Tag: 2020 election

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Cindy McCain, Widow Of 2008 GOP Nominee, Endorses Joe Biden For Prez

Cindy McCain (photo: Flickr/Gage Skidmore – CC License)
From NPR:

Cindy McCain, the widow of Sen. John McCain, is the latest prominent conservative to urge Republicans to cross party lines and support Joe Biden for president.

“There’s only one candidate in this race who stands up for our values as a nation, and that is Joe Biden,” she tweeted Tuesday evening.

McCain’s endorsement comes nearly a month after she contributed to a video that aired during the Democratic National Convention that detailed the friendship between her late husband and the Democratic presidential nominee.

Ms. McCain says she hopes she can encourage disillusioned voters in Arizona, which her late husband spent years representing in the Senate, to consider Biden over Trump amid the country’s current woes. In response, Trump predictably clapped back on Twitter saying he hardly knows Cindy McCain: “Joe Biden was John McCain’s lapdog. So many BAD decisions on Endless Wars & the V.A., which I brought from a horror show to HIGH APPROVAL. Never a fan of John. Cindy can have Sleepy Joe!”

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It’s National Voter Registration Day, So Get Ready To Flex Your Vote

(image via celebrity photographer Mike Ruiz/Instagram)
Today is National Voter Registration Day, so just in case…here’s some info you might want to use. So many people believe their one vote may not matter in elections, but they do. How do I know? Check this out. Donald Trump won Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin  – all three – with less than one percent of the vote. LESS THAN ONE PERCENT. He won Florida by less than 2 points. But, check out how many LGBTQ voters there were that not only didn’t vote but didn’t even REGISTER to vote.
(graphic via VoteProud.org)
Clearly the LGBTQ vote could – and should – make a difference. VoteProud.org is a non-partisan movement to inspire the LGBTQ+ community to register and vote. Working to combat voter apathy among all marginalized Americans, their movement demands all citizens are treated equally. ​ The group has partnered with When We All Vote, a non-partisan voting effort co-chaired by Michelle Obama and several other influential voices who are changing the culture around voting using a data-driven and multifaceted approach to increase participation in elections.

If you click over to VoteProud, you can easily check your voter registration or – if you’re not registered already – do it right there.

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We are weeks away from the single most important thing we can do this decade. If we cannot mobilize every single person we know to vote, we will suffer unprecedented oppression and hatred for the next 4 years and beyond. The earth will be stripped of its resources leaving the next generation with nothing. We will all be stripped of our rights as minorities, LGBTQ people, women and pretty much everyone else whose net worth is less than $20 million. If we can each inspire 1 person to vote, we can say that we did something. Doing nothing is no longer an option. PLEASE REQUEST YOUR MAIL IN BALLOT AT WWW.VOTE.ORG TODAY! I will personally shout out every single person who DMs me a pic of their Absentee ballot application form. I long for a time when we aren’t motivated by hatred and divisiveness. We can have it but ONLY OF WE TAKE IT! Rest In Peace #ruthbaderginsburg #VOTE #MIKERUIZ #absenteeballot #mailinballot #votebymail #LOVE

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Judge Throws Out Trump Lawsuit To Stop Mail-In Voting In Nevada

Donald Trump

The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) lost today in a legal court fight meant to derail mail-in voting in Nevada for the 2020 presidential election. From Talking Points Memo:

U.S. District Judge James Mahan on Monday threw out the Trump campaign’s lawsuit over Nevada’s vote-by-mail measure that directs all local elections officials to send mail-in ballots to all of the registered voters in the state.

Mahan ruled that the Trump campaign, along with the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Nevada GOP, “make no showing” of an unfair advantage against GOP candidates caused by the measure, known as Assembly Bill 4 (AB 4).

The judge described the plaintiffs’ claims–that voting by mail hurts Republicans and that mail-in ballots illegally distort the vote count–as “generalized and speculative.”

“Plaintiffs never describe how their member voters will be harmed by vote dilution where other voters will not,” Mahan wrote. Republican candidates “face no harms that are unique from their electoral opponents.”

Trump has repeatedly attacked AB 4 in his attempts to undermine and suppress the vote in the battleground state. In sowing seeds of doubt, the Donald continually alleges – without any evidence – that Democrats (but not Republicans) would somehow cheat with mail-in voting. And yet the last time there was any voter fraud of note actually found, it was on behalf of a North Carolina Republican candidate back in 2018. Several states – including Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington – have handled their elections via mail-in ballots for years with no irregularities reported.

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Trump: ‘I’m The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Puerto Rico’

(photo: public domain – Flickr/WhiteHouse)
Forty-six days before the presidential election, and with a very tight race in battleground state Florida (I’ll get to that), the Trump administration has suddenly announced a new $13 billion aid package to help rebuild Puerto Rico which was decimated by Hurricane Maria in 2017. The Hill reports the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will award $9.6 billion in grants to help rebuild the Puerto Rico Electrical Power Authority addressing repairs to electrical substations, power generation systems and transmission lines. Additionally, $2 billion will be targeted to rebuilding the U.S. territory’s school buildings and educational facilities. During a press briefing today, Donald Trump told reporters, “I have to say in a very nice way, very respectful way, I’m the best thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico. Nobody even close.” Hold the phone… You may recall this is the same man who, in November 2018, told congressional leaders he didn’t want anymore relief funds going to Puerto Rico. He also claimed officials in Puerto Rico inflated Hurrican Maria’s death toll in an effort to make him look bad. In June 2019, when Congress was finally able to pass additional relief funds for Puerto Rico, Trump attempted to take credit for the move even though he’d worked to block such funding. At the press event today, Trump tried to say “Democrats don’t want to see” aid to Puerto Rico passed, but the Democratic-led House passed billions in aid to Puerto Rico in February amid Republican objections. Now, I’d sooner bite my tongue than be cynical, but it’s a fact that thousands of Puerto Ricans migrated to Florida after the devastation of Hurricane Maria. And in a race where every vote counts, the timing of this new funding certainly is convenient. Real Clear Politics average of polls in Florida shows Democrat Joe Biden just 1.6 points ahead of the Donald. If Trump loses the Sunshine State’s 29 electoral votes, his path to winning becomes VERY tight.

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Long Lines As Early Voting Begins In Virginia

(screen capture via CNN)
Today is the first day of early voting in Virginia, and CNN reports the lines at polling stations are very long with folks waiting over 2 hours to cast their ballot. One gentleman told CNN, “I don’t trust the mail right now – If I got to stand here all day, I’m going to vote today.”

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News Round-Up: September 17, 2020

Bear Week 2019 in Sitges, Spain
Some news items you might have missed: • TBT: Remembering a year ago when we discovered Sitges, Spain, for the first time (above) – and it just happened to be Bear Week 🙂 • WSVN Miami: A man was convicted of hate crime charges and sent to prison after he yelled homophobic slurs and beat up two gay men while they were walking their dog in downtown Miami. Quenton Moss, the assailant, was recorded on police body cams bragging to officers, “I split him good. He’s a [expletive]. [Expletive] should die, die.” • OUT: Author and activist Sarah McBride is poised to become the first out trans person serving in the upper chamber of a state legislature. The former Obama administration staffer and current National Press Secretary for Human Rights Campaign won the Democratic primary for Delaware’s first state senate district. The seat is considered a sure-bet for Democrats and McBride is expected to win the general election in November. • GLAAD: Bisexual+ Awareness Week seeks to accelerate acceptance of the bi+ (bisexual, pansexual, fluid, no label, queer, etc.) community. BiWeek draws attention to the experiences, while also celebrating the resiliency of, the bisexual+ community. Throughout BiWeek, allies and bi+ people learn about the history, culture, community, and current policy priorities of bi+ communities.

• Associated Press: Germany’s Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer apologized on Thursday for 65 years of discrimination against gay military service members. “I very much regret the practice of discrimination against homosexuals in the Bundeswehr, which stood for the policy of that time,” said Kramp-Karrenbauer said in a statement. “I apologize to those who suffered because of it.” • Washington Post: A seven-hour “flight to nowhere” advertised by Australian airline Qantas sold out within 10 minutes on Thursday. The flight will depart Sydney on Oct. 10 and return on the same day, with no stops along the way. But passengers are promised views of the Great Barrier Reef, the Uluru monolith and the Australian outback as the plane flies over the country at low altitudes. The 134 available tickets ranged from $787 to $3,787 in Australian dollars, the equivalent of $575 and $2,765. • HuffPost: Donald Trump was called out on Wednesday for bragging that the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus would be lower if one subtracted the deaths from “blue” states. “The blue states had tremendous death rates,” Trump said. “If you take the blue states out, we’re at a level that I don’t think anybody in the world would be at, we’re really at a very low level.” According to data collected by The New York Times, 3 of the top 6 states in terms of deaths have Republican governors and 5 of the top 10 voted for Trump in 2016.

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Former Pence Aide Endorses Biden, Says Trump Only Concerned With Reelection

Donald Trump smirks during a press event

Donald Trump smirks during a press event
Donald Trump (photo: public domain/Flickr)
Olivia Troye, a former homeland security official who served in Vice President Mike Pence’s office for the coronavirus task force, endorsed Joe Biden for president today. She described her time in the White House (she resigned two months ago) as “terrifying” and said the president “could have saved lives” in his response to the coronavirus pandemic in a video released Thursday. In the video, she says Trump was only concerned with his reelection. From CNN:

A former top aide to Vice President Mike Pence assailed President Donald Trump’s response to the pandemic in a new video Thursday, adding to the growing list of former Trump administration officials who have criticized the President and, in several cases, endorsed his Democratic opponent Joe Biden.

Olivia Troye, who was a homeland security adviser to Pence and his lead staffer on the White House’s coronavirus task force, charged in the two-minute video that Trump failed to protect the American public because he only cared about himself and getting reelected. Troye’s criticism is particularly striking because of her role working on the coronavirus task force, which Pence leads.

“Towards the middle of February, we knew it wasn’t a matter of if Covid would become a big pandemic here, it was a matter of when,” said Troye, who left the White House in late July. “But the President didn’t want to hear that, because his biggest concern was that we were in an election year, and how was this going to affect what he considered to be his record of success?”

At one coronavirus task force meeting, Troye claimed that Trump suggested “maybe this Covid thing is a good thing.”

“I don’t like shaking hands with people. I don’t have to shake hands with these disgusting people,” Troye claimed Trump said at the meeting.

The White House denied Troye’s statements and predictably accused her of being a disgruntled former employee.

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Fact-Checking Trump’s ABC News Townhall

(screen capture via ABC News)
NowThis News fact-checks Donald Trump’s ABC News town hall earlier this week where he took questions from undecided voters. During the session, Trump blamed Joe Biden for not implementing a national face-mask mandate (even though Biden isn’t president) and said he thinks he’s done a “great job” handling the COVID-19 pandemic as the U.S. approaches 200,000 coronavirus-related deaths. This is a terrific quick wrap-up of the event. Hit the play button below.

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Poll: Sen. Susan Collins Trails Democratic Challenger By 12

L-R Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sara Gideon (images via campaigns)
Quinnipiac University Polling released a new poll today showing 4-term Republican Senator Susan Collins trailing her Democratic challenger Sara Gideon by a whopping 12 points (54-42). From the latest survey:

• 89% of likely voters who selected a candidate in the Senate matchup say their minds are made up; 10% say they might change their minds before the election

• Collins has a negative favorability rating (43% approve, 51% disapprove) while Gideon garners a positive 49% favorability rating versus 37% unfavorable

• Asked if the candidates care about average people, 60% of voters say that Gideon cares and while say 51% believes that Collins cares

• 53% of voters say that they would want to see the Democratic Party win control of the United States Senate

Collins won her last election with nearly 70% of the vote. The same poll shows former Vice President Joe Biden leading Donald Trump by 21 points (59% to 38%).

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Poll: Biden Leads In Battleground State Of Florida

A new poll by Monmouth University of battleground state Florida shows former Vice President Joe Biden holds a 3 to 5 point lead over Donald Trump in Florida, depending on a range of likely voter models.

Among all registered voters in Florida, the race for president stands at 50% for Biden and 45% for Trump. Under a likely voter scenario with a somewhat higher level of turnout than in 2016, the race is unchanged at 50% for Biden and 45% for Trump. The margin narrows slightly to 49% Biden and 46% Trump when using a likely voter model with lower turnout.

A notable stat in the new survey shows Trump leading Biden by four points – 50 to 46 – among active military or veteran voters. In 2016, Trump won the military vote by double digits. Among registered voters, 47% say they have a favorable view of Biden and 44% have an unfavorable opinion of him. But Trump’s favorable numbers are underwater with 41% reporting a favorable view of the president and 51% having an unfavorable opinion of him. The Real Clear Politics average of recent Florida polls shows Biden leading by 1.6 points. FiveThirtyEight gives Biden a 60% chance of winning in November. The last two presidential elections in Florida were decided by a single percentage point. If Trump were to lose the Sunshine State’s 29 electoral votes, he would have a very difficult path to victory.