All posts tagged: Democratic National Convention

Anti-Trump evangelical Christians make the case for Harris

Anti-Trump evangelical Christians make the case for Harris

Published by skeptic

(RNS) — In his presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012, Barack Obama captured 26% and 21% of white evangelical Christian voters, respectively — and won. Hillary Clinton got only 16% of the white evangelical vote in 2016 and lost. In the past two elections, Donald Trump took more than 80% of the white evangelical vote. Most analysts agree that if Kamala Harris can break this hold on religious conservatives and approach Obama’s numbers, she will sail into the White House. To recapture the religious conservative vote for the Democrats, evangelical groups that are aligned with the Democratic mission are alternating between the carrot and the stick. The “carrot,” — appealing to voters’ religious identities in a positive way — aims to show that Democratic policies in general and Harris’ in particular manifest a rich and broad understanding of religious duty grounded in the gospel. The “stick” is in large measure about wielding the prospect of a second term for Donald Trump. In this case, some of the same groups make the case that Trump is …

Palestinian allies make last-ditch push for speaker on the DNC stage

Palestinian allies make last-ditch push for speaker on the DNC stage

Published by skeptic

(RNS) — Arab Americans, Muslim Americans and their interfaith allies spent much of Thursday (Aug. 22) pushing Democratic officials to allow a Palestinian American to speak from the party convention’s main stage, to convey a message of solidarity despite the party’s so-far consistent support for Israel in its prosecution of the war in Gaza. The push was accompanied by an all-night sit-in outside Chicago’s United Center at which members of the “uncommitted” movement also made speeches pressing the Democratic National Convention to feature a Palestinian speaker. The uncommitted — so-called because members of the movement wrote in “uncommitted” on their ballots rather than vote for President Joe Biden in this year’s Democratic primaries — want the DNC to recognize the suffering of Palestinians, 40,000 of whom have been killed by Israel’s massive Gaza assault of the past 10 months, an assault backed by U.S. bombs and munitions that has flattened the Gaza Strip and left tens of thousands homeless.  In an emotional speech from the stage of the convention on Wednesday, Israeli Americans Rachel Goldberg-Polin …

Fight Over Foreign Money in Politics Stymies Deal to Assure President Joe Biden Is on Ohio’s Ballot

Fight Over Foreign Money in Politics Stymies Deal to Assure President Joe Biden Is on Ohio’s Ballot

Published by skeptic

On Wednesday, against the backdrop of a festering Republican leadership fight that’s roiled lawmaking since last year, Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s proposal to ban foreign money from initiative campaigns became the poison pill that prevented a final solution for adjusting an Aug. 7 ballot deadline that precedes the Democratic National Convention. Thursday marked the last day legislators could pass the fix with a simple majority, and no sessions were held. All four Republican and Democratic leaders at the Statehouse still say they’re confident the president will appear on Ohio’s ballot. It’s the how and when that remain a mystery. Senate Republicans wanted to use Biden’s predicament as leverage to pass a ban on foreign nationals contributing to ballot campaigns. The legislation stemmed from the involvement in a pair of heated ballot campaigns last year of Hansjörg Wyss, a Swiss billionaire who has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years into 501(c) nonprofit organizations backing liberal U.S. political causes. A January report issued by LaRose found that over $207 million flowing from …

Alabama governor signs bill enshrining Biden on November ballot

Alabama governor signs bill enshrining Biden on November ballot

Published by skeptic

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) reportedly signed a bill into law Thursday that would ensure President Biden will appear on the state’s November ballot. The Hill has reached out to Ivey’s office for comment, but The Associated Press reported that a spokeswoman said the bill had been signed. The bill’s singing follows the unanimous approval last week from the Alabama State Senate, after a state elections official warned that Biden may miss the deadline to qualify. Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen (R) sent a letter to the state Democratic Party Chair in April noting that the deadline for certifying candidates to be on the general election ballot is Aug. 15, four days before the Democratic National Convention where Biden will become the party’s nominee. The state Senate passed a bill 31-0 Tuesday to push back the certification deadline to 74 days before the election. The Alabama Legislature already moved back the deadline in 2020 as a one-time fix to accommodate for both the Democratic and Republican conventions that year. Members of Alabama’s House of …

North Korea fires ballistic missiles as Blinken visits Seoul

North Korea fires ballistic missiles as Blinken visits Seoul

Published by skeptic

People are seen watching television at Seoul’s Yongsan Railway Station showing North Korea’s first test-firing of the new strategic cruise missile Pulhwasal-3-31. North Korea fired ballistic missiles into the sea on Monday for the first time in two months, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Seoul for a conference hosted by President Yoon Suk Yeol on advancing democracy. Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images North Korea fired ballistic missiles into the sea on Monday for the first time in two months, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Seoul for a conference hosted by President Yoon Suk Yeol on advancing democracy. South Korea’s military said multiple short-range missiles were fired from a region south of the North’s capital, Pyongyang, landing east of the Korean peninsula. It did not provide further details and said it was sharing information on the launch with the United States and Japan. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned the launches after his country’s coast guard also reported the firing of what it said appeared to be a ballistic missile and specified that it had already ended its flight. Japan later said that it had detected what appeared to be a second ballistic missile launch by the North, and that both fell outside …

DNC Files Federal Complaint Alleging RFK Jr.’s Super PAC Is Working Too Closely With His Campaign

DNC Files Federal Complaint Alleging RFK Jr.’s Super PAC Is Working Too Closely With His Campaign

Published by skeptic

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic National Committee on Friday filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission, accusing presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. of a “ballot access scheme” that it argues constitutes illegal coordination with a super PAC supporting his independent bid for the White House. The committee alleges that the Super PAC American Values 2024 is working to collect signatures to ensure Kennedy is on the November ballot in key states, but will have to “integrate their expenses” with the campaign in ways that violate federal election rules in order to do so. That’s because, the DNC argues, many states — including Arizona, Illinois and Michigan — have rules that candidates or their campaigns be the ones collecting ballot signatures, meaning Kennedy’s campaign will have to violate federal rules to meet state requirements. “They simply cannot comply with federal law and state law at the same time,” DNC legal counsel Bob Lenhard said on a conference call with reporters. Tim Mellon, a major donor to Donald Trump, gave American Values $15 million last year, …

What would happen if Joe Biden stood down? How the race to be the Democratic Party nominee would unfold

What would happen if Joe Biden stood down? How the race to be the Democratic Party nominee would unfold

Published by Sam

Can Joe Biden be replaced as the Democrats’ presumptive candidate for November’s US presidential election? Murmurs around his ability to defeat Republican Donald Trump, 77, in a rematch have only grown louder after a special counsel investigation said President Biden portrayed himself as an “elderly man with a poor memory”. But with America heading towards the 2024 election, and Mr Biden, 81, dominating the race for the Democratic Party nomination, what happens if he decides to withdraw – or others try to make that choice for him? Despite weak poll numbers and questions, including from some Democrats, about his age, Mr Biden has stuck to his plan to seek a second term after clearing the field of serious Democratic primary challengers when he announced last year that he was running again. Minnesota’s Dean Phillips is the only other candidate for the nomination on the ballot, but he isn’t thought to present a serious challenge or have a high enough profile. The first few state primaries for the Democrats have already taken place – New Hampshire, …

The Republican Presidential Debate Is a Pageant of Also-Rans

The Republican Presidential Debate Is a Pageant of Also-Rans

Published by skeptic

What are we all doing here? The Republicans’ first primary debate dangles on the calendar like one of those leftover paper snowflakes slapped up on the mini-fridge. It feels like a half-hearted vestige—it’s late summer, five months before the first votes are cast; precedent calls for a lineup of haircuts on a stage. And for the most part, the qualifiers will oblige, except for the main haircut—former President Donald Trump, barring some last-minute fit of FOMO that lands him in Milwaukee en route to his surrender to authorities in Georgia. So why should the rest of us bother? Would anyone watch a Mike Tyson fight if Iron Mike wasn’t actually fighting? Or The Sopranos, if Tony skipped the show for a therapy session (with Tucker Carlson)? Poor Milwaukee, by the way, which already suffered desertion three summers ago when it was selected to host the Democratic National Convention only to have COVID keep everyone home. Joe Biden blew off his own convention and didn’t bother to send an emissary (no Jill, Kamala, or even Doug). …

Why Awkward Presidential Candidates Stress Us Out

Why Awkward Presidential Candidates Stress Us Out

Published by skeptic

The teen, it seems, wanted to ask the Florida governor an earnest question. “I can’t legally vote,” the 15-year-old said to Ron DeSantis at an Iowa coffee shop recently. “It’s never stopped the other party from not letting you vote,” DeSantis interjected. I think he was trying to say “from letting you vote,” meaning that Democrats supposedly allow 15-year-olds to vote illegally. (DeSantis’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.) But he bungled his words, and either way, this is not a good joke. It’s especially not a good joke when you consider the second half of the teen’s sentence: “But I struggle with major depressive disorder.” Oof. Helen Lewis: The humiliation of Ron DeSantis This wasn’t an isolated moment of interpersonal clumsiness. On the campaign trail, DeSantis frequently behaves like he’s been dragged to a house party and is counting the seconds until he can look at his phone. He dryly remarked to an Icee-slurping kid, “That’s probably a lot of sugar,” and to a crowd of gathered fans that it was …