Democrat Richard Saslaw has represented Virginia’s 35th district in the state Senate for nearly 40 years, without ever facing a primary fight. For the past several months however, he’s been feeling the heat from progressive challenger Yasmine Taeb, who could deliver an upset victory in Tuesday’s primary election.
Taeb, a human rights attorney and the first Muslim woman to be elected to the Democratic National Committee, is one of many progressive Democrats across the cou...
ThinkProgress
California poised to become first-ever state to offer health insurance to some undocumented adults
In a sharp rebuke to the Trump administration, California is expanding access to health care for its largest uninsured group: the undocumented.
Activists have been trying to get the state to cover undocumented residents for some time, as about 1.4 million lack insurance. On Sunday, they made progress when state lawmakers reached a budget agreement that would make California the first-ever state to offer health coverage to certain undocumented residents.
Specifically, undocume...
How activists of color got Democrats to care about the Hyde Amendment
H.K. Gray had an abortion, but her insurance wouldn’t pay for it.
“When I was pregnant with my daughter, I used my Medicaid to cover almost all of her birth, almost all of her ultrasounds, and almost everything I needed for pre-natal care,” Gray told ThinkProgress, “So when it came time to when I needed my abortion for my third pregnancy, I just assumed it would work for that as well.”
That’s when Gray learned about the Hyde Amendment, whic...
In reversal, Biden says he no longer supports anti-abortion Hyde Amendment
Former Vice President Joe Biden announced late Thursday that he no longer supports the Hyde Amendment, one day after coming under fire from pro-choice groups and fellow Democrats for reaffirming through his campaign his support for the measure that bans using federal funds for abortions.
Biden told an audience in Georgia that he’d had a change of heart after decades supporting the amendment, motivated by a recent raft of “extreme laws” — including one passed ...
The organizers behind Boston’s Straight Pride Parade should concern you
While Boston’s planned “straight pride parade” has created a fountain of hilarious jokes, there is a serious issue at hand with organizers’ close ties to far-right groups.
The three men organizing the parade, planned for August 31, are John Hugo, Mark Sahady, and Chris Bartley, who is called the “gay ambassador” on the event website. Sahady has ties to groups like the Proud Boys, the New Hampshire American Guard, and the Massachusetts Patriot Fron...
The two most important Supreme Court cases you’ve probably never heard of
It’s June, which means the Supreme Court is in the final stretch of its first term since Justice Anthony Kennedy gave his seat up for President Trump to fill. We will soon know what America looks like under a judiciary that’s been remade by a president that is actively lobbying the Supreme Court to permit racist voter suppression.
Indeed, the story of this term is likely to be a story about democracy — and the Supreme Court’s role in thwarting it. The court i...
Rev. William Barber is on trial for trespassing over a health care protest he led 2 years ago
Rev. Dr. William Barber is on trial in North Carolina for leading a protest calling for Medicaid expansion in the state’s legislative building two years ago.
Barber, then-head of the state NAACP chapter and leader of the progressive grassroots movement “Moral Monday,” was arrested on May 30, 2017, after he led a group of more than 30 people to the legislative building in Raleigh to to discuss health care with lawmakers. Barber and others in the group were later cha...
Bernie Sanders brings the fight for a $15 minimum wage to Walmart’s shareholders meeting
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) brought his battle for a $15 minimum wage and workers’ rights to Walmart’s annual shareholders meeting in Arkansas on Wednesday.
The Walton family controls just over 50% of the company’s stock. They are the richest family in the United States. Sanders has called out the Walton’s refusal to raise wages for its workers, asserting that it is “outrageous that the Walton family makes more in one minute than a Walmart worker earns in a year.”
At the invit...
Biden still supports Hyde Amendment barring federal funding for abortion, campaign says
Last month, a volunteer with the American Civil Liberties Union cornered former Vice President Joe Biden on a rope line at a campaign event and pressed him for an answer to a simple question: Would he commit to repealing the Hyde Amendment?
As is often the case in spontaneous rope line interactions, Biden’s response was a bit meandering. Nevertheless, the takeaway from Biden’s exchange seemed clear. “It can’t stay,” he said, before quickly moving on to ...
Biden still supports Hyde Amendment barring federal funding for abortion, campaign says
Last month, a volunteer with the American Civil Liberties Union cornered former Vice President Joe Biden on a rope line at a campaign event and pressed him for an answer to a simple question: Would he commit to repealing the Hyde Amendment?
As is often the case in spontaneous rope line interactions, Biden’s response was a bit meandering. Nevertheless, the takeaway from Biden’s exchange seemed clear. “It can’t stay,” he said, before quickly moving on to ...