Sen-Bernie-Sanders

Former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick was scheduled to hold a campaign event at Morehouse College but cancelled it after only two people showed up. Governor @DevalPatrick was supposed to have an event at Morehouse College tonight. An organizer with the college who planned the event told CNN that Patrick cancelled the event when he arrived and learned that he would not have an audience. (Note, two people came, not pictured) pic.twitter.com/CzNjWYcWKJ— Annie Grayer (@AnnieGrayerCNN) November 21, 2019Patrick only announced his candidacy for president last week, and while he was too late to qualify for the most recent debate, he was still able to qualify for the ballot in New Hampshire.  “When I was thinking about it many months ago, one of the questions was: How do you break through in a field this large and this talented without being a celebrity or sensationalist? And I’m none of those things,” Patrick said in an interview with CBS This Morning.A recent poll released by Pew Research Center reported the sentiments of Democratic voters and unknowingly predicted Patrick's problem. With the poll results showing that more than 80% of Democratic and left-leaning voters were already “enthusiastic” or “satisfied” with the candidate choices they had before Patrick joined the race, it's no wonder his rally attendance was nonexistent.In our most recent survey, 83% of Democratic or Democratic-leaning voters said they were at least satisfied with the 2020 Democratic field, with 45% describing themselves as enthusiastic. 8% were dissatisfied; 3% were upset. https://t.co/rPfaKFLjqL— Ariel Edwards-Levy (@aedwardslevy) October 23, 2019To make matters worse for Patrick's campaign viability and lackluster attendance, Sen. Bernie Sanders and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg also hosted their own events at Morehouse that were able to draw much larger crowds.Both Sanders and Buttigieg introduced funding proposals specifically for HBCUs at their respective stops on the campus.“I know that Robert Smith did a very great service to some of the students here at Morehouse by paying for your student debt,” Sanders said, referring to the billionaire philanthropist’s pledge earlier this year, at his Morehouse rally. “That is enormously important and we appreciate so much his generosity, and that is exactly what we are going to do for every person who has student debt all over this country!”Members of the campus organization, New Deal Democrats, told a campaign reporter for ABC News that they were given only given 24 hours’ notice for Patrick's event, and also reported that the event would be rescheduled for a later...

Sen. Bernie Sanders released a detailed plan to his campaign website Thursday that outlined exactly what his potential administration would have in store for HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions.The senator has long been a proponent for affordable education, previously pledging to make public colleges and universities tuition-free, as well as cancel all student debt."Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) educate a disproportionate number of students who are the first in their families to attend college and serve 40 percent of underrepresented students," Sanders said in a signed statement introducing the proposal on his campaign website. "As President, I will make historic investments in HBCUs and MSIs to strengthen and support those institutions and create environments for future generations of graduates to thrive." Sanders' plan for supporting this underrepresented part of education includes eight separate points, which are laid out in the details of the plan on his website. On top of looking for $48 billion per year to eliminate tuition and fees at four-year public colleges and universities, Sanders would call for an additional $1.3 billion to be provided to private, nonprofit HBCUs and MSIs per year to eliminate or significantly reduce tuition and fees.Sanders also called for the expansion of Pell Grants to cover other expenses, as well as the removal of barriers to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for college students.Surrogates for the campaign recently went on a country-wide HBCU tour, which was handled by former Chicago mayoral candidate Ja'Mal Green and Sanders' national campaign co-chair Nina Turner. See, @BernieSanders said these things when they weren’t popular. We aren’t just fighting for him to become president, WE WILL BECOME PRESIDENT! #Bernie2020 #CreativesMeetUp #Atlanta #NotMeUs pic.twitter.com/5vrMbRx2jU— Ja'Mal Green (@JaymalGreen) November 20, 2019Alpha Phi Alpha Inc. opens up for @BernieSanders at @Morehouse pic.twitter.com/1KAA5Igc2m— Gary Grumbach (@GaryGrumbach) November 21, 2019"I was arrested and went to jail fighting housing segregation in Chicago. I know that that's usually not the kind of thing pres. candidates advertise, but it's a better way to go to jail than the corruption that currently goes in the White House" @BernieSanders at @MoreHouse pic.twitter.com/HEGK7nWFJD— People for Bernie (@People4Bernie) November 21, 2019“Our shirt says: Bernie for HBCUs and not the other way around," Turner explained in an interview with The Damage Report. "That positioning ... sets the foundation for what this campaign is all about and shows the commitment that Sen. Sanders has for both private and public HBCUs because he does understand their unique position.”Sanders is currently polling third among Democratic candidates with Black voters, behind Sen. Warren and former Vice President Joe...

Singer Ariana Grande and Sen. Bernie Sanders exchanged messages via social media Wednesday after the senator took photos with the pop star backstage at her Atlanta concert Tuesday night. Grande let her excitement show, proclaiming her support for the Vermont senator, as well as pushing her efforts to register as many voters as possible.  "MY GUY. thank you Senator Sanders for coming to my show, making my whole night and for all that you stand for !" Grande tweeted. "@headcountorg and i are doing our best to make you proud. we've already registered 20k+ young voters at my shows alone. also i will never smile this hard again promise."MY GUY. thank you Senator Sanders for coming to my show, making my whole night and for all that you stand for ! @headcountorg and i are doing our best to make you proud. we’ve already registered 20k+ young voters at my shows alone. also i will never smile this hard again promise. pic.twitter.com/7UYqkXR0g1— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) November 20, 2019Sanders, who has garnered high polling numbers with young voters since his 2016 presidential run, returned a kind message to the singer, thanking her for her previous work and calling on others to join similar causes."I want to thank @ArianaGrande for not only being a wonderful entertainer, but also for being such an outstanding advocate for social justice," Sanders tweeted Wednesday. "We must all be prepared — like Ariana has shown — to fight for everyone who is struggling. It was great to meet her in Atlanta last night."I want to thank @ArianaGrande for not only being a wonderful entertainer, but also for being such an outstanding advocate for social justice. We must all be prepared – like Ariana has shown – to fight for everyone who is struggling. It was great to meet her in Atlanta last night. pic.twitter.com/gZTPSLLywX— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 20, 2019This encounter is not the first time Sanders has received praise from Grande. While teasing her remix of Lizzo's hit "Good as Hell," Grande tweeted a lyric from the song, "baby how u feelin." The senator promptly responded to the tweet with "Ready to fight for Medicare for All," which, in turn, left Grande "screaming."screaming https://t.co/43v8mlQcCe— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) October 25, 2019Sanders was in Atlanta a day early to prepare for the Democratic primary debate, which is scheduled to take place Wednesday night at Tyler Perry Studios. It will be available for streaming on MSNBC and...

Sallie Mae flew 100 employees to Maui in celebration of the company selling $5 billion in student loans to more than 370,000 people. Meanwhile, many Americans dealing with the $1.6 trillion in student loan debt often have to work multiple jobs and sometimes end up declaring bankruptcy to protect what little assets they have left.As the cost of college soars, the nation's largest private student loan company is celebrating a record year of lending. @CatieBeckNBC reports tonight from Maui, where a group of Sallie Mae employees were treated to 5-day trip. Watch this story on @NBCNightlyNews. pic.twitter.com/Uzei8mkVAx— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) October 17, 2019The trip, which was originally reported by NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, took place in August. Sallie Mae's CEO Ray Quinlan said it was not an incentive trip and that families had to be flown out on the employee's own dime. That story did not settle well with borrowers like Paige McDaniel, 39, who described to NBC News the reaction she received from Navient, a lending company created as an off-shoot of Sallie Mae in 2014, after she was told her monthly payments would equal "well over $1,500 a month" for the $120,000 loan she took out to get her Master's degree, which eventually led her into bankruptcy.“When I told them that, you know, I couldn't afford that, could we make some payment arrangements, they essentially said, 'So sorry, we'll put a lien on your house and garnish your wages if you don't make those payments,'" McDaniel told NBC News.McDaniel, like many others, found issue with the business practices that allowed for the employees to take the trip."There's no way anybody can ever dig themselves out from underneath that," said McDaniel. "They just don't see that there are families on the other side of this."The reported trip has been used by Sen. Bernie Sanders as evidence that Americans' student loan debt burden needs to be canceled.Cancel all student debt. https://t.co/ZdLC9gaUqY— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) October 18, 2019A report from the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research group, estimates that by 2023, 40% of people with student loan debt will default on their...

The fourth democratic debate showcased the top 12 contenders, making Tuesday night's debate the first time this many candidates were on one stage since the 2020 campaign began. The candidates battled over the course of three hours on CNN, discussing a wide variety of topics from health care to international affairs.Here are five of the best moments from the fourth democratic debate.1. Former Vice President Joe Biden defended his son's reputation.Biden’s son, Hunter, has been at the center of much of the political discourse over the past month. President Trump recently pushed for multiple countries to open investigations into Hunter Biden’s business dealings during the Obama administration.Early in the night, the former vice president came to his son's defense, making the argument that neither he nor his son did anything wrong during their time in the White House. View this post on Instagram Tonight’s #DemDebate has officially kicked off, and Joe Biden gave a blunt response about the drama surrounding his son’s international business deals : "My son did nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong ... [Trump's] going after me because he knows if I get the nomination, I will beat him like a drum." 👀A post shared by Blavity : Politics (@blavitypolitics) on Oct 15, 2019 at 6:21pm PDT 2. "Police violence is gun violence!" former HUD secretary Julian Castro said. During an exchange centered around former Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s gun buyback proposal, Castro came out against him, saying that giving police more reasons to go door to door could be very dangerous in many neighborhoods."Police violence is also gun violence," said Castro, referencing the tragic case of Atatiana Jefferson. "I am not going to give these police officers an excuse to go door to door in these communities. View this post on Instagram It took more than 90 minutes for #AtatianaJefferson to be mentioned at the #DemocraticDebate. @juliancastrotx was the first to #sayhername. Police violence IS gun violence.A post shared by Blavity : Politics (@blavitypolitics) on Oct 15, 2019 at 6:59pm PDT 3. Reproductive health was finally brought to the debate stage.With so much discussion surrounding the candidates' health care policies during the four previous debates, it’s amazing that reproductive health had never been mentioned on the stage. That all changed on two separate occasions, when Sens. Cory Booker and Kamala Harris finally kickstarted the conversation. View this post on Instagram Cory Booker made it clear that 🗣 women should not be the only ones taking up the fight for women’s reproductive rights. Drop a 🙌🏾 if you agreeA post shared by Blavity : Politics (@blavitypolitics) on Oct 15, 2019 at 7:24pm PDTBooker stood strong in his stance that women should not be the only ones fighting for reproductive rights. And Harris agreed, adding that women of color across the nation are dying due to a lack of health care options in many underserved communities. View this post on Instagram Kamala Harris reminded folks that this is the 6th #DemDebate and not enough has been said about women’s access to reproductive healthcare — so she made sure to say it tonight.A post shared by Blavity : Politics (@blavitypolitics) on Oct 15, 2019 at 6:25pm PDT 4. Sen. Bernie Sanders came for the rich, saying it's morally imperative to do so.After a tough start to the month health-wise for Sanders, the senator showed that not much had changed in terms of his passion and motivation. Sanders returned to the debate stage to once again rally against the richest Americans. This time, however, Sanders called his crusade on wealth inequality a moral argument, saying it's an outrage that cannot continue in American society. View this post on Instagram Bernie Sanders takes on wealth inequality on the #DemocraticDebate stage. What are your thoughts, do you agree it’s a moral outrage that billionaires exist?A post shared by Blavity : Politics (@blavitypolitics) on Oct 15, 2019 at 7:38pm PDT 5. Sen. Elizabeth Warren thanked those who deserved it.In the night’s shadiest exchange, Biden reminded Warren that while she led the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, it was he who fought for the votes that inevitably got the bill passed. After his smug clapback, which received a few claps from the audience, Warren replied by thanking President Obama for his leadership on the issue, which drew a smirk from Biden. View this post on Instagram Wait for it... Elizabeth Warren hit Biden with the smoothest clapback by thanking President Obama instead of him for the passing of the Consumer Protection Finance Bureau. 👀A post shared by Blavity : Politics (@blavitypolitics) on Oct 15, 2019 at 8:27pm PDT The next Democratic debate takes place Nov. 20, and the threshold to qualify has been raised once again. So far, only eight candidates—former Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, and Cory Booker, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and businessman Tom Steyer—have met the...

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is reportedly considering a boycott of the October Democratic debate, accusing the Democratic National Committee of rigging the primary process for the second consecutive election cycle.In a video posted to the Congresswoman's Twitter account, she pointed to what she described as nontransparent qualification requirements as evidence that party leaders "are trying to hijack the entire election process.”I am seriously considering boycotting October 15 debate to bring attention to DNC/corporate media’s effort to rig 2020 primary. Not against Bernie this time, but against voters in early states Iowa, New Hampshire, South… --> https://t.co/x5P3GFGbyn pic.twitter.com/UgKCj6DGI0— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) October 10, 2019"The 2016 Democratic Primary election was rigged by the DNC and their partners in the corporate media against Bernie Sanders,” Gabbard said in the video. “In this 2020 election, the DNC and corporate media are rigging the election again, but this time against the American people in the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada.” Gabbard is one of 12 candidates who have qualified for the debate slated to take place next week, but with increasing qualification thresholds, four candidates, including author Marianne Williamson, have not been invited to participate.I have great respect for Tulsi for saying such inconvenient truth. She is absolutely correct. https://t.co/HDRV5avPMO— Marianne Williamson (@marwilliamson) October 10, 2019Even candidates who have had more success in the polls, like Sen. Bernie Sanders, are calling for less influence of outside forces on voters. Monday, the Vermont senator released an anti-corruption plan that aims to eliminate corporate money's influence within political parties, national party conventions and presidential inaugurations.Sanders' plan would also end the Federal Election Commission and replace it with a Federal Election Administration and attempt to overturn the Supreme Court ruling Buckley v. Valeo, which considers money the same as constitutionally protected free speech.“When we win the Democratic nomination and defeat Donald Trump, we will transform our political system by rejecting the influence of big corporate money,” Sanders said in a series of tweets. “Our grassroots-funded campaign is proving every single day that you don’t need billionaires and private fundraisers to run for president.”With Gabbard's boycott gaining more and more traction, it will be interesting to see if she stands by her decision or ultimately decides to take the stage Tuesday at Ohio's Otterbein...

Sen. Bernie Sanders was hospitalized Tuesday night and has canceled all events until further notice. Sanders was at a campaign event in Las Vegas when, according to campaign officials, the senator began to feel chest discomfort and sought a medical evaluation.Sanders was given two stents in order to unblock an artery, which was discovered during the evaluation."During a campaign event yesterday evening, Sen. Sanders experienced some chest discomfort. Following medical evaluation and testing, he was found to have a blockage in one artery and two stents were successfully inserted," Sanders’ senior adviser Jeff Weaver said on Wednesday in a statement reported by ABC News. "Sen. Sanders is conversing and in good spirits. He will be resting up over the next few days." According to an Associated Press report, a stent procedure is generally performed to immediately improve symptoms, such as chest pain or shortness of breath. A small wire mesh tube is put in place through blood vessels in either the wrist or groin and is used to keep arteries open.During the senator's previous run for president in 2016, Sanders released a letter from Rear Adm. Brian P. Monahan, who is the attending physician of the United States Congress, that cited a history of mildly elevated cholesterol but no heart disease.Those in attendance at his Las Vegas event did not seem to notice anything out of the ordinary in the way the Senator seemed to be acting on stage. Tick Segerblom, a Clark County, Nevada, the commissioner said to the Associated Press that Sanders seemed fine at the time.“He spoke well. He jumped up on the stage. There was just nothing visible,” Segerblom said.Sanders was scheduled to join other Democratic candidates in Las Vegas at a gun safety forum Wednesday presented by March for Our Lives and...

Hip-hop artist Cardi B joined presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders for a video put together by the Sanders campaign. The video, released Thursday, showed the pair sitting in a Detroit nail salon for a conversation in which the Grammy-award winning artist got the senator to elaborate on issues surrounding policing, student debt and wages. Cardi spoke with Sanders about her life before her fame took away her economic worry, drawing on her concern for the many Americans currently struggling to make ends meet."For example, as a New Yorker — not now but when I was not famous — I felt like no matter how many jobs I get, I wasn't able to make ends meet,” she said, before calling out the White House for advertising data like the unemployment rate, which they both argue do not tell a complete story of the economic security people feel. Cardi made it a point to reach her fans who may not like the current administration, calling on them to begin the process of replacing Trump in the next election.“We have this bully as a president, and the only way to take him out is somebody winning,” she said to Sanders in the video. “I want to tell my millions of followers: We’re here to educate you guys.” While Cardi did not explicitly endorse the Vermont senator in the 2020 race, she has been complimentary of him in the past, posting in a July tweet that she had been reading up on his record and was "really sad" he did not come out the victor in 2016.I been reading about Bernie Sanders and I’m really sad how we let him down in 2016 This man been fighting for equal rights,HUMAN rights for such along time.Seeing this country become a better place been really his passion for a long time not a new front for a campaign.— iamcardib (@iamcardib) July 16, 2019This is not the first time the rapper has called on her fans to be more enthusiastic about the 2020 election. In April, she posted a list of the Democratic candidates to her Instagram and called on her fans to educate themselves and not wait until "it's popular to do so and it's only like four nominees...

During the first night of the second round of the Democratic debates, all eyes were on the top two candidates, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, both vying for the same progressive base. Commentators anticipated that this was the moment the two friends would finally have to go after each other, but instead, something else happened. The more left-leaning Democratic party candidates supported each other’s plans and worked together to defend Medicare-for-All and student debt relief against the more moderate and conservative candidates. This unity between the progressive candidates highlighted not only the similarities between the two candidates but the divide within the Democratic Party as a whole.   As the two dodged attacks of Big government and enemies of privatization, the question of what Democrats really stand for seemed to hover over the Detroit debate stage. Democrats largely have been seen to be for the working class, for communities of color, for those who are queer and underrepresented. At least that’s what the Party wants us to see its legacy as. But, as we fail to get party unity for basic things, like providing health care for every single person in this country, eradicating student debt for the youth and putting out a robust bill to confront climate change, it seems like the party of the marginalized refuses to take a stand to support policies that would, in effect, support those who are indeed marginalized. So, in 2019, two years into Trump’s presidency. What does it mean to be a Democrat? Is it, at this point, just a party that is in opposition to Trump the person and the character? But, what about a party that is in opposition to the type of policies that created Trump, that allowed him to thrive and take advantage of marginalized groups, that allowed him to become a billionaire? What is the Party’s stance on the uber-rich and corporate America? If the only thing the DNC is unified on is that they are your only option against Trump, then it has failed to learn the lessons from the 2016 election and should not be surprised if Trump wins another term.The Pew Research Center reported that Generation Z and Millennials lean more progressive than previous generations. With 70% of Gen Z and 64% of Millennials' support, progressives have a bigger role in solving problems than they think. In the 2018 midterm election, Millennials came out to vote almost double in the amount they did for the 2014 election. Intelligencer reported that Millennial, Gen-Z and Gen-X voters outnumbered Baby Boomers for the first time. While climate change was not spoken about nearly enough during the Detroit debates, the spar between Sanders and Rep. John Delaney on the Green New Deal echoes previous internal party debates on the topic. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi dismissively called the Green New Deal the “green dream” when Politico asked her about the bill earlier in the year. Yet, the Yale Program On Climate Communication's study found that 40% of Millennial voters they surveyed saw climate change as a “very important issue.” And despite Greenland's ice sheets losing 11 billion tons of ice in a single day, we’re still talking about trying to put out a carbon tax by 2050 as if we are not already at the tipping point, as if that same marginalized group of voters is not already feeling the effects of climate change.We deserve more than just a better option than the worst option. We deserve a party that is going to represent our voices once they're elected, not just when they need our votes. We need a party that is going to challenge inequality and how it exists institutionally by attempting to implement big ideas. This can’t be a party who is afraid to be the party of public good just because they are afraid of...

A new poll released by BlackPac identifies top issues for the black community in the 2020 election, as well as which candidate has majority support.Half of the voters surveyed listed racism and discrimination as the top issues for 2020, and with different states across the nation passing abortion bans, 53 percent of women listed health care as a critical issue. Other listed issues included jobs, education, police accountability, and the environment.Of the 613 black registered voters surveyed nationwide, 97 percent knew the names of two candidates: Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. “Name identification, which is driving support for candidates at this point, will be insufficient for decisively winning the black electorate, and subsequently, securing the nomination," said BlackPAC Executive Director Adrianne Shropshire in a press release sent to Blavity. "Candidates must use this critical window to define their campaigns around these concerns.” Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, and Cory Booker rounded out the polls top five, and all three had a significant jump in favorability among voters who followed the news closely.“Black voters remain highly motivated to push our country back on track," Shropshire said. "To win the Democratic presidential nomination, candidates must demonstrate to black voters — through policy solutions and moral conviction — an unyielding commitment to halting the rise of bigotry, and curbing widening racial disparities in our economic, healthcare, and education systems.”BlackPac also found the black community was well engaged with the 2020 election; 84 percent said they were closely following the news and 92 percent listed themselves as likely to...