Tag: California State Senate

Elizabeth Frantz for The New York Times WASHINGTON — Senator Cory Booker has been endorsed for president by New Jersey’s entire 11-member Democratic congressional delegation, his state’s governor and its other senator. Senator Kamala Harris has support from three-quarters of the Democrats in the California State Senate, the governor and a handful of House members from her state. Even John Delaney, the former Maryland congressman running a long-shot bid for president, has the support of a House member from his home state. But Senator Kirsten Gillibrand? No one from New York’s 21-member congressional delegation is yet backing her bid for president. And neither is New York’s governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, or its other senator, Chuck Schumer, who as minority leader is staying neutral because numerous senators are in the race. And that’s the most honest thing I can tell you.” [Check out the Democratic field with our candidate tracker.] In interviews with two-thirds of New York’s Democratic congressional delegation, lawmakers this week offered a variety of rationales and dodges for why none of them has lined up behind their colleague. [Make sense of the people, issues and ideas shaping American politics with our newsletter.] “I haven’t made a decision about endorsements yet simply out of respect for all the other folks who have reached out to me,” said Representative Yvette Clarke of Brooklyn, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, who spent time with Ms. Gillibrand over the weekend.

She did not tell her judiciary committee colleagues about the matter until The Intercept reported details of the incident last week. Feinstein declined to be interviewed by CNN about her decision-making process Monday. Feinstein reflected on the lessons she'd learned as a woman in politics in a book entitled "Nine and Counting: The Women of the Senate," which was published in 2001. On the campaign trail, Feinstein's handling of the incident created another opening for De León, who has repeatedly argued that California needs a fresh voice in the US Senate — someone who will embrace the more confrontational style of Democratic activists in the age of Trump. In contrast with the forceful and sometimes disruptive performance of Feinstein's Democratic Senate colleagues like Kamala Harris and Cory Booker during the judiciary committee hearings on Kavanaugh's nomination, De León charged that Feinstein "politely pantomimed her way" through the hearing "without a single question about the content of Kavanaugh's character." "She is very thoughtful, very measured, and very thorough," Boxer said in an interview with CNN Monday. "In this moment, victims need to be able to control when and whether their stories become public," Katz said on CNN Monday. "She went to her senator because she had information that she thought was very important that had bearing on the fitness and character of this nominee." "This was entirely this woman's decision. I think that's how victims of trauma and sexual violence must be treated."