Latest news with #NovemberElection
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gov. Greg Abbott sets Nov. 4 special election for open state Senate seat
Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday set a special election for Nov. 4 to fill the Texas Senate seat vacated by Republican Kelly Hancock, who resigned from the Legislature earlier this month to become the acting state comptroller. The contest coincides with the state's November uniform election, when voters across Texas will already be at the polls to elect representation for local offices and vote on numerous ballot measures, including 17 proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution. The candidate filing deadline for the Senate District 9 special election is Sept. 3, with early voting to start Oct. 20. Earlier Friday, conservative activist Leigh Wambsganss announced her candidacy to fill the vacant seat. Shortly after her announcement, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the president of the Senate, endorsed Wambsganss, saying she would be a 'great addition to our conservative Texas Senate.' In a statement announcing her bid, Wambsganss said she was 'not a career politician' but a 'battle-tested conservative who gets results.' 'I have spent decades on the front lines of the conservative movement—leading one of the most impactful campaigns against Critical Race Theory in the country, working alongside Republican leaders during the Republican Revolution of the 1990s, and consistently standing firm for pro-life and pro-2nd Amendment values,' she said. Wambsganss is a former congressional staffer and a longtime conservative activist on the Tarrant County GOP executive committee. She has also spearheaded the Patriot Mobile Action, a PAC that led the charge to elect conservative candidates to school boards across North Texas in 2022. Soon after Wambsganss's announcement, Rep. Nate Schatzline, R-Fort Worth, withdrew his own bid for the seat and endorsed her. A Democratic candidate, veteran and union president Taylor Rehmet, is also running for the seat. The North Texas district leans solidly Republican and covers about half of Fort Worth and much of Tarrant County's northern suburbs. In 2024, Republican Donald Trump carried the district with 58% of the vote. Whoever wins the special election will serve the remainder of Hancock's term, which runs until January 2027. The seat is up for reelection in 2026. Big news: 20 more speakers join the TribFest lineup! New additions include Margaret Spellings, former U.S. secretary of education and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center; Michael Curry, former presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church; Beto O'Rourke, former U.S. Representative, D-El Paso; Joe Lonsdale, entrepreneur, founder and managing partner at 8VC; and Katie Phang, journalist and trial lawyer. Get tickets. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gov. Greg Abbott sets Nov. 4 special election for open state Senate seat
Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday set a special election for Nov. 4 to fill the Texas Senate seat vacated by Republican Kelly Hancock, who resigned from the Legislature earlier this month to become the acting state comptroller. The contest coincides with the state's November uniform election, when voters across Texas will already be at the polls to elect representation for local offices and vote on numerous ballot measures, including 17 proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution. The candidate filing deadline for the Senate District 9 special election is Sept. 3, with early voting to start Oct. 20. Earlier Friday, conservative activist Leigh Wambsganss announced her candidacy to fill the vacant seat. Shortly after her announcement, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the president of the Senate, endorsed Wambsganss, saying she would be a 'great addition to our conservative Texas Senate.' In a statement announcing her bid, Wambsganss said she was 'not a career politician' but a 'battle-tested conservative who gets results.' 'I have spent decades on the front lines of the conservative movement—leading one of the most impactful campaigns against Critical Race Theory in the country, working alongside Republican leaders during the Republican Revolution of the 1990s, and consistently standing firm for pro-life and pro-2nd Amendment values,' she said. Wambsganss is a former congressional staffer and a longtime conservative activist on the Tarrant County GOP executive committee. She has also spearheaded the Patriot Mobile Action, a PAC that led the charge to elect conservative candidates to school boards across North Texas in 2022. Soon after Wambsganss's announcement, Rep. Nate Schatzline, R-Fort Worth, withdrew his own bid for the seat and endorsed her. A Democratic candidate, veteran and union president Taylor Rehmet, is also running for the seat. The North Texas district leans solidly Republican and covers about half of Fort Worth and much of Tarrant County's northern suburbs. In 2024, Republican Donald Trump carried the district with 58% of the vote. Whoever wins the special election will serve the remainder of Hancock's term, which runs until January 2027. The seat is up for reelection in 2026. Big news: 20 more speakers join the TribFest lineup! New additions include Margaret Spellings, former U.S. secretary of education and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center; Michael Curry, former presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church; Beto O'Rourke, former U.S. Representative, D-El Paso; Joe Lonsdale, entrepreneur, founder and managing partner at 8VC; and Katie Phang, journalist and trial lawyer. Get tickets. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
Arab News
5 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Mamdani's NYC primary win sparks surge in anti-Muslim posts, advocates say
There were at least 127 violent hate-related reports mentioning Mamdani or his campaign in the day after polls closedOverall, it noted about 6,200 online posts that mentioned some form of Islamophobic slurWASHINGTON: Anti-Muslim online posts targeting New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani have surged since his Democratic primary upset this week, including death threats and comments comparing his candidacy to the September 11, 2001 attacks, advocates said on were at least 127 violent hate-related reports mentioning Mamdani or his campaign in the day after polls closed, said CAIR Action, an arm of the Council on American Islamic Relations advocacy group, which logs such marks a five-fold increase over a daily average of such reports tracked earlier this month, CAIR Action said in a it noted about 6,200 online posts that mentioned some form of Islamophobic slur or hostility in that day long a self-described democratic socialist and a 33-year-old state lawmaker, declared victory in Tuesday's primary after former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo conceded in Uganda to Indian parents, Mamdani would be the city's first Muslim and Indian American mayor if he wins the November general election.'We call on public officials of every party — including those whose allies are amplifying these smears — to unequivocally condemn Islamophobia,' said Basim Elkarra, executive director of CAIR advocacy group said its hate monitoring system includes its own scraping and analysis of posts, online submissions by the public and notifications from law enforcement. About 62 percent of the anti-Muslim posts against Mamdani originated on X, CAIR Action close to Republican President Donald Trump, including one of his sons, are among those spreading anti-Muslim rhetoric, advocates Trump Jr, the president's son, wrote on X on Wednesday that 'New York City has fallen' while sharing a post that said New Yorkers had 'voted for' 9/11. Also on Wednesday, Republican US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene posted an AI-generated picture of the Statue of Liberty draped in a Trump has pursued domestic policies that rights advocates have described as anti-Muslim, including banning travel from some predominantly Muslim or Arab countries in his first term and attempting to deport pro-Palestinian students in his current White House, which did not respond to a request for comment, has denied claims of discrimination against Muslims. Trump and his allies have said they oppose Mamdani and others due to what they call the Democrats' 'radical left' New York City Police Department said earlier this month its hate crime unit was probing anti-Muslim threats against Kulkarni, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, which documents hate against Asian Americans, and CAIR said attacks against Mamdani mirrored those endured by other South Asian and Muslim political figures, including former Vice President Kamala Harris and Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida have called Mamdani antisemitic, citing his pro-Palestinian advocacy and his criticism of Israel's military assault on Gaza after an attack by Hamas militants in October has condemned antisemitism and has the backing of New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is Jewish. Lander also ran in the Democratic advocates have noted rising antisemitism and Islamophobia since the start of the Israel-Gaza war, with fatal US incidents including the shooting of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington and the stabbing of a Muslim child in and other Pro-Palestinian advocates, including some Jewish groups, said their criticism of Israel is wrongly conflated with antisemitism.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
A year ago today: The Biden-Trump debate rematch that changed the election
June 27, 2025, marks a year since President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump faced off in a presidential debate that would definitively change the race. The highly anticipated rematch occurred much earlier in the election than previous debates, as both candidates were all but certain to become their party's nominees. Usually, the debates are hosted throughout October by the Commission on Presidential Debates. But after some social media goading, the two candidates opted two debates, the first on June 27, 2024. What happened shocked the country. Biden's performance prompted a groundswell of questions about his mental acuity, questions that are still being asked today. Then, on July 21, Biden announced he was ending his re-election campaign and endorsing former Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement. The Democrats backed her swiftly, but it wasn't enough to defeat Trump in the November election. Here is a look back at some of the most viral moments in the debate that upended the 2024 presidential election. More: Did the bombs take out Iranian targets? Trump says yes, CNN, NYT reporting says maybe not In a moment everyone has heard about, the presidential candidates were derailed by a back-and-forth over golf and whose game is better. In a conversation about competency at an older age, Trump responded by bragging about the alleged cognitive tests he's passed and his golf game, saying he'd recently won two club championships. 'He challenged me to a golf match,' Trump said of Biden. 'He can't hit a ball 50 yards.' 'I'd be happy to have a driving contest with him," Biden responded, saying he had accomplished a handicap of six during his vice presidency. 'I'm happy to play golf with you if you carry your own bag. Think you can do it?' 'That's the biggest lie, that he's a six handicap, of all,' Trump shot back. Biden then accused Trump of having a handicap of eight, to which the former president responded. 'I've seen your swing. I know your swing.' The exchange ended with both men accusing the other of acting childish. Social media quickly took to what is being called the "Biden freeze," making several posts and memes about the president stumbling on his words. The big "freeze moment" came when Biden was discussing healthcare, the economy and the high debt levels under Trump's administration. He mentioned increasing taxes on billionaires but his response then became briefly meandering, concluding with 'if we finally beat Medicare" after a pause. Concerns over the ages of the candidates have been a major talking point this election season − whether their answers during the debate assuaged or intensified these concerns is up to the viewer, but they were asked about their cognitive abilities head-on. "I spent half my career being criticized for being the youngest person in politics," Biden said, referring to his election to the U.S. Senate at age 30, "Now I'm the oldest. This guy is three years younger and a lot less competent." "I took two tests, cognitive tests, I aced them, both of them, as you know," Trump responded. "I'd like to see him take on, just one, a real easy one, like go through the first five questions, you couldn't do it," he said of Biden. During an exchange in which Trump and Biden each accused the other of failing veterans, Trump claimed that veterans and soldiers "can't stand this guy" about Biden. "And they like me more than just about any of them," he said. Biden shot back by referring to his own late son, Joseph "Beau" Biden, who served in the Army National Guard as a major and deployed to Iraq before dying of brain cancer in 2015 at 46 years old. He also referred to an Atlantic report from 2020 in which anonymous sources said Trump had called soldiers that died in battles "suckers and losers." Trump has denied this report since its release, though other news outlets have corroborated it. "I went to the WWI cemetery he refused to go to," Biden said, referring to Trump. "He was standing with his four-star general and he told me 'I don't want to go in there because they're a bunch of losers and suckers.' My son was not a loser, he was not a sucker, you're the sucker, you're the loser." Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kcrowley@ Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @ This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Last year on June 27 Biden, Trump faced off in a consequential debate
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
A year ago today: The Biden-Trump debate rematch that changed the election
June 27, 2025, marks a year since President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump faced off in a presidential debate that would definitively change the race. The highly anticipated rematch occurred much earlier in the election than previous debates, as both candidates were all but certain to become their party's nominees. Usually, the debates are hosted throughout October by the Commission on Presidential Debates. But after some social media goading, the two candidates opted two debates, the first on June 27, 2024. What happened shocked the country. Biden's performance prompted a groundswell of questions about his mental acuity, questions that are still being asked today. Then, on July 21, Biden announced he was ending his re-election campaign and endorsing former Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement. The Democrats backed her swiftly, but it wasn't enough to defeat Trump in the November election. Here is a look back at some of the most viral moments in the debate that upended the 2024 presidential election. More: Trump stumbles up the stairs to Air Force One, stoking memory of Biden tripping video In a moment everyone has heard about, the presidential candidates were derailed by a back-and-forth over golf and whose game is better. In a conversation about competency at an older age, Trump responded by bragging about the alleged cognitive tests he's passed and his golf game, saying he'd recently won two club championships. 'He challenged me to a golf match,' Trump said of Biden. 'He can't hit a ball 50 yards.' 'I'd be happy to have a driving contest with him," Biden responded, saying he had accomplished a handicap of six during his vice presidency. 'I'm happy to play golf with you if you carry your own bag. Think you can do it?' 'That's the biggest lie, that he's a six handicap, of all,' Trump shot back. Biden then accused Trump of having a handicap of eight, to which the former president responded. 'I've seen your swing. I know your swing.' The exchange ended with both men accusing the other of acting childish. Social media quickly took to what is being called the "Biden freeze," making several posts and memes about the president stumbling on his words. The big "freeze moment" came when Biden was discussing healthcare, the economy and the high debt levels under Trump's administration. He mentioned increasing taxes on billionaires but his response then became briefly meandering, concluding with 'if we finally beat Medicare" after a pause. Concerns over the ages of the candidates have been a major talking point this election season − whether their answers during the debate assuaged or intensified these concerns is up to the viewer, but they were asked about their cognitive abilities head-on. "I spent half my career being criticized for being the youngest person in politics," Biden said, referring to his election to the U.S. Senate at age 30, "Now I'm the oldest. This guy is three years younger and a lot less competent." "I took two tests, cognitive tests, I aced them, both of them, as you know," Trump responded. "I'd like to see him take on, just one, a real easy one, like go through the first five questions, you couldn't do it," he said of Biden. During an exchange in which Trump and Biden each accused the other of failing veterans, Trump claimed that veterans and soldiers "can't stand this guy" about Biden. "And they like me more than just about any of them," he said. Biden shot back by referring to his own late son, Joseph "Beau" Biden, who served in the Army National Guard as a major and deployed to Iraq before dying of brain cancer in 2015 at 46 years old. He also referred to an Atlantic report from 2020 in which anonymous sources said Trump had called soldiers that died in battles "suckers and losers." Trump has denied this report since its release, though other news outlets have corroborated it. "I went to the WWI cemetery he refused to go to," Biden said, referring to Trump. "He was standing with his four-star general and he told me 'I don't want to go in there because they're a bunch of losers and suckers.' My son was not a loser, he was not a sucker, you're the sucker, you're the loser." Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kcrowley@ Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @ This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: This day last year: Biden, Trump faced off in a consequential debate
