Tag: Democrats

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Night 1 Of Democratic Debates: Warren Leads, Castro Surprises, Booker Strong On LGBTQ Issues

The first Democratic National Committee (DNC) debate of the 2020 presidential election cycle took place last night in Miami and, as expected, there were a few surprises.
Sens. Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, and former HUD Sec. Julian Castro

The first Democratic National Committee (DNC) debate of the 2020 presidential election cycle took place last night in Miami and, as expected, there were a few surprises.

Last night’s debate, the first of two, included Julián Castro, Bill de Blasio, Jay Inslee, John Delaney, Tulsi Gabbard, Tim Ryan, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke, Cory Booker, and Elizabeth Warren.

One of the biggest moments of the evening came when Rep. Tulsi Gabbard was asked a question about her history of opposing LGBTQ rights and supporting conversion therapy.

Gabbard noted that she’s since apologized for those statements and reminded people that she grew up in a conservative family with conservative thoughts on LGBTQ people.

“Maybe many people in this country can relate to the fact that I grew up in a socially conservative home, held views when I was very young that I no longer hold today,” Gabbard said. “I served with LGBTQ service members, both in training and deployed down the range. I know they would give their life for me, and I would give my life for them.”

She also promised to support and vote for The Equality Act.

But Sen. Cory Booker jumped in saying Gabbard’s support of The Equality Act was “not enough,” and expanded the conversation to transgender people saying, “We do not talk enough about trans Americans, especially African American trans Americans and the incredibly high rates of murder right now.”

“We don’t talk enough about how many children – about how 30% of LGBTQ children do not go to school because of fear,” said Booker. “It’s not enough just to be on the Equality Act, which I’m an original co-sponsor of. We need to have a president who will fight to protect LGBTQ Americans every single day from violence.”

Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro, who appears to have helped himself the most via his debate performance, also brought up trans people during a question about healthcare and abortion rights.

Castro also looked strong on immigration issues as he dominated during that segment of the debate.

The rest of the field didn’t seem to make up any ground, although, sensing they needed their ‘moment,’ Bill de Blasio, Tim Ryan, Beto O’Rourke, and John Delaney began inserting themselves into questions hoping for more speaking time.

At the end of the day, it seems Warren did as expected and came across as the front-runner (in this crowd); Castro elevated himself; and Booker and Sen. Amy Klobuchar each had strong moments.

One surprise was how flat O’Rourke seemed throughout. After a stellar run for U.S. Senate in Texas last year, it seemed his time off from the campaign trail took a bit of a toll on his usual charismatic presence.

Other thoughts from the Twitterverse:

The second group of 10 Democratic candidates – including former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Mayor Pete Buttigieg – face off tonight in Miami on NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo at 9 p.m.

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Beto O’Rourke Reveals 30+ Point Plan For LGBTQ Equality

Beto O’Rourke and supporters (image via Instagram)

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke has announced a wide-ranging plan for LGBTQ equality on Wednesday.

Listing an agenda of more than 30 actions he would take and/or support, the plan is divided in three parts: Executive Action to Protect LGBTQ+ People, Legislative Action to Ensure Full Equality and Protect the LGBTQ+ Community Across the Globe.

On his Instagram, O’Rourke said the proposal “would leverage executive power and call for congressional action that ensures that LGBTQ+ people have full equality and opportunity.”

First, O’Rourke would reverse many of Donald Trump’s disastrous executive actions and policies including:

• The discriminatory transgender military ban

• Overturning the ‘Deploy or Get Out’ policy that is currently discharging HIV+ service members

• Reversing the Trump policy that allows healthcare providers to deny treatment to LGBTQ+ people

• Directing the Department of Justice to investigate crimes against transgender people, especially trans women of color

• Reviewing the outdated blood donation requirements including the current 1-year ban for sexually active gay and bisexual men

• Ensure LGBTQ+ people are included in federal data collection efforts

• Appoint judges who have a proven record of supporting full civil rights for everyone

On a legislative front, O’Rourke promises to:

• Push for the passage of The Equality Act

• Ensure LGBTQ+ people have equal access to healthcare

• Enact the Every Child Deserves a Family Act which bars adoption and foster care programs that receive taxpayer dollars from discriminating against prospective LGBTQ parents

And the foreign policy aspect of his efforts would be:

• To promote foreign policy efforts to protect LGBTQ people abroad fleeing from persecution and violence

• Working with the United Nations on global protections for LGBTQ folks

• Investment in the Global Equality Fund which provides assistance to human rights groups working on behalf of LGBTQ people.

Click over to O’Rourke’s campaign site for more the details.

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Democrats Celebrate Pride: We Won’t Back Down, We Continue To Stand With LGBTQ Community

The Democratic National Committee issued a firm statement of support for the LGBTQ community on the first day of Pride Month 2019

While Donald Trump did finally grace Pride Month with a pair of tweets (basically telling us to be grateful we aren’t being executed like in Saudi Arabia), there was no official proclamation from the White House as was the case during the Obama era.

Today, on the first day of Pride Month 2019, the Democratic National Committee issued this statement:

“As we begin LGBTQ Pride Month and prepare to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Stonewall, when brave members of New York’s LGBTQ community said enough to brutal discrimination, Democrats across the country are celebrating our nation’s progress and rededicating ourselves to the fight for equality. No one should face violence, bullying, or discrimination because of who they are or who they love. And every American should enjoy the same rights and protections under our Constitution.

“But we cannot take anything for granted. The legal protections that so many LGBTQ Americans and their allies have fought for are under threat. For two and a half years, President Trump has used the power of his office to drag our nation backwards, emboldening bigots and breaking his promise to support the LGBTQ community. From banning transgender troops from serving in our nation’s armed forces to undermining workplace discrimination protections, his administration has rolled back our progress time and time again.

“Democrats will never back down. In the last election cycle, LGBTQ Democrats ran for office and won in record numbers, tearing down old barriers and transforming our democracy. As we head toward Election Day in 2019 and 2020, we’re going to continue to stand with the LGBTQ community and carry on this fight with the courage and pride of the countless activists and organizers who came before us.”

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13 Democrats Have ‘Double Qualified’ To Participate In First Presidential Debates

The list of Democratic contenders for the 2020 presidential nomination keeps growing as we approach the first debates of the primary season on June 26 and June 27 in Miami.

Qualifying candidates will be split into two fields of 10 appearing on back-to-back nights.

The Democratic National Committee set rules this year that only 20 candidates will be allowed to participate in the first debates. In order to qualify, a candidate must either have more than 65,000 individual donors to their campaign OR garner at least 1% in three or more designated polls.

According to Politico, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee secured a spot on the Democratic presidential debate stage after collecting the 65,000th individual donor of his campaign this week.

Candidates who reach both thresholds will get priority over those who only meet one. It’s highly unlikely that more than 20 Democrats will meet both the polling and the fundraising criteria.

Inslee is the thirteenth person to “double qualify,” joining Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Julián Castro, Tulsi Gabbard, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Marianne Williamson and Andrew Yang.

Nineteen candidates have met at least one threshold.

No word yet on whether the Republicans will hold any primary debates between Donald Trump and any challengers.

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Confident Pete Buttigieg Makes Strong Showing During Fox News Town Hall

Openly gay Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg had an impressive showing Sunday night as he answered questions at a Fox News town hall event hosted by anchor Chris Wallace.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg

Openly gay Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg had an impressive showing Sunday night as he answered questions at a Fox News town hall event hosted by anchor Chris Wallace.

While most Democratic candidates aren’t heading over to the conservative cable news outlet for coverage, Buttigieg defended the appearance. “If we don’t show up, the conservative media will tell our side of the story for us,” he told Wallace.

The 37-year-old mayor is the third Democratic contender to show up to a Fox News event. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) participated in a Q&A for the conservative cable news outlet in April, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn) appeared at a network town hall earlier in May.

Last week, however, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) declined an invitation from Fox News to appear at a similar event.

“A lot of folks in my party were critical of me even doing this with Fox News,” Buttigieg told Wallace. “And I get where that’s coming from, especially when you see what goes on with some of the opinion hosts on this network.”

“I mean, when you got Tucker Carlson saying that immigrants make American dirty; when you got Laura Ingraham comparing detention centers with children in cages to summer camps—summer camps—then, there is a reason why anyone has to swallow hard and think twice before participating in this media ecosystem,” he continued.

“But, I also believe that even though some of those hosts are not always there in good faith, I think a lot of people tune into this network who do it in good faith,” he concluded.

Across a wide variety of topics, Buttigieg answered questions without pause or having to qualify his responses.

In the aftermath of Alabama’s newly-passed ban on abortion, Wallace asked Buttigieg his thoughts on the legislation. Buttigieg answered that he trusts “women to draw the line.”

“I trust women to draw the line when it is their own body,” he said. “I believe that the right of a woman to make her own decisions about her own reproductive health and her own body is a national right, I believe it is an American freedom.”

The decision to have an abortion “is not going to be made any better, medically or morally, because the government is dictating how that decision should be made,” he added.

Asked how he felt he would handle attacks and tweets from Donald Trump in a general election, Buttigieg replied, “The tweets are…I don’t care.”

The answer spurred a big round of applause from the audience attending the event in Claremont, New Hampshire.

Buttigieg did note that it was “hard for anyone to look away” when the Trumpster tweets, but qualified that saying “it is the nature of grotesque things that you can’t look away.”

At the end of the hour-long town hall, Buttigieg was given a chance to address the audience directly. His appeal was met with a standing ovation, surprising Wallace.

The Hill reports the town hall event drew 1.1 million viewers.

The appearance clearly got under the president’s skin as Trump criticized his favorite network via Twitter.

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New Poll: Biden Leads Democratic Contenders By 30 Points

Former Vice President Joe Biden


The Hill is reporting that former Vice President Joe Biden holds a 30-point lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in the Democratic presidential field, according to a Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll.

• 44% Joe Biden
• 14% Sen. Bernie Sanders
• 9% Sen. Kamala Harris

All other candidates garnered 5 percent or less.

Biden also has the confidence of voters who were asked who would be the best choice to beat Donald Trump. Forty percent named Biden, while Sanders came in a distant 13 percent.

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Joe Biden Officially Jumps Into The 2020 Presidential Race

Former Vice President Joe Biden officially jumped into the 2020 presidential race this morning. In an announcement video, Biden focused primarily on the hideous white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia where a woman lost her life, and Donald Trump declared that there were “fine people” on both sides.
Former Vice President Joe Biden 

Former Vice President Joe Biden officially jumped into the 2020 presidential race this morning.

In an announcement video, Biden focused primarily on the hideous white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia where a woman lost her life, and Donald Trump declared that there were “fine people” on both sides.

“With those words, the President of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it,” said Biden. “And in that moment, I knew the threat to this nation was unlike any I had ever seen in my lifetime.”

The video was accompanied with this message: “It’s time for respected leadership on the world stage—and dignified leadership at home. It’s time for equal opportunity, equal rights, and equal justice. It’s time for an economy that rewards those who actually do the work. It’s time for a president who will stand up for all of us.”

Even though he’s just now officially entered the race, his entry has been anticipated and he’s instantly the frontrunner.

It is VERY early, but RealClearPolitics’ average of recent polls shows him leading the Democratic contenders by an average of 6.3 points.

And an average of hypothetical matchups against Donald Trump indicate that (today) he would thump Trump by 7.8 points.

By comparison, an average of hypotheticals pitting Sen. Bernie Sanders against Trump shows Sanders coming out on top by only 2.7 points.

I’m totally good with Joe Biden as our next president. Experience, dignity and respect for others. Eight years as Vice President and 36 years in the U.S. Senate.

Oh, and sanity. Let’s not forget that.

He came out for marriage equality before Barack Obama did. And he’s been an outspoken advocate for transgender soldiers serving in the U.S. military.

Folks will point to earlier positions in the 80s or 90s, but people do evolve as society evolves.

Donald Trump used to speak in coherent sentences, and look at what he’s ‘evolved’ into.

People will say Joe is an “old white guy.” Age doesn’t bother me as long as folks are healthy.

I would enthusiastically vote for Biden. That said, I’ll also be happy to vote for Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Bernie Sanders or former Rep. Beto O’Rourke if they clinch the Democratic nomination.

Biden quickly racked up three endorsements from Sens. Chris Coons (D-Delaware), Bob Casey (D-Penn) and Doug Jones (D-Alabama).

Biden will attend a fundraiser in Philadelphia later today, and he’s scheduled for an appearance on ABC’s The View for his first post-announcement television interview on Friday.

On Monday, he will hold his first official event in Pittsburgh, followed by a swing through early voting states Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.

Predictably, Donald Trump mocked the announcement via Twitter:

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Poll: Sanders’ Supporters Not All That Dedicated To Democrats

A new poll from Emerson shows the 'Bernie bros' aren't quite down on solidarity with the Democrats 'no matter what.'
Sen. Bernie Sanders (L) and Mayor Pete Buttigieg (R)

A new poll from Emerson shows the ‘Bernie bros’ aren’t quite down on solidarity with the Democrats ‘no matter what.’

Forbes’ analysis of the new survey shows 26% of Bernie supporters say they would vote for Donald Trump over Sen. Elizabeth Warren should she clinch the Democratic nomination.
Similarly, while 100% of Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s supporters say they would vote for Bernie should he prevail as the Democratic nominee, only 79% of Sanders supporters say they would support Buttigieg in a general election against Trump.
The Emerson poll is the first to show Sanders getting more support than former Vice President Joe Biden, who has seen his numbers slip a bit of late.

Sanders got 29% support, followed by Biden at 24% and then Buttigieg at 9%.

Harris and Beto O’Rourke garnered 8% and Warren just 7%. 
“While still early in the nominating process, it looks like Mayor Pete is the candidate capturing voters’ imagination; the numbers had him at 0 percent in mid-February, 3 percent in March and now at 9 percent in April,” wrote Director of Emerson Polling Spencer Kimball said of the results.

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Mayor Pete Buttigieg On ‘Meet The Press’

In an exclusive interview with Meet the Press, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-Ind.) talks to Chuck Todd about his 2020 presidential bid and why he believes Democrats are looking for generational change.

A devout Episcopalian, Buttigieg says at one point that the president “acts in a way” that is inconsistent with the scripture he hears in church.

“It’s something that really frustrates me because the hypocrisy is unbelievable,” he said during the interview. “Here you have somebody who not only acts in a way that is not consistent with anything that I hear in scripture or in church, where it’s about lifting up the least among us and taking care of strangers, which is another word for immigrants, and making sure that you’re focusing your effort on the poor.”

“But also personally how you’re supposed to conduct yourself,” he added, saying that much of Christianity calls for “humbling yourself before others.”

I see folks on Twitter getting crunchy about Buttigieg getting an inordinate amount of attention these days, but I disagree.

He’s got folks getting him on talk shows like MTP, The View and GMA, so more power to him.

I don’t hear anyone coming away, after listening to him share his positions, thinking he’s not worthy of the attention.

I think he’s moved beyond the ‘niche’ thing as the ‘gay candidate’ to impressing a lot of people with his commonsense approach to governance. Two terms as an executive leader, and years as a military veteran, make a solid base for this guy.

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Mayor Pete Raises Over $7 Million In First Quarter For White House Run

Openly gay Mayor Pete Buttigieg announced today his team raised over $7 million in the first quarter of 2019 for his potential presidential campaign.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana

Openly gay Mayor Pete Buttigieg announced today his team raised over $7 million in the first quarter of 2019 for his potential presidential campaign.

“This is just a preliminary analysis, but our team’s initial report shows we raised over $7 million dollars in Q1 of this year,” tweeted Mayor Pete. “We (you) are out-performing expectations at every turn. I’ll have a more complete analysis later, but until then: a big thank you to all our supporters.”

In an email to supporters Monday morning, Buttigieg added, “With a first fundraising report like this, we certainly cannot be ignored.”

Even though he has only announced an exploratory committee and not officially entered the race, the 37-year-old’s campaign haul definitely puts him squarely on the map.

Although, the South Bend mayor will still have some catching up to do.

CNN reports that Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont reported taking in $5.9 million the first day of his campaign. And former Rep. Beto O’Rourke raised $6.1 million in the 24 hours after his announcement.

In addition to campaign dollars, Democratic White House hopefuls are also looking to qualify for the first two debates according to the rules set by the Democratic National Committee.

To take the stage for those all-important debates, candidates must show donations from at least 65,000 individuals from 20 states, or earn at least 1% support in multiple polls.

Buttigieg has already announced he’s surpassed the 65,000 threshold.

And, he’s begun moving up in the polls.

A recent Emerson Poll of Iowa caucus-goers, Buttigieg surged to a double-digit third place garnering 11% support behind former Vice President Joe Biden (25%) and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont (24%).

In the January edition of that same poll, Buttigieg was getting zero percent support.

Even though he’s the youngest contender in the Democratic field, Buttigieg points to his two terms as mayor as well as his experience as a military veteran as worthy credentials that more than qualify him for the presidency.

Just a few weeks ago, we were seeing comments like, “Never gonna happen” in reference to a realistic run by Buttigieg.

Now, that statement doesn’t seem to be so accurate.

Stay tuned, folks…