Politics

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado will be sworn in Wednesday as New York’s next lieutenant governor, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced.

Hochul said Monday she will issue a proclamation for a special election to fill her fellow Democrat’s seat in upstate New York once he resigns. It remains unclear when that will be.

Once a seat becomes vacant, the governor has 10 days to announce a special election held 70 to 80 days later, according to state law.

Hochul said the special election will line up with the Aug. 23 primary for congressional and state Senate seats.

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a Democrat, has been fulfilling the duties of lieutenant governor since the April 12 resignation of Brian Benjamin, who has proclaimed his innocence following his arrest in a federal corruption investigation.

Delgado has said he wants to leave his seat in Congress to take on the largely ceremonial role of lieutenant governor so he can fight for Hochul’s agenda and serve as a liaison between New Yorkers and local, state and federal partners.

The Rhodes Scholar and Harvard Law School graduate was first elected in 2018 as the first upstate New Yorker of color to Congress on campaign promises of universal access to Medicare and eliminating tax loopholes for the rich.

Hochul and Delgado have both faced criticism for leaving open a congressional seat at a time when Democrats are fighting to maintain their U.S. House majority and after state courts stuck down new political maps that Democrats had drawn to cement comfortable majorities for years to come.

Hochul tapped Delgado days after the state’s Court of Appeals rejected the congressional maps in a majority opinion that largely agreed with Republican voters who argued the district boundaries were unconstitutionally gerrymandered.

That decision struck down maps that would have reshaped Delgado’s swing 19th Congressional District into a safely Democratic district sweeping from the Hudson Valley up to Albany and west to Binghamton and Utica.

An upstate judge approved a final set of maps that creates an even more vast 19th Congressional District that stretches to Ithaca, in the Finger Lakes wine and tourism region. About 52% of voters in the newly crafted district voted for President Joe Biden in 2020, down from 52% in the Democrats’ failed maps.

Democrat Pat Ryan, who came in second to Delgado in the 2018 Democratic primary for the district, has said he’ll run to succeed him.

Republican candidates Brandon Buccola and Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro are also running for the 19th District seat.

source

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic and Republican U.S. Senate leaders introduced a resolution on Monday backing Sweden and Finland’s bids to join NATO, underscoring support for expanding the alliance despite growing nationalism in the Republican party.

It will take a two-thirds majority in the 100-member Senate to approve the expansion of the alliance, requiring “yes” votes from at least 17 Republicans along with every Democrat.

Many U.S. Republicans have been following the lead of former President Donald Trump – the party’s leader – toward more nationalist foreign policy. Trump accused NATO allies of not spending enough on their own defense and excessively burdening the United States.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted Finland and Sweden to apply to join NATO.

In the Senate, 11 Republicans voted “no” last week against legislation providing $40 billion to help Ukraine, with some saying they wanted the funds director to Americans.

Last month, 63 Republican members of the House of Representatives, nearly one-third of the full caucus, opposed a bill reaffirming U.S. support for NATO.

The top Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell, and Jim Risch, the top Republican on the foreign relations panel, joined Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and committee chairman Bob Menendez and other senators in introducing the resolution.

“We fully support their application to become NATO members and are looking forward to their swift ascension in the coming months,” Menendez said in a statement.

McConnell referred to Finland and Sweden as “strong countries with formidable military capabilities” and said in his statement, “both nations’ robust defense funding means their accession would meaningfully bolster our pursuit of greater burden-sharing across the alliance. I fully support the Senate providing its advice and consent as quickly as possible.”

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; editing by Grant McCool)

source

HOMEWOOD, Ala. (AP) — Republican Senate hopefuls made last-minute pitches to primary voters Monday in the tight race for the GOP nomination for seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Richard Shelby.

The three leading candidates in Tuesday’s primary — U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, former Shelby aide Katie Britt and veteran Mike Durant — concentrated their efforts in Republican strongholds in north Alabama, attempting to sway undecided primary voters and combat a flurry of negative attack ads in the race.

The fractured field increases the chances the primary will go to a June 21 runoff, which will be required unless a single candidate captures more than 50% of the vote.

Brooks planned a rally in Huntsville with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz as he seeks to overcome former President Donald Trump‘s harsh criticisms and decision to rescind his endorsement.

Durant, running on his status as a military veteran and business owner without political experience, received a folded U.S. flag from supporter Ashlie Combs during a stop at a barbecue restaurant in the Birmingham suburb of Homewood.

“I’m in it the for the right reason. I’m in it to serve,” Durant said. “I’m not in it because I’ve aspired to be this my whole life. In fact, I don’t like politics. But we need people like me in Washington.”

Before leading the Business Council of Alabama, Britt served as chief of staff to Shelby, one the Senate’s most senior members and a traditional Republican known for his ability to bring home federal projects and funding to his home state.

Brooks sought a resurgence after a war of words with Trump, who has not endorsed another candidate since withdrawing his backing in March after their relationship soured.

Trump cited Brooks’ languishing performance and accused the conservative congressman of going “woke” for saying it was time to move on from the 2020 presidential outcome and focus on upcoming elections. Brooks said Trump was trying to get him to illegally rescind the election.

Brooks, a six-term congressman from north Alabama, is banking on his long history with Alabama voters to overcome his feud with Trump.

“If you’re a conservative Republican I would submit to you that I’m the only proven conservative in this race. With me there is no rolling the dice to determine how I’m going to go on major public policy issues,” Brooks said at an earlier campaign event, urging people to look up his ratings from the National Rifle Association, Heritage Action and other groups.

Britt planned an afternoon event in Cullman. Before leading the Business Council of Alabama, Britt served as chief of staff to Shelby, one the Senate’s most senior members and a traditional Republican known for his ability to bring home federal projects and funding to his home state.

Britt said while her experience would allow he to “hit the ground running” she would bring a fresh perspective to Washington.

“People want new blood, they want fresh blood. They want something different in the United States Senate. They want that from the top down,” Britt said in an earlier interview with The Associated Press.

Lillie Boddie of Florence, small business owner Karla M. Dupriest of Mobile and Jake Schafer also are on the ballot.

source

CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline spiked 33 cents over the past two weeks to $4.71 per gallon.

Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey said Sunday that the price jump comes amid higher crude oil costs and tight gasoline supplies.

The average price at the pump is $1.61 higher than it was one year ago.

Nationwide, the highest average price for regular-grade gas is in the San Francisco Bay Area, at $6.20 per gallon. The lowest average is in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at $3.92 per gallon.

According to the survey, the average price of diesel rose 9 cents over two weeks, to $5.66 a gallon.

source

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Research shows only 39 percent of U-S adults approve of Joe Biden’s performance as president.

Notably, his approval rating among Democrats stands at 73 percent, a substantial drop from earlier in his presidency.

Overall, only about 2 in 10 adults say the U.S. is heading in the right direction or the economy is good — both down from a month earlier.

President Joe Biden’s approval rating dipped to the lowest point of his presidency in May, a new poll shows, with deepening pessimism emerging among members of his own Democratic Party.

Only 39% of U.S. adults approve of Biden’s performance as president, according to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Research, dipping from already negative ratings a month earlier.

Overall, only about 2 in 10 adults say the U.S. is heading in the right direction or the economy is good, both down from about 3 in 10 a month earlier. Those drops were concentrated among Democrats, with just 33% within the president’s party saying the country is headed in the right direction, down from 49% in April.

Of particular concern for Biden ahead of the midterm elections, his approval among Democrats stands at 73%, a substantial drop since earlier in his presidency. In AP-NORC polls conducted in 2021, Biden’s approval rating among Democrats never dropped below 82%.

The findings reflect a widespread sense of exasperation in a country facing a cascade of challenges ranging from inflation, gun violence, and a sudden shortage of baby formula to a persistent pandemic.

“I don’t know how much worse it can get,” said Milan Ramsey, a 29-year-old high school counselor and Democrat in Santa Monica, California, who with her husband had to move into her parents’ house to raise their infant son.

Ramsey thinks the economic dysfunction that’s led to her being unable to afford the place where she grew up isn’t Biden’s fault. But she’s alarmed he hasn’t implemented ambitious plans for fighting climate change or fixing health care.

“He hasn’t delivered on any of the promises. I feel like the stimulus checks came out and that was the last win of his administration,” Ramsey said of Biden. “I think he’s tired — and I don’t blame him, I’d be tired too at his age with the career he’s had.”

Republicans have not been warm to Biden for a while. Less than 1 in 10 approve of the president or his handling of the economy, but that’s no different from last month.

Gerry Toranzo, a nurse and a Republican in Chicago, blames Biden for being forced to pinch pennies by taking steps like driving slower to conserve gas after prices have skyrocketed during his administration.

“His policies are destroying the economy,” Toranzo, 46, said of Biden, blaming him for stopping the Keystone XL fuel pipeline to Canada and hamstringing domestic energy production. “It’s a vicious cycle of price increases.”

Overall, two-thirds of Americans disapprove of Biden’s handling of the economy. That rating is largely unchanged over the last few months, though elevated slightly since the first two months of the year.

But there are signs that the dissatisfaction with Biden on the economy has deepened. Just 18% of Americans say Biden’s policies have done more to help than hurt the economy, down slightly from 24% in March. Fifty-one percent say they’ve done more to hurt than help, while 30% say they haven’t made much difference either way.

The percentage of Democrats who say Biden’s policies have done more to help dipped from 45% to 37%, though just 18% say they’ve done more to hurt; 44% say they’ve made no difference.

Some Democrats blame other forces for inflation.

“It helped a lot of people, but,” Morales said, “people did not want to go back to work.”

Morales faults Biden on another area of persistent vulnerability to the president — immigration.

Only 38% back Biden on immigration, and Morales is disappointed at the scenes of migrants continuing to cross the southern border. Though he himself is a Mexican immigrant, Morales thinks the U.S. needs to more stringently control its border to have a hope of legalizing deserving migrants who are in the country illegally.

Also, Morales said, there have to be limits. “It’s impossible to bring the whole of Central America and Mexico into this country,” he said.

Another area where Morales faults Biden, albeit mildly, is the war with Ukraine. “We are spending a lot of money going to the Ukraine and all that is going to the deficit,” Morales said.

Overall, 45% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of the U.S. relationship with Russia, while 54% disapprove. That’s held steady each month since the war in Ukraine began. Seventy-three percent of Democrats and 15% of Republicans approve.

The new poll shows just 21% of Americans say they have “a great deal of confidence” in Biden’s ability to handle the situation in Ukraine; 39% say they have some confidence and 39% say they have hardly any.

Charles Penn, a retired factory worker in Huntington, Indiana, is satisfied with Biden’s performance on Ukraine.

“I think he’s done alright,” Penn, 68, said of the president.

But overall Penn, an independent who leans Republican, is disappointed with Biden, and blames him for rising prices that have squeezed him in his retirement.

“The Democrats in the long run have screwed up things by pushing for higher wages, like going from $7 an hour to $15 an hour,” Penn said, citing the push for a sharp increase in the federal minimum wage that Biden has embraced. “The other side of it is that if you had Republicans, they’d cut my Social Security.”

Still, Penn thinks Biden should pay the political price.

“He’s captain of the ship, so he’s responsible,” Penn said of the president.

___

The AP-NORC poll of 1,172 adults was conducted May 12-16 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.

source

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen said on Sunday that he had returned home after a minor stroke a week ago landed him in the George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC.

“It’s great to be back home after a long week. I’m grateful for the generous outpouring of support from everyone and the dedicated care I received from the team at GW,” Van Hollen said in a post on Twitter.

Van Hollen, 63, was admitted to the hospital after experiencing lightheadedness and acute neck pain last Sunday, he said in a statement.

An angiogram indicated that the stroke formed a small venous tear at the back of his head, he said, adding that he was informed there will be no long-term effects.

Van Hollen’s announcement comes after Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, the leading Democratic candidate in the race to replace retiring Republican U.S. Senator Pat Toomey, who had been hospitalized for observation after suffering a stroke last Sunday, was also discharged from hospital.

(Reporting by Katanga Johnson; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

source

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rudy Giuliani, who as a lawyer for then-President Donald Trump pushed bogus legal challenges to the 2020 election, met for hours with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, a person familiar with the interview said Saturday.

The interview with Giuliani took place virtually and lasted for much of the day on Friday, according to the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting. A spokesperson for the committee declined to comment.

Giuliani had been scheduled to meet with the committee earlier this month, but a spokesperson for the panel said that meeting was rescheduled.

The former New York mayor is seen as a critical aide for the committee, which has interviewed nearly 1,000 witnesses, including family members of Trump and advisers in his inner circle. The panel plans a series of hearings in June.

In January, the committee subpoenaed Giuliani and other members of the Trump legal team who sought to overturn election results in battleground states through lawsuits that made unsupported claims of vast election fraud. Trump’s own attorney general, William Barr, has said there were no widespread irregularities that could have affected the outcome of the race won by President Joe Biden, and judges across the country have dismissed the allegations.

At the time of the subpoena, the committee said it was seeking records and an interview with Giuliani, and that it wanted information about Giuliani’s reported encouragement of Trump to direct the seizure of voting machines and his efforts to persuade state legislators to take steps to overturn the election results.

Giuliani also spoke at the rally in front of the White House that preceded the Jan. 6 insurrection.

CNN first reported Friday’s interview with Giuliani.

____

Associated Press writer Farnoush Amiri in Washington contributed to this report.

source

Today in History

Today is Sunday, May 22, the 142nd day of 2022. There are 223 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On May 22, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson, speaking at the University of Michigan, outlined the goals of his “Great Society,” saying that it “rests on abundance and liberty for all” and “demands an end to poverty and racial injustice.”

On this date:

In 1939, the foreign ministers of Germany and Italy, Joachim von Ribbentrop and Galeazzo Ciano, signed a “Pact of Steel” committing the two countries to a military alliance.

In 1960, an earthquake of magnitude 9.5, the strongest ever measured, struck southern Chile, claiming some 1,655 lives.

In 1962, Continental Airlines Flight 11, en route from Chicago to Kansas City, Missouri, crashed after a bomb apparently brought on board by a passenger exploded, killing all 45 occupants of the Boeing 707.

In 1967, a fire at the L’Innovation department store in Brussels killed 322 people. Poet and playwright Langston Hughes died in New York at age 65.

In 1968, the nuclear-powered submarine USS Scorpion, with 99 men aboard, sank in the Atlantic Ocean. (The remains of the sub were later found on the ocean floor 400 miles southwest of the Azores.)

In 1969, the lunar module of Apollo 10, with Thomas P. Stafford and Eugene Cernan aboard, flew to within nine miles of the moon’s surface in a dress rehearsal for the first lunar landing.

In 1985, U.S. sailor Michael L. Walker was arrested aboard the aircraft carrier Nimitz, two days after his father, John A. Walker Jr., was apprehended; both were later convicted of spying for the Soviet Union. (Michael Walker served 15 years in prison and was released in 2000.)

In 1992, after a reign lasting nearly 30 years, Johnny Carson hosted NBC’s “Tonight Show” for the final time. (Jay Leno took over as host three days later.)

In 2006, The Department of Veterans Affairs said personal data, including Social Security numbers of 26.5 million U.S. veterans, was stolen from a VA employee after he took the information home without authorization.

In 2011, a tornado devastated Joplin, Missouri, with winds up to 250 mph, claiming at least 159 lives and destroying about 8,000 homes and businesses.

In 2018, Stacey Abrams won Georgia’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, making her the first woman nominee for Georgia governor from either major party. (Abrams, seeking to become the nation’s first Black female governor, was defeated by Republican Brian Kemp.)

In 2020, “Full House” star Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, pleaded guilty to paying half a million dollars into the University of Southern California as part of a college admissions bribery scheme. (Loughlin would spend two months behind bars; Giannulli began a five-month sentence in November 2020 and was released to home confinement in April 2021.)

Ten years ago: The Falcon 9, built by billionaire businessman Elon Musk, sped toward the International Space Station with a load of groceries and other supplies, marking the first time a commercial spacecraft had been sent to the orbiting outpost. Wesley A. Brown, the first African-American to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, died in Silver Spring, Maryland, at age 85.

Five years ago: A suicide bomber set off an improvised explosive device that killed 22 people at the end of an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England. In a historic gesture, President Donald Trump solemnly placed a note in the ancient stones of Jerusalem’s Western Wall. Ford Motor Co. announced it was replacing CEO Mark Fields. Actor Dina Merrill, 93, died at her home in East Hampton, New York.

One year ago: Virgin Galactic made its first rocket-powered flight from New Mexico to the fringe of space in a manned shuttle, a step toward offering tourist flights to the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere. An expert climbing guide said a coronavirus outbreak on Mount Everest had infected at least 100 climbers and support staff; officials in Nepal had denied that there was a COVID-19 cluster on the world’s highest peak.

Today’s Birthdays: Conductor Peter Nero is 88. Actor-director Richard Benjamin is 84. Actor Frank Converse is 84. Former CNN anchor Bernard Shaw is 82. Actor Barbara Parkins is 80. Retired MLB All-Star pitcher Tommy John is 79. Songwriter Bernie Taupin is 72. Actor-producer Al Corley is 67. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is 65. Singer Morrissey is 63. Actor Ann Cusack is 61. Country musician Dana Williams (Diamond Rio) is 61. Rock musician Jesse Valenzuela is 60. Actor Mark Christopher Lawrence is 58. R&B singer Johnny Gill (New Edition) is 56. Rock musician Dan Roberts (Crash Test Dummies) is 55. Actor Brooke Smith is 55. Actor Michael Kelly is 53. Model Naomi Campbell is 52. Actor Anna Belknap is 50. Actor Alison Eastwood is 50. Singer Donell Jones is 49. Actor Sean Gunn is 48. Actor A.J. Langer is 48. Actor Ginnifer Goodwin is 44. R&B singer Vivian Green is 43. Actor Maggie Q is 43. Olympic gold medal speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno is 40. Actor Molly Ephraim (TV: “Last Man Standing”) is 36. Tennis player Novak Djokovic is 35. Actor Anna Baryshnikov (TV: “Superior Donuts”) is 30. Actor Camren Bicondova is 23.

source

By Joseph Ax

(Reuters) – A New York judge approved a new congressional map that pits two veteran Democratic incumbents against one another and boosts Republican odds of capturing more seats in November’s midterm elections, further endangering Democrats’ fragile U.S. House majority.

Justice Patrick McAllister, a judge in rural Steuben County, signed off on the map just before midnight on Friday, weeks after New York’s top court ruled that the redistricting plan passed by the Democratic-controlled legislature was unconstitutionally manipulated to benefit the party.

The Democratic map would likely have given the party control of 22 of the state’s 26 congressional seats this fall, serving to counterbalance similarly partisan maps passed in Republican-dominated states such as Florida, Georgia and Texas.

Republicans need to flip only five seats in November to win a majority in the House, which would enable them to block much of President Joe Biden’s agenda.

The court-appointed special master who drew the new map, Jonathan Cervas, said in a court filing that his plan creates eight competitive districts, along with 15 Democratic-leaning seats and three Republican-leaning seats.

The map merged the Manhattan districts of Jerrold Nadler and Carolyn Maloney, who have each served in the House for 30 years and now appear headed for what will be an expensive and high-profile August primary battle.

In Westchester County, north of New York, the homes of two Black Democratic first-term congressmen, Mondaire Jones and Jamaal Bowman, were drawn into the same district.

Meanwhile, Sean Patrick Maloney, the chair of the Democratic Party’s national congressional campaign arm, said this week he would run in a new district that included most of Jones’ current seat, angering many of Jones’ allies who said he would be forced into running against either Maloney or Bowman.

But Jones said early on Saturday he would instead run in the new 10th district that includes parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan. Bill de Blasio, the former New York City mayor, has already announced his intention to run for the district, which is expected to draw a crowded field of candidates.

The new map represents a bitterly disappointing outcome for Democrats, who used their legislative majorities to push through an aggressive gerrymander. But after Republicans sued, the courts ruled that the Democratic map ran afoul of a 2014 constitutional amendment aimed at removing partisanship from redistricting.

Cervas said he had reviewed thousands of comments since the release of a draft version on Monday and made some changes, including reuniting several Black communities and Asian American communities in New York City that he had originally split.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

source

(Reuters) – Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby will become the White House’s National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, the White House said in a statement on Friday.

“In this role, Kirby will coordinate interagency efforts to explain United States policy and will serve as a senior administration voice on related matters, including as appropriate at the White House podium,” the White House said.

Kirby, who has been the face of Pentagon briefings including during the Ukraine invasion in recent months, was previously at the State Department and also served as Pentagon Press Secretary to former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas in Los Angeles; Editing by Sandra Maler)

source