Politics Election category, Page 311
Biden wins South Carolina, hopes for Super Tuesday momentum; Steyer drops out
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Joe Biden scored a thundering victory in South Carolina’s Democratic primary on Saturday, riding a wave of African American support and ending progressive rival Bernie Sanders’ winning streak. Biden’s win came at a do-or-die moment in his 2020 bid as the moderate Democrat bounced back from underwhelming...
Jeff Sessions in fight to win back his old Senate seat
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — To reclaim the Alabama Senate seat he held for 20 years, Jeff Sessions must first get through a competitive GOP primary with challengers eager to capitalize on his very public falling out with President Donald Trump. The former attorney general is banking on his long history in...
White House hopefuls target Trump on coronavirus response
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Democratic White House hopefuls are seizing on President Donald Trump’s delayed response to the coronavirus outbreak, calling it the latest evidence of his incompetence and warning that the crisis may only deepen as a result. But some experts and Democrats warn that the candidates risk exacerbating a...
Warren still dogged by past claims of indigenous ancestry
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Cherokee citizens are calling on Elizabeth Warren to publicly disavow a family story of indigenous heritage as a way to dissuade others from making false claims they say often romanticize Native Americans. The topic has haunted the Massachusetts senator since even before she announced she would seek...
Pence’s handling of 2015 HIV outbreak gets new scrutiny
INDIANAPOLIS — President Donald Trump’s choice of Vice President Mike Pence to oversee the nation’s response to the new coronavirus threat is bringing renewed scrutiny to the former governor’s handling of an HIV outbreak in southern Indiana when he was governor. Pence reluctantly agreed to authorize a needle exchange program...
Congress eyes billions in funding to fight coronavirus
WASHINGTON — Capitol Hill negotiations on emergency spending to combat the coronavirus outbreak are likely to produce a bill that’s double or even triple the $2.5 billion plan requested by President Donald Trump just days ago. Lawmakers and aides involved in the talks say they are proceeding well and are...
Barack Obama asks TV stations to take down anti-Biden ads using his voiceVideo
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Former President Barack Obama asked TV stations Wednesday to stop airing ads featuring his voice over on-screen attacks on former Vice President Joe Biden. The ads, which aim to depress African American votes in Saturday’s South Carolina Democratic primary, are funded by the pro-Donald Trump super PAC...
Trump names Pence to lead U.S. response to coronavirus threatVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump declared Wednesday that the United States is “very, very ready” for whatever the coronavirus threat brings, and he put his vice president in charge of overseeing the nation’s response. Trump sought to minimize fears of the virus spreading widely across the U.S., saying, “I don’t...
Congress warns Pentagon not to move money to fund Trump’s border wall
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers from both parties told Pentagon leaders on Wednesday that the Defense Department is undermining its own efforts to get military money by diverting billions of dollars for the construction of President Donald Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border wall The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and the committee’s...
House makes lynching a federal crime, 65 years after Emmett TillVideo
WASHINGTON — Sixty-five years after 14-year-old Emmett Till was lynched in Mississippi, the House has approved legislation designating lynching as a hate crime under federal law. The bill, introduced by Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush and named after Till, comes 120 years after Congress first considered anti-lynching legislation and after dozens...
‘No way out’: Demographics drive GOP nosedive on West Coast
BEND, Ore. — In the early 1990s, the population of Bend was around 25,000 and leaned Republican. A lumber mill operated along the banks of the Deschutes River in Oregon’s high-desert country. Today, the lumber mill is an REI outdoor recreation store. The population has quadrupled. And for the first...
Joe Biden nabs Jim Clyburn endorsement before South Carolina primary
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the highest-ranking black member of Congress and the kingmaker of South Carolina’s Democratic political orbit, on Wednesday endorsed Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. The backing could provide a much-needed boost for the former vice president heading into South Carolina’s primary. “I can think...
Analysis: Sanders learns what it’s like to be a front-runner
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Bernie Sanders has spent much of his career on the political margins, an outsider looking in. Now, the protest politician is learning what it’s like to be the front-runner for a major political party. Sanders was the target of persistent attacks in Tuesday’s Democratic presidential debate, both...
Democrats band together to knock Sanders during debate clash
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Democrats unleashed a roaring assault against Bernie Sanders and seized on Mike Bloomberg’s past with women in the workplace during a contentious debate Tuesday night that tested the strength of the two men at the center of the party’s presidential nomination fight. As the undeniable Democratic front-runner,...
AP FACT CHECK: Claims from the Democratic debate – Feb. 25, 2020
WASHINGTON — They flailed their arms, talked over each other and at one point called for backup, asking fact checkers to come to their rescue. The last debate before a crucial stage of the primaries was an often unruly affair as the Democratic presidential contenders powered past the moderators in...
5 takeaways from the South Carolina Democratic debate
Well, that was spunky! South Carolina has a history of rapscallion politicians and rowdy debates and Wednesday night’s two-hour throw down in Charleston was no exception. For those not named Michael R. Bloomberg or Bernie Sanders the debate may have been the last best chance for candidates to assert themselves...
Democrats thwart Senate Republicans on 2 abortion-related bills
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked a pair of Republican bills that would ban most late-term abortions and threaten prison for doctors who don’t try saving the life of infants born alive during abortions. The measures have been defeated multiple times in recent years, but Senate Republicans pushed for...
Democrats beating Trump in a key Pa. county he flipped from Obama, poll says
President Donald Trump trails his top Democratic opponents in a new poll of a key Pennsylvania swing county, though most voters surveyed have positive feelings about the economy, usually a predictor of reelection strength. Trump is running narrowly behind most of the Democratic contenders in Erie County, a longtime Democratic...
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blasts China, Iran for response to virus outbreak
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday hit out at China and Iran for their response to the outbreak of coronavirus, accusing the two governments of censorship and of trying to cover up the severity of the spread of the deadly illness. Pompeo assailed Beijing for expelling three...
U.S. appeals court upholds Trump rules involving abortions
SEATTLE — In a victory for the Trump administration, a U.S. appeals court on Monday upheld rules that bar taxpayer-funded family-planning clinics from referring women for abortions. The 7-4 ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned decisions issued by judges in Washington, Oregon and California. The court...
Monongahela native, Purdue president wants civics test as graduation requirement
Let’s hope they paid attention in high school civics. If students at Purdue University didn’t master civics back then, they might find themselves in a bit of a bind. Inside Higher Ed, a publication that follows higher education, is reporting Purdue President Mitch Daniels wants to make a passing grade...
White House unveils $2.5B emergency coronavirus request
WASHINGTON — The White House on Monday sent lawmakers an urgent budget request for $2.5 billion to address the deadly coronavirus outbreak, whose rapid spread and threat to the global economy rocked financial markets. The White House budget office said the funds are for vaccines, treatment, and protective equipment. The...
Pennsylvania launches webpages to school voters on new procedures
State officials are making good on a promise to get out the word about Pennsylvania’s new voting systems — at least online. On Monday, three weeks before the new date when voters may apply for a no-excuse absentee ballot, the Pennsylvania Department of State launched a new website (www.votespa.com/readytovote), complete...
Joe Biden predicts South Carolina win as Democrats grapple with Bernie Sanders
HILTON HEAD, S.C. — Joe Biden expressed confidence on Monday that he would win this weekend’s South Carolina primary as he and other Democrats fight to loosen front-runner Bernie Sanders’ grip on the party’s 2020 presidential nomination. Opening the most critical week of his campaign, Biden said he would win...
Trump says he was not told that Russia was helping Sanders
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Sunday that he has never been briefed about Russian efforts to help Bernie Sanders win the Democratic presidential nomination and he accused the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee of leaking election security information from a classified briefing. Sanders acknowledged on Friday that...
