat, amid caucus-wide frustrations and lingering ideological divisions over the fate of a mammoth party-line spending bill.

    Now in the minority, Democrats are having an easier time unifying without the pressures of governing — allowing them to fully focus on campaign messaging for 2024.

    “We’re recruiting great candidates across the country, we’re going to defend our incredible members, and take the majority so that we have Speaker Hakeem Jeffries,” Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), the chair of House Democrats’ campaign arm, told reporters.

    Democratic House members are also gathering in different groups to discuss a variety of policy messages, including national security and health care. And there’s even a closed-door session where Jordan Klapper of the Daily Show will interview Jeffries, Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.).

    Other sessions will involve huddles with Biden administration officials and a series of closed-door strategy meetings as they formulate their best path to victory. Most of the sessions aren’t expected to prompt any fireworks, though one closed-door panel will tackle border issues, featuring a conversation between Hispanic Caucus chair Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.) and border-district members who have pushed for more border resources, such as Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.).

    Members of the Hispanic Caucus have already sparred with the Biden administration over proposed rules that could make it harder for many migrants to claim asylum, though Barragán said the planned discussion was mostly to allow border-district members to relay their experiences to others in the caucus.

    “I think Democrats need a unified message around immigration reform, and we have to stand for something and not being on defense opposing what Republicans have proposed for many years,” said Vasquez, who flipped a seat in the 2022 elections.

    Some Democrats, anticipating gridlock on hot-button issues like immigration in the divided Congress, are already looking to the president to take executive action.

    “I’m not very positive and optimistic that we’re going to find some bipartisan legislation,” said Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) “And so what are the executive things we can do to maintain protections while we work and build ourselves for the next session?”

    Other Democrats are also hopeful for modest progress across the aisle, hoping to convince some moderate Republicans to join their legislative goals, including on Ukraine aid or legislation to combat China.

    “Hopefully we can get some Republicans crossing the line so that we can still get some things done for the American people. Because that’s what it’s all about,” said New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

    Sarah Ferris contributed to this report.

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    #Biden #echoes #House #Dems #early #pitch #accomplished
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • Biden poised for first veto after Dems support rollback

    Biden poised for first veto after Dems support rollback

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    election 2024 montana senate 77416

    “At a time when working families are dealing with higher costs, from health care to housing, we need to be focused on ensuring Montanans’ retirement savings are on the strongest footing possible,” Tester said in a statement. “I’m opposing this Biden Administration rule because I believe it undermines retirement accounts for working Montanans and is wrong for my state.”

    The fact that Republicans are poised to push the measure through a divided Congress underscores the growing political momentum behind their crusade against what they deride as “woke” business practices. Conservative officials at the state and federal level are increasingly attacking big corporations for embracing social and environmental causes. It’s a push that Democrats in red states and swing districts are finding they’re unable to ignore.

    The Biden administration said in its veto threat this week that the rollback move would “unnecessarily limit the options available to retirement plan participants and investors.”

    The president’s threat in a way gives moderate Democrats a free pass to distance themselves from the president because they don’t face the risk of the rollback actually being implemented.

    Asked whether Democratic leadership had pressured him to vote “no,” Tester told reporters that they gave a presentation to the broader caucus Tuesday. But “it wasn’t like, pestering.”

    The 2024 election “hasn’t been my focus, but that ought to be their focus,” Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), who sponsored the measure, told reporters. “I just tried to make the merits of the case out there understandable to everyone listening.”

    Manchin took to the Senate floor to blast the Biden DOL rule as “just another example of how our administration prioritizes a liberal policy agenda over protecting and growing the retirement accounts of 150 million Americans.”

    Republicans are taking advantage of procedures under the Congressional Review Act that allow lawmakers to nullify recently issued rules with simple majority votes, avoiding the Senate filibuster.

    The Labor Department rule at issue doesn’t require investment managers to focus on environmental, social and governance factors in retirement accounts, but instead clarifies that they’re free to do so.

    ESG investing has been a big focus for money managers for years, partly in response to consumer demand for sustainable investment products.

    Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in a Wall Street Journal op-ed blasted the GOP rollback effort, accusing Republicans of sacrificing their free market ideals in favor of “forcing their own views down the throats of every company and investor.”

    “The whole anti-ESG operation is a fake, cooked up by the fossil fuel industry,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said in an interview.

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    #Biden #poised #veto #Dems #support #rollback
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • Florida Dems elect Nikki Fried to lead the party after ‘horrific November’

    Florida Dems elect Nikki Fried to lead the party after ‘horrific November’

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    In her remarks following her victory, Fried vowed to unite the party, and work to deny the White House to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to run for president.

    “You better believe we are going to take it to Ron DeSantis every damn day,” Fried told a crowded room of Democrats gathered at a hotel just north of Orlando. Fried also vowed to send Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who is up for re-election in 2024, “home to Naples” next year.

    A few months ago, Fried told reporters and fellow Democrats that she wasn’t interested in becoming party chair. But now she’s in charge of an undercapitalized and deeply demoralized party that was crushed by Republicans last November. DeSantis defeated Democratic nominee Charlie Crist by nearly 20 points, Republicans gained a supermajority in the Legislature and the GOP picked up four more congressional seats, which helped them retake the U.S. House.

    One of the most obvious signs of Republican dominance is that Florida flipped from a state where Democrats held a voter registration advantage to one where the GOP now has 417,000 more active registered voters.

    In the 2022 elections, national Democrats largely abandoned the state and did not put any significant amounts of money in any of the statewide or congressional races.

    Some Florida Democrats, such as Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, have insisted that Democrats will not walk away from Florida in 2024, when President Joe Biden is expected to be on the ballot. Biden lost the state to former President Donald Trump by 3 percent.

    Fried, who acknowledged Democrats had a “horrific November election,” pledged to ramp up “low dollar donations” while saying she has been talking to Democratic donors and national groups about reengaging with the state. She also discussed extending money to local Democratic groups and organizations and getting involved in more down ballot races.

    “When we are showing success, when we are showing that we got a plan for success, the donors will be here,” said Fried.

    Fried also argued that national groups will get more involved in the state because it is “ground zero” of the “radicalization of the Republican Party.” During her remarks to Democratic executive committee members before the vote, Fried also said she had been fighting against a “zealous fascist dictator,” though she didn’t say DeSantis by name at that time.

    Republicans took glee in Fried’s selection, pointing how she was soundly defeated by Crist in the Democratic primary last August.

    Christian Ziegler, who last week was elected chair of the Republican Party of Florida, said before Fried can even address all the Democratic Party shortcomings “she is going to have to start by convincing the 65 percent of Democrats who rejected her just months ago.”

    “Fried drew the short straw,” Ziegler said via text. “The losing by Democrats will continue and Florida will better because of it.”

    A significant number of Democrats pushed back against Fried after she jumped into the race for chair less than two weeks ago.

    Some of those hesitant to support Fried said her decision to run for party chair would put her on the sidelines in the near term and take her out of the running to challenge someone like Scott. Samantha Hope Herring, a Democratic National Committee member from north Florida, said anyone who becomes chair will get “dirtied up.”

    Steve Schale, a political strategist who directed Barack Obama’s Florida campaign in 2008, said that “the reality is, to do this job right you are going to have to make decisions to anger people who elected you to this job.”

    “You can’t go into it with a mindset you will run,” said Schale, who said the main directive of the new party chair should be to raise money and register voters.

    Thomas Kennedy, a Democratic National Committee member from Florida who backed Taddeo for chair, added that “it’s a punching bag job.”

    “We need a chair that’s not interested in running again in 2024 or 2026 and is interested in the job,” Kennedy said. “You unseat Rick Scott and you’re a goddamn hero.”

    When asked, Fried said she had not made any promises to Democratic executive committee members that she would forgo any future political campaigns in the next two cycles.

    But she added she planned to be chair for “the foreseeable future” and that “no matter who wants to run for statewide office in the future we got to make sure the structure is here.”

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    #Florida #Dems #elect #Nikki #Fried #lead #party #horrific #November
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • 2024’s sprawling Senate map comes down to these 3 Dems

    2024’s sprawling Senate map comes down to these 3 Dems

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    Brown, Manchin and Tester all survived their party’s difficult 2018 cycle after then-President Donald Trump pushed their states further rightward. Before that, they won reelection in 2012 while sharing the ballot with then-President Barack Obama. Now, the trio of Democrats is staring down their toughest political challenge yet: pulling a Susan Collins.

    The moderate GOP Mainer successfully persuaded her state’s voters to split their tickets in a presidential year; Collins won reelection by 8 points in 2020 even as Biden defeated Trump by 9 points in her state. For Democrats to hang onto their 51-seat majority, they need Collins-style performances from at least two of their three red-state incumbents in an era of declining split-ticket voters.

    While Brown and Tester are all in, Manchin hasn’t decided whether to run again, and Biden hasn’t made it official yet either. That makes Tester’s reelection decision all the more critical to the party — he’s probably the only Montana Democrat with a shot. At the moment, Democrats’ hopes of holding the Senate largely ride on Tester and Brown defying their states’ political leanings.

    A decade ago, ticket-splitting was a far more common political phenomenon: Democrats won Senate races everywhere from Missouri to Indiana to North Dakota in 2012, even as Obama lost those states. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), the party’s campaign chair, acknowledged that in the current environment “it’s a little bit harder to differentiate yourself” but if anyone can do it, it’s his incumbents.

    “Just look at how these folks got elected. Jon Tester ran well above the presidential race. Manchin has done that,” Peters said in an interview. “The candidates who are running have already demonstrated that they have a unique plan, a very individualized brand. And that brand will prevail in the end.”

    Peters’ GOP counterpart on 2024 campaigns, Montana Sen. Steve Daines, predicted voters would see something simpler from red-state Democrats running alongside Biden: “They run scared. And they run away.” In 2020, Daines trounced a strong Democratic nominee, Steve Bullock, even as the former governor significantly overperformed Biden in Montana.

    Among the three red-state Democrats, Manchin is most akin to Collins in terms of keeping their distance from their parties’ presidential nominees. Manchin didn’t support Obama in 2012, nearly pulled his backing from Hillary Clinton in 2016, and though he supported Biden in 2020 he seems unlikely to be vocal either way in 2024.

    “In West Virginia, you know, it doesn’t make a difference,” Manchin said. “Joe Biden’s going to get beat so bad no matter what in my state. It’s just me. I’m not going to be campaigning for or against anybody else.”

    Divided government will test Manchin’s sway. He’s championing an energy permitting overhaul that fell short last year and pushing the Biden administration on rolling out the energy, tax and health care bill he helped write last year. But each of the party’s three red-state senators has a prominent perch to generate more accomplishments before they’d face voters: Brown chairs the Banking Committee, Manchin chairs the Energy Committee and Tester chairs the Veterans Affairs Committee.

    Meanwhile, Republicans will look to limit the three senators’ successes and drive a wedge between Biden and Senate Democrats. The chamber’s Republicans are plotting disapproval votes on federal regulations regarding sustainable investments, trucking emissions, water regulations and Pentagon environmental performance.

    Biden will certainly veto those GOP efforts if they prevail, but their political intention is clear: Squeeze Democrats. Simultaneously, those votes offer an opportunity for Senate Democrats to separate themselves from the president.

    “There are obviously [Democratic incumbents] who are paying attention to politics back home,” said Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.).

    As challenging as 2024’s map is for Senate Democrats, it’s not as rough as 2018, when they had to defend 10 seats Trump had just won. Biden’s presidential win shored up Democrats’ brand in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, and if they can win those states at the presidential level again, it’s good news for their Senate hopefuls.

    That puts a more intense focus on Ohio, West Virginia and Montana as the states that will decide the majority. And Republicans are looking at the basic math: In 2020, Trump won West Virginia by 39 points, Montana by 16 points and Ohio by 8 points.

    The rest of next year’s battleground Senate races are in states Biden won, albeit in some cases quite narrowly: Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Arizona. Democrats in those states are far more likely to run with Biden than as a check on him — though the Copper State could see a three-way race if independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema seeks a second term.

    Summing up her reelection theme in an interview, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) cited Biden’s recent State of the Union: “Between the House, the Senate and this president, there has been exceptional accomplishment. But we haven’t finished the job.”

    Even in Ohio, Brown said he’d “assume” he’ll campaign with Biden even if the president is unlikely to consider his state a must-win.

    “I run my own race, and my own brand. So, I’m not going to run from Biden,” Brown said. “He’s also delivered more than any president in recent history.”

    Even Manchin sounds much like Brown or Baldwin when discussing what Democrats accomplished during the previous Congress. But because Biden is unpopular in West Virginia, it’s up to him to convince voters what they got out of it.

    “There’s more coming for the state of West Virginia because of what we’ve done. Now, they’re not going to give that credit to a Democratic president,” Manchin said.

    Manchin endorsed Collins in 2020, when the Mainer did not support Trump and largely ran on her lengthy record. Her reelection race initially flared with liberal outrage over her vote for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and culminated in one of the most expensive Senate races in the country.

    Through it all, Collins trailed in the polls as then-Minority Leader Chuck Schumer mounted an aggressive bid to flip her seat. Yet in the end, Democrats fell short trying to nationalize the race in a state with few transient voters.

    Offering some advice from that experience to Manchin, Brown and Tester — all of them similarly well-known back home, just like her — Collins put it this way: “People know me personally. And when Chuck Schumer was running vicious ads, people just didn’t believe it.”

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    #2024s #sprawling #Senate #map #Dems
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • Tester will seek reelection, bolstering Dems in 2024

    Tester will seek reelection, bolstering Dems in 2024

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    gettyimages 1447016521

    But Tester’s decision, along with Sen. Sherrod Brown’s (D-Ohio) bid for a fourth term, gives Democrats a pathway to keep their majority. The party currently holds 51 seats, meaning it can only afford a net loss of one seat in 2024 provided Democrats maintain control of the White House. And with sparse pick-up opportunities next year, the most straightforward path is returning the party’s incumbents to office, meaning Democrats must win reelection in at least two of the three red states: Ohio, West Virginia and Montana.

    Tester has won races under myriad scenarios since entering national politics. He defeated former GOP Sen. Conrad Burns in 2006, successfully split tickets with former President Barack Obama in 2012 and survived a difficult midterm cycle in 2018 by defeating now-Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.). During that race, Tester raised the ire of former President Donald Trump by helping sink his pick for the Veterans’ Affairs Department, now-Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas).

    Both Rosendale and Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) are weighing a bid against Tester; Zinke passed on the 2018 race by joining Trump’s cabinet as secretary of the Interior. Republicans are also keeping their eyes on Gov. Greg Gianforte and state Attorney General Austin Knudsen to mount potential GOP campaigns to unseat Tester.

    Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) is chairing the GOP campaign arm this cycle, adding intrigue to Tester’s bid after Tester helped recruit former Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat, to run against Daines in 2020. Daines campaigned with Rosendale in the fall of 2018 as the GOP pressed to beat Tester, albeit unsuccessfully.

    “Jon Tester just made the same mistake Steve Bullock did in 2020. Both should have ended their political careers on their terms. Instead, they each will have their careers ended by Montana voters,” Daines said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.

    The Montana Democrat, who chairs the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, is known for working across the aisle and played a key role in negotiating the Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure bill last Congress. He also teamed up with Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) to pass legislation that broadened the Department of Veterans’ Affairs coverage for toxic exposure related to burn pits.

    Tester has a more liberal voting record than Manchin but a more centrist one than Brown. He did not serve as a public roadblock to President Joe Biden’s agenda like Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), though he does occasionally vote against the party leadership, like on a bid to raise the minimum wage to $15. More recently, he criticized the Biden administration over its handling of a Chinese government spy balloon that flew over Montana.

    Tester also has a unique personal profile: He’s a working farmer who lost three fingers in a meat grinder as a child and is known in Washington and Montana for blunt talk and the occasional expletive. His political skills will be put to the test, though, as Montana grew significantly during the pandemic, meaning he will face thousands of new voters next November.

    While Tester has yet to announce his campaign team, his 2018 campaign manager Christie Roberts is expected to stay on for another consecutive cycle at the Democratic Senate campaign arm in a senior role.

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    #Tester #seek #reelection #bolstering #Dems
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )