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WASHINGTON Democrats on Friday shot down Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs campaign for a prized seat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee instead appointing fellow New York Rep. Kathleen Rice.

The New York congresswomen had been jockeying for the seat and lobbying colleagues behind the scenes, but Rice ultimately won in a vote of 46-13, Politico reported Friday.

The committee oversees everything from public health to climate issues, foreign commerce and consumer protection.

Democratic lawmakers on the Steering and Policy Committee were reportedly forced into an awkward vote Thursday when some members presented their views on who should win.

According to Politico, some Democrats cautioned against giving the plum role to AOC, 31, because she had encouraged several liberal challengers to take on her own colleagues.

Im taking into account who works against other members in primaries and who doesnt, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) said on the call.

Other members on the Energy and Commerce Committee reportedly worried how Ocasio-Cortezs progressive policies, including the Green New Deal, could cause problems in the new Congress, where Democrats will have a slimmer majority.

Rice, 55, a Long Island Democrat and former prosecutor, said she was honored to be selected.

New Yorkers deserve a fighter to lower the cost of prescription drugs, address climate change and improve our drinking water, Rice said in a statement to Patch.

I look forward to working with my colleagues to help the incoming Biden-Harris Administration combat the COVID-19 pandemic and build back our economy.

Rices appointment to the committee marks a huge turnaround in fortunes for the lawmaker, who was denied a seat on the powerful House Judiciary Committee after she spoke out against Nancy Pelosis speakership.

Ocasio-Cortez has recently echoed Rices calls, telling the Intercept she believes the 80-year-old needs to go but has no clear successor.

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AOC passed over by Democrats for spot on key House committee - New York Post

Florida Republicans dominated the most competitive races this year, flipping five state House seats, a state Senate seat and two congressional seatsheld by Democrats.

And the winning candidates including Sarasota state Rep. Fiona McFarland in six of these eight swing districts have something in common they all are women.

The GOP often is viewed as the party of older white men, but 2020 was a big year for GOP women in Florida, and it didnt happen by accident.

I think the speaker-designate in the House definitely made it a goal to recruit quality female candidates, said Anthony Pedicini, a GOP consultant who worked with GOP state House Speaker Chris Sprowls on legislative races.

The Florida GOP used the same playbook that Democrats used in 2018 when they won many of these same swing seats with female candidates, a number of whom were defeated by GOP women this year.

Pedicini said the swing voters in these swing seats often are women, so it makes sense to give them a candidate they can identify with.

From a pure political, practical standpoint, when suburban women were going to decide so many of these races, Pedicini said, the GOP should put up candidates that look like those voters.If were trying to convert suburban women, the message carrier should be one of their own.

Voters want to be able to identify with a candidate, Pedicini said.

There are two questions a voter asks when deciding who to vote for: Is that candidate like me and do I like them? he said. And if they answer yes to both of those questions, youre likely to get them to vote for you.

Pedicini noted that its still important to recruit quality candidates who have strong credentials. McFarland, for example, is a Navy veteran with leadership experience and an extensive record of service. Running a good campaign also matters. McFarland raised more money than her opponent and knocked on more than 25,000 doors during the general election.

But all things being equal, Pedicinibelieves women have an advantage.

Definitely being a political practitioner you want an edge in the election, I think female candidates give you an edge for many reasons, Pedicini said, adding: I give an edge to the women because I think theres a sincerity, a connection.

McFarland said that when she was considering running for the District 72 seat, which covers much of northern Sarasota County, she heard from consultants that a female candidate had the best shot at winning the seat.

It worked for Democrats in 2018. Sarasota Democrat Margaret Good flipped District 72 from GOP control two years ago. This year, Democrats nominated Sarasota attorney Drake Buckman to run against McFarland. He ended up losing by 9.2percentage points.

Still, McFarland said she didnt focus on the gender issue during the campaign. Instead she tried to emulate other aspects of what made Good successful in 2018.

I looked at how she flipped the seat ...in my mind she won because she raised a lot of money, and she knocked on a lot of doors and worked real hard and had other personal attributes not related to gender that made her successful, McFarland said.

But McFarland doesnt discount gender being a factor, saying some voters might want to see more women in office and some may assume women are better listeners and consensus seekers and thats something people want in this time of divisiveness.

McFarland is glad to see diversity among the new crop of GOP elected officials, which wasnt just a trend in Florida this year.

Its pretty cool, isnt it? She said. Im proud of the Republican Party but I think its indicative of the times.

The 2020 election resulted in 17 new Republican women in Congress, boosting the partys female representation to a record level, according to the Washington Post. Republican women defeated 10 of the 13 Democratic incumbents who lost their seats in Congress.

Its about time, right? Pedicini said of the GOPs diversity push.

Of course, the GOP still has plenty of white men in office. Floridas congressional delegation has 16 Republicans and just one is a woman, Maria Elvira Salazar, who defeated a Democratic woman in a Miami swing district this year.

However, the delegation also added a Black Republican man and anotherHispanic Republican man this year, bringing more diversity.

McFarland noted that diversity can take many forms.

To me when I say diversity I think diversity of experience is most important and in some ways thats guided by sex or race or ethnic background, she said.

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Florida GOP found success in swing districts this year with female candidates - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., supports bringing earmarks back with limits. J. Scott Applewhite/AP hide caption

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., supports bringing earmarks back with limits.

When earmarks were a regular feature of congressional business, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., said Democrats and Republicans were able to cut more deals and pass more bills with bipartisan support.

"This used to be time where everybody was 'Hallelujah,' I mean Republicans, Democrats, dancing, kissing. This is the time to be saved," he recalled at a congressional hearing this year in regard to legislation such as the highway bill.

Cleaver served on the bipartisan Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress that Democrats established after they won control of the House of Representatives in 2018. One of the conclusions issued in the committee's final report released in October: Bring back earmarks. (The committee ditched the term "earmark" for a new "Community-Focused Grant Program.")

The committee's recommendations were weighed after hearing testimony from advocates such as the Brookings Institution's John Hudak, who has long argued the earmark ban overcorrected the problem. Then-Speaker John Boehner instituted the ban in 2011, but the practice had been under scrutiny for years following a series of spending scandals in the mid-2000s. Democrats overhauled the process when they controlled the House from 2007 to 2010, but they did not ban them.

"Earmarks were painted as a coven for corruption, a practice reserved for the funding of needless projects to benefit the friends, supporters and donors of members of Congress. Much of this was hyperbole, as earmarking was only abused by a handful of members in the past," Hudak told the committee.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., is one of the leading advocates to reinstate earmarks but with stricter limits and more transparency. He argues the ban didn't stop earmarks; it just transferred spending power from Congress, where it constitutionally belongs, to the executive branch, where it doesn't.

"My belief is that members of Congress elected from 435 districts around the country know, frankly, better than those who may be in Washington what their districts need," he told the House Rules Committee in October.

In the past decade, both parties have attempted and failed to reinstate earmarks primarily due to concerns about how it would play politically. Currently, there is broad support for it among House Democratic leaders, including Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., and incoming House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut. "It is a dynamic environment, and I think we are in a better position now to move forward in this area," DeLauro told NPR.

Steve Ellis runs Taxpayers for Common Sense, a budget watchdog group that helped expose earmark abuses. "House Democrats can push as much as they want, but they're going to have to have a dance partner in the Senate and they're going to have to have a dance partner with Republicans," he said, "It's one of these things where it just won't stand politically and optically if they don't all jump together."

Senate Republicans voted to ban earmarks permanently in their internal party rules just last year, but control of the Senate won't be clear until after a pair of Georgia special elections in early January. Republican Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, a longtime appropriator, made it clear the Senate is not currently rushing to join with House Democrats. "I don't think senators are thinking about this much until it's clear what the House really intends to do," he said.

Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, supports bringing back earmarks and said, in private, the idea is quite popular. "Oh yes, there's very quiet support for it among Republicans. There will be some opposed, but they don't have to have earmarks if they don't like them."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., both appropriators who have embraced earmarks in the past, haven't yet taken a position on this round to revive them.

Former President Barack Obama opposed earmarks, famously pledging to veto any bill that came to his desk that included them. President-elect Joe Biden also hasn't weighed in, but Biden says he wants to bring Republicans and Democrats together, and advocates say earmarks is one way to do it.

Read more here:
Democrats Want To Bring Earmarks Back As Way To Break Gridlock In Congress - NPR

As Democratic leaders in New York institute more stringent restrictions to combat the coronavirus and urge people to follow them, one group of local Democratic power brokers did not seem to get the message.

At a birthday party last weekend for Carlo Scissura, president of the New York Building Congress, an influential trade organization, some leaders sipped drinks, rubbed shoulders and rarely wore masks.

Photos that surfaced this week from the event, held last Saturday at a private residence in Brooklyn, according to an official familiar with the gathering, prompted cries of hypocrisy, calls for resignations and, eventually, a round of apologies on Friday.

This is a particularly trying time and there were shortcomings that I regret, Mr. Scissura said in a statement that noted that the party was not his idea. I greatly appreciate the gesture of my friends to throw me a surprise party, but we all must follow strict protocols so we can get past this pandemic.

The photos from the party, which were published by The Daily News, show Frank Seddio, the former chairman of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, chatting closely with Ingrid Lewis-Martin, the deputy Brooklyn borough president. Neither wore masks.

The party took place just as New York City has been fighting a resurgence of the virus. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has limited gatherings in homes to 10 people, and Mayor Bill de Blasio closed public schools this week and is urging New Yorkers to avoid visiting family for Thanksgiving.

This party was asinine, counterproductive and insulting to all New Yorkers, Mr. de Blasios spokesman, Mitch Schwartz, said in a statement on Friday. Every attendee should apologize and then match their words with actions. City Hall expects them to start by holding responsible, virtual Thanksgiving celebrations next week.

The timing was particularly awkward for Ms. Lewis-Martin, who is a deputy for Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president who announced his campaign for mayor this week. Mr. Adams, a Democrat, appeared in a video that showed him wearing a mask and greeting New Yorkers with an elbow bump.

Ms. Lewis-Martin, a longtime adviser to Mr. Adams since his days in the State Senate, said in a statement that all New Yorkers should wear masks and follow public health guidelines.

I apologize for my lapse in compliance with Covid-19 precautions, she said. As a public figure in Brooklyn, I know it is my responsibility to lead by example.

Mr. Adams said in a statement that he accepted Ms. Lewis-Martins apology. We are all human and have lapses in judgment; what is important is that we recognize when we make mistakes and commit ourselves to the high level of vigilance that is necessary to prevent the spread of this terrible virus, he said.

At the party last weekend, guests were given masks, each persons temperature was taken and the event was primarily held outside, according to someone who attended the party.

But many New Yorkers were dismayed by the lack of caution depicted in the photos. James Patchett, the president of the citys economic development corporation under Mr. de Blasio, called on the officials at the party to step down.

This is an embarrassment, he wrote on Twitter. Every one of these people should resign.

Joseph Borelli, a Republican city councilman from Staten Island, said Democrats were being hypocritical after criticizing him for saying earlier that he would hold a large family gathering for Thanksgiving. He pointed to Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California who apologized for attending a lavish dinner without a mask, as another example.

Many of the most panicked purveyors of Covid craziness are actually members of the good for thee, not for me set, he said.

Mr. Seddio gave The Daily News two estimates from that night; he put the partys attendance at roughly a dozen, and, oddly, the number of times he passed gas at four. He did not respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Seddios successor as leader of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, Rodneyse Bichotte, released a statement through a spokesman: We encourage everyone during this period to abide by safety measures such as social distancing and wearing a mask.

Some New Yorkers have bristled at the restrictions on gatherings. During Mr. de Blasios weekly appearance on the radio station WNYC on Friday, a caller asked the mayor if the shutdowns were just because you want to destroy Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Mr. de Blasio said he was disappointed that he would not be seeing relatives this Thanksgiving, but he said the restrictions were necessary to save lives.

We have to keep people alive so they can celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas going forward, he said.

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Democratic Leaders in Brooklyn Mingled at a Party. Few Wore Masks. - The New York Times

Democrats are growing confident they might be able to pull off twin victories in the Senate runoff races in Georgia in January what would have been a long shot political upset only a few years ago but is now being viewed as a real possibility after massive turnout from suburban voters in the general election helped President-elect Joe Biden flip the state from red to blue.

Bidens hopes of enacting his agenda rest on the outcome of the Jan. 5 runoff elections, which will determine control of the Senate.

If Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock beat Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, the Republican incumbents, the Senate would be split 50-50. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, as president of the Senate, would control the tie-breaking vote, opening the door for the Biden administration to push through legislation on the pandemic, the economy, climate change, and other priorities.

Georgia is a battleground state, and we have voters who understand whats at stake in the runoff elections, said Nikema Williams, the state Democratic Party chair.

This is a turnout election, said Williams, who had her own election victory in the seat formerly held by the late civil rights icon John Lewis.

It just depends on which side can get their people back out.

In order to go two-for-two in Georgia, Ossoff and Warnock will need to recreate Bidens coalition from the November election, in particular his strong support among suburban voters who were fed up with President Donald Trump. Large turnout in Cobb, Gwinnett and other suburban counties surrounding Atlanta powered Biden to victory in Georgia, making him the first Democratic presidential nominee to win the state since Bill Clinton in 1992.

The Associated Press called Georgia for Biden on Thursday, after the state completed a hand recount. Biden is leading Trump by less than 13,000 votes, out of more than 5 million votes.

WATCH: Behind the ballots in Georgias recount the largest in U.S. history

Bidens victory in Georgia and the opportunity for the party to control the Senate will motivate Democrats to vote in the Senate runoffs, said Jacquelyn Bettadapur, chair of the Cobb County Democratic Party. Democrats are focused on targeting voters who turned out in the general election, instead of trying to recruit new voters to the polls, she said.

Democrats are engaged, Bettadapur said. Im curious to see how successful Republicans are without Trump at the top of the ticket turning out the vote.

There are two runoffs because no candidate in either Senate race on Nov. 3 crossed the 50 percent threshold required under state law to win outright. Perdue is up for reelection against Ossoff, while Loeffler is running in a special election against Warnock to fill the remaining two years of Johnny Isaksons term. Isakson cited health reasons in his decision to step down last year.

Ossoff rose to prominence after narrowly losing a high-profile House race in 2017. Warnock, the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, was not as well known coming into the race but managed to win more votes than Loeffler with a message focused on strengthening health care during the coronavirus pandemic.

Republicans said GOP voters were just as motivated as Democrats to get out and vote in the runoffs. Loeffler and Perdue have made control of the Senate the central theme of the upcoming January elections, portraying their challengers as radical progressives who would allow Biden to enact socialist policies if the Democratic Party wins control of the upper chamber.

PERRY, GA NOVEMBER 19: (R to L) U.S. Sen. David Purdue (R-GA) and Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) wave to the crowd of supporters at a Defend the Majority rally with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agriculture Center on November 19, 2020 in Perry, Georgia. Loeffler and Purdue are facing Democratic U.S. Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in a January 5th runoff race. (Photo by Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)

The message is aimed at moderate suburban voters from both parties who may have voted for Biden in the general election but are hesitant to give Democrats control of the White House and both chambers of Congress, said David Johnson, a Republican strategist.

Loeffler and Perdue need to try to win back some of the suburbans who voted against Trump, Johnson said. Those are the areas where Democrats made the gains and provided Biden the extra edge. And they used to be Republican.

READ MORE: Vice President Pence campaigns in Georgia ahead of Senate runoffs

The battle over suburban voters underscores demographic shifts that have reshaped the states political landscape.

Georgias population grew from roughly 8.2 million people in 2000 to 10.5 million in 2018, an increase driven primarily by a surge in new Latino and Asian residents. Non-white residents, who tend to lean Democratic, now account for 47 percent of the states population, according to state data.

The share of the states electorate that is white dropped from 68 percent in 2000 to 58 percent in 2018, a Pew Research Center study found.

The political changes are most visible in Atlanta and its surrounding suburbs. The Atlanta metropolitan area added 733,646 residents between 2010 and 2019, according to Census data, putting state and congressional races in play for Democrats for the first time in decades.

Those forces converged to help put Biden over the top in the general election. Biden received 75,000 more votes in Gwinnett County than did Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee in 2016 turning her 5.8-percentage point win into an 18-point blowout. Biden outperformed Clinton in Cobb County by 60,000 votes, expanding her victory margin there from 2.2 points to a 14-point win. Clinton lost the state overall by 5 percentage points.

Cobb County is still the number one county in the state in terms of Republican votes, but the growth of the county unfortunately for us has been mostly Democratic, said Jason Shepherd, the countys Republican chair.

In the runoffs, Republicans cant win the state without massive turnout in suburban areas like Cobb County, he added.

But voter turnout in runoff elections in Georgia and across the country is typically lower than in the preceding general election. It is always a challenge for candidates to convince voters who are tired of politics to go back to the polls so soon after a long, divisive general election season.

In 2008, 2.1 million people voted in Georgias Senate runoff election between then-Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the Republican incumbent, and Democrat Jim Martin. That represented a nearly 50 percent drop in the turnout rate from the general election.

Chambliss beat Martin by roughly 3 percentage points in the general election that year, but he received 49.8 percent of the vote, falling just short of the 50 percent threshold required under state law to avoid a runoff. Chambliss routed Martin in the runoff the following month, winning by nearly 15 points.

Republicans pointed to the 2008 runoff in arguing that Democrats were too overconfident this time around. When Saxby was in the runoff people were coming out of the woodwork to help him win, said Shepherd, who served as a regional chairman for Chambliss campaign.

Others said the state has changed too much since then to make it a meaningful comparison.

Twelve years ago, Republicans were at the apex of their power and their strength in the state, said Andra Gillespie, a political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta. Bidens victory this year suggests there are many more Democrats in the state now in 2020 than there were in 2008.

As the races ramp up, money from outside political groups and donors is pouring into the state. Spending on both sides has already topped $100 million and that figure is expected to grow significantly in the weeks leading up to the start of early in-person voting on Dec. 14.

Campaign volunteers are also flooding into the state ahead of the Jan. 5 runoff. Democrats from across the country have for two weeks been calling to volunteer to travel to Georgia to help get out the vote, said LeWanna Heard-Tucker, the head of the Democratic Party in Atlanta. She said outreach efforts so far have focused on reminding voters when the election is, and when the early voting period starts.

Some voters dont need reminding.

Kelly Spencer, a self-described independent voter who recently moved to Atlanta from a nearby suburb, said she was highly motivated to hand Democrats control of the Senate.

There might have been a time when I would have said theres better to have some balance. If we have a Democratic president, Republicans should be in control of the Senate, said Spencer, a real estate investor. Spencer said she has voted for Republicans and Democrats for president in the past, but supported Biden in 2020 because she was so appalled by Trumps demeanor in office.

Trumps refusal to concede the election and baseless claims of voter fraud since Nov. 3 turned her off even further from backing Republicans in the runoffs, she said.

But Shepherd, the Republican chairman in Cobb County, said he thinks Trumps decision to keep fighting the results of the election would motivate his base to show up for the runoffs, especially with control of the Senate up for grabs. Republicans across the state are really eager to send a message, he said.

Continue reading here:
In Georgia, can Bidens winning coalition deliver the Senate to Democrats? - PBS NewsHour