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Democrats Secure 51-seat Majority in the US Senate with GA Runoff Win

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters Wednesday that Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock’s runoff election win was an important boost for Democrats.

“The practical effects of the 51-seat majority — it’s big. It’s significant,” he said. “We can breathe a sigh of relief.” 

The Senate had stood for the past two years at a 50-50 tie with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaking vote. But with Warnock winning re-election to his first full six-year term in office, Democrats have now gained a seat and secured a clear majority for the rest of President Joe Biden’s first term in office.

“After a hard-fought campaign, or should I say campaigns? It is my honor to utter the four most powerful words ever spoken in a democracy: The people have spoken,” Warnock told supporters at a victory party late Tuesday.

In the November election, both Warnock and his Republican challenger Herschel Walker failed to secure a 50% majority of the vote required in Georgia to win, leading to the runoff. As of midday Wednesday, Warnock led Walker by a little under three percentage points with 95% of votes counted.

In a concession speech in front of his supporters Tuesday, Walker said, “I don’t want any of you to stop dreaming. I don’t want any of you to stop believing in America. I want you to believe in America and continue to believe in the Constitution and believe in our elected officials. Most of all, continue to pray for them.”

Walker was one of multiple Senate candidates nationwide who were endorsed by former President Donald Trump but who lost their elections. During the campaign, Walker faced allegations he had paid for abortions and engaged in domestic abuse. His campaign accused Warnock of unfairly evicting tenants from properties he owns. Warnock ultimately won out in the runoff that saw record voter turnout.

Schumer told reporters that voters sent a clear message about Republican priorities, particularly in the wake of the June U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe vs. Wade, the court’s 1973 ruling that legalized abortion.

“The public began to realize how far right these MAGA Republicans had gone. The Dobbs decision was the crystallization of that. Of course, when people said, ‘Wow, these MAGA Republicans are serious about turning the dial all the way back,” he said.

Dobbs vs. Jackson was the case that led to the Supreme Court ruling.

Schumer would not discuss priorities for the new Congress but did acknowledge the clear majority gives Democrats a significant advantage in bringing their legislation and nominees up for votes.

“It’s important to the committee structure — that was a shared committee responsibility,” Amy Dacey, executive director of the Stein Institute of Policy and Politics at American University, told VOA. “Now you’ll have clear chairs who drive the calendar, drive what issues will come up in front of the Senate.”

The U.S. Congress, however, will be divided when lawmakers are sworn in for a new session in January, with Republicans holding a slim majority in the House of Representatives.

Some information provided by Reuters.
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Republican, Democratic Senators Predict Continuing US Support for Ukraine

The U.S. Congress is considering the White House’s request for $38 billion in additional support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia aggression. Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Senator Jim Risch say they believe the aid will be approved in the coming weeks.

The two senators have been strong supporters of aid to Ukraine, part of bipartisan congressional support that, if the latest appropriation bill passes, will deliver more than $100 billion in aid to Ukraine this year.

The senators sat down with VOA Georgian Service’s managing editor Ia Meurmishvili on November 30 to discuss U.S. policy toward Ukraine and Russia, and the likelihood that Congress will continue backing Ukraine in 2023.

Shaheen said the lessons from World War II are still relevant in the context of Ukraine, and the West must stop Russia before it invades other countries in Europe. On providing arms to Ukraine, Risch said the U.S. should not engage in self-deterrence out of concern that Russia might escalate the war. He said Russian President Vladimir Putin should instead be thinking about how to avoid U.S. escalation.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

VOA: NATO reaffirmed its 2008 commitment that Ukraine will one day become a member. Do you think that reaffirmation is advancing Ukraine’s NATO membership? And when do you think Ukraine can join NATO?

Shaheen: Well sadly, Ukraine right now is engaged in a brutal war from Russia’s unprovoked invasion. But I think the aspiration that Ukraine should be able to join NATO is very important. And for the EU, for NATO, for the Western alliance to support them as they are fighting this war against Russia is absolutely critical. Because we can’t allow dictators like Vladimir Putin to think they can upend the international, rules-based order and just take over any country because they might like to. And then, to commit war crimes and atrocities, to bomb civilians, to bomb hospitals and schools. … It’s unthinkable in a civilized society. So, we need to do everything we can to support the Ukrainians.

Risch: I agree with that. I would add that NATO is as strong as I have ever seen NATO, and I think it is getting stronger every day. There is no deterioration. NATO is committed to do what NATO was formed to do. Article 5 means just what it says — an attack on one is an attack on all. We have said clearly to the Russians that we will not give up one inch of NATO ground, whether it’s in the Baltics, in London, or in Los Angeles. We will not give up one inch of NATO ground, and we will all come shoulder to shoulder to defend it.

When it comes to Ukraine joining NATO, Ukraine or any other country is welcome to join NATO so long as they meet the requirements. We feel strongly about that. If Ukraine meets the requirements, and Ukraine wants to join NATO, then Ukraine should be let in. Neither Russia nor any other country should be able to stand up and say, ‘No, you can’t go where you want to go.’ Every country is sovereign and should have that right to enter any kind of alliance they want to for their defense.

See related video:

VOA: The Biden administration has requested an additional $38 billion for assistance to Ukraine. Do you think it will be approved before recess?

Shaheen: I do. I think there’s still strong bipartisan and bicameral support for Ukraine. We understand that Ukraine is fighting for democracies around the world, and the role of democracies is on the line here in this war.

Risch: Putin has already lost this war. He set out to occupy that country. It is obvious to the world he will never occupy that country. If you talk with Ukrainians, they will fight in the street with broomsticks if they have to, but the Russians will never occupy that country. So, what’s his exit ramp? I don’t know, but he better find one.

VOA: Do you support the idea of providing Ukraine with the Patriot missiles and the other long-range artillery they have been asking for, which the administration has been hesitant to provide?

Risch: I’ve wanted to ratchet up for some time. The Ukrainians are fighting with one hand tied behind their back. They’ve got a country adjacent to them that has invaded them and is committing all of these atrocities. On top of that, over the recent weeks, [the Russians] have done everything they can to totally eliminate [Ukraine’s] infrastructure for heat and electricity and everything else. We can’t stand by and watch that happen.

You know, some people in the administration — not all of them — say, ‘Oh, you know, we don’t want to escalate.’ That’s nonsense. I want Putin to wake up in the morning worried about what he’s going to do that might cause us to escalate. We have to escalate, or you lose the war. So, I’m all in. I think the Patriots are fine. If it was up to me — even from the beginning — I said we should give them planes. When we fought in Korea, when we fought in Vietnam, the Russians supplied the enemy with jet aircraft and trained the pilots. It’s time to return the favor, as far as I’m concerned.

Shaheen: I think that’s the intent of the U.S. We’re working closely with our allies and with the Ukrainians on what they need and supplying them as soon as we can with the weapons that they need. I think we need to continue to do that.

VOA: The world, especially the West, is beginning to talk about how Ukraine will emerge from this war — that it will be a united, democratic, sovereign country in Europe that will only get stronger from this point on. We don’t know much about how Russia will emerge from it. How do you see Russia after this war?

Shaheen: We had a hearing today in the Foreign Relations Committee with the nominee to be the ambassador to Russia. One of the things we talked about in that hearing is the difficult balance that the new ambassador is going to have in trying to keep an open channel of communication to the leadership in Russia, and at the same time expressing our strong opposition to what Russia is doing in the war in Ukraine, to express the concerns that we have about Russia walking away from the new START nuclear negotiations, about their human rights record, and the American detainees that they have in their prisons. So, it’s going to be a challenge.

I had a chance to speak with Vladimir Kara-Murza, who is an amazing, very courageous human rights activist, as he was planning to go back to Russia. One of the things he said to me when I said, you know, ‘You’re going to be in prison. Why are you doing this?’ He said, ‘Because the Russian people are better than the government of Russia, and we need to make the world see that.’ So, it’s my hope that at some point, the Russian people will have that opportunity for self-governance and to determine their own future.

Risch: First of all, I’ve said all along — when this is over, it’s not over. Russia is going to suffer from this for a long, long time. The world made a mistake when the Iron Curtain came down and Russia was welcomed to the international stage, and everyone started doing business with them. The Europeans really relied on them for energy and that sort of thing. Nobody even conceived that they would start a medieval war in the 21st century. Seven hundred companies from America have pulled out. They’re not going back there. We talk to the Europeans all the time. They’ve had it with Russia. Even if Putin disappeared tomorrow and you brought in a moderate — if there is such a thing in Russia — I still think it would take decades before the Russians can get back any kind of credibility that this isn’t going to happen again.

VOA: Thus far, Congress has been united on the issues of support toward Ukraine, toward the region, NATO and such. There are some concerns that with the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, that [unity] may change.

Risch: Look, there’s 535 members of Congress —100 in the Senate, 435 in the House. We are as diverse a group as you could possibly find. We are a true representation of America top to bottom. As a result of that, there is about every view you could possibly want there. No matter what issue you have, with very few exceptions, you’re always going to have dissent. We were born in dissent. We dissent all the time. Having said that, when things are appropriate, we come together.

On Ukraine, there is strong, strong support in both houses and both parties. Are there a handful of people who are dissidents? Yes. But the media here focuses on those that do dissent. That’s the American way, and that’s the way it should be. People have the right to express an opinion on either side, and then you vote and get behind the vote. I think the media has asked me this question a number of times, and I’ve said over and over again that the dissent on this is de minimis, and it’s way overreported.

Shaheen: We had a bipartisan, bicameral delegation in Halifax [Nova Scotia] a couple of weeks ago, nine of us from the House and Senate. We were all virtually aligned on support for Ukraine and the need to continue that support. And that included prominent members of the House, as well as prominent members of the Senate. So I think Senator Risch is absolutely right.
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Democratic Sen. Warnock Wins Georgia Runoff Against Walker

Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock defeated Republican challenger Herschel Walker in a Georgia runoff election Tuesday, ensuring Democrats an outright majority in the Senate for the rest of President Joe Biden’s current term and capping an underwhelming midterm cycle for the GOP in the last major vote of the year. 

With Warnock’s second runoff victory in as many years, Democrats will have a 51-49 Senate majority, gaining a seat from the current 50-50 split with John Fetterman’s victory in Pennsylvania. There will be divided government, however, with Republicans having narrowly flipped House control. 

“After a hard-fought campaign — or, should I say, campaigns — it is my honor to utter the four most powerful words ever spoken in a democracy: The people have spoken,” Warnock, 53, told jubilant supporters who packed a downtown Atlanta hotel ballroom. 

“I often say that a vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and for our children,” declared Warnock, a Baptist pastor and his state’s first Black senator. 

“Georgia, you have been praying with your lips and your legs, your hands and your feet, your heads and your hearts. You have put in the hard work, and here we are standing together.” 

In last month’s election, Warnock led Walker by 37,000 votes out of almost 4 million cast but fell short of the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff. The senator appeared to be headed for a wider final margin in Tuesday’s runoff, with Walker, a football legend at the University of Georgia and in the NFL, unable to overcome a bevy of damaging allegations, including claims that he paid for two former girlfriends’ abortions despite supporting a national ban on the procedure. 

“The numbers look like they’re not going to add up,” Walker, an ally and friend of former President Donald Trump, told supporters late Tuesday at the College Football Hall of Fame in downtown Atlanta. “There’s no excuses in life, and I’m not going to make any excuses now because we put up one heck of a fight.” 

Democrats’ Georgia victory solidifies the state’s place as a Deep South battleground two years after Warnock and fellow Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff won 2021 runoffs that gave the party Senate control just months after Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate in 30 years to win Georgia. Voters returned Warnock to the Senate in the same cycle they reelected Republican Gov. Brian Kemp by a comfortable margin and chose an all-GOP slate of statewide constitutional officers. 

Walker’s defeat bookends the GOP’s struggles this year to win with flawed candidates cast from Trump’s mold, a blow to the former president as he builds his third White House bid ahead of 2024. 

Democrats’ new outright majority in the Senate means the party will no longer have to negotiate a power-sharing deal with Republicans and won’t have to rely on Vice President Kamala Harris to break as many tie votes. 

National Democrats celebrated Tuesday, with Biden tweeting a photo of his congratulatory phone call to the senator. “Georgia voters stood up for our democracy, rejected Ultra MAGAism, and … sent a good man back to the Senate,” Biden tweeted, referencing Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. 

About 1.9 million runoff votes were cast in Georgia by mail and during early voting. A robust Election Day turnout added about 1.4 million more, slightly more than the Election Day totals in November and in 2020. 

Total turnout still trailed the 2021 runoff turnout of about 4.5 million. Voting rights groups pointed to changes made by state lawmakers after the 2020 election that shortened the period for runoffs, from nine weeks to four, as a reason for the decline in early and mail voting. 

Warnock emphasized his willingness to work across the aisle and his personal values, buoyed by his status as senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, where civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. once preached. 

Walker benefited during the campaign from nearly unmatched name recognition from his football career yet was dogged by questions about his fitness for office. 

A multimillionaire businessman, Walker faced questions about his past, including his exaggerations of his business achievements, academic credentials and philanthropic activities. 

In his personal life, Walker faced new attention on his ex-wife’s previous accounts of domestic violence, including details that he once held a gun to her head and threatened to kill her. He has never denied those specifics and wrote of his violent tendencies in a 2008 memoir that attributed the behavior to mental illness. 

As a candidate, he sometimes mangled policy discussions, attributing the climate crisis to China’s “bad air” overtaking “good air” from the United States and arguing that diabetics could manage their health by “eating right,” a practice that isn’t enough for insulin-dependent diabetic patients. 

On Tuesday, Atlanta voter Tom Callaway praised the Republican Party’s strength in Georgia and said he’d supported Kemp in the opening round of voting. But he said he cast his ballot for Warnock because he didn’t think “Herschel Walker has the credentials to be a senator.” 

“I didn’t believe he had a statement of what he really believed in or had a campaign that made sense,” Callaway said. 

Walker, meanwhile, sought to portray Warnock as a yes-man for Biden. He sometimes made the attack in especially personal terms, accusing Warnock of “being on his knees, begging” at the White House — a searing charge for a Black challenger to level against a Black senator about his relationship with a white president. 

Warnock promoted his Senate accomplishments, touting a provision he sponsored to cap insulin costs for Medicare patients. He hailed deals on infrastructure and maternal health care forged with Republican senators, mentioning those GOP colleagues more than he did Biden or other Washington Democrats. 

Warnock distanced himself from Biden, whose approval ratings have lagged as inflation remains high. After the general election, Biden promised to help Warnock in any way he could, even if it meant staying away from Georgia. Bypassing the president, Warnock decided instead to campaign with former President Barack Obama in the days before the runoff election. 

Walker, meanwhile, avoided campaigning with Trump until the campaign’s final day, when the pair conducted a conference call Monday with supporters. 

Walker joins failed Senate nominees Dr. Mehmet Oz of Pennsylvania, Blake Masters of Arizona, Adam Laxalt of Nevada and Don Bolduc of New Hampshire as Trump loyalists who ultimately lost races that Republicans once thought they would — or at least could — win. 
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Criminal Referrals Coming From January 6 US Capitol Riot Probe

The U.S. congressional committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol last year is planning to make referrals to the Justice Department recommending criminal prosecutions, panel chairman Bennie Thompson said Tuesday.

Thompson did not disclose whether former President Donald Trump would be one of the targets.

He said the nine-member panel is meeting later Tuesday to discuss specifics of its recommendations as it wraps up its probe of the mayhem that unfolded as about 2,000 Trump supporters stormed into the Capitol Building to try to block certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.

“At this point, there’ll be a separate document coming from me” to the Justice Department, Thompson told reporters at the Capitol.

AG will decide whether to bring charges

The decision of whether to bring charges against Trump or any of his advisers rests with Attorney General Merrick Garland. To this day, Trump contends without evidence that he was cheated out of reelection by illegal voting and vote-counting. He has announced another run for the presidency in 2024.

Garland appointed career prosecutor Jack Smith as special counsel to oversee the federal investigation of Trump’s actions leading up to the rampage at the Capitol and whether the former president illegally took highly classified government documents with him to his oceanside retreat in Florida after he left office.

‘We will stop the steal,’ Trump says before the riot

Just before the riot unfolded, Trump told supporters at a rally near the White House, “Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore and that’s what this is all about. To use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal.”

He concluded, “We fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”

More than 950 of the rioters have been charged, and more than 450 have pleaded guilty or have been convicted so far. Some have received prison terms of more than four years.

At nine hearings in recent months, witnesses before the House investigative panel testified how Trump privately, along with public admonitions, pushed then-Vice President Mike Pence to override the state-by-state Electoral College vote count that showed Biden had won.

But Pence refused, and after the rioters were cleared from the Capitol, Congress affirmed in the early hours of January 7, 2021, that Biden had won.

The U.S. does not elect its president by a national popular vote but rather through state-by-state voting, with the most populous states holding the most Electoral College votes and thus the most sway in determining the national outcome.

Biden won the national balloting over Trump by more than 7 million votes.
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Arizona Certifies 2022 Election Despite Republican Complaints

Arizona’s top officials certified the midterm election results Monday, formalizing victories for Democrats over Republicans who falsely claimed the 2020 election was rigged.

The certification opens a five-day window for formal election challenges. Republican Kari Lake, who lost the race for governor, is expected to file a lawsuit after weeks of criticizing the administration of the election.

Election results have largely been certified without issue around the country, but Arizona was an exception. Several Republican-controlled counties delayed their certification despite no evidence of problems with the vote count. Cochise County in southeastern Arizona blew past the deadline last week, forcing a judge to intervene on Friday and order the county supervisors to certify the election by the end of the day.

“Arizona had a successful election,” Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, said before signing the certification. “But too often throughout the process, powerful voices proliferated misinformation that threatened to disenfranchise voters.”

The statewide certification, known as a canvass, was signed by Hobbs, Republican Governor Doug Ducey, Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich and Chief Justice Robert Brutinel, a Ducey appointee.

When the same group certified the 2020 election, Ducey silenced a call from then-President Donald Trump, who was at the time in a frenetic push to persuade Republican allies to go along with his attempts to overturn the election he lost.

“This is a responsibility I do not take lightly,” Ducey said. “It’s one that recognizes the votes cast by the citizens of our great state.”

Republicans have complained for weeks about Hobbs’ role in certifying her own victory over Lake in the race for governor, though it is typical for election officials to maintain their position while running for higher office. Lake and her allies have focused on problems with ballot printers that produced about 17,000 ballots that could not be tabulated on site and had to be counted at the elections department headquarters.

Lines backed up in some polling places, fueling Republican suspicions that some supporters were unable to cast a ballot, though there’s no evidence it affected the outcome. County officials say everyone was able to vote and all legal ballots were counted.

Hobbs planned to immediately petition the Maricopa County Superior Court to begin an automatic statewide recount required by law in three races decided by less than half a percentage point. The race for attorney general was one of the closest contests in state history, with Democrat Kris Mayes leading Republican Abe Hamadeh by just 510 votes out of 2.5 million cast.

The races for superintendent of public instruction and a state legislative seat in the Phoenix suburbs will also be recounted, but the margins are much larger.

Once a Democratic stronghold, Arizona’s top races went resoundingly for Democrats after Republicans nominated a slate of candidates backed by Trump who focused on supporting his false claims about the 2020 election. In addition to Hobbs and Mayes, Democratic Senator Mark Kelly was reelected and Democrat Adrian Fontes won the race for attorney general.
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Surprising Words & Phrases Invented by US Presidents  

When America’s leaders can’t think of the perfect word for certain situations, they sometimes make one up. And those new words often go down in history.

From “lunatic fringe” (Teddy Roosevelt) and “iffy” (Franklin D. Roosevelt)

to “snowmageddon” (Barack Obama) and “bigly” (Donald Trump), the terms coined by U.S. presidents are as unique as the American experience.

“We’re really creating our own institutions through language,” says Paul Dickson, author of “Words from the White House: Words and Phrases Coined or Popularized by America’s Presidents.” “So, when John Quincy Adams creates the word ‘gag rule,’ or somebody creates another word that actually fits into what we do, once you have a word for it, then it becomes a reality.”

Thomas Jefferson is said to have created more than a hundred words, including “authentication” [act of proving the accuracy or legitimacy of something] and “anglomania” [an excessive fondness for all things English].

Abraham Lincoln coined the words “relocate” and “relocation,” the term “a house divided” in reference to the Civil War, and according to The New York Times,” the word “cool” [nice, good].

Teddy Roosevelt added several memorable words and phrases to American English.

“Teddy Roosevelt creates this huge body of slang,” Dickson says. “‘Pack rat,’ ‘mollycoddle,’ ‘frazzle,’ ‘malefactors of great wealth,’ ‘loose cannon,’ ‘lunatic fringe,’ ‘bully pulpit,’ ‘pussyfooter,’ and on and on.”

Woodrow Wilson is believed to have been the first to use the slogan “America First” in 1915. He was also criticized for being the first president to drop “the” before “Congress.” Wilson’s successor, Warren Harding, gets credit for coming up with the term “Founding Fathers” to describe the framers of the Constitution. Harding also originated the words “normalcy” and “bloviate” [to speak bombastically or grandiosely].

Before Calvin Coolidge, no political campaigner had ever branded himself as a “law- and-order” candidate. Harry Truman devised the phrase “do-nothing Congress” and the saying, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” Lyndon Johnson was the first to call handshakes “pressing the flesh.”

The new words filled in a lot of blanks as when, in 1934, the sitting president decided his annual report to Congress needed a more fitting name.

“It was Franklin D. Roosevelt who changed the name of the ‘Report to Congress’ to the ‘State of the Union,’ and that was a much better description of what was going on than a ‘Report to Congress,’” Dickson says.

Inventing new words drew the ire of critics who felt presidents should stick to proper English, like when FDR used “iffy” for the first time.

“He said, ‘Well, it’s pretty iffy as to where the Supreme Court stands on this,’ and that made headlines: ‘Roosevelt created the word ‘iffy’!’” Dickson says.

The Oxford English dictionary also cites FDR as being the first to use the word “cheerleader” [a person who leads the cheering at a sporting or special event].

wight D. Eisenhower is admired for conceiving the term, “military-industrial complex” in 1961, to warn against the powerful alliance of the military, government and private corporations. But he was slammed for uttering another word in a speech.

“He used the word ‘finalize’ — taking ‘final’ and turning it into a verb — and there was this huge outcry. There were editorials in the major papers that the president shouldn’t use a word like finalize. It wasn’t proper English,” Dickson says.

Critics called the word nonexistent,” “hideous,” “atrocious” and “meaningless.”

Dickson says necessity is the reason presidents continue to devise new words.

“They come up when they’re needed … to deal with the times, to deal with what was going on, whether it be the Great Depression or whether it be World War II, or whether it’s the change in fashion or politics,” he says. “President [Richard] Nixon coming up with the word ‘solid majority,’ or President Obama talking about certain projects which were ‘shovel-ready,’ that had never been heard before, that meant that they could immediately start working on the project.”

Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, is remembered for calling himself the “decider” [person who makes the final call] and using the word “misunderestimate” [to seriously underestimate.]

While the presidential expressions that have entered the American lexicon are wildly diverse, there might be one quality the presidents share.

“A number of them showed great cleverness. That’s what they have in common. They were not just smart. They were clever. They were witty,” Dickson says. “They often have to think on their feet, and when they think on their feet, sometimes there isn’t an existing word to say what they mean. And they just make one up.”
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Fighting Words: Founding Fathers Irked England by Inventing American English

Thomas Jefferson, America’s third president, coined the words “electioneering” and “indecipherable.” John Adams (No. 2) came up with “caucus.” James Madison (No. 4) was the first to use “squatter” when referring to someone who occupies a property or territory they don’t own.

As they set out to build a new nation, America’s Founding Fathers were determined to give the fledgling republic its own identity and culture by making up new words that were unique to the American experience.

“It was thought by many of the early presidents — Jefferson, Adams, [George] Washington and others — that they were doing something important,” says Paul Dickson, author of “Words from the White House: Words and Phrases Coined or Popularized by America’s Presidents.” “It was this belief that we were separating ourselves from the British.”

The practice of making up new words outraged British purists, some of whom viewed Americans as people without a language who stole England’s mother tongue.

“Some of the first words that the British really went crazy over were the words ‘congressional’ and ‘presidential.’ They said they were barbarous,” Dickson says. “But those were words we needed. George Washington, one of the words he created — and again, this helped frame who we were — he talked about his ‘administration.’ That word never existed in terms of a noun to describe the body of people that ruled with you in your Cabinet.”

In some cases, the presidents didn’t come up with the words and phrases. Some were created by speechwriters, aides and other acquaintances and then popularized by the president. For example, John Jay, Washington’s secretary for foreign affairs, is said to have coined “Americanize.”

A key nonpresidential figure who helped codify these new Americanisms was Noah Webster, who published his first dictionary in 1806. Webster fought in the Revolutionary War, which secured America’s independence from England. While wandering through a New York military camp filled with war veterans, he saw the need for a unique American language.

“He was hearing voices of Indigenous people. He was hearing Irish brogues. He was hearing all sorts of different kinds of language and different kinds of speaking, and heavily accented,” Dickson says. “And he realized that this country is going to be a big mix of different people, different interests, and it needed a new language. It needed something called the ‘American language,’ which is a term he created. … Noah Webster actually said that creating a new language was an act of defiance.”

While future presidents also coined new words, Dickson says the founders were particularly prolific. Jefferson alone is credited for coming up with more than 100 words, including “belittle,” “pedicure,” “monotonously” and “ottoman” [footstool]. Fittingly, he also invented the verb “neologize,” which is the practice of coining new words or expressions.

Instead of saying “within doors,” Washington created the word “indoors.” The first president also came up with “average” and “New Yorker.”

Adams borrowed from the classic Spanish novel, “Don Quixote” to create the adjective “quixotic” [unrealistic schemes]. The first recorded uses of “hustle” [to move rapidly] and “lengthy” [long, protracted] came from Adams’ journal entries.

Although the earliest American leaders started the practice, neologizing eventually became something of a presidential tradition.

“There were certain presidents that have a knack for this, and some of it was conscious. Some of it was sort-of semi-conscious,” Dickson says. “It became, it was, sort of, the American way.”

Despite inventing numerous memorable words and phrases, America’s early leaders fell short of coining a term to describe themselves — the extraordinary group of men who founded the United States and created the framework for its government. That didn’t happen until a century later.

In the 1920s, President Warren Harding dubbed them the “Founding Fathers” and in doing so, created one of the most memorable and iconic Americanisms of them all.
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Runoff Election to Decide Final Balance of Power in US Senate

Democrats control the U.S. Senate by a slim margin. But the final balance of power will be decided in the state of Georgia on December 6, when voters choose between Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker. VOA Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports.
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Senate Moves to Avert Rail Strike Amid Dire Warnings

The Senate moved quickly Thursday to avert a rail strike that the Biden administration and business leaders warned would have had devastating consequences for the nation’s economy. 

The Senate passed a bill to bind rail companies and workers to a proposed settlement that was reached between the rail companies and union leaders in September. That settlement had been rejected by some of the 12 unions involved, creating the possibility of a strike beginning December 9. 

The Senate vote was 80-15. It came one day after the House voted to impose the agreement. The measure now goes to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature. 

“I’m very glad that the two sides got together to avoid a shutdown, which would have been devastating for the American people, to the American economy and so many workers across the country,” Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters. 

Schumer spoke as Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg emphasized to Democratic senators that rail companies would begin shutting down operations well before a potential strike would begin. The administration wanted the bill on Biden’s desk by the weekend. 

Shortly before Thursday’s votes, Biden — who had urged Congress to intervene earlier this week — defended the contract that four of the unions had rejected, noting the wage increases it contains. 

“I negotiated a contract no one else could negotiate,” Biden said at a news briefing with French President Emmanuel Macron. “What was negotiated was so much better than anything they ever had.” 

Critics say the contract that did not receive backing from enough union members lacked sufficient levels of paid leave for rail workers. Biden said he wants paid leave for “everybody” so that it wouldn’t have to be negotiated in employment contracts, but Republican lawmakers have blocked measures to require time off work for medical and family reasons. The U.S. president said that Congress should now impose the contract to avoid a strike that Biden said could cause 750,000 job losses and a recession. 

Railways say that halting rail service would cause a devastating $2 billion-per-day hit to the economy. A freight rail strike also would have a big potential impact on passenger rail, with Amtrak and many commuter railroads relying on tracks owned by the freight railroads. 

The rail companies and 12 unions have been engaged in high-stakes negotiations. The Biden administration helped broker deals between the railroads and union leaders in September, but four of the unions rejected the deals. Eight others approved five-year deals and are getting back pay for their workers for the 24% raises that are retroactive to 2020. 

On Monday, with a December 9 strike looming, Biden called on Congress to impose the tentative agreement reached in September. Congress has the authority to do so and has enacted legislation in the past to delay or prohibit railway and airline strikes. But most lawmakers would prefer the parties work out their differences on their own. 

The intervention was particularly difficult for Democratic lawmakers who traditionally align themselves with the politically powerful labor unions that criticized Biden’s move to intervene in the contract dispute and block a strike. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., responded to that concern by holding a second vote Wednesday on a bill that would add seven days of paid sick leave per year for rail workers covered under the agreement. The call for paid sick leave was a major sticking point in the talks along with other quality-of-life concerns. The railroads say the unions have agreed in negotiations over the decades to forgo paid sick time in favor of higher wages and strong short-term disability benefits. 

The unions maintain that railroads can easily afford to add paid sick time when they are recording record profits. Several of the big railroads involved in these contract talks reported more than $1 billion profit in the third quarter. 

The House passed the legislation enacting September’s labor agreement with broad bipartisan support. A second measure adding seven paid sick days for rail workers passed on a mostly party-line vote in the House, but it fell eight votes short of a 60-vote threshold needed for passage in the Senate. 

 
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Trump Documents Probe: Court Halts Mar-a-Lago Special Master Review

A unanimous federal appeals court on Thursday ended an independent review of documents seized from former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate, removing a hurdle the Justice Department said had delayed its criminal investigation into the retention of top-secret government information.

The decision by the three-judge panel represents a significant win for federal prosecutors, clearing the way for them to use as part of their investigation the entire tranche of documents seized during an August 8 FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. It also amounts to a sharp repudiation of arguments by Trump’s lawyers, who for months had said that the former president was entitled to have a so-called “special master” conduct a neutral review of the thousands of documents taken from the property.

The ruling from the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit had been expected given the skeptical questions the judges directed at a Trump lawyer during arguments last week, and because two of the three judges on the panel had already ruled in favor of the Justice Department in an earlier dispute over the special master.

The decision was unanimous from the three-judge panel of Republican appointees, including two selected by Trump. In it, the court rejected each argument by Trump and his attorneys for why a special master was necessary, including his claims that the seized records were protected by attorney-client privilege or executive privilege.

“It is indeed extraordinary for a warrant to be executed at the home of a former president — but not in a way that affects our legal analysis or otherwise gives the judiciary license to interfere in an ongoing investigation,” the judges wrote.

Litigation alongside investigation

The special master litigation has played out alongside an ongoing investigation examining the potential criminal mishandling of national defense information as well as efforts to possibly obstruct that probe. Attorney General Merrick Garland last month appointed Jack Smith, a veteran public corruption prosecutor, to serve as special counsel overseeing that investigation.

It remains unclear how much longer the investigation will last, or who, if anyone, might be charged. But the probe has shown signs of intensifying, with investigators questioning multiple Trump associates about the documents and granting one key ally immunity to ensure his testimony before a federal grand jury. And the appeals court decision is likely to speed the investigation along by cutting short the outside review of the records.

The conflict over the special master began just weeks after the FBI’s search, when Trump sued in federal court in Florida seeking the appointment of an independent arbiter to review the roughly 13,000 documents the Justice Department says were taken from the home.

A federal judge, Aileen Cannon, granted the Trump team’s request, naming veteran Brooklyn judge Raymond Dearie to serve as special master and tasking him with reviewing the seized records and filtering out from the criminal investigation any documents that might be covered by claims of executive privilege or attorney-client privilege.

She also barred the Justice Department from using in its criminal investigation any of the seized records, including the roughly 100 with classification markings, until Dearie completed his work.

The Justice Department objected to the appointment, saying that it was an unnecessary hindrance to its criminal investigation and that Trump had no credible basis to invoke either attorney-client privilege or executive privilege to shield the records from investigators.

It sought, as a first step, to regain access to the classified documents. A federal appeals panel sided with prosecutors in September, permitting the Justice Department to resume its review of the documents with classification markings. Two of the judges on that panel — Andrew Brasher and Britt Grant, both Trump appointees — were part of Thursday’s ruling as well.

The department also pressed for unfettered access to the much larger trove of unclassified documents, saying such records could contain important evidence for their investigation.

Thursday’s ruling

In its ruling Thursday, the court directed Cannon to dismiss the lawsuit that gave rise to Dearie’s appointment and suggested Trump had no legal basis to challenge the search in the first place.

“The law is clear. We cannot write a rule that allows any subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the execution of the warrant. Nor can we write a rule that allows only former presidents to do so,” the judges wrote.

“Either approach,” they added, “would be a radical reordering of our case law limiting the federal courts’ involvement in criminal investigations. And both would violate bedrock separation-of-powers limitations.”
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It’s Decorative White House Season, Americans

The White House is bright with holiday cheer, an annual tradition meant to delight and remind Americans of the importance of the end-of-year holidays. This year’s theme is “We the People,” a nod to the most powerful force in America: the American people. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from the White House.
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House Votes to Avert Rail Strike, Impose Deal on Unions

The U.S. House moved urgently to head off the looming nationwide rail strike on Wednesday, passing a bill that would bind companies and workers to a proposed settlement that was reached in September but rejected by some of the 12 unions involved. 

The measure passed by a vote of 290-137 and now heads to the Senate. If approved there, it will be quickly signed by President Joe Biden, who requested the action. 

Biden on Monday asked Congress to intervene and avert the rail stoppage that could strike a devastating blow to the nation’s fragile economy by disrupting the transportation of fuel, food and other critical goods. Business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Farm Bureau Federation warned that halting rail service would cause a $2 billion per day hit to the economy. 

The bill would impose a compromise labor agreement brokered by the Biden administration that was ultimately voted down by four of the 12 unions representing more than 100,000 employees at large freight rail carriers. The unions have threatened to strike if an agreement can’t be reached before a December 9 deadline. 

Lawmakers from both parties expressed reservations about overriding the negotiations. And the intervention was particularly difficult for Democratic lawmakers who have traditionally sought to align themselves with the politically powerful labor unions that criticized Biden’s move to intervene in the contract dispute and block a strike. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded to that concern by adding a second vote Wednesday that would add seven days of paid sick leave per year for rail workers covered under the agreement. However, it will take effect only if the Senate goes along and passes both measures. 

The call for more paid sick leave was a major sticking point in the talks. The railroads say the unions have agreed in negotiations over the decades to forgo paid sick time in favor of higher wages and strong short-term disability benefits. 

The head of the Association of American Railroads trade group said Tuesday that railroads would consider adding paid sick time in the future, but said that change should wait for a new round of negotiations instead of being added now, near the end of three years of contract talks. 

The unions maintain that railroads can easily afford to add paid sick time at a time when they are recording record profits. Several of the big railroads involved in these contract talks reported more than $1 billion profit in the third quarter. 

“Quite frankly, the fact that paid leave is not part of the final agreement between railroads and labor is, in my opinion, obscene,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. “It should be there and I hope it will be there at the end of this process.” 

Republicans also voiced support for the measure to block the strike, but criticized the Biden administration for turning to Congress to “step in to fix the mess.” 

“They’ve retreated in failure and they kicked this problem to Congress for us to decide,” said Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo. 

Republicans also criticized Pelosi’s decision to add the sick leave second bill to the mix. They said the Biden administration’s own special board of arbitrators recommended higher wages to compensate the unions for not including sick time in its recommendations. 

“Why do we even have the system set up the way it is if Congress is going to come in and make changes to all of the recommendations?” Graves said. 

Pelosi sought to position Democrats and the Biden administration as defenders of unions and slammed the rail companies, saying they’ve slashed jobs, increased worker hours and cut corners on safety. But she said Congress needed to intervene. 

“Families wouldn’t be able to buy groceries or life-saving medications because it would be even more expensive and perishable goods would spoil before reaching shelves,” Pelosi said. 

The compromise agreement that was supported by the railroads and a majority of the unions provides for 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses retroactive to 2020 along with one additional paid leave day. The raises would be the biggest rail workers have received in more than four decades. Workers would have to pay a larger share of their health insurance costs, but their premiums would be capped at 15% of the total cost of the insurance plan. The agreement did not resolve workers’ concerns about schedules that make it hard to take a day off and the lack of more paid sick time. 

The Biden administration issued a statement in support of Congress passing the bill that implements the most recent tentative agreement, stressing that it would provide improved health care benefits and a historic pay raise. But the statement was silent on the measure that would add seven sick days to the agreement. 

“To be clear, it is the policy of the United States to encourage collective bargaining, and the administration is reluctant to override union ratification procedures and the views of those union members who voted against the agreement,” the White House said. “But in this case – where the societal and economic impacts of a shutdown would hurt millions of other working people and families – Congress must use its powers to resolve this impasse.” 

On several past occasions, Congress has intervened in labor disputes by enacting legislation to delay or prohibit railway and airline strikes. 

 
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US House Democrats Pick Congressman Hakeem Jeffries as New Leader

Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives picked a new leader Wednesday, New York Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, who will become the first Black person to lead either major political party in Congress when the new congressional session opens in January.

The 52-year-old Jeffries, a House member for 10 years, has vowed to “get things done,” even though Democrats lost their narrow majority to opposition Republicans in the chamber in the November 8 elections.

His selection, in a unanimous vote by acclamation at a caucus of party lawmakers, marks a generational shift for Democrats. Outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 82, has been the party’s leader for two decades but announced earlier this month she would remain in the House but not seek a party leadership position in the new Congress as Republicans take control.

Jeffries was one of three new leaders Democrats elected, along with Massachusetts Congresswoman Katherine Clark, 59, as the Democratic whip and California Congressman Pete Aguilar, 43, as caucus chairman.

Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy of California is on track to becoming the new House speaker, although opposition from some conservative Republican lawmakers has left his election uncertain.

With Republicans controlling the House in the new Congress, while Democrats are assured of maintaining control of the Senate and Democrat Joe Biden is president, political agreement on major legislation is likely to be difficult in Washington.

Newly empowered House Republicans have said they intend to focus their attention on launching numerous investigations of the Biden administration, on issues such as last year’s chaotic military withdrawal from Afghanistan, its handling of migration issues at the U.S. border with Mexico, and the business affairs of Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and any financial links to the president.

The White House has said it will cooperate with some Republican inquiries but not one involving Hunter Biden.
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Biden Hails Semiconductor Plant as ‘Game Changer’ for American Manufacturing

President Joe Biden on Tuesday toured a $300 million semiconductor manufacturing facility in Michigan that aims to create 150 jobs and said the U.S. was “not going to be held hostage anymore” by countries like China that dominate the industry. 

“Instead of relying on chips made overseas in places like China, the supply chain for those chips will be here in America,” Biden said to a crowd of more than 400 people who gathered to see him at an SK Siltron CSS facility in Bay City. “In Michigan. It’s a game changer.” 

The company is part of the South Korean SK Group conglomerate, and the facility will make materials for semiconductors that will be used in electric vehicles. 

Biden tied the project directly to the CHIPS and Science Act, which he signed in August. The bill includes about $52 billion in funding for U.S. companies for the manufacturing of chips, which go into technology like smartphones, electric vehicles, appliances and weapons systems. 

Biden also said that China’s president, Xi Jinping, expressed dissatisfaction with the legislation when the two men met on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit earlier this month in Bali, Indonesia. 

“And he’s a little upset that we’re deciding we’re going to once again be, you know … we’re talking about the supply chain, we’re going to be the supply chain. The difference is going to be, we’re going to make that supply chain available to the rest of the world, and we’re not going to be held hostage anymore.” 

China has pushed back vocally against the legislation and also against an October move by the administration to impose export controls on chips, a move intended to block China from getting these sensitive technologies.  

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning in October accused the U.S. of “abusing export control measures to wantonly block and hobble Chinese enterprises.” 

This week, in response to a separate proposal through the National Defense Authorization Act aimed at banning government agencies from doing business with Chinese semiconductor manufacturers, she said: “The US needs to listen to the voice calling for reason, stop politicizing, weaponizing and ideologizing economic, trade and sci-tech issues, stop blocking and hobbling Chinese companies, respect the law of the market economy and free trade rules, and defend the security and stability of global industrial and supply chains.” 

But those concerns seemed far away as Biden enjoyed the welcoming crowd and painted his vision of his nation’s technological future.  

“Where is it written,” he said, “that America will not lead the world in manufacturing again?” 
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US Senate Votes to Protect Same-Sex, Interracial Marriages at Federal Level

U.S. senators voted to protect same-sex and interracial marriages Tuesday, 61-36. 

Twelve Republicans voted for the legislation, which will head to U.S. President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law after final passage in the U.S. House.    

“Our community really needs a win, we have been through a lot,” said Kelley Robinson, the incoming president of Human Rights Campaign, which advocates on LGBTQ issues. “As a queer person who is married, I feel a sense of relief right now. I know my family is safe.” 

The legislation repeals the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act that defines marriage as between a man and a woman under federal law. It would also require states to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages performed in other states, although it does not prevent states from passing laws banning those marriages.    

“This legislation unites Americans,” Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin, one of the act’s co-sponsors and the first openly gay woman elected to the U.S. Senate, said earlier when the bill passed a preliminary vote. 

“With the Respect for Marriage Act, we can ease the fear that millions of same-sex and interracial couples have that their freedoms and their rights could be stripped away by passing this bill,” Baldwin said. “We are guaranteeing same-sex and interracial couples, regardless of where they live, that their marriage is legal, and that they will continue to enjoy the rights and responsibilities that all other marriages are afforded.” 

Same-sex marriage legalized in 2015

The U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage at the federal level in its 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision. But the court’s Dobbs v. Jackson decision in June overturning a right to abortion at the federal level raised concerns about federal protections for other rights.  

In his concurring opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the court should reconsider other decisions based on the right to privacy, such as guarantees for the right to marry or the right to use birth control, arguing the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee those rights. Thomas’ opinion led to widespread concern the court would next move to overturn the right to same-sex marriage. A bipartisan group of senators worked on the Respect for Marriage Act to address this possibility.  

Republican Senator Mike Lee said on the Senate floor during debate that this legislation was unnecessary.    

“A single line from a single concurring opinion does not make the case for legislation that seriously threatens religious liberty. The Respect for Marriage Act is unnecessary. States are not denying recognition of same-sex marriage. And there’s no serious risk of anyone losing recognition,” he said.  

Legislation heads back to House

The legislation passed the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this year with support from 47 Republicans. It now heads back to the House so that members can vote on religious liberty protection amendments added in the Senate.  

Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit organization advancing religious freedom, said in a statement that the Respect for Marriage Act was unconstitutional and does not provide “any protection for religious individuals or organizations, and the subsequent amendments to the bill exclude a large percentage of constitutionally and statutorily protected religious organizations.”    

But Republican Senator Susan Collins, another co-sponsor of the legislation, said on the Senate floor that concerns about religious liberty were a false argument.  

“This legislation would make clear in federal law that nonprofit religious organizations and religious educational institutions cannot be compelled to participate in or support the solicitation or celebration of marriages that are contrary to their religious beliefs,” she said.  

In a May 2022 Gallup poll, 71% of Americans said they support same-sex marriage. Only 27% supported it when the poll was first taken in 1996. 
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Right-wing Oath Keepers Founder Convicted of Sedition in US Capitol Attack Plot

Stewart Rhodes, founder of the right-wing Oath Keepers militia group, was convicted by a jury on Tuesday of seditious conspiracy for last year’s attack on the U.S. Capitol in a failed bid to overturn then-President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss — an important victory for the Justice Department.

Rhodes, a Yale Law School-educated former Army paratrooper and disbarred attorney, was accused by prosecutors during an eight-week trial of fomenting a plot to use force to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s election victory over Trump.

Rhodes was the best-known of the five defendants in the most significant of the numerous trials arising from the deadly January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. One co-defendant, Kelly Meggs, was also found guilty of seditious conspiracy on Tuesday, while three others — Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell — were acquitted of that charge.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta has presided over the trial. The jury deliberated for three days.

One of about 900 charged

Rhodes, who wears an eye patch after accidentally shooting himself in the face with his own gun, is one of the most prominent defendants of the roughly 900 charged so far in connection with the attack.

In 2009, Rhodes founded the Oath Keepers, a militia group whose members include current and retired U.S. military personnel, law enforcement officers and first responders. Its members have showed up, often heavily armed, at protests and political events around the United States including the racial justice demonstrations following the murder of a Black man named George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer.

Prosecutors during the trial said Rhodes and his co-defendants planned to use force to prevent Congress from formally certifying Biden’s election victory. Meggs, Watkins and Harrelson all entered the Capitol clad in tactical gear.

The defendants were accused of creating a “quick reaction force” that prosecutors said positioned at a nearby Virginia hotel and was equipped with firearms that could be quickly transported into Washington if summoned.

50 witnesses

Fifty witnesses testified during the trial. Rhodes and two of his co-defendants testified in their own defense. They denied plotting any attack or seeking to block Congress from certifying the election results, though Watkins admitted to impeding police officers protecting the Capitol.

Rhodes told the jury he had no plan to storm the Capitol and did not learn that some of his fellow Oath Keepers had breached the building until after the riot had ended.

Prosecutors during cross-examination sought to paint Rhodes as a liar, showing him page after page of his inflammatory text messages, videos, photos and audio recordings. These included Rhodes lamenting about not bringing rifles to Washington on January 6 and saying he could have hanged U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat reviled by the right, from a lamppost.

Watkins, a transgender woman who fled the U.S. Army after being confronted with homophobic slurs, and Caldwell, a disabled U.S. Navy veteran, also chose to testify.

Watkins admitted to having “criminal liability” for impeding police officers inside the Capitol and apologized. At the same time, Watkins denied having any plan to storm the building, describing being “swept up” just as enthusiastic shoppers behave on “Black Friday” when they rush into stores to purchase discount-price holiday gifts like TVs.

Caldwell, who like Rhodes did not enter the Capitol building and never formally joined the Oath Keepers, tried to downplay some of the inflammatory texts he sent in connection with the attack. Caldwell said some of the lines were adapted from or inspired by movies such as “The Princess Bride” and cartoons such as Bugs Bunny.

Four other Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy are due to go to trial in December. Members of another right-wing group called the Proud Boys, including its former chairman Enrique Tarrio, also are due to head to trial on seditious conspiracy charges in December.
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Georgia Runoff: Early Voting for Warnock-Walker Round 2

In-person early voting for the last U.S. Senate seat is underway statewide in Georgia’s runoff, with Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock working to get the jump on Republican challenger Herschel Walker who is putting less emphasis on advance balloting. 

After winning a state lawsuit to allow Saturday voting after Thanksgiving, Warnock spent the weekend urging his supporters not to wait until December 6 to vote. Trying to leverage his role as pastor of Martin Luther King Jr.’s church and Georgia’s first Black U.S. senator, Warnock concentrated his efforts Sunday among Black communities in metro Atlanta. 

“What we are doing right now is soul work,” Warnock said at Liberty International Church southwest of downtown, where he rallied supporters before leading a march to a nearby early voting site where he cast his ballot. “We are engaged in a political exercise,” Warnock continued, “but this is moral and spiritual work, and for us that has always been based on the foundation of the church.” 

Walker, in contrast, did not hold public events over the long Thanksgiving weekend, and he has not emphasized early voting in his runoff campaign appearances, even as the Republican Party and its aligned PACs attempt to drive voter turnout after Walker underperformed other Georgia Republicans in the general election. Walker finished the first round with about 200,000 fewer votes than Governor Brian Kemp, who easily won a second term. Walker resumes his campaign Monday with stops in small-town Toccoa and suburban Cumming. 

Early in-person voting continues through Friday. Runoff Election Day is December 6. 

Warnock led Walker by about 37,000 votes out of about 4 million cast in the general election but fell short of the majority required under Georgia law, triggering a four-week runoff blitz. Warnock first won the seat as part of concurrent Senate runoffs on January 5, 2021, when he and Senator Jon Ossoff prevailed over Republican incumbents to give Democrats narrow control of the Senate for the start of President Joe Biden’s tenure. Warnock won a special election and now is seeking a full six-year term. 

This time, Senate control is not in play, with Democrats already having secured 50 seats to go with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tiebreaking vote. That puts pressure on both Warnock and Walker to convince Georgia voters that it’s worth their time to cast a second ballot, even if the national stakes aren’t as high. 

As of late Sunday, almost 200,000 ballots had been cast in the relative handful of counties that opted to have weekend voting. That total was built on long lines in several heavily Democratic counties of metro Atlanta, enough to give Democrats confidence that their core supporters remain excited to vote for Warnock. But the total remains a small fraction of the nearly 2.3 million early in-person voters ahead of the November 8 general election. 

And Democrats remain cautious given that the early voting window is much shorter than two years ago, when the second round spanned two months between the general election and runoff. Voting on Saturday was allowed only because Warnock and Democrats sued amid a dispute with the Republican secretary of state over whether Saturday voting could occur on a holiday weekend. 

The senator followed up with a parade of Black leaders for weekend rallies and a march reminiscent of voting rights demonstrations during the civil rights movement. 

“We have one vote here that can change the world,” Andrew Young, a former Atlanta mayor and onetime aide to King, implored Black voters on Sunday. Rising from his wheelchair to speak, the 90-year-old former congressman and U.N. ambassador reminded the assembly of the congressional compromise that ended post-Civil War Reconstruction and paved the way for Jim Crow segregation across the South. 

“One vote at the end of the Civil War pulled all of the Union troops out of the South and lost us the rights we had fought for in the war and that people had fought for us,” he said, starting “a struggle that we have been in ever since.” 

Warnock was shifting to a suburban focus late Monday with an evening concert headlined by the Dave Matthews Band. 

Walker, for his part, has drawn enthusiastic crowds in the early weeks of the runoff, as well, and his campaign aides remain confident that he has no problem among core Republicans. His challenge comes with the middle of the Georgia electorate, a gap highlighted by his shortfall compared with Kemp. 

“I feel Herschel Walker benefited by having Brian Kemp in the original election on November 8, and I think Kemp not being there will hurt the Republicans a little bit,” said Alpharetta resident Marcelo Salvatierra, who voted for Republican Kemp and Democrat Warnock and still supports the senator in the runoff. 

 
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The Somali Diaspora and its Journey to Political Victories in the West

From refugees to elected office, 14 Somali Americans have won legislative seats across the U.S. this year. Some also have been elected to city councils, school boards and the boards of parks and recreation in their respective cities. The U.S. midterm elections have proved to be historic for Somalis, with more women elected to public offices than ever before.

VOA Somali Service’s Torch Program explains how Somalis who arrived as migrants and refugees to the West have made their way into politics.

Hashi Shafi, executive director of the Somali Action Alliance, a Minneapolis-based community organization in the northern U.S. state of Minnesota, says the campaign that led Somalis to shine in U.S. politics started right after 9/11 with a community-based voter registration program.

“In the beginning, Somalis were thinking about returning back to Somalia. They had their luggage ready; the artists were singing with songs giving the community a hope of immediate returning, but after 9/11, the community activists realized that such a dream was not realistic, and the Somalis needed to find a way to melt into the pot. Then, we started registering community members to encourage them to vote,” Shafi said. “Somali Americans’ rise in political power has come with its difficulties.”

Tight-knit community

Abdirahman Sharif, the imam and the leader of the Dar-Al-Hijrah Mosque in Minneapolis says another reason Somalis have risen in U.S. politics is because they are a tight-knit community.

“When Somalis came to [the] U.S., they moved to a foreign country where they could not communicate with people. So, for them, being close to people from their country meant having someone to communicate with and that helped them to unite their votes, and resources for political aspirants,” Sharif said.

The state of Minnesota has the largest Somali community in the country, mostly in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. According to U.N. estimates from 2015, there are about 150,000 Somalis, both refugees and nonrefugees, living in the U.S.

The first wave of Somalis came to Minnesota in early 1990s after civil war broke out in their country. Another wave of refugees followed, and the community thrived, thanks to the state’s welcoming social programs. It’s the biggest Somali community in North America, possibly in the world outside of East Africa.

Similarly, job opportunities and a relatively low cost of living have drawn Somali immigrants to Columbus, Ohio. Ohio has the second largest Somali population in the United States, with an estimated 45,000 immigrants.

Communities have grown significantly in both states. Somali-owned restaurants, mosques, clothing stores, coffee shops and other businesses have opened in several neighborhoods in Minneapolis, called Little Mogadishu, named after Somalia’s capital.

Large communities of Somalis are also concentrated in Lewiston and Portland, Maine, as well as Seattle in Washington state, and the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

Analyst Abdi-Qafar Abdi Wardere says such concentrations have helped Somalis to gather their strength as a community.

“Somalis are bound together by intimate social or cultural ties that helped them to live together and concentrate [in] certain states or neighborhoods in the diaspora. About one-third of Minnesota’s Somali residents came directly from refugee camps; others settled first in another state and then relocated to Minnesota. I can say they are somehow a tight-knit community,” Wardere said.

Canada and Europe

It’s not only in the United States but Somali immigrants have also found their place in Canadian and European politics. They have gathered in big numbers in major cities to have an impact and exert influence.

In Toronto, Canada, Somalis have made breakthroughs by winning elections and political offices. Ahmed Hussen, a lawyer and community activist born and raised in Somalia, is among the most influential Somalis in Canada. He was first elected as a member of parliament in 2015 to represent York South – Weston. He has previously served as minister of families, children and social development, and minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship. Now he is Canada’s minister of housing, diversity and inclusion.

Faisal Ahmed Hassan, who is a Somali Canadian politician, was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2018 until his defeat in 2022. He thinks for Somalis in the diaspora, there are two reasons they run for political office.

“One reason is that the community wants someone to represent their new homes and second is that Somalis inspire one another to doing something. If one of them does something good, others are encouraged that they can do the same,” Hassan said.

In the Nordic region of Europe, the first Somalis arrived in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Later, as Somalia’s civil war became more intense, new arrivals joined.

In recent years, the first generation of Somali refugees has been making its mark in politics, from the local council level to the national stage.

In Finland, Suldaan Said Ahmed has been the first Somali-born member of the Finnish parliament since 2021 and he is also the country’s special representative on peace mediation in the Horn of Africa, the northeastern region, where Somalia is located.

In Sweden, Leila Ali Elmi, a former Somali refugee, made history in 2018 becoming the first Somali-Swedish Muslim woman elected to the Swedish parliament.

Last year, Marian Abdi Hussein became the first Somali MP in Norway’s history.

Both women also became the first Muslims to wear hijabs in their respect houses of parliament.

In Britain, Magid Magid, a Somali-British activist and politician who served as the mayor of Sheffield from May 2018 to May 2019, became the first Somali elected to the European Parliament.

Mohamed Gure, a former member of the council of the city of Borlänge, Sweden, said there are unique things that keep Somalis together and make them successful in the politics in Europe.

“The fabric of Somalis is unique compared to the other diaspora communities. They share the same ethnicity, color, language, and religion. There are many things that keep them together that divide them back home. So, their togetherness is one reason I can attribute to their successes,” Gure said.

Gure says the fear of migrants and refugees stoked by politicians has been setting a defining narrative for elections in the West.

“One other reason is the fear of a growing number of migrants and refugees in the West. As they are trying to melt into the pot, such fear created by nationalist politicians continues to set a tone for electoral victories that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago,” Gure said.
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Thwarting a Red Wave, Gen Z Emerges as Powerful Voting Force

Driven by concerns about climate change, public education and, to a lesser extent, access to abortion, 21-year-old Ava Alferez made sure to vote in the 2022 midterm elections.

“I don’t think it’s right to complain about something if you don’t get out there and vote,” says the Virginia college student, who describes herself as a liberal democrat. “I also think that every vote matters.”

Alferez is among millions of America’s youngest voters who voted in near-record numbers during the 2022 midterms, breaking heavily for Democrats, and thwarting an anticipated ‘red wave’ that many expected would hand Republicans a significant majority in Congress. The strong showing signals that Gen Z is a rising political force.

“I think Republicans don’t account for Gen Z and they don’t realize the impact that we will have, especially within the next five years,” says Eric Miller, a 20-year-old Virginia college student who identifies as a Republican and says he voted for Donald Trump in 2020. “I think the 2022 midterms are a little bit of a wake-up call for Republicans to be more in touch with young people.”

Midterm elections occur halfway through a president’s four-year term. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives — where members serve two-year terms — and 35 of 100 Senate seats were up for grabs in 2022.

Historically, the president’s political party almost always loses seats in Congress with the opposing party traditionally making significant gains. Republicans did pick up a majority in the House this election cycle, but only by a handful of seats, while Democrats narrowly held on to the Senate.

“I think the data is going to bear out that young voters were quite consequential in many of these swing states and some of these elections,” says John Wihbey, an associate professor of media innovation and technology at Northeastern University.

The early numbers from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE) suggest that 27% of people between the ages of 18 and 29 cast ballots Nov. 8, the second-highest youth midterms turnout in 30 years. (The highest was in 2018.)

“It is reproductive rights, climate change, immigration, racial justice, gender justice,” says Wihbey, listing the issues that drove young people to the polls.

Young evangelicals are not that different from their more liberal peers, according to a recent survey.

“They are diversity and equity conscious, more so than older generations and, therefore, they’re going to take those things seriously and listen to people who talk about those things, like AOC [New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] or [Vermont Sen.] Bernie Sanders,” says Kevin Singer, co-director of Neighborly Faith, a partner in the study. “They’re very, I guess you could say, cosmopolitan when it comes to their political perspectives.”

Wihbey says Gen Z doesn’t get its news from traditional sources like newspapers but rather gets secondhand or filtered news from social media, which has resulted in young voters forming opinions about politics at a much greater rate than previous generations.

“I wouldn’t say that’s surprising at all because everyone’s just on their phones all the time on social media,” says Alferez, who says she has voted in every election since reaching voting age. “It would make sense that they get all their information on TikTok or maybe if they see a political post, they’ll still look in the comments and everyone’s very opinionated and comments, and they’ll probably form opinions based on that.”

CIRCLE’s early analysis shows that young voter turnout may have delivered key wins for Democrats in some battleground states, but that doesn’t mean either political party can take the youth vote for granted.

“It’s possible that younger voters will be less tethered to a particular party and may vote on an issue basis more frequently,” Wihbey says. “I think part of what the digital world does is it creates fewer strong ties to particular parties or causes and emphasizes the new or the rising social issue.”

That appears to be true of young voters across the political spectrum, according to the results of the survey of young evangelicals.

“They’re less beholden to the Republican Party, I think, than older generations are, and we also see that they listen to Fox News and, say, CNN at about the same rate,” Singer says. “They listen to Joe Biden and listen to Elon Musk, and that’s not a huge surprise given that Generation Z is a lot more comfortable with drawing inspiration from a variety of sources than they are being held to the norms of certain institutions.”

Miller, the young Republican voter, says his generation is less interested in partisan bickering and more interested in finding common ground.

“We do a little more research. We don’t just watch, maybe, Fox News, and we listen to the other side, what they’re trying to say,” Miller says. “I think the center is where everything is key. Obviously, I don’t think the extremes will ever get along in any kind of time frame. But I think we can reach out to moderate Democrats, even liberals — but just not progressive liberals maybe — but I definitely see a way forward.”

The results of the survey of young evangelicals appears to confirm increased openness on the part of Gen Z conservatives.

“Young evangelicals are frankly just more peaceable with others than older generations are. Our study found that, for example, they’re more likely to be engaged with people of different faiths than their faith leaders encourage them to be,” Singer says. “There’s definitely more of an enthusiasm about diversity and pluralism and I think, for that reason, they’re more likely to entertain the perspectives of those with whom their parents would disagree.”

Signs of youth voter enthusiasm were evident ahead of Election Day. CIRCLE found that youth voter registration was up compared to 2018, especially in places where abortion-related issues were on the ballot, or where voters recently voted on abortion-related measures.

“My worry is that, as we see a lot of policy whiplash, whether it’s on reproductive rights or on other things, that they become cynical or disengage,” Wihbey says. “I think one of the most important things here is that they see the political system that we have in our democracy as an important lever of social change, and not as something that just is a kind of dead end.”
…

As Trump Looms, South Koreans Mull Their Own Nukes

In December 2019, then-U.S. President Donald Trump was asked whether he thought it was worth it to have “all those” U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.

“It could be debated. I could go either way,” Trump answered.

The comments came at the height of tense negotiations over Trump’s demand that Seoul pay much more to host approximately 28,000 U.S. troops.

Trump’s answer did not come out of the blue. Throughout his time as president — and in fact, even before and after his presidency — Trump regularly questioned the value of the U.S.-South Korea alliance.

According to I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year, a 2021 book by two Washington Post journalists, Trump privately told close aides that he planned to “blow up” the U.S.-South Korea alliance if he won reelection in 2020.

In part because he lost that election, no one knows how serious Trump was about upending the U.S. relationship with South Korea.

Some analysts say Trump was only being transactional, as he was with many other allies, and that he never intended to abandon Seoul.

Others are not so sure, noting Trump once went so far as to suggest South Korea should get its own nuclear weapons so that Seoul could protect itself.

Faced with an increasingly hostile and nuclear-armed neighbor, South Korea can afford little ambiguity on the matter, which helps explain why a growing number of prominent voices in Seoul would like to see if Trump’s nuke offer still stands.

Going mainstream

One of the most outspoken advocates of South Korea getting its own nuclear weapons is Cheong Seong-chang, a senior researcher at the Sejong Institute, a nonpartisan foreign policy research organization outside Seoul.

Cheong spoke to VOA several days after Trump announced his 2024 presidential bid. He said it is not just the possible return of Trump that is concerning — it’s the chance that his America First ideas will have a lasting impact on U.S. foreign policy.

“The United States has a presidential election every four years…[it] may go back to isolationism, which is why South Korea’s own nuclear armament is essential to maintain stable security and deter North Korea,” Cheong told VOA.

Fringe figures have long called for South Korea to acquire nuclear weapons, but recently the proposal has gone mainstream. This year, several well-known scholars have proposed Seoul either acquire its own nuclear arsenal or request the redeployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons that were removed in the early 1990s.

A poll published in May by the conservative Asan Institute for Policy Studies suggested that more than 70% of South Koreans support their country developing indigenous nuclear weapons — the highest level of support since the organization began asking the question in 2010.

Cheong is trying to turn that support into something more organized. In early November, he launched the ROK Forum for Nuclear Strategy, which promotes South Korea’s nuclear armament and discusses plans to make it happen. In its infancy, the group already has more than 40 members, according to Cheong.

Not just Trump

Trump is far from the only factor driving South Korea’s nuclear arms debate.

South Korean leaders are also alarmed at the rapid development of North Korea’s nuclear weapons. North Korea has conducted a record number of launches this year, including both long-range missiles that could reach the United States and shorter-range ones that threaten Seoul. U.S. and South Korean officials say North Korea could conduct another nuclear test soon.

North Korea has also embraced a more aggressive nuclear posture. In October, leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a series of launches simulating a tactical nuclear strike on South Korea. The North is likely moving ahead with deploying tactical nuclear weapons to frontline positions, analysts say.

In addition, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has underscored the risks that non-nuclear states face when confronted with an aggressive, nuclear-armed neighbor.

Although South Korea is protected by the U.S. nuclear umbrella, some South Korean analysts believe the United States may be reluctant to respond to a North Korean attack if Pyongyang has the ability to destroy a major U.S. city — in essence, the fear is that the United States would not want to risk San Francisco to save Seoul.

“North Korea believes there’s a slight chance that they could get away with a nuclear attack without getting a reprisal from the United States,” said Chun In-bum, a retired lieutenant general in the South Korean army.

Big obstacles

In Chun’s view, acquiring nuclear weapons is one way for South Korea to guarantee its security, although he acknowledges major barriers.

Among the uncertainties is the question of how China, Russia, and others in the region would respond. For instance, would Japan, another U.S. ally in Northeast Asia, feel compelled to get its own nuclear weapons?

Analysts are also unsure exactly how the United States would react if South Korea eventually did begin pursuing nuclear weapons. And many South Koreans who support acquiring nukes hint they would tread cautiously with that in mind.

“It’s not as if I’m going to risk the alliance in order to have South Korea get nuclear weapons. But what happens if the U.S. president says he’s going to pull U.S. troops from Korea? What if that becomes a reality?” asked Chun.

In some ways, the situation mirrors the 1970s, when South Korea briefly pursued a nuclear weapons program amid questions about the long-term U.S. security commitment.

Instead, South Korea ratified the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. It is now uncertain what consequences South Korea would face for abandoning its commitments under the pact.

Reassurance limits

When asked about the issue in recent months, Pentagon and State Department officials have ruled out the idea of returning tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea. Instead, they have focused on how the U.S. is prepared to use the full range of its capabilities, including nuclear weapons, to defend South Korea.

At a meeting earlier this month with his U.S. counterpart, Lloyd Austin, South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup said Seoul is not considering the return of tactical nuclear weapons and remains committed to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

At that Pentagon meeting, both sides agreed to several measures meant to reinforce the U.S. security commitment. The steps included increasing the deployment of U.S. strategic assets, such as long-range bombers and aircraft carriers, to South Korea, and vowing that any North Korean nuclear strike “will result in the end of the Kim regime.”

What they didn’t discuss, at least according to the 10-page joint communique released following the meeting, was Trump or his America First ideas — perhaps the one area where U.S. officials can offer the least reassurance.

“You can’t,” said Jenny Town, a Korea specialist at the Washington-based Stimson Center.

“Democracies are democracies and policies can shift,” she said.

Much depends on how Trump and his ideas fare in the 2024 elections. But even if Trump loses again, Town said, many in South Korea will have concerns about the future.

“It isn’t business as usual anymore,” she said. “It’s recent memory, and it doesn’t fade very quickly.”
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Republicans Critical of Biden’s Stance During Meeting with Xi

Congressional Republicans mostly condemned President Joe Biden for saying that there “need not be a new Cold War” between the U.S. and China, following a three-hour summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Indonesia.

A few Republicans, however, joined members of Biden’s Democratic Party in cautiously welcoming signs that the meeting may have helped to head off misunderstandings that could lead to unnecessary conflict.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas tweeted, “Joe Biden has again failed to address or even acknowledge China’s Cold War against the United States. His naive return to a policy of appeasement will hurt the United States, endanger Taiwan, and further embolden Xi Jinping.”

Biden also said, “I don’t think there’s any imminent attempt by China to invade Taiwan,” despite escalating military moves by Beijing in the Taiwan Strait.

Before the meeting, Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told VOA that “if the senior leaders or the president, the vice president of the United States are able to speak with the Chinese leaders to address the concerns about the peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait or China’s violation of the status quo, I think it’s going to be very helpful to regional peace.”

Biden’s remarks drew a backlash from several Republican lawmakers.

Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn, also a Republican, tweeted, “Xi Jinping is focused on global domination, not working with the Biden administration on climate change.”

Meetings described as ‘candid and constructive’

The leaders of the world’s two largest economies met this week on the eve of the G-20 summit in Bali. Each of the men had scored recent political victories at home — Xi starting an unprecedented third term and Biden riding on what is seen as a win for his Democratic Party after a strong showing in the U.S. midterm elections.

The two engaged in a frank conversation about their respective priorities and intentions on a range of issues, according to minutes of the meeting released by the White House.

Biden emphasized the necessity for the U.S. and China to work together on transnational challenges, including climate change, global macroeconomic stability including debt relief, health security, and global food security, according to the readout.

China’s Foreign Ministry said, “Both presidents viewed the meeting as in-depth, candid and constructive. They instructed their teams to promptly follow up and implement the important common understandings reached between them, and take concrete actions to put China-U.S. relations back on the track of steady development.”

Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who is vice chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence and a senior member of the Committee on Foreign Relations, said the Bali meeting was not a turning point in U.S.-China relations.

Rubio told VOA Mandarin during an interview on Monday that “no meeting is going to solve the deep issues between the U.S. and China … which will remain the challenge of the centuries.”

In a written statement issued on Monday before Xi and Biden met, Rubio criticized Biden for “dangerously” misunderstanding “the CCP [Chinese Communist Party], which openly pushes for conflict with the United States and its allies.”

“This meeting should have held the CCP accountable for its rampant human rights abuses, ongoing theft of American intellectual property, and its refusal to investigate the origins of COVID-19,” Rubio said. “Instead, President Biden demonstrated that he is willing to sacrifice everything — including our national security and the security of our allies — for the sake of pursuing ill-fated climate talks with our nation’s greatest adversary.”

‘It’s good that we’re talking’

Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, however, thinks the long meeting indicated a positive development.

“Three hours isn’t necessarily a good sign, but I think it’s positive, because there’re so many issues, and that tells me that both went into the meeting understanding how important U.S.-China communication is at a minimum,” he told VOA Mandarin on Monday. “So I was happy to hear that.”

Republican Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota told VOA Mandarin on Monday that it’s important to maintain good relations with China.

“The Chinese Communist Party may have different points of view about how to get there,” he said. “We want to make clear our positions, but we also want them to understand that you would much rather have peace than to have conflict.

“I am always hopeful that communications and diplomacy can win out,” he added. “Time will tell whether or not we had a successful meeting. But it’s good that we’re talking.”

Democratic Representative Gregory Meeks of New York and Republican Representative Ami Bera of California said in a statement that “candid dialogue and sustained diplomacy are necessary to ensure that this competition is healthy, constructive, and does not devolve into conflict.”

But, they added, engagement with China “will continue to be based on the principle of strategic competition … as long as Beijing continues to ignore international rules and norms — whether it’s China’s aggression in the Taiwan Strait, its genocide in Xinjiang, its oppression in Hong Kong and Tibet, or its support for Russia’s and North Korea’s destabilizing actions.”

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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US Senate Advances Protection for Same-Sex, Interracial Marriages at Federal Level  

U.S. senators took a key step toward protecting same-sex and interracial marriages Wednesday as they advanced the Respect for Marriage Act, 62-37, to a final vote.

Twelve Republicans voted to advance the legislation, which will head to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law after final passage in the U.S. House.

The legislation would repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act that defines marriage as between a man and a woman under federal law. It would also require states to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages performed in other states, although it would not prevent states from passing laws banning those marriages.

“This legislation unites Americans,” Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin, one of the act’s co-sponsors and the first openly gay woman elected to the U.S. Senate, said Wednesday. “With the Respect for Marriage Act, we can ease the fear that millions of same-sex and interracial couples have – that their freedoms and their rights could be stripped away – by passing this bill. We are guaranteeing same-sex and interracial couples, regardless of where they live, that their marriage is legal, and that they will continue to enjoy the rights and responsibilities that all other marriages are afforded.”

Abortion ruling

The U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage at the federal level in the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision. But the court’s Dobbs v. Jackson decision in June overturning a right to abortion at the federal level raised concerns about federal protections for other rights.

In his concurring opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the court should reconsider other decisions based on the right to privacy, such as guarantees for the right to marry or the right to use birth control, arguing the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee those rights. Thomas’ opinion led to widespread concern the court would next move to overturn the right to same-sex marriage. A bipartisan group of senators worked on the Respect for Marriage Act to address this possibility.

A version of the legislation passed the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this year with support from 47 Republicans.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who was reelected last week to represent the Southeastern state of Florida, told cable news network CNN earlier this year the bill was “a stupid waste of time.”

The Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit organization advancing religious freedom, said in a statement Tuesday that the Respect for Marriage Act was unconstitutional and did not provide “any protection for religious individuals or organizations, and the subsequent amendments to the bill exclude a large percentage of constitutionally and statutorily protected religious organizations.”

But Republican Senator Susan Collins, another co-sponsor of the legislation, said on the Senate floor Wednesday that concerns about religious liberty were a false argument.

“This legislation would make clear in federal law that nonprofit religious organizations and religious educational institutions cannot be compelled to participate in or support the solicitation or celebration of marriages that are contrary to their religious beliefs,” she said.

In a May 2022 Gallup poll, 71% of Americans said they supported same-sex marriage. Only 27% supported it when the poll was first taken in 1996.

 
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Republicans Win Slim Majority in US House of Representatives

Republicans won control of the U.S. House on Wednesday, returning the party to power in Washington and giving conservatives leverage to blunt President Joe Biden’s agenda and spur a flurry of investigations. But a threadbare majority will pose immediate challenges for Republican leaders and complicate the party’s ability to govern.

More than a week after Election Day, Republicans secured the 218th seat needed to flip the House from Democratic control. The full scope of the party’s majority may not be clear for several more days — or weeks — as votes in competitive races are still being counted.

But they are on track to cobble together what could be the party’s narrowest majority of the 21st century, rivaling 2001, when Republicans had just a nine-seat majority, 221-212 with two independents. That’s far short of the sweeping victory Republicans predicted going into this year’s midterm elections, when the party hoped to reset the agenda on Capitol Hill by capitalizing on economic challenges and Biden’s lagging popularity.

Instead, Democrats showed surprising resilience, holding on to moderate, suburban districts from Virginia to Minnesota to Kansas. The results could complicate House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy’s plans to become speaker as some conservative members have questioned whether to back him or have imposed conditions for their support.

Despite the Republicans’ underwhelming showing, the party will still have notable power. Republicans will take control of key committees, giving them the ability to shape legislation and launch investigations of Biden, his family and his administration. There’s particular interest in investigating the overseas business dealings of the president’s son, Hunter Biden. Some of the most conservative lawmakers have raised the prospect of impeaching Biden, though that will be much harder for the party to accomplish with a tight majority.

Any legislation that emerges from the House could face steep odds in the Senate, where Democrats won the barest of majorities Saturday. Both parties are looking to a December 6 Senate runoff in Georgia as a last chance to pad their ranks.

Potential for legislative chaos

With such a slim majority in the House, there’s also a potential for legislative chaos. The dynamic essentially gives an individual member enormous sway over shaping what happens in the chamber. That could lead to particularly tricky circumstances for Republican leaders as they try to win support for must-pass measures that keep the government funded or raise the debt ceiling.

The Republicans’ failure to notch more wins — they needed a net gain of five seats to take the majority — was especially surprising because the party went into the election benefiting from congressional maps that were redrawn by Republican legislatures. History was also on Republicans’ side: The party that holds the White House had lost congressional seats during virtually every new president’s first midterm of the modern era.

New leadership

The new majority will usher in a new group of leaders in Washington. If elected to succeed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the top post, McCarthy would lead what will likely be a rowdy conference of House Republicans, most of whom are aligned with former President Donald Trump’s bare-knuckle brand of politics. Many Republicans in the incoming Congress rejected the results of the 2020 presidential election, even though claims of widespread fraud were refuted by courts, elections officials and Trump’s own attorney general.

Republican candidates pledged on the campaign trail to cut taxes and tighten border security. Republican lawmakers also could withhold aid to Ukraine as it fights a war with Russia or use the threat of defaulting on the nation’s debt as leverage to extract cuts from social spending and entitlements — though all such pursuits will be tougher given how small the Republican majority may end up being.

As a senator and then vice president, Biden spent a career crafting legislative compromises with Republicans. But as president, he was clear about what he viewed as the threats posed by the current Republican Party.

Biden said the midterms showed voters want Democrats and Republicans to find ways to cooperate and govern in a bipartisan manner, but also noted that Republicans didn’t achieve the electoral surge they’d been betting on and vowed, “I’m not going to change anything in any fundamental way.”
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McConnell Reelected Senate GOP Leader; Scott’s Bid Rejected

Senator Mitch McConnell was reelected as Republican leader Wednesday, quashing a challenge from Senator Rick Scott of Florida, the Senate GOP campaign chief criticized over his party’s midterm election failures. 

Retreating to the Capitol’s Old Senate Chamber for the private vote, Republicans had faced public infighting following a disappointing performance in last week’s elections that kept Senate control with Democrats. 

McConnell, of Kentucky, easily swatted back the challenge from Scott in the first-ever attempt to oust him after many years as GOP leader. The vote was 37-10, senators said, with one other senator voting present. Senators first rejected an attempt by McConnell’s detractors to delay the leadership choice until after the Senate runoff election in Georgia next month. 

The unrest is similar to the uproar among House Republicans in the aftermath of the midterm elections that left the party split over former President Donald Trump’s hold on the party. House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy won the nomination from colleagues to run for House speaker, with Republicans on the cusp of seizing the House majority, but he faces stiff opposition from a core group of right-flank Republicans unconvinced of his leadership. 

On Wednesday, the senators first considered a motion by a Scott ally, Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, to delay the leadership votes until after the December 6 runoff election in Georgia between Republican Herschel Walker and incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock that will determine the final makeup of the Senate. Walker was eligible to vote in the leadership election but wasn’t expected to be present. 

Cruz said it was a “cordial discussion, but a serious discussion” about how Republicans in the minority can work effectively. 

In all, 48 GOP senators voted. Retiring Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska missed the vote to be home after his office said his wife was recovering from a nonthreatening seizure. 

The 10 Republican senators joining in the revolt against McConnell and voting for Scott included some of the most conservative figures and those aligned with Trump. 

“Why do I think he won?” said Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo., among McConnell’s detractors. “Because the conference didn’t want to change course.” 

Senators were also electing others in the Republican leadership. Democrats have postponed their internal elections until after Thanksgiving. 

McConnell’s top leadership ranks are expected to remain stable, with Senator John Thune, R-S.D., as GOP whip, and Senator John Barrasso, R-Wyo., in the No. 3 spot as chairman of the GOP conference. Montana Republican Senator Steve Daines was expected take over the campaign operation from Scott. 

The challenge by Scott, who was urged by Trump to confront McConnell, escalated a long-simmering feud between Scott, who led the Senate Republican’s campaign arm this year, and McConnell over the party’s approach to try to reclaim the Senate majority. 

“If you simply want to stick with the status quo, don’t vote for me,” Scott said in a letter to Senate Republicans offering himself as a protest vote against McConnell. 

Restive conservatives in the chamber have lashed out at McConnell’s handling of the election, as well as his iron grip over the Senate Republican caucus. 

Trump has been pushing for the party to dump McConnell ever since the Senate leader gave a scathing speech blaming then-President Trump for the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. 

Still, it represented an unusual direct challenge to McConnell’s authority. He would become the longest-serving Senate leader in history when the new Congress convenes next year. 

Scott and McConnell traded what colleagues said were “candid” and “lively” barbs during a lengthy private GOP senators lunch Tuesday that dragged for several hours. They sparred over the midterms, the quality of the GOP candidates who ran and their differences over fundraising. 

During the luncheon, some 20 senators made their individual cases for the two men. Some members directly challenged Scott in McConnell’s defense, including Maine Senator Susan Collins, who questioned the Florida senator’s management of the campaign arm, according to a person familiar with the meeting and granted anonymity to discuss it. 

Among the many reasons Scott listed for mounting a challenge is that Republicans had compromised too much with Democrats in the last Congress — producing bills that President Joe Biden has counted as successes and that Democrats ran on in the 2022 election. 

The feud between Scott and McConnell has been percolating for months and reached a boil as election results trickled in showing there would be no Republican Senate wave, as Scott predicted, according to senior Republican strategists who were not authorized to discuss internal issues by name and insisted on anonymity. 

The feuding started not long after Scott took over the party committee after the 2020 election. Many in the party viewed his ascension as an effort to build his national political profile and donor network ahead of a potential presidential bid in 2024. Some were irked by promotional materials from the committee that were heavy on Scott’s own biography, while focusing less on the candidates who are up for election. 

Then came Scott’s release of an 11-point plan early this year, which called for a modest tax increase for many of the lowest-paid Americans, while opening the door for cutting Social Security and Medicare, which McConnell swiftly repudiated even as he declined to offer an agenda of his own. 

The feud was driven in part by the fraying trust in Scott’s leadership, as well as poor finances of the committee, which was $20 million in debt, according to a senior Republican consultant. 

 
…

Elections Put New Voting Laws to the Test

America has one Senate contest from the 2022 midterm elections that remains undecided, requiring a runoff election December 6 in the southern U.S. state of Georgia where turnout was heavy last week despite new balloting restrictions that some observers had feared would depress turnout of poorer and minority voters.

“It was just a very successful election day,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told a press conference the day after the November 8 midterm contests in his state. Raffensperger, a Republican, said the state’s new voting laws did not impact turnout and that major snags on election day were avoided because a record number of people took advantage of pre-election day voting, such as absentee-by-mail and early in-person voting.

“We saw processing times to vote that led to two-minute average wait times across the state,” said the secretary of state. Georgia election officials said more votes were cast in the state in 2022 than in any prior midterm election.

Runoff in Georgia

In just weeks, voter turnout in Georgia will again be put to the test as Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock faces his Republican challenger, Herschel Walker. With more than 3.8 million total votes cast November 8, neither candidate received more than 50% of the vote in the three-way contest with a third-party candidate, triggering next month’s runoff election between the top two vote-getters.

The race between the two African American candidates has been the focus of national attention. Before the midterms, it was thought to be one of a handful of races that would decide which party controls the Senate for the next two years. Now, it will determine whether Democrats can boost their bare majority.

Getting out the vote one more time

The nation’s largest civil rights organization has launched efforts to once again mobilize Georgia’s African American and other minority voters who proved crucial in President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential victory in the state as well as the 2021 runoff elections of two Democratic senators. It was a historic outcome in Georgia, which has been a reliably Republican state for decades.

“We still have work to do,” said Gerald Griggs, president of the NAACP Georgia state chapter. “Our folks made sure record numbers of African Americans got out and voted. But we have a runoff election and it is time for us to get back out there and mobilize.”

Suley Usman, from Smyrna, Georgia, cast his ballot 10 days before Election Day with no problems.

“I’m absolutely motivated to vote again in the runoff election,” he told VOA. “I want a say in who is elected.”

Amid a contentious political climate in which many prominent Republicans falsely alleged voter fraud gave President Biden his 2020 victory, Georgia was one of more than 20 Republican-led states that overhauled their election laws in 2021, in what officials promoted as an attempt to boost confidence in the integrity of balloting. The measures included strengthening identification requirements for mail-in voting, reducing the number of days for early voting and restricting access to ballot drop boxes.

Critics called the new laws unfair and thinly veiled attempts to discourage voting by the poor and minorities.

“These types of tactics aim to suppress votes,” said Andrea Hailey, CEO of Vote.org, in a statement quoted by The Associated Press on Monday. In response, the organization and other voter advocacy groups launched programs to educate voters and overcome any negative impact the new voting laws may have had on turnout.

“Georgians have shown they are ready and willing to navigate tough voting environments in order to make their voices heard,” Hailey said.

In the past, Georgia’s runoff contests were held nine weeks after Election Day, but this year the runoff campaign season has been shortened to four weeks, a time period that precludes new voter registrations.

Some voters have taken note.

“I absolutely believe there are actions being taken on the whole voting apparatus and process that don’t need to be taken,” said Usman. “I think being an educated voter is key.”

Turnout and voting

Across the country, tens of millions of American voters let their voices be heard last week — in record numbers for midterms in many states — despite predictions of possible political violence, voter intimidation and disenfranchisement. Overall, relatively few voting problems were reported.

“We in the voting rights community in Texas were fearing the worst,” said Anthony Gutierrez, director of Common Cause Texas. “For the most part, it didn’t happen.”

In Arizona, isolated issues with voting machines sparked baseless claims about fraud. State officials quickly denied the accusations and declared confidence in the integrity of the election.

In other parts of the country, many voters said they experienced few, if any, difficulties casting their ballots.

“I’m glad there were no complications,” said Bill Murphy, a voter in Prince George’s County, Maryland, who expected long lines at his polling location but completed the process in 10 minutes.

“It shows the people who run the elections here were prepared this time,” he added.
…

Trump May Face Challenges in Organizing Republican Support

In the days leading up to former President Donald Trump’s announcement Tuesday evening that he would seek the Republican Party’s nomination again in 2024, influential voices in conservative political circles expressed their opposition to the idea of handing the party’s reins back to him.

With Trump leading the party after his election in 2016, Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives in 2018. Then in 2020, despite his false claims to the contrary, Trump lost the presidential election to Joe Biden and watched as his party also lost control of the Senate.

Last week in elections they were expected to dominate, Republicans failed to take over the Senate, and as of Tuesday, appeared poised to win the House of Representatives by only a slim margin. One reason for the underwhelming GOP performance was that a number of Trump’s hand-picked candidates underperformed other, more mainstream Republican candidates.

Tuesday morning, Ken Griffin, the billionaire founder of the Citadel hedge fund and a major donor to Republicans, voiced what many within the party have apparently been thinking.

“I’d like to think that the Republican Party is ready to move on from somebody who has been for this party a three-time loser,” Griffin said at an event sponsored by Bloomberg News in Singapore.

‘Sick and tired of losing’

Griffin is far from alone in his belief that Republicans need to distance themselves from the former president. Formerly friendly elected leaders and publications have also picked up the chorus.

Following the party’s worse-than-expected performance in the November 9 midterm elections, the conservative Wall Street Journal editorialized against Trump.

“Since his unlikely victory in 2016 against the widely disliked Hillary Clinton, Mr. Trump has a perfect record of electoral defeat.”

The editorial added, “Now Mr. Trump has botched the 2022 elections, and it could hand Democrats the Senate for two more years. Mr. Trump had policy successes as President, including tax cuts and deregulation, but he has led Republicans into one political fiasco after another. ‘We’re going to win so much,’ Mr. Trump once said, ‘that you’re going to get sick and tired of winning.’ Maybe by now Republicans are sick and tired of losing.”

Many in the party are turning away from Trump and looking for someone to take his place, with the most likely candidate being Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who shares many of Trump’s attributes when it comes to antagonizing the political left, and who won reelection in his state last week by a margin of nearly 20 percentage points.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis said, “The question is: Who is the current leader of the Republican Party? Oh, I know who it is: Ron DeSantis. … Ron DeSantis is the leader of the Republican Party, whether he wants to be or not.”

Countering DeSantis

Some longtime observers of U.S. elections believe Trump’s decision to announce his candidacy now is aimed at clearing the field of potential competitors for the Republican nomination and blocking DeSantis, in particular.

“The conventional wisdom in politics for a long time has been that you can ward off your challengers by raising money early and moving early in the game,” Jennifer N. Victor, an associate professor of political science at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government, told VOA. “And so, he’s clearly going for that kind of first-mover advantage.”

Further evidence of the former president’s concern about DeSantis is that he has recently attacked the governor in public remarks. Trump, who often bestows belittling nicknames on his rivals, has been referring to DeSantis as “Ron DeSanctimonious.”

In a lengthy statement after the midterm elections, Trump tried to minimize DeSantis’ reelection victory, noting that DeSantis won with fewer votes than Trump received in Florida in the 2020 race. The difference is likely attributable to the fact that turnout for U.S. elections in presidential years is much higher than in nonpresidential years, such as 2022.

‘Trumpism still healthy’

Some have speculated that Trump’s announcement, following so closely on the heels of the midterm elections, is meant to distract attention from the results, which are being used by some of the former president’s opponents as fodder for criticism of his decision to intervene in so many races.

However, Victor warned against reading too much into the results of last week’s voting. While Trumpian candidates may have fared poorly in some races, she said it is too soon to write off the power of the former president’s movement to shape the 2024 race.

“If Republicans had been trounced — really trounced — in this election, and Democrats had gained seats in the House, then I think the talk of Trumpism getting excised out of the party would be a lot stronger,” Victor said. “But since that didn’t happen, since it was more of a mixed result, I think there’s plenty of evidence that Trumpism is still fairly healthy and probably the largest, most robust coalition within the party.”

Looking for an alternative

Other experts, however, wondered whether a well-orchestrated challenge to Trump would have the opportunity to succeed.

Chris Stirewalt, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, agreed that the former president retains the unwavering support of a portion of the Republican Party. But he said it is not clear that Trump’s core supporters make up a large enough share of primary voters to guarantee Trump’s nomination if an opposing candidate can consolidate the remainder.

“There are a lot of Republicans who would vote for Trump in 2024 but who hope they won’t have to,” Stirewalt, the former political editor for Fox News, told VOA.

However, he said, that doesn’t guarantee that, as in the 2016 primary, Trump won’t be able to play different factions within the party against one another until he is the last man standing.

“In 2020, the Democratic candidates took the right lesson from the 2016 election and dropped out rather than allow a fringe candidate to win the nomination,” Stirewalt said.

Looking at the Republican field in 2024, Stirewalt said, the big question is whether a coalition of Republicans who would prefer not to see Trump receive the nomination again, and those who would not vote for the former president under any circumstances, can coalesce behind a single candidate early enough to allow him or her a fighting chance against the former president.
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