Tag: Democrats

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Julián Castro Drops Out Of Democratic Presidential Race

Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro
The New York Times reports former housing secretary Julián Castro is ending his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Julián Castro, the former housing secretary who was the only Latino candidate in the Democratic primary, said Thursday he would end his bid for the presidency, capping a yearlong campaign where he struggled in polls but remained a policy pacesetter on immigration and fighting poverty.

Throughout his campaign, Mr. Castro, 45, a native of San Antonio who spent five years as its mayor, portrayed himself as an unapologetic liberal who was shaped by his humble beginnings and had been overlooked by the press. Though he created some memorable moments as he championed progressive policy and challenged his rivals on the campaign trail, Mr. Castro failed to catch on with voters and was unable to break into the upper tier of a crowded primary field. His exit is the latest departure of a candidate of color from a field that began as the most racially diverse ever in a Democratic primary.

“I’ve determined that it simply isn’t our time,” Mr. Castro said in a nearly four-minute video message released by his campaign, which included a montage from his year on the trail, including visits to the border and a homeless encampment in Oakland. “Today it’s with a heavy heart, and profound gratitude, that I will suspend my campaign for president.”

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Bloomberg Has Already Spent $120 Million On Super Tuesday Ads

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg announces official entry into 2020 presidential race
Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg said before he entered the 2020 Democratic primary race he would spend “whatever it takes” to beat Donald Trump, and he wasn’t kidding. The Hill reports Bloomberg has reportedly spent about $120 million in digital and television ads since joining the presidential race last month.

The billionaire candidate is targeting large Super Tuesday states such as California and Texas, spending more than $13 million in each of those states, Politico reported Wednesday. Bloomberg has also spent that much in Florida, which votes a week after Super Tuesday, according to the news outlet.

Politico reported that Bloomberg has already outspent all of his competitors. Billionaire Tom Steyer has reportedly spent $83 million in ad buys, the second most, followed by South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who has reportedly spent $19 million.

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News Round-Up: December 20, 2019

Jim Newman (via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Woofy Jim Newman’s words of wisdom for the holidays – “Don’t blend in.” Follow the hunky singer on Instagram here. • Metro: A teenager who attacked a lesbian couple on a night bus because they refused to kiss was sentenced to an eight-month youth referral order (parole), 12 hours’ reparation and ordered to pay £220 in fines and prosecution costs. • NBC News: A Texas grand jury on Friday indicted a former Fort Worth police officer for murder after fatally shooting a young woman who had been babysitting her nephew at home. According to police and body camera footage, the officer didn’t identify himself before shooting and killing the victim through a window. • KIT212: Kenneth rounds up the what’s what in gay publications across the country. • FiveThirtyEight: The four candidates leading the polls nationally and in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg — have qualified for the seventh Democratic debate in January, as well as Sen. Amy Klobuchar who has hit at least 5 percent in just enough polls and her campaign says she has the donors. • Instinct: A woofy bear in the front row of last night’s Democratic debate stole the show for many Twitter gays. • Washington Post: After meeting privately in July 2017 with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin at the G20 summit, Trump grew more insistent that Ukraine worked to defeat him, according to multiple former officials familiar with his assertions. The president’s intense resistance to the assessment of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia systematically interfered in the 2016 campaign led many of his advisers to think that Putin himself helped spur the idea of Ukraine’s culpability. • The Gaily Grind: A 14-year-old girl is in the hospital after an Iowa woman struck her with her SUV in a hit-and-run incident resulting in attempted murder charges after the woman behind the wheel said she did it because the teenager is “a Mexican.” • Lip-Sync This: Billy Porter has had quite the year after slaying on the red carpets throughout the awards season, picking up an Emmy, and now snagging a 2nd Golden Globe nomination for his work on the ground-breaking FX series, POSE. But he ain’t done yet! Check out this celebrity lip-sync of his #1 Billboard Dance Club hit, “Love Yourself.” The celebrity lip-sync features Porter’s POSE co-stars MJ Rodriguez, Ryan Jamal Swain, Dyllon Burnside, Jeremy McClain, and Jason A. Rodriguez; Kinky Boots cast and creatives Cyndi Lauper, Jerry Mitchell, Stark Sands, Annaleigh Ashford, Lena Hall, and the Ogunquit Playhouse cast of the smash hit musical; the Broadway cast of Ain’t Too Proud; along with Kelly Ripa, Debra Messing, Lin Manuel Miranda, Patina Miller, Nathan Lee Graham, Miss J, Peppermint, and designer Christian Siriano.

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Bloomberg Officially Enters Dem Race, Bernie Officially Not Happy About It

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg announces official entry into 2020 presidential race
Billionaire Michael Bloomberg officially declared his entry into the Democratic presidential race on Sunday with an announcement video that highlights his self-made success contrasting his personal story with that of Donald Trump.

Bloomberg has said he will spend what it takes to win, and considering he’s worth $54 billion, he’s definitely got the resources. According to CNN, Bloomberg has already bought TV ad space to the tune of $37 million over the next two weeks. As a late entry, Bloomberg’s team says they won’t even try to compete in early states like Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina. Instead, he’ll focus on Super Tuesday locations hoping to pick up the necessary delegates. But Bloomberg has a complicated past as a politician. He’s switched political parties from Democrat to Republican to Independent depending on which best suited his chances for winning elections; he recently apologized for a “stop-and-frisk” police policy during his tenure as NYC mayor; and his connections to Wall Street are unavoidable. Top tier contender Sen. Bernie Sanders made it clear he’s not happy about the news. “We do not believe that billionaires have the right to buy elections, and that is why we are going to overturn Citizens United, that is why multi-billionaires like Mr. Bloomberg are not going to get very far in this election, that is why we are going to end voter suppression in America,” Sanders told supporters at a town hall event on Sunday.

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SNL ‘s Star-Studded Spoof Of This Week’s Dem Debate

Saturday Night Live offered up an all-star lineup for its take on the 2020 Democratic debate this week with Melissa Villaseñor’s Rachel Maddow moderating. Clip description: Presidential candidates Andrew Yang (Bowen Yang), Pete Buttigieg (Colin Jost), Cory Booker (Chris Redd), Elizabeth Warren (Kate McKinnon), Amy Klobuchar (Rachel Dratch), Tom Steyer (Will Ferrell), Michael Bloomberg (Fred Armisen), Tulsi Gabbard (Cecily Strong) Bernie Sanders (Larry David), Joe Biden (Woody Harrelson) and Kamala Harris (Maya Rudolph) speak at MSNBC’s 2020 Democratic Debate. Mayor Pete’s closing statement: “America, I know I can do this because my supporters are a diverse coalition. From young to old, gay to straight, from white to eggshell.” ‘Villian for the night’ Tulsi Gabbard’s closing statement: “I have no interest in those dalmatian puppies. Muhwahahahahahaha!”

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Leading In Early Voting States, Buttigieg Can Expect Attacks At Dem Debate Tonight

Mayor Pete Buttigieg (image via Instagram)
As the Democratic presidential candidates take to the debate stage tonight, expect Mayor Pete Buttigieg to take some incoming fire after recent polls show him surging in two early voting states. Buttigieg is the first openly gay presidential candidate to take the lead in both Iowa and New Hampshire. The latest polling from Monmouth University for the upcoming Iowa caucus’ was first to show out Mayor Pete in the top spot. That poll showed the South Bend mayor ahead of former Vice President Joe Biden by 3 points and Sen. Elizabeth Warren for 4 points. Here are the results – the numbers in parenthesis represent standing when combining first and second place results: • Mayor Pete Buttigieg 22% (37) • Former Vice President Joe Biden 19% (29) • Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) 18% (35) • Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) 13% (25) • Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) 5% (14) • Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) 3% (9) • Billionaire Tom Steyer 3% (6) • Entrepreneur Andrew Yang 3% (4) The latest Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom poll shows Mayor Pete Buttigieg has jumped 16 points since the Register’s last poll to land at the top of the Democratic presidential field. • Mayor Pete Buttigieg 25% • Sen. Elizabeth Warren 16% • Former Vice President Joe Biden 15% • Sen. Bernie Sanders 15% • Sen. Amy Klobuchar 6% And in New Hampshire, the Saint Anselm College Survey Center poll released last night shows Buttigieg opening up a ten point lead over his competitors with 25 percent support. Biden and Warren tied in second place with 15 percent, and Sanders drops to 9 percent support. Despite all that good news for Buttigieg and his campaign team, there have been some not-so-great bumps in the road. For one, video from a 2010 ‘Meet the Candidates Night’ during his attempt to become Indiana state treasurer has re-emerged on Twitter. The event was hosted by two Republican groups with connections to the Tea Party. In the video, Buttigieg says in his opening remarks: “There are some, especially in my party, who think that the Tea Party is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican Party. But there are many others who believe that the Tea Party is motivated by real concerns about the direction of our government and the responsiveness of our government to citizens. and above all, a frustration with business as usual. That is what motivated me to run.” He also notes, “We may come from often very different perspectives.” Some progressive Twitter warriors have called the remarks “disqualifying.” But there’s some backstory to this appearance. It seems Buttigieg’s opponent wouldn’t debate him, so Pete went to the ‘Meet the Candidates’ event as his only chance to share a stage with his opponent. And if you watch the video clip, he doesn’t say he embraces the Tea Party. He makes a point to say he “comes from a very different perspective” while admitting people from both parties share frustrations about government being run as “business as usual.” In fact, President Obama said something very similar just a short time later when he addressed an MTV/BET Town Hall. “I think there are a lot of people who are involved in the Tea Party who have very real and sincere concerns about spending that’s out of control or generally philosophically believe that the government should be less involved in certain aspects of American life rather than more involved,” said Obama. “And they have every right and obligation as citizens to be involved and engaged in this process.” The mayor’s campaign was also criticized for using a stock photo of Kenyan woman in materials released with his plan to address U.S. racism, “The Douglass Plan.” In any case, you can certainly expect one of the mayor’s opponents to bring up some of these nuggets tonight during the Democratic debate tonight hosted by MSNBC and the Washington Post. The two-hour debate is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. ET.

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Louisiana: Dem Governor Wins 2nd Term Over GOP Trump Ally

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards
Despite three visits by Donald Trump to Louisiana to try and flip the governorship to the Republican column, Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards won a second term Saturday to remain the only Democratic governor in the Deep South. Edwards narrowly beat wealthy businessman and Trump ally Eddie Rispone, who invested more than $14 million of his own money to finance his campaign. “I need you to send a message to the corrupt Democrats in Washington,” Trump told a crowd at a rally in Bossier City on Thursday. “You’ve got to give me a big win, OK?” Trump implored. The Republican National Committee invested $2 million and 60 staffers on the ground in hopes of flipping the seat red. Yesterday, Trump tweeted “Louisiana, 3 hours left, get out and Vote for @EddieRispone for Governor. Lower taxes and much more!” After the news that Rispone had lost the race, and not wanting to be associated with failure, Trump has now deleted the tweet. Trump also recently campaigned for GOP Governor Matt Bevin in Kentucky which resulted in the Democrat, Andy Beshear, winning the race. There will now be two Democratic governors in deep-red South.

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Beto O’Rourke Exits 2020 Presidential Race

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke is leaving the 2020 presidential race
Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke is dropping out of the 2020 presidential campaign. From The Daily Beast:

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) is ending his presidential campaign after struggling for months to gain sustained momentum, as the crowded Democratic primary thins out less than 100 days until the Iowa caucus.

“Though it is difficult to accept, it is clear to me now that this campaign does not have the means to move forward successfully,” O’Rourke wrote in a Medium post announcing his move on Friday.

“My service to the country will not be as a candidate or as the nominee. Acknowledging this now is in the best interests of those in the campaign; it is in the best interests of this party as we seek to unify around a nominee, and it is in the best interests of the country.”

Rumors about O’Rourke’s candidacy began shortly after his Senate campaign concluded. But for months, he put off making a decision, leaving top Democratic operatives who may have signed on with him to look elsewhere. The entrance into the race of South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, perceived to occupy the same lane for a young, fresh-faced outsider, appeared to further dull the allure of O’Rourke’s bid.

For months, people in Democratic circles have urged O’Rourke to run for Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-TX) seat. Within minutes of O’Rourke’s announcement, “Run For Senate” began to trend on Twitter. We shall see.

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News Round-Up: October 30, 2019

Ramses Principe (image via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Ripped AF Ramses Principe (above) is staring down Hump Day like a Boss! • OUT: Despite the beautiful monologue by the father at the end of the coming of age film, Call Me By Your Name, author Andre Aciman says he never intended to imply Elio’s dad was gay. • Twitter: Don’t forget – Game 7 of the World Series takes place tonight. Will the Houston Astros make it their second title in three years, or will the Washington Nationals bring it home for the very first time? You know I love baseball…

• C&C: You may have heard about GoFundMe crowdfunding campaigns, but how about ‘ComeF*ckMe’ fundraising? A Twitter user shared a screen capture of a Grindr chat inviting someone to an orgy, but there was a $50 entrance fee. Turns out the event was to raise money to help the families of two victims of a shooting incident pay funeral costs. #ok… • NPR: New numbers from the Commerce Department show the economy lost steam during the summer and early fall. GDP, the broadest measure of economic activity, grew at an annual rate of just 1.9% during the third quarter. That’s a deceleration from the lackluster second quarter when GDP grew at a 2% pace. • Morning Consult: As the primary season edges closer and closer, the lead many Democratic White House hopefuls held over Donald Trump in hypothetical match-ups is tightening according to Morning Consult polling.
(image via Morning Consult)

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News Round-Up: October 16, 2019

Jim Newman (image via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Jim Newman (above) throws back to when he was touring with the legendary Village People as ‘the Cowboy’ (until a lawsuit had to go ruin it all…). • Gay City News: A gay man in Jackson Heights was returning home early in the morning on October 13 when he said a stranger exposed himself, punched him, stole his belongings, and dragged him on the ground — all because he wouldn’t perform oral sex on him. • The Advocate: Brianna Hill of Kansas City, Missouri, who was shot to death on Monday morning, is the 20th transgender woman of color to be murdered this year. • New York Times: The newspaper of note recaps the winners and losers of last night’s Democratic debate. Everyone pretty much felt Mayor Pete Buttigieg had a very good night. Here’s just a sample:

• Politico: A former top adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told House impeachment investigators on Wednesday that he abruptly resigned last week because of President Donald Trump’s attacks on the ousted U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and the State Department’s unwillingness to protect career diplomats from political pressure, according to two people familiar with the testimony. • People: Arrow star Colton Haynes, 31, and celebrity florist Jeff Leatham, 48, have quietly settled their divorce. In addition to waiving their rights to spousal support and the division of property, the exes have agreed to a non-disclosure and confidentiality agreement. In other words, no ‘tell-all’ memoirs. • The WOW Report: Former The Apprentice staffer Noel Casler shares (among other things), “He’s a speed freak. He crushes up his Adderall and he sniffs it because he can’t read and he gets really nervous when he has to read cue cards. I’m not kidding. This is true.”