Democratic Party Archives

How the Ukraine War Is Affecting American Politics

The notion that foreign policy was unimportant to most Americans is a long-held belief by many. One explanation is that foreign policy issues felt distant. Another explanation is that Americans lacked sufficient knowledge of it. But while that may be true in times of peace, Americans definitely do care about foreign policy when a major crisis occurs. This is clearly shown in the overwhelming response Americans have displayed with regards to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

2022 Gubernatorial Election Ratings (Mar 2022)

Thirty-six states are holding gubernatorial elections this November. And while most states vote the same way for their governor as they do federally, gubernatorial elections are typically far less partisan. This makes rating these elections more difficult, as incumbent popularity and campaign platforms play a bigger role here than they do nationally. Despite their status as being less partisan, they are still overwhelmingly important. Control of governorships usually dictates a state’s policy. Wisconsin, for instance, would be far more conservative if the governor was Republican.

Major House Redistricting Victories for Democrats

Since the last update on congressional redistricting, there have been substantive changes in the playing field in the decennial process. Despite what seemed to be hopelessly bad turf for the Democratic Party, they have managed to turn the tables and gain a narrow edge over the Republicans. In total, of the 44 states that have finished redistricting so far, the Democrats have a net gain of 12 seats. Republicans lost five seats. This is mainly due to a string of court, legislative, and commission victories in the Democrats’ favor.

Schumer Sets Up Vote For Senate Rule Change To Pass Voting Rights Legislation

On Monday morning, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced in a letter to colleagues that the Senate will vote on changing the rules to pass voting rights legislation if Republicans block a vote to open debate by Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 17. The threat to nuke the filibuster comes at the beginning of a critical midterm election year for the Democratic Party, where control of both houses of Congress is at stake.

Redistricting: Which Party Is Ahead? (Dec 2021)

Forty-four states have already begun the decennial congressional redistricting process, with 20 states already enacting finalized House maps that will run through the next 10 years. That is 14 more than in the previous update (not including states with only one district). In this post, we’re going to take a look at how redistricting is going in each state and discuss which party is doing better.

Virginia Gubernatorial Election Points to 2022 Red Wave

On Tuesday, off-year elections were held in various states, with the most notable races being the Virginia gubernatorial election and the New Jersey gubernatorial election. A number of other special elections were also held to fill congressional vacancies, and multiple cities also held mayoral elections. Notably, Republicans swept into power in Virginia, and New Jersey’s incumbent Democratic governor was just a hair’s smidge away from losing to a Republican. Yet, in what seemed like a great year for Republicans, a number of progressive Democrats won races in local elections.

Gavin Newsom Survives Recall Election

Almost five months after an effort led by the California Republican Party to recall Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom and a month of mail voting, in-person voting for the recall election finally closed on Tuesday. Less than an hour later, The Associated Press called the race against the recall for Newsom, and with 74 percent of the vote in, 64 percent of voters voted against recalling Newsom. Just 36 percent of voters voted in support of the recall.

Andrew Cuomo Resigns Over Sexual Harassment Scandal

Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced his resignation on Tuesday, August 10, effective in two weeks’ time. Cuomo announced his resignation amid a slew of sexual harassment allegations and the New York attorney general releasing a report that found he sexually harassed 11 women. Had he not resigned, Cuomo would have faced near-certain impeachment from the Democratic state legislature.

Senate Passes Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and Preps For Partisan Bill

The Senate has finally passed the bipartisan infrastructure bill negotiated months ago and was at once on the brink of failure on Tuesday. The package includes $1.2 trillion of new spending on physical infrastructure, $550 billion of which is new spending. In a related move, Senate Democrats on early Wednesday morning passed a budget resolution allowing them to proceed on a $3.5 trillion partisan economic, infrastructure, and investment package.

Senate Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill In Peril

It has been a long time since President Joe Biden first announced an infrastructure and jobs bill and over a month since a group of senators agreed on a bipartisan infrastructure package totaling $1.2 trillion, with $600 billion in new spending. Anything this large on a bipartisan scale is clearly fragile, and with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer trying to force a procedural vote on the bill on Wednesday, many Republican senators, including some of those who helped negotiate the bill, are having second thoughts.

Vaccination Rates Highlight Red and Blue State Divide

The Delta variant of COVID-19 has started to gain a foothold in the U.S. recently. On Monday, 32,105 cases were reported across the U.S., representing a 94 percent increase over the past 14 days. The uptick in cases is mainly fueled by rising case levels in states with low COVID-19 vaccination rates, with Arkansas, Missouri, and Louisiana seeing particularly alarming outbreaks.

Decoding the Moves of Sen. Joe Manchin

Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat from the very Republican state of West Virginia, may seem to be one of the last, if only, conservative-esque, centrist Democrats left in Congress. He seems to oppose many Democratic priorities, such as on abortion, increasing the minimum wage, and gun control, and always tries to act in a bipartisan way. Lately, he voiced his opposition to passing the For the People Act, a large, sweeping Democrat-backed voting rights reformed package also known as H.R. 1 or S. 1. However, despite this, he isn’t nearly as conservative or as Republican-friendly as he may first seem.

Texas Dems Defeat GOP Voter Suppression Bill For Now

In a stunning turn of events, members of the Democratic caucus of the Texas House of Representatives staged a dramatic walkout in a last-ditch effort to stop the Republican Party from passing one of the most severe voter suppression bills in the U.S. The walkout by all 67 Democrats in the state House meant that the Republican Party wouldn’t be able to form a 100-member quorum in the 150-member body, meaning that the bill was not able to be passed before the end of this legislative session, which ended on May 30.

Senate GOP Blocks Jan. 6 Commission

Despite compromises by the Democratic Party, Senate Republicans have blocked an effort lead by the Democrats to establish a bipartisan commission investigating the riots and insurrection at the Capitol Building on Jan. 6. With a bipartisan commission now officially off the books, the only other solution left for the Democrats may be to establish a congressional select committee into investigating the attack, which is sure to be more partisan.

Why Puerto Rico Should Be Granted Statehood

The push to make Washington, D.C. a state has never been greater. Not only has the House passed a bill that would admit the federal district as a state this Congress, making it the second consecutive Congress that passed such an act, it has also been introduced in the Senate and there has been a great push for it to become a real state. However, the push to make Puerto Rico, an American territory in the Caribbean which has a population of 3 million, a state has not garnered such attention and support. Granting Puerto Rico statehood would give more than 3 million Americans representation in government.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom Recall Effort Qualifies

A recall effort organized by Republicans against California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has reached the number of valid signatures required for the state to hold a recall election, the California secretary of state reported Monday. The state is now all but certain to be holding a gubernatorial recall election later this year, for only the second time ever in the state’s history.

An Early Look Into the 2022 Senate Elections

After talking about why increasing political polarization and hyperpartisanship are horrible for the Senate, today, we are going to discuss the 2022 Senate elections as a whole. The 2022 midterms will be the first major federal elections to be held in President Joe Biden’s first term, and we could see a Republican sweep if Biden is disapproved of in a year and a half’s time, or we could see Democrats maintain control if Biden and his party remain popular.

Partisanship is Destroying How the Senate Functions

The Senate is the most important legislative body in the United States. It is the upper chamber of Congress, and is also the body that confirms all of a president’s nominees. By design, the Senate was meant to exist to give smaller states equal representation in Congress and encourage bipartisanship, but America’s increasing partisanship is slowly eating away at the principles of how the Senate once worked.

NYC Mayoral Race Heats Up With 10 Weeks to Go

New York City, the nation’s largest city, is holding its mayoral race this November, with a primary election beginning on June 22, 2021. With incumbent Mayor Bill de Blasio ineligible for a third term, the race between the Democratic two frontrunners — businessman Andrew Yang and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams — is heating up.

Biden to Unveil Major Infrastructure, Jobs Plan

President Joe Biden is preparing to announce Wednesday the first half of his major infrastructure and jobs proposal during a visit to Pittsburgh. This bill, which includes major investments in utilities, transportation, and green energy, is expected to cost at least $2 trillion and will complement another bill (to be announced at a later date) on welfare and social issues, an area which the administration calls “human infrastructure.”

The Liberalization of America: Liberal Policies Increasingly Popular in Washington

Policies even the far-left couldn’t even dream of two decades ago is now becoming mainstream in Washington, and President Joe Biden is turning in favor of many of them too. From eliminating the filibuster, to investing big in green energy, to overhauling voting rights, to spending big in America’s infrastructure, and to admitting Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico as states, liberal ideals are now starting to gain footholds in Congress.

Boulder Shootings Reignite Gun Control Debate

On March 22, 2021, a 21-year-old man opened fire inside a King Soopers supermarket in the town of Boulder, Colo., a suburb of Denver, killing 10 people, including a police officer. This is the second major mass shooting in a week. Last Tuesday, a gunman opened fire in three spas in the Atlanta area, killing a total of eight people. The shootings have once again brought the issue of gun control front and center onto the national stage.

GOP Opposition On COVID-19 Relief May Backfire

There is no doubt that the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill is popular among Americans. Among the bill’s many provisions include a provision that sends most Americans $1,400 in stimulus money, extends unemployment benefits, and provides many poverty-reducing measures, including a tax credit that could cut child poverty in half. However, the Republican Party has been completely united on opposing the bill, a decision which may come back to bite the GOP in the foot come the 2022 midterms.

NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo Facing Major Scandals

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York’s three-term Democratic governor, was once one of the most popular governors in the country. Many had hailed him for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, in an ugly turn of events for Cuomo, multiple scandals are now plaguing him. Not only was it discovered that Cuomo had underestimated the number of COVID-19 deaths in the state’s nursing homes by as much as 50 percent, but at least six women have also accused the governor of sexual harassment and misconduct.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom Faces a Recall Effort

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is facing a major recall effort organized in part by the state GOP after outrage began last year over coronavirus-related restrictions. It is the largest and likeliest-to-succeed recall effort of a California governor every since then-Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, was recalled in 2003, with Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger succeeding him.

Congress Passes $1.9T COVID-19 Relief Package

Both the House and Senate have now passed President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, 49 days after he took office on Jan. 20. The package passed both houses of Congress with zero Republican support, and the approval from Congress comes as U.S. COVID-19 cases and deaths are on a sharp decline and vaccine rollout occurs at one of the fastest rates in the entire world. The bill now proceeds to Biden’s desk, awaiting his signature in order for the bill to become law.

Manchin Signals Openness to Filibuster Reform

Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate West Virginia Democrat, signaled on Sunday that he is open to modifying the filibuster to make it more “painful” for the minority party to invoke, while maintaining that he does not support removing the filibuster altogether. The comments come as progressive and liberal Democrats call to eliminate the filibuster altogether to allow the Democratic Party to pass substantial reforms.

Senate Passes Biden’s $1.9T COVID-19 Stimulus Bill

The U.S. Senate passed President Joe Biden’s historic $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill after an all-night “vote-a-rama” session and a daylong struggle to convince one key senator, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to get on board with the bill. The bill passed 50-49 by a party-line vote and the House will vote on the bill again Tuesday before it is sent to the president to be signed into law.

House Passes Landmark Sweeping Voting Rights Bill

The Democratic-controlled House passed the For the People Act of 2021 on Wednesday, also known as H.R. 1. This is a major, sweeping election reform bill that will expand voting rights, limit gerrymandering, change campaign finance laws to reduce the influence of financial lobbying, create a public financing option for congressional campaigns and create new ethics rules for officeholders. Unfortunately, it faces an uphill battle in the Senate.

Senate Official Rules Against $15 Minimum Wage In Stimulus

Democrats, especially progressive Democrats, suffered a major setback on Thursday in their bid to include a provision that would gradually increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour in the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package, after the Senate parliamentarian, who acts as the rule enforcer, said that it could not be included in the bill, since the bill is to be passed via the budget reconciliation measure.

Neera Tanden Faces Hard Path to Confirmation as OMB Director

Neera Tanden, President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget, is facing scrutiny from members of Congress. As Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced on Friday that he would vote against her confirmation, it significantly reduces the likelihood of her confirmation given Republican resistance to her confirmation.

Nevada Looks to Succeed New Hampshire to Hold 1st Presidential Primaries

Iowa and New Hampshire have always been the first two states to hold presidential primaries every election cycle. The Iowa Caucuses and New Hampshire Primary have become synonymous with the first primaries and have always been seen as particularly important to prospective candidates. However, Iowa and New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation status when it comes to holding primaries is facing another threat: Nevada.

House Removes Greene From Committee Assignments

After House Republicans voted against removing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., of her committee assignments on Wednesday, the Democratic-controlled House held a floor vote on Thursday which removed her from her committee assignments on the House Budget Committee and House Committee on Education and Labor.

Dems Pave Way to Use Reconciliation to Pass COVID-19 Relief

Senate Democrats took a major step Tuesday in advancing toward passing a major $1.9 trillion COVID-19 economic relief and stimulus package by voting to kickstart the process to pass the package via budget reconciliation. This is a congressional maneuver which could avoid a Republican filibuster in the Senate stopping the package from passing, since reconciliation requires only a simple majority to pass in the Senate.

2020 Election Recap: Most Tumultuous Election of Our Time

With the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Jan. 20, 2021, the 2020 election season officially comes to an end, marking the end of one of the most tumultuous, most defining elections of our lifetimes. A record-breaking 158 million Americans voted in this election, and 74 million of them voted for the Donald Trump-Mike Pence ticket, and 81 million voted for the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris ticket. It was the first time in history any ticket surpassed 70 million votes.

DC Statehood Bill Introduced In US Senate

On Wednesday, Democrats once again reintroduced legislation in the House and Senate that would make Washington, D.C., the 51st state. The measure was reintroduced in the House after it died in the 116th Congress when the then-Republican-controlled Senate refused to hold a vote on the bill after it passed the house by Washington, D.C., Democratic Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a nonvoting delegate representing the district in Congress, and in the Senate by Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del.

Biden Signs Executive Orders On COVID-19 Control, Stimulus

On Thursday, President Joe Biden signed another 11 executive orders to coordinate a better federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was severely mishandled by the Trump administration and has already taken the toll of more than 400,000 Americans to date. He is also expected to sign another two orders Friday to provide some more economic relief to the millions of people affected by the pandemic.

‘Democracy Has Prevailed’: Joe Biden Officially Sworn In

Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Kamala Harris were officially sworn in Wednesday as the 46th President and 49th Vice President of the United States respectively. The historic inauguration took place in a country slashed apart by a deadly pandemic, division, and polarization after the tumultuous Donald Trump presidency, which tested American democracy in unprecedented ways. But ultimately, one thing was clear, in the words of Joe Biden: “Democracy has prevailed.”

A New Day In America: Biden Prepares to Be Sworn In as 46th POTUS

At precisely noon EST on Wednesday, Donald Trump and Mike Pence will cease to be president and vice president of the United States respectively. At the same time, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be sworn in as the 46th President and 49th Vice President of the United States. The swearing-in of Biden and Harris will flip open a new page in American history and will also simultaneously mark the end of the Trump era.

Possible Policy Changes In the Biden Presidency

With the Democratic Party controlling the House, Senate, and presidency for the first time since 2008, a wave of big changes in Washington could soon be upon us. President-elect Joe Biden has made pledges to reverse or remove some policies implemented by the Donald Trump administration, as well as pass aggressive COVID-19 relief and stimulus. Here are some of the major possible policy changes under a Democratic government.

A Look at Biden’s Final Cabinet Picks

With President-elect Joe Biden taking office in just five days, he has confirmed his final nominees to serve in his Cabinet and other cabinet-level positions. Biden has picked a very diverse cabinet, with almost all races having some representation in his Cabinet. Among the 15 Cabinet-level department secretaries, five are female and seven are nonwhite.

Impeached Again: Trump Impeached for a 2nd Time

President Donald Trump has become the first president (and first-ever federal official for that matter too) in history to be impeached by the House of Representatives for a second time, this time for “incitement of insurrection.” In the most bipartisan impeachment ever, 10 Republicans bucked the party line and voted to impeach a president from their own party.

Trump’s Presidency Will End With Second Impeachment

Representatives in the House said they would move to impeach the president on Wednesday, after formally calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office Tuesday. The sole article of impeachment accuses the president of “willfully inciting violence against the Government of the United States,” after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last week.

First Look at the 2022 Midterm Senate Elections

Although the 2022 Midterms are still two years away, it is never too early to start thinking about them. In today’s post, we are going to take a look at where things stand in the 2022 Senate elections. Like in every American election, there will be some key battleground races to focus on, which will once again determine which party will gain (or retain) control of the Senate.

Donald Trump Could Be Impeached Again

While Congress certified the electoral votes to affirm Joe Biden’s victory on Wednesday, an armed insurrection, egged on by President Trump’s claims of voter fraud, of the United States Capitol Building took place. Insurgents and rioters attempted to stop Congress certifying Biden’s victory after Trump called for people to go to the Capitol Building. Now, the president is now being accused of causing the insurrection, and Democrats floating the idea of impeaching Trump for the second time.

Democrats Poised to Gain Control of US Senate

In a fairly surprising turn of events since November, both Democratic challengers, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, are expected to unseat incumbent Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in Georgia’s two U.S. Senate election runoffs, giving the Democrats a slim majority in the Senate and a trifecta for the first time in a decade.

US Senate Majority to Be Decided Today In Georgia Runoffs

This is it, folks. The last official race of the 2020 election season, and arguably one of the most important set of races. Voters in Georgia will be deciding which party controls the United States Senate in two runoff elections today, Jan. 5. Incumbent Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are facing off against Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, and the Democrats must win both races in order to win the Senate majority.

Georgia Senate Runoffs Edge Closer and Closer

Although the outcome of the 2020 presidential and House races have been determined for the Democrats, control of the Senate still remains up in the air. With the Democrats and Republicans alike hardly flipping any seats in the Senate this election cycle, the Georgia Senate runoffs will now singlehandedly decide the balance of power in the 117th Congress.

House Overrides NDAA Veto; Passes $2,000 Stimulus Checks

In a special holiday session between Christmas and New Year, the House of Representatives convened again to do two things, presenting a major issue to the GOP and causing a fracture within the party: scheduling two votes, one to override the veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and another to increase the amount offered to Americans via stimulus checks in the stimulus bill from $600 to $2,000.

Congress Passes COVID Relief Bill, Providing Temporary Relief

Capitol Hill leaders announced Sunday night that after months of partisan deadlock in Congress, they have finally managed to secure a $900 billion coronavirus relief package. This package is smaller than is ideal, but offers a sign of rare good news during an otherwise dark time and will provide some temporary relief to millions of Americans, which could avert a looming poverty crisis and the economy from falling back into recession.

Biden Picks First-Ever Native American to Lead Interior

President-Elect Joe Biden has chosen Rep. Deb Haaland of New Mexico to lead the Department of the Interior (DOI), making her the first-ever Native American cabinet secretary and to lead the department which is most intertwined with Indian affairs (the Bureau of Indian Affairs, BIA, is under the DOI, after all). She is the third House representative to be chosen and this selection has some major implications on the Democrats’ House majority.

Pete Buttigieg To Become Transportation Secretary

On Tuesday, President-Elect Joe Biden officially announced that Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and a leading frontrunner in the 2020 Democratic primaries, to become the next Secretary of Transportation, taking over the job currently held by Elaine Chao. The nomination is a significant one for America, for Biden’s cabinet, and for Buttigieg personally.

Electoral College Affirms Biden Victory

President-Elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election was affirmed as the electors of the Electoral College cast their votes, giving Biden a 306 electoral votes to 232 for President Trump. Not one elector voted faithlessly. The Electoral College vote went smoothly with no dramas, and the vote successfully affirms Biden’s victory, putting a close to President Trump’s allegations of voter fraud and this election being “rigged” (no evidence has been found of election-rigging or voter fraud).