Monthly Archives: September 2022

Gaylord National Resort and Convention CenterNational Harbor, Maryland

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Jaime, you give me hope. (Applause.) It is so good to see all of these leaders under one roof at one time. I see so many friends.I want to thank you all. And, Jaime, I want to thank you. Youve been such an incredible leader at a very, very significant and important time in our country. And thank you for the passion and the drive and the inspiration that you give to this position and to all of us as Democrats. Can we hear it up for Jaime Harrison? (Applause.) Thank you.So I do want to say that when we think about where we are today and, to the DNC members, I want to thank you all, because you are the leaders who are making our promise real in this country. And so, I thank you for that.To the elected leaders who are here and the elected officials, especially the state and local officials, thank you for lifting up our communities.As Jaime said, Ive been traveling the country, convening in particular our Democrats at the state level, because with so much of what has happened recently, their leadership is as, if not more, important than ever, in terms of you being on the ground a recognizable face in the community to remind people of all that is at stake and to give them a sense of optimism about our future.To the young leaders who are here, I thank you. You talked about a Harry Styles concert; that would be fun. (Laughter.) But thank you for all that you are doing. Ive met with so many of you, and you really are role models of what it means to understand the role of leadership that we all were born with, but its a matter of when you decide to turn it on. And you all are doing that work.And to our labor leaders who are here, thank you for fighting on behalf of working people every day. (Applause.) As you know, I head up the Labor Council with Marty Walsh, Secretary of Labor. And Joe Biden and I are very proud that we will be the most pro-union administration in the history of our country. (Applause.) Indeed.So, as Jaime said, weve got 59 days to go 59. And our work, your work is going to make all the difference because we know, Democrats, the stakes are so high.As the President as our President made clear in Philadelphia last week, the threats we face as a nation are great: threats to our freedom, threats to our very democracy. And we need to speak truth about that.And so, today, we all, by coming together, reaffirm that we refuse to let extremist, so-called leaders dismantle our democracy. (Applause.)We convene today to recommit to the fight for freedom. Democrats, we here rise to meet this moment. And weve done it before. It wasnt very long ago: 2020. Under extremely difficult circumstances, the American people stood for their country and our democracy in one of the greatest expressions of patriotism: They voted.They dropped off their ballot with their kids in the backseat. They took time off from work. They found childcare in order to stand in line for hours.Democrats, in 2020, you reminded American voters of the stakes and, so importantly, you reminded you reminded them that their vote matters and that they matter.And because of your work, more Americans voted than ever before, including a record number of younger voters.Because of your work, the American people delivered a Democratic Congress and sent Joe Biden and me to the White House. (Applause.)And so, all of our progress since has proven that your work mattered. In 2020, the American people put their trust in Democrats. And over these last 18 months, Democrats have delivered.Let me rephrase that. Over these last 18 months, Democrats have delivered big time. (Applause.)And if there was any question about whether theres a difference between the parties, well, over the last 18 months, it has become crystal clear: There is a big difference.We all know that American families have been struggling. But while Republican Party leaders have gone on TV to opine about the situation, Democrats actually did something about it. (Applause.)Think back, at the height of the pandemic, when Democrats provided emergency relief to the American people. You know, not one Republican in Congress voted for the bill.We extended the Child Tax Credit; brought down, in the first year, child poverty in America by 40 percent. We gave parents a tax cut of up to $8,000 for the cost of raising a child: medical supplies, school supplies. And not one Republican in Congress voted with us.Just last month, when Democrats brought down healthcare costs, energy costs by passing the Inflation Reduction Act, again, not one Republican in Congress voted for the bill.For years, Big Pharma tried to pocket bigger profits by stopping Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices. Well, Democrats we said, Enough. Because we know that it is not right in a civil nation that people go broke or bankrupt just to be able to get the prescription medication they need to live.And because of us, Democrats, Medicare now has the power to negotiate drug prices on behalf of 60 million Americans. (Applause.) Because we dont put profits before people.And of course, Republican Party leaders strongly opposed us when we cancelled between $10,000 and $20,000 in student debt for millions of Americans. (Applause.) But we know whats the right thing to do.They say they care about crime. Well, it was us who expanded background checks and passed the most significant gun violence law in 30 years. (Applause.)They made promise after promise about investing in infrastructure. You remember Infrastructure Week. (Laughter.)Well, it was us we led the way to the largest investment in our nations infrastructure in a generation. (Applause.)They downplay even deny the impact of climate change as communities are literally on fire. We made the largest investment to combat the climate crisis in history and deliver on environmental justice for people everywhere. (Applause.) And, yes, not one Republican voted with us.We have paid for all of this without raising taxes on working people. (Applause.)And, you know, its interesting. Republican Party leaders well, they like to talk about fiscal responsibility. We have done all of this and brought down the deficit by a record amount. (Applause.)And let us not forget about our judiciary. We are ensuring that our judiciary looks like America. (Applause.) Yes.We have confirmed more women to the federal courts than ever before (applause) including to the highest court in our land. (Applause.) Her name is Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Applause.)So, Democrats, you know, I believe that when you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for. So, let us remind the American people what Democrats stand for. Let us remind the American people that we, as Democrats we fight for the people, all the people. Let us remind them, in this moment, that the stakes could not be higher.You know, right now, extremist so-called leaders are trumpeting the rhetoric of freedom while they restrict and systematically attempt to take away freedoms.The United States Supreme Court just took a constitutional right that had been recognized from the people of America, from the women of America. And now, these extremist, so-called leaders are passing laws to criminalize healthcare providers and punish women.They believe that government should make personal decisions for women that government should make decisions for women about their own body.Well, we do not. We trust women. (Applause.)And an important point to be made on that subject is on the subject of choice and what the Dobbs decision has done and what it means. Its an important point to acknowledge that you dont have to abandon your faith or your beliefs to agree that the government should not be making that decision for her. (Applause.)And thank you, Kansas. (Applause.) You guys are here.Those extremist, so-called leaders claim we should return this issue to the voters in the states. Well, isnt that ironic? Because some of the same people are the ones passing laws that intentionally make it more difficult for people in those states to vote, passing laws that ban drop boxes and restrict early voting laws that make it illegal to give people food and water when theyve been standing in line for hours; undemocratic laws; un-American laws.So again, in this moment, the stakes could not be higher. And take a look because I have at which states from which states are we seeing attacks on the freedom to vote, attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, attacks on womens rights to make decisions about their own bodies. Take a look at from where these attacks are happening, and you will then not be surprised to know that theres quite a few of those states that are doing all three at the same time: Florida, Georgia, Texas.And this November, those governors well, theyre going to have to answer to the voters. (Applause.) As I travel to visit with all of you travel all over our country, let me tell you: Folks know they also know that elections matter up and down the ballot. Right?Because think about it. As doctors are being criminalized, pay attention to those local county prosecutor races. As big lies are being perpetrated, pay attention to those Secretary of State races. In fact, in 11 states right now in 11 states, Republican candidates for Secretary of State deny the results of the 2020 election. Just consider: The very people who dont trust elections want to be responsible for running them.And then, theres D.C., where we need to hold on and we will hold on to the House of Representatives and expand our majority in the United States Senate. (Applause.)And and on that point, allow me to lay out two very real scenarios for you. First, imagine I dont want to, but imagine if we lost our Democratic majority in the Congress.Republican Party leaders have made it clear: They want to ban abortion nationwide. And they wont stop there. Justice Clarence Thomas said the quiet part out loud: Marriage equality will be on the line. Contraception will be on the line. Without a Democratic majority in Congress, who knows what other rights they will come after?Now, imagine a better future. Imagine what we can do if we defend the five seats we need to hold on to the majority in the House. Imagine what we can do if we protect and, better yet, expand our majority in the Senate. Imagine. (Applause.)We can then fight to ensure every worker has paid family leave. We can fight to ensure every family can afford childcare. We can fight to ensure every childcare provider is paid fairly also. (Applause.)Because, you see, we have done a lot over these last 18 months, but we still have a lot more work that were ready to do.And, Democrats, with just two more seats in the Senate, we can codify Roe v Wade. We can put the protections of Roe into law. (Applause.)With two more seats in the United States Senate, we can pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. (Applause.) Two more seats. (Applause.) Thats right. Two more seats.And, you know, our President our President, Joe Biden, hes been clear. Hes kind of done with those archaic Senate rules that are standing in the way of those two issues. Hes made that clear, and has said that that he will not allow that to obstruct those two issues.And, you know, for me, as Vice President, Im also president of the Senate. And (applause) and in our first year in office, some of the historians here may know I actually broke John Adamss record of casting the most tiebreaking votes in a single term. (Laughs.) How about that? (Applause.) How about that?And so, that being the case, I cannot wait to cast the deciding vote to break the filibuster on voting rights and reproductive rights. I cannot wait. (Applause.) Fifty-nine days. Fifty-nine days.And heres the good news you all know it; I can feel the energy in the room weve got momentum on our side. Because again, if I may ask the Kansans in the room to stand so we can applaud what you did. (Applause.) Yeah. Momentum.Look what happened in Kansas. The people there these leaders and so many joined together and protected reproductive rights in their state.Look what happened in New Yorks Hudson Valley. Remember, the pundits predicted a Republican victory, but the people elected a Democrat to Congress. (Applause.)Look whats happening just last week in Alaska. (Applause.) How about that? Mary Peltola is on her way to the United States House of Representatives. (Applause.) And by the way, its the first time a Democrat has won that seat in 50 years. (Applause.)So, in the next 59 days, it is up to all of us here to build on this momentum. And each and every one of these days counts.And know that the majority of Americans are with us on so many of these issues. Because we stand with the people, and we fight for the people, and we are committed to leading our nation forward, not back.So, to every American, let us say: If you believe in the right to privacy, in the promise of freedom and liberty, in the ideal of self-determination, then stand with Democrats. If you believe in the promise of America, then stand with us.Because, you see, we do believe fundamental to America is to protect womens rights. Fundamental to America is to protect LGBTQ rights. Fundamental to the strength of America is to fight for workers rights. Fundamental to who America has always been and will be is to fight for immigrant justice. Fundamental to having responsible policing is the point that if we want to be safer and treat all as equals, this is what we do.If we as a nation want to invest in small businesses that make America stronger, stand with us.If you want to build the middle class and expand opportunity for every American wherever they live be it a big city, a suburb, or a small town stand with us.This is a pivotal moment in our nations history. And make no mistake: This election is how we rise to meet it. (Applause.)You all have heard me paraphrase Coretta Scott King so many times, and Im about to do it again. (Laughter.) She said, Struggle is a never-ending process, and freedom is never really won. You earn it, and you win it in every generation. And today, Im going to add a piece: and you earn it and you win it in every election. (Applause.)So, in 59 days, we will determine the future of our nation. And in these 59 days then, lets leave it all on the field. Because when we fight, we win. (Applause.)God bless you all. God bless America. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.) END

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Remarks by Vice President Harris at the 2022 Democratic National Committee Summer Meeting - The White House

With the midterm elections less than two months away, Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday said the "stakes could not be higher" as both parties wrestle for control of Congress.

Speaking at the Democratic National Committee's summer meeting in Maryland, Harris echoed President Joe Biden's recent attacks on "MAGA" Republican leaders who he says are a threat to the nation.

"We need to speak truth about that," Harris said. "Today, we all by coming together reaffirm that we refuse to let extremist, so-called leaders dismantle our democracy."

The vice president criticized the fallout from the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade as one example of such leaders attempting to "take away freedoms." At least 15 states have ceased nearly abortion services since the court's ruling in late June.

Harris warned Republicans could decide to ban abortion nationwide or go after other rights such as contraception or marriage equality if they become the majority in the House and Senate.

"Without a Democratic majority and conference, who knows what other rights they will come after?" she asked.

She condemned Republicans who say issues like abortion rights should be left up to individual states while also "intentionally make it more difficult for people in those states to vote" and called out three states -- Florida, Texas and Georgia -- for restrictive laws targeting abortion rights and the LGBTQ community.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, Sept. 9, 2022.

Adam Davis/POOL/EPA via Shutterstock, FILE

Like Biden, she also framed the midterm elections as a stark choice between the Democrats' agenda and that of some of their Republican colleagues.

"If there was any question about whether there's a difference between the parties, well, over the last 18 months, it has become crystal clear," she said. "There is a big difference. We all know that American families have been struggling but while Republican Party leaders have gone on TV to opine about the situation, Democrats actually did something about it."

The vice president went on to tout administrative accomplishments on COVID-19 relief, infrastructure, gun safety and the announcement of student debt cancelation.

Other parts of the Biden-Harris agenda, including child care and voting rights, have stalled in Congress but Harris said if Democrats can pick up two more seats in the Senate more can be done -- specifically highlighting her role as the Senate's tie-breaking vote.

"In our first year in office, some historians here may know, I actually broke John Adams's record of casting the most tie breaking votes in a single term," she said, before adding: "I cannot wait to cast the deciding vote to break the filibuster on voting rights and reproductive rights."

Biden has called on the Senate to change the filibuster rules to pass voting reforms and to codify Roe but was met with opposition from Republicans and a few members of the Democratic Party.

Republicans, in their midterm messaging, have criticized the Biden administration over inflation, gas prices and crime.

The GOP has been generally favored to win back control of the House and Senate this cycle but recent legislative and electoral wins are signs Democrats' odds may be improving.

Harris celebrated Democrat Mary Peltola's victory over Republican Sarah Palin in Alaska's special election for the state's vacant U.S. House seat, as well as Kansas voters rejecting an anti-abortion ballot measure.

"We've got momentum on our side," she said.

ABC News' Justin Gomez contributed to this report.

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Harris tells Democrats 'stakes could not be higher' as the midterms near - ABC News

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY DAN DAO / GETTY IMAGES

Welcome to Pollapalooza, our weekly polling roundup.

The Supreme Courts conservative justices arent on the ballot this November. But for Democratic voters, the upcoming midterms are looking more and more like a referendum on the countrys high court.

In late June, when the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in a contentious and divided ruling, Republicans had a solid 2-percentage-point lead over Democrats in generic-ballot polling, which asks Americans whether they plan to support Republicans or Democrats in the upcoming congressional election. A little over two months later, though, and abortion is mostly or completely illegal in 14 states and those generic-ballot polls look very different. According to FiveThirtyEights average, Democrats now have more than a 1-point lead over Republicans.

Thats a remarkable shift in a year when Republicans should have the wind at their back normally, the presidents party loses seats in the midterm elections. And although things could change in the months leading up to November, theres mounting evidence that the Supreme Courts ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization is galvanizing Democrats and shaking up the political landscape in the process.

A Pew Research Center poll conducted Aug. 1-14 found that more Americans have an unfavorable view of the Supreme Court than at any other point since Pew began asking the question just over 35 years ago. Only 28 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents have a favorable view of the Supreme Court, down 18 points since January and nearly 40 points since August 2020. Republicans views of the court, meanwhile, have gotten a bit more positive since the beginning of the year, which has created a gaping 45-point partisan gap in the Supreme Courts favorability rating.

Its not just that views of the court are changing the importance of abortion as an issue priority is also skyrocketing for Democrats in the wake of the Supreme Courts decision. According to the same Pew survey, the economy remains voters top issue overall, but the share of Democrats who say abortion is a very important issue for the midterm elections rose from 46 percent in March to 71 percent in August. Meanwhile, in a Gallup poll conducted July 5-26, 13 percent of Democrats said that abortion issues were the most important problem facing the country driving record-high levels of concern among Americans overall. An additional 9 percent of Democrats said that the judicial system and the courts were the most important problem.

This heightened focus on abortion and the court seems to be having a real effect on the midterms, too, with Democrats and independents saying in polls that they have a greater desire to vote for candidates who share their views on abortion. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll conducted July 7-17, for instance, nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of Democratic voters and 56 percent of independent voters say the Supreme Courts decision in Dobbs has made them more motivated to consider a candidates position on abortion. However, 62 percent of Republicans said the decision hadnt made a difference to them.

Americans cant vote Supreme Court justices off the bench, of course, but the Pew survey suggests that Democrats are more and more likely to think the court has too much authority. A solid majority (64 percent) of Democrats say the Supreme Court has too much power, up from only 23 percent in August 2020. Increasingly, Democrats also say that the justices are not making politically neutral decisions. Just over half (51 percent) of Democrats say the justices are doing a poor job of keeping their own politics out of their decision-making, up from 26 percent in January.

Even Republicans are somewhat divided on this question: One-third (33 percent) of Republicans said the court was doing an excellent or good job of keeping politics out of their decision-making, while 25 percent said the court was doing a fair job and 12 percent said it was doing a poor job. (An additional 15 percent of Republicans said they werent sure, and 13 percent said the Supreme Court justices should bring their own political views into their decision-making.)

This isnt the first time that anger surrounding the Supreme Court has reshaped a midterm election. In 2018, the fight over Justice Brett Kavanaughs confirmation to the court appeared to help Republican candidates in some key Senate races. At the same time, however, there were signs that year that the changing makeup of the Supreme Court and the possible impact on abortion rights was raising the salience of the issue for Democrats. That didnt seem to pay off for Democrats in the 2018 midterms since their base was motivated by other issues, but 2022 may be different.

According to FiveThirtyEights presidential approval tracker, 42.4 percent of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president, while 53.2 percent disapprove (a net approval rating of -10.8 points). At this time last week, 42.7 percent approved and 53.0 percent disapproved (a net approval rating of -10.3 points). One month ago, Biden had an approval rating of 39.6 percent and a disapproval rating of 55.7 percent, for a net approval rating of -16.1 points.

In our average of polls of the generic congressional ballot, Democrats currently lead by 1.2 points (44.9 percent to 43.7 percent). A week ago, Democrats led Republicans by 0.9 points (44.6 percent to 43.6 percent). At this time last month, voters preferred Democrats by 0.1 points (44.3 percent to 44.1 percent).

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The Supreme Court Is More Unpopular Than Ever. That Could Help Democrats. - FiveThirtyEight

The environment is upside down, said Michael Brodkorb, a former deputy chair of the Minnesota Republican Party. The intensity has been reversed.

It isnt just abortion. Less than 20 years after conservatives used ballot measures against same-sex marriage to boost voter turnout in 11 states, public sentiment has shifted on the issue so dramatically that Democrats are poised to force a vote on legislation to protect same-sex marriage to try to damage Republican candidates. Following the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Democrats from Georgia and Wisconsin to Illinois and California are running ads supporting gun restrictions, once viewed as a liability for the left, while openly engaging Republicans on crime.

In an advertising campaign shared with POLITICO, the center-left group Third Way said the PAC it launched last year to defend moderate Democrats, Shield PAC, will start spending at least $7 million next week on digital and mail ads in seven competitive House districts to counter Republican attacks on crime, immigration and other culture war issues.

The advertising push follows polling in Rep. Abigail Spanbergers Virginia district that suggested counter-messaging by Democrats on public safety could blunt the effect of defund the police attacks by Republicans. As a result, while Spanberger is airing ads tearing into her Republican opponent on abortion, Shield PAC will be running a digital campaign bolstering Spanbergers credentials on police funding.

The story is that things that used to be very dangerous for Democrats guns and abortion are now very good for Democrats, said Third Ways Matt Bennett. Those kind of culture issues [same-sex] marriage, abortion and guns have flipped. The political impact of them [has] flipped.

Republicans, Bennett said, are not giving up on the culture wars as a [political] opportunity ahead of the midterms. But he said, I think we can neutralize those issues if you correct the record.

Thats a far cry from the GOPs one-time strength: campaigning on God, guns and gays. It was only a year ago that the cultural flashpoints in American politics appeared much more favorable to the GOP, with Republicans driving a flurry of news cycles on mask mandates, critical race theory, transgender student athletes and the perceived excesses of social media and big tech.

Even on abortion, voter intensity if not overall public opinion appeared as recently as last year to be on Republicans side. In the Virginia gubernatorial race in 2021, a majority of voters who listed abortion as the most important issue facing the state voted for the Republican, Glenn Youngkin, according to exit polls.

But just as Democrats saw the politics of guns begin to shift in 2018 when candidates favoring restrictions on firearms prevailed in some congressional swing districts the rejection of an anti-abortion ballot measure in Kansas and Democratic over-performances in special elections in Nebraska, Minnesota and New York this summer revealed the opening for them in Roe.

Democrats are like, Eureka! We have our own culture war successes, said New York-based Democratic strategist Jon Reinish, a former aide to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. This year, he said, could be a turning point in which the deployment of the culture war actually works for the first time in the Democrats favor and not the Republicans.

That will say a lot about 2024, he added. Democrats are so afraid of their own shadows, naturally. But I think that if it works this time, this could give permission to not be afraid.

For Republicans, the toxicity of the Supreme Courts overturning of Roe v. Wade was not singularly in the unpopularity of the decision, but in its undercutting of Republican efforts to brand Democrats as extreme. At the base of every non-economic attack Republicans leveled at Democrats from crime to immigration and education was the idea that the left was out of touch. But Roe, supported by a majority of Americans including independents critical in a midterm election was a reminder that on one of the most salient issues of the midterms, Democrats were in the mainstream.

On top of that, abortion as a voting issue has been blotting out other cultural concerns, second only to inflation, according to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released on Thursday.

Patrick Ruffini, a Republican consultant and pollster who has worked for the Republican National Committee and former President George W. Bushs 2004 reelection campaign, said that while Republicans still have winning arguments on issues including school curriculum and pandemic-related restrictions, abortion happens to be the most salient issue right now.

Whit Ayres, a longtime Republican pollster, noted that cultural issues still benefit Republicans, but Dobbs is a big deal, because it really energized women who werent particularly political before, including younger women.

The best case for Republicans is to have this be a referendum on the Biden administration and Democratic governance, especially inflation, immigration and crime, he said. Anything that detracts from that referendum undermines the Republican case.

For Republicans, the result has been a general election reset in which the GOP is refocusing squarely on inflation and on Biden, whose low job approval ratings remain a drag on the Democratic Party. Republicans are still widely expected to take the House in November, though likely by narrower margins than once expected. But if they do win the House it will likely be those kitchen-table issues, not the culture wars, that put them over the top.

This is visible in Colorado and Washington, where Republicans are casting incumbent Sens. Michael Bennet and Patty Murray as stooges of a Biden administration responsible for inflation and a teetering economy. In Nevada, Republicans are similarly hitting Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto on the Biden-Masto economy. They are still campaigning on crime rates and on immigration in some states. But they are saying as little as possible about Roe.

In Minnesota, Scott Jensen, the Republican nominee for governor, this week released an ad in which he holds a baby, dismisses abortion as a divisive issue and appeals to voters to instead focus on the issues that matter.

With Democrats doing better than anyone right now on cultural issues, said a former Republican congressman familiar with the partys campaign operation, its going to be back to the economy and bread-and-butter for the GOP.

Its going to be about the economy and peoples views on whats in their economic best interest, said the former congressman, granted anonymity to speak candidly. Thats the way Republicans are going to win in the fall, I think.

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'The environment is upside down': Why Dems are winning the culture wars - POLITICO

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kelly speaks at an election watch party in Tucson, Arizona, U.S. November 3, 2020.

Cheney Orr | Reuters

Democrats are showcasing new partnerships with corporate America in an effort to convince voters that they can deliver jobs and safeguard the economy ahead of the midterm elections.

Many of the investments the party has touted are in key battleground states. In Arizona, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly whose reelection bid will help to determine Senate control joined AT&T CEO John Stankey and Corning CEO Wendell Weeks last week to announce a new fiber optic plant outside of Phoenix that will create hundreds of jobs.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen toured Ford's electric vehicle plant in Michigan on Thursday and discussed the benefits of clean energy. Later this month, she'll travel to North Carolina, where Toyota is spending $2.5 billion to manufacture EV batteries. North Carolina will also host a critical Senate race in November.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen holds a news conference in the Cash Room at the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, U.S. July 28, 2022.

Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

Perhaps most significantly, President Joe Biden will attend the groundbreaking of Intel's new semiconductor facility in the swing state of Ohio on Friday the start of an investment that could be worth up to $100 billion. Both company executives and lawmakers claim the project was made possible by legislation spearheaded by Democrats.

"When you pass good legislation, you get good results," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said this week as he ticked off a laundry list of business investments. "It's been a long time since the American people felt that Washington is capable of doing big things to meet big challenges."

That tone represents a shift in the rhetoric that Democrats espoused a year ago. Back then, they were focused on raising revenue from corporations and the wealthy to pay for a sweeping social spending proposal known as Build Back Better: increasing the corporate tax rate, crafting a minimum global tax on multinational businesses and imposing new taxes on millionaires and billionaires, among others.

And when inflation spiked to 40-year highs, some Democrats pinned the blame on corporate profiteering.

But those proposals were blocked by the party's moderates. Though most of the attention was focused on Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, centrists in the House such as Reps. Stephanie Murphy of Florida and Kurt Schrader of Oregon also expressed discomfort.

And as Democrats pared back their proposals, their message became more muted as well.

"It feels like a split screen sometimes," said Jim Kessler, executive vice president of policy at the moderate think tank Third Way. "But there's a real opening here for Democrats on the economy and on its relationship with business."

Now, Democrats are framing the latest investment announcements as evidence of their success on three other bills: the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and the Chips and Science Act both of which required Republican support and the Inflation Reduction Act, which Democrats passed on their own.

Shaking hands with business leaders could help counter Biden's low poll numbers. A majority of voters disapprove of his handling of the economy, including 57 percent of independents, according to an August poll by NBC News.

The efforts to tout business investment come as inflation has also provided Republicans with a powerful line of attack. The National Republican Senatorial Committee circulated a Gallup poll this week that showed 74% of low-income Americans had suffered financial hardship because of rising prices, up from 66% in January.

"The Democrats' recent policies hurt middle-class families around the country and have caused a recession whether they want to admit it or not," an NRSC spokeswoman said. "Democrats seem to be oblivious about solving inflation, continuing to hurt our economy, and need to be voted out in November."

Democrats haven't dropped their talking points on making corporations pay their fair share of taxes or holding big business accountable. The Inflation Reduction Act imposed a new tax on stock buybacks and set a domestic minimum tax of 15 percent, though manufacturers won a key carveout from that provision. It also will give Medicare the authority to negotiate prescription drug prices, despite heated opposition from the pharmaceutical industry.

But for now, Democrats are highlighting their alliances with businesses rather than their arguments. And even the left wing of the party is acknowledging that there could be political and economic benefits to working alongside the business community.

"I think there's an understanding among progressive thinkers in the economy that we can't just focus on redistribution. We can't just focus on taxes and transfers," said Lindsey Owens, executive director of Groundwork Collaborative. "We also have to focus on pre-distribution. We also have to make the market into what we want it to be."

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Democrats tout big business investments to bolster their economic case ahead of midterms - CNBC

By many predictions, New York has as many contested seats as any state in the nation, and POLITICOs Election Forecast puts two as toss-ups; three as leaning Democratic and one leaning Republican. That makes New York which hasnt elected a Republican statewide in 20 years one of the most unlikely stages of political theater this election cycle.

Ill only tell you this were going to be competitive in every race that weve got an opportunity to win. We understand were going to have to work hard, and were prepared to do that, state Democratic Committee chairman Jay Jacobs said.

The National Republican Campaign Committee is savoring the moment, saying they see New York ripe for pickups in November.

Democrats are on defense in more seats than they ever would have liked because every single one of their extreme liberal candidates backs a pro-criminal, reckless spending agenda thats hurting every New Yorker, NRCC spokesperson Samantha Bullock said.

Democrats have been criticized for partially putting themselves in the unenviable position of having to defend seats that they hoped would be safe. An overzealous attempt to draw district lines could have yielded Democrats as many as 22 of the states 26 districts. Democrats now hold 19 of 27 House seats in New York; the state is losing a seat next year due to population stagnation.

In April, the states top court struck down Democrats map for being too gerrymandered, leaving it to a Republican judge in a small upstate town to draw new maps that put more seats in play than anyone envisioned.

Still, Democrats have renewed optimism about picking up seats after Pat Ryans special election win last month in the Hudson Valley signaled their fortunes might not be as bad as theyd thought as he ran heavily on a pro-abortion-rights platform that resonated with voters in the swing district.

Were going to be very clear about the choice that voters have this year, and thats between a party that denies the validity of that last election in many cases support of the Jan. 6 insurrection and doing everything it can in turning back the clock, like reveling in the overturning of Roe. v Wade, Jacobs said.

Republicans, meanwhile, say a red wave is an inevitable consequence of a midterm election when the opposing party is in control at both state and federal levels the only question is how large it will be.

The message is one of optimism from the NYGOP perspective, said state party chairman Nick Langworthy, who himself is running for Congress in November after winning a Western New York primary last month. We have an embarrassment of riches of a lot of great candidates and a lot of great races.

Big money is flowing to endangered incumbents, and all predictions are tempered by the lack of precedent in the brand-new court-drawn districts.

Put that all in a blender and you have chaos, said longtime New York Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf, who has not aligned with any campaign this cycle but has worked in gubernatorial and House races for decades.

Turnout in November will also be uniquely unpredictable. Historically, in Manhattan people will think about national politics; in the suburbs, people will think about local conditions and who to blame, Sheinkopf said.

The extent of their excitement in a non-presidential year is unclear, especially as issues like gun laws and abortion rights driving increased engagement elsewhere are making less difference in New York, where Democrats have largely locked them into state law.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee with New Yorks Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney at the helm is focusing on claiming six districts in Central New York, the Hudson Valley, Staten Island and Long Island with a renewed emphasis on reproductive rights that played well in Ryans special election win and as he runs for a full term Nov. 8.

Strategists acknowledge that of the six, Democrats are least likely to find success against the two GOP incumbents Staten Islands Rep. Nicole Malliotakis and Long Islands Rep. Andrew Garbarino but theyre focusing on tying all of their opponents to former President Donald Trump and his supporters from the partys more extremist wings.

Republicans might not need to flip any New York districts that Biden carried in 2020 to reclaim the majority; in all, Republicans need to net only five seats to win the gavel. The party in New York has strong contenders to hold onto open GOP seats that include those being vacated by Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin, who is running for governor, and Central New Yorks Rep. John Katko, who announced in January he would not run for reelection.

If you think where this year started and oddly how its going to end: The Democrats had ever intention of taking us down to four seats, and here we are possibly fighting for 11 or 12, Langworthy said.

POLITICO Forecast Rating: Leans R

On the eastern end of Long Island, the race to succeed Zeldin is a complete toss-up on paper: Biden and Trump split the vote almost evenly. The race this year is also a bit of an oddity for a Long Island contest by historical standards it completely dodges any of the state Senate districts that are likely to be battlegrounds within it.

Zeldin, now the Republican gubernatorial nominee, will presumably help his party win at least some support at the top of the ballot in November.

LaLota is the chief of staff of the presiding officer of the Suffolk County Legislature and has served various roles in county government throughout the years. He won a three-way primary broadly based on the strength of each candidates ties to Trump.

He faces Fleming, a Suffolk County legislator, former prosecutor and Southampton Town councilwoman, who ran unopposed in the primary.

POLITICO Forecast Rating: Leans D

George Santos, Republican candidate for New York's 3rd Congressional District, poses for a portrait on Friday, June 12, 2020.|James Escher/Newsday via AP

The contest to succeed outgoing Democrat Rep. Tom Suozzi in a district that Democrats have held for decades and Joe Biden won by 10 points isnt usually ranked at the top of lists of New Yorks most competitive districts.

But the local election results in 2021 were as bad for Democrats as anywhere in the country. Republicans won every single office on the ballot in North Hempstead, which makes up a third of the congressional seats population and had previously been controlled by Democrats since the 1980s.

The DCCC added the district to its Red to Blue program just last week, providing Democratic National Committee member and longtime public affairs executive Zimmerman additional resources in the campaign against Republican investment banker Santos.

POLITICO Forecast Rating: Leans D

The seat being vacated by Democratic Rep. Kathleen Rice began to emerge as competitive to some local observers in just the past few months, thanks to Long Islands tempestuous political climate that is especially sensitive to local politics.

The November matchup pits former Hempstead supervisor Gillen, who became the first Democrat elected to the position in more than a century, against Hempstead Town Board member DEsposito, a volunteer firefighter and retired New York City police detective.

Gillen lost her supervisor reelection bid to a Republican in 2019, showing just how swiftly Hempsteads political winds can shift. She beat three other Democrats in the August primary. DEsposito ran unopposed in the primary and has had the partys support since March.

POLITICO Forecast Rating: Likely R

Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican from Staten Island, is running for re-election in a competitive district in New York City.|Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The seat containing Staten Island and a sliver of Brooklyn has been one of the states most back-and-forth in recent years, with Rose turning it blue with 53 percent of the vote in 2018 and Malliotakis winning it back for Republicans two years later, similarly with 53 percent of the vote.

The Democratic-drawn lines seemed poised to make it a lot less competitive, turning it from a district where Trump received 55 percent of the vote in 2020 to one where he received 45 percent. But the court-drawn maps left it largely the same as it had been for the past decade, creating a district where Trump received 46 percent.

The redesign has been widely assumed to leave Malliotakis as the frontrunner as the two face off in a rematch. But the tiny shift towards the Democratic column in the final maps means theres a path for a Rose victory, particularly if some of the Staten Islanders who were Trump fans dont participate in a midterm election.

POLITICO Forecast Rating: Leans D

Sean Patrick Maloney won a contentious Democratic primary and now faces a competitive general election race in the Hudson Valley.|Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AP Photo

Maloney, the five-term House member, soundly defeated his liberal primary challenger, Alessandra Biaggi, in the Aug. 23 primary, with hearty fundraising and widespread support from establishment Democrats across the nation.

But he faces another challenge in his new Hudson Valley district against his GOP opponent, state Assemblyman Lawler, who is painting Maloney as a wealthy member of the Washington establishment and has tied him and his congressional colleagues to high inflation, crime and tax rates.

Some polling has suggested the two are neck-and-neck in the Hudson Valley district, and the GOPs Congressional Leadership Fund recently dropped $1 million on TV ads for Lawler.

POLITICO Forecast Rating: Leans D

After winning a special election for a Hudson Valley House seat last month, Democrat Pat Ryan is looking to win a battleground race in November.|Mary Altaffer/AP Photo

Eleven weeks after winning a special election to serve in Congress for the remainder of the year, Ryan will be back on the ballot in a seat thats a bit more Democratic-friendly.

The new district chops pieces of nine mostly rural counties from the one that was the site of the last months election and adds Orange County and Poughkeepsie. That turns it from a seat that Biden won by about 1 percentage point to one that he won by more than 8 points.

Ryans victory also means hell have the advantages of incumbency for the homestretch of his new election, as well as a massive amount of national exposure that would help his fundraising.

Schmitt, a sophomore member of the state Assembly, outperformed Trump by 6 points in his district in 2020.

POLITICO Forecast Rating: Toss Up

After losing a special election for Congress last month, Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, a Republican, is running in a close House race in November.|Hans Pennink/AP Photo

Molinaro wouldve been the undisputed frontrunner in this race if it happened a couple of weeks ago. In a district thats a toss-up on paper, he had far more experience campaigning and better name recognition than any of his potential opponents. But his loss to Ryan means he wont enter the race with the advantages of incumbency and the fact that he lost the summers highest-profile election will likely scare off at least some potential donors.

The district is changed a bit from the one he ran in a couple of weeks ago it notably sheds a piece of Molinaros home county of Dutchess, where he is county executive but its not dramatically different politically.

It loses most of the Democratic stronghold of Ulster County, but replaces it with the Democratic stronghold of Tompkins County, which includes the college town of Ithaca. Rural counties like Schoharie are no longer in the district, but they are replaced by rural counties that include Chemung along the Pennsylvania border. All those changes turned it from a seat where Biden received 51 percent of the vote to one where he received 52 percent.

Riley, an Ithaca attorney, handily won the Democratic primary to run against Molinaro.

POLITICO Forecast Rating: Toss up

The new 22nd District that includes much of Syracuse emerged as perhaps the most competitive in the state when the safe Democrats seat was redrawn after New Yorks maps were declared improperly gerrymandered. Now the seat is one that Biden won by just 8 points, an even tighter margin than the seat outgoing Rep. Katko held.

But Katko regularly won crossover votes as the most moderate member of an increasingly polarized Congress, and both parties say that will work to their advantage.

Software company founder Williams upset the GOP primary with a victory over the former prosecutor Steven Wells, who had the GOP party backing and financial advantage. Williams will face Conole, a commander in the Navy Reserves.

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Who will control the House? Look to New York. - POLITICO

OPINION:

Hey, did you hear the one about the MAGA Trump supporter who grabbed a knife and plunged it deep into the body of a journalist who had been investigating his scandalous business-related behaviors?

No. You didnt. Because that never happened.

What did happen though was just that only the suspected knife-wielder was a Democrat. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why the mainstream media has been curiously hush-hush about the whole, otherwise utterly newsworthy, shocking and headline-grabbing, event.

If Robert Telles, 45, the guy police just arrested for allegedly stabbing to death Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German, had been Republican, CNN tongues would still be wagging. MSNBC talking heads would still be talking. ABC-CBS-NBC pundits would still be pundit-ing. And if Telles had been a MAGA Republican with an active, Donald Trump-fawning Twitter feed and similarly adoring social media platform?

Chances are, many in America wouldnt even know the queen just died.

Joe Biden would be taking up all the airwaves time talking about fascists in the Republican Party, clear and present dangers on the MAGA types, conservative threats to this very republic.

Heres the story: Telles, until his recent arrest, served as a public administrator in Clark County, Nevada, and had been the subject of several critical news articles penned by local journalist Jeff German, 69.

Telles was upset about articles that were being written by German as an investigative journalist that exposed potential wrongdoing, and Telles has publicly expressed his issues with that reporting, said Las Vegas police Capt. Dori Koren, at a news conference reported in The Washington Post.

Then German turns up dead in the streets, the victim of numerous stab wounds.

Then a photo of the suspect surfaces, showing a subject whos the possible attacker wearing a straw hat.

Then police identify Telles as a person of interest and conduct of search of his home, discovering shoes and a straw hat the exact type of which the suspect in the photo wore.

Then police announced a positive match between Telles DNA and DNA recovered from the crime scene.

Then quietly, oh so quietly, the political leanings of Telles are released. Turns out, Telles had just lost a Democratic primary race for his seat and more than that, blamed Germans reporting, at least in part, for his loss.

As the Las Vegas Review-Journals German wrote in the lead-up to the election, on June 22, when Telles seemed on track to lose: Telles pending defeat follows a Review-Journal investigation last month that uncovered an office in turmoil and claims of bullying, retaliation and in inappropriate relationship between Telles and a staffer.

The investigation angered Telles, so much that heposted a letter of rebuttal on his campaign website entitled, aptly enough, Addressing the False Claims About Me, which included attacks on the newspapers reporting.

Then, as Tellessnarked just days after his primary loss on social media: Looking forward to lying smear piece #4 by @JGermanRJ.

It would seem natural for journalists of all walks, all political ideologies, all competing media organizations to band together in issuance of at least a statement of compassion, never mind a stern call for accountability. It would seem natural, too, for Democrats in office to do the same. After all, they did for U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, killed and dismembered during his coverage at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

Democrats demand Saudi accountability over Khashoggi killing, a headline at The Hill said in February, 2021.

They did so, too, after Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearls Pakistan murder.

Just recently, wrote Rep. Adam Schiff, in May of 2009, Representative [Mike] Pence and I introduced the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act, H.R. 1861. This bill is aimed in honor of former Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and murdered by terrorists in Pakistan just 4 months after the September 11 attacks.

Rep. Schiff.

The guy who loves to hate Donald Trump that guy, still found cause to support murdered Pearl.

Where is he now?

Where are all the left-leaning voices in media and politics now? Busily avoiding mention of the suspects political leanings, so as not to upset the Democrats chances for midterm wins; so as not to upset the Democrats non-stop narratives of MAGA Republican violence and hate and racism and misogyny and fascism.

Robert Telles arrest: ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC avoid mentioning suspect in journalists murder is a Democrat, Fox News wrote in a recent headline.

Thats called bias by omission.

Or, even blunter: Thats called carrying water for the Democrats.

This election season is tense and tight and for Democrats, a tough, tough sell, given the inflation numbers and costs of fuel and massive redistributions of taxpayer monies for ridiculous climate change concessions to the hard left concessions that will only lead to higher energy costs and food prices for all of America. And lets not even get started on the looming frights called 87,000 new IRS agents, some armed, all waiting to target the hard-working citizen.

That is to say: Democrats have been campaigning on a narrative that Republicans in general and MAGA types specifically are bad for America, dangerous for America, violent to America. Then along comes a Telles to mess up that whole message.

Networks referred to the disgraced Las Vegas Democrat as an elected official who lost a primary, Foxs second headline read.

Oh yay, oh yah, smell the election desperation.

Most Americans, including Republicans, including MAGA Republicans, look at the sad situation of a journalist being murdered by a politician he was reporting on and think: tragic.

Democrats and their water carriers in the press? They look at this sad plight of a politician murdering a journalist just doing his job and think: polls. How to twist the story so as not to pike the poll numbers. And thats just tragic in itself.

Cheryl Chumley can be reached atcchumley@washingtontimes.comor on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast Bold and Blunt byclicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast byclicking HERE. Her latest book, Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom, is available byclicking HEREorclicking HEREorCLICKING HERE.

See original here:

A Democrat allegedly murders a reporter and the media goes 'shhh' - Washington Times