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Not at all. We laid the groundwork in 2018 and he wouldnt have had a competitive primary if not for what we were able to do. I think what America needs is for people like Steve King to have their voices quieted, and I think this is a huge step forward for America. What were trying to do here in the Fourth District is the same thing we did last time. Its not talking about who were against or what were against, but what were for.

But doesnt this mean you have a tougher campaign ahead?

The people who are saying this race is an uphill battle as of now are the same people who told me that last time. Were going to work our tails off, get out there with our campaign R.V., which we named Sioux City Sue. Were going to go out and earn your vote. I spent more nights in Walmart parking lots the last few months of the campaign last cycle than I did in my own bed.

Were the second biggest agriculture-producing district in America. Were 39 counties, very rural, and in order to compete and connect with folks where theyre at, youve got to get out there. This past fall we went to 38 of 39 counties and towns of under 1,000 people and we called it the Dont Forget About Us tour. Some of these communities are fighting to keep their grocery stores. Some have to drive 30 minutes to buy fresh produce. When farmers arent making a dime, something isnt adding up.

How do you change your strategy?

It literally doesnt change. We go out there and campaign everywhere and, like I said, it doesnt matter who you are, were going to invite you to the table. If you came on the road with us last time, we barely mentioned Steve King.

Theres not enough people fighting for something who are running for office. The people of the Fourth District are sick of divisive politics. Its not enough just not being Steve King. We need to have something for this district and the ability to bring people together. And thats what we plan to do.

Do you intend to make it a campaign issue that Mr. Feenstra did not attack Mr. Kings racism?

He talks about how much of a man he is of faith. And theres a Proverbs message that really is near and dear to my heart. Its Speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves, ensure justice for those being crushed. To me, the absence of all five of the Republicans even addressing the George Floyd death or any of these protests or anything like that, I feel thats a huge issue. I think thats the type of people we dont need to go to Congress.

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With Steve King Gone, Does the Democrat Have a Shot in His Iowa District? - The New York Times

Carolyn Bourdeaux got famously close in 2018 to claiming Georgias 7th Congressional District for the Democrats.

After losing by 433 votes, six other Democrats now also see the opportunity to win the seat, with Republican incumbent Rob Woodall declining to seek another term after his narrow 2018 victory. Like the neighboring 6th District, the 7th is likely to be one of the most closely watched contests nationwide in November, as Republicans try to win back control of the House and Democrats seeking to maintain or expand their majority.

The Democratic field features the same rainbow of races and nationalities made up by the voters of the district, which includes suburban areas of Gwinnett and Forsyth counties. Bourdeauxs opponents include state Sen. Zahra Karinshak, state Rep. Brenda Lopez Romero, former Fulton County Commission Chair John Eaves, political activist Nabilah Islam and 2016 Democratic nominee Rashid Malik.

A runoff, if needed, would be held between the top two Democratic finishers on Aug. 11. The winner of the Democratic primary will go on to face the winner of a similarly crowded Republican field.

Bourdeaux is back to finish the job, arguing that shes spent two years expanding a network of political and community support.

We got very, very close, Bourdeaux said. We just had that momentum that had taken a year and a half to build.

But other candidates argue they would be better choices, saying they reflect the diversity of a majority-minority district and that Bourdeaux isnt doing enough to reach out and could lose again.

Getting close is not a guarantee, and getting close is not necessarily rewarded the next time around, Eaves said.

All the candidates say they support the expansion of health care, although theres some disagreement on how. Bourdeaux and Karinshak favor keeping the current framework put into place under President Barack Obama, while adding a government-run public option for insurance and completing the expansion of Medicaid that Georgia Republicans have rejected. Islam has been staking a position to the left of those two. Shes the loudest voice in the race calling for a universal public insurance plan Medicare for all as advocated by former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

Islam, whos been endorsed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other progressive figures, is also pushing ideas for a $15 minimum wage and an overhaul of environmental and economic policies to fight climate change known as the Green New Deal.

My story isnt unique; its the story of the district, Islam says of her modest background before she moved into politics. I think folks want someone who is bold and outspoken about the issues. This is a district thats starving for representation.

Lopez Romero also supports the Green New Deal and says that as an immigration lawyer, she would be the best choice to fight changes to the nations immigration system.

Eaves also supports Medicare for all. He emphasizes his work with young people and said hes more sensitive than some other candidates to people who are underserved and marginalized.

Candidates have tried to make an issue of Bourdeauxs work as a legislative staffer, with Karinshak calling her an apologist and enabler for Republicans who cut education and health care. Other candidates note that gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams carried Gwinnett County in 2018, but Bourdeaux did not.

This isnt anybodys seat, Karinshak said. This is wide open in my estimation.

Bourdeaux said she got into politics in part because she disagreed with those choices and argues that she closed the gap on Woodall.

We are coming back this time with a coalition thats stronger than before, Bourdeaux said.

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Bourdeaux Back In Race For Congress, But Democrat Has Rivals | 90.1 FM WABE - WABE 90.1 FM

The election, which took place during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, was held to decide who would serve out the remainder of the term after Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, died last year at the age of 68.

The Baltimore-area congressional district -- Maryland's 7th -- is heavily Democratic, which made Mfume the favorite to win. The most unusual feature of the race, however, was the fact that election officials strongly encouraged constituents to vote by mail as a public health and safety measure amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

The election took place after Mfume and Klacik advanced to the general after a primary held in February.

For Mfume, the win creates the opportunity for a comeback of sorts given that he previously held the congressional seat from 1987 to 1996 after which he was succeeded by Cummings. In the primary election, he beat out Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, the late congressman's widow.

In addition to previously representing Maryland's seventh congressional district in Congress, Mfume has served as a Baltimore City Council member and president of the NAACP. He is also a former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

This story has been updated with the results of the race.

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Democrat Kweisi Mfume projected to win special election for the late Elijah Cummings' House seat - CNN

WASHINGTON Republican members of Congress were noticeably reluctant to wear masks on the House floor Thursday, sparking a sharp debate with Democrats, who readily accepted the federal guidance.

As lawmakers gathered for a morning debate on creating a coronavirus stimulus oversight committee, the GOP side of the chamber largely left their mouths and noses uncovered, while some Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, dropped their coverings while speaking.

Democrats nearly all entered the chamber wearing either bandannas or masks of many colors. At least two were orange. One wore a mask embroidered with a sparkly sequin American flag.

The sole Democratic exception asof mid-afternoon was recovered coronavirus patientRep. Joe Cunningham of South Carolina. He later put on a mask after The Post contacted his staff for comment. His aides did not comment.

House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) lashed into his Republican colleagues who chose not to cover up after Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) spoke. Jordan, who coughed repeatedly while awaiting his turn to speak, did not wear a mask while seated on the floor, or at the lectern.

People can do what they want to do, McGovern scolded. But while we all want to show how fearless we are, we should be mindful of the people that are surrounding us. And so until Im advised otherwise, Im going to keep my mask on.

While face coverings are not mandatory, they are certainly recommended, McGovern said. The Office of the Attending Physician has also advised that a face cover will produce a minimal reduction in sound when using a microphone. The face covering is most useful in reducing viral spread while speaking.

Meanwhile, Republicans argued against the proposed new oversight committee, saying it would be a politicized weapon to attack President Trump. Later Thursday, lawmakers will vote on a half-trillion-dollar package of small-business loans, hospital aid and testing funds.

The House gathering was the first since March 27, when masks were rare or non-existent on the floor, as US health officials said at the time that masks were ineffective for the public to protect against the virus. The health guidance about-faced this month, with federal officials advising face coverings as an optional measure to prevent spread of the virus.

In several Asian countries, authorities credit universal mask wearing with preventing major outbreaks of COVID-19. In Taiwan, which has a larger population than New York, there are about 400 cases of the coronavirus after early widespread mask wearing.

Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) andMinority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) arrived on the House floor without masks, as did many GOP peers.

Nice mask! a colleague told Scalise.

Thanks! I wear it for Halloween, too! the second-ranking Republican said, laughing uproariously.

Those who did not wear masks included Reps. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), James Comer (R-Ky.), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), Jody Hice (R-Ga.), David Kustoff (R-Tenn.), Michael McCaul (R-Texas), Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas).

Some Republicans did wear masks, and the number who did increased around noon when lawmakers pivoted to debating the fourth large coronavirus bill.

GOP Reps. Kevin Brady of Texas, Steve Chabot of Ohio, Tom Cole of Oklahoma, Debbie Lasko of Arizona and Thomas Massie of Kentucky were among those who wore masks.

Aside from Cunningham, the closest to an unmasked Democrat was Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, who wore a mask tied around his neck. It did not appear that Neal ever raised the mask onto his face.

During House votes last month, many New York Democrats ignored guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which urged a 14-day self-quarantine for people recently in the New York metro area.

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House Republicans anger Democrats by refusing to wear protective masks - New York Post

"If there are significant shifts in support demographically then you don't necessarily need to boost turnout," says Democratic consultant Michael Halle, who directed Hillary Clinton's battleground state strategy in 2016.

"The idea that expanding the map comes down to high mobilization of the constituencies that give you the most support doesn't necessarily follow," says Ruy Teixeira, a longtime liberal election analyst and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. "You can do the same things by reducing your deficits or becoming competitive among groups where you had been doing quite poorly."

Race and age intertwine politically

"He is not the spark to that flame, for sure," says Republican strategist David Kochel.

Those trends among the young still concern many Democratic operatives. But a closer look at the demographics of the swing states makes clear that for Biden a strategy centered on appealing to older voters, most of them white, could substitute for mobilizing young people, many of them diverse, in all of the places that both sides consider pivotal in 2020.

"It was never clear to me that the way you expand the map was by enormous turnout among young people," said Teixeira. "Other moving parts were just as important, if not more important."

In all six of the Rust Belt and Sun Belt swing states, people older than 45 cast a higher share of the 2016 vote than they did nationally, according to calculations from census figures by William Frey, a Brookings Institution demographer. In Pennsylvania (62%), Wisconsin and North Carolina (63% each), those older voters constituted a slightly larger share of the total than the national number (61.8%); the gap was greater in Arizona (64%), Michigan (65%) and above all Florida (67%).

Across all six of these pivotal battleground states, age and race intertwine politically. In each of them, the younger generations are more racially diverse than the older. That pattern is especially pronounced in the Sun Belt states. In the 2016 presidential election, exit polls showed that in Arizona nonwhites constituted 44% of the voters younger than 30 but only 12% of the seniors who voted, according to calculations by CNN polling director Jennifer Agiesta; in Florida, the numbers were 56% among the young and just 21% among the seniors.

In the Rust Belt states, the minority share of the youth vote isn't as great, but even in those places the "racial generation gap," as Frey has called it, is formidable: Minorities constituted nearly two-fifths of the younger voters in Michigan last time, but only 1 in 7 of the seniors. In Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, whites made up more than 8 in 10 2016 voters aged 45-64 and more than 9 in 10 of those older than 65, Agiesta found.

Because of that demographic makeup, the Rust Belt has always been an uneasy fit for the strategy that many liberals prefer of mobilizing more younger minority nonvoters. Not only do whites represent a larger share of actual voters in the Rust Belt than in the Sun Belt, but they also compose a clear majority of the adults who were eligible to vote but did not in 2018. (At least three-fourths of eligible nonvoters in 2016 were white in all three big Rust Belt battlegrounds, according to calculations by David Wasserman of The Cook Political Report.)

2018 field tests

Mobilization of nonvoters is potentially a viable strategy for Democrats in Sun Belt states that are adding population and rapidly growing more racially diverse, particularly among their younger generations. In those states, there are large pools of younger nonvoters available for the party to activate -- if it can inspire them to the polls.

But even there, a stronger performance among seniors could offer Biden an alternative path to victory, especially in the states that both parties are most targeting in 2020: North Carolina, Florida and Arizona. In each of those three big battlegrounds, Frey found that in 2016 voters older than 45 turned out at much higher rates than younger ones, just as they did in the three critical Rust Belt states.

"If you can trim off a little bit of the folks who you know absolutely will vote, that is far more effective than trying to turn out folks who have a very low propensity of voting," says Mike Noble, a former Republican consultant in Arizona who now polls for nonpartisan clients.

To some extent, these alternative approaches for Democrats were already field-tested across the Sun Belt in the 2018 elections.

Inspiring more turnout among those younger, mostly nonwhite, voters in diversifying states was the strategic underpinning for three of the 2018 campaigns that most electrified Democrats nationwide: the governor campaigns of Andrew Gillum and Stacey Abrams in Florida and Georgia, respectively, and the Senate campaign of Beto O'Rourke in Texas.

Offering a passionate case for fundamental change, each generated commanding margins among younger people: All three carried almost exactly three-fifths of voters aged 18-44, according to figures provided by Edison Research, which conducts the exit polls for a media consortium that includes CNN.

All three inspired large turnout and enormous enthusiasm from volunteers and donors alike. But each of them nonetheless lost their races because they faltered with older voters. Abrams and O'Rourke each carried only a little more than 2 in 5 voters older than 45, and Gillum did just slightly better, posting 45%, according to the Edison Research results. Among whites older than 45 the results were even grimmer: Gillum carried slightly fewer than 2 in 5 while O'Rourke won fewer than 1 in 3 and Abrams only a little more than 1 in 5. (O'Rourke and Gillum struggled as well with older Latinos, the exit polls found.)

By contrast, with much less national attention, Democrat Kyrsten Sinema won a US Senate seat in Arizona that same year by moderating her earlier liberalism and running as a centrist who would build bridges across party lines. Like the other three Sun Belt Democrats, Sinema struggled among older working adults aged 50-64, according to the exit polls; but unlike them she carried a majority of seniors, which helped her squeeze out a narrow victory over Republican Martha McSally. Sinema carried 44% of whites older than 45, a measurable improvement on the other three.

One possible model for Biden

One of the most striking aspects of Sinema's win was her victory in Maricopa County, centered on Phoenix. Maricopa was the largest county in the US that Trump won in 2016, but Noble's post-election analyses found that 88 precincts that backed the President in 2016 switched to Sinema two years later. Those included many suburban areas crowded with college-educated voters who broke from Trump nationwide. But when Noble and his team analyzed the Maricopa precincts that moved away from the GOP from 2016 to 2018, he found two retirement communities at the very top of the list: Sun City and Leisure World.

That's catastrophic for Republicans in Arizona, he notes, since the heavy Latino presence in the younger population reliably tilts it toward the Democrats. (Sinema won three-fifths of voters younger than 45 in 2018.) If Biden can maintain an advantage with those older voters through November, Noble says, "it's smooth sailing" for him in the state, especially since Trump and the GOP are also eroding among younger college-educated suburbanites.

Clifford Young, the president of Ipsos Public Affairs, says the firm's own recent polling has found Biden running even or ahead of Trump among seniors in the big three states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. After Trump's unusually strong performance among those voters in 2016, he believes, "what you are seeing is some migration back to status quo ante 2016," when Democrats ran more competitively with older Midwesterners.

Kochel says the fact that many older voters in the Midwest live in rural communities that feel a strong cultural connection to Trump -- and have also generally been less affected by the coronavirus outbreak -- will ultimately create challenges for Biden among the region's seniors. But he adds that the movement toward the Democrat among older voters "is no doubt something [Trump] has to be watching real close."

"Just these suburban numbers alone put Biden in a position to win pretty handily," says Halle, who served as a senior adviser in Pete Buttigieg's campaign this year. "If you start to bleed other places -- and the senior numbers is a significant place where Trump is bleeding in the most recent round of numbers -- you just don't have enough putty to patch all the holes."

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Older voters could offer Biden a new path to the White House - CNN