Iowa Democrat Announces Senate Run to Unseat Republican Joni Ernst
Iowa state Rep. J.D. Scholten has launched a campaign to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, citing recent comments Ernst made about Medicaid as a tipping point.
Scholten, a Democrat representing parts of Sioux City, confirmed his candidacy to multiple Iowa news outlets on Monday, just days after
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Yvette Clarke endorses Adrienne Adams for New York City mayor
NEW YORK — Rep. Yvette Clarke is endorsing Adrienne Adams as her top choice for New York City mayor, lending the City Council speaker a much-needed boost as she seeks traction in the final weeks of the campaign, POLITICO reports exclusively. Clarke and her powerbroker mother Una Clarke are influential among Caribbean New Yorkers. They're also closely allied with New York Attorney General Letitia James, who recruited and endorsed Adams in a contentious primary that Andrew Cuomo is dominating. Adams is a late entry into the race. She qualified only last week for public matching funds. And she's been polling behind Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani, the surging Democratic socialist who's closing the gap with the former governor. 'Working families in Brooklyn and across this city deserve a mayor who puts people first — someone who leads with both strength and compassion, and who has the experience to make government work for everyone,' Clarke said in a statement. 'Speaker Adrienne Adams is ready on day one to partner with me and my colleagues in protecting New Yorkers from the harmful policies coming out of the White House.' Clarke, who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, said she will make Adams her No. 1 pick in the ranked choice primary June 24. Rep. Nydia Velázquez, another Brooklyn Democrat, also endorsed Adams but additionally backed Mamdani and progressive city Comptroller Brad Lander in April as a part of her slate. The incumbent mayor, Eric Adams, is forgoing the Democratic primary and will run in the general election as an independent candidate. Clarke's nod comes as her political club, the Progressive Democrats Political Association, plans to endorse an unranked slate of candidates that includes Cuomo, though many members wanted to make Adrienne Adams their top choice, three people familiar with the decision told POLITICO. The Brooklyn club, founded by Una Clarke, considered backing Adams first, followed by Lander, Cuomo, club member Zellnor Myrie and Mamdani — in that order. But amid deliberations about whether to rank the candidates and pressure from Cuomo's allies within the club, members instead plan to release a five-candidate slate that shows no preferential order, according to two people familiar with the process who were granted anonymity to speak freely. Clarke's endorsement is one of the last from New York congressional delegation members in the primary. She endorsed Maya Wiley in the 2021 primary for mayor. The chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Adriano Espaillat of Manhattan and the Bronx, endorsed Cuomo last month. And the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus chair, Rep. Grace Meng of Queens, has yet to make her pick in the crowded primary. The prized congressional endorsement among the primary's progressives is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has yet to announce her choices.
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
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Cuomo — and attacks against ex-gov — takes center stage in rowdy NYC Democratic mayoral debate
Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo was at the center of a pile-on during a rowdy mayoral debate Wednesday night — as flailing Democratic candidates seized their first chance to attack the primary's frontrunner in a public forum. Cuomo literally stood mid-stage between the other eight candidates, who repeatedly pelted the thrice-elected Democrat — with COVID nursing home deaths and his checkered record leading the Empire State hijacking much of the NBC-Politico debate. 'The people who don't feel safe are young women, mothers and grandmothers around Andrew Cuomo,' shot the Rev. Michael Blake, a former Obama administration official, who scathingly evoked the sexual harassment accusations that led to the former governor's resignation. 'That's the greatest threat to public safety in New York City.' An often-heated Cuomo responded to the attacks, as well as pointed questions by debate moderators, with barbs of his own and conspicuous dodges for the chaotic more than two hours. He directed fire of his own at the candidates closest to him in the polls: Democratic socialist Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani and City Comptroller Brad Lander. Cuomo, 67, cast Mamdani's plan to offer $10 billion of freebies for hardworking New Yorkers as not rooted in 'reality.' He also argued that Mamdani, a 33-year-old who was elected to the state Legislature in 2021, lacked the experience to stand up to a hostile President Trump, if elected mayor. 'Donald Trump would go through Mr. Mamdani like a hot knife through butter,' Cuomo said. 'He has been in government for 27 minutes' Mamdani, who is rising to within single digits of Cuomo in the polls, hammered the longtime politician as not being on the side of working-class New Yorkers. The Democratic Socialists of America lawmaker skewered Cuomo's super PAC, Fix The City, for cashing in on a $1 million donation from the popular app DoorDash — for which the former governor's top-ranking aide Melissa DeRosa's father works as a lobbyist. He landed some big haymakers against Cuomo, but also peppered his answers with little jabs. When asked his biggest regret, Mamdani was harsh — and stayed on point with attacking Cuomo. 'As a Democrat, one of my regrets is having trusted the leaders within our own party leaders like Andrew Cuomo, because what we've seen is that kind of leadership has delivered us to this point where we are under attack by an affordability crisis on the inside and a Trump administration,' he said. Cuomo at one point quipped that Trump 'gets sued 10 times before he gets out of bed in the morning.' 'Kind of like you,' Mamdani shot back. Lander, for his part, subtly swiped Cuomo in nearly every answer — calling him as corrupt as Trump. Cuomo went scorched earth at Lander, who is polling at third place. He accused Lander of corruptly approving $500,000 in contracts associated with his wife — a charge the comptroller called a lie. Cuomo managed to attack all of his opponents in one fell swoop by calling out their past support for the 'Defund the Police' movement. 'We wouldn't need more police if we didn't defund them in the first place,' Cuomo said. But when it came time to answer for his own record, Cuomo seemingly couldn't find the words. Asked about the controversial state bail reforms that he signed into law in 2019, Cuomo chose to use his 30 seconds to attack Lander — prompting the moderators to warn him he was running out of time to answer. He also got heated — and raised his voice — as he insisted nursing home deaths were not undercounted in New York during the COVID-19 pandemic, though they were. 'It's very, it's very clear that's the Trump line, the MAGA line,' claimed Cuomo, who is facing a Department of Justice probe for allegedly lying to Congress about his handling of COVID nursing home deaths. The crowded dais provided little oxygen to the struggling candidates, who for months now have struggled to topple Cuomo atop the polls or match the momentum of the socialist Mamdani. Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and state Sen. Zellnor Myrie were two of the few able to cut through the often chaotic barrage of attacks on the ex-governor, with Big Apple politicos saying the pair came across as authentic politicians with concrete agendas. Hedge fund manager and longshot candidate Whitney Tilson went after Mamdani several times, dredging up a past X post that called the NYPD 'wicked & corrupt.' Political consultant and lobbyist Yvette Buckner said voters will likely be left wanting to hear more. 'There were some missed opportunities on the top issues of public safety and affordability and the question of the 'biggest regret' for candidates, which is something New Yorkers would want to hear more about, especially from the front runner,' she added. But Blake, a former state Assembly member, proved to be the breakout star of what will be his first and final debate, repeatedly hitting Cuomo — including over a racially tinged comment from decades ago. Democratic operative Ken Frydman, though, dashed Blake's hopes, saying, 'Cuomo will get more of the black vote than he will.' 'No one knows who he is.' — Additional reporting by Carl Campanile
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
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Check out the latest Donald Trump presidential approval ratings for PA and across US
Despite mass firings within the government, threats of tariffs and struggles to get the 'big, beautiful bill' passed, President Donald Trump's approval ratings have held steady early in his second term. DOGE leader Elon Musk is leaving the White House and Trump is threatening to tariff two high profile American companies — Apple and Mattel — despite questions by the US Court of International Trade about his authority to unilaterally impose tariffs without action by congress. Here's what the recent polls show about Trump's presidential job approval ratings as of the first week of June. According to Rasmussen Reports polling, Trump's approval has improved to a 53% approval rating and 46% that disapprove. The TrafalGarGroup poll from this weekend found that 53.7% of Americans approve of how Trump is handling his job as president, while 45.6% disapprove. The Morning Consult tracker poll taken this weekend reported a drop to 46% approval rating and a 51% that disapprove. The Economist/YouGov poll taken this week, shows Trump improving with a 45% favorability versus 53% unfavorable. Americans expressed the most important issue was overwhelmingly focused on inflation/prices, followed by jobs and the economy, health care, immigration and civil rights. In this weekend's Quantus Insights poll, Trump's job approval improved with 48.3% approval versus 47.8% that disapprove and 3.9% that had no opinion. RealClear Polling which encompasses the average of different 15 different pollsters, including all those mentioned above, shows Trump's overall favorability at 47.5% and 49.7% that disapprove. These numbers have improved since his lows at the end of April, when it reached a 52.4% disapproval rating and 45.1% favorable approval rating. According to Civiqs polls, last updated June 2, Trump's approval ratings have dropped about three points in The Keystone State compared to what Pennsylvanians thought of his performance in January. About 53% of Pennsylvanians polled currently disapprove of the president's performance, up from 50% on Jan. 20. Only 43% of the commonwealth gave Trump a thumbs up as of early June, down from 46% six months ago. These polling numbers were also broken down by age, education, gender, race and party. Age: Those between 18-34 were most unfavorable of Trump (60%), while those 50 to 64 were the most favorable (55%). Education: Postgraduate students were most unfavorable toward Trump (68%). Non-college graduates were most favorable (49%). Gender: Men and women are split on Trump, more than half of females (58%) holding an unfavorable view and more than half of males (52%) having a favorable view of the president. Party: Members of the Republican party were 87% favorable of Trump, compared to the Democratic party, who felt just 3% favorable of the president's performance. Independent voters leaned unfavorable (48%). Race: Black voters had the highest unfavorable opinion of Trump (89%), followed by other races at 59%, Hispanic/Latino at 57% and white at 46%. Note: Polls are constantly changing and different pollsters ask different varieties of the population. These numbers were reflected as of Tuesday, June 3, 2025 at 10 a.m. This article originally appeared on Donald Trump presidential approval rating today in PA vs. nationally
