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Now, their departure creates an opening for new leadership for the first time in decades. As a result, 20 people 18 Democrats and two Republicans have signed up across Districts 34, 38 and 55 to fill the seats being vacated. Tuesdays primary will be especially vital to Democrats, who are expected to easily retain all three seats.

Several candidates said they respect the work each lawmaker has contributed and are eager to bring change to the state, while others say the retirements were long overdue.

They point to Tate, who has rarely been seen in the chamber since 2020. In 2021, Tate missed the entire session. At the time, Tate told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a statement that she began treatment for an illness in December 2020 and was hospitalized. She did not specify her illness, other than to say that it was not COVID-19.

Tate, 68, is the daughter of former state Sen. Horace Tate, who served 16 years in the chamber and has a section of I-75 named after him. The elder Tate died in 2002.

For a woman to be able to hold this seat (for decades), that is an incredibly powerful, impactful opportunity for whoever comes next, said Nkoyo Lewis, who is running for Tates seat.

Tate, who was elected to the same district as her father, returned to the chamber in 2022 and was reelected that year for another term. She was not present for much of the 2023 legislative session and was on the Senate floor a handful of times this year.

That absence was a detriment to her constituents, said Ralph Long III, who served in the Georgia House from 2009 to 2013.

She got sick. She couldnt go to the session, said Long, who is vying to take over her seat. That was three years of not being able to vote on our behalf. Her absence in voting has cost us.

Tate did not respond to an AJC interview request.

Butler, 82, became the first Black woman to be caucus leader when she was selected by her peers in 2020 after serving 19 years in various caucus leadership roles. When she was elected to Senate District 55 in 1998, she told herself she wouldnt stay in the chamber more than 10 years.

Her proudest legislative accomplishment came as a freshman lawmaker, when she sponsored a bill that made it easier for people needing inhalers to get them through their insurance, she said. Shortly after, she also passed a bill that allowed students to carry their inhalers, instead of having to leave them with a school nurse.

Somehow, you tend to forget about those things until they remind you and it makes you feel good to help someone, Butler said. Plus, I liked the job.

Butler attempted to navigate the partisan gridlock but was unable to pass key Democratic priorities, such as enrolling more people in government health care plans. Expanding Medicaid, the public health program that provides care to people with low incomes or disabilities, to more people who dont have insurance is one thing Butler said she is disappointed she wasnt able to achieve before leaving office.

Candidates vying to replace the outgoing senators are trying to differentiate themselves from the packed crowd. Several have either served as an elected official or been an advocate.

The three senators retirements open the door for greater opportunities, said former state Rep. Valencia Stovall, who is running for Seays seat.

Butlers open Senate district, which includes parts of DeKalb and Gwinnett counties, has drawn five Democratic and one Republican candidate. She hasnt endorsed a successor.

Robin Biro, a government consultant and U.S. Army veteran who lives in Tucker, said state Sen. Kim Jackson, a Pine Lake Democrat, encouraged him to run to succeed Butler.

I think (Jackson) just knew that I could bring that fighting spirit, Biro said. I feel (Butler) when she describes the burnout of trying to reach out across the aisle at people who are unwilling to hear her out, unwilling to even listen. Thats where I thought, Maybe theyll listen to me. Im a veteran.

Seay entered politics by serving on Clayton Countys school board for eight years. She was nervous about running, but her pastor persuaded her to go forward as a representative of her community.

It was new, and it was a little bit frightening, she said.

Seay, 70, was elected to the Georgia House in 2002, serving two years before switching chambers and winning election in a Senate district representing Clayton County and south Atlanta voters.

She said the Senate chamber has become a boys club, and from my perspective, a lot more mean-spirited.

Often, it was just a no-win situation, she said. One or two of the men would make remarks that I found not only offensive, but something that somebody who is leading our great state should not have in their vocabulary.

But Seay said shes still committed to public service.

Its been a journey, she said. Nobody said it would be easy. But if youre called, you answer the call.

One of the candidates answering the call is Herman Drew Andrews, a Jonesboro resident who serves on the Clayton County Library Board of Trustees.

Andrews, who unsuccessfully ran two years ago for a vacant House seat, said district residents need leaders who are established figures in the community.

(Seay) has cemented her legacy, he said, and its time for a new one.

This article was updated to correct Gloria Butlers title.

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Democratic Georgia Senate retirements open seats for first time in decades - The Atlanta Journal Constitution

House Republicans are preparing a vote this week on a bill that seeks to end President Joe Bidens flexibility on delivering weapons to Israel as Democrats marshal their members to remain united in opposition in the closely divided chamber.

The legislation, introduced late last week, could pass with only Republican votes, but the White House and House Democratic leadership are nevertheless working to minimize defections, seeking to paint the bill as unwarranted, poorly written, and a partisan power grab.

The House adopted a rule 212-200 Wednesday, setting the stage for floor action on the bill from Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., the leader of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, as early as Thursday or Friday. The rule allows no amendments.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., introduced a draft companionbill that his office says has 17 GOP co-sponsors. But that measure has little chance of making headway in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

The House bill would place multiple binding provisions on the executive branch, including a prohibition on any U.S. fiscal 2024 or prior-year funds from being used to withhold or reverse the delivery of defense support forIsrael.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is whipping against the bill, Democratic staffers confirmed on background. They said Democratic leaders are characterizingthe measureas a MAGA bill and not a serious legislative effort.

The White House said Biden wouldveto the billin a statement of administration policy Tuesday because itinfringes on the presidents Article II constitutional powers as commander-in-chief and his power to conduct foreign relations.

The veto threat came around the same time TheWall Street Journal reportedthat the administration earlier in the day told lawmakers it was proceeding with a $1 billion arms package for Israel that would include tactical vehicles, tank ammunition, and mortar rounds. The package hasnt received final approval yet though. A Senate Democratic staffer on condition of anonymity confirmed the report.

But senior Republicans were undeterred.

At a time of rising global threats, antisemitism, and campus demonstrations around the U.S. that have empowered anti-Jewish aggression, we cant equivocate in our support or waver in our promise of Never Again, House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said in a Wednesday statement on the bill. We must deliver the critical assistance Israel needs.

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilarpredicted at his Wednesday press conference that Democrats would overwhelmingly vote against the bill.

We believe in supporting our friends and allies in Israel. We also believe that the president sets foreign policy as well. And we understand that theres different viewpoints within our own caucus on this, the California Democrat said. But overwhelmingly, House Democrats will reject this overly political bill that did not come through committee.

Aguilar said the bill would fence off and defund the Department of Defense, the Department of State from efforts that they are undertaking.

The Democratic effort to whip votes is likely aimed at 26 House Democrats, or just over 12 percent of the caucus, who wrote National Security Advisor Jake Sullivanlast week to criticize the pause in the bomb shipment. That letter, however, sought only a briefing to better understand how and when the appropriated aid would be delivered.

The legislation would order the secretary of State to promptly approve and ensure delivery to Israel of all direct commercial sales of defense articles for which delivery is expected in fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2025.

It would require the administration to deliver any paused weapons shipments within 15 days of bill enactment and would bar funding to the offices of the secretaries of State and Defense and to the National Security Council until those deliveries are made.

The latest blow-up over U.S.-Israel policy was sparked by the administrations pause this month ofshipment of large bombs on the grounds Israel would cause heavy loss of civilian lives using the munitions in the Gaza Strip. The pause was also aimed to causethe Israeli military to hold off from deepening its ground invasion of the city of Rafah, where some 1 million Palestinians are sheltering in unsafe conditions.

The bill is a misguided reaction to a deliberate distortion of the administrations approach to Israel, the statement of administration policy said. The president has been clear: we will always ensure Israel has what it needs to defend itself. Our commitment to Israel is ironclad.

Republican leaders of the Senate and House foreign affairs panels chastised Biden Tuesday for a tendency to undermine the regular order associated with the non-statutory informal notification process for arms sales.

House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Senate Foreign Relations ranking member Jim Risch, R-Idaho., in a letterto Biden,accused the administration of selectively classifying and declassifying information on certain arms transfers to Israel for political purposes. They said Congress still has not received formal notifications of either a Foreign Military Sale or a Direct Commercial Sale that fits the administrations descriptionof the paused shipment of 2,000- and 500-pound bombs to Israel.

We still dont have basic answers to questions about the weapons you have stopped from shipping, McCaul and Risch wrote. To date, we do not know how these weapons were financed, where they are, or by what authority you chose to do this.

Also Tuesday, the top Republicans on the Senate Appropriations and State-Foreign Operations panels sent a joint letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III that repeated much of Risch and McCauls criticisms.

Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., asked the departments to respond in writing by May 20, ahead of Blinkens scheduled May 22 testimony before the State-Foreign Operations Appropriation Subcommittee, with details about the current location of the withheld shipment of high-payload bombs and the details of any other arms shipments the administration is considering withholding if Israel expands its invasion of Rafah.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Wednesday interview with CNBC said his government would proceed with its campaign in Rafah despite the threats the Biden administration to hold back further shipments of offensive weapons if it does so. Netanyahu said the Israeli military could achieve its quest to eradicate the Palestinian militant group Hamas as a military threat without U.S. support.

Josh Paul, a former senior official in the State Departments Political-Military Affairs Bureau who resigned last fall in protest of U.S. policies around arming Israel, said the Calvert bill has problematic issues. He said it seems to require the U.S. to provide any type of weapon Israel wishes, regardless whether its a weapon that has traditionally not been shared, among them nuclear weapons and cluster munitions.

He also said the prohibition on paying the salaries of any Defense or State Department employee who takes action to curb weapons to Israel seems aimed at keeping the State DepartmentsDemocracy, Human Rights, and Labor Bureau, which is tasked with examining alleged gross human rights violations, from speaking up if it seessuch behavior using U.S. weapons from Israeli military units.

Essentially, youre handing control over foreign policy to Israels requests, Paul said in an interview.

Additionally, the legislations blanket requirement that all Israeli orders to U.S. defense manufacturers jump to the head of the queue is at odds with other aspects of U.S. defense policy that have sought to prioritize the delivery of weapons to Ukraine, key NATO allies, and Taiwan, he said.

Nina Heller and David Lerman contributed to this report.

The rest is here:
As House readies a vote on Israeli arms, Democrats whip members in opposition - Roll Call

Sixteen Democratic lawmakers joined Republicans to pass a bill that would force the US to expedite all approved arms shipments to Israel, including those that the White House has delayed over concerns about its assault on Rafah.

The largely symbolic vote in the House of Representatives passed by a vote of 224-187, but has little chance of becoming law because it must pass the Democrat-controlled Senate.

The Biden administration also said it would vetothe bill, claiming it undermines the presidents foreign policy.

The bills passage in the House of Representatives is notable, however, because 16 pro-Israel democratic lawmakers joined with Republicans in a sign of defiance of Bidens decision to pause a shipment of 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs to Israel.

The lawmakers who broke ranks with their party include vocal democratic supporters of Israel such as Lois Frankel, Jared Moskowitz, Josh Gottheimer, and Ritchie Torres.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton has introduced a companion bill, but Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer has said he will not put the bill on the floor for a vote. Senior Democrats in the House also whipped heavily against the bill.

Anoticeshared by Democratic Congresswoman Katherine Clark said Biden had provided ironclad support for Israel but that the Republican legislation amounted to an unprecedented limitation of the president's executive authority and ability to implement foreign policy.

Israels war on Gaza has divided the Democratic Party, with progressives criticising Bidens support for Israel. The tensions are already playing out in Democratic primary races.

This week pro-Palestinian Democratic Congressman Jamaal Bowman claimed his primary challenger was in the pocket and bought and paid for by Aipac, the pro-Israel lobbying group. Bowman, like some other progressives, has called Israels war on Gaza a genocide.

Biden's threat to withhold arms to Israel masks divisions over the fate of Hamas

The focal point of Israels war has become Rafah, the southern Gaza border town where around 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering.

Biden warned last week he would delay the transfer of offensive bombs and artillery shells to Israel if they launched a full-scale assault on Rafah.

Biden's decision to follow through on that public threat is being tracked minute by minute by US voters, supporters and critics of Israel. The Biden administration has not clearly defined what they mean by a "full-scale invasion", as Israel has been heavily bombarding Rafah and has seized control of the crossing with Egypt.

The vast majority of arms transfers to Israel are continuing despite the Rafah threat and current freeze.

The Wall Street Journalreportedon Tuesday that the Biden administration plans to send over $1bn in additional arms and ammunition to Israel.

See more here:
Sixteen Democrats join Republicans to override Biden's halt on bomb transfers to Israel - Middle East Eye

Martin Gruenberg is still the leader of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, an agency that supervises U.S. banks, but after a bipartisan grilling on Wednesday by members of a House committee overseeing bank regulators, he appeared to be hanging on by a thread.

Democrats expressed dismay over his responses to the crisis at his agency, after a scathing report of a culture of widespread sexual harassment and discrimination. One congresswoman appeared to call for him to resign, as Republicans have been doing for months.

Personally, I do not have confidence that you can continue to lead in this role, Representative Ayanna S. Pressley, Democrat of Massachusetts, told Mr. Gruenberg during an exchange. I am so tired of white men failing up.

In a bruising session that lasted more than three hours, committee members repeatedly asked Mr. Gruenberg what he planned to do to change his behavior in response to reports that he had berated employees and created an environment in which people were afraid to communicate with him. (Two other federal bank regulators, the acting comptroller of the currency, Michael Hsu, and the Federal Reserve vice chair, Michael Barr, also offered testimony on bank regulatory matters, but much of the committees focus was on the F.D.I.C.)

Its incumbent on me to be more sensitive to how my behavior is received by employees and to understand that the only thing that matters is not my perception but their perception, Mr. Gruenberg said. At one point, in response to a suggestion by Representative Sylvia R. Garcia, Democrat of Texas, Mr. Gruenberg said he would take anger management classes.

Mr. Gruenberg is trying to save his tenure at the agency, which he has run for 10 of the last 13 years, partly to help see through a rule that the F.D.I.C. is proposing, along with other federal bank regulators, to tighten and expand oversight of the nations largest lenders. Big banks have fiercely opposed it, and if Mr. Gruenberg steps down, the rule is unlikely to have the necessary votes from F.D.I.C. board members to become final.

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Democrats Batter Bank Regulator Over F.D.I.C.'s 'Toxic' Workplace Culture - The New York Times

Two Democrats - the former legal director of the ACLU of Virginia, and New Kent County's former treasurer - are vying for the nomination to challenge a long-serving GOP incumbent in a strongly Republican district.

New Kents Herb Jones, a retired Army colonel who tried but failed to unseat Rep. Rob Wittman, R-1st in 2022, is facing Leslie Mehta, currently on leave as counsel and chief of staff of the Richmond Metropolitan Transportation Authority, in the June 18 Democratic primary.

Hes backed by former Gov. Ralph Northam.

Shes backed by Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, as well as by a deep pocketed Democratic couple, Charlottesville billionaire hedge fund executive Michael Bills and his wife Sonija Smith, who together are Mehtas biggest donors, Federal Elections Commission filings show.

The 1st Congressional District, represented by Republican Rob Wittman, includes western Henrico and western Chesterfield counties as well as part of Hanover County. Those three counties form the districts largest voter blocs.

The 1st District circles around Richmond from western Chesterfield through western Henrico and Hanover County to the Middle Peninsula, Northern Neck and the Virginia Peninsula to the Newport News city line. The district - which Wittman has represented since 2007 - gave the Republican a 57% to 42% margin over Jones in 2022 and went strongly, 58% to 42% for Republican Glenn Youngkin in the 2021 contest for governor.

While most of its biggest bloc of voters, those in Henrico, lean modestly toward Democrats, with deeper blue pockets around Williamsburg and three modestly Democratic precincts on the Northern Neck, most of the district gave Republicans at least a margin of at least 20 percentage points in 2022.

"It'll certainly be an uphill struggle," Mehta said. "But the district is changing and Rob Wittman isn't."

Both Mehta and Jones have said they would act to ensure reproductive freedom access to contraceptives and abortion and support gun safety laws. Both say they are deeply concerned that American democracy is under threat as former President Donald Trump and many Republicans continue to deny that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

"There wont be much in the way of policy differences between the (Democratic) candidates," said John McGlennon, a political scientist at the College of William and Mary.

"The experienced candidate vs. fresh face will be a big part of the primary," he said.

Jones is board chair of the Williamsburg James City County Community Action Agency, which runs a variety of poverty programs, including Head Start and an emergency food and shelter assistance program. He runs a small business focused on cloud-computing, project management and logistics.

A 30-year Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and was awarded the Bronze Star for his service in Iraq, he was responsible for overseeing New Kent Countys funds and collecting its taxes for 12 years.

While he won his last election to that office with 82% of the vote in in 2007, he's had less luck looking farther afield. He failed to unseat state Sen. Tommy Norment, R-James City County, in 2019, even losing New Kent with 34% to Norment's 65%. In the 2022 congressional race, he won 31% of New Kent's vote to Wittman's 68%.

We need a fighter in Congress who will deliver for Eastern Virginia communities: ensuring our reproductive freedom, safety from gun violence, investment in public education, and protecting our right to free and fair elections, Jones website says. (He did not respond to multiple phone and email requests to outline his positions.)

I have successfully run for elected office three times, the voters of New Kent County elected and reelected me as their treasurer," he said in a social media posting. "In 2022 a number of people across the district reached out and asked me to run after a candidate dropped out I answered the call and I stepped up. We knew it would be hard for a candidate to win on the first attempt so I was always prepared to finish what we started in 2022. In nine elections the incumbent has had a new challenger in every race - let's try it differently this time."

In his endorsement statement, Northam said Herb knows what it means to serve his fellow Virginians.

"I've been doing this for a long time; I've fought for the constitutional rights of Virginians ... I've secured funding for rare diseases," Mehta said. She channeled her grief after her 5-year-old daughter Brooke died of the rare genetic disorder Rett Syndrome, to help move legislation through Congress with support from Democrats and Republicans.

Mehta grew up in tiny Woodland, N.C., just down U.S. 258 from Isle of Wight County. She says she hears from people in rural stretches of the 1st District about one-hour driving trips for health care and it resonates strongly. So does the memory of taking Brooke to Atlanta for care when that was where the nearest specialists were based.

"Accessibility to health care is a huge concern," she said. Mehta said that encompasses access to reproductive health care, tackling the high cost of prescription medications and access to in vitro fertilization.

"That really hit me, both of my daughters were from IVF," she said. "After that Alabama decision," in which the state Supreme Court found that frozen embryos can be considered children, "we need federal protection ... why should someone you've never met be able to say you can't do that?"

Other memories from growing up, the contrast between the rural high school she attended for two years and the statewide science and math school where she finished high school, meant public school funding, especially focused on technology and modernizing facilities, would be another of her priorities in Congress.

Defending civil liberties and constitutional rights, another top priority, reflects her years at the ACLU. A suit she and the Legal Aid Justice Center filed on behalf of two Black middle school students with disabilities, alleging that Richmond Public Schools suspended Black students with disabilities at 13 times the rate of white students without disabilities, sparked a federal investigation.

Jones has a larger campaign war chest and a higher name recognition from his 2022 run.

"Hell make the argument that hes had the guts to get into tough races and deserves another shot with more time and presidential turnout," McGlennon said.

"What Mehta will need to do is demonstrate that her newness is an asset and not a liability."

Mehta is from the Richmond suburbs, where 55% of the district's voters live, while Jones' base of New Kent is home to only 3%.

But while "Hometown support can often be decisive, in this case, the impact is likely to be more limited," McGlennon said, "as the candidate from the more populous area doesnt have as high a profile."

Olusoji Akomolafe, a political scientist at Norfolk State University, said the primary might come down to dueling endorsements between a former governor, Northam's backing of Jones, and would-be governor Spanberger's backing of Mehta.

"This is Jones third shot at elected office. As we have seen in many cases before, name recognition may actually be a double-edged political sword," Akomolafe said.

"In making their decisions, while some voters may emphasize a known face as their main reason for choosing a candidate, others may welcome the newcomer, especially if their positions are not so radically apart from each other, as is the case in this situation," he said.

"Jones already has name recognition derived from his previous run for the office. In the last election, he may have lost by a 13-point margin, but he was also outspent 3-1. Given those circumstances, that performance is good enough for most Democrats to view him as a credible candidate,"Akomolafe said.

He added: "While Mehta may not have the same kind of name recognition, even as a newcomer to the game she is not altogether a pushover." He said that in addition to her endorsements by state Sens. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, Mamie Locke, D-Hampton and Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, "Spanbergers endorsement may prove to be more consequential than that of Northam in this election."

Friday-Sunday

Richmonds favorite outdoor sports and music festival returns with biking, kayaking, air dogs, stand-up paddle boarding and more. Jam out on the island to bands like Cosmic Collective, Karl Densons Tiny Universe, Palmyra and The Stews. 5-9:30 p.m. Friday, noon-9:30 p.m. Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday. 501 Tredegar St. Free to attend. (804) 285-9495 or http://www.riverrockrva.com.

Friday

Farmvilles Oliver Anthony will hit the stage for Atlantic Union After Hours in Doswell. Anthony made music history last year with his viral hit Rich Men North of Richmond which has been dubbed the nations blue-collar anthem. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Show starts at 7 p.m. After Hours at Meadow Event Park, 13191 Dawn Boulevard. Sold out. afterhoursconcertseries.com.

Friday-Sunday

Get ready for three days of Lebanese cuisine, including everything from hummus and kabobs to baklava and other desserts, as well as traditional Lebanese dancing and live music performances at the Lebanese Food Festival. 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday. St. Anthony Maronite Church, 4611 Sadler Road, Glen Allen. Free to attend. Pay as you go. (804) 277-9566 or lebanesefoodfestival.com.

Thursday

Relax in the gardens at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden on Thursday evenings for the return of Flowers After 5. Stroll through the scenic gardens, listen to live music and enjoy a selection of food and drinks. 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Through mid-September. 1800 Lakeside Ave. $10-$20. (804) 262-9887 or http://www.lewisginter.org.

Thursday and Friday

Stroll through a 12-block stretch of art, live music and refreshments at the Fan Arts Stroll. 4-8 p.m. 1900-2600 blocks of Hanover and Grove Avenues. Free. https://www.facebook.com/FanArtsStroll/.

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Virginia: Two Democrats vie for chance to take on Wittman - Richmond Times-Dispatch