Tag: Al Franken

The Story: Kirsten Gillibrand, the junior Senator from New York, last week abandoned her campaign for the Democratic Party's nomination for President of the United...

The Story: Kirsten Gillibrand, the junior Senator from New York, and one of many Democratic Party figures running for nomination to be the next President,...

Senator Gillibrand has created an exploratory committee to lay the groundwork for a Presidential campaign, and has kicked off that campaign (or that groundwork-laying at least) with a trip to Iowa.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson’s legal team says the number of uncounted vote-by-mail ballots exceeded incoming Sen. Rick Scott’s margin of victory when he defeated the incumbent in November. “Remember when we thought 6,670 mail ballots in Florida were rejected due to failure by the post office to deliver them in time to the counties?” said Nelson attorney Marc Elias on social media. “Well, we now know it was 6,882 ballots. Nelson lost by 10,033 votes.” But Jessica Furst Johnson, National Republican Senate Committee counsel, said Scott’s margin of victory remained insurmountable. Completely irresponsible to drag FL through a recount under those circumstances.” Nelson conceded the election on Nov. 18, 12 days after the election and after filing several lawsuits looking for more votes to be counted. Elias, who represented Democrats including former Minnesota Sen. Al Franken and former Washington Gov. But a judge denied Nelson’s request to count ballots that arrived after Election Day but were postmarked before that time. But a number of election supervisors in the wake of three statewide recounts this year said mail channels have increasingly proven unreliable. Okaloosa County Supervisor of Elections Paul Lux, president of the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections, previously told Florida Politics the issue should be discussed as lawmakers revisit election reform this year. Ultimately, Scott’s narrow 10,033-vote margin of victory represented just 0.14 percent of the nearly 8.2 million votes cast and counted.

The “nightmare” was a Senate Ethics Committee investigation that found Mr Packwood had been sexually harassing subordinates since the 1960s. Republicans remain devoted to President Donald Trump, who has been recorded boasting about sexual assault and whom at least 19 women have accused of sexual misconduct. Since Mr Trump’s election, more than 42,000 have. Half the Democrats’ first-time House candidates this year are women, up from 27% in 2016 (and far higher than the Republican share of less than 20%). The 2016 gender gap of 24 points (women supported Hillary Clinton by 13; men went for Mr Trump by 11) was already the largest on record. Women favour Democrats by 21; men favour Republicans by 3. That is not entirely due to sexual harassment, of course. Mr Trump has loudly defended multiple men accused of sexual misconduct, including Mr Moore; Rob Porter, one of his aides accused of spousal abuse; and Bill O’Reilly, who left Fox News amid sexual-harassment claims. Mr Trump has defended Mr Kavanaugh and cast doubt on his accusers. Withdrawing Mr Kavanaugh would mean admitting that historical accusations of sexual assault can be disqualifying, which leads back to the president.

Democratic billionaire donor and philanthropist, Tom Steyer, goes in-depth on his plan to 'redefine' the Democrats, saying it's up to the American people and voters to decide on flipping Congress blue, whether Al Franken should run for office again, and…

With four months now on the job, Smith is in the thick of the legislative process with, among other things, the new farm bill on her plate. But beyond what may be seen as the traditional elements of a farm bill, Smith says she is also going to work to champion better nutrition programs that are typically association with farm bill legislation; programs that help people who may not be able to help themselves right now. But Smith then says there is a third component she is trying to work into the farm bill. "Our farm bill needs to include strong rural development programs like, for example, what I'm proposing to help expand rural broadband." But having easy access to broadband in rural areas also makes those areas more likely to land new businesses and new residents. "The Lewis and Clark project is extremely important. Smith worked very hard to get state funding to complete the Minnesota section of the Lewis and Clark project. "The state has been backfilling the funding that the federal government was supposed to be providing. So we really have to make the federal government stand up to its agreement. So far the feds haven't done that and it has cost the state of Minnesota $41 million and climbing.

Richard Painter, a Republican and former White House lawyer in the George W Bush administration, will run as a Democrat for the Minnesota Senate seat vacated by Al Franken, explicitly in opposition to Donald Trump and his “collaborators” in the Republican party. Painter will challenge Tina Smith, who was appointed to Franken’s seat after his January resignation, in a Democratic primary in August. “I’m running against Donald Trump and every one of his collaborators in the Republican party,” Painter said. He had been exploring a run since early April but was undecided on whether to run as a Republican, Democrat or an independent. He is currently a law professor at the University of Minnesota. “I can’t be a spoiler, not this year,” he said. He discussed Democratic positions such as single-payer healthcare and blocking mining projects in north-eastern Minnesota but said he would not spend campaign money to attack Smith. Trump is threatening to do to our country, and the only alternative this fall is going to be to vote for Democrats." The special election was triggered in January, when Franken left office after a slew of women made accusations of sexual misconduct. The winner will serve out Franken’s term, ending in 2020.

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he is embarrassed and ashamed after several women said he had touched them inappropriately while also saying that he doesn’t recall the incidents in question.