Democrats move on from MeToo
Eight months after their sexual misconduct allegations doomed his congressional campaign, Virginia state legislator Dan Helmer is suing a group of Democratic Party activists for defamation, conspiracy, and $15 million in damages.
The lawsuit, filed in Fairfax County court last week, resurrected a controversy that briefly panicked Democrats last year. Well into the early voting period for the June 18 primary, an then-anonymous activist accused Helmer of groping her, and four local party leaders claimed that 'Helmer's inappropriate behavior' inspired their own sexual harassment policy. Helmer denied the 'baseless claims,' as rivals and the state's chapter of the National Organization for Women called on him to quit the race.
He stayed in it, and narrowly lost the nomination to now-Rep. Suhas Subramanyam. Helmer now says that the scandal badly hurt his reputation and mental health; Charles King, the attorney for the accuser and a defendant in Helmer's lawsuit, told Semafor that he'd provided 'an accurate narrative of the events told to me by my client.'
Helmer's narrative was very different. In it, a party activist called him in early May, warning that people were spreading rumors that he had engaged in sexual misconduct with her. In a text, provided to the court, the activist called this 'typical Republican tactics,' to divide their party.
One month later, the same activist was telling reporters that Helmer had groped her. Avram Fechter, one of the local Democrats who'd backed up the harassment story, funded a PAC whose last-minute ads claimed that Helmer was 'credibly accused of sexual assault.'
Other Democrats have stayed quiet about the lawsuit, filed by a two-term state delegate who's running for re-election this year. In Virginia and D.C., they have been consumed by opposition to the second Trump administration, and by resistance to its decisions to freeze federal spending and push out government employees.
But Helmer brought his case at a moment when allegations of sexual misconduct have lost some of their power to disrupt. Trump won his new term after losing a defamation case against E. Jean Carroll, who had accused him of sexual assault. Old allegations of impropriety against Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and new allegations against Pete Hegseth, did not pry off many Republican votes for either man's cabinet nomination.
'My playbook on these confirmations was to remind people of the Kavanaugh confirmation, and remind people that the #MeToo presumption of guilt is un-American,' said Mike Davis, a conservative attorney whose Article III Project organized tens of thousands of messages in support of the Hegseth confirmation.
Helmer's experience found Democratic voters feeling differently about last-minute allegations of impropriety. The 12-way race for Virginia's 11th district had no clear front-runner; Helmer had a spending advantage, thanks to outside groups like the crypto-funded Fairshake PAC, but Subramanyam had the support of Jennifer Wexton, the first Democrat to represent the seat, whose struggle with an aggressive form of Parkinson's made national news.
But in other races, Democrats have shown signs of #MeToo fatigue. In New York City, Democratic candidates for mayor are girding for the potential candidacy of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned his last office over sexual harassment allegations but now leads in public polls. One of Cuomo's potential rivals is former city comptroller Scott Stringer, whose 2021 mayoral bid imploded after a former campaign aide accused him of sexual misconduct.
Neither story has loomed large in the race against Mayor Eric Adams – who was himself sued last year by a woman claiming that he sexually assaulted her in 1993. ('Never happened,' Adams said of her allegation.) And the accusations against Stringer were challenged at the time, as progressive allies un-endorsed him.
Four years later, none of his opponents have brought up the allegations in their candidate forums. Reached this week, none of the progressive endorsers who withdrew their support for Stringer in 2021 wanted to comment on the record; leaders of the Working Families Party, which pulled its 2021 support for him, told podcaster Ben Max last week that its endorsement was 'open to anyone who is running for mayor.'The simplest explanation of why misconduct allegations don't move voters or partisans like they used to is that Donald Trump won. There was no one day when Democrats decided that an allegation of misconduct was no longer a career-ending offense. They had second thoughts about the forced resignation of Al Franken; they didn't believe Tara Reade, a former Senate staffer who emerged in 2020 to claim that Joe Biden had assaulted her.
But Democrats clearly thought differently about the #MeToo standard of evidence and public behavior after Donald Trump shook off multiple accusations of misconduct. The party quietly benched Bill Clinton during the 2018 midterms, a cycle when multiple members of Congress quit over personal scandals. He was back out on the trail last year, campaigning for the first female presidential nominee he wasn't married to. And when he made bad news for the party, it was about debating the particulars of Gaza with protesters.
One cynical read: Democrats got tired of subjecting their candidates to a standard that Donald Trump never even tried to meet. Republicans adopted Saul Alinsky's fourth Rule for Radicals: 'Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.' Had Helmer won his primary, they were ready to pummel him over the allegations, while working to elect a president accused of worse behavior.
The result has been a general desensitization. On Tuesday, the new administration announced that Sean Parnell, a Republican veteran who ended his 2022 Senate campaign in Pennsylvania after damaging revelations about his marriage, would become spokesman for Hegseth's Pentagon. There was some outrage at his political resurrection. But not very much.
'I avoid referencing it, because there were some small kids involved,' said Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, who won the race that Parnell abandoned. 'I won't add to the whole thing, and I hope their family is in a good way.'
The shifting norms showed up in coverage of the Trump cabinet nominees' hearings, too. Since 2018, Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono has asked every nominee that comes before her whether they have made 'unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature,' and whether they 'faced discipline or entered into a settlement' for that conduct. She did this, she told the New York Times, because 'there was every potential for the #MeToo movement to be swept under the rug.'
For a long time, Hirono's opening questions didn't need explaining. But when she asked them year, conservative media outlets asked what in the world was wrong with her. Did she think Pam Bondi had committed sexual harassment? Doug Burgum?
'I always ask the question as one of the ways that we gauge the fitness of anyone to serve,' Hirono told Semafor. 'And you know what? You should ask them why they don't seem to care.'
But did the American people care less about these issues than they did four years ago? 'I hope not,' said Hirono.
In the New Yorker, Doreen St. Félix whether the #MeToo era is over, in Hollywood and elsewhere: 'The standard of 'believing women' did not really become a standard. Stories of harassment and abuse now receive a curdled, cynical, and exhausted reception.'
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Yahoo
4 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump aides want Texas to redraw its congressional maps to boost the GOP. What would that mean?
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That proposal, which would involve shifting GOP voters from safely red districts into neighboring blue ones, is aimed at safeguarding Republicans' thin majority in Congress, where they control the lower chamber, 220-212. The redistricting proposal, and the Trump team's role in pushing it, was first reported by The New York Times Monday. Without a Republican majority in Congress, Trump's legislative agenda would likely stall, and the president could face investigations from newly empowered Democratic committee chairs intent on scrutinizing the White House. Here's what we know about the plan so far: On Capitol Hill, members of the Texas GOP delegation huddled Monday night to discuss the prospect of reshaping their districts. Most of the 25-member group expressed reluctance about the idea, citing concerns about jeopardizing their districts in next year's midterms if the new maps overextended the GOP's advantage, according to the two GOP aides, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private deliberations. Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Lubbock, was skeptical of the idea. 'We just recently worked on the new maps,' Arrington told The Texas Tribune. To reopen the process, he said, 'there'd have to be a significant benefit to our state.' The delegation has yet to be presented with mockups of new maps, two aides said. Each state's political maps must be redrawn once a decade, after each round of the U.S. census, to account for population growth and ensure every congressional and legislative district has roughly the same number of people. Texas lawmakers last overhauled their district lines in 2021. There's no federal law that prohibits states from redrawing district maps midcycle, said Justin Levitt, an election law professor at Loyola Marymount University and a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice's civil rights division. Laws around the timing to redraw congressional and state district maps vary by state. In Texas, the state constitution doesn't specify timing, so the redrawing of maps is left to the discretion of the governor and the Legislature. Lawmakers gaveled out of their 140-day regular session last week, meaning they would need to be called back for a special session to change the state's political maps. Abbott has the sole authority to order overtime sessions and decide what lawmakers are allowed to consider. A trial is underway in El Paso in a long-running challenge to the state legislative and congressional district maps Texas drew after the 2020 U.S. Census. 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The National Democratic Redistricting Committee, Democrats' national arm for contesting state GOP mapmaking, said the proposal to expand Republicans' stronghold in Texas was 'yet another example of Trump trying to suppress votes in order to hold onto power.' 'Texas's congressional map is already being sued for violating the Voting Rights Act because it diminishes the voting power of the state's fast-growing Latino population,' John Bisognano, president of the NDRC said. 'To draw an even more extreme gerrymander would only assure that the barrage of legal challenges against Texas will continue.' When Republicans in charge of the Legislature redrew the district lines after the 2020 census, they focused on reinforcing their political support in districts already controlled by the GOP. This redistricting proposal would likely take a different approach. As things stand, Republicans hold 25 of the state's 38 congressional seats. 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Members of Trump's political team are also expected to attend, according to Hunt and two GOP congressional aides familiar with the matter. Natalia Contreras is a reporter for Votebeat in partnership with the Texas Tribune. She's based in Corpus Christi. Contact Natalia at ncontreras@ Disclosure: New York Times has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here. Big news: 20 more speakers join the TribFest lineup! 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Associated Press
4 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Consultant on trial for AI-generated robocalls mimicking Biden says he has no regrets
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The Hill
7 minutes ago
- The Hill
ICE raids accelerate, protests spread
Evening Report is The Hill's P.M. newsletter. Sign up here or subscribe in the box below: Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here THE WHITE HOUSE vowed Wednesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids would continue 'unabated,' as protests spread from Los Angeles into other major American cities. Demonstrations have sprung up in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago, Austin, Denver, San Francisco and other major cities. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) sought to rally the nation to his side, as U.S. Marines prepared to join National Guard troops dispatched to keep the peace in Los Angeles. 'This isn't just about protests here in Los Angeles,' Newsom said in a direct-to-camera address. 'This is about all of us. This is about you. California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes.' The White House warned protesters there would be consequences if demonstrations in other cities get out of hand. 'Let this be an unequivocal message to left-wing radicals in other parts of the country who might be thinking about copy-catting the violence in an effort to stop this administration's mass deportation efforts,' said press secretary Karoline Leavitt. 'You will not succeed. Any lawlessness will only strengthen this president's resolve to defend the majority of Americans who want to live their lives peacefully, free from the fear of violent criminal illegal aliens.' The New York Police Department said at least 80 people were arrested at anti-ICE protests in lower Manhattan on Tuesday night. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) deployed the National Guard to deal with protests in his state. 'Peaceful protest is legal,' Abbott posted on X. 'Harming a person or property is illegal & will lead to arrest. @TexasGuard will use every tool & strategy to help law enforcement maintain order.' ICE took more than 70 people into custody during an immigration enforcement operation at a meat packaging facility in Omaha. Leavitt said more than 330 people in the country illegally have been arrested in Los Angeles over the past few days, and that more than 100 had prior criminal convictions. 'This administration is going to continue the mass deportation effort that the president promised the American public,' she said. President Trump's border czar Tom Homan said the protests are making immigration raids and deportations 'difficult' and 'dangerous' for the officers seeking to carry them out. 'They're not going to stop us,' Homan told 'NBC Nightly News' anchor Tom Llamas. 'They're not going to slow us down.' Organizers with 'No Kings' are planning about 1,500 demonstrations across the country to protest the military parade scheduled for Saturday in D.C. to mark the Army's 250th birthday. It's also Trump's 79th birthday. 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