Category: 2020 election

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Delegate Count Per AP: Joe Biden 664, Bernie Sanders 573

L-R Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders
The Associated Press has calculated the allocation of more than 92 percent of the 1,344 Super Tuesday delegates, and according to the math, former Vice President Joe Biden has built such a commanding lead Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will not be able to catch up from the remaining 8 percent left from those contests. Through huge wins in southern states, plus surprise victories in Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Texas, Biden won 10 states and Sanders won four. Biden will take away a minimum of 610 delegates from the Super Tuesday’s contests, while Sanders scores at least 513. Note – 102 delegates remain to be allocated. Vote counting continues in California (thanks to mail-in ballots) as it’s unclear whether former Mayor Mike Bloomberg will garner enough votes to clear the 15 percent level to become viable and win a percentage of the statewide delegates. At this writing, Biden has won 664 delegates to Sanders’ 573. Next on the calendar, Democratic voters go to the polls on March 10 in six states: Idaho – 20 delegates Michigan – 125 delegates Mississippi – 36 delegates Missouri – 68 delegates North Dakota – 14 delegates Washington – 89 delegates

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Joe Biden Releases Extensive Plan To Advance LGBTQ Equality

Former Vice President Joe Biden (image via Instagram)
Former Vice President Joe Biden has released a lengthy, comprehensive plan to advance LGBTQ equality if elected president. “Joe Biden believes that every human being should be treated with respect and dignity and be able to live without fear no matter who they are or who they love,” begins the detailed, 17-page plan. That’s followed by a long list of policies and executive actions Biden promises to advance from the Oval Office. Biden pledges to make passage of The Equality Act during his first 100 days as President a top priority. He’ll also take action using his executive authority to reverse the discriminatory actions of the Trump-Pence administration.

As in the Obama administration, he will reaffirm that the Civil Rights Act’s Title VII prohibition against employment discrimination based on sex applies to discrimination based on gender identity. Biden’s plan includes reversing the transgender military ban, ending the Trump administration’s policy of discharging military service members with HIV, and work to support the unique needs of LGBTQ veterans. Biden will repeal the Trump/Pence policy that allows adoption and foster care agencies receiving federal funds to discriminate against LGBTQ families and work to ensure those child welfare agencies put the interests of children first, including those who are LGBTQ. In addition, Biden will work with the U.S. Department of State and other federal agencies to ensure the equal treatment of same-sex couples and their children in the application of all federal programs, services, and benefits—especially with respect to citizenship eligibility requirements and immigration and naturalization proceedings. Noting that there are approximately 3 million LGBTQ people in the United States older than age 50, Biden promises to champion passage of the Ruthie and Connie LGBT Elder Americans Act to ensure non-discriminatory treatment of LGBTQ older Americans. Transgender and non-binary people often experience violence and harassment without identification documents that accurately reflect their gender identity. Biden will support state and federal efforts to provide every transgender or non-binary person the option of changing their gender marker to “M,” “F,” or “X” on government identifications, passports, and other documentation.

Biden promises to work with the Food and Drug Administration to ensure regulations on blood donations by LGBTQ people are “based on science, not fiction or stigma.” In regard to LGBTQ youth, Biden will reinstate Obama-era guidance to allow transgender students access to bathrooms and locker rooms in accordance with their gender identity, work to enact the Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act and the Safe Schools Act. He will also seek to end suicide among LGBTQ youth and address homelessness among those young people. Also part of the plan are proposals for combating violence against trans women of color, strengthening the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, supporting LGBTQ survivors of violence, guaranteeing the Affordable Care Act’s nondiscrimination protections, ensuring fair treatment of LGBTQ people in the criminal justice system, and more. The document also includes a list of Biden’s record on LGBTQ rights over the years. From supporting the right to marry in a historic “Meet the Press” interview in 2012; leading the fight to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell; participating in the “It Gets Better” campaign in 2010 to support LGBTQ youth; and being an original co-sponsor for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to prohibit bias based on sexual orientation in employment. There are many more details and policies listed in the Biden plan. Read the full document by clicking over to his official campaign site here. Sen. Bernie Sanders has also put forth his own list of policies regarding LGBTQ rights and protections, although not as lengthy or detailed. You can find Sanders’s plan on his website here.

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Biden Surges To 16-Point Lead In National Poll

It looks like ‘Joe-Mentum’ is real as former Vice President Joe Biden has surged to a 16-point lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) according to the latest Morning Consult poll. Among those polled, 54 percent indicated support for Biden and 38 percent said they’d vote for Sanders. Breaking the numbers down by age, 70 percent of voters ages 45 and older are supporting Biden while 57 percent of voters under 45 support Sanders. Additionally, 51 percent say the former vice president has the best chance to beat Donald Trump in the general election. The survey of 1,390 Democratic primary voters was conducted after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) exited the race on Thursday. The poll has a 3-point margin of error.

(graphic via Morning Consult)

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Sanders “Disgusted” And “Aghast” By Vitriol Hurled By His Supporters

During an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was asked about some of the attacks lobbed at his presidential primary opponent Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) during the Democratic primary. Referencing the tweeting of images of snakes and more, Maddow asked Sanders if he felt that might hurt his campaign’s prospects. Sanders responded saying he was “actually disgusted” and “aghast” by online vitriol directed at Warren. “We condemn that,” Sanders said directly and without equivocation. “We want our supporters to be [talking] about the issues.”

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New Poll Shows Biden With Huge Lead In Florida Primary

The latest survey by St. Pete Polls of Democratic voters in Florida shows former Vice President Joe Biden with a commanding lead in the upcoming Sunshine State primary. Democratic voters in Florida support Biden by 61 percent while Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders garnered 12 percent support. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren only received 5 percent support. Mike Bloomberg was still in the field of active candidates when the poll was conducted and he received 14 percent support from likely voters.  Florida’s Democratic primary will be held in less than 2 weeks on March 17. There will be 248 delegates up for grabs.

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Elizabeth Warren Ends Bid For Presidential Nomination

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (image via campaign)
From the New York Times:

Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts dropped out of the presidential race on Thursday, ending a run defined by an avalanche of policy plans that aimed to pull the Democratic Party to the left and appealed to enough voters to make her briefly a front-runner last fall.

Though her vision excited progressives, it did not generate enough excitement among the party’s working-class and diverse base, and her support had eroded by Super Tuesday. In her final weeks as a candidate she effectively drove former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York, a centrist billionaire, out of the race with debate performances that flashed her evident skills and political potential.

Addressing supporters and the press in front of her house in Cambridge, Ms. Warren said that, from the start, she had been told there were only two true lanes in the 2020 contest: a liberal one dominated by Mr. Sanders, 78, and a moderate one led by Mr. Biden, 77.

“I thought that wasn’t right,” Ms. Warren said, “But evidently I was wrong.”

When asked if she would be making an endorsement in the Democratic race, she demurred. “Not today, not today. I need some space around this, and want to take a little time to think a little more.”

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Montana Governor Poised To Run For US Senate

Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana
Two-term Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana appears ready to reverse himself on previous statements and announce a run for the U.S. Senate for his state. From the New York Times:

For months, even when he was still a presidential candidate, Mr. Bullock has faced questions about whether he would take on Mr. Daines. And when he dropped out of the presidential race in December — after a spirited but underfunded campaign — he again said that he would not run for the Senate.

But Mr. Bullock, who is barred by term limits from running for re-election this year, has faced one of the most sustained lobbying campaigns of any would-be Senate candidate — a reflection both of his potential as a candidate and how badly Democrats need to put another seat in play.

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, flew to visit him in Montana last month. And when Mr. Bullock was in Washington last month for the meeting of the National Governors Association, he also met with former President Barack Obama, as was reported by Politico.

More quietly, a handful of union officials have reached out to Mr. Bullock to assure him he would have all the resources he needs in a state that still retains a strong labor tradition, according to one of the party officials, who was familiar with the conversations.

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Super Tuesday Round-Up: Biden’s Big Night

L-R Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders
It was quite the night for former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign roared through Super Tuesday. Biden handily won throughout the South (Alabama, Arkansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia), scored a big come-from-behind win in Texas, and scored surprise victories in Minnesota and Massachusetts. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) claimed victory in his home state of Vermont, as well as Utah, Colorado and, most probably the delegate-rich state of California. At this time, Maine and California haven’t been officially called yet although the NY Times estimates Biden to pick up Maine and Sanders to come out on top in California. As I reported earlier, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg spent nearly half a billion dollars in ads across the Super Tuesday primaries and only won in American Samoa. He dropped out of the race this morning and endorsed Biden. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), briefly the front-runner last fall, didn’t win a single state.
(graphic via NY Times)
According to an NBC News exit poll, LGBTQ voters “made up a disproportionately high 9 percent of the electorate in the Super Tuesday contests.” The survey also showed that 42 percent of those LGBTQ voters cast their ballot for Sanders, and 22 percent supported Warren. Biden garnered 19 percent of the LGBTQ vote, and Bloomberg picked up 6 percent. Even though former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg dropped out of the race on Sunday night, he still received 6 percent of the queer vote due to early voting in several states. Scrolling through Twitter last night, the Sanders supporters were clearly angry at the results characterizing the night as being ‘taken away’ from their guy. Axios‘ Alexi McCammond reported hearing “sneers and anger about ‘the establishment'” at the Sanders rally in Vermont. Next up are the contests in Michigan, Washington State, Missouri, Mississippi and Idaho, and North Dakota on March 10. This is the current delegate count as of this morning according to the New York Times. This will change over the next few days as several states don’t have all their ballots in. For instance, in California mail-in ballots only had to be postmarked by March 3. So, they won’t be counted for a couple of days.
(via NY Times)

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Bloomberg Drops Out After Disastrous Super Tuesday

Mike Bloomberg (screen capture)
From Axios:

Michael Bloomberg, who spent hundreds of millions of dollars to self-fund his 2020 presidential run, announced Wednesday that he is suspending his campaign after a poor performance on Super Tuesday and will endorse Joe Biden.

What he’s saying: “I’ve always believed that defeating Donald Trump starts with uniting behind the candidate with the best shot to do it. After yesterday’s vote, it is clear that candidate is my friend and a great American, Joe Biden,” Bloomberg said in a statement.

“I’ve known Joe for a very long time. I know his decency, his honesty, and his commitment to the issues that are so important to our country – including gun safety, health care, climate change, and good jobs.”

American Samoa was Bloomberg’s only win of the night.

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Satire: Randy Rainbow Finds Wisdom In Lloyd Webber ‘Any Dem Will Do’

Randy Rainbow (screen capture)
As we head into Super Tuesday, political satirist Randy Rainbow looks to the wisdom of the Lloyd Webber canon to help us find our way past the gaffes, blunders, missteps and exits among the Democratic candidates. In a mash-up of “Any Dream Will Do” and “Coat of Many Colors” from the hit musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Rainbow underscores the one definitive truth for Democrats this election cycle: “Any Dem Will Do.” As usual, Rainbow’s wordsmithing is on point and clever. “How will I choose / It’s like the lotto / But here’s my motto / Any Dem will do” Start your day with a bit of Randy. (Hey, I like the sound of that…)