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Kweisi Mfume on Principles & ValuesDemocratic Senate Challenger (MD); previously U.S. Representative |
Mfume, with five terms in the House and nine years running the NAACP under his belt, is that rarest specimen among Democrats: someone who isn’t afraid of the risk of standing up and talking about the progressive values he stands for.
Mfume’s sick of mushy Democrats. “People want principled leadership that will stand up and fight for what they believe in,” he says. “There has to be a counter-propaganda program in this state that says no, what the extreme far-right-wing is saying is not right. And no, we don’t have to accept it.”
But this is the Democratic Party, and in the ensuing months Mfume would run up against a timid party establishment, some ugly racial politics and the idea that he’d have a tough time against the likely GOP candidate, Michael Steele, a hard-right African-American backed heavily by DC’s conservative establishment.
That can be a self-fulfilling prophecy; the money follows candidates who have the best chance of winning. If you’re labeled “unelectable,” it’s hard to raise the cash you need to prove your critics wrong. For 6 weeks after his announcement, Mfume was the lone candidate [Then several other candidates entered the race, at the urging of the party establishment].
According to some analysts, the right is drooling for a showdown against Mfume.
Mfume promises to see it through to the end, and his campaign strategy has the hallmarks of the kind of populism that Joe Trippi injected into Howard Dean’s run. Mfume says, “this has to be a campaign about issues, not about personality. This has got to be a people’s campaign.”
Explanation of 1/6/21 Electoral Certification, by Emily Brooks, Washington Examiner:Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Paul Gosar led an objection to counting Electoral College votes from the state of Arizona, the first formal objection to state results in a series of moves that will delay the certification of Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election over President Trump. Cruz is advocating for an `emergency 10-day audit` of election returns in disputed states. The usually ceremonial joint session of Congress that convenes to count and accept Electoral College votes will be put on hold as the House and Senate separately debate the objection.
Bill summary:The select committee must (1) conduct an investigation of the relevant facts and circumstances relating to the attack on the Capitol; (2) identify, review, and evaluate the causes of and the lessons learned from this attack; and (3) submit a report containing findings, conclusions, and recommendations to prevent future acts of violence, domestic terrorism, and domestic violent extremism, and to improve the security of the U.S. Capitol Complex and other American democratic institutions.
CBS News summary, by Grace Segers on June 30, 2021:H.R. 3233 would have created a bipartisan, independent commission to investigate the root causes of the breach of the U.S. Capitol, modeled after the 9/11 Commission.
On May 28, the House passed the bill by a vote of 222 to 190, including 35 Republican votes. It then failed in the Senate, where it received an insufficient number of Republican votes to advance.
In response, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on June 24 that the House would establish a select committee [appointed by House Democrats, instead of a bipartisan independent commission] to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection and general security issues related to the incident. Pelosi said its leadership and members would be announced later. The House passed the resolution to form the committee on June 29, 2021, by a vote of 222-190.
OnTheIssues note: The Senate voting record refers to the earlier rejected bill H.R. 3233, and the House voting record refers to the later bill H.Res.503. The later bill had no Senate vote (but the two House votes were almost identical).