Posts tagged with "Democratic Party"

Above, attorney Chris Anulewicz (foreground) speaks in front of Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox (background). (Photo source: Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Georgia judge blocks hand-count ballot rule requirement for counties

October 18, 2024

A Georgia judge invalidated several new election rules on Wednesday, October 16—saying the measures approved by the state’s Republican-controlled Election Board were “unconstitutional” and in violation of state law, reports NBC News.

The ruling, handed down by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox, applies to seven rules, including a hand-count rule for Election Day ballots and rules tied to certif ying results.

Cox wrote that the five-member board—which includes three officials lauded by by former President Donald Trump—”had no authority to implement these rules” and that the measures were “illegal, unconstitutional, and void.”

The Georgia secretary of state’s office and the State Election Board did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday night.

The lawsuit was filed by a pair of Georgia voters, including former Republican state Representative Scot Turner, who leads the election policy advocacy group, Eternal Vigilance Action, which is also named as a plaintiff in the suit. Their attorneys said in a filing last month that the board’s passage of the rules “risks destabilizing Georgia’s voting, vote counting, and vote certification process.”

Turner lauded the ruling Wednesday night on X.

“This is a victory for the Constitution and the principle of separation of powers,” he wrote. “Every conservative should see this as a win and significant pushback on an unelected board making law. We thank Judge Cox for efficiently issuing his ruling.”

The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented civil rights groups that intervened in the case, called the ruling “a big victory for voting rights.”

The state’s new election rules have also faced significant criticism and legal challenges from the Democratic National Committee and the state Democratic Party, which sued the Election Board over the new rules in August.

Research contact: @NBCNews

Above, Repreentative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) (Photo source: Institute for Free Speech)

AOC not ruling out Senate challenge against Chuck Schumer in 2022

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August 18, 2021

Representative. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-14^th District, New York) is not ruling out challenging Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York)— a 22-year Senate vet and stalwart member of the “moderate” wing of the Democratic Party — in a primary next year, reports the New York Post.

When the progressive “Democratic socialist,” who represents the Bronx and Queens, was asked by CNN’s Dana Bash if she is considering a campaign against her fellow New Yorker, AOC said she had not seriously considered it but also left the door open for a challenge.

“I know it drives everybody nuts. But the way that I really feel about this; and the way that I really approach my politics and my political career is that I do not look at things, and I do not set my course positionally,” she said in the late June interview that is set to air in full Monday night as part of CNN’s new series “Being …”

“And I know there’s a lot of people who do not believe that. But I really — I can’t operate the way that I operate and do the things that I do in politics while trying to be aspiring to other things or calculating to other things,” the 31-year-old progressive added.

Schumer, 70, who has represented New York state in the Senate since 1999, is up for re-election in 2022.

AOC defeated 10-term Democratic incumbent Representative Joe Crowley in a primary race in 2018 and went on to win the general election to represent the Empire State’s 14th Congressional District.

“For what it’s worth, Senator Schumer and I have been working very closely on a lot of legislation and that, to me, is important,” she told Bash. “And so, we shall see.”

In addition, the Post said, AOC has been asked before about a potential challenge to Schumer.

In January, she told Punchbowl News that she was “very much in a place where I’m trying to decide what is the most effective thing I can do to help our Congress, our [political] process, and our country actually address the issues of climate change, health care, wage inequality, etc.”

“I’m not playing coy or anything like that,” she added.

In her CNN interview, AOC also was asked about ambitions that go beyond the Senate, including a run for the White House. She said that looking that far into the future, at least for now, would compromise her ability to do her current job.

“I struggle with this because I don’t want little girls watching or anything like that to lower their sights or anything in that direction. But for me, I feel that if that was in the scope of my ambition, it would chip away at my courage today,” she said.

Research contact: @nypost

Above, Pete Buttigieg endorses Joe Biden. (Photo source: Univision Politics)

Biden gets another boost from rivals-turned-endorsers Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and O’Rourke

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March 4, 2020

Following his bang-up win in the South Carolina primary on Saturday, February 29, former Vice President Joe Biden would be justified in invoking the famous Mark Twain quip, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”

Biden, who had been struggling until that crucial victory, took home 35 delegates (for a total of 54) and 48.4% of the vote from the Palmetto State; compared to Bernie Sanders’ booty of 13 delegates (for a total of 60) and 19.9% of the vote, The Huffington Post reported.

But the stakes were much higher on Super Tuesday, March 3, when 14 states—among them, California and Texas, with 415 and 228 pledged candidates, respectively—were scheduled to go to the polls for their Democratic primaries, as Yahoo reports.

However, a new wave of endorsements, coming the night before the Super Tuesday polls opened, could give Biden the boost from moderate voters that he needs.He appeared on stage with former rivals Amy Klobuchar and Beto O’Rourke on Monday night and presented his emerging two-person race with Bernie Sanders as a battle for the soul of the Democratic Party, NBC News reports.

Pete Buttigieg flew from South Bend, Indiana, to Dallas to endorse Biden before his rally but returned home and did not join the former vice president at the event.

At the rally, Biden told cheering supporters that Super Tuesday voters are “going to determine what this party stands for, what we believe,and what we’re going to get done” — and took a series of swipes at Sanders.

“If Democrats want a nominee who will build on Obamacare, not scrap it; take on the NRA and gun manufacturers, protect our children; who’ll stand up for the middle class, not raise their taxes and make promises that can’t be kept, then join us,” Biden said. “If Democrats want a nominee who’s a Democrat, a lifelong Democrat, a proud Democrat, a lifelong Democrat, then join us. We can either win big or lose big, that’s the choice.”

According to the NBC News story, a running theme in the remarks of Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and O’Rourke was that Biden is the party’s best chance at victory and offers a decent and caring alternative to President Donald Trump.

“We need somebody who can beat Donald Trump. The man in the White House today poses an existential threat to this country, to our democracy, to free and fair elections, and we need somebody who can beat him,” O’Rourke said. “In Joe Biden, we have that man.”

Buttigieg said Biden would “bring back dignity to the White House” if elected president and “change the toxic and divisive nature of our politics right now.”

“He is somebody of such extraordinary grace and kindness and empathy,” said the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

Klobuchar appeared to take a veiled dig at Sanders: “It is time for a president who represents all of America, including people at the middle of this country, at a time when we see people in extremes that are trying to drown out people,” she said.

Speaking to reporters in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Monday, Sanders addressed the consolidation of party elites behind Biden, calling it “a massive effort trying to stop Bernie Sanders,” NBC said.

“The corporate establishment is coming together. The political establishment is coming together and they will do everything. They are really getting nervous that working people are standing up…We are winning working class voters, by big numbers,” Sanders said. “So it doesn’t surprise me why would I be surprised that establishment politicians are coming together?”

Research contact: @NBCNews

Above, Hillary Clinton (left) and Tulsi Gabbard. (Photo source: 100percentfedup)