Author: Shelby Reese

IN THE STATES: As Early Voting Begins Across the Nation, Democrats Are Energizing Key Constituencies and Beefing Up GOTV Efforts  

Today, the DNC took another step in its commitment to reach voters where they are, announcing a historic six-figure paid media campaign targeting LGBTQ+ voters with ads in LGBTQ+ publications across battleground states as well as targeting House and Senate seats across the country. Democrats recognize the critical role that a large and diverse coalition such as the LGBTQ+ community will play in this election and are putting in the work by directing voters to IWillVote.com, where they can get accurate, up-to-date voting info nationwide, to ensure their voices are heard and reach the ultimate goal of electing Democrats up and down the ballot. 

• In Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC: NBC News: DNC rolls out six-figure ad buy in LGBTQ publications in battleground states
• In Georgia: Advocate: DNC reaches out to LGBTQ+ voters at Atlanta Pride (exclusive)
• In Georgia: Georgia Voice: DNC Launches Mobile Billboard for LGBTQ Voters During Atlanta Pride

As early voting begins across states, the DNC is amplifying IWillVote.com – a one-stop shop for all voter information in every state. In Georgia, the DNC reached youth voters with mobile billboards and campus kiosk ads spread across multiple HBCU campuses, encouraging students to register to vote. In Nevada, bilingual billboards and print ads in Spanish-language publications spread across the state direct Latino and union voters to visit IWillVote.com to make a plan to vote in November.

• In Georgia: The Atlanta Voice: Democratic Party launches youth voter registration campaign in Georgia
• In Nevada: NBC News: In Nevada, Democrats launch bilingual billboards and ads targeting Latinos

Across Michigan, the DNC is issuing a clear message to Michigan voters: “Trump is an anti-union scab.” From multiple billboards scattered across Detroit to a plane banner flyover at the Detroit Lions game, the DNC is reminding voters that Trump’s history of union-busting is long and that, as president, Trump did nothing for auto workers, choosing to line the pockets of multi-billionaire executives who donated to his campaign instead. 

• In Michigan: Daily Beast: Democrats Go High Trolling Trump to Find Votes in Michigan
• In Michigan: The Independent: Democrats to highlight Trump’s job loss record as ex-president addresses Detroit Economic Club
• In Michigan: Washington Examiner: DNC targets MLB playoff game with banner calling Trump an ‘anti-union scab’

While North Carolinians continue to reel from the devastating impacts and tragedy left behind by Hurricane Helene, Trump is politicizing the tragic situation at every turn and using it as an opportunity to spew damaging misinformation for his own gain rather than showing up for communities in need. 

• In North Carolina: Charlotte Observer: Shame on Donald Trump for worsening NC’s Helene tragedy with political lies | Opinion
• In North Carolina: NC Newsline: New DNC billboards in NC denounce Trump for spreading Helene misinformation

Also today, the DNC released a television ad in battleground states across the country about Green Party candidate Jill Stein and the threat that her spoiler candidacy poses in this election. The ad, titled “Crucial,” will run in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin and on cable across the country. It features an image of Jill Stein that morphs into an image of Donald Trump, reminding voters that a vote for Stein is a vote for Trump. 

• In Michigan: Michigan Advance: DNC ad says Jill Stein is a ‘spoiler’ candidate trying to help Trump regain the White House
• In Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Capital-Star: New DNC ad casts Green Party candidate Stein as ‘spoiler’
• In Wisconsin: WPR: DNC launching Wisconsin ad attacking Green Party candidate Jill Stein

On Thursday, Vice President Harris traveled to Phoenix, Arizona to shore up excitement as early voting begins in the state. During the rally, the Vice President emphasized that the stakes of this election couldn’t be higher and laid out Trump’s plan to chart this country on a dangerous, backward path. The vice president also encouraged Arizonians to use their voice this election and vote because Arizona is the “blue wall” of the Southwest that will stop Trump and Vance. 

• In Arizona: Arizona Republic: Kamala Harris, in Arizona, blasts Donald Trump and lauds late John McCain
• In Arizona: AZ Mirror: As Arizona begins voting early, Kamala Harris rallies and aims to drive up voter turnout
• In Arizona: AZ Family: Harris holds campaign rally in Chandler as early voting gets underway in Arizona
• In Arizona: Fox 10 Phoenix: VP Kamala Harris holds rally in Chandler: ‘Time to turn the page’

Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz also traveled to Arizona this week to participate in a campaign rally alongside the late Arizona Senator John McCain’s son, Jim McCain. In his remarks, Walz reaffirmed his and Vice President Harris’ promise to champion veterans and tribal communities and create a New Way Forward for every American, unlike Trump-Vance’s dangerous vision for this country.  

• In Arizona: Arizona Republic: Walz says John McCain’s GOP ‘wouldn’t put up with’ Trump’s treatment of veterans
• In Arizona: Spectrum News: Walz stumps in Arizona with Gallego, John McCain’s son Jim on first day of early voting
• In Arizona: Arizona Luminaria: Tim Walz lands late in Tucson, rallying a boisterous crowd with calls for unity and freedom

Yesterday, former President Barack Obama kicked off his swing across the battleground states in Pittsburgh, PA with a fiery speech laying into Trump and the dangers a second presidency will pose for not only every American but democracy itself. Obama also used the speech to mobilize Black men to throw their support behind Vice President Harris, emphasizing that, unlike Trump, who has repeatedly disregarded the Black community, she has remained true to her commitment to uplift Black Americans in every aspect.     

• In Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Capital-Star: Obama stumps for Harris in Pittsburgh, kicking off battleground state campaign swing
• In Pennsylvania: CBS News: Obama launches campaign blitz in Pennsylvania, calls on Black men to support Harris’ candidacy
• In Pennsylvania: 90.5 WESA: Obama gives blistering critique of Trump as he campaigns for Harris in Pittsburgh

The post IN THE STATES: As Early Voting Begins Across the Nation, Democrats Are Energizing Key Constituencies and Beefing Up GOTV Efforts   appeared first on Democrats.

In response to JD Vance failing five consecutive times to say Donald Trump lost in 2020, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“With five more dodges, JD Vance has proven five more times that he will always put Donald Trump’s dangerous election conspiracy theories ahead of our Constitution and the rule of law. Even Vance knows that Trump lost in 2020 by more than 7 million votes, but protecting Trump’s attempts to subvert the will of the American people is more important to Vance than protecting our democracy. In just 25 days, voters will stand with the only two candidates in this race who have promised to serve them — not one man’s selfish ego — by electing Vice President Harris and Governor Walz.”

In a new interview, JD Vance failed FIVE consecutive times to tell the truth about Donald Trump’s loss in 2020 – and says he would not have certified the results.

New York Times: “Vance, Given 5 Chances to Say Trump Lost in 2020, Takes None”

“Heading into the final three weeks of the 2024 election, Senator JD Vance of Ohio will still not say whether his running mate won or lost the last race for the White House.

“In an interview with The New York Times that will be published on Saturday, Mr. Vance repeatedly refused to acknowledge former President Donald J. Trump’s defeat and went to even greater lengths to avoid doing so than he did during the vice-presidential debate earlier this month…

“On her fifth request for a yes-or-no answer, Ms. Garcia-Navarro pointed out that there was ‘no proof, legal or otherwise,’ of election fraud.

“Mr. Vance dismissed that as ‘a slogan.’ …

“During his 90-minute debate with Mr. Walz, Mr. Vance twice refused to answer a direct question about whether Mr. Trump had lost the 2020 election. It was widely considered his weakest debate moment and may have turned off voters. In CNN’s focus group of seven undecided Michigan voters who watched the debate, the only person who settled on a pick after the event said he would support Vice President Kamala Harris specifically because of Mr. Vance’s refusal to acknowledge the 2020 election results…

“In his Times interview, Mr. Vance said he would not have voted to certify the 2020 results.”

Vance previously falsely claimed that Trump won the 2020 election in an unearthed video.

Daily Beast: “Video Shows JD Vance Saying Trump Won the 2020 Election”

“JD Vance claimed Donald Trump won the 2020 election in an unearthed clip from 2022. The video… comes days after Vance refused to outright admit that Trump lost the race against Joe Biden during the CBS News vice presidential debate.”

On the debate stage with Governor Walz, Vance REFUSED to admit that Trump lost the 2020 election while whitewashing January 6 and declining to say if he would challenge this November’s election results.

NBC News: “‘Damning non-answer’: Vance refuses to acknowledge Trump lost the 2020 election”

“JD Vance refused to acknowledge that Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election during the vice presidential debate Tuesday and downplayed the seriousness of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, which injured more than 140 law enforcement officers. He also declined to say whether he would seek to challenge the results of this year’s election.”

ABC News: “JD Vance refuses to say Trump lost in 2020, downplays events of Jan. 6”

Politico: “Vance refuses to admit that Trump lost the 2020 election”

“Vance omitted Trump’s attacks on his then-Vice President Mike Pence while a violent riot raged, as well as his months of fomenting false claims that the election was stolen and urging his supporters to ‘stop the steal.’ … Vance has previously said in interviews that he would have done in 2020 what Pence refused to do: facilitate challenges to the election at the Jan. 6 session of Congress, despite constitutional and legal restraints meant to prevent it.”

NBC News: “When asked if he would challenge this year’s election results, Ohio Sen. JD Vance avoided a direct answer, instead defending Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021.”

Vance is an extreme election denier with a pattern of not committing to accepting this November’s election results, saying he would not have certified the 2020 election, and continuing to whitewash the violent January 6 insurrection.

HuffPost: “[Vance] said he would accept a Biden win only if he considered the election to be legitimate. … Vance’s comments illustrate a new tactic by Republican lawmakers, who are now placing conditions on accepting election results.”

New York Times: “J.D. Vance Says He Would Accept the Election Results, With a Caveat”

Spectrum News: “Vance again says he wouldn’t have certified 2020 election if he was vice president”

ABC News: “JD Vance says [he] wouldn’t have certified 2020 race until states submitted pro-Trump electors”

New York Times: “[Vance] has said that, unlike Vice President Mike Pence in 2020, he would have helped Mr. Trump overturn the results, by accepting Trump electors that had not been elected by voters.”

Bloomberg: “[Vance] has asserted that the 2020 presidential race was stolen from Donald Trump.”

Vance: “I think the entire post-2020 thing would have gone a lot better if there had actually been an effort to provide alternative slates of electors, and to force us to have that debate. I think it would’ve been a much better thing for the country. … [Trump] was trying to take a constitutional process to its natural conclusion.

“I think it would’ve been extraordinarily disappointing to a whole host of people that I care a lot about if Trump had just taken it [and conceded the 2020 election before January 6].”

Vance: “No real Republican with any credibility in the party is still blaming [Trump for January 6].”

The Hill: “JD Vance says he is ‘skeptical’ Pence’s life was in danger on Jan. 6”

Politico: “[Vance] downplayed the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, when Pence was forced to evacuate the building as rioters called for his hanging.”

The post JD Vance Refuses FIVE TIMES To Admit Donald Trump Lost in 2020 – And Would Not Have Certified Result appeared first on Democrats.

During his speech at the Detroit Economic Club this afternoon, Donald Trump insulted the city of Detroit, saying that the “whole country will end up being like Detroit” and that attendees would “have a mess on [their] hands” if Vice President Kamala Harris wins the presidency. This isn’t the first time he’s insulted the city, either – in 2020, Trump said that living in Detroit was “like living in hell.” His latest comments are a continuation of a pattern of Trump attacking other cities across the country, including when he called Milwaukee, WI a “horrible city” earlier this year.

Voters in Detroit don’t take Trump’s attacks lightly. They’ve already overwhelmingly rejected him once, and they’ll do it once more in November – along with the rest of Michigan.

DNC Spokesperson Stephanie Justice released the following statement:

“Michiganders have had enough of Donald Trump bad mouthing and attacking them at every turn – especially after he already let a Detroit-area auto plant close on his watch and is making clear he’d let it happen all over again if he gets a chance. This isn’t the first time Trump has had the audacity to insult the city of Detroit, and he’ll find out this November how Michiganders feel about these kinds of offensive attacks.”

The post BREAKING: Donald Trump Says “Our Whole Country Will End Up Being Like Detroit” If Vice President Harris Wins  appeared first on Democrats.

Reminder: JD Vance made clear a Trump-Vance administration would defund reproductive health care services if given the chance

As the Trump-Vance ticket seeks to defund Planned Parenthood, which provides over 2 million contraceptive services for Americans annually, DNC Spokesperson Aida Ross released the following statement:

“Donald Trump and JD Vance would gut access to contraception for hundreds of thousands of Americans as part of their extreme Project 2025 plans to defund Planned Parenthood. Vance skipped a vote to protect contraception access earlier this year before later admitting a Trump-Vance ticket would cut off funding for Planned Parenthood if given the chance. Trump and Vance are making it clear they will put their dangerous Project 2025 agenda over the health and rights of hundreds of thousands of Americans who access these services every year.”

Nearly 8 in 10 Americans support Planned Parenthood, which provides millions of contraceptive services for Americans across the country.  

Planned Parenthood: “More than three-fourths of Americans (77%) have a favorable view of Planned Parenthood, with the strongest support among women, adults under 35, and Black, Latino, and AAPI communities.”

Planned Parenthood 2022-2023 Annual Report: “Breakdown of Affiliate Medical Services”

“Contraceptive Services: 2,250,913”

Donald Trump and JD Vance’s Project 2025 agenda would gut access to contraception by defunding Planned Parenthood — something Vance himself confirmed last week — and Medicaid. 

Vance: “On the question of defunding Planned Parenthood…our view is we don’t think that taxpayers should fund late term abortions. That has been a consistent view of the Trump campaign the first time around, it will remain a consistent view.”

Project 2025, page 471: “Prohibit Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds…Policymakers should end taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood.” 

Project 2025, page 472: “HHS should… 1) Issue guidance reemphasizing that states are free to defund Planned Parenthood in their state Medicaid plans. 2) Propose rulemaking to interpret the Medicaid statute to disqualify providers of elective abortion from the Medicaid program. Congress should pass the Protecting Life and Taxpayers Act, which would accomplish the goal of defunding abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood.” 

Project 2025, page 491: “Congress should complement these efforts by passing legislation such as the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act,78 which would prohibit family planning grants from going to entities that perform abortions or provide funding to other entities that perform abortions.”

KFF: “While in office, Trump’s Administration rewrote the rules governing the federal Title X program, the federal family planning program that supports contraceptive access for people with lower incomes.

“Former President Trump allowed federal Medicaid funds to be used in a Texas Medicaid program that excluded Planned Parenthood and did not cover the full range of contraceptives, excluding emergency contraception. Eliminating Planned Parenthood from Medicaid provider networks has long been a priority of some Republican lawmakers and conservative organizations and is reiterated by Project 2025.”

Joe Kernen, CNBC: “Have you changed your outlook on how to handle entitlements, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid?”

Trump: “So first of all, there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting.”

Trump proposed cuts to Medicaid every year in office and his administration’s “gag rule” defunded hundreds of Title X clinics, disqualifying providers like Planned Parenthood from providing care under the program. 

In his FY18, FY19, FY20, and FY21 budgets, Trump repeatedly proposed hundreds of billions in cuts to Medicaid.

HHS: “Title X services are voluntary, confidential, and provided regardless of one’s ability to pay. For many clients, Title X clinics are their only ongoing source of health care and health education.

“Title X recipients provide a broad range of medically approved family planning services, which includes all Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved contraceptive products and natural family planning methods for clients.”

Politico: “Planned Parenthood serves about 1.6 million of the roughly 4 million low-income women who depend on Title X clinics for free and subsidized care.”

Guttmacher Institute: “Based on data available for 910 of those 981 sites, we estimate that these changes reduced the network’s capacity to provide women with contraceptive services by at least 46%, translating to roughly 1.6 million patients. In other words, the impact of the gag rule on the network’s capacity is much greater than it might appear when looking at clinic numbers alone, because the gag rule intentionally targeted clinics specializing in reproductive health care services, sites that also serve the highest volume of contraceptive patients.

“Contextualizing the attack on Title X in the larger conservative agenda to cut reproductive health care and health care writ large, such as past attempts to chip away at Medicaid via block grants and systemically defund abortion providers, paints an even more dire picture of patients’ dwindling options.”

REALITY CHECK: Attacks on reproductive freedoms, like Trump and Vance’s anti-choice Project 2025 agenda to defund Planned Parenthood, are wildly unpopular.

Planned Parenthood: “Three-fourths of Americans (74%) would be concerned about the loss of affordable reproductive health and preventive care services if Planned Parenthood no longer existed.”

USA Today: “Americans overwhelmingly oppose the next goal of many anti-abortion activists, to enact a federal law banning abortion nationwide. By 80%-14%, those surveyed opposed that idea, including 65% of Republicans and 83% of independents.”

Axios: “Record share of U.S. voters back abortion rights and will vote on it: Gallup”

NBC News: “Abortion rights have won in every election since Roe v. Wade was overturned”

Axios: “There’s widespread support for letting women obtain drugs for medication abortion from their doctor or a clinic, with 72% supporting — including half of Republicans.”

The Trump-Vance ticket and their Project 2025 allies are pushing a dangerous Project 2025 agenda that would ban abortion nationwide, threaten access to IVF and contraception, and rip away reproductive freedoms.

Rolling Stone: “Trump Wants to Ban Abortion Nationwide: Report”

CNN: “JD Vance said in 2022 he ‘would like abortion to be illegal nationally’”

“During a podcast interview in January 2022, then-candidate JD Vance said he ‘certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally’ and was ‘sympathetic’ to the view that a national ban was necessary to stop women from traveling across states to obtain an abortion.”

Washington Post: “Vance urged DOJ to enforce Comstock Act, crack down on abortion pills”

New Republic: “On January 20, 2025, conservatives plan to resurrect a 150-year-old defunct law to ban abortion across the nation. This is not a secret plan—far from it. It’s part of the 180-Day Playbook produced by Project 2025, detailing priorities for an incoming conservative president on day one.” 

Politico: “Anti-abortion advocates worked for five decades to topple Roe v. Wade. They’re now laying the groundwork for a yearslong fight to curb in vitro fertilization.

“Since the Alabama Supreme Court ruled last month that frozen embryos are children, the Heritage Foundation and other conservative groups have been strategizing how to convince not just GOP officials but evangelicals broadly that they should have serious moral concerns about fertility treatments like IVF and that access to them should be curtailed.”

The 19th: “RNC approves platform that would give rights to fetuses, endangering abortion, IVF” 

“Fetal personhood is widely seen as being in conflict with in vitro fertilization (IVF), which creates embryos outside of the uterus that are later implanted. Fetal personhood bestows the same rights currently reserved for people to embryos from the moment of fertilization.”

Reproductive Freedom for All: “The extensive mandate calls to gut reproductive freedom, including effectively banning medication abortion, ending access to emergency abortion care, attacking contraception, deploying fetal personhood, and undermining IVF in federal policy…

“Project 2025 includes personhood language and policies that propagate the belief that life begins at conception—which could have devastating impacts should it be put into law. This so-called “personhood” language could ban not only abortion but also some forms of birth control and assisted fertility treatments like IVF.”

The Nation: “Project 2025 Has Bad Medicine for HHS”

“And by declaring that life begins at conception, his manifesto appears to commit HHS to finding ways to outlaw IVF, which relies on generating multiple embryos, most of which are not implanted.”

Rolling Stone: “Inside the MAGA Plan to Attack Birth Control, Surveil Women and Ban the Abortion Pill”

Vance: “I’ve reviewed a lot of [Project 2025]. There are some good ideas in there.”

Axios: “[Project 2025] is undeniably a Trump-driven operation.”

The post PLANNED PARENTHOOD ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK: Trump and Vance Would Gut Contraceptive Services for Hundreds of Thousands of Americans appeared first on Democrats.

As Early Voting Begins in California, Democrats Urge Californians To Make Their Voices Heard 

Today, as Californians celebrate the opening of ballot drop boxes across the state, the DNC is ensuring voters have all the information they need to make voting early easy in the most important election of our lifetimes. 

“Californians understand the stakes of this election: economic opportunity, fundamental freedoms, and the democratic values that unite us,” said DNC Spokesperson Cameron Niven. “On the first day Californians can return their ballots via ballot drop-off locations in California, it has never been more important to participate in our democracy, talk to your friends and family about voting, and ensure every Californian is empowered with the information they need to request and cast their ballot. Donald Trump and JD Vance are pushing an extreme Project 2025 agenda that would benefit only the ultra-wealthy and corporations, roll back our rights, and raise prices for hardworking people. Californians can head to IWillVote.com/CA to learn how to reject Trump’s extreme agenda by making their voices heard and voting early in person, sending their ballot by mail, dropping them off at drop off locations, or casting their vote on Election Day. In the most important election of our lifetimes, Californians have the power to chart a New Way Forward with Vice President Kamala Harris, Governor Tim Walz, and Democrats up and down the ticket.” 

I Will Vote is the Democratic Party’s one-stop shop for voter education and information. Voters can check if they are registered to vote, learn how to register, register online if their state allows it, find their polling location and learn how to cast a mail-in or early ballot. The Text-Line is the latest voter assistance feature of the DNC’s I Will Vote program, with support also available through IWillVote.com and the National Voter Information Hotline in English and Spanish, with additional languages to come ahead of Election Day. Voters can access I Will Vote by texting VOTE to 70888 or VOTO to 70888 for Spanish. IWillVote.com is also available in Spanish at VoyAVotar.com.

The post As Early Voting Begins in California, Democrats Urge Californians To Make Their Voices Heard  appeared first on Democrats.

Today, as Hoosiers celebrate the first day of early voting, the DNC is ensuring voters have all the information they need to make voting early easy in the most important election of our lifetimes. 

“Voters across Indiana understand the stakes of this election: economic opportunity, fundamental freedoms, and the democratic values that unite us,” said DNC Communications Director Rosemary Boeglin. “As early voting begins in Indiana, it has never been more important to participate in our democracy, talk to your friends and family about voting, and ensure every Hoosier is empowered with the information they need to cast their ballot. Hoosiers can head to IWillVote.com/IN to learn how to make their voices heard by voting absentee in-person with their ID. In the most important election of our lifetimes, Hoosiers have the power to chart a New Way Forward by sending Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz to the White House and electing Jennifer McCormick to the governor’s office.”

I Will Vote is the Democratic Party’s one-stop shop for voter education and information. Voters can check if they are registered to vote, learn how to register, register online if their state allows it, find their polling location, check requirements such as voter ID, and learn how to cast a mail-in or early ballot. The Text-Line is the latest voter assistance feature of the DNC’s I Will Vote program, with support also available through IWillVote.com and the National Voter Information Hotline in English and Spanish, with additional languages to come ahead of Election Day. Voters can access I Will Vote by texting VOTE to 70888 or VOTO to 70888 for Spanish. IWillVote.com is also available in Spanish at VoyAVotar.com.

The post As Early Voting Begins in Indiana, Democrats Urge Hoosiers To Make Their Voices Heard  appeared first on Democrats.

Today, following the Georgia Supreme Court reinstating the extreme abortion ban Donald Trump enabled in the state, DNC Spokesperson Maddy Mundy released the following statement: 

“Once again, women in Georgia have lost their fundamental right to access reproductive care and Donald Trump is to blame. Trump ‘proudly’ orchestrated the overturn of Roe v. Wade, and now, women are once again no longer safe in Georgia. Women in Georgia are dying under this ban. With this decision, women and medical professionals across the state are trapped in a dangerous cycle of chaos and confusion as MAGA Republicans continue to force the government in between a woman and her doctor. If Donald Trump and JD Vance reach the White House, they will enact their dangerous Project 2025 agenda and ban abortion nationwide, while threatening IVF and contraception access. Georgia voters and Americans across the country will put a stop to Donald Trump’s relentless attacks on women’s reproductive rights this November as they elect Vice President Harris and Governor Walz.”  

Trump is the reason Georgians live under a cruel law that bans abortion before many women know they’re pregnant and threatens jail time. And he’s proud of it.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “The state Supreme Court reinstated Georgia’s restrictive abortion law, one week after a Fulton County Superior Court judge ruled the law was unconstitutional.”

Trump: “I was proudly the person responsible for the ending of … Roe v. Wade.”

Slate: “Georgia Just Criminalized Abortion. Women Who Terminate Their Pregnancies Would Receive Life in Prison.”

“On Tuesday, Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed a ‘fetal heartbeat’ bill that seeks to outlaw abortion after about six weeks. The measure, HB 481, is the most extreme abortion ban in the country—not just because it would impose severe limitations on women’s reproductive rights, but also because it would subject women who get illegal abortions to life imprisonment and the death penalty.”

New York Times: “Georgia Supreme Court Allows State’s Six-Week Abortion Ban to Remain in Effect”

“The ruling means that abortion remains banned in the state, with limited exceptions, after the sixth week of pregnancy — a point when most women have not yet even realized they are pregnant. With North Carolina now banning most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, South Carolina after six weeks, and Florida doing the same, pending a legal challenge, the ruling ensures that abortion will be largely inaccessible in the Deep South, forcing women there to travel farther for care, to more distant states like Virginia or Illinois.”

Washington Post: “Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, the lead plaintiff in the case, called the Tuesday decision ‘devastating.’

“‘This abortion ban has forced Georgians to travel across state lines at great expense or continue the life-altering consequences of pregnancy and childbirth against their wills,’ she said.”

Georgia Recorder: “More consequentially, it raises risks for women who want to end their pregnancies and those who help them do so. Abortion rights advocates express concerns that murder charges could be leveled against abortion patients along with conspiracy charges against people who help them.”

Reporting shows that abortion bans are delaying critical emergency care across the country, leading to two women dying in Georgia.

ProPublica: “Abortion Bans Have Delayed Emergency Medical Care. In Georgia, Experts Say This Mother’s Death Was Preventable.”

“In her final hours, Amber Nicole Thurman suffered from a grave infection that her suburban Atlanta hospital was well-equipped to treat.

“She’d taken abortion pills and encountered a rare complication; she had not expelled all of the fetal tissue from her body. She showed up at Piedmont Henry Hospital in need of a routine procedure to clear it from her uterus, called a dilation and curettage, or D&C.

“But just that summer, her state had made performing the procedure a felony, with few exceptions. Any doctor who violated the new Georgia law could be prosecuted and face up to a decade in prison…

“But ProPublica obtained reports that confirm that at least two women have already died after they couldn’t access legal abortions and timely medical care in their state…

“Thurman’s case marks the first time an abortion-related death, officially deemed ‘preventable,’ is coming to public light… 

“But since abortion was banned or restricted in 22 states over the past two years, women in serious danger have been turned away from emergency rooms and told that they needed to be in more peril before doctors could help. Some have been forced to continue high-risk pregnancies that threatened their lives. Those whose pregnancies weren’t even viable have been told they could return when they were ‘crashing.’”

Georgia’s abortion ban disproportionately hurts Black women — in a state where the Black maternal mortality rate is already unacceptably high.

11Alive: “It also provides a look at who the bill may impact the most: Black people, younger patients and those with less education. Researchers said with the new restrictions, many of these patients won’t be able to access safe, legal abortions.”

“‘Lack of access to safe and legal abortion could also add to the maternal mortality rate in Georgia,’ Mosley said, ‘with numbers showing a possible increase of 18%.’”

“In 2019, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, Georgia had the worst maternal mortality ratio of any state in the country. Black, American Indian/Alaska and Indigenous women are also two to three times more ‘likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white women.’ Experts said overturning Roe v. Wade will disproportionately affect communities of color in Georgia, as for years, they have already faced many barriers to maternal health.”

The post Because of Donald Trump, Health Care for Millions of Georgia Women Thrown Into Chaos appeared first on Democrats.

On Tuesday during the vice presidential debate between Governor Tim Walz and JD Vance, JD Vance tried to spin Trump’s dangerous, anti-reproductive freedom agenda and deny his support for a national abortion ban. He failed miserably. 

A reminder: in 2022, Vance said he ‘would like abortion to be illegal nationally’ and was ‘sympathetic’ to a national ban to stop women from traveling across states to get necessary reproductive health care. 

Meanwhile, Governor Tim Walz spoke passionately about tragedies like the story of Amber Thurman, whose death under Georgia’s Trump Abortion Ban was determined by medical experts to be preventable. All of this is a sad reminder that after Trump’s overturn of Roe v. Wade, his extreme abortion bans are putting lives at risk and undermining critical health care access: overall infant mortality rates and maternal mortality have spiked in states with abortion bans. With Trump abortion bans now in effect in 20 states, millions of women are being denied access to critical reproductive care, with doctors facing up to life in prison in some cases. This reality is only possible because of Donald Trump.

Now, if Trump and Vance have their way, their Project 2025 agenda would go even further – banning abortion nationwide and denying women life-saving reproductive care. 

DNC Spokesperson Maddy Mundy released the following statement: 

“As Trump and Vance try to obscure their record of ripping reproductive freedom away from women across the country, women are already dying.  Researchers and health experts are frantically raising the alarm as infant and maternal mortality rates have spiked in states that have implemented extreme Trump abortion bans. If Trump and Vance reach the White House, they’ll take these extreme attacks on reproductive freedom nationwide through their extreme Project 2025 agenda – from banning abortion nationwide to threatening health care providers with jail time just for doing their jobs. This is a crisis. To protect our fundamental freedoms, we must defeat Trump in November.”

Trump’s abortion bans threaten the lives of women in states across the country.

NBC News: A Dramatic Rise in Pregnant Women Dying in Texas After Abortion Ban

By Erika Edwards, Zinhle Essamuah, and Jason Kane

Key Point: “Texas law now prohibits all abortion except to save the life of the mother… The SB 8 effect, Cohen’s team found, was swift and stark. Within a year, maternal mortality rose in all racial groups studied. Among Hispanic women, the rate of women dying while pregnant, during childbirth or soon after increased from 14.5 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2019 to 18.9 in 2022. Rates among white women nearly doubled — from 20 per 100,000 to 39.1. And Black women, who historically have higher chances of dying while pregnant, during childbirth or soon after, saw their rates go from 31.6 to 43.6 per 100,000 live births. While maternal mortality spiked overall during the pandemic, women dying while pregnant or during childbirth rose consistently in Texas following the state’s ban on abortion, according to the Gender Equity Policy Institute.”

ProPublica: Abortion Bans Have Delayed Emergency Medical Care. In Georgia, Experts Say This Mother’s Death Was Preventable.

By Kavitha Surana

Key Point: “The otherwise healthy 28-year-old medical assistant, who had her sights set on nursing school, should not have died, an official state committee recently concluded. Tasked with examining pregnancy-related deaths to improve maternal health, the experts, including 10 doctors, deemed hers ‘preventable’ and said the hospital’s delay in performing the critical procedure had a ‘large’ impact on her fatal outcome. Their reviews of individual patient cases are not made public. But ProPublica obtained reports that confirm that at least two women have already died after they couldn’t access legal abortions and timely medical care in their state.”

ProPublica: Afraid to Seek Care Amid Georgia’s Abortion Ban, She Stayed at Home and Died

By Kavitha Surana

Key Point: “They came to that conclusion after weighing the entire chain of events, from Miller’s underlying health conditions, to her decision to manage her abortion alone, to her reticence to seek medical care. ‘The fact that she felt that she had to make these decisions, that she didn’t have adequate choices here in Georgia, we felt that definitely influenced her case,’ one committee member told ProPublica. ‘She’s absolutely responding to this legislation.’ This is the second preventable death related to abortion bans that ProPublica is reporting this week.”

Rolling Stone: Florida Doctors Describe Dystopic Horrors as DeSantis Tries to Tank Abortion Measure

By Tessa Stuart

Key Point: “A new report, released on Tuesday by the nonprofit Physicians for Human Rights, confirms what Daniels is seeing for herself: that many doctors are delaying or refusing to provide necessary care out of fear of losing their medical licenses or going to jail; and that those doctors inclined to continue to providing necessary care have found navigating Florida’s exceptions is a Kafkaesque nightmare.”

Axios: Louisiana doctors prepare for nation’s first law reclassifying abortion drugs as controlled substances

By Chelsea Brasted

Key Point: “Louisiana will become the first state to classify misoprostol and mifepristone as controlled substances as abortion rights become a flashpoint in the presidential election. The drugs are also used for ulcer prevention and as treatments for constipation and postpartum hemorrhages. Before it became law, hundreds of doctors signed a letter opposing the bill, Jezebel reported.”

Washington Post: Louisiana hospitals and pharmacists prep for new abortion pill rules

By Emily Wax-Thibodeaux

Key Point: “Staff in some Louisiana hospitals are doing timed drills, sprinting from patient rooms and through halls to the locked medicine closets where the drugs used for abortions, incomplete miscarriages and postpartum hemorrhaging will have to be kept — as newly categorized controlled substances — starting Oct. 1.

That’s hardly the only preparation taking place across the state as a law targeting mifepristone and misoprostol, the first of its kind in the country, goes into effect in two weeks.”

Infant mortality rates have spiked in Texas after restrictive abortion bans went into effect, showcasing the danger of Trump abortion bans across the country. 

Washington Post: Infant death rate spiked in Texas after restrictive abortion law, study finds

By Victoria Bisset

Key Point:  “Infant deaths from fetal abnormalities, the leading cause of death for babies under a year of age, rose by 22.9 percent in Texas in 2022 but fell by 3.1 percent for the rest of the country, the study found. Infant deaths from unintentional injuries also increased by 20.7 percent in Texas in the same period, compared to 1.1 percent nationally.”

CNN: Link found in Texas between rising infant mortality and state’s abortion restrictions

By Rob Kuznia and Isabelle Chapman

Key Point: “This study provides some of the first empirical evidence on the association of restrictive abortion policies with infant deaths by using population-based data and a rigorous causal inference technique,’ the authors wrote. ‘Although replication and further analyses are needed to understand the mechanisms behind these findings, our results indicate that restrictive abortion policies may have important unintended consequences in terms of trauma to families and medical cost.’”

NBC News: Texas abortion ban linked to 13% increase in infant and newborn deaths

By Kaitlin Sullivan and Jason Kane

Key Point: “Lawmakers passed Texas Senate Bill 8, or SB8, in September 2021. The state law banned abortions as soon as a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can be as early as five weeks. This effectively banned abortion in the state, which used to allow abortion up to 22 weeks of pregnancy. The law did not include exemptions for congenital anomalies, including conditions that will cause a newborn to die soon after birth.” 

Axios: Study links spike in infant deaths to Texas abortion ban

By Adriel Bettelheim

Key Point: “The study authors said their findings are relevant since other states enacted similar strict bans after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade that compel women to continue pregnancies or overcome significant hurdles to obtain abortion care out of state.”

The Guardian: One death is too many’: abortion bans usher in US maternal mortality crisis

By Melody Schreiber

Key Point: “In the year following Texas’s abortion ban, child mortality shot up by 12.9% – compared with a 1.8% increase in the rest of the country, according to a recent study. Congenital anomalies are the leading cause of infant death in the US – but while they went down by 3.1% in the rest of the country, they went up by 22.9% in Texas.”

Vanity Fair: Texas’s “Pro-Life” Abortion Law Has Literally Led to More Infant Deaths

By Bess Levin

Key Point: “Anti-Abortion advocates talk a big game about protecting the “sanctity of life,” but in reality do not care about life at all—not the lives of mothers, whose rights they think nothing of taking away, or the babies they force pregnant people to carry to term. The most recent example of this hypocrisy? A new study showing that infant deaths increased in Texas in the wake of its near-total ban on abortions.”

The post REMINDER: Thanks to Trump, Reproductive Health Care Restrictions Threaten Lives in States with Abortion Bans appeared first on Democrats.

The Harris-Walz plan for an Opportunity Economy will champion the middle class

Last night on the debate stage, while Governor Tim Walz laid out a New Way Forward for America, JD Vance spent the evening lying because he knows Donald Trump’s Project 2025 plans can’t measure up to Vice President Harris’ strong vision or record. Among his many lies, Vance claimed Donald Trump did more for American workers and industry as president. In reality, Vice President Harris, in partnership with President Biden, spurred hundreds of billions in investments in American manufacturing. Vice President Harris’ Opportunity Economy will build on this historic success, ensuring America—not China or any other country—wins the competition for the 21st century.

To set the record straight on who has delivered manufacturing wins in the states, DNC Spokesperson Maddy Mundy released the following statement: 

“Here’s the truth on American manufacturing under the Biden-Harris administration: A staggering 15.7 million new jobs have been created here at home since President Biden and Vice President Harris took office, with hundreds of billions invested in domestic manufacturing. In stark contrast, offshoring went up and manufacturing jobs went down under Trump’s watch. His Project 2025 agenda would double down on that disastrous record while raising costs for working families. Vice President Harris and Governor Walz’s Opportunity Economy will build on historic progress and ensure American workers reap the gains as American industry leads the world in innovation.” 

In the battlegrounds and states across the nation, the Biden-Harris administration has created millions of jobs, lifting up the middle class.

In Arizona: 361.1k new jobs created and $123 billion in private, domestic manufacturing and clean energy investments announced under Biden-Harris.

In Georgia: 487.6k new jobs created and $41 billion in private, domestic manufacturing and clean energy investments announced under Biden-Harris.

In Michigan: 424.7k new jobs created and $28 billion in private, domestic manufacturing and clean energy investments announced under Biden-Harris.

In Nevada: 287.4k new jobs created and $10 billion in private, domestic manufacturing and clean energy investments announced under Biden-Harris.

In North Carolina: 512k new jobs created and $42 billion in private, domestic manufacturing and clean energy investments announced under Biden-Harris. 

In Pennsylvania: 544.2k new jobs created and $4 billion in private, domestic manufacturing and clean energy investments announced under Biden-Harris.

In Wisconsin: 191.3k new jobs created and $5 billion in private, domestic manufacturing and clean energy investments announced under Biden-Harris.

The Guardian: “Swing states in US election are biggest winners in Democrats’ landmark climate bill”

“Since the passage of clean energy incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a bill called the ‘most significant climate law in the history of mankind’ by Joe Biden, nearly $150bn has been announced for a flurry of new American facilities producing electric cars, batteries and components for renewable energy.

“Of this, $63bn, or nearly half, will flow to just seven states – Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin – that form the battleground fought over by Kamala Harris and Donald Trump for November’s presidential election, bringing more than 50,000 new manufacturing jobs, according to an analysis carried out for the Guardian by Atlas Public Policy.”

Meanwhile, Trump broke his promises to Americans, including workers in the Midwest.

Detroit News: “History casts doubt on Donald Trump’s auto industry promises”

“Yet, the number of jobs in vehicle and parts manufacturing in Michigan declined during Trump’s first term — including before the COVID-19 pandemic hit — according to data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. And while there were some additional investments made by the industry in Michigan over his four years in office, there were also auto plants that closed in the state, including the General Motors Co. Warren Transmission plant in 2019.”

Washington Post: “Trump promised this Wisconsin town a manufacturing boom. It never arrived.”

Wall Street Journal: “President Trump’s trade war against China didn’t achieve the central objective of reversing a U.S. decline in manufacturing, economic data show, despite tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese goods to discourage imports.”

The Biden-Harris administration has created a historic manufacturing boom all across America.

Bloomberg: “US Steel CEO Hails IRA as a ‘Manufacturing Renaissance Act’”

Yahoo News: “Under President Biden, however, a manufacturing boom finally seems to be getting started. Since the beginning of 2022, construction spending on new factories has more than doubled, from an annualized rate of $91 billion in January 2022 to $189 billion in April 2023, the latest data available. That’s the biggest jump, by far, in data going back to 2002.”

The Hill: “A surge in manufacturing construction across the country is grabbing the attention of economists and workers on the ground as legislative efforts to reinvigorate the U.S. industrial base are bearing fruit.”

Axios: “South, Mountain West see manufacturing boom under Biden”

Wall Street Journal: “Shift to EVs Triggers Biggest Auto-Factory Building Boom in Decades”

Washington Post: “Welcome to Silicon Desert: How Biden helped boost an Arizona boomtown”

In contrast, as president, Trump failed American workers and created new incentives for companies to ship jobs overseas. 

Washington Post: “Trump promised ‘America First’ would keep jobs here. But the tax plan might push them overseas.”

Bloomberg: “The Offshoring of U.S. Jobs Increased on Trump’s Watch”

Reuters: “How offshoring rolled along under Trump, who vowed to stop it”

“Donald Trump won the U.S. presidency four years ago, in part, by a promise to Midwest factory workers that he would stop companies like Schneider Electric SE from moving jobs out of the country. He didn’t stop them.”

Under the Biden-Harris administration, manufacturing and construction employment is higher than at any point during the Trump administration.

BLS, August 2024: There were 12,927,000 manufacturing jobs in the U.S., more than at any point under Trump.

BLS, August 2024: There were 8,280,000 construction jobs in the U.S., more than at any point under Trump.

As president, Kamala Harris will make sure America—not China or any other country—wins the competition for the 21st century.

NBC News: “Harris outlines $100 billion manufacturing plan, vowing pragmatism over ideology”

Gray DC: “Economic expert says Kamala Harris has better plan to grow jobs in America over Trump”

Quartz: “’I’m a capitalist,’ Kamala Harris says as she reveals $100 billion manufacturing plan”

“‘We have an extraordinary opportunity to make our middle class the engine of America’s prosperity,’ Harris said.”

The post Vance Got It Wrong Again: Biden-Harris Admin Brought American Manufacturing Back After Trump Decimated It  appeared first on Democrats.

DNC Director of Outreach Communications Tracy King released the following statement: 

“This election is about two drastically different visions for America: the Harris-Walz vision of a new way forward for our country where all Native people have the opportunity to not just get by, but to get ahead, versus the Trump-Vance plan to drag our country backward. The Biden-Harris administration has fought for Tribal Nations and Tribal communities through historic investments to improve Tribal health care, public safety, language preservation, and education, close the digital divide, expand economic opportunities, and address the impacts of climate change on Tribal communities. On the other hand, Donald Trump and JD Vance have failed Native communities, proposing cuts to critical services, undermining federal Tribal land protections and efforts to address the climate crisis, and spewing hateful rhetoric. The contrast couldn’t be clearer: Vice President Harris and Governor Walz are the only candidates in this race championing the rights of Native communities and taking steps to advance Tribal sovereignty and self-determination.” 

Donald Trump and JD Vance have repeatedly attacked the ACA, which helped expand coverage for and meet the health needs of Native Americans, and a judge found Trump’s administration caused “irreparable harm” by delaying COVID-19 relief funds for Tribes. 

NBC News: “Trump doubles down, saying ‘Obamacare Sucks’ and must be replaced”

NOTUS: “Vance suggested overhauling Obamacare would still be a priority. ‘Well, I think we’re definitely gonna have to fix the health care problem in this country,’ he said.” 

New York Times: “The Trump administration formally declared its opposition to the entire Affordable Care Act on Wednesday, arguing in a federal appeals court filing that the signature Obama-era legislation was unconstitutional and should be struck down. Such a decision could end health insurance for some 21 million Americans and affect many millions more who benefit from the law’s protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions and required coverage for pregnancy, prescription drugs and mental health.” 

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: “Despite the assurance of health care, AI/ANs face persistent health disparities, including a high uninsurance rate, barriers to accessing care, and significant physical and mental health needs. Like many other groups, AI/ANs have benefited greatly from the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) coverage expansions.”

Kaiser Family Foundation: “Nonelderly AIAN and Hispanic people had the highest uninsured rates at 19.1% and 18.0%, respectively as of 2022…

“For example, between 2010 and 2022, the uninsured rate for AIAN people grew from 2.5 to 2.9 times higher than the uninsured rate for White people, the Hispanic uninsured rate grew from 2.5 to 2.7 times higher than the rate for White people, and Black people remained 1.5 times more likely to be uninsured than White people.”

Kaiser Family Foundation: ​​“Following the ACA’s enactment in 2010 through 2016, coverage increased across all racial and ethnic groups […] Nonelderly Hispanic people had the largest percentage point increase in coverage, with their uninsured rate falling from 32.6% to 19.1%. Nonelderly Black, Asian, and AIAN people also had larger percentage point increases in coverage compared to White people over that period.”

USA Today: “Native Americans, Alaska Natives and a bipartisan group of their allies are worried that repeal of the Affordable Care Act will also eliminate a non-controversial portion of that law that commits federal funding for tribal health care around the country, a move that the National Indian Health Board warns would be ‘catastrophic.’ …

“The law also provides scholarships to Native Americans and Alaska Natives to get medical degrees if they come back and work in their tribes.” 

HuffPost: “Judge Orders Trump Administration To Give Tribes Their COVID-19 Relief Funds.”

“A federal judge on Monday ordered Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to distribute $679 million in emergency COVID-19 relief funds to Native American tribes that should have gotten it months ago, and he chided the agency for causing ‘irreparable harm’ with its delays.”

Trump repeatedly proposed slashing funding for vital programs supporting Native Americans on issues like education and housing.

Associated Press: “Tribes Bash Proposed Trump Budget Cuts To Native American Programs.”

“The proposed budget would slash $64 million in federal Native American funding for education, $21 million for law enforcement and safety, $27 million for natural resources management programs run by tribes plus $23 million from human services, which includes the Indian Child Welfare Act, said Carina Miller, a councilwoman with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, in Oregon. It would also eliminate funding for tribal work on climate change and cut block grant programs that provide housing assistance for Native Americans, she added.”

Las Vegas Sun: “The budget calls for massive cutbacks in staffing — 1,835 National Parks Service employees, 1,209 from the U.S. Geological Survey, 559 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and 330 from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.”

Washington Post: “Shrink funding for Adult Employment and Training Activities, which serve veterans, Native Americans and young people who have dropped out of high school, by nearly half, from $810 million in 2017 to $490.3 million in 2019.” 

CNN: “The Budget proposes to eliminate rural business and cooperative programs given findings that the programs have failed to meet the program goals and are improperly managed.” 

Trump has repeatedly shown his willingness to undermine federal Tribal land protections and revoke funding for programs that address climate change despite the significant risk it poses to Tribal communities. 

Associated Press: “Dozens of Native American tribes in six Western states expressed outrage Thursday at President Trump’s proposed budget cuts to American Indian programs, saying they would erase significant progress on child welfare and climate change and gut social services and education on reservations across the U.S… Eliminating $10 million for a program that helps tribes prepare for and deal with rapid environmental change would be particularly harmful, said Fawn Sharp, president of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians.”

New York Times: “Dispossessed, Again: Climate Change Hits Native Americans Especially Hard”

Financial Times: “Donald Trump would gut Joe Biden’s landmark IRA climate law if elected”

“Donald Trump is planning to gut US President Joe Biden’s landmark climate law, increase investment in fossil fuels and roll back regulations aimed at accelerating the transition to electric vehicles if he is elected next year. … The Inflation Reduction Act — the centrepiece of Biden’s economic strategy, with $369bn in tax breaks and subsidies for clean energy — would be in Trump’s crosshairs.”

Washington Post: “In 2016, President Barack Obama created the Bears Ears National Monument […] His proclamation recognized the area’s ‘extraordinary archaeological and cultural record’ and the land’s ‘profoundly sacred’ meaning to many Native American tribes. Eleven months later, in early December of 2017, President Trump reduced Bears Ears by 85 percent…” 

The Hill: “The amount of land placed into trust by Interior shrunk to 75,000 acres during Trump’s four years in office, from 560,000 acres during former President Obama’s two terms.”

Associated Press: “The rule, which takes effect in November, reverses a Trump-era action that limited the ability of states and tribes to review pipelines, dams and other federally regulated projects within their borders.”

Bloomberg: “Trump will discuss the ways he intends to woo foreign manufacturers to the US through a lower corporate tax rate, fewer regulations, cheap energy, strong ports and even government land.”

Trump’s Project 2025 agenda would eliminate the Head Start Program after he tried in his first term to cut millions in scholarship funding meant to help ensure Native families have access to quality education. 

KNAU: “Trump Administration Proposes Eliminating Tribal Scholarships For Third Year In A Row.”

“The administration’s fiscal year 2020 budget would slash nearly $40 million from tribal scholarship and education programs administered by the Bureau of Indian Education… [Navajo Office of Scholarship and Financial Assistance’s] Graham says in 2017 nearly $10 million in federal funding went to partial scholarships for nearly 4,000 Navajo students. The Trump administration’s proposal would eliminate all of it. Just over 4 percent of Navajo tribal members have a bachelor’s degree compared with about a third of the total U.S. population.” 

Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership, pg. 482: “Eliminate the Head Start program.”

REMINDER: Trump and JD Vance have long disrespected Native Americans, from claiming Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a “fake holiday” and mocking Native American history to spewing racially charged rhetoric. 

Trump, Faith and Freedom Conference: “But in history, they say Andrew Jackson was treated the worst president. He was a great general and a very good president.”

Trump: “‘I think I might have more Indian blood than a lot of the so-called Indians that are trying to open up the reservations.’”

Washington Post: “In 2000, when New York was considering expanding Native American casinos in the Catskill Mountains, a series of TV, newspaper and radio ads popped up in the state accusing the Mohawk Indian tribe of having long criminal records and ties to the mob…

As far as the public knew, the ads were sponsored by a newly formed group called the Institute for Law and Safety. The group claimed that it was funded by 12,000 ‘grass-roots, pro-family’ donors. But in reality, it was bankrolled by Trump’s casino company… Trump paid more than $1 million for the campaign.”

Washington Post: “One hundred years after U.S. soldiers killed and maimed hundreds of Sioux men, women and children at the Wounded Knee massacre, Congress formally apologized in 1990… President Trump used that same massacre as a punchline in his latest broadside against Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the Democratic presidential hopeful whom he regularly calls ‘Pocahontas’ in jeering reference to her claims of American Indian heritage.”

Indianz: “President Trump Disavows Indigenous Peoples Day”

Associated Press: “‘Sadly, in recent years, radical activists have sought to undermine Christopher Columbus’s legacy,’ Trump said in his proclamation declaring Monday Columbus Day. ‘These extremists seek to replace discussion of his vast contributions with talk of failings, his discoveries with atrocities, and his achievements with transgressions.’”

U.S. News & World Report: “President Donald Trump’s proclamation of Monday as Columbus Day contains a notable omission: any mention of Native Americans.” 

Washington Post: “November Is Native American Heritage Month. Critics Say Trump Is Subverting It With A New Celebration Of The Founding Fathers.”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “In Ohio, JD Vance Implied Tribes Were ‘Enemy,’ And Called Indigenous Peoples’ Day ‘Fake’” 

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Vance also made comments on social media disparaging the celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day […] He posted on Twitter in October 2021 ‘Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a fake holiday created to sow division.”

Breitbart: “J.D. Vance Criticizes Opponent Matt Dolan For Indians Name Change, Rails Against ‘Weak Republicans’”

“‘And when the woke mob came after the Cleveland Indians, he bent the knee and changed their name,’ Vance added.” 

The post Native Communities Can’t Afford a Second Trump Term  appeared first on Democrats.