Politics
Bye Bye Iowa? Democrats to Debate Changes to Primary Calendar
For years, Democrats in Iowa and New Hampshire have battled criticism from others within the celebration who argued that the 2 states aren’t racially numerous sufficient to kick off the Democratic nomination course of.
However after a disastrous 2020 cycle, by which Iowa officers struggled to tabulate votes and neither state proved predictive of President Biden’s eventual victory, Democratic leaders are exploring with new urgency whether or not to strip the 2 states of what has been a priceless political entitlement: their conventional perch at first of the celebration’s presidential calendar.
A number of concepts are anticipated to be heard on Friday by the Democratic Nationwide Committee’s guidelines and bylaws committee, which governs the nominating course of. One requires an software course of for states primarily based on a number of standards, together with range. One other thought, raised at a gathering in January, would consolidate all 4 of the present early-voting states — Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada — right into a single first voting day earlier than Tremendous Tuesday.
The controversy has taken on new urgency in response to a gradual drumbeat of criticism by activists, elected officers and a few members of the foundations and bylaws committee. The issues raised embrace fears that Iowa’s caucus system disenfranchises some voters and that neither Iowa nor Hampshire is racially numerous sufficient to behave as a stand-in for the Democratic voting base.
Within the final election cycle, logistical challenges together with late-arriving votes and inaccurate knowledge additionally highlighted the shortcomings of Iowa’s caucus course of and muddied its capability to call a winner.
“To me it’s not about one state, it’s not about punishing,” mentioned Mo Elleithee, a former spokesman for the Democratic Nationwide Committee and for Hillary Clinton who serves on the foundations and bylaws committee.
“We’ve an opportunity to indicate our values in our course of,” Mr. Elleithee mentioned. “Variety, inclusion, and, given the job of the D.N.C. is to elect Democrats, by placing our folks in entrance of as many battleground states as doable.”
Members of the foundations and bylaws committee, a number of of whom didn’t reply to requests for remark, have been instructed to count on to work on the difficulty all through the summer time with the intention of setting a agency nomination calendar by the autumn.
“We’re not shut to creating a choice,” mentioned Donna Brazile, a former chair of the Democratic Nationwide Committee who additionally serves on the foundations and bylaws committee. On Friday, she mentioned, “we begin the dialog.”
In January, throughout a digital assembly of the identical physique, Mr. Elleithee and others made the case for overhauling the nominating calendar and have been met with comparatively little pushback — which some members took as an indication that even the delegations from Iowa and New Hampshire acknowledged that some change could also be inevitable.
State officers in Iowa and New Hampshire have fiercely resisted earlier proposals to downgrade their primacy within the celebration’s nominating calendar, publicly and privately whipping allies to their facet, however they haven’t but begun to take action, in accordance with committee members. Nonetheless, they mentioned that any change to the system can be anticipated to show the celebration’s acknowledgment of the significance of smaller states and rural voters.
Scott Brennan, an Iowan who sits on the foundations and bylaws committee, didn’t reply to a request for remark however argued on the January assembly that Iowa’s small-state standing has allowed barrier-breaking politicians to thrive.
“Barack Obama was in a position to come to Iowa, the little-known senator from Illinois, and in the end turn out to be the nominee,” Mr. Brennan mentioned then.
Mr. Brennan additionally referenced Pete Buttigieg, the previous mayor of South Bend, Ind., who’s now the secretary of transportation. When Iowa’s caucuses have been ultimately tabulated in 2020, Mr. Buttigieg turned the primary brazenly homosexual candidate to win a presidential major or caucus, with a slender victory over Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
“Of us like which have probabilities to essentially shine,” Mr. Brennan mentioned. “If Iowa is just not first within the course of, I believe that goes away.”
Ms. Brazile, who in 2000 turned the primary Black girl to direct a significant presidential marketing campaign, mentioned the celebration benefited when states like Nevada and South Carolina have been added to the early nominating schedule to enhance the illustration of Black and Latino voters.
“It’s essential that our major calendar replicate these values,” Ms. Brazile mentioned on the guidelines and bylaws committee assembly in January. “We have to thank South Carolina and Nevada for giving us high quality nominees through the years. That range has uplifted the celebration and in addition the values we maintain as Americans.”
Earlier efforts to vary the nomination calendar to attenuate the significance of Iowa and New Hampshire have hit political roadblocks. Bold elected officers, typically eyeing the subsequent presidential cycle, have sought to keep away from upsetting state officers in Iowa and New Hampshire, who’ve traditionally guarded their first-in-the-nation standing with excessive urgency. Presidents have typically felt indebted to voters in these states, quelling criticisms earlier than they attain the very best ranges of the celebration.
However Mr. Biden owes no such obligation. In 2020, he turned the primary fashionable Democrat to win the celebration’s presidential nomination with out successful both in Iowa or New Hampshire. On the night time of the New Hampshire major — the place Mr. Biden completed fifth — he fled to South Carolina and argued in opposition to the significance of Iowa and New Hampshire, highlighting the dearth of Black voters in these states as a purpose the outcomes needs to be downplayed.
“Tonight, I’ve simply heard from the primary two states, not all of the nation,” Mr. Biden mentioned on the time. “Up until now, we haven’t heard from probably the most dedicated constituency within the Democratic Social gathering — the African American neighborhood.”
He went on to win the South Carolina major in a landslide.
Politics
Appeals court rules Texas has right to build razor wire border wall to deter illegal immigration: 'Huge win'
A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that Texas has the right to build a razor wire border wall to deter illegal immigration into the Lone Star State.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced the ruling on X, saying President Biden was “wrong to cut our razor wire.”
“We continue adding more razor wire border barrier,” the Republican leader wrote.
Wednesday’s 2-1 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals clears the way for Texas to pursue a lawsuit accusing the Biden administration of trespassing without having to remove the fencing.
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It also reversed a federal judge’s November 2023 refusal to grant a preliminary injunction to Texas as the state resisted federal efforts to remove fencing along the Rio Grande in the vicinity of Eagle Pass, Texas.
Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan, a Trump appointee during the president-elect’s first term, wrote for Wednesday’s majority that Texas was trying only to safeguard its own property, not “regulate” U.S. Border Patrol, and was likely to succeed in its trespass claims.
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Duncan said the federal government waived its sovereign immunity and rejected its concerns that a ruling by Texas would impede the enforcement of immigration law and undermine the government’s relationship with Mexico.
He said the public interest “supports clear protections for property rights from government intrusion and control” and ensuring that federal immigration law enforcement does not “unnecessarily intrude into the rights of countless property owners.”
Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton called the ruling a “huge win for Texas.”
“The Biden Administration has been enjoined from damaging, destroying, or otherwise interfering with Texas’s border fencing,” Paxton wrote in a post on X. “We sued immediately when the federal government was observed destroying fences to let illegal aliens enter, and we’ve fought every step of the way for Texas sovereignty and security.”
The White House has been locked in legal battles with Texas and other states that have tried to deter illegal immigration.
In May, the full 5th Circuit heard arguments in a separate case between Texas and the White House over whether the state can keep a 1,000-foot floating barrier on the Rio Grande.
The appeals court is also reviewing a judge’s order blocking a Texas law that would allow state officials to arrest, prosecute and order the removal of people in the country illegally.
Politics
Rep. Katie Porter obtains temporary restraining order against ex-boyfriend on harassment allegations
U.S. Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) secured a temporary restraining order Tuesday against a former boyfriend, saying in dozens of pages of court filings that he had bombarded her, as well as her family and colleagues, with hundreds of messages that she described as “persistent abuse and harassment.”
Porter, 50, alleged in a filing with Orange County Superior Court that her ex-boyfriend Julian Willis, 55, was contacting her and her family with such frequency that she had a “significant fear” for her “personal safety and emotional well-being.”
Judge Stephen T. Hicklin signed a restraining order Tuesday barring Willis from communicating with Porter and her children until a mid-December court hearing. He also barred Willis from communicating about Porter with her current and former colleagues.
In the court filing, Porter said that Willis had been hospitalized twice since late 2022 on involuntary psychiatric holds and had a history of abusing prescription painkillers and other drugs.
She said in a statement to The Times that Willis’ mental health and struggles with addiction seemed to have gotten worse since she asked him in August to move out of her Irvine home. She said she sought the court order after his threats to her family and colleagues “escalated in both their frequency and intensity.”
“I sincerely hope he gets the help he needs,” Porter said.
Willis declined to comment. He will have an opportunity to file a legal response to the temporary restraining order and challenge Porter’s allegations.
Porter is leaving the House of Representatives in January after losing in California’s U.S. Senate primary in March. She has been discussed as a front-runner in the 2026 governor’s race in California after Gov. Gavin Newsom is termed out, but has not said whether she will launch a campaign.
The 53-page court filing, first reported by Politico, included 22 pages of emails, text messages and other communications among Porter, family members and colleagues who had received messages from Willis, as well as messages that Willis sent to Porter’s attorney and to her political mentor Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
The filing also included messages between herself and Willis’ siblings as they discussed trying to help him during his psychiatric holds and while he was staying in a sober-living facility.
Porter said that since she ordered Willis to move out, he had sent her more than 1,000 text messages and emails, including texting her 82 times in one 24-hour period in September, and 55 times on Nov. 12 before she blocked his number.
Porter said in the filing that her ex-boyfriend had “already contacted at least three reporters to disseminate false and damaging information” about her and her children, which she said “poses a serious risk to [her] career and personal reputation.”
The filing includes an email that Porter said Willis sent to her attorney late Monday, in which Willis said he had visited Porter’s son at college in Iowa and told him that he would “bring the hammer down on Katie and smash her and her life into a million pieces.”
Another screenshot shows Willis telling Porter’s attorney that he would file a complaint about Porter, who has children ages 12 and 16, with child protective services.
One of Porter’s congressional staff members received a text message from Willis saying he would “punish the f—” out of him if he did not agree to “cooperate” with a New York Times reporter and Willis’ attorneys, according to a screenshot included in the court document.
Willis previously made the news in 2021, when he was arrested after a fight that broke out at a Porter town hall at a park in Irvine.
Times staff writer Christopher Goffard contributed to this report.
Politics
Homan taking death threats against him ‘more seriously’ after Trump officials targeted with violent threats
Incoming Trump border czar Tom Homan reacted to news of death threats against Trump nominees on Wednesday and said he now takes the death threats he has previously received seriously.
“I have not taken this serious up to this point,” Homan told Fox News anchor Gillian Turner on “The Story” on Wednesday, referring to previous death threats made against him and his family.
“Now that I know what’s happened in the last 24 hours. I will take it a little more serious. But look, I’ve been dealing with this. When I was the ICE director in the first administration, I had numerous death threats. I had a security detail with me all the time. Even after I retired, death threats continued and even after I retired as the ICE Director. I had U.S. Marshals protection for a long time to protect me and my family.”
Homan explained that what “doesn’t help” the situation is the “negative press” around Trump.
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“I’m not in the cabinet, but, you know, I’ve read numerous hit pieces. I mean, you know, I’m a racist and, you know, I’m the father of family separation, all this other stuff. So the hate media doesn’t help at all because there are some nuts out there. They’ll take advantage. So that doesn’t help.”
Homan’s comments come shortly after Fox News Digital first reported that nearly a dozen of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees and other appointees tapped for the incoming administration were targeted Tuesday night with “violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” prompting a “swift” law enforcement response.
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The “attacks ranged from bomb threats to ‘swatting,’” according to Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman and incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“Last night and this morning, several of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees and administration appointees were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” she told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. “In response, law enforcement acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted. President Trump and the entire Transition team are grateful for their swift action.”
Sources told Fox News Digital that John Ratcliffe, the nominee to be CIA director, Pete Hegseth, the nominee for secretary of defense, and Rep. Elise Stefanik, the nominee for UN ambassador, were among those targeted. Brooke Rollins, who Trump has tapped to be secretary of agriculture, and Lee Zeldin, Trump’s nominee to be EPA administrator, separately revealed they were also targeted.
Threats were also made against Trump’s Labor Secretary nominee, GOP Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and former Trump attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz’s family.
Homan told Fox News that he is “not going to be intimidated by these people” and “I’m not going to let them silence me.”
“What I’ve learned today I’ll start taking a little more serious.”
Homan added that he believes “we need to have a strong response once we find out is behind all this.”
“It’s illegal to threaten someone’s life. And we need to follow through with that.”
The threats on Tuesday night came mere months after Trump survived two assassination attempts.
Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report
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