AOC criticized Democrats for not trying hard enough with Latino voters, hours after Biden lost Florida

© Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attending a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Wednesday, July 17, 2019. 

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Tuesday night that she had been "sounding the alarm" about Democratic vulnerabilities with Latino voters. 

It came after Joe Biden lost Florida, and polling suggested that many Latino voters had given their support to President Donald Trump.

"The necessary effort simply hasn't been put in," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. 

President Donald Trump won the state in a tight race, with 51.21% of the vote, in a result declared late Tuesday.


Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that her party made too little effort to secure Latino votes, in a swift rebuke after Joe Biden lost in Florida on election night.

President Donald Trump's tight victory in the state, with 51.21% of the vote, was declared Tuesday evening.

A few hours later, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted a video clip of a commentator noting how the issue of Democratic outreach with Latino voters is "one of the big stories in Florida."

Speaking on a webcast of Yahoo Finance's election coverage prior to the Florida result, journalist Hunter Walker had said: "Progressive allies of Biden were raising alarms about this over the summer. The Biden campaign did do a little bit more Latino outreach, but he has really struggled on that front."

It is unclear whether he had been directly referring to warnings from Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive Democratic representative. But in her tweeted commentary alongside the video, she wrote that she had been "sounding the alarm" about the situation.

The New York representative wrote: "I won't comment much on tonight's results as they are evolving and ongoing, but I will say we've been sounding the alarm about Dem vulnerabilities w/ Latinos for a long, long time.

"There is a strategy and a path, but the necessary effort simply hasn't been put in."

Florida is a crucial state in the presidential election, with 29 electoral college votes and a recent history of tight races.

Barack Obama's 2012 narrow victory there was ensured by just 0.9% of the vote, while President Donald Trump won it in 2016 with a winning margin of 1.2%.

Such signals were a long time coming. Insider polling during the Democratic primaries in December 2019 noted that Biden's support among Latino voters fell markedly short of that with Black and white voters, as Eliza Relman and Walt Hickey reported.

As the presidential election campaign entered its final stages in September 2020, further polls showed that Biden was still underperforming with likely Latino voters statewide.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Joe Biden's campaign has scaled back in-person and door-to-door campaigning.

In a statement to ABC News on November 1, Jennifer Molina, Latino media director for the Biden campaign defended the party's efforts with Latino voters nationwide, saying they had been "aggressively" increasing visibility and voter contact.

"This includes tabeling in Latino supermarkets, like Cardenas, canvassing, phone banks, text banks, chiva buses, mobile billboards, taco trucks and banda performances near election day sites," she wrote. "We're confident our historic investments of tens of millions of dollars will mobilize the community."

Christian Ulver, a Florida-based Biden senior adviser, also told ABC that the party had hosted 45 Hispanic Get Out The Vote events across the state.

The Joe Biden campaign did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

 Read the original article on Business Insider

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

@AOC

US House candidate, NY-14

I won’t comment much on tonight’s results as they are evolving and ongoing, but I will say we’ve been sounding the alarm about Dem vulnerabilities w/ Latinos for a long, long time. There is a strategy and a path, but the necessary effort simply hasn’t been put in

Yahoo Finance

@YahooFinance

Highlight: "One of the big stories in Florida has been Joe Biden's underperformance with Latino voters," @YahooNews White House Correspondent @HunterW says. "Progressive allies of Biden were raising alarms about this over the summer... He has really struggled on that front."

9:29 PM · Nov 3, 2020

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AOC Calls Trump's Victory Statement 'Illegitimate, Dangerous, and Authoritarian'

David Brennan 10 hrs ago

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez branded President Donald Trump's false election victory claim "illegitimate, dangerous, and authoritarian" as counting continues in the key swing state that will decide the next president.

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images/Getty A waitress watches a speech by President Donald Trump on a television during an election watching event at a bar on November 4, 2020 in Beijing, China.

Trump gave a speech early Wednesday prematurely claiming to have won the election, despite millions of uncounted ballots outstanding in key states.

The president also claimed without evidence that there was electoral fraud and threatened to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Ocasio-Cortez—a figurehead of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and a prominent critic of Trump—wrote on Twitter: "Donald Trump's premature claims of victory are illegitimate, dangerous, and authoritarian. Count the votes. Respect the results.

Trump Says He's 'Already Won' The Election, Taking Case To Supreme Court

Former Vice President Joe Biden's campaign, meanwhile, said Trump's remarks were "outrageous."

Campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon said Trump's remarks were "unprecedented because never before in our history has a president of the United States sought to strip Americans of their voice in a national election."

Ritchie Torres And Mondaire Jones Make History As The First Openly Gay Black Members Of Congress

"It is a lot of responsibility. I'm happy to be providing that kind of representation for so many young people and older people,” Jones said this summer.

Addy Baird BuzzFeed News Reporter
Reporting From Washington, DC
Posted on November 3, 2020

Richard Drew / AP Ritchie Torres

WASHINGTON — Democratic Reps.-elect Ritchie Torres and Mondaire Jones made history Tuesday night, becoming the first openly gay Black men elected to Congress.

Both New Yorkers will enter the House in January. In June, Jones won the primary to replace retiring Rep. Nita Lowey in New York’s 17th District, and Torres won the primary to replace retiring Rep. José Serrano in the 15th District. Decision Desk HQ declared that both men will win those races Tuesday night.

Torres became the first openly gay elected official from the Bronx when he was elected to the New York City Council seven years ago at age 25. In June’s congressional primary, he defeated Rubén Diaz Sr., a fellow member of the New York City Council who had a long history of anti-LGBTQ remarks. Within months of Diaz’s arrival to the city council in 2019, there were calls for his resignation after he said his colleagues treated him like an outcast because the council was “controlled by the homosexual community.” (The speaker of the city council, Corey Johnson, is gay.) In 2011, Díaz held a rally opposing marriage equality in the Bronx, while his granddaughter protested him across the street.

After beating Díaz, Torres told CBS, "Look, the triumph of an openly LGBTQ congressional candidate over a leading homophobic in state politics — that to me represents long-overdue poetic justice. What better way to celebrate Pride Month than to defeat the politics of homophobia?"


Kevin Hagen / AP Mondaire Jones

Jones also spoke to CBS about the possibility of being one of the first two openly gay Black men elected to Congress after winning his primary.

"It is a lot of responsibility," he said. "I'm happy to be providing that kind of representation for so many young people and older people all throughout my district and all throughout this country who have reached out to me and said, 'I'm so inspired by what you're doing. You give me hope and I can be my authentic self in a world filled with so much injustice,' and it's really an honor to be able to do that."

Torres is also the rare politician who has spoken openly about his mental health issues, an experience he compared to coming out in a recent interview with BuzzFeed News.

“I think my own acknowledgment of struggling with depression flows naturally from the experience of coming out,” he said. “The process of coming out, the integrity that it demands from you … has taught me how to be more open and honest about my struggle with depression. It teaches you an ethic of radical authenticity.”

There are currently nine openly LGBTQ members of Congress, including Rep. Mark Takano, who became the first openly gay person of color in Congress when he was elected in 2012, and Rep. Sharice Davids, elected in 2018, who is the first openly gay woman of color in Congress.

Cori Bush, Black Lives Matter activist, becomes Missouri's first Black congresswoman

Cori Bush, a progressive community leader and veteran Black Lives Matter activist, won a House seat in Missouri, becoming the state's first Black woman to represent the state in Congress, according to CNN projections.

By Harmeet Kaur, CNN 

© Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images US Rep.-elect Cori Bush dances with supporters during her election night watch party in St. Louis, Missouri.

Bush defeated newcomer Republican Anthony Rogers by a 79% to 19% margin in the race to represent Missouri's 1st congressional district, which covers St. Louis and parts of St. Louis County. She was expected to win the general election after her upset in the Democratic primary over incumbent Rep. William Lacy Clay -- a Black lawmaker who, along with his father former Rep. William Clay Sr., had represented the district for 50 years.

"This is definitely a night to remember," Bush said in a speech on Tuesday.

Bush, a nurse and a pastor, became an organizer and protest leader after the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson in 2014. She ran on a progressive platform, championing policies including Medicare-For-All and the Green New Deal.

"As the first Black woman and also the first nurse and single mother to have the honor to represent Missouri in the United States Congress, let me say this: To the Black women, the Black girls, the nurses, the essential workers, the single mothers, this is our moment," she said.

Her win is a victory for the progressive left, coming as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley -- known as the Squad -- won reelection. She also joins fellow progressive Jamaal Bowman in New York, who won his House race, according to CNN projections.

This was Bush's third run for Congress. She ran for US Senate and lost in 2016, and unsuccessfully challenged Clay for his House seat in 2018.

This time, she raised more money and benefited from heightened visibility, securing the backing of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the youth-led Sunrise Movement and other leftist and progressive leaders. The primary race also took place during a national uprising against racial injustice after the killing of George Floyd and the coronavirus pandemic, which has disproportionately affected people of color.

"To all the counted outs, the forgotten abouts, the marginalized, and the pushed asides. This is our moment," Bush wrote on Twitter. "We came together to end a 52-year family dynasty. That's how we build the political revolution."

Mark Kelly becomes 4th astronaut elected to Congress


By Robert Z. Pearlman - collectSPACE.com Editor


Former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, seen addressing supporters on Tuesday night (Nov. 3) in Tucson, has been elected by the state of Arizona to the U.S. Senate. Kelly is the fourth astronaut to secure a seat in Congress.
(Image: © Mark Kelly)


Mark Kelly has won a seat in the U.S. Senate, making him only the fourth NASA astronaut to be elected to Congress.

Kelly, who launched four times into space before pursuing a career in politics, was successful in his bid to represent the state of Arizona in the U.S. Senate. Kelly, a Democrat, ran against incumbent Martha McSally, a Republican and former U.S. Air Force combat pilot. The special election was held to complete the six-year term of Senator John McCain, who died in 2018 (McSally was temporarily appointed by Arizona's governor after McCain's death).

"When we launched this campaign from this very spot, right here, 619 days ago, I could have never anticipated just how many Arizonians would be part of this mission," said Kelly, addressing supporters at the Hotel Congress in Tucson on Tuesday night (Nov. 3). "This mission does not end when the last vote is counted. It is only the beginning."

Kelly won the election by a margin of 52.63 percent, according to the Secretary of State for the state of Arizona.

Related: What the 2020 presidential election mean for space exploration

"When I was at NASA, we would train for two years for a space shuttle mission. From being in the space shuttle simulator and flying and training, two years of focusing on the details. Two years before we were on the launchpad ready to go. And then the work started," he said. "Now the work starts."

Kelly, who is married to former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, moved to Tucson in 2012 after he retired from NASA and Giffords survived an assassination attempt the year earlier. Together, the couple co-founded "Giffords" to advocate for reduced gun violence and to help make communities safer.

Kelly could possibly take office as soon as the end of the month, pending the state certifying the results of the election. When he is sworn in, Kelly will become the only active member of Congress who has flown in space. He is preceded in the legislative branch of the U.S. government by three former NASA astronauts and two members of Congress who flew on the space shuttle as payload specialists.

How astronauts vote from space: The only American in orbit now explain

NASA astronaut Mark Kelly on the flight deck of the space shuttle Discovery during the STS-124 mission in June 2008. (Image credit: Mark Kelly)

Kelly, a former captain in the U.S. Navy, a naval aviator and test pilot who flew combat missions in Operation Desert Storm, was selected for NASA's 1996 class of astronaut candidates — the same group that included his twin brother, Scott.

Kelly logged more than 54 days in space on four shuttle missions. He served as the pilot on his first flight, STS-108, launching on the space shuttle Endeavour to deliver supplies to the International Space Station in 2001. Five years later, Kelly flew as pilot of the shuttle Discovery on STS-121, NASA's second return-to-flight mission after the loss of the orbiter Columbia and its crew in 2003.

Kelly commanded Discovery's STS-124 crew in 2008, which installed Japan's Kibo laboratory on the space station. His fourth and final mission, STS-134, marked the last flight of Endeavour and delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a cosmic ray detector, to be mounted to the station's backbone truss.

After leaving NASA, Kelly volunteered for one more "mission," allowing the agency's scientists to collect his physiological and medical data while his brother provided the same during a year aboard the space station. The landmark "twins study" helped further reveal the effects that long-duration space travel has on the human body.

Related: Presidential Visions for Space: From Ike to Trump

Science + data + facts

Mark Kelly for U.S. Senate campaign buttons. (Image credit: Mark Kelly)

The first astronaut to trade his spacecraft couch for a seat in Congress was John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth. One of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, Glenn served as a U.S. Senator representing the state of Ohio as a Democrat for four terms, from 1974 to 1999. After leaving office, Glenn, then 77, flew into orbit again, launching on space shuttle Discovery as a payload specialist.

Apollo 13 command module pilot John "Jack" Swigert was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives representing Colorado's 6th district as a Republican in 1982, but tragically died of cancer before he could take office.

Apollo 17 lunar module pilot Harrison "Jack" Schmitt followed up being one of the two last people to walk on the moon in 1972 by serving the state of New Mexico in the Senate as a Republican for six years, from 1977 to 1983.

Following the opposite path, Senator Jake Garn (R-UT) and Representative Bill Nelson (D-FL) were chosen to fly on the space shuttle as congressional observers and payload specialists at a time when NASA was working towards opening up spaceflight to "citizen" passengers. Garn joined the STS-51D crew on Discovery for a week-long mission to deploy two communications satellites in 1985.

Nelson, who later was elected to the Senate, flew on Columbia with the STS-61C crew. The six-day mission, which was the last to fly before the shuttle Challenger tragedy, deployed a satellite and conducted science in 1986.

In addition to those five space explorers and Kelly, four other U.S. astronauts ran for Congress, but were unsuccessful in their bids.

Apollo 15 command module pilot Al Worden campaigned for but lost the Republican primary for Florida's 12th district seat in the House of Representatives in 1982. Skylab and space shuttle crew member Jack Lousma won the Republican primary, but lost the election to be a senator from Michigan in 1984.

Jay Buckey, who flew as an STS-90 payload specialist on Columbia, withdrew his bid for a New Hampshire Senate seat prior to the Democratic primary in 2008. Two years later, STS-128 mission specialist José Hernández won the Democratic nomination but lost the election for California's 10th district seat in the House of Representatives.

LGBT+ candidates surf rainbow wave to victory in U.S. elections

Record numbers of LGBT+ candidates are standing in the US elections and early results suggest historic wins across the country

by Hugo Greenhalgh | @hugo_greenhalgh | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Wednesday, 4 November 2020 14:29 GMT

LONDON, Nov 4 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - LGBT+ candidates have surfed a rainbow wave to victory in the U.S. elections with a series of historic wins, including Sarah McBride becoming the first openly transgender person to win a State Senate seat.

At least 35 of a record 574 LGBT+ candidates on the ballot were estimated to have won as of early Wednesday, including Ritchie Torres and Mondaire Jones, respectively the first out gay Afro-Latino and Black men elected to Congress.

"Tonight's wins for LGBTQ people of colour and transgender Americans across the country are historic and long overdue," said Sarah Kate Ellis, president of the LGBT+ rights organisation GLAAD, in a statement.

"Their victories represent a leap forward for LGBTQ acceptance and a demand for more of the progress and equality that their very presence demonstrates."

McBride, who became the first trans person to address a major party convention when she spoke at the Democrat National Convention in 2016, is the country's highest ranking openly trans official after winning the Delaware State Senate race for the party.

She tweeted that she hoped her victory "shows an LGBTQ kid that our democracy is big enough for them, too".

Veteran human rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell, who last year travelled with McBride to Australia and New Zealand, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that her election marked "an outstanding victory for trans people".

Other landmark victories included Mauree Turner, who identifies as non-binary, or as neither male or female, and became Oklahoma's first Muslim state representative, according to the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which backs LGBT+ candidates.

Michele Rayner became the first Black openly LGBT+ woman to be elected to Florida's state legislature, while Shevrin Jones became the state's first Black LGBT+ state senator. Georgia got its first openly LGBT+ state legislator, Kim Jackson.

"Having visible LGBTQ people in positions of political power is crucial to ensuring that LGBTQ people across America are championed," said Eloise Stonborough, associate director of policy and research at Stonewall, Europe's largest LGBT+ organisation.

A National Election Pool exit poll conducted by Edison Research indicated that LGBT+ voters represent 7% of the 2020 electorate, higher than the estimated 4.5% of the adult population.

LGBT+ voters made up 6% of the electorate in the 2018 midterm elections, and 5% in the 2016 presidential elections.

As the 2020 presidential election result teetered on a knife edge, with millions of votes still uncounted, LGBT+ rights groups said the early wins showed the growing political importance of the community.

"Over the last three elections, the share of LGBTQ voters has continued to increase, solidifying our community as a key rising constituency that politicians must court," Human Rights Campaign (HRC) president Alphonso David said in a statement.

"Our issues matter, our votes matter and politicians around the country have taken notice."

Alan Wardle, director of the Global Equality Caucus, a network of LGBT-supporting parliamentarians around the world, said the elected representatives sent out "a strong signal that LGBT+ people belong in public life".

In an emotional video interview posted to social media before his win was confirmed, Torres thanked his mother for helping his campaign in South Bronx.

"I would not be here today if it were not for my mother," he told reporters from Spectrum NY1, a local TV channel.

"And South Bronx is full of mothers like mine who have suffered and struggled and sacrificed so that her baby boy can have a better life than she did."

(Reporting by Hugo Greenhalgh @hugo_greenhalgh and Rachel Savage; Editing by Claire Cozens and Katy Migiro. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit http://news.trust.org)

Delaware Has Elected The First-Ever Openly Trans State Senator In The US

"I spent my entire life feeling like tonight was so incomprehensible that it was seemingly impossible," Sarah McBride told BuzzFeed News.

Amber Jamieson BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on November 3, 2020

Sarah McBride / Via sarahmcbride.com
Sarah McBride, the first openly trans state senator in US history.

Sarah McBride, a 30-year-old LGBTQ activist, will become the most powerful openly trans lawmaker in the nation after winning her state senator race in Delaware during Tuesday's elections.

Just moments after her win, she told BuzzFeed News that she hopes her achievement as the first-ever openly trans state senator will encourage other young LGBTQ people to follow their dreams.

"I am hopeful that tonight's result can send a potentially lifesaving message to a young trans kid," said McBride. "They can go to sleep knowing that their dreams and their truths are not mutually exclusive."

McBride, a former White House intern in the Obama administration and later the press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, came out as trans when she was serving as the student body president of American University in Washington, DC, in 2012.

She was in the car driving to her election party on Tuesday when the first round of votes came in showing she might win. Shortly after getting to the party at a local small business in Wilmington, the Associated Press and the New York Times called the race for her.

"I spent my entire life feeling like tonight was so incomprehensible that it was seemingly impossible," she said. "To have those results come in and see in black and white online the AP call it ... helped to reinforce that nothing is truly impossible."


McBride named fellow Democrat Danica Roem, who was elected as the first openly trans state lawmaker to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2017, as one of the people who paved the way for her to run.

On Tuesday night, Roem tweeted her congrats to McBride, declaring that she was "so, so so, so proud."




Danica Roem@pwcdanica
Update: She was ready. She did run. And she just won. @SarahEMcBride, I am so, so, so, so proud of you, of who you are, of the campaign you ran and the values you stand for. I'm so grateful for your friendship and to call you the first out trans state senator in American history. https://t.co/GjPl4IgRh302:04 AM - 04 Nov 2020
Reply Retweet Favorite


McBride pointed out that when she was growing up, the only public references to trans people were "punchlines in a comedy or a dead body in a drama" and that she didn't get to see trans people in positions of power.

"I know how much of a difference it would have made for me as a young person struggling for my place in the world," she told BuzzFeed News. "Growing up, there was no example of something like this."

The new state senator–elect for Delaware said she hopes she becomes known as "the healthcare senator and the paid-leave senator" — two issues, she said, made even more important by the coronavirus pandemic.


McBride knows the power of healthcare and paid leave; her husband Andy died from cancer when she was just 24.

She recalled that one of the most tragic and beautiful conversations she'd had with her late husband in his final months was him crying for all the things he would miss — the nieces and nephews he wouldn't get to see grow up, the family members he would miss, and "the fact that he wouldn't be able to tell me he loved me and was proud of me."

"Because it was so sad, it’s seared in my memory," said McBride. "This evening I can hear Andy’s voice saying, 'I love you and I'm proud of you.'"


Jason Minto / AP
McBride campaigning on Sept. 15 in Claymont, Delaware.

Another Delaware Democrat who has closely followed her journey is Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee. McBride volunteered on his son Beau Biden's campaign for attorney general of Delaware, and she later became the first openly trans speaker at a political convention when she spoke at the 2016 DNC.

"In doing this work, I return to the most important lessons my father taught me and my children," wrote Joe Biden in the foreword to McBride's memoir Tomorrow Will Be Different, "the same principle that animates courageous advocates like Sarah McBride: that all people are entitled to be treated with dignity and respect."


McBride said despite her own win, she will "anxiously watch" the national results on Tuesday night, hoping that Biden becomes the next president.

But whatever happens, she's focusing on her new role representing the people of Delaware. "As much work as the last year was, the real work begins tomorrow," she said before heading off to give her victory party speech to a crowd of supporters.



Amber Jamieson is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York.


Sarah McBride becomes first transgender state senator in U.S. history


A record number of LGBTQ+ community members ran for office in 2020.

Sarah McBride attends "Out in Office" panel at Tribeca Celebrates Pride Day at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival at Spring Studio on May 4, 2019 in New York City. Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival


Story at a glance

Sarah McBride won a state senate seat in Delaware, making her the highest-ranking transgender official in the U.S.

All states except for Alabama saw LGBTQ+ candidates run for office in 2020.

Democrat Sarah McBride made history on Election Day by becoming the first openly transgender state senator to be elected in U.S. history following her win in Delaware on Tuesday night. 

Politico reports that McBride, formerly the national press secretary of the Human Rights Campaign, will represent the 1st state Senate District from Delaware. She will now become the highest-ranking transgender official in the U.S.

McBride was part of a surge of LGBTQ+ candidates running for office in the 2020 election cycle, with the LGBTQ Victory Fund counting 1,006 openly LGBTQ+ community members campaigning for office. This is a 41 percent increase in LGBTQ+ candidates from 2018, with the number of genderqueer or gender non-binary candidates jumping to 25 candidates in 2020 from six in 2018.

Other openly transgender U.S. state legislators include Virginia Delegate Danica Roem (D); Colorado Rep. Brianna Titone (D); and New Hampshire state Reps. Lisa Bunker and Gerri Cannon. 

Across all 50 states, only Alabama remains as the single state with no known openly LGBTQ+ candidates in a 2020 race. 

Texas, Florida, and California saw the biggest number of LGBTQ+ community members run for office.

McBride campaigned on Democratic stances like affordable health care and criminal justice reform.

Prominent Delaware political figures expressed support for McBride during her campaign, including Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, Sen. Chris Coons (D), and Rep. Lisa Rochester (D).

Alphonso David, the president of the Human Rights Campaign issued a statement of congratulations for McBride, relating it to a larger victory for LGBTQ+ representation in government.

“Tonight, Sarah made history not just for herself but for our entire community,” David said. “She gives a voice to the marginalized as a representative and an advocate. This victory, the first of what I expect to be many in her career, shows that any person can achieve their dream, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation.”

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Published on Nov 04, 2020

It Looks Like A Man Who Died Of COVID-19 Was Elected To North Dakota's State Legislature

David Andahl, 55, died from the coronavirus last month.

Stephanie K. Baer BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on November 4, 2020

Facebook: DavidAndahlND

A man who died from the coronavirus appears to have won a seat in North Dakota's state legislature, according to unofficial election results.

David Andahl, 55, was a Republican nominee for one of two District 8 House seats in the November general election. He and his running mate Dave Nehring, of Bismarck, were leading their Democrat counterparts with around 35% and 41% of votes, respectively, early Wednesday, results showed.

Andahl died Oct. 5 after being sick with COVID-19 for about four days, his mother told the Bismarck Tribune.

"So many things he was very passionate about, and was hoping that he could get into the Legislature and be of some help," his mother Pat Andahl told the Tribune last month. "He was looking forward to it. He was looking forward to being part of that."

State Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem issued an opinion earlier stating that votes for Andahl should still be counted and that a vacancy would be created if he is elected.

"To disregard the votes cast for a candidate would disenfranchise the voters of the state," Stenehjem wrote.

Under a state law cited in the attorney general's opinion, a vacancy could be appointed by a legislative member's party, or voters could petition for a special election to be called by the governor.

Following Andahl's death, District 8 Republican Chairperson Loren DeWitz said an appointment would "be open to anybody," including the incumbent, Rep. Jeff Delzer, who Andahl and Nehring defeated in the June primary, the Tribune reported.



Stephanie Baer is a reporter with BuzzFeed News and is based in Los Angeles.

UPDATED  

Uber and Lyft's win to keep California drivers classified as contractors has national implications

California voters pass Proposition 22, denying gig workers the benefits of full employees -- after gig economy companies spent over $200 million on the campaign.

Dara Kerr 
Nov. 4, 2020 


Uber and Lyft drivers have long rallied to be classified as employees. James Martin/CNET

California voters on Tuesday passed Proposition 22, a ballot measure backed by Uber, Lyft and other gig economy companies. During the yearlong battle over the initiative, which aimed to exempt the gig economy companies from classifying their drivers as employees, millions of dollars have been spent and all sorts of tricks have been pulled from the political playbook.

Proposition 22 is likely to have national implications as other states watch what happens in California, the home of Silicon Valley tech giants. If Proposition 22 had failed, they may have been forced to rethink their business models. Now that the ballot measure has passed, companies can use the campaign as a blueprint for similar fights they're waging in other states and countries.

Early polling showed a close race for the ballot measure, with 46% of voters backing the proposition and 42% opposed. The initiative needed 50% of the vote to win. As of Wednesday morning, the bill appeared to have passed with 58% of the ballot, according to the California Secretary of State's Office.

Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart and Postmates contributed more than $205 million to the campaign, with a last-minute $1 million more from Uber on Monday. The No on Proposition 22 campaign was backed with about $19 million from labor groups and unions. The initiative became the most expensive ballot measure campaign in California history and one of the most expensive in US history, according to Ballotpedia.

At stake was whether the gig economy companies would be required to reclassify their workers as employees, as mandated by California law AB5. If classified as employees, workers would get labor benefits, such as health care, sick leave and minimum wage. But the companies said that would add tremendous costs to their businesses. Proposition 22 suggests creating an alternative in which drivers remain independent contractors and get a few more benefits, like an expense reimbursement and health care subsidy.

The No on Proposition 22 campaign said that's not enough. It said that drivers still might not make minimum wage and that the health care subsidy needed to be more substantial, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. When calculating paid time for workers, Proposition 22 only takes into account when they're on a ride or delivery. It doesn't add in when they're waiting to be matched with a customer.

"Over the past years, Instacart has hired so many new shoppers that I often don't get any orders," Ginger Anne Farr, an Instacart shopper, told Human Rights Watch in a paper released Monday. "I would sit in my car waiting for an order to appear, without making any money." 
Final flurry of activity

As Election Day neared, both sides of the Proposition 22 campaign went all in.

Uber, Lyft and the Yes campaign blanketed social media and TV stations with ads, spending a total of $95 million, according to MarketWatch. The gig economy companies also sent in-app messages and emails to riders and drivers asking for their support.

One email Uber sent customers on Monday reminded Californians they could register to vote even on Election Day. It then asked customers to "join the NAACP and California Small Business Association in supporting drivers by voting yes on Prop 22.""We'll do what it takes to reach every voter we can with the truth."
Mike Roth, spokesman for No on Prop 22 campaign

The California chapter of the NAACP endorsed the Yes campaign, as a series of payments totaling $85,000 were made to a small consulting firm run by the chapter's president. The national branch of the NAACP did not endorse the ballot measure.

The Yes campaign has said drivers prefer to remain independent contractors, often citing "independent studies." Many of those studies have been paid for by the gig economy companies or the Yes campaign and others involved informal non-scientific polls. The authors of the studies say their findings are independent and objective.

When asked for comment before the election, Lyft spokeswoman Julie Wood said, "Drivers have consistently said they want to remain independent, and we believe California voters will stand with them."

A spokesman for the Yes campaign reiterated the sentiment. "Drivers are participating in text and phone banking events ... to let voters know that by voting yes they can protect hundreds of thousands of jobs and the app-based services millions rely on," he said.

For its part, the No campaign touted the support of several big-name Democrats, including presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris. Also openly opposing Proposition 22 are Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, California Rep. Barbara Lee and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The No campaign additionally coordinated several events across the state. Drivers opposing the initiative held car caravan protests and dropped "No on Prop 22" banners throughout California's cities. On Monday, California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, who authored AB5, worked with drivers to reach out to voters by text banking. The campaign said it reached about 10 million voters as of Monday afternoon.

"Rideshare drivers have been building momentum throughout this No on Prop 22 campaign and they are in overdrive mode now, taking their campaign right up to the finish line," said Mike Roth, a spokesman for the No campaign. "We'll do what it takes to reach every voter we can with the truth."

Uber, DoorDash and Postmates (which Uber acquired in July) didn't respond to requests for comment. Instacart referred CNET to the Yes on Proposition 22 campaign.

First published on Nov. 3, 2020 

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Uber-backed gig worker initiative wins in California: US media

California voters put the brakes Tuesday on a law stopping ride share firms such as Uber and Lyft from classifying drivers as independent contractors, according to US media.

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Some 58 percent of voters backed a proposition that would leave drivers as independent contractors but provide them benefits such as supplemented health care coverage, according to local media and the "Yes on Proposition 22" campaign.

"This is a win for drivers across California," Southern California ride share driver Alfred Porche said in a statement issued by the campaign.

Explore further Uber and Lyft argue in California court over status of drivers

© 2020 AFP

Uber, Lyft shares surge after key ballot win in California

By Noah Manska

November 4, 2020 

AP

Uber and Lyft’s stock prices soared Wednesday after California voters allowed the ride-hailing giants to continue treating their drivers as independent contractors instead of employees.

Uber shares surged 11.5 percent in premarket trading while Lyft’s spiked about 14.8 percent as of 7:54 a.m. after the passage of Proposition 22, which exempts ride-hail drivers from a controversial California law that would have forced tech firms to give gig workers benefits such as a minimum wage and sick leave.

More than 58 percent of Golden State voters cast ballots in favor of the measure, handing Uber and Lyft an important victory in one of their biggest US markets after spending heavily to get out of the state law’s obligations.

The vote “will send a ripple impact as investors were worried if Prop 22 did not pass this would significantly impact the core DNA of the gig economy and ultimately the revenue model for Lyft and Uber,” Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives said in a Wednesday research note.

Tuesday’s vote will allow Uber and Lyft to escape pressure from California officials who had tried to force the companies to treat their drivers as employees under the state law known as AB5, which took effect in January

California sued the companies in May in an attempt to enforce the law, and a state appeals court said last month that they had to provide their drivers with benefits generally afforded to traditional employees. An earlier unfavorable ruling in that case prompted Uber and Lyft to threaten to halt their operations in the state.

Uber, Lyft and similar app-based services spent some $200 million urging voters to support Proposition 22. Other supporters of the measure included food-delivery platforms DoorDash, Instacart and Postmates, which rely on independent couriers to ferry groceries and takeout to their users.

Uber and Lyft contended that AB5’s requirements would have fundamentally changed their business models and limited flexibility for workers. But supporters of the law pointed out that tech giants poured massive amounts of money into the ballot measure fight.

“The obscene amount of money these multibillion-dollar corporations spent misleading the public doesn’t absolve them of their duty to pay drivers a living wage,” Art Pulaski, a leader at the California Labor Federation, said in a statement.

California bill passes allowing Uber to call workers contractors, deny them benefits

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This Uber driver got COVID-19. With Prop 22, he says, 'I have a lot on the line'
by Avi Asher-Schapiro | @AASchapiro | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Tuesday, 3 November 2020 14:24 GMT


'I worked for Uber for six years full-time, sleeping in my car to work long hours. Then I contracted COVID-19. It's time to call me an employee.'


Nov 3 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – On Tuesday, Californians vote on a ballot measure that would exempt ride-hailing firms Uber and Lyft from a law compelling them to reclassify their drivers in the state as employees.

The measure, Prop. 22, could redefine gig work, a key pillar of the U.S. economy with COVID-19 driving up demand for delivery services.

A Reuters analysis found that Uber and Lyft would face over $392 million in annual payroll taxes and workers’ compensation costs if the proposition fails, and they are forced to extend employee status to drivers.

The companies say the majority of drivers do not want to be employees, and work fewer than 25 hours a week.

Uber and other gig firms have spent nearly $200 million to pass Prop. 22, which would extend limited benefits to workers, including a subsidy for drivers to buy private healthcare.

But workers like Orlando Mims, a 50-year-old from Sacramento who’s been driving full-time for Uber for 6 years, worry that without full employee protections like minimum wage guarantees and injury insurance, drivers are primed for exploitation. 

This is his story as told to Avi Asher-Schapiro, Thomson Reuters Foundation Digital Rights correspondent:

I started driving in 2014, and at first it was on the weekends, like a vacation from my regular job as a truck driver.

I’d drive down to San Francisco, stay there -- sleep in my car -- Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And I’d work long days, and come back with over a thousand dollars.

When they made cutbacks at my trucking company, I left and I started driving Uber full-time -- as much as 60 or 70-hours-a- week on average.

At first I was making good money.

Then all the sudden they started cutting the rates at Uber; at first the drivers got 80% of the rides, then it was 70%. Now it’s not even a percentage, it’s calculated by your mileage and time. It’s just gone down, down, down.

About two years ago, I went into Uber’s office and asked about it. And they told me: 'we have enough drivers now, we can pay less' -- they had the audacity to tell me that.

That impacted my thinking tremendously.

When a friend of mine got shot when she was driving for Uber back in 2017, I started thinking: we are taking all the risks, but they are getting all the money.

And then, at the end of February, right when this pandemic started, I got sick while driving in San Francisco.

I went to the hospital down there, they took my temperature it was 105 degrees Fahrenheit (41 Celsius). Fearing I might have contracted COVID-19, they asked me if I’d been to Wuhan, China.

I hadn’t, but I was driving a lot of people from the airport. I later tested positive for COVID-19, and was told to self-isolate for 14 days; I was sick for longer than that, though.

And when I tried to go back to work in May, after being off for two-and-a-half months, I waited for 10 hours at the San Francisco Airport, and only got one $23 fare.

There was just no work. The only compensation I got from Uber was $1,400 for that two weeks I was in quarantine.

And that’s when I really started thinking; if this were a regular job, we would get workers compensation.

We are out here doing this work, they are taking the money. And technically, since we are just contractors they aren’t responsible for us.

I have a lot on the line with Prop. 22. I want to be a real employee of Uber; it would give me job security, health insurance and benefits, and I would know I am getting a steady paycheck.

I can’t afford to go to the airport and wait, sitting around for an hour or two and not getting paid. I want to be paid by the hour for my work.

So, when people get in my car and ask me about Prop. 22, I tell all my customers: ‘please vote no.’

It’s really upsetting seeing Uber and Lyft spend all this money on Prop. 22. It’s like they are trying to buy a law; I think it’s wrong, if I get enough money -- can I buy a law?

I got 20,000 trips with Uber! Never a thank you from them; 'we appreciate it; here's a bonus.'

So, you know what? If Prop 22 passes, I won't drive anymore. Why should I? Enough is enough. 

(Reporting by Avi Asher-Schapiro @AASchapiro, Editing by Tom Finn. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit http://news.trust.org)

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