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Florida Democrats, who havent even managed yet to find someone to run against Rick Scott for re-election to the U.S. Senate next year, are finding recruitment of candidates for down-ballot races difficult, too.

Their plight was made stark during an exchange at a Florida Young Democrats workshop during the state party convention in Tampa last weekend.

I know pro-choice women who have been very discouraged by the possibility of getting to a Legislature where their voices arent going to be heard, one male member of the audience told Elise Stuewe, training director at Ruths List Florida, who was conducting a workshop titled, How to Run for Office.

The man added that he knew others who were reluctant to run for county office, when the state seems so willing to preempt county and local rule.

Steuwe responded that life for members of the Democratic superminority in the Florida Legislature was supremely challenging but stressed that there remain critical races where the outcomes really will have meaningful impacts on peoples lives.

I think the broader question of how we keep people engaged in the political process at a time when its demoralizing is to try to focus on in the short run what are the wins that will make an impact on peoples lives? You know, at least slow the damage, Steuwe said.

Slowing the damage isnt an exactly a stirring call to arms, but the exchange illuminates the plight of the Florida Democratic Party in spring 2023. Still reeling from their electoral blowout last fall, Democratic lawmakers found themselves on the losing side on crucial votes regarding unions, immigration, abortion, guns, the death penalty, and school tuition voucher expansion in the just-concluded legislative session in Tallahassee.

What about their 2024 chances?

I feel hopeful, and I feel that we learned a lot of lessons in the 2022 cycle, said Cassidy Whitaker, 27, a Florida Young Democrat and statewide political director for Ruths List, which recruits and trains pro-choice Democratic women for office.

I feel excited that President Biden is going to be at the top of our ballot next year and I feel like we are ready to, at the very least, come out of the superminority, because we have to, Whittaker said.

Whitaker, like other Democrats, acknowledged the party might not realize significant progress in electing its members but stressed: This is a long game, and we have to play the long game and we have to understand that the candidates that we support right now are going to be our bench for future seats.

She does believe the inclusion ofa potential ballot measure on abortion rights will spur female candidates to run for office.

This was the most harmful year in Floridas history on choice, Whitaker noted. And Florida was the last safe haven in the South for abortion, and that is not the case anymore, so we have to do literally everything that we can, at the very least, to climb out of the superminority which I believe we will do.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signing of the six-week abortion bill (at 10:45 p.m. on a weeknight) has led some national political observers to already write the obit for his presidential ambitions. (A Newsweek columnist declared that signing that bill made himself unelectable as president.)

But its not exactly clear how much abortion will hurt him or the vast majority of GOP state lawmakers who voted for the measure this past session. (Thats presuming it takes effect, which wont be determined until the Florida Supreme Court rules on whether the state Constitution protects abortion rights in litigation over last years 15-week abortion ban).

Historically, unpopular decisions in Tallahassee particularly those made in the spring of an off-year election have rarely redounded on those same lawmakers when they face reelection, although abortion has proved a particularly potent issue for Democrats throughout the country since the U.S. Supreme Courts Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade landed last summer.

Tampa Bay area strategist Jackson McMillan, who led a workshop on campaign vendors and procurement in a game-show style format on Saturday, said the perception that Florida is now a red state has led to a brain drain of Democratic campaign staffers.

It saddens me to say, honestly, that Im probably one of the most experienced staffers who works on local campaigns and doesnt work specifically as a consultant, said McMillan, who is just 21 but has been working in politics since 2019. Many of his peers no longer live and work in Florida, he said.

Theyve taken jobs out of state and its definitely going to be interesting to see how these campaigns on a larger scale like Rick Scott are going to staff up going into 2024, he said.

I can tell you, at the end of the [Charlie] Crist campaign and the [U.S. Senate candidate Val] Demings campaign, the last month to two months, they were so desperate for staff they were hiring people even for junior leadership positions who had never worked on campaigns before.

Kevin Parker is a young Democrat from Osceola County contemplating a run for the state House of Representatives. Hes now the Central Florida field organizer for Equality Florida, the leading LGBTQ advocacy group in the state.

Theres much-needed change in Florida, he said.

That wont happen in just an election cycle. This is going to be a long-term effort, and so its important that we identify people now who have that passion, who have that drive, who have that commitment to change, and get them ready for when those seats open up. So that way, when that time comes up, theyll be ready and hit the ground running. Because right now as Democrats we are at an extreme disadvantage in the state of Florida when it comes to our elections up against Republicans.

Parker noted that four members of the Florida House represent some part of Osceola County, and three of them are Republicans: Caroline Amnesty, Paula Starke, and Fred Hawkins. Kristen Arrington is the only Democrat.

If you talk to the Democratic Party about running, theyll try to steer you to running for a seat that is outside of where you live, Parker said, adding that state lawonly requires that legislative candidates live in the district that they represent at the time of election.

But moving to run presents challenges. Really, nobody has the means and ways of literally picking up where they live to move to a different district to campaign there, he said. And even then, youll get pushback from that community because you really havent lived there for X amount of time. So, its really a damned if you do, damned if you dont thing.

Tim Gilbert, 36, is vice chair of the Citrus County Democratic Party, president of the Citrus County Young Democrats, and an alternative Planning and Development Commissioner for Citrus County.

In a county running 70% Republican, hes working to change things at the hyperlocal level, and takes delight in the upset victory in an Inverness city council race last November. Thats when little-known Crystal Lizanich defeated two opponents including a firebrand conservative who made a name for himself locally by spearheading a movement to ban LGBTQ materials from county libraries, according to the Citrus County Chronicle by just 40 votes.

We knocked on doors, Gilbert said. They asked us, Are you a Democrat? We said its nonpartisan, doesnt matter. When we start talking about real issues? People agreed with us. Those Republicans all agreed with us. When we said we dont want more government overreach. We dont want to lose our local home authority to rezone how we see fit. We dont want this, and they say, We dont either!

Other Young Democrats remain optimistic.

We cant just stop and allow things to happen that we dont agree with, said Nomy Santos, a 36-year-old Orlando resident. So, we have to stay engaged and its kind of motivating. Like, its got way too conservative for a lot of people in Florida, even for Republicans.

If nothing else, Santos said, the weekend was a great way to connect with people from around the state.

We feel defeated, but I think were getting energy from each other, focusing on wins, and mobilizing our communities and connecting, she said.

Read the original post:
Florida Young Democrats ponder the future - Florida Phoenix

Many congressional Democrats are defending the EPAs latest move to drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions at power plants around the country despite ferocious pushback from Republicans and skepticism from industry allies.

In interviews Thursday, Democrats downplayed the proposed regulations political consequences. They also shrugged off concerns that the new policy would lead to job losses.

Those reactions sent a clear a signal that climate hawks are ready to trade such unknowns for the certainty of a rapid decarbonization of the atmosphere, a necessity for meaningfully addressing global warming.

The job of the government, and the EPA, is to protect human health and safety, said Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) on Thursday afternoon.

Coal is in many ways a threat to that, he said. And what weve done is provided incentives for the private sector to develop technologies that would address that.

The draft rules EPA rolled out Thursday morning would require new and existing full-time gas plants to capture 90 percent of their emissions by 2035.

Existing coal-fired power plants would need to hit that 90 percent target in 2030, but only if they were set to remain online in 2040; more and more coal operations are being phased out in the transition away from fossil fuels.

In a call with reporters the day before the announcement, EPA Administrator Michael Regan acknowledged some coal plants would need to close as a result of the new standards.

Fossil fuel industry representatives and their backers on Capitol Hill said the Biden administration was handing them an unworkable and unfair hand.

This is just so extreme, and all Ive asked for with the administration is a transitional period. This is not a transition, said Senate Environment and Public Works Committee ranking member Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), who is pledging to lead an effort in Congress to repeal the rule when finalized.

For utilities that want to remain active once the updated emissions standards are in effect, they would need to deploy carbon capture technology or hydrogen infrastructure to meet the emissions reduction standards.

The Inflation Reduction Act provided a massive investment to incentivize the use of carbon capture and storage projects, which could help in the movement towards meeting the new EPA mandate in the years ahead.

But carbon capture technology is still relatively nascent, and its efficacy remains something of an open question. Technological advances will be needed for large-scale deployment and to guarantee desired results.

Capito argued that it remains prohibitively expensive and not sufficient at doing its intended job.

Peters, a longtime proponent of investments in the technology, countered that EPA was being acting appropriately in asking industry to embrace certain innovations if they wanted to remain active.

What can we do to make this feasible? Weve done a lot already, he said. For years, people have been saying, We can do clean coal through carbon capture. Its up to the coal industry to prove that it can do it clean. It may be relatively expensive. But at least theyll have a shot with advances in the carbon capture technology.

Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), who helped secure the expanded carbon capture tax credit in the Inflation Reduction Act known as 45Q, said the EPA proposed rulemaking would spur the necessary innovations in the coming years.

Where theres a will, theres a way, and were developing the will to get this done, Smith said.

What we see over and over again is the legacy energy companies tell us that if we push towards more innovation everything is going to go to hell in a handbasket. And then what happens is they innovate, they catch up, they figure it out. If they want to be a part of the energy future, theyre gonna have to figure this out.

Sen. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), the former chair of the now-disbanded House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, agreed that technological advances were necessary, pointing to other emissions-heavy sectors.

What Im hoping is, this really aids in the technology for industrial carbon capture because right now we really dont know how to make steel and cement and other industrial products with carbon capture, Castor explained. We dont know how to restrain their emissions. And were gonna need cement and steel so thats my hope.

The jurys still out if the technology is really mature enough to help reduce carbon pollution at power plants, she continued, but I think this does, with the incentives provided in the IRA that I think it could be the incentive to find some of the solutions we desperately need.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who has made combating the climate crisis a centerpiece of his legislative portfolio, dismissed those concerns entirely.

I visited Saskatchewan with Lindsey Graham back in 2015 to see a carbon capture facility operating successfully there at a power plant, he tweeted regarding a tour of the Canadian city he took with the Republican senator from South Carolina. This can be done.

Whitehouse also told E&E News he was unsympathetic to Republican gripes generally, that because the Republican Party is essentially the political wing of the fossil fuel industry, were gonna see fossil fuel antagonism to all these clean energy policy manifest no matter what. So we might as well get on with it.

Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) was similarly sanguine Thursday, suggesting his hope was that the proposed EPA rule would actually spur an end to gas- and coal-fired plants entirely.

I prefer a clean energy transformation, where we focus on large-scale deployment of renewables and the transmission of infrastructure to support that transmission along with utility-scale storage, said Levin, who is working on a permitting reform proposal that would deal entirely with speeding up work on clean energy projects.

I understand that as we transition to electrification and decarbonization that were going to need a legacy generation of fossil, he continued, and to the extent that we can have a cleaner fossil fuel fleet and use whatever best available technologies exist and continue to refine it, I think thats all positive.

Indeed, many environmentalists view Regans announcement Thursday as a largely designed to force industry to adapt if not through adopting new technologies to cut down on emissions, then through phasing out fossil fuels entirely.

Many Republicans and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) have this interpretation of the proposed rulemaking.

This will shut down every coal fired power plant in my state and throw thousands of people out of jobs, said Capito. Theyre answering a call of a political agenda.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a senior member of ENR, agreed, adding that the White House was heading down a treacherous path.

You cant even have a discussion and a dialogue because theyre not willing to dial it back at all, she said of the Biden administrations aggressive climate agenda. Its not about accommodating Republicans. Its like, recognizing that as country, were all in a different place here. And were not. And thats whats making it hard right now.

See more here:
Democrats defend the unknown in EPA power plan - E&E News

Although Norcross said he would do whatever he asks me to do if Sweeney runs for governor, he also acknowledged the locus of political power rests north of Interstate 95 where a handful of other potential candidates for governor live and, presumably, would lock up support from leaders of Democratic-rich areas. Sweeney would be expected to secure party backing south of that dividing line, a large swath of the state Norcross has commanded but is far less populated and increasingly running red.

Other possible candidates who would be competing for Democratic Party support to secure the organizational line giving them preferred ballot positioning in each county include Reps. Josh Gottheimer of Bergen County and Mikie Sherrill of Essex County. Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop announced his candidacy last month, gaining the support of Hudson County chair Anthony Vainieri. Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin of Middlesex County and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka are also widely seen as possible candidates.

Hes got to get a line up north, said one South Jersey Democratic leader who, like others who spoke to POLITICO, was granted anonymity to talk candidly about Sweeneys prospects.

At this point, Sweeneys best chances in the north would be in Bergen or Hudson if Gottheimer or Fulop flame out, this person said. Irrespective of those two things happening, it is going to be tough.

Sweeney and Norcross, a friend since childhood, formed an effective and long-running political alliance that saw Sweeney lead the Senate for a record 12 years. But the stunning defeat of Sweeney and his two Assembly running mates in 2021 was catastrophic to the South Jersey political apparatus, Norcross said. It has raised questions ever since whether Sweeney could mount a successful gubernatorial run.

Sweeney declined to comment in detail on his future plans, but has said hes considering running for governor just as he did seven years ago.

Many different scenarios could play out between now and 2025, and alliances are always subject to change. And Sweeney could benefit from a fracturing of North Jersey Democrats, giving him an opportunity to run as an alternative to progressives such as Fulop.

New Jersey is a moderate state, Sweeney said in an interview Monday. I dont think the states going to get more progressive.

But as Murphys sudden ascendance from long shot to front-runner showed in late 2016, it is a faction of party bosses who wield great influence in who becomes the gubernatorial nominee.

Sweeney and Fulop were both expected to duel for the nomination in the 2017 primary, but they each dropped out before officially declaring. Fulop shelved his plans and endorsed Murphy, who soon gained the endorsements of county leaders in North and Central Jersey, prompting Sweeneys exit.

The 2025 race would be no different, Democrats say.

If there wasnt a path in 2017, what circumstances create a path now? a Democratic consultant said.

This time around, a few Democratic leaders are seen as key voices in the next primary: Middlesex County chair Kevin McCabe and his close ally Gary Taffet; Senate President Nick Scutari, who is also chair of Union County Democrats; and Sen. Vin Gopal, an influential voice in the states fifth-most populous county, Monmouth.

They decide who the next nominee is going to be, said one Democrat close to high-level deliberations about 2025. The one person it cant be is Sweeney, because of George [Norcross].

Link:
Sweeney's 2025 path narrows with Norcross 'in the backseat ... - POLITICO

With more Americans expressing their disapproval of President Joe Biden in recent months, according to the latest polling analysis, why arent the Democrats lining up to challenge him?

Its a question that appears to be on the minds of many observers and punditsand voters, tooamid polling that shows most Americans dont want Biden to run again. Bidens low favorability, coupled with his advanced ageanother point of concern for manymight have been enough to make the case for an intra-party presidential challenge.

But it appears the Democrats are committed to a second Biden presidencyan indication that they might be looking to play it safe and maximize their chance of defeating a resurgent Donald Trump, who remains a popular pick among conservative voters, says Costas Panagopoulos, head of Northeasterns political science department.

Its very risky for a party to challenge its own leader, Panagopoulos says. It has the potential to do lots of damage, especially when its an intra-party challenge to an incumbent president, who should presumably carry the banner forward for the party.

Indeed, history has shown that intra-party challenges to an incumbent president often lead to messy outcomes for the party in question. Ted Kennedys challenge to Jimmy Carter in 1980 did lasting damage to the Democratic Party that culminated in Carters landslide defeat to Ronald Reagan. On the Republican side, intra-party challenges to Gerald Ford in 1976 (Reagan), and to George H. W. Bush in 1992 (Pat Buchanan), resulted in similar outcomes.

The lessons that emerged from those historical examples may well serve the Democrats in the present momentthat even amid low favorability, challenges from within an incumbent presidents own party are fools errands, Panagopoulos says.

In each of those instances, the consensus is that [those intra-party challenges] may have hurt the incumbent[s] and played some role in the fact that they were not re-elected, he says.

The lack of Democratic challengers in 2024 and the resurgence of Trump may also signal a real leadership vacuum in both parties for future leaders, Panagopoulos says. In which case, there could be a real opportunity for some ambitious politicians, who want to raise their national visibility, to start to attract some attention by launching presidential bids. Even if said contenders fall short in 2024, the newfound popularity could set themselves up to be at the head of the pack in a future race. Ron DeSantis expected presidential bid might typify this line of thinking.

But, for aspiring Democrats, such a move risks party fracture on the order of Kennedy-Carter, Panagopoulos says. Of course, for the Dems it would come with the very significant risk of trying to topple a sitting president, he says.

Moreover, Panagopoulos says that measures of presidential popularity should be tempered by the culture of polarization at present, which runs deeper than any one personany one president.

The degree to which [intra-party challenge] is a liability may be changing in an era of polarized politics, where we shouldnt reasonably expect ones popularity to go much higher than Bidens is at present, Panagopoulos says.

There are also examples of [presidents] doing quite well with low favorability ratings overall, because their intra-party popularity is so high, he continues, citing Trump and George W. Bushwho also had limited favorability prior to an upswing in popularity following 9/11as examples.

But Bidens age has become a real sticking point for many voters (the president would be 86 by the end of a second term). The question of how old is too old, fraught though it may be, applies to other prominent Democrats with presidential resumes, including U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vermont, whose previous bids for high office during 2016 and 2020 earned him considerable support among the more liberal side of the base. Concerns about Trumps advanced ageas well as the ages of several senior U.S. lawmakerscontinue to echo as well.

Theres still plenty of time for Biden, whose campaign for re-election is already underway, to reverse course, should the polling suggest that it would be better for another Democrat to take the reins, Panagopoulos says. It also depends, he says, on who emerges at the top of the Republican ticket.

Ultimately, Panagopoulos says, those decisions will come down to several fundamental factors.

A lot still hinges on the economy and what the economy will look like next spring and summer, as well as Bidens favorability, Panagopoulos says. Weve got quite a long way to go before those fundamentals are settled in the psyche of the electorate.

Tanner Stening is a Northeastern Global News reporter. Email him at t.stening@northeastern.edu. Follow him on Twitter @tstening90.

Original post:
Why Aren't Any Democrats Challenging Biden in the 2024 Election? - Northeastern University

Senate Republicans and Democrats held the first formal meeting since the start of a Republican lead quorum-denying walkout that has lasted eight days.

Both parties remained tight-lipped Wednesday about what happened during that meeting. Both released a written statement saying only, "We met, we had a conversation, we are planning on additional conversations.

Senate President Rob Wagner's (D-Lake Oswego) Communications office noted that Wagner was present at the meeting along with Senator Tim Knopp (R-Bend), Senate Majority Leader Kate Lieber (D-Portland), House Speaker, Dan Rayfield (D-Corvallis), House Minority Leader Vikki Breese-Iverson (R-Prineville) and House Majority Leader Julie Fahey (D-Eugene).

Senate Republicans initially claimed the walkout, which happened just as the chamber was set to vote on a controversial reproductive rights measure, was over what they claim to be a violation of a Senate Rule on Bill readability.

They stuck to that claim till Sunday, May 7 at which point Knopp was quoted by local media outlets saying Republicans wanted Democrats to kill 20 bills before ending the walkout. He confirmed those claims to KATU on May 8 but denied any inconsistency in the Republicans' stance.

Lieber has said the party is willing to entertain a "wish list" but not a "kill list."

When asked by KATU reporter Christina Giardinelli what that might look like seeing as how a slew of Republican-led bills never got a committee hearing, she stated some bills are still alive.

"More importantly there is a budget that is still alive," she said.

Pacific University Political Science Professor Jim Moore said based on past walkouts the negotiations are not likely to lead to a compromise.

"When we have seen these in the past, and remember this (walkouts) has been happening for four years there has only been one time when kind of a clear bargain was struck and Republicans got votes on four bills and Democrats then said okay you can get the vote on the bills but we get to do these three things as well," he said.

However, one thing playing out in Democrat's favor this session is voter-approved Ballot Measure 113 which bars lawmakers with 10 or more unexcused absences from running for reelection. Republicans have vowed to challenge the measure's constitutionality if it gets to that.

Four Republicans have racked up eight unexcused absences so far, six have racked up five, two have zero unexcused absences with one being excused for medical reasons since before the walkout, and one has three unexcused absences. The four Senators with eight absences are set to reach 10 by Friday, Moore says this could speed up the negotiation process. He said he expects a decision will be made by the end of the week.

He said that may look like both parties agreeing to come to the table just to pass the budget with other bills either dying or perhaps being revived last minute.

Read more:
Democrats, Republicans tight lipped after first meeting over walkout - KPIC News