beto o’rourke
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Oprah’s Gift Is Her Presence, Storm Has Iridescence and Kaepernick Will Keep You Guessing: 2020 Presidential Black Power Rankings, Week 22
The best things about Christmas (also Kwanzaa and Hanukkah) heading into New Year’s week are the gifts and the promises. Yes, there is a slew of wonderful viral videos about grandmas crying at Christmas and Instagram thirst trap posts masquerading as New Year’s workout resolutions, but in the end, it’s a week of gifts and…
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Warren Takes a Tumble, Biden Is Ready to Rumble and Patrick Continues to Bumble: 2020 Presidential Black Power Rankings, Week 20
I’m here with you, but I’m not here FOR you… No truer words in politics have ever been said, according to Marcus Ferrell, fellow permanent Black Power Rankings judge (and former head of African American Outreach for Bernie Sanders 2016). We talked about this concept of who we’re with versus who we’re for after he…
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Harris Was Good in Theory, Buttigieg Makes Us Weary and Biden Sees Things Clearly: 2020 Presidential Black Power Rankings, Week 19
“Kamala Harris is dropping out but Pete Buttigieg is still in?” I got about a million incredulous texts just like this from black folks I know when Senator Kamala Harris dropped out of the 2020 campaign earlier this week. I got so many texts from black people about Harris I thought Tom Steyer was going…
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Mayor Pete Ain’t Got to Lie, Deval Patrick Is Gonna Try and the Harris Campaign Won’t Die: 2020 Presidential Black Power Rankings, Week 18 1/2
“Seriously, you might as well bathe yourself in barbecue sauce for all the smoke you’re gonna take this week” —My well-intentioned warning to fellow Black Power Rankings judge Marcus Ferrell (former director of African American Outreach, Bernie for America 2016, and senior adviser for Swing Left). Mr. Ferrell is the silent partner in the Black…
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Beto, His Campaign Pockets Light and His Poll Numbers Low, Bows Out of His Run for the Oval Office
Former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke on Friday took himself out of the running for the Democratic presidential nomination, bowing to low campaign coffers and even lower poll numbers. The once-darling of the Democratic Party, who won acclaim last year when he came within mere points of beating Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in historically red Texas,…
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Bernie Can’t Say Our Name, Beto Has No Shame, and Biden Can’t Be Tamed: 2020 Presidential Black Power Rankings, Week 14
During a week where there is a Democratic debate the Power Rankings usually focus on who performed best, and how much time candidates spent speaking to issues and policies that concern African-American voters, but not this week. This whole committee was hit hard by the news that Rep. Elijah Cummings died early Thursday morning, and…
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Bernie Rises Above, Kamala Cries Like a Dove and Yang’s Got No Computer Love: 2020 Presidential Black Power Rankings, Week 13
Earlier this week, Marcus Ferrell (former African-American outreach director for Bernie Sanders for America 2016, and senior adviser for Swing Left) sent me the following meme: It was perfect, actually, since in making the Power Rankings this week we caught a few candidates slipping. It seems like in the midst of crowing over new fundraising…
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White Domestic Terrorism as a National Security Threat Presents Challenges for 2020 Presidential Candidates
U.S. national security conversations have traditionally focused on perceived foreign threats, such as a nuclear-ready Iran or North Korea. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, have resulted in discrimination against brown people of Middle Eastern descent with law enforcement subjecting them to intense—and often illegal—surveillance. But recent mass shootings carried out by white supremacists…
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Biden Gets Impeachment, Castro Talks High Rents and Booker's Totally Spent: 2020 Presidential Black Power Rankings, Week 11
The Root 2020 Presidential Black Power Rankings take a one-week snapshot of the campaign season and imagine, using just that week, which candidate running for president would be best for black America. Most weeks, we (me, Dr. Jason Johnson, politics editor of The Root; Marcus Ferrell, former African-American outreach director for Bernie Sanders for America…
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Live Blog: From Houston, the Democratic Debate at Texas Southern University
HOUSTON—Will Kamala Harris drag Joe Biden up to high heaven before her colored brethren at Texas Southern University? I don’t know if white men have edges, but I am sure the Senator from California will try and snatch Biden’s for sure. And will Cory Booker make another Kool-Aid reference? The youngins love Bernie Sanders, so…