Teresa Leger Fernandez is celebrating a historic win on election night…
The 60-year-old Latina American attorney and first-time politician defeated RepublicanAlexis Martinez Johnson in New Mexico’s Congressional District 3 to become the first woman elected to the seat that is currently held by Rep. Ben Ray Luján.
Luján chose to seek election to the U.S. Senate seat that’s being vacated by Sen. Tom Udall. Luján was declared the winner of the Senate race on November 3.
“It was so emotional to actually realize that I am going to be going to Congress,” Leger Fernandez said during a virtual Democratic Party watch party.
But the history doesn’t end there…
Leger Fernandez and fellow winners Republican Yvette Herrell and Democratic U.S. Rep. Debra Haaland all won in New Mexico, making it the first state to elect all women of color to Congress, according toThe Hill.
Demi Lovato is celebrating an Supreme (Court) legend…
The 28-year-old half-Mexican American singer/actress will take part in a special rally to pay tribute to late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg‘s legacy.
Lovato joins an all-star roster that includes Miley Cyrus, Jessica Biel, Kristen Bell, Beanie Feldstein, Elizabeth Banks, Yvette Nicole Brown and Mae Whitman, who’ll all take part in the “Honor Her Wish” virtual event.
The program, set for Monday, October 12 at 8:00 pm ET, will demand the U.S. Senate honor RBG‘s dying wish that her seat be filled after the inauguration next January. The event will will coincide with the first day of Republican hearings to confirm Donald Trump’s nominee for a Supreme Court replacement.
The new group of celebrities join previously announced participants Hayley Williams, Phoebe Bridgers, Kesha, Michael Stipe, Margo Price, John Batiste and Kathleen Hanna.
Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Stacey Abrams, Elizabeth Warren and more leaders will also speak out at the event.
The 48-year-old half-Cuban Texas GOP Senator is set to meet with actress and activist Alyssa Milano on Tuesday to talk about gun reform, after they had a set of exchanges on Twitter over what’s needed to be done in the aftermath of mass shootings in Odessa and El Paso.
The details of the meeting haven’t been announced, but Milano will be in Washington next week.
“We don’t agree on this issue. But if we can talk with mutual respect & humility, maybe all of us come together to effect positive change,” she wrote on Twitter on Wednesday evening.
Cruz wrote that he was “looking forward” to the meeting, and added that “if all of us can together have more positive, civil discussion & debate on the substantive issues of the day, that would go a long way to helping unite and heal our divided Nation.”
Milano had originally proposed the meeting be live-streamed “so the American people can hear your bullshit 1st hand.” On Tuesday, Cruz responded by saying he would agree to a meeting “about uniting to stop gun violence & about theConstitution.”
Over the weekend, following a mass shooting in Odessa that killed seven people and injured 22, Milano criticized a Texas Republican lawmaker, Matt Schaefer, who said that gun control solutions would not stop a person “with evil intent.”
Milano wrote, “Can someone cite which passage of the Bible God states it is a god-given right to own a gun? This guy is unbelievable and is clearly owned by the gun lobby.”
Cruz then responded that “it is of course not the right to a modern-day firearm that is God-given but rather the right to Life & the right to Liberty. Essential to that right is the right to DEFEND your life & your family.”
When the U.S. Senatereturns to session next week, Democrats are expected to press Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring legislation to the floor to expand background checks. In the aftermath of the El Paso and Dayton, Ohio mass shootings, President Donald Trumpinitially indicated that he favored such a proposal, but he has appeared to back away from that stance, following a reported conversation with a top National Rifle Association official.
Mathew Littman, the president of the group 97% Gun Reform, said that the meeting between Cruz and Milano “are the kinds of things that should be happening more often. We shouldn’t be talking past each other. We should be talking to each other.”
He credited Milano and Cruz for agreeing to the meeting, adding “that they are willing to talk to someone who completely disagrees with them is what we should be doing.”
Littman said he has met with Milano to talk about gun reform, and said that she “is about the smartest person I have talked to on the gun issue.” “I really appreciate that Alyssa is willing to do this, but that is what Alyssa does.”
Spokespersons for Cruz and Milano didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on further details of the meeting.
The 26-year-old half-Dominican American rap superstar has teamed up with U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders to film a 2020 presidential campaign video meant to appeal to young voters.
“We (are) working on a way to involve more young people in the political process,” the Vermont independent toldCNNin an interview as he arrived for the shoot. “The future of America depends on young people. They are voting in large numbers, but not large enough numbers.”
He said he and Cardi B spoke about a range of issues, including canceling student debt, climate change and raising the minimum wage.
The video — filmed at the TEN Nail Bar, a local nail salon owned by two black women — is the first collaboration between the two.
After their meeting, Cardi B thanked Sanders on Instagram.
“Thank you Senator Bernie Sanders for sitting with me and sharing your plans on how you will change this country,” the rapper wrote.
She added that she asked the senator questions submitted by her fans and hinted to “stay tuned to see how he will fight for economic, racial, and social justice for all.”
Earlier this month, Cardi B was complimentary of the senator.
“I been reading about Bernie Sanders and I’m really sad how we let him down in 2016,” she tweeted. “This man been fighting for equal rights, HUMAN rights for such along time. Seeing this country become a better place been really his passion for a long time not a new front for a campaign.”
Last week, when asked about Cardi B’s support, Sanders told late night host Jimmy Kimmel he had spoken to the rapper on the phone on “several occasions.”
“She is really smart. And she is deeply concerned about what’s happening in this country,” Sanders said during an appearance on Kimmel’s show. “She wants to make sure we improve life for working people in this country, and I’m delighted that she is a supporter.”
The mutual admiration dates to April 2018, when Cardi B praised President Franklin Delano Rooseveltfor being “the real ‘Make America Great Again’ ” during a GQinterview. That statement caught the eye Sanders, who frequently refers to Roosevelt in his arguments for Democratic socialism and his single-payer “Medicare for All” plan.
“Cardi B is right,” Sanders tweeted at the time.
When asked Monday what it would mean to have Cardi B’s endorsement, Sanders said, “What it means is that, what Cardi B does is not only is she an enormously popular entertainer what she is doing is speaking to young people about the important issues that are on their minds and I applaud that very much.”
Ted Cruz’s name will forever appear in history books in the Lone Star State…
The 41-year-old Cuban American GOP politician defeated Democratic challenger Paul Sadler on Tuesday night to become the first Latino to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate.
Cruz, endorsed by the Tea Party Movement, earned a commanding victory over Sadler to win the seat being vacated by retiring GOP Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
The Texas Secretary of State’s office shows Cruz won the race with 56.63 percent of the vote. Sadler had 40.45 percent, while LibertarianJohn Jay Myers had 2 percent and Green Party candidate had 0.86 percent.
In his victory speech, Cruz called for a return to the “common sense conservative principles” of Ronald Reagan and pledged to be a champion for small businesses and entrepreneurs.
“It was morning in America,” when Reagan was elected president in 1980, Cruz told supporters, “and it can be again.”
He’ll be the second Latino Republican in the chamber, joining Florida’s Marco Rubio.
