Rep. Frankel Says a 'Pink Wave' is Coming: Trump Is 'Best Recruiter' Democrats Have
*By Max Godnick and Christian Smith*
A [record number of women](https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/08/women-rule-midterms-443267) are running for political office, and one congresswoman thinks America has one man to thank.
"The best recruiter we've had, his name is President Donald Trump," Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL) said Wednesday in an interview on Cheddar.
"After the election in 2016, we have seen women agitated," she said. "They're raring to go."
Frankel, who has represented Florida's 21st Congressional District since 2013, cited 50 female Democratic candidates running in competitive swing districts, and predicted that her party could have between 25 and 40 new congresswomen in its ranks in 2019.
"Many of these women have never been in politics," she said. "Many are mothers ー they do not want their children growing up in the kind of environment they see that this president is creating."
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) echoed Frankel's optimism in a separate interview on Cheddar Wednesday.
"We're going to elect women in record numbers," Maloney said; America is entering the "decade of the woman," she added.
In total, 257 women won party nominations for the House of Representatives and Senate for this year's midterms ー 235 for the House and 22 for the Senate.
For Frankel, it's not just a matter of winning and losing.
Frankel is the co-chair of the Bipartisan Women's Caucus and has championed legislation for women's rights, including the "Keeping Girls in School Act" and the "Pregnant Workers Fairness Act." But only a fraction of the policy proposals garner support from both sides of the aisle.
The biggest roadblock to bipartisan cooperation among women in Congress might be the lack of women across the aisle.
"Unfortunately for the Republicans they do not really have that many women," Frankel said. There are just 23 Republican women serving in the House of Representatives, compared to the body's 61 Democrats.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/are-women-more-bipartisan-than-men).
Terrell Jermaine Starr, senior fellow with the Atlantic Council and host of the Black Diplomats podcast joins Cheddar News to discuss Russia's attempt to invade Ukraine.
With an increasing number of teachers and staff calling out sick by the day, the state of Oklahoma is turning to an unusual solution. Republican Governor Kevin Stitt has issued an executive order that permits state employees to work as substitute teachers. Shaily Baranwal, founder and CEO of Elevate K-12, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed the stance of the U.S. and its allies should Russia make any forays into Ukraine, a seeming response to President Biden's remarks that should Putin engage in something short of a full invasion, there might be some indecision among allied nations regarding what to do. Ariel Cohen, a senior fellow at the think tank Atlantic Council, joined Cheddar to discuss the difficulty faced by Blinken wrangling unity as tensions run high in the region. "There'll be a smaller incursion, and the president implied, there'll be a weaker response because our European allies have created this horrible situation where they are dependent on Moscow for their gas supply," Cohen explained.
During a nearly two-hour press conference on Wednesday, President Biden spoke on his accomplishments and challenges from the first year of his presidency, and what his administration hopes to accomplish in the coming year. However, his approval ratings are underwater as COVID remains a big concern for voters — as does inflation, noted Tom Bevan, co-founder and president of polling aggregator RealClearPolitics. "The public thinks [inflation] is priority number one, and the administration is concerned about it, they talk about it, but they're not spending enough time on it as far as the public is concerned," said Bevan.
The drama surrounding tennis star Novak Djokovic continues after he was deported from Australia over the weekend due to the nation's COVID-19 vaccine requirements. Djokovic was forced to leave the country on the eve of what was to be his first match in defense of his Australian Open title after three judges ruled in favor of his removal and revealed their reasoning for doing so. Adding to his woes, a law recently passed in France is putting his chances of defending his French Open title in jeopardy. The director of Marist's Center for Sports Communication, Jane McManus, joined Cheddar to discuss the ongoing fallout.
As the midterm elections get ever closer, candidates have been getting creative with their campaigns to stick out and to connect with voters. Gary Chambers, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Louisiana, has definitely attracted attention with an advertisement featuring him smoking a blunt, making a point about the inequity of anti-cannabis laws. "We wanted to bring the seriousness of the moment," he said of the ad. "But we also wanted to make sure that people understand that there are 19 states that are legal right now but Black people and brown people are being over-incarcerated in mostly Southern and Midwestern states in America for cannabis possession."
If some members of Congress have their way, there might finally be a 'TLDR' on sites' terms of service, introduced by the terms-of-service labeling, design, and readability act – or TLDR for short. With this act, users will actually understand what they're agreeing to or the many ways in which their data is being used before pressing 'accept.' J.D. sat down with co-sponsor of the bill and Senator Bill Cassidy, to discuss.
President Joe Biden's first year in office is wrapping up. What has he achieved, and what else remains on the table while the Democrats have control of Washington? Amid an ongoing pandemic and rising inflation, Biden's approval rating is at an all-time low and his party is plagued by infighting. Will he be able to continue pushing key parts of his agenda? Paul Glastris, former Bill Clinton speechwriter & Editor-in-chief of 'Washington Monthly,' joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss the president's achievements in his first year, where he's fallen short, and what he must do in order to get more of his agenda signed into law.
Tech giants Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, and Apple are faced with a bipartisan antitrust legislation effort underway in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The companies stand accused of promoting their own goods and services over smaller competitors on their platforms, holding too much monopolistic power via their app stores and services. Adam Kovacevich, founder and CEO of Chamber of Progress, a technology industry trade group, joined Cheddar to argue that the bills that are being debated currently could end up hurting consumers, rather than helping.
