Mediaboss Marketing

Sign up for the Guardian's Fight to Vote newsletter

The next major fight over voting rights in the US kicked off Monday: a hugely consequential battle over the boundaries of electoral districts for the next 10 years that will have profound implications for American politics. And Republicans seem to be pulling ahead.

Census officials released a decennial tally of people living in the US, a number thats used to apportion the Houses 435 seats among the 50 states. The Census Bureau announced that Colorado, Montana, Oregon, North Carolina and Florida will all gain an additional seat in the House, while Texas will get two more. Seven states California, California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia will lose a seat.

The numbers accentuated what many have predicted for months: Republicans are extremely well positioned to draw districts that will give them an advantage both in their effort to reclaim control of the US House in the 2022 midterms, and cement control over congressional seats for the next decade.

The constitution gives state lawmakers the power to draw districts and, because of their continued strength in state legislative races, Republicans will dominate the process later this year and can manipulate the lines to their advantage, a process often called gerrymandering.

Even though Democrats earned about 4.7m more votes in 2020 House races around the country, Republicans will have control over the drawing of 187 congressional districts later this year (down from 219 in 2011) while Democrats will have complete control over the drawing of 75 districts (up from 44 a decade ago), according to the Cook Political Report.

Republicans need to win just five seats to retake control of the US House of Representatives, a gap observers believe they can wipe out with gerrymandering alone. Eric Holder, the former US attorney general, told reporters Wednesday he was concerned Republicans could use their complete control of the redistricting process in Texas, Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina alone to overcome that gap.

What were seeing is a Republican party that has shown theyre willing to bend or break the rules of democracy simply to hold on to power, said Holder, who is leading the Democratic effort to push back on excessive GOP gerrymandering. If Republicans gerrymander those states, as they have indicated they will, they will have the ability there, almost to take control of the House of Representatives just based on what they do in those four states.

In 2019, the US supreme court said for the first time that federal courts could not do anything to stop severe manipulation of district lines for partisan gain. One lingering uncertainty is whether Democrats in Congress will be able to pass pending federal legislation to place new limits on the practice. Passing that legislation, however, requires getting rid of the filibuster, a Senate rule requiring 60 votes to advance legislation. Democrats do not yet have the votes to get rid of the procedure.

You could pass new criteria, including a ban on partisan gerrymandering require greater transparency in the process, said Michael Li, a redistricting expert at the Brennan Center for Justice. Theres a lot that could be done.

Because of a 2013 supreme court ruling, states with a history of voting discrimination, like Texas and North Carolina, will not have to get their maps approved by the federal government before they go into effect. That leaves an opportunity for lawmakers to draw maps that discriminate based on race. Kathay Feng, the national redistricting and representation director at Common Cause, a government watchdog group, warned that voting advocates would be closely monitoring for that kind of discrimination. Much of the Americas population growth over the last decade has come from non-white people.

Our top priority is ensuring that states that are adding congressional seats recognize the population growth fueled by communities of color in the upcoming redistricting process, Feng said in a statement.

As federal legislation stalls, Democrats are already signaling they will move aggressively in court to challenge gerrymandering. Shortly after the apportionment numbers were released, Holders group filed three separate lawsuits in Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Louisiana states where Democrats and Republicans share control of the redistricting process asking courts to be prepared to step in if lawmakers reach an impasse. Such quick machinations are crucial because the redistricting process is moving on a condensed timeline this year because of delays releasing data due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Marc Elias, a top Democratic election lawyer, said this week more lawsuits are likely to follow.

While the Republicans made possible gains, the biggest surprise of the Census Bureaus Mondays announcement was that it didnt result in more of a shift for the party. Projections based on population estimates had predicted Texas would gain three seats and Florida would gain two. Arizona, where districts are drawn by an independent commission, was expected to gain a seat, but ended up not doing so. Minnesota and Rhode Island were both projected to lose seats, and New York could have lost an additional seat.

Overall, the population shifts to the the south will definitely benefit Republicans, but definitely not as much as people were expecting, just because they got fewer seats, Li said.

Its not unusual for the final tallies to be slightly off from apportionment, but Li said he was surprised to see the kind of variation there was this year. There is some concern that the variation in the data may signal an undercount of Hispanic population, especially after the Trump administration repeatedly tried to tamper with the process. Bureau officials said Monday they are confident in the data.

Holder told reporters on Tuesday that it was impossible to separate the upcoming battle over redistricting from an aggressive GOP effort underway in state legislatures to restrict access to the voting booth.

I have no doubt that the same Republican legislators that have pushed these bills will now try and use the redistricting process to illegitimately lock in power for that party, for them, for the next decade, he said.

Read more:
The next major US voting rights fight is here and Republicans are ahead - The Guardian

Editors note: This story has been updated to correct the percentage of fully vaccinated adults.

In December, Arizona Republican state Rep. Mark Finchem suffered from flu-like symptomsheadache, fatigue, body aches and chills. But it wasnt the flu; he tested positive for COVID-19. Nearly three months later, his mother, who had recently contracted the coronavirus, died after battling throat cancer for over 40 years.

Those circumstances werent enough to persuade Finchem, who is in his early 60s, to get a Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech or Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. Finchem remains skeptical, he said, because he distrusts the federal government and top public health officials, hes heard mixed messages about the vaccines on social media and television news, and he worries about long-term side effects.

Im very suspicious that what they put in the [vaccines] is nothing more than a cocktail, Finchem said in a phone call with Stateline. Time will tell, and I hope Im proven wrong.

As federal and state government entities ramp up vaccination efforts, polls show increased confidence in vaccines, especially among people of color, who have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and were, at least initially, more skeptical of the vaccines. Vaccine hesitancy persists across all demographics, however.

About 13% of American adults dont want a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Republicans are the most resistant; nearly 3 in 10 say they dont want one. The share is greater among rural, Republican men, 35% of whom dont want to get a vaccine.

So far, more than 200 million complete doses of COVID-19 have been administered in the United States, which amounts to about 34% of U.S. adults being fully vaccinated. The percentage of vaccinated adults needed to reach herd immunity is widely debated, but many scientists say the country must top 80% of the adult population. And to achieve that goal, public health officials say, it is important to alleviate concerns among all people.

To that end, many state and county health departments have made special efforts to reach Black, Hispanic, homebound and unhoused populations that have been hit hard by the pandemic. By contrast, few, if any, have mounted Republican-specific initiatives to combat hesitancy.

Stateline Story March 2, 2021

There are a variety of reasons why people decline to be vaccinated, said Howard Gamble, administrator for the Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department in West Virginia. Gamble recalled a father who recently brought his 17-year-old daughter to get vaccinated. When Gamble asked the father whether he also wanted his first dose, the mans response was, I just dont do these kinds of things. Persistent misinformation on social media about the coronavirus and vaccines can drive people from getting inoculated, Gamble said.

Its not very simplistic or cut and dry, Gamble said. We see a lot of reasons.

Like Finchem, the Arizona lawmaker, many Republican men interviewed by Stateline said they were concerned about side effects, or said they distrusted federal health agencies and the government. Finchem, like most Republicans, doesnt believe that President Joe Bidens victory in the November election was legitimate, for example. Some of the GOP men said vaccine manufacturers were just interested in making money.

And many of them are in positions of leadership and influence.

For North Dakota Republican state Rep. Rick Becker, hesitancy isnt the reason for his hang-ups about vaccines, he said. Becker, a plastic surgeon, said he doesnt plan to be vaccinated because he knows he is healthy and that there is only a small chance that the coronavirus would kill him. Becker, 56, says he does not have any preexisting health conditions and thinks his choice will not affect others.

People should be making up their own minds, he said. If a person is choosing to look at elected officials, theyre not afforded the proper diligence of their own decision. You do whats best for you.

State Rep. Brady Williamson, a 44-year-old Republican from Mississippi, said hes unsure whether hell get a vaccine because it hasnt been out for a long time. He also argued that he doesnt need it because he is in the gym and fit and doesnt have underlying health conditions. He said he doesnt like the government to make decisions for individuals, businesses and churches.

Stateline Story April 21, 2021

Not all Republican men are so staunchly resistant.

At 70 years old, longtime Georgia state Rep. Tommy Benton said it would be foolish for him and others in his age group to turn down a vaccine. Benton, who doesnt have underlying health conditions, didnt want to catch COVID-19 or transmit it to his grandkids or peers, he said.

It doesnt matter how healthy you are. At65 or above, you might end up getting sick with this disease and itll be more than your 65-or-above system can handle, Benton said.

Wyoming state Rep. Daniel Zwonitzer, 41, who lives in the most vaccine-hesitant state in the country, said he took a vaccine for the safety of others, particularly for the older staff, legislators and volunteers in the Wyoming legislature. While Zwonitzer believes in freedom and liberty, he said, he also believes in public health. Zwonitzer does not have any preexisting health conditions, he noted.

He said a few of his Republican colleagues think COVID-19 and vaccines against it are a hoax, but he disagreed, pointing out that one of his fellow Republicans died from the disease.

Some Republican men and health officials cited the politicization of mask-wearing and shutdowns under former President Donald Trumps administration, and its downplaying of the seriousness of the pandemic, as causes for the vaccine hesitancy among conservatives.

Early last year, the Trump administration made false claims that the coronavirus had been contained and COVID-19 infections were declining, despite statistics showing rising numbers.

The counties that are most vaccine-hesitant are rural, more likely to support Trump and have lower income levels and college graduation rates, The New York Times recently reported. In these rural, more Republican-leaning areas, health officials said, vaccine supply often exceeds demand.

Debra Furr-Holden, an epidemiologist at Michigan State Universitys School of Public Health, said many Republican men have taken cues from party leaders, who spent months last year downplaying the pandemics effects.

They were COVID deniers when the pandemic first started and arent willing to admit, Hey, we were wrong, Furr-Holden said. Theyre thinking, So if it was no big deal, why should getting the vaccine be a big deal?

Some top Republican leaders, meanwhile, have more recently urged those who are hesitant to take the vaccines.

I can say as a Republican man, as soon it was my turn, I took the vaccine, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said at a news conference in March. I would encourage all Republican men to do that.

Trump did get vaccinated, quietly and not in front of cameras, shortly before leaving office in January. Last month, in a Fox News interview, he urged unvaccinated Americans to get shots. I would recommend it, and I would recommend it to a lot of people that dont want to get it, and a lot of those people voted for me, frankly, he said.

We have our freedoms and we have to live by that, and I agree with that also, he said. But it is a greatvaccine. It is a safevaccine and it is something that works.

But nearly 80% of Republicans said Trumps endorsement would not make them more likely to get a vaccine, according to a recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The Republican men Stateline interviewed said Trumps support of the vaccine did not sway their decisions.

Stateline Story March 15, 2021

Republican state Sen. Ralph Alvarado of Kentucky, a 50-year-old physician, said instead of shaming people who are reluctant to get vaccinated, its crucial to understand their concerns. He said he spends a lot of time dispelling myths about vaccines among his constituents, patients and community.

As a doctor, I remind my colleagues that when we prescribe or recommend a course of action for somebody, no matter what the disease or prevention is, if people become resistant or hesitant, our medical code of ethics doesnt say to humiliate, he said. You reassure and educate them.

He added that a lot of people are fearful when politics is involved, because people pick sides instead of picking the message.

Public health experts also have stressed the need to focus outreach efforts on science. An analysis published in Health Affairs, a peer-reviewed health journal, stated that when science and values, not politics, inform public health, it unlocks potential for higher vaccine coverage.

Daniel Salmon, one of the reports authors and director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, elaborated in an interview. Instead of trying to persuade people to get vaccinated, he said, public health officials should sit down with community members and tell them, "This is what we know, and this is what we dont know, and this is what were doing to figure out what we dont know.' It has to come from trusted leaders. It has to be well-informed. Thats the way its done, one community at a time.

Kentucky Republican state Sen. Ralph Alvarado, a physician, says he understands people's concerns about COVID-19 vaccines. He spends his time educating his community, patients and peers about vaccine safety. Provided by the Kentucky legislature

The de Beaumont Foundation, a Maryland-based charitable foundation focused on health solutions, held a two-hour session with a focus group in March that found messaging helps to build trust. The group consisted of almost 20 people who identified as conservative Republicans who supported Trump.

We found that were able to [increase vaccine confidence] by really delivering the facts and giving people the freedom to make the choice, Brian Castrucci, an epidemiologist and president and CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation, told Stateline. You can read the facts all day, but if they seem to perceive you are trying to manipulate their decision or if youre threatening their freedom, walls go up that arent easily undone.

The Casper-Natrona County Health Department in Wyoming learned through surveys that accessibility, technology and education issues hindered some people from getting shots. After hearing from Republican men, Bloom said, officials learned that many were concerned about vaccine technology and how it works.

The Spokane, Washington, office of the federal Department of Veterans Affairs also is tailoring its approach to community concerns. It currently drives a mobile unit through rural Washington, Idaho and Montana to deliver vaccinations to rural veterans, many of whom are Republican men, even though most veterans contacted by the office have said they dont want the shots, according to The Washington Post.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services plans to get more Republicans and conservatives vaccinated by partnering with trusted leaders, expanding its mobile vaccinations and hosting virtual community town halls to answer questions about vaccine safety and effectiveness, reported Bridge Michigan.

At the national level, the U.S Department of Health and Human Services announced the We Can Do It campaign to combat vaccine hesitancy. The Ad Council and COVID Collaborative rolled out an education campaign specifically for religious groups and conservative Americans. The campaign focuses on how clinical trials were conducted, the science of the development, and support of COVID-19 vaccines by doctors.

The initiative uses social media, celebrity influencers, advertisements and partnerships with rural, medical and faith-based organizations to reach these groups.

Castrucci praised the work of the Ad Council, but said it needs to be complemented by an on-the-ground perspective from local pastors, doctors and families.

Concern should be normalized. At the end of the day, everyone wants information. We have to make sure the messaging works for the people that are getting the messages.

Read the original:
Republican Men Are Vaccine-Hesitant, But There's Little Focus on Them - The Pew Charitable Trusts

Three Republican senators voted with Democrats to get rid of a Trump-era rule that removed limits on methane emissions from the oil and gas sector and made such emissions harder to regulate.

Sens. Susan CollinsSusan Margaret CollinsHere are the three Republicans who voted to undo Trump's methane rule OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Senate nixes Trump rule limiting methane regulation | Senate confirms EPA chief: Biden's climate goals are 'an opportunity to lead' | Fine-particle pollution disproportionately hurts people of color: research Senate votes to nix Trump rule limiting methane regulation MORE (Maine), Lindsey GrahamLindsey Olin GrahamHere are the three Republicans who voted to undo Trump's methane rule OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Senate nixes Trump rule limiting methane regulation | Senate confirms EPA chief: Biden's climate goals are 'an opportunity to lead' | Fine-particle pollution disproportionately hurts people of color: research Senate votes to nix Trump rule limiting methane regulation MORE (S.C.) and Rob PortmanRobert (Rob) Jones PortmanModerate Republicans leery of Biden's renewed call for unity Biden makes case for sweeping change Here are the three Republicans who voted to undo Trump's methane rule MORE (Ohio) joined the Democrats on whats considered a significant climate change vote.

The vote was this Congresss first use of the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which allows lawmakers to nix regulations put forward during the last 60 legislative days with a simple majority.

For Collins and Graham, supporting methane regulation is a familiar position, as they both voted against a 2017 Republican move that sought to undo a different Obama-era regulation of the greenhouse gas that was promulgated through the Bureau of Land Management.

Portman, however, supported the 2017 GOP effort, saying that the Obama administration methane rule would have hurt our economy and cost jobs in Ohio by forcing small independent operators to close existing wells and slowing responsible energy production on federal lands.

The rule on Wednesday is separate from the one that was voted on in 2017, dealing with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regulations.

The EPA rule eliminated methane emission standards for the oil and gas sector altogether and also got rid of limits for substances known as volatile organic compounds from oil and gas transmission and storage.

If it had been allowed to stand, the EPA estimates that it would have added an extra 400,000 tons of methane, whichcontributes morethan carbon dioxide to climate change, to the atmosphere over the next decade.

It also made it harder for the agency to carry out future regulations of the greenhouse gas.

Collins, who was a cosponsor of Wednesday's effort, is one of the Senates most moderate members, and has sided with Democrats on notable swing votes in the past, including the one where Republicans failed to get enough votes to repeal ObamaCare.

More recently, all three senators were the only Republican votes for President BidenJoe BidenBiden prepping cybersecurity executive order in response to SolarWinds attack Photoshopped deer in Kevlar vests circulate after Biden gun control comment Majority of viewers approved of Biden address to Congress: poll MOREs nominee to lead a White House environment council, while Graham and Collins were among the handful of Republicans who voted to support the confirmation of former Rep. Deb HaalandDeb HaalandHere are the three Republicans who voted to undo Trump's methane rule OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Haaland reverses Trump effort on tribal land | Senate confirms Janet McCabe as deputy EPA chief | Study finds quick action on methane could significantly cut into global warming Interior, Haaland reverses Trump effort on tribal land MORE (D-N.M.) to lead the Interior Department.

See more here:
Here are the three Republicans who voted to undo Trump's methane rule | TheHill - The Hill

(CNN)

Former President Donald Trump has only one thing on his mind of late: The ongoing recount of 2020 presidential ballots in Arizonas Maricopa County.

Incredible organization and integrity taking place in Arizona with respect to the Fraudulent 2020 Presidential Election, said Trump in a statement Monday afternoon. These are Great American Patriots, but watch, the Radical Left Democrats demean and destroy campaign will start very soon.

He issued another statement in which he attacked Republican Gov. Doug Ducey as one of the worst Governors in America, and the second worst Republican Governor in America. (Presumably Trump believes Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who he has repeatedly savaged for not being willing to overturn the election results, is the worst governor in the country.)

So whats really going on here? And does the Arizona recount have a chance at, well, changing anything? I reached out to Jen Fifield, a reporter covering the recount at the Arizona Republic, for answers to those questions and more.

Our conversation conducted via email and lightly edited for flow is below.

Cillizza: Whats the genesis of this recount? Didnt Arizona already recount the entire state?

Fifield: When the general election results came in showing that Arizona elected Joe Biden as president, the results were immediately challenged by the Trump campaign, which claimed widespread fraud. The campaign and the Arizona Republican Party filed numerous lawsuits, but the courts dismissed them.

Maricopa County performed multiple audits of its election as required under state law, including a hand count of a statistically significant number of ballots and two logic and accuracy tests of voting machines. That wasnt enough for several Arizona Republican senators who had questions about the election results, including Senate President Karen Fann. So the county hired two independent auditors to thoroughly examine its voting machines, including to see whether they were hacked into or tampered with. All of the countys audits came back clean, showing that votes were counted accurately, but that still wasnt enough for many senators, including Fann.

Senate Republicans first filed subpoenas in December demanding all of the countys 2.1 million ballots, voting machines and voter information, in order to perform an audit of their own. After a lengthy court battle with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, a Republican-controlled board that was worried the integrity of the ballots and voter information would be compromised if it was handed over to the Senate, a judge ruled that the county had to provide the materials.

Cillizza: Why Maricopa County in particular? And why not the whole state?

Fifield: Maricopa County is the largest county in Arizona and has as very mixed electorate. It is one of the largest swing counties in the nation. That made it a target for the Trump campaign, which challenged election results in several swing states where [Joe] Biden won on narrow margins. That focus on the county from the start, in particular, led to this audit being considered only here and not across the state.

Cillizza: Who is overseeing this recount? Are state election officials involved?

Fifield: The county judge granted the Arizona Senate access to the ballots, voting machines and voter data, so this is technically the Senates audit. But the Senate has relinquished control of the audit to private contractors.

The Senate is paying Cyber Ninjas, a cybersecurity firm, $150,000 to conduct the audit and hire its own contractors. The Arizona Republic found that the CEO of the firm, Doug Logan, had touted conspiracy theories about the election on social media and had participated in a previous attempt to overturn Michigan election results. Logan told reporters at a news conference last week that the audit is costing more than $150,000, but he would not say how much or who is paying his company. He also will not give information about everyone involved. Nonpartisan election auditing experts have indicated this audit will cost millions.

By handing the operations over to Cyber Ninjas, the Senate has reduced the transparency of the audit. The contractors are unwilling to share all of the parties they have hired, how much in total it will cost and who is paying them, and public records requests have so far gone unanswered. One America News Network announced they were fundraising for the effort, along with Sidney Powell.

Cillizza: What is the goal here? What could a partial recount of the states ballots tell us?

Fifield: Senate President Karen Fann says the goal of the audit is to identify whether fraudulent votes were cast in the election and identify there are any problems with the countys voting process. Fann said any irregularities identified could be used as the Arizona Senate crafts new laws to change Arizonas voting process.

Critics say that the audit is a late attempt to overturn the states election results, nearly six months after the election.

Meanwhile, the Arizona Legislature is considering numerous bills that would change voting in Arizona, including those would limit or perhaps eliminate early voting, the process that most Arizonans use to cast ballots. Those bills may be on hold while the Republicans wait for the results of this audit.

Cillizza: Finish this sentence: The effect of this latest recount on Arizonas politics will be _________. Now, explain.

Fifield: The effect of this latest recount on Arizonas politics will be either huge or miniscule, depending on how it all plays out.

Several nonpartisan election experts across the country have called into question the legitimacy of the audit because of the lack of clear procedures, and the lack of proper funding and time to do it right. The concerns are growing as the transparency of the audit shrinks, and after I volunteered as an observer and saw that the auditors were not following some Arizona election procedures for audits. The auditors will not allow press into the building, other than if they serve as volunteer observers, and volunteer observers must follow certain rules, such as no note-taking and recording on the audit floor.

If the results are believed to be accurate and fair by Senate Republicans, and the results say that there was fraud or misconduct in the election, the legislature may attempt to dramatically change how voting happens in our state.

The audit results could be used by state lawmakers not just here, but across the country, in attempts to push through numerous changes to how we vote.

Originally posted here:
Arizona Republicans are conducting a baffling and completely secretive recount of the 2020 election - CNN

A self-described libertarian-leaning Republican, Sen. Cynthia Lummis has been a Wyoming state representative, state senator, state treasurer and U.S. congresswoman. She retired back to her family ranch after her husband died in 2015 and came back to Congress because neither party cared enough about the deficit for her liking.

I'm really worried about it. I think we're devaluing the U.S. dollar, she told me sitting on the lip of the Capitol reflecting pool that was covered in bird poop, which after decades on a ranch didnt bother her. (It bothered me a bit, but fake it til you make it, right?)

With Lummis, I wanted to get a sense of what she thought the Republican Party stood for after four years of Donald Trump, whose ambivalence for the rising deficit, focus on cultural issues and harsh immigration policies and rhetoric were all a shift for the party. Her answer wasnt overly specific and had those tinges of Trumpism the party hasnt been able to shake: I'm hoping that our party is concerned about illegal immigration, which I think it is. That they're concerned about everyday working Americans, she said.

More:
Where the Republican Party stands after Trump, according to Wyomings junior senator - POLITICO