Latest news with #Kromer
Politico
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Politico
The one idea Americans can agree on this summer
HAVE A GREAT SUMMER — With Memorial Day weekend marking the unofficial start of summer, Americans are starting to embark on their travel plans. Over half of Americans — 55 percent — say they plan to take at least two nights away from home on a vacation this summer, according to a new survey from the Institute of Politics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. But as America has become more politically and culturally polarized, Mileah Kromer, the director of the IoP at UMBC, told POLITICO Nightly that she expected the survey would reveal different vacation preferences for Republicans and Democrats. In fact, the opposite was the case. The study showed few gaps between each party on questions of the types of travel they prefer, across beach trips, road trips, romantic getaways or family-friendly vacations. The main notable difference was travel to a city; 39 percent of Democrats said they are considering visiting an urban place this summer, compared to just 16 percent of Republicans. When diving into details, differences may arise: There are some specific beach destinations, for example, that might be more popular among Republicans or Democrats. (Palm Beach vs. Rehoboth Beach, for example.) But even the fact that there's generally very little difference in preference for one type of vacation over another was a surprise to Kromer, especially as members of each party increasingly divide over everything else: what television shows or movies to watch, what newspapers to read, where to shop for groceries. It could be as simple as this: Everyone likes getting some time off from work. The results of the survey, though, also point to the possibility that many American cultural differences are constructed out of thin air rather than preordained based on where someone grew up or their political affiliation. To better understand the study and what it tells us about America today, Nightly spoke with Kromer right as summer begins. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. What was the most surprising part of the poll results? I've long been fascinated by these big partisan differences over seemingly non-political things, like baby name preference, where you shop, what car you buy. And so that's the reason we did this poll — I wondered if attitudes towards summer vacation are as pronounced. What stood out to me was that in the midst of all the polarity in these seemingly non-political areas, you really don't see it too much here. This is one thing that Americans share: their attitude towards summer vacation. Frankly, I was expecting to see some bigger partisan division, because it seems like it's everywhere these days. Where did you expect that partisan division to manifest itself? I noticed a fairly stark division in interest in urban vacation results, with Democrats much more likely to vacation in cities than Republicans. Certainly, urban tourism wasn't surprising at all. But I expected there to be some greater division among questions like where Democrats and Republicans plan to take a vacation, just because there are so many lifestyle choices that are so heavily polarized. Everyone still wants to go to the beach. What our survey can't tell you is some of the more granular questions. So, every beach vacation is not the same. The funniest or most politically pertinent point there is that Rehoboth Beach is not the same as Palm Beach, where Mar-a-Lago is. How much have decisions that we've considered non-political for a long time become imbued with politics more generally? The first book that I read on this that really opened my eyes to this phenomenon was The Big Sort by Bill Bishop [which was published in 2008]. Bishop talks about how people are clustering in like-minded communities, and that the more you put yourself in a partisan silo, everyone around you begins to like the same things that you like. It really intensifies when you're doing that with geographic location. So, with neighborhoods, even at the county level, there's fewer and fewer of what we'd consider swing counties. And when people don't spend time around folks with a diversity of opinions, they start to get a huge confirmation bias. People are now not only self-selecting into where they live, they're also self-selecting what media they consume and what they buy. That leads to an increase in specialized products directed at one group or another. In the case of vacations, then, why has this behavior stayed similar when everything else has changed? I'm thinking about that myself. The simplistic answer is everyone likes some time off. If we think about the flow of American culture on a calendar, every summer, school ends. When you have this break, a lot of people really relish the opportunity to take even a couple of days off, away from work, away from the stresses of life, to be with family and friends. I actually think it's sort of nice that there's some agreement. There's always these funny pieces that are something like: 'How to talk to your uncle or your aunt who you disagree with politically at your Thanksgiving dinner.' Here's something that you can talk about — vacation. If you ever want to have a non-political conversation with someone, maybe someone who you know you don't share any political views with, talk about vacation. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@ Or contact tonight's author at cmchugh@ or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @calder_mchugh. What'd I Miss? — Judge blocks Trump administration's attempt to crush Harvard's foreign student enrollment: A federal judge barred the Trump administration today from rescinding Harvard University's ability to enroll foreign students, granting the school's emergency request to stave off 'immediate and irreparable injury.' U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs granted Harvard's requested restraining order just hours after the university sued the Department of Homeland Security, accusing the administration of unconstitutional retaliation for refusing to capitulate to President Donald Trump's demands. — Justice Department agrees to end Biden-era felony case against Boeing: The Justice Department announced an agreement today to end its felony case against Boeing for the plane-maker's role in two passenger jet crashes that killed a total of 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia — less than a year after the company agreed to plead guilty as part of a deal with the Biden administration. In return, Boeing must pay over $1.1 billion in fines, safety improvements and compensation for families of the people who died in the crashes in October 2018 and March 2019. Those disasters, involving Boeing's 737 MAX 8 jet, kicked off years of still-unresolved questions from lawmakers and safety experts about the federal government's oversight of the giant manufacturer and defense contractor. — Trump turns the screws on big companies amid tariff fight: President Donald Trump has publicly targeted companies which have expressed concerns surrounding the administration's tariff plan in recent days, threatening major brands including Apple and Walmart. The latest target of his ire was iPhone manufacturer Apple, which Trump threatened with a company-specific tariff in a Truth Social post this morning. — Trump approves Nippon purchase of US Steel: President Donald Trump said today he approved a deal for Nippon Steel to buy U.S. Steel, reversing a position he took during the presidential campaign after the Japanese manufacturer agreed to pour more investment into the United States. 'This will be a planned partnership between United States Steel and Nippon Steel, which will create at least 70,000 jobs and add $14 Billion Dollars to the U.S. Economy,' Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. 'The bulk of the investment will occur in the next 14 months.' AROUND THE WORLD LANGUAGE WARS — The rejection of Catalan as an official language in Brussels stands to trigger a political crisis in Madrid. In exchange for key support needed to form a new minority government in 2023, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez entered into an elaborate deal with Catalan separatist lawmakers in which he committed to getting Catalan, Basque and Galician recognized as official languages of the EU. The move requires unanimous backing of the bloc's 27 member countries, and Spanish officials spent the past two years lobbying European capitals for support. Next week, Spain intends to bring the issue to a vote in the General Affairs Council, the body that prepares periodic meetings of the bloc's leaders in Brussels. But documents summarizing this week's meeting of the bloc's ambassadors, seen by POLITICO, indicate serious doubts regarding Madrid's bid. HEIRS NOT WELCOME HERE — Belgium's heir to the throne could be forced to leave Harvard University after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a ban on foreign students at the prestigious institution. Princess Elisabeth, who will be the next queen of Belgium, is enrolled in a two-year master's degree in public policy at Harvard, one of the world's most elite universities. But the Trump administration revoked Harvard's ability to enroll international students on Thursday, accusing the university of promoting violence and antisemitism and failing to comply with a request to hand over foreign students' information that could lead to their deportation. The 23-year-old princess, who is the eldest child of Belgium's King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, has completed the first year of grad school but will not finish for another year. She graduated from the U.K.'s Oxford University last year. She's first in line to inherit the throne, after Belgium's constitution was changed in 1991 to abolish male-only succession. Nightly Number RADAR SWEEP PICS AND PRAYERS — Since the pandemic, India's religious sites have experienced a surge in popularity. The country's Hindu temples attract hundreds of thousands of visitors every day, and experts see no signs of it slowing down. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pushed for India to become a more openly Hindu nation since gaining power in 2014, and social media influencers have helped his cause, marketing spiritual spaces around the country as 'eminently Instagrammable', writes Satviki Sanjay for Bloomberg. Parting Image Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here.
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mecklenburg Democrats elect new leader after post-2024 election division
Mecklenburg County Democrats are moving on from their embattled leader with a new chair. The Mecklenburg County Democratic Party elected former state representative and statewide candidate Wesley Harris as chairman at their yearly convention Saturday at Little Rock AME Zion Church. He'll lead the county party through the 2026 midterms as it looks to defend its dominance in local races, improve Democratic margins in the General Assembly and counter the Trump administration's sweeping policy shifts. Saturday's convention followed a tumultuous stretch for the county party in the months after the 2024 election. Now-former Chairman Drew Kromer faced criticism and calls for resignation over a staffer's departure and allegations the party neglected African American voters. He took office two years earlier pledging to increase fundraising and bring in more professional staff, but many Democrats were disappointed once again with turnout levels in deep blue Mecklenburg. On Saturday, Harris defeated Kromer and longtime Mecklenburg County Commissioner Vilma Leake with 76% of the vote, pledging to unite the party. 'It's incumbent upon us to come together over the next two years,' he said. Despite record-setting fundraising, increased staffing and publicity about efforts to get voters to the polls in 2024, voter turnout in heavily Democratic Mecklenburg once again trailed the rest of North Carolina as Democrats failed to flip the battleground state for presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Days later the county party's then-executive director, Monifa Drayton, resigned with a letter that compared her experience to that of 'professional Black women during the Jim Crow era.' Multiple Black precincts chairs, including the first vice president of the county party's African American Caucus, told the Observer after Drayton's resignation that party leadership, including Kromer, failed to heed warnings about lackluster grassroots organizing in communities with large numbers of Black voters. The caucus later released a statement calling on Kromer to resign. Kromer did not resign and pushed back on the caucus' claims. He said the party was focused on advancing new strategies for organizing and outreach, and made investments in the African American community during the 2024 election cycle. 'What we've seen from the national results is that the party has a lot of work to do to connect with voters and to ensure that our candidates can win up and down the ballot,' he said previously. Harris announced his campaign to challenge Kromer in February with an email to supporters saying his statewide race gave him 'a front-row seat to the dysfunction that has led our core voters to lose trust in our ability to lead.' 'There was a lot of disappointment on November 5th, but the thing that stung the most to me, the one that was the most personal, was seeing Mecklenburg County drop the ball yet again,' he wrote. Leake, a fixture in local politics for decades, announced her own candidacy at Saturday's convention. Harris ultimately received 76% of the vote. Precincts get different numbers of votes based on how many votes were cast for the Democratic nominee for governor in each precinct in the last election, according to state party rules. Kromer told attendees following his defeat he remains committed to the party. 'Thank you for believing in this party and working together. Thank you for sharing your ideas. Thank you for everything,' he said. 'At the end of the day, I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to continue to stay engaged.' In his acceptance speech, Harris called for more civil debate within the party as it shapes its strategy for local elections later this year and consequential mid-term elections in 2026. 'Misunderstandings are way more common than malicious intent,' he said. 'And we're all Democrats. We all want to win.' Harris represented parts of southern Mecklenburg from 2019 to 2024 in the North Carolina House. He ran unsuccessfully for state treasurer in 2024, losing to Republican Brad Briner by a margin of 47.5% to 52.5%. He grew up in Taylorsville and Statesville and graduated from Clemson University before a career as an economist and tax consultant. Harris told the Observer after announcing his campaign for party chair that his statewide candidacy allowed him to see what strategies are working, or not working, for other county parties. He said he'd put those lessons to use as a party chair, especially the need to connect with the community outside of election cycles. 'Don't show up a couple of weeks before the election knocking on doors,' he said. 'Show up months before, years before the big elections, and just be part of the community.'
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
After Mecklenburg Democrats' post-election turmoil, will party pick a new leader?
Mecklenburg Democrats are poised to pick their next leader after months of turmoil following the 2024 election. The Mecklenburg County Democratic Party will hold its convention Saturday, including electing the county party's next chair. Candidates include former state representative and Council of State candidate Wesley Harris, who is challenging current Chairman Drew Kromer. Kromer faced criticism and calls for resignation in the wake of the 2024 general election over a staffer's departure and allegations the party neglected African American voters. He took office two years earlier pledging to increase fundraising and bring in more professional staff, but many Democrats were disappointed once again with turnout levels in deep blue Mecklenburg. Harris has campaigned on addressing 'dysfunction that has led our core voters to lose trust in our ability to lead.' Whoever is elected chair will lead the county party through the 2026 midterms as it looks to defend Democratic dominance in local races and respond to the Trump administration's sweeping policy shifts. Precincts get different numbers of votes based on how many votes were cast for the Democratic nominee for governor in each precinct in the last election, according to state party rules. Kromer, first elected in 2023, told the Observer when he took office his key goals were to increase the party's community presence and increase fundraising to pay for an executive director and additional staff to 'professionalize' the party. A Charlotte native, he's a graduate of Davidson College and UNC Chapel Hill and a lawyer by trade. Kromer previously served as vice chair of the College Democrats of America, a delegate to the 2020 Democratic National Convention and a member of the state Democratic Party's Executive Committee. Harris represented parts of southern Mecklenburg from 2019 to 2024 in the North Carolina House. He ran unsuccessfully for state treasurer in 2024, losing to Republican Brad Briner by a margin of 47.5% to 52.5%. He grew up in Taylorsville and Statesville and graduated from Clemson University before a career as an economist and tax consultant. Harris told the Observer after announcing his campaign for party chair that his statewide candidate allowed him to see what strategies are working, or not working, for other county parties. He said he'd put those lessons to use as a party chair. 'Don't show up a couple of weeks before the election knocking on doors,' he said. 'Show up months before, years before the big elections, and just be part of the community.' No other candidates appear to have publicly announced campaigns. Turnout and community relations have been points of contention among local Democrats since the 2024 general election. Despite record-setting fundraising and an optimistic message about efforts to get voters to the polls in 2024, voter turnout in heavily Democratic Mecklenburg once again trailed the rest of North Carolina as Democrats failed to flip the battleground state for presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Days later, Mecklenburg Democrats executive director Monifa Drayton resigned from the party with a letter that compared her experience to that of 'professional Black women during the Jim Crow era.' Multiple Black precincts chairs, including the first vice president of the county party's African American Caucus, told the Observer after Drayton's resignation party leadership, including Kromer, failed to heed warnings about lackluster grassroots organizing in communities with large numbers of Black voters. The caucus later released a statement calling on Kromer to resign. Kromer previously pushed back on those claims and calls for resignation, saying the party is focused on advancing new strategies for organizing and outreach. He said the party made investments in the African American community during the 2024 election cycle. 'What we've seen from the national results is that the party has a lot of work to do to connect with voters and to ensure that our candidates can win up and down the ballot,' he said previously. Harris said previously he'd spoken with some African American community leaders about post-2024 concerns and wants to 'build trust back.' 'We're a diverse party. Having a diverse party like that has a lot of different viewpoints, and real leadership is bringing those viewpoints together for a common goal,' he said. County party members will gather at 10 a.m. Saturday at Little Rock AME Zion Church for their yearly convention. In addition to electing county-level officers, attendees will elect delegates to the state party's executive committee and discuss resolutions and the party's platform.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Maryland residents want a menu of energy generation options, poll shows
A new UMBC poll finds residents want a range of energy generation options but only a minority favored electricity generation from coal plants. (File photo courtesy the Integration and Application Network, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science) Marylanders support a variety of options for increasing energy generation in the state except for one, according to a poll released Wednesday. The survey by the Institute of Politics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, comes as lawmakers in Annapolis are scrambling to expand electricity generation in the state, and residents are receiving utility bills with sharp increases. The poll found Marylanders support a menu of power sources from solar and wind to natural gas and nuclear. Expansion of coal-burning plants, however, is not among the options favored in the survey, with just 42% of people supporting coal . Four-in-five people surveyed in the poll said they supported the expansion of solar energy. Another 74% said they would favor expanding the use of natural gas for electricity generation. Marylanders said they want a variety of power sources, said Mileah Kromer, a pollster and director of the Institute of Politics. More than six people in 10 who were surveyed said 'addressing the costs of household energy bills was a high priority for them,' Kromer said. The latest UMBC Poll surveyed 803 Maryland adults, including 769 who said they were registered voters, from Feb. 11-15. It has an overall margin of error of 3.5%. The margin of error among registered voters is also 3.5%. Part one of the poll, which included Marylanders' ratings of Gov. Wes Moore's job performance and the direction of the state, was released Tuesday. Other options for expanding energy generation included: Wind — 70% Use of trash incinerators — 68% Geothermal — 63% Nuclear – 51% The poll also found that 70% of Marylanders say their overall health is good or excellent. A 2023 report by the United Health Foundation ranked Maryland 11th overall in the nation. The report cited a low incidence of chronic conditions in adults. More than a third of those, however, said the cost of health care or insurance was the state's 'most urgent' health care issue. Another 25% said chronic health issues including diabetes and heart disease is the most urgent issue. Twelve percent said the lack of access to medical care was the biggest healthcare issue.
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former NC legislator, treasurer candidate announces bid for Mecklenburg Democrats chair
The Mecklenburg County Democratic Party could be under new leadership later this year. Former state representative and Council of State candidate Wesley Harris announced a run for chair of the county party Thursday with a message to supporters and revamped campaign website. Harris's announcement comes after a period of tumult within the party. Current chair Drew Kromer faced criticism and calls for resignation in the wake of the 2024 general election over a staffer's departure and allegations the party neglected African American voters. An economist and tax consultant by trade, Harris served three terms in the North Carolina House from 2019 to 2024. He ran unsuccessfully for state treasurer in 2024, losing to Republican Brad Briner by a margin of 47.5% to 52.5%. In an email to supporters announcing his candidacy for the Meck Dems chairmanship, Harris said his statewide race gave him 'a front-row seat to the dysfunction that has led our core voters to lose trust in our ability to lead.' 'There was a lot of disappointment on November 5th, but the thing that stung the most to me, the one that was the most personal, was seeing Mecklenburg County drop the ball yet again,' he wrote. The sheer number of Democrats in the county means the party views Mecklenburg as a wealth of untapped potential for its fortunes statewide. Despite record-setting fundraising and an optimistic message about efforts to get voters to the polls in 2024, voter turnout in heavily Democratic Mecklenburg once again trailed the rest of North Carolina as Democrats failed to flip the battleground state for presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Days after the general election, executive director Monifa Drayton resigned from the party with a letter that compared her experience to that of 'professional Black women during the Jim Crow era.' Multiple Black precincts chairs, including the first vice president of the county party's African American Caucus, told The Charlotte Observer after Drayton's resignation party leadership, including Kromer, failed to heed warnings about lackluster grassroots organizing in communities with large numbers of Black voters. The caucus later released a statement calling on Kromer to resign. County Commissioner Arthur Griffin also sent an email to Kromer in the wake of Drayton's resignation calling for him to leave his post, WFAE reported. Kromer previously pushed back on those claims and calls for resignation, saying the party is focused on advancing new strategies for organizing and outreach and made investments in the African American community during the 2024 election cycle. 'Anybody is welcome to run against me for whatever they like,' he told the Observer previously. Kromer did not immediately respond to an Observer question about his future plans with the party in the wake of Harris's announcement. In his announcement, Harris, who previously represented parts of southern Mecklenburg, touted himself as a strong fundraiser 'who understands the dynamics of this state' and 'is committed to building back our brand in the low turnout sections of Meck.' 'My experience in the legislature, running a statewide campaign, and winning competitive legislative races gives me the relationships and leadership we need to move forward,' he wrote to supporters. Harris' message said the county party 'ignored our base in favor of flashy races that already have support.' He didn't specify specific races, but the county party focused much of its attention in 2024 on the presidential race and Democrat Nicole Sidman's failed bid to oust controversial state Rep. Tricia Cotham. Harris said new leadership needs 'to crack the code of Mecklenburg turnout woes for the Democratic Party.' 'In some ways, we have everything going for us in Mecklenburg County, but we need leaders who will get our house in order,' he wrote. Party members will elect a new chair in the spring.
