
Texas Working Families Party endorses West in Senate runoff
The Texas Working Families Party endorsed Royce West in the U.S. Senate primary runoff. West has served in the state Senate since 1992. Responding to the endorsement, West said, "Together, we can raise the minimum wage to $15/hr and enact more reforms to help working families."
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D) also endorsed West last week. Both Castro and the Texas Working Families Party had endorsed Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez ahead of the primary. Ramirez finished third and endorsed West in the runoff.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee endorsed his opponent, MJ Hegar, ahead of the March 3 primary. She is a former U.S. Army search and rescue and medevac pilot. Hegar ran for Texas' 31st Congressional District in 2018, losing to incumbent Rep. John Carter (R) 51% to 48%. Hegar says she supports raising the minimum wage.
Meanwhile, incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R) released a radio ad in which a narrator says, "Royce West is far too liberal for Texas, and no one has a clue what MJ Hegar even stands for. Nice choice."
The July 14 runoff winner will face Cornyn in November. Three election forecasters rate the general election Likely Republican.
Rashida Tlaib, Brenda Jones completed Ballotpedia's candidate survey
Rep. Rashida Tlaib and primary challenger Brenda Jones, president of the Detroit City Council, completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. The survey questions are designed to elicit insightful and thoughtful responses from candidates on what they care about, what they stand for, and what they hope to achieve.
Tlaib and Jones are running in Michigan's 13th Congressional District Democratic primary on Aug. 4. In August 2018, Tlaib defeated Jones in the regular primary election 31.2% to 30.2%, while Jones defeated Tlaib in a special primary the same day 37.7% to 35.9%. Jones completed the term to which John Conyers Jr. had been elected in 2016. Tlaib assumed office in January 2019.
Select survey responses are below, with questions in bold.
What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?
Tlaib:
The fact that we haven't truly addressed the economic inequity in our country. It has led to so many broken systems and injustices, many of which are rooted in structural racism.
We must make the decision as a country that we will center the most vulnerable and marginalized. We continue to center wealthy individuals, corporations, and profit. We have so many crises happening across the country because of misplaced priorities.
Jones:
Post COVID-19, the greatest challenge for our nation will be the balance of equity, opportunity and resources for people of color and those from impoverished neighborhoods. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed significant disparities in access to health care, funding for hospitals in minority and impoverished neighborhoods, small business resources, educational resources in minority and impoverished communities and fair employment policies for essential workers such as vacation, sick time and a high quality living wage. Elected officials must work collaboratively over the next decade to address disparities and inequality to ensure everyone across America has access to a quality standard of living.
Tlaib and Jones each also answered featured local questions from The Detroit News, including: How would you foster a more bipartisan, cooperative atmosphere in Congress?
Tlaib:
I would ask members to walk into a room, not as a Republican or Democrat, but as a son, mom, daughter or whatever family role they play. I would ask that they function from that place so that their decisions would remain focused on the people they love, and on real change for the better. The system now is so tainted with special interest groups and others who aren't thinking about our residents, but how they can make more money.
Jones:
My ability to work across the aisle to create coalitions, develop partnerships and work collaboratively to reach a common goal. I will remain professional, listen to the position of everyone and remain dedicated to developing policies, passing legislation and bringing resources to those in the 13th District, the State and the United States.
Read Tlaib's full responses here. Read Jones' full responses here.
To find out more about Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or if you are a candidate who would like to complete a survey, click here.
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