In Virginia and New Jersey governor's races, Democrats reprise a 2018 roadmap for opposing Trump 2.0
HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — Abigail Spanberger opened her general election bid for Virginia governor Wednesday using her high school alma mater near Richmond.
'I grew up walking the halls of Tucker High School,' the former congresswoman says as she walks past a bank of lockers in her first ad since securing the Democratic nomination. Later, she notes her experience as a CIA case officer, then in the halls of Congress as a tough-minded, get-things-done lawmaker.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
12 minutes ago
- Forbes
Student Loan Forgiveness Tracker Will Return For Millions Of Borrowers, Says Top Official
A critical tool that allowed millions of Americans to track their student loan forgiveness progress will soon be restored after the Trump administration's abrupt removal earlier this year. The announcement was made by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) last week, who said that U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon confirmed the details to her during a meeting. The move would be welcome news for millions of borrowers who have been left in the dark about where they stand on student loan forgiveness under income-driven repayment plans. And it comes as uncertainty continues to grip much of the federal student loan repayment system following efforts by Republicans lawmakers in Congress and the Department of Education to potentially make substantial changes to affordable repayment programs and student loan forgiveness options. Here are the details. Until this year, millions of borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment (or IDR) plans had no easy way to determine where they stood on their repayment term. IDR plans such as Income-Based Repayment, Income-Contingent Repayment, and Pay As You Earn offer borrowers affordable monthly payments tied to their income and family size, with the possibility of student loan forgiveness for any remaining balance after 2o or 25 years in repayment. But unlike other programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness, borrowers enrolled in IDR plans could not ascertain how close they were to the student loan forgiveness threshold. In January, the Biden administration finally released a long-awaited IDR payment tracker for borrowers in IDR plans, displayed via their accounts. The tracker provided a 'counter' graphic detailing how many months and years a borrower had remaining until qualifying for IDR student loan forgiveness, as well as a more detailed month-by-month breakdown showing which months were counting and which were not (similar to the PSLF tracker, also displayed through This helped borrowers determine how much more time they had left in repayment, and when to expect that they would receive loan forgiveness – critical information for budgeting and tax planning, particularly since IDR student loan forgiveness can be a taxable event. But in April, the Department of Education abruptly removed the IDR student loan forgiveness tracker. The department provided little in the way of explanation, but suggested this was done so that the data underlying the tracker could be improved. Some borrowers did report that there were problems with the IDR tracker, resulting in some trackers displaying incorrect or incomplete information on student loan forgiveness progress, or didn't appear at all. Other observers noted that due to legal challenges, student loan forgiveness has been blocked under the ICR, PAYE, and SAVE plans, but this was not reflected in the IDR tracker. Last week, Senator Warren reported back on a meeting she held with Education Secretary Linda McMahon. Warren indicated that McMahon confirmed that the IDR tracker would be returning soon. 'Secretary McMahon stated that she intends to soon restore the income-driven repayment (IDR) payment count tracker to allowing borrowers to track their progress towards receiving debt relief, after taking down the tracker earlier in the Trump administration,' said Senator Warren in a statement last week. 'My job as a U.S. Senator is to conduct oversight and hold officials' feet to the fire when they are actively harming the American people," she said. 'I was able to secure important commitments from Education Secretary McMahon, which will make a real difference for people with student loans.' In addition to assurances that the IDR tracker would return, Senator Warren also outlined additional commitments from Secretary McMahon, including: 'At a time when President Trump and Republicans in Congress are trying to make it more expensive for students from working-class families to get ahead, I will not stop fighting to ensure that every student has access to affordable, quality education in America,' said Warren. While the assurance that the IDR student loan forgiveness tracker will return soon is welcome news for many borrowers, the announcement comes amid growing doubts about the future of several IDR plans. The SAVE plan, which has been blocked by a federal appeals court since last summer, appears increasingly likely to not return as a repayment option. SAVE was created by the Biden administration to be the most affordable federal student loan repayment plan. The Department of Education has also suspended student loan forgiveness under the ICR and PAYE plans, which were created under the same legal authority as the SAVE plan, following the appeals court's most recent ruling in February. 'Forgiveness as a feature of the SAVE, PAYE, and ICR Plans is currently paused, because those plans were not created by Congress,' said the department in an update in April. 'ED can and will still process loan forgiveness for the IBR Plan, which was separately enacted by Congress. Payments on PAYE, SAVE, and ICR are counted toward IBR Plan forgiveness if the borrower enrolls in IBR.' Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers in Congress have taken significant steps to enact legislative changes that would fundamentally change the IDR system. Under separate bills in the House and the Senate, most current IDR options including SAVE, ICR, and PAYE would be repealed if the legislation is enacted. IBR would be preserved for current federal student loan borrowers, although this plan may be significantly more expensive than the repealed programs, resulting in higher monthly payments for many Americans. The bill would also create a new IDR option called the Repayment Assistance Plan, or RAP. But RAP would increase the monthly payments for the lowest-income borrowers, and would extend the repayment term to 30 years (rather than 20 or 25) before borrowers could qualify for student loan forgiveness. The House passed its version of the bill last month, while a companion bill introduced in the Senate last week is still pending.
Boston Globe
35 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Juneteenth endures even as the rest of Black history is under attack by Trump and GOP. Here's why.
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up There's another straightforward explanation: it's too popular. Even among Republicans. Advertisement In the Senate, every Republican signed off to make it law. In the House, only 14 GOP members voted no. Many of those who supported the law, including Texas Republicans, whose state first recognized Juneteenth as a holiday in 1980, remain in office. For a Congress now deeply polarized on race and education policy, the 2021 vote stands out as a moment of unusual consensus. Advertisement That consensus built on political momentum from the year before. In the summer of 2020, following the murder of George Floyd by a white police officer and the widespread protests that followed, then-President Trump was asked whether he supported making Juneteenth a federal holiday. While he did not propose legislation, he said he would 'absolutely consider it' if a bill came to his desk and added that it 'should be celebrated.' The issue gained traction across the political spectrum, even as deeper policy debates around policing, systemic racism, and racial equity programs remained unresolved. The contrast with what's happened since is striking. Trump, now returned to power, has made curtailing federal engagement with race and history one of the signature priorities of his second term. Executive orders have instructed federal agencies to review and remove materials that reference structural racism or institutional bias. They instructed the National Park Service to Advertisement And beyond the federal government, conservative leaders and lawmakers have sought to limit how race and slavery are taught in classrooms — including bans on the 1619 Project and And yet, Juneteenth has gone untouched. It may be that trying to undo a national holiday, particularly one as publicly embraced as Juneteenth, would be a harder sell than removing curriculum or rewriting a web page. Several red states have followed the federal government's lead and made Juneteenth a state holiday, even as they advance laws that restrict how Black history can be taught in public schools and universities. In South Dakota, Tennessee, and West Virginia, where laws have targeted classroom content about racism and slavery as part of anti-Critical Race Theory measures, June 19 remains an official holiday. In Texas, state offices will close Thursday, just as they have since 1980. The politics are also more delicate. While some on the right criticized the holiday, at the time saying it would compete with July 4 or arguing it was expensive to give another paid holiday without removing an existing one, those voices were outliers. No major Republican figure has called for its repeal, even as they challenge the public role of Black historical narratives elsewhere. Still, the disconnect between what Juneteenth represents — the delayed arrival of freedom to enslaved people in Texas more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation — and the current rollback of how race and slavery are discussed in public institutions is hard to miss. In Washington, federal employees will get the day off. But many of the initiatives once tasked with commemorating or educating about racial history have already been stripped away. Advertisement In this way, Juneteenth stands apart: a symbolic acknowledgment that remains firmly in place, even as the broader teaching and celebration of Black history is being curtailed. Whether that separation is sustainable or whether the holiday eventually draws new scrutiny remains to be seen. But Markey has a prediction: 'Juneteenth is going to be celebrated for the rest of our nation's history.' James Pindell is a Globe political reporter who reports and analyzes American politics, especially in New England.
USA Today
42 minutes ago
- USA Today
Democrats want new leaders, focus on pocketbook issues, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds
James Oliphant and Jason Lange Reuters WASHINGTON, June 19 (Reuters) - Democrats want new leaders for their party, which many feel isn't focusing enough on economic issues and is over-emphasizing issues like transgender rights and electric vehicles, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found. The poll identified a deep disconnect between what Democrats say their priorities are and the issues they believe party leaders care about most ahead of next year's midterm elections, when they hope to crack Republican control of Congress. They see their elected officials as not focused on helping families make ends meet and reducing corporate influence. Democrat Kamala Harris' November loss to Republican Donald Trump has left the party rudderless and sparked a round of soul-searching about the path forward. The poll shows that party leaders have work to do in recruiting candidates for Congress in 2026 -- and for the White House in 2028. Some 62% of self-identified Democrats in the poll agreed with a statement that "the leadership of the Democratic Party should be replaced with new people." Only 24% disagreed and the rest said they weren't sure or didn't answer. Just 30% of Republicans polled said they thought their party leadership should be replaced. Democrats' dissatisfaction is also playing out in leadership changes, including this week's resignation of Randi Weingarten, the influential president of the American Federation of Teachers, from the Democratic National Committee -- which followed the ouster of progressive activist David Hogg. The Reuters/Ipsos poll surveyed 4,258 people nationwide and online June 11 through 16, including 1,293 Democrats. It had a margin of error of about 3 percentage points for Democrats. It found that Democrats want the party to focus on their day-to-day needs and want wealthier Americans to pay more in taxes. California Governor Gavin Newsom, who is viewed as a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2028, agrees. "People don't trust us, they don't think we have their backs on issues that are core to them, which are these kitchen table issues," Newsom said on his podcast in April. DEMOCRATS 'IMPATIENT' Democratic strategists who reviewed the poll's findings said they send a clear message. "Voters are very impatient right now," said Mark Riddle, who heads Future Majority, a Democratic research firm. "They want elected officials at all levels to address the cost of living, kitchen-table issues and affordability." The poll found a gap between what voters say they care about and what they think the party's leaders prioritize. It was particularly wide on the issue of reducing corporate spending in political campaigns, where 73% of Democrats said they viewed putting limits on contributions to political groups like Super PACs a priority, but only 58% believed party leaders prioritize that. That issue matters to Sam Boland, 29, a Democrat in Minneapolis, who views Super PAC money as a way to 'legally bribe' candidates. 'Politicians want to keep their jobs and are afraid of the impact that publicly funded elections might have,' Boland said. Along that line, 86% of Democrats said changing the federal tax code so wealthy Americans and large corporations pay more in taxes should be a priority, more than the 72% of those surveyed think party leaders make it a top concern. The Republican-controlled Congress is currently pushing forward with Trump's sweeping tax-cut bill that would provide greater benefits to the wealthy than working-class Americans. Anthony Rentsch, 29, of Baltimore, said he believes Democratic leaders are afraid to embrace more progressive policies such as higher taxes on the wealthy. 'A lot of Trump's success has been with populist messages, and I think there's similar populist message Democrats can have,' Rentsch said. Democrats' own priorities appeared more in line with party leaders on abortion rights - which 77% cited as a priority. NEW BLOOD Dissatisfaction over the party's priorities on several economic policies was stronger among younger Democrats like Boland and Rentsch. For example, only 55% of Democrats aged 18-39 thought the party prioritized paid family leave that would allow workers to care for sick family members and bond with a new baby, but 73% said it was a priority for them. Among older Democrats, the same share - 68% - that said the issue was a priority for them said it was a priority for party leaders. Rentsch said that criticizing Trump over his conduct won't be enough to win over skeptical voters. 'That can't be it,' Rentsch said. 'It has to be owning those issues that have an impact on their economic well-being and their physical and mental well-being.' Democratic respondents said the party should be doing more to promote affordable childcare, reduce the price of prescription drugs, make health insurance more readily available and support mass transit. They view party leaders as less passionate about those issues than they are, the poll found. Even so, some Democrats argue the party also needs to stand toe-to-toe with Trump. 'They gotta get mean,' said Dave Silvester, 37, of Phoenix. Other Democrats said the party sometimes over-emphasizes issues that they view as less critical such as transgender rights. Just 17% of Democrats said allowing transgender people to compete in women and girls' sports should be a priority, but 28% of Democrats think party leaders see it as such. Benjamin Villagomez, 33, of Austin, Texas said that while trans rights are important, the issue too easily lends itself to Republican attacks. 'There are more important things to be moving the needle on,' said Villagomez, who is trans. 'There are more pressing issues, things that actually matter to people's livelihoods.' Democratic strategists say that if Trump's trade and tax policies lead to higher prices and an increased budget deficit, the party needs to be ready to take full advantage in next year's elections, which will decide control of Congress. 'This recent polling data indicates Democrats have room for improvement on criticizing Trump on the economy and making it clear to voters that Democrats are the ones standing up for working people,' said Ben Tulchin, who served as U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders' pollster for his two presidential campaigns. The party needs to get beyond portraying itself 'as the lesser of two evils," Boland, the Minneapolis Democrat, said. 'It needs to transform itself into a party that everyday people can get excited about,' he said. 'That requires a changing of the guard.' (Reporting by James Oliphant and Jason Lange; Editing by Scott Malone and Deepa Babington)
