In New York's June primary, Jamaal Bowman, an educator from the NYC suburbs running an unabashedly progressive insurgent campaign appeared to topple Rep. Eliot Engel, a 16-term incumbent, for the Democratic nomination in the state's 16th Congressional district, though Engel is now suing to challenge the validity of mail-in ballots.
Bowman told Cheddar on Thursday that he's "not worried at all" about the suit, noting that as more absentee ballots are counted, his vote count is actually widening and the delta is now about 13,000 votes.
"We want every vote to be counted as well," Bowman said. "We're very comfortable with where we are."
As Bowman seems likely to be heading to Congress — NY-16 is about as blue a district as there is and the Democratic nominee is expected to coast to victory in November — he says it's critical that the U.S. pandemic response takes a less "top-down" approach when it comes to vexing problems like whether or not to open schools in the fall.
Bowman, a middle school principal by vocation, said: "We are not ready to open schools, because we have not brought the full resources of the federal government to bear." He called on officials to get serious about "innovative" ways to safely reopen, from prioritizing alternative spaces for learning to redesigned ventilation systems in school buildings. But right now, there are "too many unanswered questions" to safely reopen, he said.
The presumptive nominee also said he'd give President Trump a grade of "less than zero" for his response to the racial unrest and protests that have gripped the nation since the death of George Floyd.
"President Trump is a racist. He is a fascist. And he wants to maintain an order of white supremacy," Bowman stated.
Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan sounded alarm as her state recorded the fourth highest number of coronavirus cases in the country.
Mike Leavitt, the former HHS Secretary under President George W. Bush, gave a word of support to the current health secretary regarding his response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Stocks are inching higher on Wall Street Monday in more volatile trading as investors try to assess whether global authorities can do enough to nurse the economy through the damage caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
Bracing the nation for a coronavirus death toll that could exceed 100,000 people, President Donald Trump extended restrictive social distancing guidelines through April, bowing to public health experts who presented him with even more dire projections for the expanding coronavirus pandemic.
Trump said that the order will “require General Motors to accept, perform, and prioritize Federal contracts for ventilators." In a statement, he said the contracting process with the automaker was not moving quickly enough.
President Donald Trump has signed an unprecedented $2.2 trillion economic rescue package into law, after swift and near-unanimous action by Congress this week.
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
Stocks are moving lower on Wall Street as the market gives back some of the gains it piled up over the past three days. Major indexes are down more than 2% in afternoon trading Friday.
Restaurants are getting creative with private solutions as they hope to continue doing business, even while most of them are physically closed to the public, but the potential for saving most of these businesses may be a long shot.
Healthcare workers have launched their own campaigns for gathering personal protective equipment as they fight the coronavirus on the frontlines, with #GetUsPPE trending across social media.
