News12 Apr 201912 Apr 2019

Brexit Delay Could Benefit Left in European Elections

European Commission vice president Frans Timmermans answers questions from members of the European Parliament in Brussels, April 26, 2017 (European Parliament)

The delay of Brexit could benefit the left in European elections in May.

A poll conducted by Hanbury Strategy for Open Europe found that Labour could win nearly 38 percent support and close to thirty parliamentarians in Strasbourg.

That would make theirs the largest delegation in the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), surpassing the German Social Democrats, and close the gap with the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), which stands to gain nothing from Brexit. Theresa May’s Conservatives group with the mildly Euroskeptic European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) instead.

Britain will need to hold European Parliament elections if it is still in the EU next month. Read more

News5 Apr 2019

Updates from the Democratic Primary

Vermont senator Bernie Sanders gives a speech in Des Moines, Iowa, January 9, 2016 (Gage Skidmore)

Joe Biden — who still hasn’t officially declared his candidacy — is fending off accusations that he has been too affectionate toward women in the past.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana is having a moment in the sun. He is a progressive who can appeal to the center, but the last time a mayor was nominated for the presidency by a major party was in 1812.
Bernie Sanders is moving up in the polls (although, keep in mind, those are more about name recognition than support at this point) and raised the most money by far ($18 million) in the first three months of 2019. Read more

News14 Mar 201917 Mar 2019

Updates from the Democratic Primary

Former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke gives a speech in Austin, November 4, 2018 — Former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke gives a speech in Austin, November 4, 2018 (Getty Images/Chip Somodevilla)

Former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke is running for president.
Ohio senator Sherrod Brown has decided against seeking the Democratic nomination.
Former vice president Joe Biden — who still hasn’t declared yet — is ahead in the polls, but that is more about name recognition than anything else at this point. Only geeks like us are paying attention. Most voters don’t start to think about the election until a few months before the Iowa caucuses.
Democrats have chosen Milwaukee, Wisconsin to host their 2020 convention. Read more

News6 Mar 20194 Apr 2019

Updates from the Democratic Primary

American vice president Joe Biden gives a speech on board the USS Freedom in Singapore, July 27, 2013 (USN/Karolina A. Oseguera)

Former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper and incumbent Washington governor Jay Inslee are running. The former is relatively moderate, the latter more left-wing and focused on climate change.
Joe Biden has hired the head of the influential Latino Victory Fund in what Politico describes as “the latest sign he’s running.”
Kamala Harris is elbowing out rivals as she courts wealthy Democratic donors in California.
Cory Booker, Harris and Amy Klobuchar are ahead in the “endorsement primary” as measured by FiveThirtyEight.
Michael Bloomberg and Hillary Clinton have decided against seeking the nomination. The former warned Democrats not to allow the primary process to “drag the party to an extreme” that could help reelect Donald Trump. Read more

News21 Feb 20196 Mar 2019

Updates from the Democratic Primary

Vermont senator Bernie Sanders makes a speech in Phoenix, Arizona, July 18, 2015 (Gage Skidmore)

Bernie Sanders has made it official and is running for the Democratic nomination a second time.
New Jersey governor Phil Murphy has endorsed Cory Booker, the junior senator from his state.
Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, has endorsed his state’s Amy Klobuchar.
Kamala Harris has won the endorsement of Governor Gavin Newsom and a slew of California state legislators.
Klobuchar is not endorsing Medicare-for-all and free college education, positioning herself as a “straight-talking moderate“. Read more

News18 Feb 201926 Feb 2019

Spanish Parties Rule Out Centrist Coalition After Election

Spanish party leaders Pedro Sánchez and Albert Rivera speak in Madrid, February 4, 2016 (PSOE)

Spain’s liberal Citizens have ruled out a pact with outgoing prime minister Pedro Sánchez while the Catalan branch of his Socialist Party has said it will not support a deal with right-wing parties — making a centrist coalition after the election in April impossible. Read more

News18 Feb 201918 Feb 2019

Seven Lawmakers Resign from Britain’s Labour Party

Chuka Umunna, member of the British Parliament for Streatham, makes a speech, March 30, 2015 (Labour)

Seven lawmakers have resigned from Britain’s Labour Party, arguing that it has become “institutionally antisemitic” under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. Read more