by Kate Turner '21
September 10, 2018
[Taken down for site construction and re-uploaded 5.17.19]
what are the dems up to?
We’re back! Hopefully you were able to catch up with us at the Org Fair on Saturday, but if not our first meeting will be this Sunday, September 16 at 8:00 p.m. in the South Rockies common room.
Don’t forget to bring your favorite mug along! Tea, hot chocolate, and hot water will be provided courtesy of your favorite e-board.
Our goal for the semester is to take some sort of direct action at every meeting: this week, our action is making calls to prevent Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.
In future, actions will include phonebanking, writing postcards in favor of candidates we support, registering students to vote, or preparing for larger events we’ve organized on campus. Meetings will always be held at the same time and place.
in the pioneer valley
In state elections, Dan Carey won the Democratic nomination for state Representative for the 2nd Hampshire District in the primaries on Tuesday, and Jo Comerford, one of three write-in candidates for the Hampshire-Franklin-Worcester County State Senate District has won her state Senate seat.
Democratic incumbent Richard Neal beat out progressive challenger Tahirah Amatul-Wadud in the Democratic Congressional primary on Tuesday. Neal will face no Republican challengers in November, and is essentially guaranteed reelection. He has represented Western Massachusetts for nearly thirty years.
state-wide
Democratic candidate for governor Jay Gonzalez has called on incumbent Gov. Charlie Baker to take a “People’s Pledge” limiting outside spending in the governor’s race. Baker’s team refused to comply with the pledge, claiming only that “the campaign will continue to comply with the letter and spirit of all Massachusetts campaign finance laws and regulations.”
22 mayors across Massachusetts have already endorsed Gonzalez, including the mayors of Springfield, Fall River, Brockton, Lawrence, and Lowell.
Hundreds of workers from area Marriott hotels shut down traffic in Boston on Monday as they protested for a fair contract and better wages.
A Massachusetts federal judge ruled this week that Puerto Rican evacuees can be evicted from their temporary government housing.
national news
Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings started this Tuesday, September 4th. You can keep up with updates on the hearings process and see exactly where he stands on key issues here. More about Kavanaugh and his positions: on the issues:
During his hearings, Kavanaugh referred to birth control as “abortion inducing drugs.”
He also refused to answer when asked whether he believed presidents should respond to subpoenas or whether he believes they can pardon themselves.
He once raised an objection to calling Roe v. Wade “the settled law of the land” because the Court “can always overrule its precedent and three current Justices on the Court would do so.”
He upheld a South Carolina law that, according to the Obama administration, would have disenfranchised “tens of thousands of minority voters,” and does not believe Voter ID laws are motivated by racism.
The Trump administration has proposed a new rule that would allow the government to hold migrant children in detention “indefinitely.” Current laws limit the government to holding children for 20 days; the government has already tried to get around this issue by keeping parents in detention and children in “HHS care facilities” (read: still in detention); now they want to do away with the 20-day rule entirely.
North Carolina’s unconstitutionally gerrymandered congressional map will be used in the midterms.
The New York Attorney General has subpoenaed every Roman Catholic diocese in the state as part of a sex abuse investigation, according to the Associate Press.
about elections
last week’s primaries
In Massachusetts, Ayanna Pressley upset the 10-term Democratic candidate Michael Cuomo, setting her up to be the first African-American woman to represent MA in Congress. No Republican is on the ballot to oppose her in November. Her win is one of many in a class of what the New York Times is calling "an emboldened coalition of women, young people and racial minorities [who have] claimed ownership of the party and steered it to war against President Trump."
For full Massachusetts primary results, read here.
Meanwhile, in Delaware, incumbent Senator Thomas Carper (D) beat progressive challenger Kerri Harris in the primary race, representing a victory for the establishment wing of the party. https://6abc.com/politics/carper-wins-antiestablishment-wave-ebbs-in-delaware/4171684/
upcoming primaries
There are primary elections in New Hampshire, New York, and Rhode Island (Kate’s home state!) this week. Read more about them here.
get involved!
“Kavanaugh referred to birth control — something more than 95 percent of women use in their lifetime — as an ‘abortion-inducing drug,’ which is not just flat-out wrong, but is anti-woman, anti-science propaganda. Women have every reason to believe their health and their lives are at stake," said Dawn Laguens, the executive vice president for Planned Parenthood.
It’s not too late to tell your senators to vote NO on Brett Kavanaugh! Write to them here and call (202) 224-3121 to be connected directly to your senator’s office. If you’d like a helpful script and your senator’s direct number, look here or call the Senate Judiciary Committee at (202) 224-5225 (script here).
You can also donate to your local Planned Parenthood or Planned Parenthood Southeast to help protect organizations that provide women with medical care and sound, science-based advice about their reproductive rights.