World news

Subterms

    More stories

    • 138 Shares159 Views

      in US Politics

      Republicans continue to stymie Democrats on voting rights. Will anything change?

      by

      The fight to voteUS SenateRepublicans continue to stymie Democrats on voting rights. Will anything change?Republicans filibuster Democratic efforts to pass billMove escalates pressure on Senator Joe Manchin The fight to vote is supported byAbout this contentSam Levine in New YorkThu 4 Nov 2021 10.00 EDTLast modified on Thu 4 Nov 2021 11.55 EDTHello, and happy Thursday,No, it’s not deja vu: Senate Republicans once again used the filibuster on Wednesday to stymie Democratic efforts to pass a significant voting rights bill. It’s the fourth time it’s happened this year, the most recent coming just two weeks ago.But Democrats and other voting rights advocates hope that this time is different.They never really expected 10 Republicans to sign on to the bill and advance it. Instead, they hoped to use the vote as a final chance to show the West Virginia senator Joe Manchin and Arizona senator Kyrsten Sinema, two of the staunchest filibuster defenders, that there is no hope of passing a voting rights bill while the filibuster remains in place.Democrats’ stinging Virginia defeat raises stark questions for Biden’s tenureRead moreIt’s a development that significantly escalates pressure on Manchin specifically. The voting rights bill that Republicans blocked in late October was one he personally helped write and sought GOP input on. The measure Republicans blocked on Wednesday, which would have restored a critical provision of the Voting Rights Act, is one he supports. Manchin has said that “inaction is not an option” on voting rights. But now Republicans have made it clear that while the filibuster remains in place, inaction is the only option.Sign up for the Guardian’s Fight to Vote newsletterSo where do things go from here? To start, I think we’ll begin to see a lot more explicit language from Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, about changing the rules of the filibuster. While Schumer has repeatedly said “all options are on the table” when it comes to voting rights, he’s stopped short of outlining specific changes he’d like to see or calling out Manchin and Sinema specifically. It’s only recently that Schumer has begun to talk about the need “to restore the Senate as the world’s greatest deliberative body”. I expect we’ll also see some increased pressure from the White House.Schumer continued that rhetoric on Wednesday after the filibuster. He described it as a “low, low point” in the history of the Senate, and questioned whether some of Congress’s greatest legislative accomplishments would have been able to overcome the filibuster if they had been proposed in today’s Senate.Per a senior Dem aide, Schumer met with King, Kaine and Tester earlier today to talk about next steps on voting rights and to have “family discussions” with their colleagues about how to “restore the Senate” and find a pathway forward on the legislation.— Marianne LeVine (@marianne_levine) November 3, 2021
      But will this be enough to sway Manchin and Sinema? I’ve written before about why I’m cautiously optimistic they will come around on voting rights. Manchin didn’t seem to be budging after Wednesday’s vote.“We’ve got Lisa Murkowski, we just need nine more,” Manchin said, according to Politico. “We need other people to be talking to each other and find a pathway forward. It can’t just be one or two people talking to both sides.”But as Democrats get mired in negotiations over the infrastructure bill, it may be harder to pressure their two holdouts. Biden said during a town hall in late October that it would be hard to deal with the filibuster while infrastructure negotiations were ongoing.In any case, the next few weeks will be critical in determining whether Democrats can actually protect access to the ballot box.Readers’ questionsPlease continue to write to me each week with your questions about elections and voting at sam.levine@theguardian.com or DM me on twitter at @srl and I’ll try to answer as many as I can.Also worth watching …
      I spoke with election officials across the country about the wave of threats and harassment they’ve seen over the last year
      Republicans in North Carolina and Ohio are pushing maps that would give them an extreme partisan advantage for the next decade.
      TopicsUS SenateThe fight to voteRepublicansDemocratsUS politicsJoe ManchinnewsReuse this content More

    • 100 Shares149 Views

      in US Politics

      Senate Republicans again block key voting rights bill

      by

      The fight to voteUS voting rightsSenate Republicans again block key voting rights bill John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act blocked in SenateBill’s failure likely to increase calls to end contentious filibuster The fight to vote is supported byAbout this contentSam Levine in New YorkWed 3 Nov 2021 16.10 EDTFirst published on Wed 3 Nov 2021 15.27 EDTRepublicans in the US Senate again blocked a significant voting rights bill from advancing on Wednesday, a move many see as a breaking point in the push to get rid of the filibuster, the Senate rule that requires 60 votes to advance most legislation.Democrats suffer disastrous night in Virginia and a tight race in New Jersey – liveRead moreThe bill – the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act – is one of two major pieces of voting rights legislation Democrats are championing in Congress in an effort to fend off attempts across the US by Republicans to erode easy access to the vote. Those efforts often most affect communities of color.The measure, approved by the US House in August, would have implemented a formula at the heart of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that required certain places, where there was repeated evidence of voting discrimination over the last 25 years, to get any voting changes pre-cleared by the federal government.The US supreme court struck down a previous version of the formula in 2013, saying it was outdated, a widely criticized ruling that civil rights groups say opened the door to voting discrimination.There was never any serious prospect of the bill passing – only one Republican senator, Lisa Murkowski, supported it. The vote in the Senate was 50-49 in favor of advancing the bill.But Wednesday’s vote was targeted towards Senator Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat who supports the filibuster, showing him that passing voting rights legislation is not possible while the filibuster remains in place.Many Democrats hope it will be the final straw for Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona Democrat, who is also a staunch defender of the filibuster. Republicans have successfully filibustered voting rights bill three times already this year, including once just two weeks ago.Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, said Wednesday’s filibuster was a “low, low point in the history of this body”.He continued to suggest Democrats would consider options for getting rid of the filibuster, saying they would “explore whatever path” was needed to restore the Senate to its status as a deliberative body. He said the gears of Congress’s upper chamber had “ossified” and that Democrats were committed to continuing to push forward on voting rights “even if it means going at it alone”.Nineteen states enacted nearly three dozen laws that make it harder to vote between January and the end of September, according to a tally by the Brennan Center for Justice. While the John Lewis bill would not necessarily have blocked all of them, it would have required some states, including Florida, Georgia and Texas, to get their policies reviewed before they were implemented.“For the fourth time this year, Republicans have filibustered federal voting rights legislation. Whether it’s the original version of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, the substitute amendment backed by Senator Murkowski, or other good faith legislative efforts to forge compromise and deliver on federal voting rights legislation, it’s crystal clear that Senator Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans will weaponize the filibuster to block progress,” said Eli Zupnik, a spokesman for Fix Our Senate, which supports getting rid of the filibuster. “Our question now to President Biden and Senate Democrats is this: what are you going to do about it?” .There is increasing urgency for Democrats to pass both the John Lewis measure and the Freedom to Vote Act, the other major voting rights legislation that aims to outlaw excessive partisan gerrymandering and would require early voting, no-excuse mail-in voting, as well as automatic and same-day registration.Sign up for the Guardian’s Fight to Vote newsletterState lawmakers are quickly passing new electoral districts that weaken the votes of minority voters and are distorted to lock in partisan advantages for the next decade. Democrats are also largely expected to lose control of the US House of Representatives next November.Democrats have already started to escalate the pressure.Joe Biden gave a strong public endorsement of changing the rule last month for voting rights legislation “and maybe more”. But it’s unclear whether Manchin and Sinema, who have largely stymied Democratic ambitions in Congress so far, will budge. Manchin has indicated he does not support a filibuster carve out for voting rights legislation.Civil rights groups have been pressing Democrats for months to get rid of the filibuster to pass voting reforms, publicly voicing their frustration that the White House isn’t putting enough political muscle behind the issue. Dozens of activists, including the son of Martin Luther King Jr were arrested outside the White House demonstrating ahead of the vote on Wednesday.“Don’t take the Black vote for granted. Don’t torpedo our democracy. Our future depends on the restoration of voting rights for all,” said Derrick Johnson, the president and CEO of the NAACP. “Those who made campaign promises to the Black community must use any means possible to ensure that this Congress gets it done. The urgency of this issue cannot be overstated. We are watching.”“We have had moments of bipartisanship on voting rights in our nation’s history, but sadly, this is not one of them. The only way to protect the freedom to vote is to end the filibuster,” said Sean Eldridge, the president of Stand Up America, and one of the people arrested on Wednesday.“The King family and civil rights leaders from across the country came to the White House today because President Biden has the largest soapbox on the planet, and we’re asking him to use it to protect voting rights before it’s too late.”TopicsUS voting rightsThe fight to voteUS politicsUS SenatenewsReuse this content More

    • 125 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      Biden plays up positives but frustrations apparent after Cop26 talks

      by

      Cop26Biden plays up positives but frustrations apparent after Cop26 talksTrip to Glasgow was heavy on dire warnings but light on deep emissions cuts – and ended with him blaming China and Russia Oliver Milman@olliemilmanWed 3 Nov 2021 08.07 EDTLast modified on Wed 3 Nov 2021 11.05 EDTJoe Biden returned to the US in the pre-dawn gloom on Wednesday to a climate agenda still held in frustrating limbo by Congress, following his high-profile cameo at crunch UN climate talks in Scotland that was heavy on dire warnings but light on deep cuts to planet-heating emissions.Nuclear arms hawks give bureaucratic mauling to Biden vow to curb arsenalRead moreThe US president had aimed to arrive in Glasgow for the Cop26 summit with historic climate legislation in hand, which he could use to brandish at world leaders who still harbor resentments over four turbulent years of Donald Trump, where the climate crisis was variously ignored and mocked.Instead, the intransigence of Senator Joe Manchin, a centrist Democrat and leading beneficiary of fossil fuel industry largesse, has left the landmark climate bill pared back and not voted upon, its fate left uncertain throughout Biden’s trip.In Glasgow, Biden vowed America will “lead by the power of our example”, but was the target of activist protests over oil and gas leases issued back home, while leaders of several major emitters either did not show up or failed to submit vastly improved emissions reduction plans.Biden ended his time in Scotland by ladling blame upon China for not taking the climate emergency seriously.“The most important thing the president needed to do was reassure the rest of the world that the US is back in addressing this global crisis,” said Christy Goldfuss, an environment adviser to Barack Obama and now a policy expert at the Center for American Progress.“But we have to have some humility, we have ground to make up. We can’t reclaim the mantle of leadership until the US can deliver on its commitments. Every Democrat, apart from one senator, supports climate action. That is untenable and everyone understands that.”Biden has sought to play up the positives of his time at Cop26, where he has left negotiators to thrash out a deal aimed at averting disastrous global heating of beyond 1.5C. “I can’t think of any two days where more has been accomplished on climate,” he said.The highlights include a global pledge, led by the US and European Union, to slash methane, a potent greenhouse gas, by 30% by 2030, based on last year’s levels. More than 100 countries, including six of the 10 largest emitters of methane, have signed on to the agreement to cut methane, which is spewed out by oil and gas drilling operations and agriculture and is about 80 times more powerful in trapping heat than carbon dioxide.Biden backed this move with new regulations rolled out by the US Environment Protection Agency to cut methane emissions by about 75% from hundreds of thousands of oil and gas wells. “The pledge to cut methane is the single biggest and fastest bite out of today’s warming,” said Durwood Zaelke, president of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development.There was also a sweeping accord, which Biden vowed to support with billions of dollars, to end deforestation within a decade. The pact encompasses 85% of the world’s forests, vital for biodiversity and to soak up excess carbon from the atmosphere, and is backed by Brazil, Russia and China, countries often reluctant to make such promises.But the US was clearly piqued at how little the relentless diplomacy of John Kerry, Biden’s climate envoy, had done to extract deeper emissions cuts from leading carbon polluters. Neither Russia’s Vladimir Putin nor China’s Xi Jinping, who both offered barely improved new targets at the talks, traveled to Glasgow. Biden’s frustration bubbled over as he prepared to depart on Tuesday.“The fact that China is trying assert a new role in the world as a world leader, not showing up? Come on,” Biden said. “It’s just a gigantic issue and they’ve walked away. How do you do that and claim to have any leadership now? Same with Putin in Russia: his tundra is burning. Literally his tundra is burning. He has serious, serious climate problems and he’s mum on his willingness to do anything.”The blame placed at Cop upon China, which is now the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, comes amid frayed US-China relations on several fronts. The Global Times, a newspaper run by China’s Communist party, said in an editorial that Washington’s attitude had made it “impossible for China to see any potential to have fair negotiation amid the tensions”.Goldfuss said: “The blame game is not something the US should be really playing right now given we have so much work to do ourselves.”Back home, Biden has acknowledged his presidency will probably be defined by the proposed reconciliation bill that contains $555bn in climate measures. The White House says the legislation would bring the country close to the president’s goal of cutting emissions in half this decade and help curb disastrous climate breakdown that is already unleashing severe heatwaves, floods and drought at home and around the world.The far-reaching legislation needs every Democratic vote to pass the Senate but West Virginia’s Manchin has questioned its scope, said it is filled with “gimmicks” and has already ensured that a centerpiece plan to phase out fossil fuels from the American electricity grid was axed from the bill.Democrats continue to fret over the fate of the bill, with a vote that could take place as early as this week, with Biden saying he is “confident we will get it done”. But climate campaigners say the president could do more without the help of Congress to stem the flow of fossil fuels that are causing the climate crisis.The opening week of Cop26 saw Biden’s administration announce it will sell off oil and gas drilling leases across 730,000 acres of the US west, with a further auction of 80m offshore acres of the Gulf of Mexico, an area larger than the UK, set to commence later this month. The International Energy Agency has said that no new fossil fuel projects can commence if the world is to keep to the agreed 1.5C warming limit.“With all eyes on Glasgow this week, the Biden administration seems to be turning its back on reality and throwing climate leadership into the toilet,” said Jeremy Nichols, climate and energy program director for WildEarth Guardians.TopicsCop26Joe BidenUS politicsDemocratsJohn KerryUS foreign policynewsReuse this content More

    • 138 Shares119 Views

      in US Politics

      First Thing: Republicans win Virginia governor’s race in blow to Biden

      by

      First ThingUS newsFirst Thing: Republican wins Virginia governor’s race in blow to BidenGlenn Youngkin wins election widely seen as referendum on Biden’s presidency. Plus, why Americans are quitting their jobs Nicola SlawsonWed 3 Nov 2021 05.19 EDTLast modified on Wed 3 Nov 2021 05.32 EDTGood morning.Joe Biden suffered a bitter political blow early on Wednesday as the Democrats suffered a shock defeat in the election for governor of Virginia.The Democratic candidate, Terry McAuliffe, had campaigned with Biden and Barack Obama but it was not enough to prevent the Republican Glenn Youngkin pulling off an upset.The Associated Press called the race for Youngkin in the early hours of Wednesday. The Republican took an early lead after polls closed that he maintained throughout the evening, while McAuliffe lagged in key counties that Biden swept in 2020.Clenching his fists then clapping his hands, Youngkin addressed jubilant supporters in Chantilly just after 1am. “All righty, Virginia, we won this thing!” he exclaimed. “How much fun!”
      The battle in Virginia has been seen as a litmus test of Biden’s presidency. It coincided with his agenda stalling in Congress and his approval rating sinking to 42%.
      Youngkin did not utter the name “Trump” in his acceptance speech. He also did not mention the former president by name in any speeches on the campaign trail although he did accept Donald Trump’s endorsement.
      Education was one of the key campaign issues with Youngkin accused of stoking culture wars.
      Eric Adams wins New York mayor’s raceThe former police officer Eric Adams will be the next mayor of New York City, after the Democrat defeated Curtis Sliwa in Tuesday’s election.Adams was on course to easily beat Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels, with a lead of 66% to 29% after more than half of projected votes were counted.Adams will take charge of the largest city in the US in January, when he will be faced with overseeing recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 34,500 New Yorkers.Adams, 61, becomes only the second Black person to be elected New York mayor, after David Dinkins, who led the city from 1990 to 1993. Adams, who defeated several progressive candidates in the Democratic primary, has pledged to cut government inefficiency and made public safety a central part of his campaign.
      After winning a contentious primary, Adams was always favorite to defeat Sliwa, a Republican, in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans seven to one.
      The centrist politician has been a disappointing choice for many progressives who hoped to see radical reforms in the criminal justice system.
      Ahmaud Arbery: trial of accused murderers is test for racial justice ‘in the heart of white supremacy’On Tuesday, after 11 days of jury selection, a panel of 65 jurors was chosen from a pool of hundreds in the murder trial of three white men accused in the killing Ahmaud Arbery, the 25-year-old Black man shot dead last year while out for a jog.Barring any unforeseen delays, including last-minute motions defense attorneys have suggested they will file, a final jury of 12 and four alternates will be seated this week, with opening arguments to follow, probably on Thursday.The trial of the three men, who have pleaded not guilty, occurs six months after the conviction of Derek Chauvin, the white former police officer who murdered George Floyd in Minneapolis after pinning his neck to the ground for nine minutes and 29 seconds.That trial was undoubtedly a landmark moment for police reform advocates around the country, but, say many observers, the case of Ahmaud Arbery is a sterner test for the state of racial justice in the US.
      Who is standing trial for Arbery’s murder? Gregory McMichael, 67, his 35-year-old son, Travis McMichael, and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, 52 are accused of his murder.
      What happened? A scuffle occurred as the McMichaels, both carrying firearms, attempted to corner Arbery, who was unarmed. Travis McMichael then opened fire three times. They said they suspected Arbery of involvement in a series of burglaries in the neighborhood.
      In other news …
      A photograph of a smiling and waving Cleo Smith in her hospital bed has been released by Western Australia police after the four-year-old was rescued more than two weeks after she vanished from a remote campsite. A 36-year-old man has been taken into custody following Cleo’s discovery.
      Voters in Minneapolis have rejected the idea of replacing their police department with a new department of public safety, more than a year after the murder of George Floyd by a white police officer launched a national movement to defund or abolish police.
      Joe Biden launched a stinging attack on China on Tuesday for the failure of the country’s president, Xi Jinping, to show up to the Cop26 UN climate summit, and failing to show leadership on the climate crisis. The US president said it was a “big mistake” that Xi had chosen not to attend the summit.
      Semi-animated Netflix documentary short reveals the secret story of the Jewish soldiers who watched over prisoners of war on US soil. Known as PO Box 1142, it housed such notables as the spymaster Reinhard Gehlen and rocket scientist Wernher von Braun.
      Don’t miss this: Salma Hayek on being bullied by Harvey Weinstein and and becoming a superhero at 55Hayek could have easily opted for the cosy, cosseted life of a mega-rich housewife after marrying a multimillionaire. Yet, despite possessing a walk-in closet presumably as big as an average house, Hayek is not your average gazillionaire’s wife. By the time she met François-Henri Pinault, she was 39 and a famous actor with an Oscar nomination, for 2002’s Frida. Plenty of actors before her had married wealthy men and then disappeared behind the fortress wall. But Hayek, 55, was never going to do that. “I love what I do,” she says when I ask what motivates her to work.Or this: why Americans are quitting their jobs in record numbersJosie, 19, landed her first “adult” job as an IT support worker last November, just a few months after graduating from high school. This August amid the rise of the Delta variant, she decided to quit – becoming one of the 4.3 million American workers to voluntarily leave their jobs during that month alone. Between January and August of this year, at least 30 million Americans quit their jobs. Whether you call it the “Great Resignation” or a “nationwide reassessment of work”, the labor market shake-up of the pandemic could have unexpected aftershocks for years to come.Climate check: Radioactive material and pesticides among new contaminants found in US tap waterWater utilities and regulators in the US have identified 56 new contaminants in drinking water over the past two years, a list that includes dangerous substances linked to a range of health problems such as cancer, reproductive disruption, liver disease and much more. The revelation is part of an analysis of the nation’s water utilities’ contamination records by the Environmental Working Group, a clean water advocate that has now updated its database for the first time since 2019.Want more environmental stories delivered to your inbox? Sign up to our new newsletter Down to Earth (formerly Green Light) to get original and essential reporting on the climate crisis every weekLast thing: Italian couple find burglar is endangered brown bearAn Italian woman, who investigated what she thought was a burglar on her balcony, has described a petrifying encounter with a rare brown bear. The Marsican bear had climbed on to her bedroom balcony in northern Italy, just days after a bear was spotted bathing in the fountain of a neighbouring village. Annalisa Castagna and her husband, Claudio Parravano initially thought there was a burglar after hearing noises shortly after midnight. “I practically screamed in the face of the bear,” Castagna wrote in a Facebook post, adding that she could “count all its teeth”.Sign upSign up for the US morning briefingFirst Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you’re not already signed up, subscribe now.Get in touchIf you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.comTopicsUS newsFirst ThingUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

    • 150 Shares159 Views

      in US Politics

      Virginia votes as poll expert says ‘white backlash’ could power Republican win

      by

      VirginiaVirginia votes as poll expert says ‘white backlash’ could power Republican winGlenn Youngkin and Democrat Terry McAuliffe make final pitch for governor as polls show unexpectedly close race Lauren Gambino in Washington, Martin Pengelly in New York and agenciesTue 2 Nov 2021 17.03 EDTFirst published on Tue 2 Nov 2021 08.01 EDTVirginians on Tuesday headed to the polls to elect a new governor, in a closely contested race between the Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin widely seen as a referendum on Joe Biden’s presidency.Why this governor’s race is shaping up as a referendum on the Biden presidencyRead moreThey did so as a leading Virginia polling expert warned that Youngkin may be riding a wave of “white backlash” all the way to the governor’s mansion, having successfully focused on controversy over the place of race in education.In the final hours of the campaign, the candidates offered starkly different closing arguments, making their cases to voters whose odd-year gubernatorial elections have long reflected the national political mood a year into any new administration.Saddled by Biden’s sagging poll numbers and intra-party wrangling that has gridlocked the president’s domestic spending agenda, McAuliffe has attempted to tether his opponent to Donald Trump, a polarizing figure in voter-rich northern suburbs.Youngkin has mostly avoided the subject of Trump while embracing many of his tactics, a strategy many Republican strategists believe could be a model for the midterm elections next year.Polls showed an unexpectedly close race in a state that has trended Democratic since the election of Barack Obama in 2008. A loss in Virginia, which Biden won by nearly 10 points in 2020, would be deeply alarming for a party already bracing for a difficult challenge next year.Hours before polls closed in the commonwealth, Biden expressed confidence that Democrats would win the gubernatorial race in Virginia, and hold the governor’s mansion in New Jersey, where the incumbent, Phil Murphy, is seeking re-election in the Garden state.“We’re gonna win,” Biden said, leaning into the microphone for emphasis, during a press conference in Glasgow, Scotland. He acknowledged that the contest in Virginia was “tight”, saying the outcome would reflect “who shows up, who turns out”.But he waved off attempts to read the race as a barometer of his presidency, insisting that McAuliffe’s fortunes in the state were not tied to his poll numbers or his domestic agenda.“Even if we had passed my agenda, I wouldn’t claim we won because Biden’s agenda passed,” he told reporters.The president predicted that Americans would know the result by the time Air Force One touches down in Washington at roughly 1am local time, though some analysts have warned that it could take longer.Changes to Virginia law mean mail-in and early ballots will be tabulated more quickly than in 2020. As such, Democrats may appear to be ahead early in the night, before the localities more favorable to Republicans start counting election day ballots.On Monday, the last day of dueling events, McAuliffe continued to hammer Youngkin over his connections to Trump, warning darkly that a Republican win in Virginia could help pave the way for a Trump comeback in 2024. But then he went further.“Guess how Glenn Youngkin is finishing his campaign?” the former governor, 64, told a crowd in Fairfax. “He is doing an event with Donald Trump here in Virginia.”That was a lie. Trump was not in Virginia, though he did boost the Republican candidate with a tele-rally. Youngkin did not participate.Youngkin, 54, a former private equity executive and political newcomer, closed his campaign with a final attempt to harness parents’ anger over school closures, mask mandates and what their children are learning, and turn it into an election night upset.Asked why education had become a central factor in Youngkin’s stronger-than-expected showing, Larry Sabato of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia said: “One of the candidates decided it was his ticket to the governor’s mansion and he may well be right.”Speaking to MSNBC, Sabato pointed to the core of Youngkin’s appeal on education: a promise to ban critical race theory in schools. Critical race theory, or CRT, is an academic discipline that examines the ways in which racism operates in US laws and society. It is not taught in Virginia schools, regardless of Youngkin’s promise to ban it.“The operative word is not critical,” Sabato said. “And it’s not theory. It’s race. What a shock, huh? Race. That is what matters. And that’s why it’s sticks.“There’s a lot of, we can call it white backlash, white resistance, whatever you want to call it. It has to do with race. And so we live in a post-factual era … It doesn’t matter that [CRT] isn’t taught in Virginia schools. It’s this generalised attitude that whites are being put upon and we’ve got to do something about it. We being white voters.”Cultural issues have dominated the race, Youngkin also promising to give parents more control over how public schools handle gender and Covid-19, McAuliffe vowing to protect voting rights and abortion access.McAuliffe, a Clinton ally who was governor of Virginia from 2014 to 2018 – the state does not allow consecutive terms – has seen his lead evaporate. Polls have shown Youngkin succeeding by appealing to independents turned off by Trump without alienating his ardent supporters.Youngkin campaigned as an advocate for parents who want more say in their children’s education, capitalising on anger among conservatives who believe schools are overreaching in the name of diversity. Speaking in Richmond on Monday, he promised he would usher in “a Virginia where our government stops telling us what to do all the time”.McAuliffe also handed Youngkin a political gift when he said in a debate in September: “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”He has attacked Youngkin for hesitating to say whether Biden won the presidency legitimately. Youngkin acknowledged Biden’s victory but also called for an audit of Virginia voting machines, prompting Democrats to accuse him of validating Trump’s baseless election conspiracy theories.Democrats strive to fire Black voter turnout in Virginia governor’s raceRead moreBoth Biden and Barack Obama campaigned for McAuliffe. Trump has not visited the state. In his tele-rally on Monday, the former president told voters Youngkin would protect suburbs and did not repeat his lies about voter fraud.McAuliffe responded on Twitter, saying Trump was “pulling out all the stops to win this race because he knows Glenn will advance his Maga agenda here in Virginia. Tomorrow, Virginia will choose a better way.”In their final word on the campaign, Sabato’s team at UVA moved their prediction from “leans Democratic” to “leans Republican”.“Our sense is that the race has been moving toward Youngkin,” Kyle Kondik and J Miles Coleman wrote, “in large part because of the political environment. McAuliffe’s Trump-centric campaign also just doesn’t seem as potent in a non-federal race with the former president no longer in the White House.”TopicsVirginiaUS politicsDemocratsRepublicansRacenewsReuse this content More

    • 175 Shares199 Views

      in Elections

      Trump call to ‘find’ votes was threat to my safety, Georgia elections official says

      by

      Donald TrumpTrump call to ‘find’ votes was threat to my safety, Georgia elections official saysBrad Raffensperger urged by Trump in early January to ‘find 11,780 votes’ to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state Martin Pengelly in New York@MartinPengellyTue 2 Nov 2021 10.13 EDTLast modified on Tue 2 Nov 2021 11.12 EDTThe Georgia Republican responsible for running elections considered an infamous call in which Donald Trump told him to “find” enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state a “threat” to his safety and that of his family.Virginia governor’s race: Glenn Youngkin may win due to ‘white backlash’, expert saysRead moreBiden’s victory in Georgia was a narrow but vital part of his national win. No Democratic presidential candidate had taken the state since Bill Clinton in 1992.Trump called Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, nearly two months after election day, on Saturday 2 January. Telling him “it’s pretty clear we won”, the then president said: “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have [to get]” to surpass Biden’s total.Raffensperger, a conservative who supported Trump, resisted the president’s demands. That prompted Trump to suggest the refusal to expose mass voter fraud in Georgia – on which Trump insisted but which did not exist, as in all other states – could be a “criminal offense”.“That’s a big risk to you,” Trump said. “That’s a big risk.”In Integrity Counts, a book published on Tuesday, Raffensperger writes: “I felt then – and still believe today – that this was a threat. Others obviously thought so, too, because some of Trump’s more radical followers have responded as if it was their duty to carry out this threat.”Raffensperger details death threats texted to his wife, an encounter with men who may have been staking out his home, and being escorted out of the Georgia state capitol on 6 January as rightwing protesters entered.A recording of Trump’s call was released to the Washington Post and became a key exhibit in Trump’s second impeachment trial, for inciting the deadly attack on the US Capitol on 6 January, by supporters seeking to overturn the election.Trump was acquitted when only seven Republican senators could be persuaded to vote for his guilt. He remains free to run for president again and dominates the Republican party but his attempts to overturn his defeat in Georgia have contributed to his extensive legal jeopardy.The Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, is investigating. Raffensperger told the Associated Press investigators “talked to some of our folks here. We sent all the documents and she can now buy the book online”.The Associated Press contributed to this reportTopicsDonald TrumpUS elections 2020US politicsRepublicansnewsReuse this content More