*By Christian Smith*
With less than two weeks until election day, a California Democrat, Harley Rouda, has gotten a $4.3 million boost from Michael Bloomberg in his bid to take down 30-year incumbent Republican Congressman Rohrabacher.
Bloomberg's Independence USA PAC disclosed the spending last week, which went to advertising targeting the Republican. Rouda said Bloomberg's ad campaign will help bring the issue of climate change to the forefront of voters' minds in the coastal Orange County district.
"We're thrilled to have Bloomberg's support, and more importantly calling attention to that really important issue of climate change, which my opponent Dana Rohrabacher basically calls junk science," Rouda said Monday in an interview on Cheddar.
"It's certainly going to boost voters' awareness of Rohrabacher's atrocious record in addressing climate change, and more importantly the fact that he's been in the pocket of special interest groups like big oil and big gas," he added.
The U.S. House race is now dead-even in California's 48th District, went for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. Orange County is a key target for the Democratic Party, which used to be a stronghold for the Reagan-era Republican party, but has trended blue in recent years.
The race became the most expensive in the country after billionaire Michael Bloomberg's infusion of ad spending. More than $18.2 million has been spent on the race in total.
Recent polls have the race as a tie. The latest Monmouth University poll puts Rep. Rohrabacher ahead of Rouda 50 to 48 percent, which is within the margin of error, and a recent New York Times poll has the two at an even 45-45 split with 10 percent of respondents saying they are undecided.
With the race a virtual tie just a week from election day, Rouda said his team of volunteers will be key to winning the race.
"What's going to get us over the finish line is what got us to where we are now and that is our incredible volunteers," Rouda said. "We have almost 5,000 volunteers now and they're knocking on doors and making phone calls because they want real change."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/californias-48th-district-becomes-most-expensive-house-race-in-u-s).
The Trump administration has asked an appeals court to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors by Monday, before the central bank’s next vote on interest rates. Trump sought to fire Cook Aug. 25, but a federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board.
President Donald Trump's administration is appealing a ruling blocking him from immediately firing Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook as he seeks more control over the traditionally independent board. The notice of appeal was filed Wednesday, hours after U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb handed down the ruling. The White House insists the Republican president had the right to fire Cook over mortgage fraud allegations involving properties in Michigan and Georgia from before she joined the Fed. Cook's lawsuit denies the allegations and says the firing was unlawful. The case could soon reach the Supreme Court, which has allowed Trump to fire members of other independent agencies but suggested that power has limitations at the Fed.
Chief Justice John Roberts has let President Donald Trump remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a string of high-profile firings allowed for now by the Supreme Court.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Donald Trump has a message for critics who think turning the U.S. government into a major stockholder of Intel is a “socialist” move: More is coming.
Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook's lawyer says she'll sue President Donald Trump's administration to try to prevent him from firing her. Longtime Washington attorney Abbe Lowell said Tuesday that Trump “has no authority to remove” Cook. If Trump succeeds in removing Cook from the Fed's board of governors, it could erode the Fed’s political independence, which is considered critical to its ability to fight inflation because it enables the Fed to take unpopular steps like raising interest rates. The Republican president said Monday he was removing Cook because of allegations she committed mortgage fraud. Cook was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden in 2022 and says she won't step down.
Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook late Wednesday said she wouldn’t leave her post after Trump on social media called on her to resign over an accusation from one his officials that she committed mortgage fraud.
