ARAB TURNOUT AT RECORD LOW, PARTY HEADS TALK OF A "POLITICAL CATASTROPHE"

Fearing low turnout, leaders of the two Arab parties running in the Knesset election on Tuesday appealed to Arab voters to head to the ballot boxes on the pretext that their abstention would strengthen right-wing parties and candidates.

By three o’clock, only 20% of Arab voters had cast their ballots, prompting Arab candidates and leaders of the Arab Israelis to make urgent appeals to their constituents to take part in the electoral process.

The two Arab parties running in the election are Hadash-Ta’al and the United Arab List-Balad. In the last election, they ran together as the Joint List.

Public opinion polls published in recent weeks showed that Hadash-Ta’al, headed by MKs Ayman Odeh and Ahmed Tibi, would get 6-7 seats, while the United Arab List-Balad would receive 4-5 seats in the Knesset.



https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.jpost.com/Israel-Elections/Heads-of-Arab-parties-Boycotting-the-election-a-political-catastrophe-586262/amp

ME-SEN: Only 15 Mainers gave $200 or more to Susan Collins

Maine Sen. Susan Collins, one of the most vulnerable Republican senators in 2020, raised more than $1.1 million in itemized contributions during the first three months of the year. But less than 1 percent of that money came from her home state.

Collins raised $9,200 from 17 itemized donations ($200 or more) from Maine during the first three months of 2019. Those came from 15 Pine Tree State residents.

By contrast, Collins raised $52,000 from 46 itemized Maine donations in the first three months of 2013, the last time she was running for re-election. Those donations represented 41 percent of her itemized donations.

The downtick in Maine donors doesn’t, on its own, say much about Collins’ relative electoral strength or weakness heading into what’s likely to be her most competitive re-election. But it does signal that outside money will continue to flood the state as Maine occupies a spotlight in 2020.

The state will be home to a competitive Senate race and House race in the 2nd District, which President Donald Trump carried in 2016 and could contest again. (Maine splits its Electoral College votes by district.)

Collins raised about $15,000 in unitemized contributions during the first three months of 2019, but campaigns are not required to disclose the identity of those donors to the Federal Election Commission. It’s likely that more Mainers are part of that pool of donors giving $200 or less.



https://www.rollcall.com/news/campaigns/susan-collins-contributions-maine

Netanyahu expected to form goverment aftter today's Israeli elections

First Read: “Today’s election represents more than Benjamin Netanyahu trying to become Israel’s longest-serving prime minister – and certainly more than President Trump trying to get his preferred choice (Netanyahu) to win.”

“At stake is arguably the future of the West Bank – after Netanyahu promised to extend sovereignty to parts of it if he’s re-elected.”

The Washington Post notes that final polls gave “an edge to the party led by Netanyahu’s main rival, former military chief Benny Gantz.”

“While the polls suggest that Gantz’s party will win the most seats in parliament, Netanyahu still seems to be in a stronger position to assemble a governing coalition, which is what ultimately matters.”



https://politicalwire.com/2019/04/09/its-election-day-in-israel/

Tweet of the Day

Ilhan Omar, AOC, and the silencing of women of color in Congress

Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, and Tlaib have a few things in common: They are all young, progressive women of color who took office this winter and immediately challenged conventional Washington thinking on everything from foreign policy to climate change to economics. They’ve all faced considerable backlash not only from Republicans, but their own party as well. And they have all been met with a very specific reprimand: Be quiet.

This isn’t something new to women of color: Studies have shown that women of color in the workplace are routinely marginalized, stereotyped, excluded, and silenced — a trend that’s only exacerbated in Congress’s overwhelmingly white and male halls.

That’s why the attacks feel all too familiar to many women of color — they’re part of a long, established pattern of attempts to silence those who step out of the roles society has ascribed to them.

Omar, Tlaib, and Ocasio-Cortez’s stances are certainly worth debating on ideological grounds. And were they white men making the same comments, perhaps they would be. But that’s not always what’s happening.

Instead, these three outspoken women have become the public faces of the shift toward a more diverse Congress and have become a locus for the same patterns of biased behavior that researchers and experts have found women of color in leadership often encounter.



https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/4/8/18272072/ilhan-omar-rashida-tlaib-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-racism-sexism

"If you open the borders, you have people from Vietnam, China, Mexico, and Latin America coming in"

House freshmen continue following through with promises to hold town hall meetings.

Trump Declares Iran's Guard a Terrorist Organization

President Trump designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps a “foreign terrorist organization” as part of an effort to increase international pressure on the country, the AP reports.

“It’s an unprecedented move because the U.S. has never before used the designation for an entire foreign government entity.”

Washington Post: “The designation of the Revolutionary Guards Corps marks the first time Washington has branded a foreign military a terrorist group. While the designation will have little immediate impact, it runs counter to warnings from U.S. military and intelligence officials that other nations could use the designation as a precedent against U.S. action abroad.”


https://politicalwire.com/2019/04/08/trump-declares-irans-guard-a-terrorist-organization/

Arizona GOPers Push Bill To Purge Voters From Permanent Early Voting List

Arizona Republican lawmakers are pushing a bill that would gut the state’s Permanent Early Voting List.

A bill passed out of the House Elections Committee last week would purge voters from a list that automatically provides them with an early voting mail-in ballot if they don’t vote in either the primary or general election for two consecutive election cycles, the Arizona Republic reported. The legislation now faces a vote before the full GOP-controlled House before going to Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s desk.

Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs is pushing for the measure’s defeat, estimating that some 200,000 voters would have been removed from the list if the law had been in effect during the 2016 and 2018 cycles, the newspaper reported.

The bill represents the latest bid by the state GOP to undermine voting access after the surprising results of the 2018 midterm elections. After slow ballot counts in the heavily populated, traditionally Republican Maricopa County were complete, Hobbs and Democratic Senate nominee Kyrsten Sinema won their races.

In short order, local Republicans proposed curbing the authority of Maricopa County’s top elections official, who happens to be a Democrat, and restricting the state’s early voting practices.


https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/arizona-republicans-push-bill-purge-voters-early-ballot

Meet Florida's Only Democrat Elected To Statewide Office

Nikki Fried (@nikkifried) is the state's new commissioner of agriculture and consumer services, and she's shaking things up in Tallahassee.

She was voted into office on a pro-marijuana platform, has appointed a new director of cannabis, Holly Bell, and is pushing for the expansion of medical marijuana in the Sunshine State.

"The reason why I've been such a big advocate of [medical marijuana] is I've seen firsthand patients from all across our country, all across the state, who are suffering some horrible conditions," she tells Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson. "Allowing them opportunities to have the purest form of this medicine is life saving and altering for so many of our patients who can't have tinctures or other types of vaporizers — which add different types of chemicals and things into the products."


https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2019/04/04/florida-agriculture-nikki-fried