Elections, House of Representatives

Subterms

    Latest story

    138 Shares36 Views

    Kamala Harris y su herencia india, más allá de los memes

    by

    Harris ni presume ni oculta sus raíces indias. Hace una que otra referencia a ellas. También las utiliza estratégicamente.[Estamos en WhatsApp. Empieza a seguirnos ahora]Para la mayoría de las personas que vieron la cita que circuló esta semana como meme, solo se trataba de algo gracioso que Kamala Harris dijo en un discurso en 2023: “¿Creen que acaban de caerse de un cocotero?”.Sin embargo, para muchos indios e indios estadounidenses, la frase, que Harris atribuyó a su madre, tiene un significado más profundo. Tamil Nadu, el estado del sur de India del que es originaria la familia de su madre, es uno de los mayores productores de cocoteros del país. También es el tipo de cosa que diría un padre o una madre en India.Harris, vicepresidenta y candidata demócrata a la presidencia, ni presume ni oculta su herencia india. De vez en cuando hace alguna referencia. Y también la utiliza estratégicamente.El año pasado, Harris habló de su profunda conexión personal con India en una comida ofrecida en Washington para Narendra Modi, el primer ministro indio, a quien Estados Unidos ha estado cortejando. Su introducción a los conceptos de igualdad, libertad y democracia vino de su abuelo indio, con quien daba largos paseos durante sus visitas a Chennai, explicó Harris.“Fueron estas lecciones que aprendí a una edad muy temprana las que inspiraron mi interés por el servicio público”, afirmó.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    More stories

    • 163 Shares90 Views

      in Elections

      ‘Pass the Torch’ Sign at Biden Rally Costs Volunteer Role in State Campaign

      by

      Clint Keaveny took his place in the stands behind President Biden at a rally on Friday in Madison, Wis., and held up a sign that read, “Pass the torch, Joe.” Before the rally was over, Mr. Keaveny had lost his role with a Democratic congressional campaign.The event was the first in Mr. Biden’s weekend blitz of campaign events in must-win states to rebuff critics after his halting debate performance on June 27. As the president took the stage, in full view of cameras, Mr. Keaveny unveiled his poster, made of taped-together printer paper and stuffed in his waistband. It had been written by Mr. Keaveny’s mother, he said.The moment quickly went viral. His boss noticed.Before Mr. Keaveny had even left the event, Kristin Lyerly, the Wisconsin congressional candidate for whom he was a communications volunteer, had seen the images circulating online. She called him and asked that he part ways with the campaign, to which he agreed.“He held up a sign that was inconsistent with the values and the ideals of our campaign,” Dr. Lyerly said in an interview. “I was just so profoundly disappointed that I called him right then and there.” Mr. Keaveny, 27, said that Mr. Biden has been a great president, but he does not believe that he can defeat former President Donald J. Trump in November.“It pains me to feel like a black sheep,” Mr. Keaveny said. “But I believe in following my conscience.”The episode with Mr. Keaveny comes as questions over loyalty to President Biden in the Democratic Party are breaking out into the open and some are calling for a new nominee. Mr. Biden has repeatedly pledged to stay the course.Dr. Lyerly is running for a vacant seat that represents a swath of northeast Wisconsin, including Green Bay, a competitive district that leans Republican. Representative Mike Gallagher, a Republican, resigned from the seat in April. More

    • 163 Shares152 Views

      in Elections

      Sykes Faces Challenge in Ohio as Black Democrats Push to Hold White Districts

      by

      Representative Emilia Sykes is one of only a few Black Democrats in Congress who don’t resemble most of their constituents, and whose political survival this year will help determine which party controls the House.When Representative Emilia Sykes arrived at the regional airport in Akron on a recent Thursday morning to meet with dozens of local elected officials, she was the only Black person in the room.It wouldn’t be long before two others took seats in the audience, but it soon became clear that they were both related to her. Ms. Sykes briefly interrupted her remarks to welcome her parents: Vernon Sykes, a state senator, and Barbara Sykes, who sits on the Akron School Board.It is the kind of room that Ms. Sykes, 38, a first-term Democrat, is familiar with as one of only about a dozen Black members of Congress representing a majority-white district. And as she fights to defend her seat in a year when control of the House of Representatives is up for grabs, it represents a critical piece of the coalition that Ms. Sykes is toiling to keep together — one that includes a strong Democratic base but also a sizable portion of independents and moderate Republicans who crossed over to help her win the seat in 2022.Republicans, who hold a razor-thin majority and are toiling to keep their grasp on the House, have identified her as a top target for defeat in a district rated as a “tossup” by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. Her G.O.P. challenger, Kevin Coughlin, who is white, is a former state lawmaker who is well known in Akron politics.For Ms. Sykes, beating back the challenge means reminding voters as clearly and as often as possible what she has done to benefit them directly during her time in Congress. It also means steering clear of the bitter partisanship that is defining the presidential race and toiling to keep the focus off President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump, both of whom were viewed unfavorably by a majority of respondents in the latest New York Times/Siena poll.“What my focus is, is making sure that my constituents understand what I’ve been doing,” Ms. Sykes said in an interview. “And we can translate that work into votes.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 138 Shares152 Views

      in Elections

      Hakeem Jeffries Plans to Discuss Biden’s Candidacy With Top House Democrats

      by

      Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, has scheduled a virtual meeting on Sunday with senior House Democrats to discuss President Biden’s candidacy and the path forward, according to a senior official familiar with the plan.The session, which is to include the ranking members of congressional committees who make up the top echelons of the party in the House, comes at a time of profound worry among Democrats on Capitol Hill about Mr. Biden’s poor performance at last week’s presidential debate. House Democrats have not met as a group since, even as concerns have mounted about Mr. Biden’s viability as a candidate and the impact he could have on his party’s ability to win back control of the chamber and hold the Senate should he remain in the race. Mr. Jeffries has been in listening mode all week, refraining from pressuring Democrats to rally around the president but also encouraging them not to be rash in their public pronouncements as Mr. Biden and his team determine the best path forward.But Democrats have begun to splinter. Four in the House — Representatives Lloyd Doggett of Texas, Raúl Grijalva of Arizona, Seth Moulton of Massachusetts and Mike Quigley of Illinois — have called for the president to withdraw, while others have made public their serious concerns about his ability to prevail in the race.On Friday, Mr. Quigley said he had had a “hard time” getting to the point of urging the president to get out of the race.But, he told MSNBC, “clearly, the alternative now is a very bleak scenario with, I would say, almost no hope of succeeding — and it doesn’t just affect the White House. It affects all of Congress and our future.”Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, has been working to organize a meeting of Democrats in his chamber to discuss their concerns about Mr. Biden’s candidacy and what should be done, according to multiple people with direct knowledge of the effort who spoke about it on the condition of anonymity. More

    • 125 Shares142 Views

      in Elections

      Two Vulnerable House Democrats Say Biden Will Lose Against Trump

      by

      Two House Democrats facing challenging re-election races in rural districts said on Tuesday that President Biden would lose in November to former President Donald J. Trump, adding to widespread pessimism within the Democratic Party about its presidential nominee.The two Democrats, Representatives Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, did not call on Mr. Biden to step aside, nor did they indicate that any other Democrat stood a better chance of defeating Mr. Trump in the fall.But Mr. Golden and Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez, who are some of the most vulnerable incumbents in Congress this election cycle, essentially delivered a warning that they were preparing for Mr. Biden to be a critical liability at the top of the ticket. A poor performance by Mr. Biden in the presidential election could doom their own chances for re-election.In an opinion essay in The Bangor Daily News, Mr. Golden, who represents a district that Mr. Trump won in 2020, said that he had assumed Mr. Trump would win for months now and that he had made his peace with that outcome.“Lots of Democrats are panicking about whether President Joe Biden should step down as the party’s nominee,” he wrote. “Biden’s poor performance in the debate was not a surprise.”“It also didn’t rattle me as it has others,” Mr. Golden added, “because the outcome of this election has been clear to me for months: While I don’t plan to vote for him, Donald Trump is going to win. And I’m OK with that.”In an interview with a local television station, Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez, a first-term Democrat from a rural red district, also predicted that Mr. Biden would lose, blaming his dismal debate performance.“About 50 million Americans tuned in and watched that debate,” she told KATU News, appearing crestfallen throughout the interview. “I was one of them for five very painful minutes.”After carefully considering her response to a question about whether the president should step aside, Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez said: “The truth, I think, is that Biden will lose to Trump. I know it’s difficult, but I think the damage has been done.”She added that Democratic primary voters had already chosen Mr. Biden and that “a core tenet of democracy is that you accept the results of an election.”“Biden is the nominee,” she said. More

    • 75 Shares119 Views

      in Elections

      Jamaal Bowman’s Election Loss: 5 Takeaways

      by

      Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York became the first member of the House’s progressive “squad” to lose a seat in Congress on Tuesday, dealing a stinging defeat to the Democratic left after a brutal intraparty fight.The contest on the outskirts of New York City centered on Democrats’ disagreements over Israel’s war in Gaza. Progressive groups raced to try to save Mr. Bowman, a leading voice against the war. Pro-Israel political groups pumped record-shattering sums into defeating him.But by the end, it devolved into a broader spat over race and class that tested the Democratic coalition. Mr. Bowman’s opponent, the Westchester County executive, George Latimer, also benefited from old-fashioned local alliances and a series of embarrassing missteps by the incumbent.Here are five takeaways from the results.AIPAC notched its first big win.George Latimer capitalized on decades-old political alliances and an alliance with pro-Israel groups that spent more than $15 million on the race.Dave Sanders for The New York TimesAfter the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks, political groups aligned with Israel issued a message to its critics like Mr. Bowman: Moderate your views or prepare for stiff political opposition.Tuesday’s result showed that was no idle threat.The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Democratic Majority for Israel and other affiliated organizations ultimately spent more than $16 million to defeat Mr. Bowman, more than any outside group has ever put into a House race.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 125 Shares129 Views

      in Elections

      Bowman Falls to Latimer in House Primary in New York

      by

      Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York, one of Congress’s most outspoken progressives, suffered a stinging primary defeat on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, unable to overcome a record-shattering campaign from pro-Israel groups and a slate of self-inflicted blunders.Mr. Bowman was defeated by George Latimer, the Westchester County executive, in a race that became the year’s ugliest intraparty brawl and the most expensive House primary in history.It began last fall when Mr. Bowman stepped forward as one of the leading critics of how Israelis carrying out their war with Hamas. But the contest grew into a broader proxy fight around the future of the Democratic Party, exposing painful fractures over race, class and ideology in a diverse district that includes parts of Westchester County and the Bronx.Mr. Bowman, the district’s first Black congressman and a committed democratic socialist, never wavered from his calls for a cease-fire in Gaza or left-wing economic priorities. Down in the polls, he repeatedly accused his white opponent of racism and used expletives in denouncing the pro-Israel groups as a “Zionist regime” trying to buy the election.His positions on the war and economic issues electrified the national progressives, who undertook an 11th-hour rescue mission led by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. But they ultimately did little to win over skeptical voters and only emboldened his adversaries.A super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobby, dumped $15 million into defeating him, more than any outside group has ever spent on a House race.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 113 Shares109 Views

      in Elections

      John Avlon Defeats Nancy Goroff in Long Island Primary.

      by

      John Avlon, a former CNN political analyst who helped found the centrist political group No Labels, won the Democratic primary in a House district in eastern Long Island in New York on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.Mr. Avlon only entered the race in February but quickly built up support in the district, which he moved to in 2017.His critics, including his opponent, Nancy Goroff, used his recent move to the area to suggest that he was out of touch with locals, but he won more endorsements from party leaders and local elected officials than did Ms. Goroff, a retired chemistry professor who ran in 2020.Mr. Avlon will now face Representative Nick LaLota, the Republican incumbent, in November. While President Biden eked out a 0.2-point win in the district in 2020, Mr. LaLota cruised to an 11-point victory two years later. The Democratic House Majority PAC has characterized the First Congressional District as “one of the most competitive districts in the country,” while the Cook Political Report has called it “likely Republican.”“Anxieties and emotions hang around this election, but we know that action is the best antidote to anxiety, right?” Mr. Avlon said to his supporters on Tuesday. “The real work — you all know — it starts right now.”Ms. Goroff had seemed to be the presumptive Democratic candidate until Mr. Avlon announced his candidacy. Mr. Avlon said he felt compelled to enter the race because of the partisan division in the country, and referred to the district as a “majority maker.”In the waning weeks of the race, Ms. Goroff and PACs that supported her tried to emphasize Mr. Avlon’s past ties to the Republican Party, particularly Rudolph W. Giuliani, for whom Mr. Avlon worked as a speechwriter and adviser. Mr. Avlon has previously said he worked for Mr. Giuliani “when he was sane.”“We proved that the positive defeats the negative,” Mr. Avlon said in his speech on Tuesday. “We are fighting the good fight together, side by side and unafraid.” More