Editorial endorsement: For Congress: Rep. Joyce Beatty
With this year’s midterm elections as important as any in memory, Franklin County voters will help determine the balance of power in Washington D.C. when they vote for congressional representatives this fall. For reasons to follow, The Dispatch endorses re-election for Rep. Joyce Beatty.
House Democratic Women Launch Organization to Support Female Candidates in the “Year of the Woman”
Washington, DC — Today, leading female Members of Congress announced the launch of “Elect Democratic Women,” a new organization inspired by the “Year of the Woman,” to elect more pro-choice Democratic women to Congress than ever before, as well as build a base of support to ensure female incumbents are re-elected in the years to come.
While 51% of Americans are female, only one in five Members of Congress are women. Elect Democratic Women was formed out of a recognition that women bring a unique and vital perspective to solving the urgent challenges facing American women and their families, and that by electing more Democratic women to Congress, we will have a more fair, just, and equitable society for all Americans.
Democrats focus on mobilizing black voters to turn Ohio blue
Democrats are targeting black voters in the battleground state of Ohio as key to victory in a state they lost to President Donald Trump in 2016.
The months-long effort was highlighted when former President Barack Obama made a stop in Cleveland last week to campaign for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Richard Cordray, where he delivered a plea for voters to turnout on Election Day. In addition to the governor’s race, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown is running for re-election and there are competitive congressional races that could be key to determining which party controls the House.
Rep. Beatty dances to Drake’s ‘In My Feelings’ to promote millennial voting
Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, took to social media Friday to participate in the “#InMyFeelingsChallenge” to encourage young people to vote in the midterm elections this November.
In a video on her Twitter page that has garnered more than 14,000 views, Beatty can be seen stepping out of a white car in front of the Capitol Building in an all-white suit and matching white heels and then dancing with two staffers to rapper Drake’s “In My Feelings.” The song recently sparked a social media challenge in which people do various dance moves to the song’s upbeat tempo and loud bass.
Rep. Joyce Beatty scolds HUD’s Ben Carson for lack of response to her letters
WASHINGTON — They say you have to send a letter to get a letter, but at a congressional hearing Wednesday, it became evident that U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty is not getting letters from Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson.
Instead, she complained that for the second time in a year, she has written to Carson questioning a policy being implemented at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, only for it to be ignored for months, with only a Carson aide eventually responding to her.
Ohioans relieved at Trump reversal on separating immigrant families
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s reversal of course on a policy that separated undocumented immigrant children from their parents elicited relief from lawmakers Wednesday, even as some wondered whether they should praise Trump for fixing a problem he created in the first place.
Though Trump had blamed the policy of separating children from their parents on existing law, it was Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision in May to invoke a “zero–tolerance” policy that sparked a flurry of images of children being held in detention centers. Trump, who initially said the problem could only be fixed by Congress, signed an executive order Wednesday that called for detaining families together, rather than separating them.
Purging our democracy
Former President Lyndon B. Johnson observed, “A man without a vote is a man without protection.”
More than six decades after LBJ’s historic declaration, his words still ring true. That’s because it doesn’t take a Supreme Court justice to understand that the right to vote is the lynchpin to the many rights, liberties and freedoms we all hold so dear as Americans.
6,000 central Ohio civilian defense jobs on the line in House-passed bill
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House passed a defense spending bill Thursday that could impact nearly 6,000 civilian defense jobs in Columbus and 2,600 in Cleveland.
The sweeping cuts — pushed by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry of Texas — are aimed at saving some $25 billion, which could then be plowed back into other military spending.