Eliana Willis

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    Jamaal Bowman wins New York congressional seat in major victory for progressives

    Jamaal Bowman, a former teacher endorsed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren, has ousted the 16-term Democratic congressman Eliot Engel in the race for New York’s 16th district, marking a major win for the party’s progressive wing.Bowman had been leading Engel and candidate Christopher Fink since the 6 July primary but the race had not been called by the Associated Press until Friday. In the end Bowman defeated Engel with 55% of the vote, a margin of roughly 12,000 votes, when the race was called. Bowman had declared victory earlier in the month when in-person voting had concluded.Bowman’s victory over Engel, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee, is a stunning victory for progressives who rallied around Bowman in the primary. Bowman was something of a progressive darling, earning the support of standard bearers such as congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Warren, as well as outside liberal groups like MoveOn and Our Revolution.Engel, meanwhile, had been endorsed by some party establishment figures including Hillary Clinton, House speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democratic senate leader Chuck Schumer, and congressman Jim Clyburn, the highest ranking black Democrat in Congress.In a campaign memo, Bowman’s campaign manager, Luke Hayes, wrote: “Jamaal’s win has been compared to AOC’s in 2018, but the big difference is that this time, they saw us coming. They took nothing for granted, and spent over $5m against us. They aired millions of dollars in attack ads, called in every political favor, and pulled all the stops. And we still won.”The race was somewhat reminiscent of Ocasio-Cortez’s surprise victory over congressman and House Democratic caucus chair Joe Crowley in 2018. Ocasio-Cortez was the longshot progressive favorite in that primary.Hayes described Bowman as a “brilliant, authentic, caring, fun, empathetic, passionate, and hardworking” candidate in the memo celebrating the victory. Bowman’s primary essentially assures his future in Congress. Voters in the district have for decades voted decisively for the Democratic nominee for Congress and the president.Engel’s ouster is also a much needed victory for progressives after both Bernie Sanders and Warren lost the Democratic primary for president to the more centrist Joe Biden.“From the very beginning, we anchored our campaign in the fight for racial and economic justice. We spoke the truth – about the police, about systemic racism, about inequality – and it resonated in every part of the district,” Bowman said in a statement to reporters. “We brought people together across race, across class, across religion, across gender, to fight for justice, to fight for equality, and to fight to create a country that works for all of us. We didn’t let them divide us. And we did it all without accepting a dime from corporate Pacs or lobbyists” More

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    Kanye West will appear on Oklahoma presidential election ballot

    Kanye West will appear on the Oklahoma presidential election ballot after filing the necessary paperwork, but confusion remained on Wednesday as to whether the rap superstar was still in the race amid reports he was ending his short-lived campaign.A representative for West filed the necessary paperwork and paid the $35,000 fee to run as an independent candidate Wednesday afternoon, which was the deadline for a spot on Oklahoma’s 3 November presidential ballot, said the Oklahoma Board of Elections spokeswoman Misha Mohr. He was one of three independent presidential candidates to pay the filing fee prior to the deadline, she added. The others were the concert pianist Jade Simmons and the cryptocurrency entrepreneur Brock Pierce.The filing came a day after New York Magazine’s Intelligencer quoted West adviser Steve Kramer as saying “he’s out” and noting that the staff he had hired were disappointed.However, TMZ reported that the West campaign had filed a “Statement of Organization” Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission, stating that a Kanye 2020 committee would serve as principal campaign committee for a West candidacy.West has already missed the deadline to qualify for the ballot in several states, and it’s unclear if he is willing or able to collect enough signatures required to qualify in others. The requirements that candidates need to meet in order to appear on presidential election ballots also vary by state. In Oklahoma, candidates need to get 35,592 signatures or pay $35,000. In Colorado, where the deadline to file is 5 August, candidates must get 5,000 signatures, or pay $1,000.West, who is married to the reality television star Kim Kardashian West,announced his candidacy on 4 July. “We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future,” West tweeted at the time. “I am running for president of the United States.”West had previously praised Donald Trump, famously saying that the two share “dragon energy”. However West appeared to part ways with the president earlier this month in an interview with Forbes, saying he was “taking the red hat off” – a reference to Trump’s trademark red Make America Great Again cap.West, who has said he has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, told the magazine that he would model his White House on the fictional land in “Black Panther” if he won the presidency, adding “Let’s get back to Wakanda.” More

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    Joe Biden set to release aggressive $2tn climate plan

    Joe Biden is strengthening and fast-tracking an aggressive climate and jobs plan which advisers say he would take to Congress “immediately”, if elected president.The new proposal outlines $2tn for clean energy infrastructure and other climate solutions, to be spent as quickly as possible in the next four years, what would be the Democrat’s first term in office. Last year, he proposed $1.7tn in spending over 10 years.“Addressing the economic crisis is going to be priority one for a President Biden,” a senior campaign official told reporters. “This will be the legislation he goes up to [Capitol Hill] immediately to get done. The reality is we will be facing a country that will be in dire need of these types of investments that are going to be made here.”Two crises are converging: a devastated economy and high unemployment that could drag on for years as the nation struggles to gain control of the coronavirus pandemic, and a rapidly closing window to significantly cut heat-trapping emissions and lead on global climate action.Biden will unveil the second part of his “Build Back Better” plan in a virtual roundtable with the California senator Kamala Harris and St Paul, Minnesota’s mayor, Melvin Carter, on Tuesday afternoon.The new goals align Biden more closely with three primary opponents, the Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, the Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren and Jay Inslee. the Washington governor. They follow the recommendations of a unity taskforce of Sanders and Biden supporters that was co-chaired by the New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who co-sponsored the Green New Deal.Biden staffers painted a picture of a modernized America with the “cleanest, safest, fastest rail system in the world”, the biggest electric vehicle manufacturing sector, 4m upgraded buildings and 1.5m new sustainable homes and public housing units. They pitched the spending as a jobs plan as much as a climate program.The blueprint aims for a clean electricity system including renewable power and nuclear energy by 2035. Biden would not ban fracking for natural gas, which would require an act of Congress. But he would prohibit new fracking on public lands.Gina McCarthy, the former Environmental Protection Agency administrator who is now president of the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, said the plan was “by a long shot – the most ambitious we have ever seen from any president in our nation’s history”.Labor unions and environmental justice communities would be central to climate efforts, campaign staffers said. Climate change hits low-income and communities of color hardest, a background document noted.Biden would create a national crisis strategy to ensure that government responses to disasters are equitable, start a taskforce to decrease climate risks for the most vulnerable, and establish an office of climate change and health equity.The faster timeline is meant to ensure that no future president can reverse climate gains, in the way Donald Trump’s administration has boosted fossil fuels. Trump plans to exit the Paris climate agreement but Biden has vowed to re-enter it and double down on US contributions.Much of Biden’s plan would require agreement from Congress. Gaining control of the Senate is critical.“He is confident he will be able to work with Congress to get something constructive done,” the senior campaign official said. “He is of course at the same time making sure that he is campaigning in every state needed to make sure that we win every Senate seat we possibly can to further that goal.”Another Biden official said the program would be funded by tax increases for corporations and “asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share”.The updated climate plan follows Biden’s announcement last week of a $700bn “buy American” proposal to revive US manufacturing. More