Seven presidential hopefuls will gather this evening at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles for the sixth Democratic debate, and a senior advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders told Cheddar he does not expect Donald Trump's impeachment to change the rhetoric of the field tonight.
"I think there will be a question about it because it's so fresh and we're coming off the heels of this big day that happened in Washington, DC, but people here at this debate, especially Senator Bernie Sanders are going to stay focused on his core issues… We're going to talk about the brick and mortar issues that have propelled Bernie Sanders to the top in the California polls," Chuck Rocha said.
Sanders surged in a California poll last week. California, which votes on Super Tuesday, promises almost 500 delegates, yielding influence over the presidential primary's ultimate result. In 2016, Sanders trailed in California to Hillary Clinton, who later claimed the Democratic nomination.
California's decision to move its primary up for the 2020 race this year from June to March makes its outcome even more significant. The Golden State has a more diverse population than Iowa and New Hampshire, which vote in February, and will have the largest number of delegates at next summer's Democratic convention.
Rocha thinks the Vermont senator's appeal to young, diverse voters will help propel him to the nomination. "We have such huge support among young people of color," he said. Only one non-white candidate, entrepreneur Andrew Yang, will be on the stage tonight and recent Quinnipiac polls put Yang fourth in the demographic group under 35, which Sanders leads.
"It's time for the working families of this country to have a voice… that's what we stand for and that's what Senator Sanders will continue to stand for," Rocha said.
Cheddar Politics takes a deeper look at the takeaways from the Georgia primary elections on Tuesday. Georgia Public Broadcasting's local and state politics reporter, Stephen Fowler, joins us to discuss the limits of Trump endorsements and break down what the outcome in each race means.
After learning that the suspect in the Uvalde school shooting posted about his intentions on Facebook, activists are urging social networks to make changes. Lena Derhally, a licensed psychotherapist and author of "The Facebook Narcissist," joined Cheddar News to discuss the role social media plays in school shootings. "They're not really invested in taking down hateful content," she said about social platforms."In regards to the shooting, it was 15 minutes before that actual threat. It would be pretty hard for a social media company to trace that threat that quickly. But what they can do better is take down threats and hateful content much faster and more than they're doing now."
Following the mass shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two adults dead, the debate over gun control has been reignited. While studies have shows most Americans agree on some additional regulations, there hasn't been much legislative traction even as gun violence worsens in the country. Brian Lemek, the executive director of Defend The Vote and the former executive director at Brady PAC for gun control, joined Cheddar to discuss reform efforts. "The lawmakers that we have aren't passing these at the federal level," he said. "That's the problem. We have the wrong people in charge."
The crypto industry is still reeling from Terra's recent crash. The company's blockchain was temporarily halted earlier this month after the collapse of its cryptocurrency Luna (LUNA) and its stablecoin TerraUSD (UST), which led to almost $45 billion being wiped from the tokens' market caps within a week. Now, many are left wondering what Terra's struggles mean for the broader crypto market. Reeve Collins, CEO of the NFT platform BLOCKv, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell from Davos 2022 to discuss.
The average city in California has a 38% higher cost of living than the average American city, according to a cost of living index. For many, the general minimum wage of $15/hour just doesn't cut it. Anti-poverty activist Joe Sanberg wants to get the minimum wage changed to $18/hour. He joins Cheddar News to discuss the Living Wage Act of 2022.
