Tag: 2020 election

Posted on

Trump Campaign Threatens TV Stations For Airing Anti-Trump Ad

Donald Trump’s re-election campaign has threatened TV stations they could lose their broadcast licenses for airing an ad criticizing how the Donald has handled the ongoing COVID-19 threat. From Bloomberg News:

President Donald Trump’s campaign, in a letter on Wednesday, told stations in five battleground states to stop showing the ad from Priorities USA, a political action committee that supports Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

Failure to remove the ad “could put your station’s license in jeopardy” before the Federal Communications Commission, the campaign said in the letter. “Your station has an obligation to cease and desist from airing it immediately to comply with FCC licensing requirements.”

The letter was sent to stations in presidential battleground/swing states – Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – which are considered vital to Trump’s reelection. The spot, from anti-Trump PAC Priorities USA, shows a graphic of the increasing cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. from January 20 to March 22. The audio uses sound bites of Trump downplaying the seriousness of the coronavirus threat at the time. “The coronavirus,” Trump says at the beginning, “this is their new hoax.” This is the updated version of the spot released today:

Posted on

New York Governor Postpones Presidential Primary To June 23

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Saturday he will postpone the New York presidential primary originally scheduled for April 28 due to the coronavirus threat.

From the New York Times:

“I don’t think it’s wise to be bringing a lot of people to one location to vote, a lot of people touching one doorknob, a lot of people touching one pen,” Mr. Cuomo said in a news conference. “So we are going to delay that and link it to an election that was previously scheduled on June 23.”

A primary for state legislative and congressional races had already been set for June 23, and now all of the state’s primary elections will be held on the same date, he said.

Ten other states, as well as Puerto Rico, have rescheduled their primary elections as the campaign calendar has been upended by the outbreak, citing guidance from health officials who have urged people to avoid gathering spots, including polling places.

A handful of other states have switched to voting entirely by mail and have extended deadlines for doing so.

Posted on

News Round-Up: March 27, 2020

Ryan Worley (image via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Chippendales’ Ryan Worley (above) has the right idea for a Friday night. Man, this week kinda kicked my butt… How are you folks doing? Thinking best thoughts everyone’s way. • Fox News: Former Vice President Joe Biden bests President Donald Trump by nine points in a 2020 ballot test, in the first Fox News Poll since Biden became the de facto Democratic nominee. Notably, Biden has an eight-point edge in battleground states (48-40 percent). However, Biden’s advantage grows to 25 points, 57-32 percent, in close counties (where Hillary Clinton and Trump were within 10 points in 2016). • NewNowNext: Click over to read a deep dive into the many husbands of “Joe Exotic,” one of the stars of the bizarre docu-series Tiger King. I watched the first two episodes last night after seeing everyone talk about it. It’s quite the odd assortment of big cat ‘private zoo’ characters. • Out Music: Bounce into the weekend with this new cut from Bright Light Bright Light – “This Was My House,” a sugar-rush of dancefloor pop featuring Madonna’s longtime backing vocalist duo Niki Haris and Donna De Lory. “The song is about how the safe spaces for the LGBTQ+ community have been fractured of late with a palpable uprising of anti-LGBTQ+ and xenophobic rhetoric, which is scarily even more real now as these public spaces are closed for the foreseeable future due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said the artist.

• NY Daily News: New Yorkers should be prepared for the city to remain in “pause” due to coronavirus through May even as President Trump gives Americans “false hope” the country will reopen by Easter next month, Mayor de Blasio said Friday. “We have to be ready for that and I think it’s going to spread in the country,” de Blasio said when asked if the city would be closed through May. “This idea of Easter is, unfortunately, a false hope. It would be better for the president to be blunt with people that we’ve got a really tough battle ahead.” • KIT212: Kenneth rounds up the best of local gay rags in the U.S. and around the world including DNA Magazine featuring Nordic hottie Patrik Isoaho (below).

Posted on

Bloomberg Donating Campaign Assets To Democratic Party For Swing State Fights

Former NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg (image via campaign)

Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has announced he will donate assets from his now-defunct presidential campaign – including $18 million in cash – to the Democratic Party.

The assets will be used to organize voters in general election swing states.

From the Washington Post:

The decision, which exploits a provision in campaign finance law available only to federal candidates, amounts to a shift in strategy for the billionaire political activist, who had previously promised to personally fund ground staff and offices in six states through an independent expenditure effort.

He now hopes that much of the same operation will be run through the state and national Democratic Party, which would allow for it to directly coordinate with the Democratic nominee, who he expects to be former vice president Joe Biden. An independent expenditure campaign is barred from such coordination.

Under normal circumstances, federal rules allow individuals to give a maximum of $355,000 per year to the Democratic National Committee. The party has set up a Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee with state parties, that allows wealthy individuals to give $865,000 in one year. Bloomberg has already donated the maximum allowed to this account.

But the new shift of resources means he is able to give more than 20 times the maximum a donor can give to the national party in one year, because of provisions that allow federal candidates to donate unlimited amounts of leftover money to national and state parties as they wind down their campaigns.

Posted on

Biden Sweeps 3 More States, Sanders ‘Assessing’ His Campaign

L-R Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders
After losing all three Democratic primaries Tuesday night by double-digits, Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) campaign manager on Wednesday said that the senator “is going to be having conversations with his supporters to assess his campaign,” according to The Hill. Noting that “the next primary contest is three weeks away,” Sanders’s campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, said in a statement that Sanders “is focused on the government response to the coronavirus outbreak and ensuring that we take care of working people and the most vulnerable.” This follows a brutal night for Sanders where he lost across the board to former Vice President Joe Biden. Biden won Florida’s primary 62 percent to Sanders’ 23 percent, per Buzzfeed News. In Illinois, it was Biden 59 percent to Sanders’ 36 percent, and in Arizona, the former vice president won 44 percent versus 32 percent for Sanders. Biden spoke after the three contests were called and he addressed Sanders’ supporters directly:

“Senator Sanders and I may disagree on tactics, but we share a common vision for the need to provide affordable health care for all Americans, reduce income inequity that has risen so drastically, to tackling the existential threat of our time, climate change.

“Sen. Sanders and his supporters have brought a remarkable passion and tenacity to all of these issues. Together, they have shifted the fundamental conversation in this country. So let me say, especially to the young voters who have been inspired by Senator Sanders: I hear you. I know what’s at stake. I know what we have to do.”

Biden began his delegate lead in the race by coming out on top in 10 of 14 contests on Super Tuesday. Then on March 10, Biden won five of six contests including Washington state which was considered a safe haven for Sanders. Political experts say Biden will have a nearly insurmountable lead in delegates by the time all of the votes are counted from this week’s primaries. Biden currently has around 1,180 delegates, while Sanders has just about 884 delegates. You can check the count as more delegates are allocated at RealClearPolitics. Candidates must garner at least 1,991 to officially clinch the nomination. Forty percent of delegates remain to be allocated. Ohio, scheduled to vote last night, postponed its primary at the last minute due to coronavirus concerns. Additionally, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, and Puerto Rico have also delayed their primaries.

Posted on

Georgia Postpones Democratic Primary Due To COVID-19

Responding to the ongoing coronavirus threat, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the Democratic primary in Georgia will be postponed for two months.

Georgia elections officials postponed the presidential primary scheduled for next week because of the coronavirus pandemic, becoming the second state forced to push back a vote in the race for the White House due to the outbreak.

The state rescheduled the presidential vote previously scheduled for March 24 until May 19, the same date as the regular primary for a U.S. Senate seat and many other offices, elections officials told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Saturday.

“Events are moving rapidly and my highest priority is protecting the health of our poll workers, their families, and the community at large,” said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger [photo].

Louisiana was the first state to move its Democratic primary shifting to June 20th.

Posted on

Cory Booker Endorses Joe Biden For President

L-R Sen. Cory Booker, former Vice President Joe Biden (via Instagram)
New Jersey Senator Cory Booker has officially endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for president adding to the growing support of Democratic lawmakers for Biden. From the New York Times:

Mr. Booker’s endorsement comes one day after Senator Kamala Harris of California endorsed Mr. Biden, and the two senators will appear with him at a rally in Detroit on Monday night. Mr. Booker will also campaign alongside Mr. Biden in Flint, Mich., earlier in the day and attend a fund-raiser with him.

Mr. Booker and Ms. Harris were two of the most prominent black candidates to run for president, and their endorsements come as Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont scrambles to make up ground among black voters in Michigan, where they make up a sizable part of the electorate.

“African-American voters in the South, African-American voters here in Detroit, they have played a pivotal role in my entire lifetime in choosing the Democratic nominee,” Mr. Booker said. He pointed to Mr. Biden’s deep connections with black voters and what Mr. Booker saw as “understanding the issues of race and frankly racial reconciliation and racial justice, and even saying things now about choosing a black woman on the Supreme Court.”

Posted on

Kamala Harris Endorses Joe Biden For President

L-R Joe Biden, Kamala Harris
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) has endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for president. Via press release, the California senator issued this statement:

“When I started my run for president, I said America needs a president who reflects the decency and dignity of the American people; a president who speaks the truth; and a president who fights for those whose voices are too often overlooked or ignored. I still believe that to this day. That is why I am proud to announce I am endorsing my friend, Vice President Joe Biden, for President of the United States.”

Harris also tweeted out a video clip from Alabama where she is preparing to take part in the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. In the video message she says, “I wanted you to know that, with great enthusiasm, I am going to endorse Joe Biden for president of the United States.” She continued: “I believe in Joe. I really believe in him and I have known him for a long time. One of the things that we need right now is we need who really does care about the people and who can, therefore, unify the people. And I believe Joe can do that.” “I am supporting Joe because I believe that he is a man who has lived his life with great dignity. He is a public servant who has always worked for the best of who we are as a nation, and we need that right now.” Biden thanked Harris three minutes later retweeting her endorsement. I’ll go ahead and say this: I think Kamala Harris should be Biden’s running mate, and I think Biden should announce that soon. I believe that is the strongest ticket for Democrats to rally around and support.

Posted on

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