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A contest emblematic of the California divide is unfolding in Los Angeles. From a crowded field of mayoral candidates, the two most likely to advance offer a stark contrast: Representative Karen Bass, a stalwart liberal embraced for both her politics and her background in community organizing, and the billionaire developer Rick Caruso, who has sounded the familiar refrain that its time for a businessman to clean up the failures of the political class. In a bow to the overwhelmingly Democratic electorate, Mr. Caruso, best known for his high-end shopping malls, recently changed his registration from no party preference to Democrat even though the race is nonpartisan. For her part, Ms. Bass has called for freeing up more police officers for patrol (and hiring replacements for administrative duties) and equivocated on abolishing cash bail, positions that alarmed some of her natural allies.

It is hard to know just how much the pandemic, on top of the Trump years, has scrambled the political calculus. We have traffic jams at the ports that rival those on the roads, restaurant tables where cars once parked, hotels that catered to tourists now sheltering the homeless. Anger over closed schools and mask mandates has triggered a record number of recalls (most notably the landslide that recalled three San Francisco school board members, on which progressives and moderates agreed). In the far northern county of Shasta, a group including members of a local militia won control of the board of supervisors by recalling a Republican ex-police chief who had not been sufficiently anti-mask or pro-gun. A prominent anti-Trump Republican consultant called the vote a canary in a coal mine for the direction of his state party.

If mask and vaccine mandates have become the litmus test for the far right, the left has chosen as its defining issue a far more complex but seemingly unattainable goal: single-payer health care. When a bill (with an estimated price of more than $300 billion a year) made it to the Assembly floor, progressives threatened to deny party support to any Democrat who voted no. Far short of the necessary yes votes, the sponsor, Ash Kalra of San Jose, a progressive Democrat, pulled the bill rather than force a vote that could be used against his colleagues. He was pilloried as a traitor by activists.

The Working Families Party, which has pushed for progressive priorities in the New York State Legislature, recently established a branch in California in hopes of having similar influence and endorsing and supporting progressive Democrats. The groups state director, Jane Kim, a former San Francisco supervisor who lost the 2018 mayoral race to the moderate London Breed and then helped Bernie Sanders win the California primary, argues that the states electorate is more liberal than its elected officials, who are beholden to the influence of large corporate donors. Still, in the 2020 general election with a record-setting turnout voters defeated almost all ballot initiatives that were priorities of the progressives, opting not to restore affirmative action, nor impose higher taxes on commercial and industrial properties, nor abolish cash bail, nor expand rent control.

In the arena of criminal justice, where voters and lawmakers have consistently made progressive changes in recent years, the growing concern about crime (some justified by data and some not) will soon test the commitment to move away from draconian sentences and mass incarceration. The conservative Sacramento district attorney, Anne Marie Schubert, is running for state attorney general on the slogan Stop the Chaos, tying her opponent, the incumbent Rob Bonta, to what she calls rogue prosecutors like the progressive district attorneys in Los Angeles and San Francisco, who are targets of recall campaigns.

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Opinion | Just How Liberal Is California? The Answer Matters to Democrats Everywhere. - The New York Times

Democrat and Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams made a special guest appearance in the season 4 finale of Star Trek: Discovery as the President of United Earth.

Source: Star Trek: Discovery

The Hollywood favorite, Abrams, announced her plans to run for governor of Georgia back in December writing on Twitter, Im running for Governor because opportunity in our state shouldnt be determined by zip code, background or access to power.

RELATED: Star Trek Fan Launches Petition To Have Alex Kurtzmans Star Trek Designated As Non-Canon

Despite the help of Hollywood heavyweight celebrities such as Oprah, Michael B. Jordan, Common, and Will Farrell, Abrams still lost the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election by a 51-48 margin. Since the 2018 election, Abramss likability in the state has taken a hit.

Abrams has publicly refused to concede the fact that she lost the election accusing her opponents in the GOP of voter suppression and systematic racism for her defeat.

Former Minority Leader of the Georgia House of Representatives Stacey Abrams speaking with attendees at a conversation at the Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, Arizona. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

As noted above, in the series finale of Star Trek: Discovery (STD) entitled Coming Home, Abrams made a cameo as the President of United Earth.

The episode sees United Earth being evacuated as a Dark Matter Anomaly enters the Alpha Quadrant at the behest of the alien species known as the 10-C. The aliens were using the Dark Matter Anomaly to mine boronite in order to sustain a hyperfield that protected their species from danger.

After the STD crew saves the galaxy, Earth finally agrees to rejoin the Federation, with Abrams character being their representative.

The official description for the episode states, In the season four finale, the DMA approaches Earth and NiVar. With evacuations underway, Burnham and the team aboard theU.S.S. Discovery must find a way to communicate and connect with a species far different from their own before time runs out.

RELATED: Alex Kurtzman Says Hes Proud Of Having Been Able To Grow Star Trek Into Something It Had Never Been Before

Speaking to IndieWire, Star Trek: Discovery showrunner Michelle Paradise revealed that she can hardly believe that the show got Stacey Abrams to cameo.

Honestly, the number of times Ive seen the episode, every time I see her face, Im like, Wow, that really happened. Thats awesome. she stated.

Michelle Paradise speaking at the 2019 San Diego Comic Con International, for Star Trek: Discovery, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Paradise would also detail how the cameo came about explaining, We knew, coming into season three, that bringing the Federation back together again would be a two season arc.

And in the third episode of Season 3, we go to Earth and we find out that Earth is no longer a member. So we were teeing up that Earth equals the Federation coming back together again. So we knew that, by the end of season four, we would need to focus on Earth, she detailed.

Source: Star Trek: Discovery

Paradise elaborated, And as we got into season four and got halfway through breaking it, we realized: We need a person to represent Earth. And then the question became: who should that person be?

I dont remember where the idea came from, honestly. But I texted Alex to say, What do you think of Stacey Abrams? Immediately, [he sent] exclamation points. And he said, Lets set up a meeting. Lets talk to her. Lets see. So we did, Paradise relayed.

And she was so kind. And we got on Zoom with her, and we pitched her where we were for the season and who this character was and what this character would represent. And asked if she would be a part of this with us. Honestly, I cant think of anyone better to represent the president of Earth in all of that, Paradise declared.

Source: Star Trek: Discovery

RELATED: Star Trek To Introduce Writer Magdalene Visaggio As Franchises First Canon Trans Woman Character

Paradise would also tell Deadline, We knew that she was a fan of the show and ofTrekin general, and for us, there was no one better to be that President.

Alex and I reached out to her, and she was kind enough to get on a Zoom with us, Paradise added. We pitched her the very basics of that part of the season just that Earth would rejoin (she didnt want spoilers, so we shared just enough to give her context) and then talked to her about who this character is and what she represents. We asked if shed be interested and she was kind enough to say yes.

It was just an amazing thing. She did such an incredible job, it was a privilege for all of us to get to work with her, and were so grateful she joined us for that, Paradise concluded.

Source: Star Trek: Discovery

The showrunner also detailed to IndieWire that it is possible Abrams could return in the future.

Oh my gosh, I would love that, she said. I mean, I have no idea. Shes certainly busy doing other things.

Source: Star Trek: Discovery

Paradise wasnt the only one to gush over Abrams. The shows lead actor Sonequa Martin-Green did so as well telling Deadline, Im still floored when I think about Stacey gracing us with her presence in our Season 4 finale.

Shes a legend in the making and a civil hero, and she was an absolute delight to work with, she continued. She wowed us with her charm, humility, and generosity, and she whipped out some acting chops too!

It was an honor for me as a Black woman to stand with her in the story. Its an experience Ill cherish for the rest of my life, she gushed.

Sonequa Martin-Green speaking at the 2019 San Diego Comic Con International, for Star Trek: Discovery, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

RELATED: Deus Vult Creator Jon Del Arroz Claims Star Trek: Prodigy Is Pushing Transgender Propaganda On Children

While the love and admiration of Stacey Abrams is glowing from Hollywood, the same cant be said about the state of Georgia where Abrams is running Governor.

Last year, Abrams took heat in the state for working with Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred on the decision to move last years All-Star game out of the city of Atlanta to the Democrat city of Denver to protest the passing of Georgias Voter ID law that requires a state ID to vote in person and by mail.

The move to pull the All-Star game out of Atlanta cost local businesses and vendors upwards of $190 million of revenue that would have been spent during the festivities.

We are thrilled to have Stacey Abrams deliver the Democratic Response to the State of the Union. Her electrifying message reinvigorated our nation & continues to inspire millions in every part of the country Photo Credit: Office of U.S. House Speaker, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Abrams has since claimed she didnt support MLBs decision but Fox Business Networks Charles Gasparino reported that Manfred did speak with Abrams before he decided to move the game.

She also partnered with LeBron Jamess More Than A Vote organization who openly celebrated MLB moving the game out of the city.

The latest polls from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution show that Abrams trails Kemp by 7 points in a 2022 rematch.

Hollywood spent millions in the state of Georgia on Stacey Abrams failed election bid in 2018 and are likely to repeat their efforts in the coming months.

Former Minority Leader of the Georgia House of Representatives Stacey Abrams speaking with attendees at a conversation at the Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, Arizona. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The latest episode of Star Trek Discovery is available on Paramount+ today.

What do you make of Abrams cameo on Star Trek: Discovery?

NEXT: Star Trek Actor George Takei Calls On Americans To Endure Higher Prices For Food And Gas If It Means Putting The Screws To Putin

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Star Trek: Discovery Makes Democrat Stacey Abrams President Of United Earth As She Campaigns For Governor Of Georgia - Bounding Into Comics

Few people spend more time thinking about the Democratic Partys fading appeal with rural voters than Theron G. Noble. A local lawyer, Terry knows everyone around DuBois and established the state partys rural caucus in 2015. We met at the American Legion, a log cabin building off a main drive. In the quiet bar that smelled of heavy cigarette smoke, two retirees in Veteran caps nursed bottles of Miller Lite.

Two years ago, Biden did slightly better in Clearfield County than Hillary Clinton had in 2016. Both, however, still trailed Obamas vote count here in 2012, underscoring Democrats deepening troubles. In 2008, Obama came within 4,107 votes of McCain in Clearfield County. The last Democrat to win the county was Bill Clinton in 1992.

But Noble is especially exuberant for someone whose duties amount to ensuring Democrats keep Republicans from running up huge margins in rural counties. Biden had just stopped off in Pittsburghabout a two hours drive southwestand pledged to get out more to sell not only his top-line initiatives but the hundreds of millions of dollars approved for rural family housing costs, protecting manufacturing jobs and upgrading school facilities so they could open.

At a recent meeting hosted by the rural caucus, Noble says the organization hit its all-time high in participants on a call, 107. Candidates like Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who is running for Pennsylvania governor, addressed the party activists. Nobles caucus also heard from Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and Rep. Conor Lamb, Democratic U.S. Senate candidates who both have made crossover appeal central to their campaigns and political identities.

Noble grudgingly acknowledges that his conversations with Democrats often revolve around preventing blowouts. Pulling on an Amstel Light, he lists off the names and districts of six Democratic state lawmakers who held area seats just over the past 10 to 15 years. Now, there are two. We had a lot of good union jobs, coal-mining jobs, down in the southern end of the county, he says. They all went away, and the jobs went away. We were demonized over that.

Noble says its painful for him to watch candidates for local office who grew up in strong Democratic families switch their party affiliation just to be competitive. Winning federal elections is harder still, and the areas House members are doing what they need to demonstrate their relevance to constituents. The next morning, a newspaper in the state ran a commentary about Republican congressmen, Glenn GT Thompson and Mike Kelly, touting benefits from Bidens legislative agenda back home after opposing the rescue act. Noble wants Democrats to apply pressure and make Republicans work harder for the margins they enjoy.

As in any war, we need to move our resources to make them defend their own territory, Noble says. Im tired of playing defense. We got to get on the offense a little bit.

One thing Noble is adamant about is that Democrats cant make the midterm elections about Trump, whose grip hes convinced is slipping. Noble plays on a traveling senior baseball team and spends a lot of time with people who drove out of the hills to back Trump in both elections. He doesnt have hard data, but from his conversations hes picked up on weakening fervor for the former president, a sense that Trumps election conspiracies are wearing thin. Rural communities like his, Noble says, have suffered from the GOPs deliberate campaign to sow distrust between voters and their government and between each other.

For the better part of two decades now, the Republican Party has been formulating fear and really fear of others, he says. We, on the other hand, keep responding with policies and we get into the weeds on arguments. We do not hit back at the visceral level that theyve been targeting for a long time. It has just really made people into tribes.

Lately, Noble has settled on an approach he thinks would help drive a wedge through the Trump coalition of Republicans, independents and even the small contingent who remain Democrats. It calls for targeting a sizable chunk of votersby his estimate there are 15 percent to 17 percent nationally and as many as 22 percent in Pennsylvania who voted for Trump in 2020and convincing enough of them to lock arms with Democrats to protect American democracy. Hes started to refer to those voters he wants Democrats to focus onpeople who feel like the Republican Party has abandoned their values around upholding the Constitutionas the Bush-Cheney coalition. Its a reference to the former vice president who served under both Bushes, as well as Dick Cheneys daughter, Liz, the Wyoming Republican congresswoman who is calling out the former presidents lies about a stolen election and is serving on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Weve got to pose the question to them: Are you for democracy or are you not? he says.

He took me into a darkened room inside the American Legion where military medals hang on a wall. Noble didnt serve in the armed forces, but he says he was raised to appreciate the sacrifices of past generations. They buried his uncle John in September. He was 100 years old, with German shrapnel still in his body. Noble turns on his phones flashlight and points to Big Johns Purple Heart from Normandy. Next to it is his late dads medal, also from World War II, this one for good conduct. I ask him what drives him politically after so much losing.

Its my generations obligation to protect and preserve democracy, he says. But in this situation, the enemy is not foreign, you know. It is domestic.

He dimmed the flashlight shining on the medals. So, thats what drives me.

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'It's Almost Like a Secret Society': The Perils of Being Democrat in a Trump Town - POLITICO

Mr. Romerio Mafnas and Lourin Hubbard, Congressional Candidate District 22. Courtesy photo

Tulare County Democrats announced that they have registered the 10,000th Democrat voter in the City of Tulare. On Sunday, February 27th, Tulare County Democrats participated in a voter registration program in the City of Tulare and walked door to door on the westside of the city to talk to neighbors about the importance of registering to vote.

In preparation for the upcoming June 7th primary and to help elect Democrats in key races, we have been walking door to door in certain communities to encourage people to register to vote and to participate in the upcoming election, stated Susanne Gundy, voter registration coordinator.

On Sunday volunteers knocked on the door of Mr. Romerio Mafnas, a new resident on the westside in the City of Tulare. Mr. Manfas is a retired veteran and strong Democrat who recently moved to Tulare from Ventura California. After a few minutes of conversation, he registered to vote and symbolically became the 10,000th Democrat to register to vote in Tulare.

When asked why he registered to vote, he responded, I was in the Army and I believe voting is the foundation of our country and I believe Democrats do a better job of running our country than Republicans, stated Mr. Manfas.

The recent once in a decade Census has provided data to us that shows us in what neighborhoods across the county are thousands of potential Latino voters who are 18 years of age and older and who are citizens that can potentially register to vote. Over the next few months, we will continue to engage with them to work to register Democrats to vote across Tulare county, concluded Gundy.

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Tulare County Democrats register 10,000th Democrat in the City of Tulare - Valley Voice

While most of the experts on Asian American politics I contacted voiced confidence in the continued commitment of Asian Americans to the Democratic Party and its candidates, there were some danger signals for example, in the 2021 New York City mayoral election. Eric Adams, the Democrat, decisively beat Curtis Sliwa, the Republican, 65.5 percent to 27.1 percent, but support for Sliwa an anti-crime stalwart who pledged to take on the spineless politicians who vote to defund police shot up to 44 percent in precincts where more than half of residents are Asian, according to The City.

The story was headlined Chinese voters came out in force for the GOP in NYC, shaking up politics, and the subhead read From Sunset Park in Brooklyn to Elmhurst and Flushing in Queens, frustrations over Democratic stances on schools and crime helped mobilize votes for Republican Curtis Sliwa for mayor and conservative Council candidates.

A crucial catalyst in the surge of support for Sliwa, according to The City, was his proposed reforms to specialized high school admissions and gifted and talented programs ignoring the fact that Adams had also pledged to do this. More generally, the City reported,

A wave of hate crimes targeting Asian Americans during the pandemic has heightened a sense of urgency about public safety and law enforcement. Asian anger and frustration have, for the first time, left a visible dent in a city election.

Grace Meng, a Democratic congresswoman from Queens, tweeted on Nov. 4, 2021:

Pending paper ballot counts, the assembly districts of @nily, @edbraunstein, @Barnwell30, @Rontkim and @Stacey23AD all went Republican. Our party better start giving more of a sh*t about #aapi (Asian American-Pacific Island) voters and communities. No other community turned out at a faster pace than AAPIs in 2020.

Similarly, Asian Americans led the drive to oust three San Francisco School Board members all progressive Democrats last month. As my Times colleague Amelia Nierenberg wrote on Feb. 16:

The recall also appeared to be a demonstration of Asian American electoral power. In echoes of debates in other cities, many Chinese voters were incensed when the school board changed the admission system for the districts most prestigious institution, Lowell High School. It abolished requirements based primarily on grades and test scores, instead implementing a lottery system.

In their March 2021 paper, Why the trope of Black-Asian conflict in the face of anti-Asian violence dismisses solidarity, Jennifer Lee and Tiffany Huang, sociologists at Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania, pointed out that since March 2020 there had been over 3,000 self-reported incidents of anti-Asian violence from 47 states and the District of Columbia, ranging from stabbings and beatings, to verbal harassment and bullying, to being spit on and shunned.

While these senseless acts of anti-Asian violence have finally garnered the national attention they deserve, Lee and Huang continued, they have also invoked anti-Black sentiment and reignited the trope of Black-Asian conflict. Because some of the videotaped perpetrators appear to have been Black, some observers immediately reduced anti-Asian violence to Black-Asian conflict.

Working against such Black-Asian conflict, the two authors argue, is a besieged but real-world solidarity demonstrated in

studies showing that Black Americans are more likely than white or Hispanic Americans to recognize racism toward Asian Americans, and that Asian Americans who experience discrimination are more likely to recognize political commonality with Black Americans. Covid-related anti-Asian bias is not inevitable. While China virus rhetoric has been linked to violence and hostility, new research shows that priming Americans about the coronavirus did not increase anger among the majority of Americans toward Asian Americans.

Lee and Huang warn, however, that anger among a minority has invoked fear among the majority of Asian Americans.

In Asian Americans, Affirmative Action & the Rise in Anti-Asian Hate, published in the Spring 2021 issue of Daedalus, a journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Lee makes the case that Asian Americans are at a political tipping point:

The changing selectivity of contemporary U.S. Asian immigration has recast Asian Americans from unassimilable to exceptional, resulting in their rapid racial mobility. This mobility combined with their minoritized status places them in a unique group position in the U.S. racial hierarchy, conveniently wedged between underrepresented minorities who stand to gain most from the policy (affirmative action) and the advantaged majority who stands to lose most because of it. It also marks Asians as compelling victims of affirmative action who are penalized because of their race.

In recent years, a new brand of Asian immigrants has entered the political sphere whose attitudes depart from the Asian American college student activists of the 1960s, Lee writes. This faction of politically conservative Asian immigrants has no intention of following their liberal-leaning predecessors, nor do they intend to stay silent.

The issue of whether more Asian Americans will choose to side with conservatives, Lee writes, or whether they will choose to forge a collective Asian American alliance will depend on whether U.S. Asians recognize and embrace their ethnic and class diversity. Will they forge a sense of linked fate akin to that which has guided the political attitudes and voting behavior of Black Americans?

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Opinion | Will Asian Americans Bolt From the Democratic Party? - The New York Times