Two African Americans elected as Lieutenant Governors on Election Day 2017

While much attention was payed to Democratic candidates that won governor's races in both New Jersey and Virginia, two African American candidates also won statewide office. Both Sheila Oliver of New jersey and Justin Fairfax of Virginia were elected as Lieutenant Governors of their prospective states.

Sheila Oliver

New Jersey elected Sheila Oliver as its first female African-American lieutenant governor. Oliver is no stranger to breaking records: She became the first African-American woman to be elected as Assembly speaker in New Jersey and only the second black female speaker in U.S. history.

“This may not be the first glass ceiling I have broken, but it is certainly the highest,” Oliver said during Democrat Phil Murphy’s victory party. “And I hope somewhere in this great state of New Jersey, a young girl of color is watching tonight and realizing that she does not have a limit to how high she can go.”

Justin Fairfax

Democrat Justin Fairfax was elected to become Virginia’s next lieutenant governor. With his victory, the former federal prosecutor will be the second African-American to win statewide in Virginia.

“I am so grateful for this opportunity,” Fairfax said during a statewide victory party, according to WJLA-TV. “We are changing the course of history in this commonwealth.”

[SOURCE: HUFFPOST]

ObamaCare signups surge in early days to set new record

Despite the Trump administration's sabotage attempts which included cutting funding for advertising the Affordable Care Act's enrollment period, and cutting the enrollment period itself by 40 plus days, it seems that early enrollment figures have set a new sign-up record.

A record number of people signed up for ObamaCare in the first few days of open enrollment this year compared to the same period in previous years, several sources close to the process told The Hill.

The surge in sign-ups, which was confirmed by an administration official, comes despite fears from Democrats that enrollment would fall off due to the Trump administration's cutbacks in outreach and advertising.

On the first day of enrollment alone, Nov. 1, one source close to the process told The Hill that more than 200,000 people selected a plan for 2018, compared with about 100,000 last year. More than 1 million people visited healthcare.gov that day, compared to about 750,000 last year, the source said.

It is still early in the process and it is unclear how the final sign-up numbers will come out. Sign-ups early in the enrollment season are often people renewing their coverage, not new enrollees.

[SOURCE: The Hill].

Kamala Harris condemns gun violence after mass shooting in Sutherland Texas

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) called for gun control after a mass shooting at a church in Sutherland, Texas which left multiple people dead and wounded on Sunday.

Senator Harris tweeted:

Senseless gun violence has torn apart another community — this time in a house of worship. When do we say enough is enough? https://t.co/gsW1KN54xc

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) November 5, 2017

Must Read: We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates

“We were eight years in power” was the lament of Reconstruction-era black politicians as the American experiment in multiracial democracy ended with the return of white supremacist rule in the South. In this sweeping collection of new and selected essays, Ta-Nehisi Coates explores the tragic echoes of that history in our own time: the unprecedented election of a black president followed by a vicious backlash that fueled the election of the man Coates argues is America’s “first white president.”

But the story of these present-day eight years is not just about presidential politics. This book also examines the new voices, ideas, and movements for justice that emerged over this period—and the effects of the persistent, haunting shadow of our nation’s old and unreconciled history. Coates powerfully examines the events of the Obama era from his intimate and revealing perspective—the point of view of a young writer who begins the journey in an unemployment office in Harlem and ends it in the Oval Office, interviewing a president.

We Were Eight Years in Power features Coates’s iconic essays first published in The Atlantic, including “Fear of a Black President,” “The Case for Reparations,” and “The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration,” along with eight fresh essays that revisit each year of the Obama administration through Coates’s own experiences, observations, and intellectual development, capped by a bracingly original assessment of the election that fully illuminated the tragedy of the Obama era. We Were Eight Years in Power is a vital account of modern America, from one of the definitive voices of this historic moment.

Check Out The Book

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Brazile says she considered swapping Clinton for Biden as 2016 nominee

Donna Brazile, the former interim chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), says she contemplated removing Hillary Clinton as the party's presidential nominee in 2016 and replacing her with then-Vice President Joe Biden.

In a section of her upcoming memoir, reported Saturday by The Washington Post, Brazile recalled how she considered using her power as the DNC's interim chairwoman to install candidates more likely to energize working-class voters. 

The presidential candidate she settled on, according to the Post, was Biden, with Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) as his running mate.But she ultimately decided against such a shake-up, saying that she felt that she could not upend the campaign of the first woman presidential nominee of a major political party. 

“I thought of Hillary, and all the women in the country who were so proud of and excited about her," she wrote. "I could not do this to them.”

[SOURCE: THE HILL]

Check out Brazile's book: