Breakfast

MORNING MESSAGE

Adiel Pollydore

Making The Most Of Every Vote

Right across the bay from my home in Oakland, California is San Francisco. Together, these two congressional districts will send fourteen pledged delegates in July to the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee to choose our presidential nominee. With the other Bay Area districts, all of which voted for Senator Bernie Sanders by a wide margin, they’ll send more than thirty delegates. When you add in L.A. County, they'll send over forty. That’s more than many states. That’s why Student Action and the other People’s Action groups in California - San Francisco Rising Action Fund and Ground Game LA - doubled down on our efforts to turn out voters here. These areas all overwhelmingly favored Senator Bernie Sanders in last night’s presidential primary. Because of California's large population and the rules that apply to the calculation of delegates, we knew heading in to election night that the final allocation of delegates might take days, or even weeks - but we already know our efforts were worth it. That’s because we’re fighting to win a movement, not just a primary - a movement that centers on working-class people, young and old, of all races and backgrounds. Yes, we’re fighting to take our country back from Donald Trump, but we’re also fighting for a future we can all believe in - one where there’s room for all of us, wherever we are from, or whomever we love - with education, health care, homes, jobs, a clean environment and a fair economy for all.

Latinx Votes Fuel Sanders CA Win

Sanders wins California, largest Super Tuesday prize, fueled by Latino vote. NPR: "Former Vice President Joe Biden may have won the most states on Super Tuesday, but Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders captured the one with the most delegates: California. There are 415 delegates at stake in California, the largest haul of any state. With 79% of the state's precincts reporting, Sanders had 33.5% of the vote to Biden's 24.8%. Sanders was always expected to do well in California, with its large population of Latino voters and energized progressives. On Tuesday, he lived up to those expectations. Sanders carried 49% of the Latino vote, the state's largest minority group, and 49% of voters who call themselves very liberal, according to exit polls. It is expected to be days before the final delegate allocation is known, because counting in California is complicated. Mail-in ballots will count as long as they were postmarked by Tuesday, and same day registration means there a large number of provisional ballots. Of the delegates assigned so far, Sanders has 72 and Biden 21. Some four million votes were cast before Tuesday. Officials have until April 2 to complete their tally."

Bloomberg Drops Out, Warren Mulls

Mike Bloomberg dropped out of the presidential race, and endorsed Joe Biden. “After yesterday’s results, the delegate math has become virtually impossible – and a viable path to the nomination no longer exists,” Bloomberg said in a statement. The billionaire former mayor of New York City spent about $500m on his campaign,but won just 44 delegates on Super Tuesday. Bloomberg said he would now work to elect Biden, who: “Has fought for working people his whole life”. Elizabeth Warren seems to be weighing dropping out of the race.Her campaign manager, Roger Lau, wrote to staff this morning saying Warren is taking time to “assess the path forward”. The Massachusetts senator, who once led the polls, failed to win a single state on Tuesday."

SCOTUS Takes Up Abortion Case

Louisiana abortion case may hinge on Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts. ABC: "The Supreme Court heard oral arguments for the latest landmark abortion case on Wednesday morning, which could change the landscape of abortion law in America -- and abortion access -- for years to come, and all eyes were on Chief Justice John Roberts. Before a packed courtroom, the justices engaged in at times explosive debate in June Medical Services v. Russo over a 2014 Louisiana state law requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges with a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic, which allows a patient to go to that hospital if they need urgent care. Louisiana's law is effectively identical to one from Texas ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2016 that 'led to the closure of half of Texas' clinics, or thereabouts,' Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in the court's opinion, without improving health outcomes for patients. In a sign the court may look to clarify the Texas decision, Roberts and several of the justices who lean more conservatively asked whether the constitutionality of admitting privileges regulations should be highly fact-dependent and decided on a case-by-case basis."

Texas Closes Hundreds Of Black, Latinx Polling Sites

“Voter suppression, plain and simple”: Texas closed hundreds of polling sites in black, Latino areas. Salon: "Texas has shuttered more polling places than any other state since 2012 and most of the closures disproportionately hit black and Latino areas, according to a new analysis by The Guardian. Texas has closed 750 polling locations since 2012, the Leadership Conference Education Fund, a civil rights group, reported last year. The state had one polling place for every 4,000 residents in 2012, but that number rose to 7,700 residents by 2018. The Guardian's analysis found that the overwhelming majority of closures came in areas that saw the largest increase in black and Latino residents. The 50 counties that saw the highest growth in black and Latino population had 542 polling sites close between 2012 and 2018, while the 50 counties with the lowest black and Latino population growth saw just 34 closures. The closures came despite the population in the top 50 counties rising by 2.5 million while the 50 counties that had just 34 closures saw their population fall by 13,000 'This is voter suppression — plain and simple,' said the progressive advocacy group MoveOn. The moves are likely to worsen Texas' already-low turnout rates, advocates warned, despite changing demographics and large growth in black and Latino areas."