Category Archives: Democrats

Trump ally wins Republican primary for Arizona governor, setting up race against Katie Hobbs

Posted on by

The victory for Andy Biggs, who was a central figure in the effort to overturn Trump’s 2020 election defeat, sets up a high-stakes contest in the battleground state

Arizona voters on Tuesday chose their nominees for governor, Congress and other top offices, setting up a fall campaign that will test whether Republicans can reverse some of the Trump-era losses they suffered in a premier battleground state.

Andy Biggs, the hard-right congressman endorsed by Donald Trump, easily won the Republican nomination to challenge the incumbent Democrat, governor Katie Hobbs.

Continue reading...

House passes spending bill to head off government shutdown before midterms

Posted on by

Measure authorizes spending until 4 December as Republicans seek to avoid volatile issue in election season

The US House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a stopgap measure to head off a government shutdown until early December, with its Republican leaders seeking to defuse a volatile issue in the run-up to the November midterm elections.

The continuing resolution authorizing government spending until 4 December passed by a vote of 220-205, roughly along party lines. It next heads to the Senate, where it will need to win bipartisan support to clear the chamber.

Continue reading...

‘It needs to end now’: Democrats urge Trump to halt Iran war after US troop deaths

Posted on by

President accused of having ‘lost control of this war’ as deaths of trio in Iranian military strikes fuel rising concern

Democrats have seized on the deaths of three US troops killed in Iranian strikes to urge Donald Trump to urgently reverse his resumption of the war with Iran amid widespread anxiety over climbing casualties.

Even as US forces launched a 10th consecutive wave of attacks against Iranian targets, concern over the deaths of American service personnel threatened to complicate moves to escalate the conflict, which has reignited after he last week walked away from a memorandum of understanding agreed with Iran in June.

Continue reading...

Democrats criticize Trump’s claims of election interference – US politics live

Posted on by

Virginia’s Mark Warner says speech was ‘just lies and long-debunked conspiracies’

Several major networks declined to air Donald Trump’s primetime televised address on Thursday, citing concerns that the content could be politically partisan or inflammatory.

CNN, ABC and NBC chose not to air the speech live, but CBS, Fox News and MS Now (formerly MSNBC) aired at least large portions of the speech live. Some ABC station station affiliates – including the Washington DC station owned by right-leaning broadcaster Sinclair – also chose to air the speech.

Continue reading...

Trump’s pick for attorney-general faces Senate hearing later today – US politics live

Posted on by

Trump’s nominee – his former personal defense lawyer – will face what is expected to be a contentious Senate nomination hearing

Former president Joe Biden will publish a memoir this fall, publisher Little, Brown and Company told the Associated Press.

‘Promise Me, America,’ which Biden says will touch upon everything from the economy to his decision to drop his bid for reelection, is scheduled to come out 17 November.

Continue reading...

Israel’s war in Gaza dominates US midterm races as Democrats split

Posted on by

Tensions between progressive and moderate camps of Democratic party on display in key Senate race in Michigan

The Israel-Gaza war created gaping divisions in the Democratic party and contributed to a resounding loss in a critical presidential election year in 2024. Two years later, the issue continues to dominate races across the country, as progressives try to seize on Israel’s falling popularity and a broad anti-war sentiment ahead of November’s midterms.

A recent debate among two Democrats vying for one of the most competitive US Senate seats in the country openly displayed the tension between progressive and moderate camps of the party.

Continue reading...

US congressman says he was detained by armed Israeli settlers in occupied West Bank

Posted on by

Ro Khanna said settlers were armed with US-made weapons and Israel Defense Forces refused to intervene

The US congressman Ro Khanna says armed Israeli settlers detained him during a visit to the Israel-occupied West Bank recently, describing the experience as a first-hand view of the realities faced by Palestinians living under occupation.

In an interview with Reuters on Thursday from a Palestinian village, the progressive US House Democrat from California said his detention happened the previous day while his delegation visited an area of the southern West Bank that has experienced repeated attacks by Israeli settlers.

Continue reading...

John Fetterman joins forces with Republican counterpart in Senate for fundraising committee

Posted on by

Venture between two Pennsylvania senators stokes speculation about Fetterman’s future in Democratic party

The Democratic senator John Fetterman, who has faced mounting political challenges, is joining forces with the Republican senator Dave McCormick to launch a new joint fundraising committee, a move that is likely to fuel additional questions about Fetterman’s increasingly rightward lurch.

Pennsylvania’s two US senators have established a shared fundraising committee that will collect donations benefiting both of their campaigns in an unusual bipartisan arrangement.

Continue reading...

Gaza protests against two Democrats spark outcry and debate on tactics

Posted on by

Incidents involving California state senator Scott Wiener and New York congressman Dan Goldman underscore Israel-Palestine conflict’s role in US elections

Two recent incidents involving US congressional candidates on opposite coasts have blown up into major controversies, underscoring how the Israel-Palestine conflict has transformed US elections – and illustrating how aggressive protest tactics can spark backlash that overshadows the issues activists meant to highlight.

Scott Wiener, a gay Jewish state senator and trans rights advocate who is currently the frontrunner in the race to replace the longtime representative Nancy Pelosi in California’s 11th district, said he felt forced to leave last week’s annual trans pride march in San Francisco after a group of people ran up to him at a local park where the event was taking place, surrounded him and screamed at him over his positions on Israel’s war on Gaza.

Continue reading...

Zohran Mamdani says he and allies he endorsed carry a ‘national message’

Posted on by

Mayor says progressive peers who swept primaries speak to Americans ‘coast to coast’ as moderates have reservations

Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor, said on Sunday that he and a slew of democratic socialist allies who prevailed in recent primary elections are carrying a “national message” to struggling working Americans hungry for a new kind of politics “coast to coast”.

Mamdani made that triumphant clarion call on ABC News’s This Week just five days after he had seen his endorsed candidates win Democratic nominations in three races for New York congressional seats, as well as for five state legislature positions in Albany. He made no effort to disguise his delight that his clean sweep marks a dramatic shift in Democratic politics – not just in New York City, which he has led since January, but also across the US.

Continue reading...

White House unveils new images of US ‘patriot passports’ for America’s 250th

Posted on by

Democrats called plans for commemorative passport and gold coin with Trump portrait ‘more befitting a monarchy’

Donald Trump’s efforts to brand the US government with his name and image advanced on Friday when the White House unveiled new images of a passport watermarked with his portrait to mark America’s 250th anniversary.

The White House called it simply the “patriot passport”, while on Truth Social the president introduced it as “The U.S.A.’s New Passport, which says, ‘Welcome, but be good!’”

Continue reading...

‘It’s become a litmus test’: wins for Israel critics shine light on key issue for Democrats

Posted on by

Candidates who believe Israel has committed genocide won big in New York – will it push the party to move their way?

Regardless of which party wins control of Congress in November, New York City voters have all but ensured that next year a vocal bloc of new House Democrats will arrive on Capitol Hill, elected, in large part, because they believe Israel has committed a genocide in Gaza.

That is an upshot of the primary elections held Tuesday in New York, where voters ousted two incumbent House Democrats and replaced a third who is retiring with progressives championed by Zohran Mamdani.

Continue reading...

Mamdani-backed candidates sweep Democratic primaries in New York City

Posted on by

JFK’s grandson Jack Schlossberg fails to advance in election to replace Jerry Nadler in Manhattan district

Zohran Mamdani’s growing influence over the Democratic party was on show in New York City on Tuesday as three congressional candidates endorsed by New York’s democratic socialist mayor won closely watched primaries, while voters in Maryland, Utah and South Carolina cast ballots in primaries and runoffs.

Brad Lander, the former New York City comptroller who also ran for mayor last year before endorsing Mamdani, won his race comfortably, defeating the Democratic representative Dan Goldman.

Continue reading...

Admiral fired in Hegseth purge wins Democratic primary in South Carolina

Posted on by

Nancy Lacore will spearhead effort to flip Republican House seat in November’s midterm elections

A three-star navy rear-admiral fired by Pete Hegseth last year in the defense secretary’s purge of senior US military officials has won the Democratic primary in a closely watched congressional race.

Nancy Lacore secured the party’s nomination for the US House of Representatives in South Carolina’s first congressional district on Tuesday after defeating Mac Deford, a US Coast Guard veteran, in a runoff.

Continue reading...

New Yorkers vote as Democrats weigh competing visions in era of Trump

Posted on by

Democratic primary elections to test strength of party’s left flank as old guard faces string of challenges

New Yorkers were voting on Tuesday in a slate of Democratic primaries poised to reveal the strength of the party’s left flank and shape the battle for control of the US House of Representatives in November.

Voters in Maryland and Utah will also nominate congressional candidates on Tuesday, while South Carolina holds a series of runoff elections for candidates who did not receive a majority of the vote earlier this month.

Continue reading...

A Kennedy, a ‘nerd’, an ex-Republican and a tech target: New York races toward a House seat

Posted on by

In NY-12, four Democrats, including one Kennedy, are vying to replace Jerry Nadler – and potentially shake things up

When news broke that a safely Democratic seat in New York’s wealthiest congressional district was becoming vacant, it was inevitable that there would be a crowded field of candidates.

What people might not have expected is that the subsequent Democratic primary would become one of the country’s most closely watched and action-packed, the race coming to reflect a range of Democrats’ national political priorities: who is the strongest against Trump; who is the most critical of artificial intelligence companies; and who is, basically, the coolest.

Continue reading...

Barack Obama says US is ‘worse off’ than before war with Iran

Posted on by

Former president nevertheless said in an interview that he was happy to see a ceasefire with Iran and hopes it holds

Barack Obama has said that after 15 weeks of war with Iran, the US is now “worse off” than before the conflict started in February.

“We’ve now fought a war, spent billions and billions of dollars, you know, put enormous strain on our military. A lot of people have died. And it feels like we’re back where we were before we started the war, except maybe a little bit worse off,” the former US president told NBC News in an interview that aired on Friday.

Continue reading...

Ro Khanna says he supports Graham Platner’s bid for Senate despite ‘shameful’ actions

Posted on by

Democratic congressman issues qualified defense of Maine candidate in his bid to unseat Republican Susan Collins

Progressive Democratic congressman Ro Khanna issued a qualified defense of Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner on Sunday, saying “his actions were misogynistic, they were shameful, they were wrong, but they didn’t come as a surprise to a lot of the folks in Maine.”

The former Marine-turned-oyster farmer, who is campaigning to unseat the state’s Republican senator Susan Collins in November, has been hit with successive waves of accusation about his past actions, including sending sexually explicit messages he sent to women while married and being stenciled with a Nazi-themed tattoo.

Continue reading...

Despite new allegations, Maine’s Platner predicts voters will send him to Senate

Posted on by

Democrat denies reports of physical intimidation towards women, saying his past has been ‘weaponized’

The Democratic US Senate candidate Graham Platner on Friday predicted that Maine’s voters would support him four days later in his party primary despite a string of controversies – including recent negative headlines about his treatment of women that he said had been “weaponized”.

In a 25-minute speech before supporters in Bar Harbor, the oyster farmer and US marine combat veteran addressed the controversies about his personal conduct, which escalated on Thursday with a New York Times report in which three former romantic partners described disturbing behavior, including being physically intimidated by him.

Continue reading...

US House passes war powers resolution to curb Trump’s authority in Iran

Posted on by

Stunning rebuke to president as lawmakers vote 215-208 for measure forcing him to seek congressional approval

The US House of Representatives delivered a stunning rebuke to Donald Trump over his war on Iran on Wednesday, as representatives backed a move to force him to seek approval from Congress or withdraw US forces.

The House voted 215 to 208 in favor of the war powers resolution, as four Republicans voted with Democrats. The dissident Republicans were Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Warren Davidson of Ohio and Tom Barrett of Michigan.

Continue reading...