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.
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Carlos Sanchez, news and politics editor at Texas Monthly, said that Ted Cruz has a "likeability" problem, showing low approval rankings in the Lone Star State.
Omarosa Manigault Newman, author of "Unhinged" and former White House staffer, said that President Trump won't be able to handle a blue wave in the midterms. Omarosa and Trump have been at odds since she was fired from the administration and wrote a book calling him unfit to lead
Victor Santos is what America is all about: Brazilian born, he came to the U.S. with his parents, graduated from Berkeley, worked at Google, and founded his own company to help "unbanked" people in the third world get access to basic banking infrastructure. But because of his status as a Dreamer, he could be deported.
Bettis, known as "The Bus" when he was an unstoppable running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers, voiced support for the NFL player protests but also said he thought the league was "doing the right thing" in a tense situation.
The Vice President walks a fine line between unbreakable devotion to the president and keeping himself above the multiple scandals ensnaring the White House. Pete Eisner, co-author of "The Shadow President: The Truth About Mike Pence," said that's no coincidence.
Marc Molinaro, the Republican candidate running to replace Andrew Cuomo as New York's governor, said his first action items would be cleaning up Albany and lowering property taxes. Molinaro trails Cuomo by more than 20 points.
Obama will be a galvanizing force on the trail for Democrats but could also rally the more moderate GOP base against the sitting president, said Eric Boehm of Reason.com.
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The Congressman who represents Silicon Valley told Cheddar that the new legislation he's co-authored with Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is intended to force massive, profitable companies like Amazon to help lift workers at the bottom of the economic ladder. Otherwise, he said, Uncle Sam ends up footing the bill.
