Republican candidate for Wisconsin governor Tom Tiffany has refused to sign a pro-democracy pledge that was sent by a nonpartisan group to both him and Democratic candidate David Crowley. The inaction by Tiffany, who is currently a member of the House of Representatives, comes as he has tried to stave off criticism relating to his past efforts to block the results of the 2020 presidential…
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After Democrats’ devastating losses across the country in 2024, a quiet consensus seemed to form among not only the pundit class but even some senior Democratic operatives. They noted that Hillary Clinton, the first woman nominee, lost to Donald Trump. Joe Biden defeated him. Then Kamala Harris, the first Black woman and first South Asian nominee, lost amid an apparent anti-“woke” backlash.
“Some Democratic leaders, donors and strategists,” Axios reported earlier this year, wondered “whether the party’s best bet for winning back the presidency in 2028 is to nominate a man — perhaps a straight, white, Christian man.” Even former first lady Michelle Obama demurred that the country was “not ready for a woman.”
Tuesday’s blue tidal wave, powered by minority and female candidates across the nation, forcefully rejected that narrative.
Nowhere, though, was the list of “firsts” longer than in the gubernatorial races.
As the night wore on, the list of “firsts” grew and grew. In the Senate, Abdul El-Sayed overcame an onslaught of Islamophobic attacks to become the first Muslim elected to the chamber. He will join New Hampshire’s Chris Pappas, the first openly gay man elected to the Senate; Annie Andrews, the first woman elected to the Senate from South Carolina; and Peggy Flanagan, the first Native American woman elected to the Senate.
In the House, the history makers abound. To name but a few: Adam Hamawy, the first Muslim elected to Congress from New Jersey; Denise Powell, the first Latina elected to Congress from Nebraska; Melat Kiros, the first Black woman elected to Congress from Colorado; and Claire Valdez, the first Indigenous women elected to Congress from New York. Cait Conley
Big Tech is selling us a future in which workers are increasingly disposable, human expertise is devalued, and corporate power is more concentrated than ever. But is that future inevitable? In this episode of Movement Memos, host Kelly Hayes talks with Alex Hanna, co-author of The AI Con, about AI as a tool of class warfare, the hype that obscures its real-world harms, and how workers are…
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Today’s edition of quick hits.
* A rising death toll following Russian brutality: “The death toll from a Russian bombing of an aid distribution point in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region on Monday has risen to 40, with dozens still missing, officials said, in one of the deadliest strikes on civilians this year.”
* Attacking grocery freezers? “Two major cyberattacks on European supermarkets in a matter of weeks have exposed the vulnerability of the EU’s critical infrastructure. Cyber experts are raising the alarm that the attacks may be part of Russia’s ongoing hybrid warfare against Europe.”
* Crisis conditions in Yemen: “Renewed war between Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and Yemen’s Saudi-backed government has plunged the country into a deepening humanitarian crisis.”
* This guy is having quite a week: “Elon Musk spent nearly $500 million supporting Republican candidates in the midterm elections, especially in his home state, Texas. After Democrats won sweeping victories, gaining control of both houses of Congress and capturing other important state races, shares of SpaceX and Tesla, which are both run by Mr. Musk, fell sharply on Wednesday.”
* The election results did not go unnoticed on the other side of the Atlantic: “For Europe, which has weathered Trump’s incessant verbal attacks and tariff threats for the last two years, it was a rare ray of hope in transatlantic politics — if not because Washington would become a more predictable partner, then at least because the U.S. president might be too distracted to focus his usual ire on Europeans.”
* The latest on oil prices: “Oil prices dropped sharply Wednesday, propelled by growing hopes for a resolution in the Iran war. European Brent crude
On Tuesday, voters in Providence, Rhode Island, overwhelmingly passed an ordinance requiring the city to divest from companies that enable genocide, apartheid, and human rights violations. The ordinance is the Palestine solidarity movement’s first binding municipal divestment law passed through popular vote in the U.S. — and makes Providence the largest U.S. city to vote to divest from Israel.
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