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CHARLOTTE, NC — Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is expected to name his vice-presidential pick next week, before the Democratic National Convention convenes.
Biden has pledged to choose a woman as his Vice President but the big question is…who will he pick?
Political contributor Mary C. Curtis breaks down the top contenders.
Are frightened Democrats in the middle of an ugly fight to the death between the so-called progressive and moderate wings of the party? To observe the weeping and gnashing of teeth after the New Hampshire primary, you might think so. Let’s just say, that reaction is premature and missing the point.
Yet there are already calls from some in the Democratic establishment, such as it is, for consolidation of the moderates to fight a Bernie Sanders surge that would presumably cast the party into the electoral wilderness in 2020, when the main focus, the reasoning goes, is to beat Donald Trump. To be fair, that seems to be top of mind for all those who want Trump out of office. When I go to the market or gym, anyone of a certain political persuasion even vaguely familiar with what I do for a living asks me “who can beat Trump” before I get a “hello.”
OPINION — It doesn’t take a candidate of color on a debate stage to raise issues of justice and inequality. But that has been the way it has worked out, mostly.
For example, it was exhilarating for many when then-candidate Julián Castro said in a Democratic debate, “Police violence is also gun violence,” while naming Atatiana Jefferson, killed in her Fort Worth, Texas, home by a police officer who shot through the window without identifying himself. Castro’s words were an acknowledgment of the lived experiences of many in America. He has since dropped out of the race, as has California Sen. Kamala Harris, who chided her party for taking the support of black women for granted.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Next week, the democratic candidates for president will meet again on the debate stage. But now the field is beginning to narrow. So far, only six candidates have qualified.
And with California Senator Kamala Harris dropping out of the race last week, some Democrats worry there will be a lack of diversity on the stage December 19th.
WCCB Charlotte Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis has more in this week’s political wrap.
OPINION — There is a particular line that stuck with me in the just-opened film “Queen & Slim,” about a black couple on the run after an altercation with a white police officer goes awry in the depressing and terrible way you might imagine. During their perilous road trip, in a quieter moment, he (a retail worker) asks her (an attorney) if she is good at her job. “I’m an excellent lawyer,” she replies, to which he answers with a question that’s really a statement: “Why do black people always got to be excellent? Why can’t we just be ourselves?”
Since the pre-mortems were written a bit ago, it’s time for a post-mortem on the presidential campaign of California Sen. Kamala Harris, who never seemed to quite discover who she was or at least convey authenticity and excellence to enough voters or donors to make a difference.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Though his support has surged in early caucus and primary states Iowa and New Hampshire, 2020 Democratic hopeful Pete Buttigieg has low polling numbers in states with a more diverse voting base. In South Carolina, he is polling in the very low single digits, which is a step up from his former number of 0%. Though he has funds and momentum, the South Bend, Indiana, mayor might hit a wall in a party that depends on a strong African-American and Hispanic voting base.
Minority voters — African-American women in particular — were key in recent elections that turned Virginia state government blue and re-elected a Democratic governor in Louisiana after President Trump campaigned for his opponent. Can Buttigieg solve this problem and save his chances to be the nominee?
And what does it say about the 2020 race on the Democratic side, which started out with such a diverse group, now that California Sen. Kamala Harris has dropped out and the slate for the December debate has narrowed to top candidates who do not reflect that party’s racial diversity. (Mary C. Curtis)
OPINION — Of course, Michael Bloomberg went there — there being a black church to ask for forgiveness. As he tentatively dips his toe and his billions into the Democratic presidential race, joining a scrum that expands even as it shrinks, Bloomberg, perhaps realizing that the path to the presidency must include the enthusiastic support of black and brown voters, has rethought his enthusiastic support of “stop and frisk.”
“I got something important really wrong,” he told the congregation at the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn on Sunday. “I didn’t understand back then the full impact that stops were having on the black and Latino communities.”
As New York City mayor, Bloomberg insisted that in order to fight crime, police must have the power to stop anyone judged a potential lawbreaker, which translated to ritualizing a practice that humiliated hundreds of thousands of black and brown New Yorkers who were detained, questioned and patted down because of “furtive movements” or some other vague justification. The number of stops rose to more than 685,000 in 2011, with no citations made or charges brought nearly 90 percent of the time.
Mr. Trump will participate in a criminal justice forum Friday at Benedict College in Columbia.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Happening this week: President Donald Trump is visiting South Carolina as part of a bi-partisan event on criminal justice reform.
The White House confirms Trump will appear Friday at a forum at Benedict College in Columbia. The event marks Trump’s first visit to a historically black college or university.
Some of the democrats vying to challenge him are also planning to attend… including front-runners Former Vice-President Joe Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren.
CHARLOTTE, NC — A dozen democratic presidential candidates taking the stage in Ohio Tuesday night — in a critical debate that could reshape the race for the nomination.
Health care once again a major topic as well as the impeachment inquiry and President Trump’s decision to pull U.S. troops out of Syria.
Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis weighs in on the debate and what it means for the race.
