The stakes are high for the Democratic Party this election season beyond the White House, particularly as they look to flip control of the U.S. Senate. Georgia's special election could prove to be a key race, as Democratic voters are increasingly rallying around Raphael Warnock, who looks to unseat incumbent Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler. Still, his fellow Democrat Matt Lieberman, told Cheddar, the race is not yet over.
A Quinnipiac University poll of likely Georgia voters taken in the last week, however, shows Warnock holding 31 percent of support against the field, with Loeffler at 23 percent and Republican Doug Collins at 22 percent, with a total of 21 contenders on the ballot. If no candidate earns a majority in the November jungle primary election, the race will go to a January runoff.
Lieberman, at 9 percent, is facing mounting pressure to drop out as some voters and Democratic officials, including former Georgia gubernatorial candidate, Stacy Abrams, charge that he could take votes away from Warnock, ultimately leading to a Republican retaining the seat.
But Lieberman told Cheddar, "there's more campaign to go" and dropping out of the race, at this point, likely wouldn't happen.
"If a moment arrived — and I hope Warnock would say this, or any candidate — where I truly felt I had no chance or he had no chance because momentum shifts again, and someone could make a really compelling case to me that I'd be the spoiler, or to him that he'd be the spoiler … then sure I'd look at getting out," Lieberman said.
As Democratic voters have made gains in the Peach State, Lieberman said he wants a chance to increase his recognition in order to be able to speak for those "fed up citizens of Georgia."
"I can't blame Raphael Warnock supporters for wanting everyone else to drop out of the race, he continued. "We're far from there."
While not ready to concede, Lieberman said he is confident a Democratic candidate will secure a spot in the runoff. And when it comes to gaining voter support, he said he is leaning on shifting voting dynamics in the state.
"Georgia is not the old South," he said. "You've had people moving into Georgia for the great quality of life, great jobs for years and years. Those people are from all over the country, and so they bring the politics that they bring with them."
But even after Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp reopened the state amid the coronavirus pandemic, for Lieberman, rallying new supporters has been tough as much of the campaigning has been virtual.
"There are very, very few in-person events," he noted regarding the challenges. "Part of the fun is interacting with people, is hearing more people one-on-one."
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama says his new Cabinet will include an artificial intelligence “minister” in charge of fighting corruption. The AI, named Diella, will oversee public funding projects and combat corruption in public tenders. Diella was launched earlier this year as a virtual assistant on the government's public service platform. Corruption has been a persistent issue in Albania since 1990. Rama's Socialist Party won a fourth consecutive term in May. It aims to deliver EU membership for Albania in five years, but the opposition Democratic Party remains skeptical.
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.
