Archive by Author

Heard team won't call Depp back to stand

Actor Johnny Depp will not be called to the stand again in his $50 million defamation trial against actress Amber Heard, sources told The Hill.

Heard’s legal team planned to call Depp to the stand Monday, as first reported by Deadline on Saturday. He last appeared on the stand over two weeks ago to argue his case.

During his testimony, Depp testified that Heard physically and mentally abused him, and denied ever physically assaulting her. Depp claims that Heard’s 2018 op-ed about speaking out against sexual violence ruined his reputation in Hollywood since she insinuated he abused her.

Depp’s ex and model Kate Moss is expected to testify Wednesday, as first reported by The New York Post, after Heard brought up how Depp allegedly threw Moss down a staircase. According to CNN, Depp and Moss remain close.

Heard, who filed for divorce from Depp in 2016 after getting married in 2015, testified Depp physically and sexually abused her throughout much of their relationship, claiming she covered the bruises on her face with makeup.

Heard’s witnesses have included actress Ellen Barkin, who once dated Depp; and his former longtime agent Tracey Jacobs. Both testified that Depp abused drugs and lost his status in Hollywood because of his own behavior.

Closing arguments are expected to take place Friday with the trial now in its sixth week.

Source: TEST FEED1

Leaders of LGBTQ+ advocacy groups named to 2022 TIME 100 list

The leaders of two LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations on Monday joined 98 others on TIME Magazine’s 2022 “TIME 100” list – the publication’s annual roundup of the 100 most influential people in the world.

During a year in which hundreds of bills targeting LGBTQ+ people – particularly transgender youth – have been introduced in state legislatures nationwide, TIME Magazine recognized Emmett Schelling, the executive director of the Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT), as one of 2022’s most noteworthy “pioneers.”

“Emmett is leading a scary and grueling fight for trans survival, and we are so lucky to have him,” Chase Strangio, deputy director for transgender justice at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), wrote Monday in Schelling’s entry.

Schelling, himself a transgender man, has led TENT since 2017, the same year he began working in activism full-time. The Texas organization is the largest transgender-led and transgender-focused in the state, and seeks to support transgender and gender-expansive people across Texas through “social, legislative, and corporate education,” according to the group’s website.

America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.

“During the past year, it often felt like Emmett lived at the capitol,” Strangio wrote. The Texas state legislature, which meets only during odd-numbered years under its biennial system, introduced close to 80 bills targeting transgender young people in 2021 – triple the number of any other state.

In the absence of a legislative session this year, Texas officials have been among the most vocal in their opposition to things like gender-affirming health care for transgender and nonbinary youth, including medical treatments like puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormones.

In February, state Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) wrote in a highly publicized opinion that he believed certain types of gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors amounted to abuse under his interpretation of Texas law, prompting Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to order state agencies to open abuse investigations into the parents of transgender youth, warning of “criminal penalties.”

A Texas judge earlier this month ruled those investigations may continue, striking down a statewide injunction that had temporarily blocked such probes.

“Existing as a transgender person in this country has never been more politicized, especially in Texas, so it’s not lost on me that TIME magazine has chosen to recognize a trans leader in Texas,” Schelling said Monday in a statement. “Amid an unprecedented level of intentional cruelty from politicians who should be working to expand rights for all Texans, the trans community has continued to show resilience and fight for justice. We are in a critical moment in this country where people from all different backgrounds and communities are pleading to exist without being harmed, so my hope is that we can unite together to build a better, more inclusive, and healthier future for every Texan.”

“Trans rights are human rights, and trans justice cannot wait,” Schelling said.

TIME on Monday also recognized Nadine Smith, the executive director of Equality Florida, as one of the year’s most influential “icons.”

“She is a powerhouse, a champion of equality for everyone, and a truly incredible humanitarian,” the author Kristen Arnett wrote Monday in Smith’s entry, adding that Smith, a queer woman of color, has over the last three decades “regularly spoken out about discrimination and biases against LGBTQ people when others have stayed silent.”

Smith this year led Equality Florida, an organization aiming to secure “full equality” for LGBTQ+ people in Florida, through a grueling legislative session marked by the introduction – and ultimate passage – of the nation’s first “Don’t Say Gay” law. 

Officially titled the Parental Rights in Education law, the measure prohibits public primary school teachers in the state from engaging in classroom instruction related to sexual orientation or gender identity. Educators through high school may not address either topic in a manner that is not “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate” for their students.

The legislation was signed into law by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) – who also made the TIME 100 list this year – in late March and is slated to take effect in July.

Equality Florida is one of several LGBTQ+ advocacy groups to challenge the law, and in a complaint filed in federal court in March called the measure an “unlawful attempt to stigmatize, silence, and erase LGBTQ people in Florida’s public schools.”

“Our work is far from done as Florida, once again stands at the center of the fight against extremism and hate,” Smith said Monday in a statement tweeted by Equality Florida.

“But this is not simply Florida’s fight,” Smith said. “The wave of anti-LGBTQ, racist, freedom-destroying bills sweeping the country calls each of us to fight for our rights and, indeed, our democracy.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Ethics panel investigating Cawthorn over crypto, improper staff relationship

The House Ethics Committee has launched a probe into embattled Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) to determine whether he improperly promoted a cryptocurrency without disclosing he had a financial interest in it and whether he had an improper relationship with a staff member employed in his congressional office.

The announcement of the probe came on Monday, after the committee voted to establish an investigative subcommittee on May 11. The committee noted that establishment of an investigative subcommittee does not mean that a violation has occurred.

Cawthorn, a 26-year-old first-term congressman, lost his May 17 primary election to Republican state Sen. Chuck Edwards after a long string of scandals that included the two matters being investigated by the committee.

The outgoing congressman’s office is maintaining that he has done nothing wrong.

“We welcome the opportunity to prove that Congressman Cawthorn committed no wrongdoing and that he was falsely accused by partisan adversaries for political gain,” Blake Harp, Cawthorn’s chief of staff, told The Hill in a statement. “This inquiry is a formality. Our office isn’t deterred in the slightest from completing the job the patriots of Western North Carolina sent us to Washington to accomplish.”

An anti-Cawthorn PAC filed an ethics complaint against Cawthorn on April 29, listing the cryptocurrency matter and his relationship with and alleged gifts to his scheduler, who is also his distant cousin. A video included in the ethics complaint, first reported by the Daily Mail, showed Cawthorn with his scheduler in a car speaking about suggestive topics in an exaggerated accent and his scheduler reaching into Cawthorn’s crotch.

Another video was released by the anti-Cawthorn PAC the following week that showed Cawthorn nude engaging in more suggestive behavior in a bed with another individual. Cawthorn at the time said that he was “being crass with a friend, trying to be funny,” and that it was filmed years ago.

A Washington Examiner report first suggested that Cawthorn may have violated insider trading laws by promoting a cryptocurrency called Let’s Go Brandon. The issue prompted Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who backed Edwards in the primary, to call for an ethics investigation into Cawthorn. Cawthorn has denied having insider knowledge when he promoted the cryptocurrency, calling the claims in the report “shallow.”

Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) will chair the investigative subcommittee looking into Cawthorn, and Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.) will be its ranking member.

“Pursuant to the Committee’s action, the Investigative Subcommittee shall have jurisdiction to determine whether Representative Madison Cawthorn may have: improperly promoted a cryptocurrency in which he may have had an undisclosed financial interest, and engaged in an improper relationship with an individual employed on his congressional staff,” the Ethics Committee said in a statement.

The committee also considered an ethics issue relating to Cawthorn being charged with driving with a revoked license and speeding in North Carolina, but voted against further probing that matter with an investigative subcommittee. Cawthorn told the committee that he had paid a fine to resolve one of the charges and intended to do so for the remaining charges, a report said.

Other matters named in the anti-Cawthorn PAC’s ethics complaint, including his bringing a knife onto school property and twice bringing a loaded firearm to airport security checkpoints, were not addressed by the Ethics Committee. 

Last month, Cawthorn appeared to brush off the ethics complaint and release of the salacious video.

“Digging stuff up from my early 20s to smear me is pathetic,” Cawthorn said in a tweet at the time. “At least be consistent with your attack instead of changing the focus every time. A campaign based on nothing but slander and personal attacks is a campaign that lacks a true sense of how to save the country from the leftists.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Eight years after its water crisis, Flint doesn’t just need policy reform: It needs a PR boost

Eight years ago this spring, unelected bureaucrats in Flint, Mich., switched the city’s municipal water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River. The sting of the decision persists to this day. Not just because of the evidence that the water contamination resulting from the switch led to greatly increased levels of lead in the city’s children or a surge in skin rashes, hair loss, and intestinal issues in the broader resident population. And not just because Flint residents, years after the water has been declared safe, are still vigorously opposed to drinking it.

What also persists is a domino effect of negative press and public perception sparked by the water crisis. Predominant views that Flint still has contaminated water has fueled an exodus of residents — some 15,000 (roughly 15 percent of the population) having left since the crisis began — and scared-off potential transplants and investors. Research by our team and others shows the collective impact: torpedoed property values and stunted tourism, hospitality, and foodservice industries across Flint — and a stigmatized population.

Recovery policy rarely considers the role of public perception in the recovery.

Since 2016, federal, state, and local governments have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into recovery efforts in Flint, focusing mostly on replacing antiquated water delivery infrastructure in the city and providing residents with short-term, largely Band-Aid fixes like bottled water and water filters. On top of this, a new $626 million civil settlement is currently in the works. What you won’t find in these packages are resources to address the titanic impact of bad press, much of it undue, that the city has experienced since the water crisis began — and indeed well before it began — and that continues to make Flint and its people pariahs in the national mind.

As part of recovery packages, lawmakers must allocate greater resources for the promotion of cities’ strengths and cultural assets. How many Americans know that Flint was instrumental in FDR’s “Arsenal of Democracy” during World War II, galvanized the modern unionization movement, and several generations ago built a model for middle-class prosperity that corporations and cities follow to this day? Or that it’s currently home to a burgeoning world-class art scene and athletics programs? Eight years after a crisis that rocked a city, its strengths should be on full display if true recovery is to occur.

Likewise, officials can better support financial incentives for traveling to and buying and repairing homes in disaster-struck areas like Flint. This was done in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, where officials focused not just on rebuilding the city’s crippled levees and using creative marketing to remind people of the city’s vast cultural and culinary riches, but also offering subsidies and low-interest loans for people willing to make the city their home. Measures like these can be healing and help reinforce a political commitment to changing not only experiences with a city, but perceptions.

Media treatments ensure that the casual observer sees a place like Flint as in perpetual decline or — slightly better — perpetually recovering from decline, and balks at the idea of traveling there or otherwise supporting the city.

During its heyday in the 1950s when it had roughly 200,000 residents, Flint set the standard for industrialization through its all-encompassing courtship with General Motors. This, and the global perception of Flint’s excellence, all changed towards the new millennium as the automobile colossus that once employed over half of Flint adults began to lay-off workers in droves. A PR disaster — one the city has struggled to shake now going on 40 years — followed Flint’s economic disaster.

Here’s one example of a media view that radiates in public perceptions today: when reviewing Michael Moore’s macabre Oscar-winning 1989 documentary, “Roger and Me,” which chronicled General Motor’s stunning retreat from Flint, a Washington Post film critic called Flint “desolate, rat-infested, a city with teeming jails, a soaring crime rate and plummeting expectation — a postindustrial American wasteland that Money magazine proclaimed the worst place to live in the country.”

Today, it’s virtually impossible for us to look at Flint, or cities like it, without first thinking about its seemingly characteristic flaws.

We all need to put more thought into how we reflexively create these associations.

In describing Flint and the water crisis, many of us are fixed to de jour terms for vulnerability and helplessness. Read any given article on Flint pre- or post-water crisis and you will find terms like “poor,” “impoverished,” “disadvantaged,” “disenfranchised,” “oppressed,” and “marginalized” firmly planted in the headlines or first paragraphs, conveying utter hopelessness and irremediability. If you were asked to describe a city like Flint without using these expressions, could you?

Like all cities — and like all people — Flint is more than its weaknesses. Choosing to focus on Flint’s weaknesses, the water crisis being just its latest, is more a reflection of us than it is the city or its people.

Jerel Ezell is an assistant professor at Cornell University at the Africana Studies and Research Center and director of the Cornell Center for Cultural Humility. He is a Fulbright scholar. His research focuses on social and health outcomes in post-industrial communities in the United States.

Source: TEST FEED1

RNC raises $14.2M in April, to DNC's $13M

The Republican National Committee (RNC) raked in $14.2 million last month, outraising the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for April.

According to Federal Election Commission files, the RNC spent $15.5 million during the period and began the month of May with $43.7 million in the bank.

Meanwhile, the DNC raised $13 million in April and spent $12.8 million. The DNC started off May with $65.6 million in cash on hand.

A DNC spokesperson told the National Journal that the DNC set a new record in terms of grassroots fundraising, with the average April donation coming to $26.

Recent FEC filings had other bright spots with Democrats in other committees. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) both outraised their GOP counterparts in April. The DSCC raised $8.2 million during the month, while the National Republican Senatorial Committee brought in $8.1 million. On the House side, DCCC raked in $11.9 million, while the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee raised $7 million during the period.

Democrats, particularly in the House, are facing fierce headwinds going into the midterms. As the party in power, Democrats are struggling with a slew of crises including inflation and the baby formula shortage. On top of that, the sitting president’s party typically loses seats in Congress during an administration’s first term.

A News Nation/Decision Desk HQ poll released on Monday found Republicans narrowly leading Democrats on the generic ballot, 43 percent to 41 percent.

Source: TEST FEED1

GOP threatens to release Jan. 5 footage — but obtaining it will cost them

House Republicans are threatening to release Capitol Police video taken on Jan. 5 in order to clear the name of a colleague accused of leading tours the day before the deadly riot – but they do not yet have the footage.

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol last week asked Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) to voluntarily speak with its investigators, saying they have reviewed footage showing the lawmaker showing visitors around the Capitol. 

The accusation was a direct challenge to the GOP on the House Committee on Administration, of which Loudermilk is a member, who have long sought the release of the tapes to counter accusations that Republicans led reconnaissance tours in the Capitol ahead of the attack.

But following through on their threat will require a serious outlay of cash: the external hard drive they would need to store the hundreds of hours of footage could cost as much as $20,000.

“Committee Minority staff have reviewed all footage in question and have confirmed no ‘reconnaissance tours’ occurred,” Ranking Member Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) wrote in a Friday letter to the Capitol Police Board.

“If the Board has any hope of preserving a reputation as an unbiased security agency and re-establishing itself as a non-partisan entity, there is no alternative but to release the tapes. If the Board does not release the relevant footage in a timely manner, I will have no choice but to exercise my authority under 2 U.S.C. § 1979 to release the footage myself.”

The administration committee has sought release of the footage since February, writing in a letter first obtained by The Hill that the video “does not support these repeated Democrat accusations about so-called ‘reconnaissance’ tours.”

It’s an accusation leveled by Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) and other Democrats who said they saw an unusual amount of visitor activity in the Capitol on Jan. 5 despite a bar on tours due to COVID.

Even in February, the committee chose to review the footage from Capitol Police offices rather than spend the thousands necessary to obtain and store it directly.

But they may now be willing to spend the money. 

“Clearly things have changed when one of our committee members is being insinuated that he led reconnaissance tours in the Capitol on Jan. 5 when we know for a fact the video footage shows otherwise,” a senior aide to the committee told The Hill. 

The Jan. 6 committee last week challenged its colleagues’ description of the footage showing “no tours, no large groups, no one with MAGA hats on.”

“The Select Committee’s review of evidence directly contradicts that denial,” Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) wrote in the letter to Loudermilk.

After the letter the committee and Loudermilk put out a statement saying he was simply giving a tour to a constituent family, during which they never entered the Capitol building.

The aide to the committee told The Hill that Loudermilk’s group went through House office buildings, but never into the building housing the chambers.

In an interview given on Jan. 6 as the attack was unfolding, Loudermilk referenced that he had “about a dozen people up here,” when asked if he had a chance to talk to any of those involved in the rally. 

“They definitely were peaceful people, people that we met at church, they were supporters of the president, they just wanted to be up here as if it was another rally. We’ve actually checked on them to make sure they are safe,” Loudermilk said in an interview with Georgia-based WBHF.

“They saw what it was turning into and they immediately turned back down the mall to get away from the crowds here,” he added, noting that some rally goers came with the intention of creating “chaos.” 

Capitol Police have said they will not release the footage.

“The USCP has cooperated extensively with the January 6th Select Committee and the Department of Justice by providing witnesses, documents, and 14,000 hours of security sensitive camera footage. We cannot make additional public statements or provide any of the materials while their work is still pending,” they wrote in a statement.

The law Davis points to in his letter allows Capitol Police to release footage “in consultation with other appropriate law enforcement officials, experts in security preparedness, and appropriate committees of Congress, that the release of the security information will not compromise the security and safety of the Capitol buildings and grounds.”

Some of the footage related to Jan. 6 has been released and used in court cases, by the Jan. 6 committee in hearings, and even in former President Trump’s second impeachment trial.

“That statute means they can’t not give it to us,” the senior aide told The Hill.

“There are not parameters around what the committee can do with it because it’s not classified.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Here are the 50 Jif peanut butter products being recalled

J.M. Smucker, the company that produces Jif peanut butter, last week recalled around 50 types of its products last week over concerns there might be links to a salmonella outbreak across 12 states.

Salmonella is a bacterial organism that can seep into the bloodstream and cause potentially fatal infections in the young, frail and elderly.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Jif peanut butter products linked to a Kentucky production facility may be tied to the outbreak.

Here are all the products J.M. Smucker is pulling off shelves nationwide.

Note: Some of the products on the list are the exact same but have different product codes. The Hill is not including duplicates.

Regular jars

1. 12 ounce crunchy peanut butter international
2. 12 ounce creamy peanut butter
3. 15.5 ounce no added sugar peanut butter16 ounce creamy peanut butter
4. 16 ounce crunchy peanut butter
5. 16 ounce reduced fat creamy peanut butter
6. 16 ounce creamy omega 3 peanut butter
7. 16 ounce natural creamy peanut butter
8. 16 ounce natural crunchy peanut butter
9. 16 ounce natural creamy butter honey

Larger jars

1. 28 ounce creamy peanut butter
2. 28 ounce crunchy peanut butter
3. 28 ounce natural creamy peanut butter
4. 33.5 ounce no added sugar peanut butter
5. 40 ounce natural crunchy peanut butter
6. 40 ounce natural honey
7. 40 ounce natural creamy peanut butter
8. 40 ounce creamy peanut butter
9. 40 ounce crunchy peanut butter
10. 40 ounce reduced fat creamy peanut butter
11. 46.5 ounce no added sugar peanut butter
12. 48 ounce creamy peanut butter
13. 48 ounce crunchy peanut butter
14. 48 ounce natural creamy peanut butter
15. 4 pound can creamy peanut butter

Twin packs

1. 80 ounce creamy peanut butter twin pack
2. 80 ounce crunchy peanut butter twin pack
3. 80 ounce natural creamy peanut butter twin pack
4. 96 ounce creamy peanut butter twin pack
5. 96 ounce crunchy peanut butter twin pack
6. 96 ounce natural creamy twin pack

To-go cases and packs

1. 3/4 ounce peanut butter plastic case
2. 1.5 ounce creamy peanut butter to go
3. 4.5 ounce creamy peanut butter to go
4. 8 count creamy peanut butter to go
5. 8 count crunchy peanut butter to go
6. 12 ounce natural creamy peanut butter to go
7. 36 count creamy Jif peanut to go case
8. 54 ounce creamy peanut butter to go 36 pack
9. 54 ounce natural creamy peanut butter to go 36 pack
10. 64 ounce natural peanut butter plastic case
11. 96 county natural peanut butter to go case

Other

1. 13 ounce squeezable pouch
2. 13 ounce natural squeeze pouch
3. 1.1 ounce portion control peanut butter 120 count

Source: TEST FEED1

Budd holds eight-point lead over Beasley in North Carolina Senate race: poll

Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) has an 8-point lead over former Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court Cheri Beasley in the Tarheel State’s Senate election in November, according to a new East Carolina University (ECU) poll released Monday.

Budd wins the support of 47 percent of registered voters in the poll, while 39 percent of registered voters back Beasley, the Democratic Party’s nominee. Another 12 percent remain undecided, in a sign that the two candidates’ standings could fluctuate.

Both candidates won their parties’ respective nominations during last week’s primaries. Budd defeated former Gov. Pat McCrory and former Rep. Mark Walker, largely on the strength of former President Trump’s endorsement, while Beasley coasted against lesser known contenders.

Budd’s lead is bolstered by strong advantages among GOP-leaning constituencies, including a 20-point edge among voters without a four-year college degree and a 35-point lead among voters 65 years and older. Beasley, meanwhile, has just a 4-point lead among voters with a four-year college degree or more and votes under 40 years old.

The poll also suggests that Beasley could be weighed down by a political atmosphere that is anticipated to heavily favor Republicans.

President Biden’s approval rating is deeply underwater, with only 35 percent of registered voters approving of the job he’s doing and a whopping 55 percent disapproving.

“President Joe Biden’s current job approval rating of 35% in North Carolina presents a major obstacle for Democrats running for office in the state. Although it is still very early, Ted Budd’s current 8-point lead will be difficult for Cheri Beasley to overcome unless President Biden’s numbers show marked improvement in North Carolina over the next several months,” said Peter Francia, director of the ECU Center for Survey Research.

The poll comes as Democrats hope to make the race for retiring Sen. Richard Burr’s (R-N.C.) seat competitive.

The open-seat race hands Democrats the opportunity to run in a swing state against someone who does not boast the advantage of incumbency. On top of that, Beasley was elected statewide in 2014 to the state Supreme Court.

Still, the party has been unsuccessful in the state outside of its governorship, losing several consecutive Senate and presidential races in North Carolina.

Most recently, Sen. Thom Tillis (R) fended off Democrat Cal Cunningham in a tight race in 2020 after reports surfaced of an extramarital affair by Cunningham. Trump also won in North Carolina that year despite losing to President Biden nationally.

The ECU poll surveyed 635 registered North Carolina voters from May 19-20 and has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.

Source: TEST FEED1

Hispanic Caucus takes a victory lap after underdog win in Oregon

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus’s (CHC) campaign arm is riding high after winning a high stakes primary against the top Democratic leadership super PAC and unprecedented spending by a cryptocurrency billionaire.

Oregon state Rep. Andrea Salinas (D) on Friday was officially declared the winner of the state’s 6th district House primary, beating newcomer Carrick Flynn, who received more than $13 million in outside support.

Salinas received around $1.6 million, most of it from Bold PAC, the Hispanic Caucus’s campaign arm.

“We’re very proud of the [independent expenditure] we did for Andrea Salinas. But the reason we suspect she did as well was because we were the first group to reach out to her, to recruit her. And we realized from day one that she was going to be a quality candidate,” said Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), chair of Bold PAC.

The PAC’s $1.4 million bet on Salinas was the group’s largest-ever independent expenditure campaign for a single candidate.

The decision to open up the checkbook came after House Majority PAC (HMP), the largest Democratic House super PAC closely tied to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), threw about a million dollars in the ring to support Flynn.

“I’m in the camp that says [Bold PAC] spent a lot of money and they proved to HMP and leadership they couldn’t be pushed around,” said Chuck Rocha, a Democratic campaign consultant who’s worked often with Bold PAC.

“Any time the caucus is taking a stand to fight for the caucus it’s a good thing – it’s what the [Congressional Black Caucus] has done for years, and the CHC flexing their muscles can only be a good thing for the community,” he added.

The Salinas-Flynn race, which also featured seven other Democrats, gained national attention after Protect Our Future PAC, a group bankrolled by cryptocurrency billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, started pumping money into the district.

Bold PAC had at that point already recruited Salinas, choosing her over state Rep. Teresa Alonso León, helping Salinas build campaign infrastructure and hire consultants.

“When she decided she was in, we helped her set up a campaign, find strong campaign staff,” said Bold PAC Executive Director Victoria McGroary.

“At every step of the way, Bold PAC was very closely involved in guiding the strategic ship.”

That ship ran into turbulent waters in April, when HMP made a surprise announcement of their endorsement and funding of Flynn, a 35-year-old political newcomer who’d spent most of his professional life away from the district.

While Bold PAC and Democratic leadership seldom butt heads publicly, the group has at times stuck to its guns in similar situations, and at times folded its hand.

In 2020, for instance, then-San Diego City Council President Georgette Gómez faced off against now-Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) in a Democratic primary, where the party establishment threw its weight behind the better-funded Jacobs.

Despite Gómez’s broader political and community experience, the CHC and Bold PAC decided not to make a national case to support her.

In contrast, in 2016 Gallego and fellow Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.) banded together to recruit now-Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), then a relatively unknown Hermosa Beach city councilmember, to take on then-Rep. Janice Hahn’s (D-Calif.) anointed successor.

“We took on the establishment when we helped Nanette Barragán, we took on some very hard fights when we helped [Rep.] Ritchie Torres [(D-N.Y.)] win. We’re not afraid to get involved against leadership, with leadership as long as we’re bringing more Latinos and Latinas into the Congress,” said Gallego.

As Bold PAC has won more high profile races, particularly those that receive national attention, it’s helped the group’s fundraising numbers.

The group was originally set up to help CHC incumbents hold on to their seats, and it raised relatively modest figures each election cycle.

Bold PAC started growing substantially under Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), whose tenure helped him win chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and eventually a vacant Senate seat, and further expanded under Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.), who lost a close election to Rep. Sean Maloney (D-N.Y.) for the DCCC chair.

Gallego, who last Congress was first in line to head the CHC, eschewed that position in favor of running for Bold PAC chair.

Widely believed to be considering a challenge to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) in 2024, Gallego has aggressively continued Bold PAC’s expansion.

Although Gallego didn’t have a say in the group’s spending on Salinas – independent expenditures are run by a side of Bold PAC that’s not allowed to coordinate with individual campaigns – he had a key role in turning the Oregon 6 fight into a public David-and-Goliath squabble.

Still, HMP last election cycle raised $160 million to Bold PAC’s $18 million, meaning the CHC group took a much bigger risk in going tit-for-tat with leadership.

“The opportunity cost for us is definitely worth it. We have a mission at Bold PAC to reelect our incumbents and to bring in new diverse members of Congress in, and [Salinas] was part of that mission. You have to ask HMP whether they could have spent their money better because in my opinion, yes, they could’ve,” said Gallego.

“I think HMP overplayed their hand in thinking that we wouldn’t respond,” he added.

And the big expense could become a solid investment, as donors seek out groups with proven winning records.

“There’s no negative from it. The extra money they spent can now be easily raised because they showed what’s possible,” said Rocha.

Source: TEST FEED1