Category Archives: Democrats

Democrats say cuts to social security have caused ‘customer service chaos’ for American seniors

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Report from Elizabeth Warren calls Trump administration cuts to Social Security Administration ‘catastrophic’

Cuts to the Social Security Administration have caused “customer service chaos” for millions of older Americans and those with disabilities who rely on the agency’s services, according to a new report from a group of Democratic senators.

An investigation found that phone wait times were more than 10 times higher than what the agency claimed on its website, if the calls were even answered at all.

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Virginia voters approve new congressional maps in blow to Trump

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Governor called referendum after president urged GOP-led states to redraw maps to protect House majority

Voters in Virginia on Tuesday approved new congressional maps intended to boost Democrats’ chances of retaking the House of Representatives, in the latest blow to Donald Trump’s effort to use mid-decade redistricting to preserve his control of Congress.

The tit-for-tat redistricting battle began last year after Trump pressed Texas’s Republican-controlled legislature to redraw that state’s congressional maps in a bid to oust as many as five Democratic House lawmakers in the November midterm elections.

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RFK Jr accused of ‘dangerous conspiracy theories’ at heated budget hearing

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Trump ally grilled by lawmakers over ‘terrible decisions’ on vaccines, public health and funding cuts to key programs

Vaccines and public health dominated a frequently contentious hearing with Robert F Kennedy Jr on Thursday before the US House ways and means committee.

Kennedy, the health secretary and a longtime vaccine opponent, has overseen sweeping changes to routine vaccination recommendations and has promoted misinformation even amid the biggest measles outbreak in decades.

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New accuser says Eric Swalwell sexually assaulted her in 2018

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Lonna Drewes alleges Democratic congressman drugged and raped her at Beverly Hills hotel

Another woman has come forward to accuse Eric Swalwell of sexual assault, claiming the California Democrat drugged and raped her in 2018.

At a press conference in Beverly Hills on Tuesday, Lonna Drewes said she was working as a model in Beverly Hills, was interested in local politics, and owned a fashion software company when she met the now 45-year-old congressman.

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US edges closer to popular vote deciding winner of presidential elections

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Virginia signs national popular vote bill into law, joining interstate compact with 17 other states and District of Columbia

A national majority vote for president is one step closer to reality after the Virginia governor, Abigail Spanberger, signed the national popular vote bill into law, joining an interstate compact with 17 other states and the District of Columbia.

Under the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, states would assign their presidential electors to the winner of the popular vote, regardless of the results within the state. The compact takes effect when states representing a majority of electoral votes – 270 of 538 – pass the legislation and thus would determine the winner of the presidential contest. With Virginia, the compact now has 222 electors.

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Kamala Harris says she’s ‘thinking about’ running for president again in 2028

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Former vice-president spoke before a crowd at Al Sharpton’s National Action Network gathering in New York

Kamala Harris said she is “thinking about” running in the 2028 presidential election.

“I might, I might. I’m thinking about it,” the former vice-president told the crowd at a gathering of the National Action Network (NAN), a civil rights organization founded by Al Sharpton, on Friday in New York City.

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’He’s mentally unstable’: Iranian American in Congress condemns Trump’s war and pushes for his removal

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Democratic representative Yassamin Ansari says the war has only more deeply entrenched the Iranian regime

Donald Trump is an “evil human being” who “wants to be an emperor” and should be removed from office over the war in Iran, Yassamin Ansari, an Iranian American member of the US Congress, has told the Guardian.

Ansari, the daughter of Iranian immigrants who decades ago fled the regime, spoke out after the president threatened to wipe out Iran’s civilisation before backing down and announcing an uncertain two-week ceasefire.

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Chris Taylor wins Wisconsin state supreme court election giving liberal judges a 5-2 majority

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Taylor defeated conservative rival Maria Lazar, providing another gauge of Democrats’ durability in midterms

Wisconsin voters sent another liberal justice to the state supreme court, with Chris Taylor beating conservative Maria Lazar and giving liberals a 5-2 edge on the high court.

The retirement of Justice Rebecca Bradley, a conservative, gave liberals a chance to further consolidate their hold on the high court ahead of the next presidential election, when the swing state is sure to see challenges to election results.

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Republican to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene, but Democrats hail gains in vote

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Voters pick Clay Fuller for US House over Democrat who opposes Iran war, but by smaller margin than in the past

Republican Clay Fuller supports the war in Iran. Democrat Shawn Harris opposes it. Voters in Marjorie Taylor Greene’s former district in north-west Georgia decided that this distinction was not enough to propel a Democrat into a conservative-leaning House seat on Tuesday night.

But Fuller won with 56% of the vote, against Harris’s 44%, according to the Associated Press, a result that comes after Greene secured the district by 28 points in 2024 and 32 points two years earlier. Democrats claim the swing to the left in the north-western corner of Georgia is a notable shift that’s worth celebrating.

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House Democrats demand end to ‘cruel’ US energy blockade after visit to Cuba

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Pramila Jayapal and Jonathan Jackson denounce ‘collective punishment’ amid vast disruption s from US oil blockade

Two Democratic US lawmakers on Monday called for an end to the “cruel collective punishment” of Cuba after they visited the island to witness the effects of an US energy blockade.

The US House members Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Jonathan Jackson of Illinois met with the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, and foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez, as well as members of Cuba’s parliament during a five-day trip ending on Sunday.

“This is cruel collective punishment – effectively an economic bombing of the infrastructure of the country – that has produced permanent damage,” Jayapal and Jackson said in a statement released on Sunday. “It must stop immediately.”

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‘Unhinged madman’: US politicians react to Trump’s expletive-laden threat to Iran

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Marjorie Taylor Greene and Bernie Sanders among those responding with alarm to Trump writing ‘open the fuckin’ strait, you crazy bastards’

Some US politicians have reacted with alarm and questioned the US president’s mental state after Donald Trump issued an abusive, expletive-laden threat to Iran in which he called on the regime to “open the fuckin’ strait [of Hormuz], you crazy bastards”, as he threatened to further attack the country’s energy and transport infrastructure.

The US president wrote on his Truth Social platform: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

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New York councilmember and Hochul governor aide investigated for bribery

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Prosecutors investigate whether Farah Louis and Debbie Louis accepted bribes to help migrant shelter provider

Federal prosecutors are investigating whether a New York City councilmember and her sister, an aide to governor Kathy Hochul, accepted bribes or kickbacks in connection with the appropriation of city funds to a migrant shelter provider, according to a copy of a search warrant obtained by the Associated Press.

The warrant, signed on 19 March, seeks evidence of possible criminal violations involving councilmember Farah Louis, a Brooklyn Democrat, and Debbie Louis, who serves as Hochul’s assistant secretary of New York City intergovernmental affairs.

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Pro-Israel Democrats decry settler violence in West Bank amid attacks on Palestinians

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Aipac-backed lawmakers denounce ‘extremist’ violence in West Bank as support for Israel becomes a political liability

As Israeli settlers ramp up violent attacks on Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, often as Israeli forces stand by, denunciations are mounting in the US, even from Democratic legislators and public figures who are typically staunch defenders of Israel.

In recent days, dozens of settlers have torched homes and vehicles and attacked Palestinians in apparently coordinated attacks. Since the start of the month, Israeli settlers and police have killed at least 10 Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank, including two young brothers and their parents as they returned from a Ramadan shopping trip.

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Bernie Sanders and AOC introduce bill to pause building of new datacenters

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Lawmakers say moratorium on construction would buy time to create strong, federal guardrails for AI

Amid an unprecedented energy crisis and the rapid buildout of artificial intelligence infrastructure, progressive lawmakers have unveiled a new policy to place a moratorium on the construction of AI datacenters.

The policy, announced by Bernie Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democratic representative, on Wednesday morning, aims to ensure the AI boom protects the environment and communities, and benefits workers instead of harming them. A temporary ban, the lawmakers say, would give the US government time to create strong federal safeguards for AI, which is “affecting everything from our economy and wellbeing to our democracy, warfare and our kids’ education”.

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Democrats flip seat in Florida state house in district that includes Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

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Emily Gregory defeats Republican Jon Maples in district that is home to US president’s Palm Beach estate

Democrats managed to flip a seat in the Florida state house in the district that is home to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago.

Emily Gregory, a Democrat, defeated Republican Jon Maples, who had an endorsement from the US president, in the special election in Florida’s 87th state house district. The Associated Press called the race on Tuesday evening, with Gregory, a public health expert and small business owner, leading by more than 2 percentage points.

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Bill to fund US homeland security fails again as concern grows about airport lines

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Proposal fails to advance in Senate amid growing concerns about long lines to get through screening at some airports

A bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security failed to advance on Friday in the Senate amid growing concerns about long lines to get through screening at some of the country’s biggest airports.

Democrats declined to provide the support needed to move the funding measure toward final passage. Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, said he would offer an alternative measure on Saturday to fund just the Transportation Security Administration, which screens passengers and luggage for hazardous items. That too is likely to fail as lawmakers hold a rare weekend session.

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Senate votes down measure aiming to limit Trump’s war powers by 53-47 vote

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Republicans block resolution to take up the measure, which Democrats vow to bring up ‘again and again and again’

Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked a measure that aimed to rein in Donald Trump’s power to wage war against Iran without congressional authorization.

The 53-47 vote against taking up the measure fell almost completely along party lines, with no movement from earlier this month when Republicans blocked Democrats’ bid to limit Trump’s war-making power in the days after the joint US-Israeli strikes, known as Operation Epic Fury, began across Iran.

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Cory Booker calls both parties ‘feckless’ for ceding war powers to Trump

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Democrat says Congress ‘doing nothing’ may embolden president to attack countries such as Cuba and North Korea

Democratic US senator Cory Booker has criticized both his own political party as well as its Republican counterpart for being “feckless” in ceding congressional war powers to Donald Trump, saying that their decision could embolden the president to unilaterally attack Cuba, North Korea and other countries.

“I’m going to be one of those Democrats [who] say I think both parties have been feckless in allowing the growth of the power of the presidency,” Booker said on Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.

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Democrats deliver stunning flip in New Hampshire special election

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Bobbi Boudman’s win over Republican Dale Fincher marks the 28th seat Democrats have flipped since the 2024 election

A Democrat won a special election for a state house seat in New Hampshire on Tuesday, flipping a Republican district that Donald Trump carried and marking the latest in a string of 28 Democratic upsets that could usher in a blue wave in the midterms.

Bobbi Boudman beat Republican Dale Fincher in New Hampshire’s Carroll county district 7. It was Boudman’s third try at the seat – she lost to incumbent representative Glenn Cordelli the last two cycles by several points. Cordelli resigned from the seat after moving, leading to the special election on 10 March.

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Democrats file new war powers resolutions and call for public hearings on Iran strikes

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Senators say Trump allies such as Hegseth and Rubio should be forced to testify to Congress on ‘unnecessary war’

Democratic senators have filed a wave of new war powers resolutions as they call on Republicans to convene public hearings into the US hostilities with Iran or be forced to vote on continuing a conflict that polls show majorities of Americans do not support.

Late last week, Democrats Cory Booker of New Jersey, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Adam Schiff of California, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Chris Murphy of Connecticut filed resolutions under the War Powers Act that would force the US military to withdraw from the war with Iran unless Congress votes to authorize the engagement.

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