October 30, 2019

TX-31: Round Rock City Councilwoman Tammy Young to enter Democratic primary.

https://twitter.com/patricksvitek/status/1189330636001206275?s=21

October 29, 2019

Missouri Health Director Tracked Patients' Periods

The Missouri state health director, Dr. Randall Williams, testified at a state hearing Tuesday that he kept a spreadsheet to track the menstrual periods of women who visited Planned Parenthood.

Williams said the spreadsheet was made at his request by the state’s main investigator to identify patients who had undergone failed abortions.

The revelation came on the second day of an administrative commission hearing that will help decide whether Planned Parenthood can keep its license to perform abortions.



https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article236773058.html#storylink=cpy

October 29, 2019

Election 2019: Virgnia pundits say the State Senate is going blue.

https://twitter.com/notlarrysabato/status/1189031634479276032?s=20


https://twitter.com/ChazNuttycombe/status/1189035799670595584?s=20


https://twitter.com/ChristianHeiens/status/1189036643203899393?s=20

October 29, 2019

PG&E Power Outages: 3rd round of shutoffs will impact parts of 29 counties

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- PG&E confirms a third round of planned power outages will being Tuesday, Oct. 29, affecting parts of 29 counties, affecting electric service for up to 605,000 customers.

It is possible that some of the same customers impacted by the Oct. 26 shutoff will be impacted by this one as well. For customers who are restored between events, PG&E urges them to use the time to charge any medical equipment, phones and other electronic devices and restock emergency kits.

The utility says it has discovered 50 incidents of damages from down poles and wires to trees falling into their facilities. "Any one incident could be a catastrophic incident," and "we will not roll dice when it comes to public safety," PG&E said.

After issuing a weather "all-clear" the previous round of outages, PG&E says about 6,000 team members went out to inspect lines and restore power to customers.



https://abc7news.com/society/pg-e-power-outages-3rd-round-of-shutoffs-will-impact-parts-of-29-counties/5652934/

October 29, 2019

Facebook Allows Conservative Site to Break Rules

Judd Legum: “The Daily Wire, the right-wing website founded by pundit Ben Shapiro, is a cesspool of misogyny, bigotry, and misinformation. Its toxic content is also fantastically successful on Facebook, with each story reaching more people than any other major media outlet. A Popular Information investigation reveals some of this success is attributable to a clandestine network of 14 large Facebook pages that purport to be independent but exclusively promote content from The Daily Wire in a coordinated fashion.”

“This kind of ‘inauthentic coordinated behavior’ violates Facebook’s rules. Facebook has taken down smaller and less coordinated networks that promoted liberal content. But Facebook told Popular Information that it will continue to allow this network to operate and amplify The Daily Wire’s content.”


https://politicalwire.com/2019/10/28/facebook-allows-conservative-site-to-break-rules/

October 29, 2019

Election 2019: Virginia election officials seeing high absentee voting numbers

RICHMOND, Va. (WAVY) – The Virginia Department of Elections is already seeing high turnout for absentee voting for a year officials say usually doesn’t get a lot of attention at the polls.

Virginia is one of 19 states that requires a reason to vote early and there are about 20 acceptable reasons to vote absentee in Virginia. They include being a student from an out-of-state college or university, having business outside the city or county of residence on Election Day and more.

As of Friday, Oct. 25, nearly 62,000 absentee ballots have been cast for the 2019 General Election in Virginia. About 111,000 absentee voting applications have been requested. In 2015, the last time all 140 General Assembly seats were on the ballot, a little more than 78,000 people voted absentee.

Elections officials are seeing a spike in interest from students this election season. About 16,000 students have requested to vote with an absentee ballot. Nearly three times as many students have requested absentee ballots this election compared to how many actually turned them in four years ago.

“It’s actually really surprising,” Virginia Commonwealth University student Raelyn Davis said. “Because you wouldn’t think a lot of students know about that.”





https://www.wavy.com/news/virginia/virginia-election-officials-seeing-high-absentee-voting-numbers/

October 29, 2019

Election 2019: ERA advocates send 40,000 postcards to voters in five Virginia House districts

VAratifyERA Campaign Coordinator Kati Hornung thought she would be out of a job by now.

“We’re actually trying to put ourselves out of business,” she said of the campaign to make Virginia the 38th — and theoretically the last — state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. But business, to her dismay, is good. That’s unlikely to change until voters replace a handful of powerful men in the statehouse, she said.

The grassroots group has tested many tactics over its past three years advocating for the gender-equality bill in the Commonwealth: Billboard ads, lobbying, and even holding a 24-hour vigil in House Speaker Kirk Cox’s (R-66) Capitol parking spot on the eve of a critical vote.

This year they’ve turned to a more personal but tedious and expensive approach–pen and paper.

“The old fashioned way that women used to make sure that their voices were heard was handwriting,” Hornung said.





https://vadogwood.com/news/era-advocates-send-40000-postcards-to-voters-in-five-virginia-house-districts/

October 29, 2019

Election 2019: Virginia State Sen. Bryce Reeves Makes Sexist Comments About Democrat Amy Laufer

RICHMOND, VA – During a radio interview on WCHV’s Joe Thomas in the Morning, Republican Senator Bryce Reeves demeaned his Democratic opponent Amy Laufer as someone who stays at home all day while her husband provides for her. The comments were part of another one of his anti-government rants in which he implied Virginians in need are lazy and don’t work for the help they receive.

“And last time I looked my opponent’s not working day to day. She stays at home. And you know she’s lucky enough she has a husband that provides all that stuff. But I’m working everyday. And I work hard for the money that we earn,” Reeves said. “And you know I don’t get it. I just don’t get it. I mean it’s that same philosophy that people often forget. A government that’s big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have. And that’s that mentality right there. What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is mine. And that’s ridiculous. And that [money returned to taxpayers this year] wasn’t our money. They would have put that in some other program that’s not working.”

Laufer is a former middle school teacher, school board member, and founder of Virginia’s List – an organization that works to elect Democratic women across the Commonwealth. Reducing her to a woman who depends upon her husband for everything is unfortunately par for the course with Reeves, who has a history of sexist and bigoted positions.



https://bluevirginia.us/2019/10/listen-republican-virginia-state-sen-bryce-reeves-makes-sexist-comments-about-democrat-amy-laufer

October 29, 2019

CA-25: Reporter on Katie Hill scandal promotes GOP candidates for her seat

Shortly after Rep. Katie Hill announced her resignation from Congress on Sunday night, the RedState reporter who published damaging allegations involving the Democratic rising star, along with a nude photo, was urging support for Republican candidates to win the seat.

“If you want to help us flip @KatieHill4CA's former #CA25 seat BACK to RED, please learn more about @MikeGarcia2020 and contribute to his campaign at http://ElectMikeGarcia.com!” tweeted Jennifer Van Laar, a deputy managing editor at RedState.

Later, Van Laar suggested that she’d back former Congressman Steve Knight if he decided to run for the seat he lost to Hill in 2018. “He has integrity, cares about the individual, and is a policy wonk,” wrote Van Laar, who noted working for Knight’s 2014 campaign. “I'd be #TeamKnight again in a heartbeat.”
Story Continued Below

Van Laar’s views, like RedState’s leanings, are no secret: She’s worked in Republican politics and the site is conservative, as is its owner, Salem Media Group. But Van Laar’s shift from reporting on Hill, and publishing what some have deemed “revenge porn,” to promoting Republicans for Hill’s old job is a blurring of roles that would be unacceptable in mainstream newsrooms.

In the days leading up to the 2018 election, Van Laar wrote an op-ed on why she supported Knight in his race against Hill, and in July, she praised a Republican who at the time was planning to run against Hill in 2020. “Hanging out with our future Congresswoman Suzette Valladares today!” she wrote, along with hashtags such as “#runsuzetterun” and #savecalifornia.”




https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/28/reporter-katie-hill-scandal-gop-060576

October 29, 2019

TX-24: Hispanic Caucus all in with Latina in crowded primary

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) campaign arm is all-in in its backing of a Texas Latina Democrat running in a crowded Dallas-area House primary, as few top-tier Hispanic candidates have so far made an impression in 2020 races.

Candace Valenzuela, a local school board member, is among seven Democrats competing for the party's nomination to chase the House seat left open by the retirement of Rep. Kenny Marchant (R-Texas).

"Candace's life experience and commitment to making education an equalizer for children in her community are only a few of the reasons why Candace will make a great colleague in Congress," said Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.), chairman of Bold PAC, the CHC's campaign arm.

"As the only Latina running in a competitive open seat in Texas this cycle, Bold PAC is proud to endorse and support her campaign and will continue to help build a coalition around her race," he added.

Bold PAC commissioned a poll of primary voters in the district to determine the strength of Valenzuela's candidacy.

According to the poll, 14 percent of baseline Democratic primary voters in the district favored Valenzuela, while 12 percent favored her nearest rival, Kim Olson, who was the Democratic nominee for Texas Agricultural Commissioner in 2018.

"[The candidates have] a lot of similarities in accomplishments, but because Candace is the only Latina, we think if she could consolidate that base that could give her a leg up," said Albert Morales, political director at Latino Decisions, the firm that conducted the poll.


https://thehill.com/latino/467717-hispanic-caucus-all-in-with-latina-in-crowded-texas-primary