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Israel and Iran trade strikes as Trump weighs US involvement in conflict; Medicaid cuts risk health-care access for MS military families; NJ Advocate: Shore powered cargo ships help ocean, port community health; CT farmers impacted by USDA defunding climate programs.

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Lawmakers on both sides urge President Trump not to enter the Israel-Iran war. Supreme Court deals the transgender community a major blow by upholding a Tennessee state law.

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Hurricane Helene mobilized the North Carolina community of Marshall in unexpected ways, giant data centers powering AI want cheap rural land but can face community pushback, and ceramics made by Cherokee potters honor multiple generations.

NM professor expects VP Harris to face racism, sexism after Biden drops out

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Monday, July 22, 2024   

Vice President Kamala Harris is now the frontrunner for the 2024 Democratic Presidential nomination after, President Joe Biden exited the race on Sunday.

Harris is the first woman to ever take on the second-highest office in the land - also the first Black and South Asian American to do so.

And University of New Mexico School of Law Professor Joshua Kastenberg said he expects Harris to face a barrage of both subtle and obvious racist and sexist comments.

"If you think about 2016, and the amount of misogynistic content directed against Hillary Clinton, you're going to see that even more so now in regard to Harris," said Kastenberg, "antifeminism, misogyny, racism - and I would even throw anti-Semitism in."

He said anti-Semitic comments could be part of the rhetoric because Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, is Jewish.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who is leading in the polls, has said he thinks Harris will be easier to defeat than President Biden.

Some Democratic politicians began calling for Biden to step aside after his poor performance against Trump in last month's televised debate.

Kastenberg said he thinks it took even bigger-name Democrats to express doubts about Biden's health and mental fitness before the President made his decision.

"When former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi stepped in, I thought, 'The gig is up,'" said Kastenberg. "Because those are people that he's worked with, and trusted and valued, for many, many years, and I think that was likely the tipping point."

Kastenberg said Biden dropping out doesn't mean Harris couldn't face a challenger when the Democratic convention convenes in Chicago, August 19.

Now that he's bowed out, Trump's vice presidential running mate, JD Vance, is leading calls for Biden to resign from office rather than serve the remainder of his term.

Support for this reporting was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.




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