Election Dispatch: New White House Key Players

1. Minyon Moore

One of the so-called Four OGs — Black women who over the last 20 years have reshaped Democratic politics from the inside — political operative Moore was also reportedly instrumental in convincing Biden that he needed a Black woman on the 2020 ticket. Now she’s on Biden’s advisory board as the administration transitions to the White House. She was a recent guest on The Carlos Watson Show, where she discussed this historic election.

2. Darren Walker

In the five months since George Floyd’s death galvanized racial justice protests around the world, the number of Black appointees to top corporate boards has surged by 130 — compared to just 38 in the five months before the tragedy. That’s due to increased awareness, but also to work from Black executives like Ford Foundation President Darren Walker — potentially in line for a role in the Biden administration — who’s been vocal about the legacy of white supremacy in the business world and refused to accept weak excuses about the difficulty of finding diverse talent.

3. Doug Emhoff

As if she hadn’t already shattered enough barriers, Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, will be the first Jewish interfaith vice couple of the United States. Entertainment lawyer Emhoff, the nation’s first second gentleman, will also have the opportunity to be a powerful role model for supportive male partners everywhere over the next four years. His social media fans, of which he has plenty, call themselves the #DougHive.

Who else is going to matter during these rocky few months ahead? Hear OZY’s co-founder and editor-in-chief Carlos Watson and the BBC’s Katty Kay from World News America break it all down. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, the iHeartRadio app or wherever else you get your podcasts.

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From Colin Kaepernick to LeBron James, the last few years have seen the rise of a newly powerful team of athlete-activists. Potentially powerful in the coming months: WNBA star Candace Parker, whose rebuke of Atlanta Dream owner Kelly Loeffler — “There is no place in the league for her” — and the subsequent widespread WNBA endorsement of Loeffler’s Democratic opponent, Raphael Warnock, in Georgia’s special election could spell bad news for Loeffler in the Jan. 5 runoff. Parker’s Los Angeles Sparks jersey is now the third best-selling in the WNBA.

2. Chanel Rion

While conservative One America News Network’s White House correspondent has enjoyed full access to the Trump administration, she may have to find herself a different role in a Biden White House. Her press credentials have already been revoked by the White House Press Corps for refusing to follow social distancing guidelines, and she’ll likely be shut out of a Biden briefing room, which could make the Harvard Extension School-educated Rion a far-right martyr. Watch for her to get an even larger platform on OANN as it could become the new home of the MAGA resistance, which is deserting Fox News in droves.

3. George Gascón

Protests against police brutality have seen regime change at the nation’s biggest local prosecutor’s office: Reformist George Gascón toppled incumbent Jackie Lacey and will be Los Angeles’s new district attorney. That’s likely to mean quick changes from the former San Francisco police chief, who captured the hearts (and wallets) of L.A. activists. Gascón has said he may reopen some police-shooting cases, will work to get death row inmates’ sentences commuted to life and will explore alternatives to incarceration.

Next year’s U.S. Congress will have record-high representation for women at just under 20 percent, breaking a record set last year. One of them will be this 46-year-old rising conservative star, who took down Oklahoma’s only Democratic representative in last week’s election. Pundits are crediting Bice’s victory to branding her opponent as a pawn of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi while brandishing an endorsement from the NRA. Bice now becomes the first Iranian American elected to Congress and will be part of a vanguard of conservative women in the chamber.

2. Lisa Murkowski

The Republican senator least beholden to the Republican Party will be an intriguing swing vote in a Senate that will either be 50-50 or have a narrow GOP edge. Murkowski is so popular in Alaska that she won reelection in 2010 with a write-in campaign after losing the primary, and has often bucked her party since — including voting against a repeal of Obamacare. She also congratulated Biden on becoming president-elect, which most in the party are still refusing to do as Trump pursues quixotic legal challenges. Even with a 2022 reelection on her mind, Murkowski will remain a Senate wild card.

3. Hakeem Jeffries

If and when the long-serving group of Democratic leaders atop the House step aside, Jeffries would be a top contender for speaker. The 50-year-old New Yorker, expected to cruise to reelection to his No. 5 leadership post, has steadily built a national presence as an impeachment manager and leader on racial justice issues. Now he’s playing the role of peacemaker as House Democrats’ infighting builds over whether some of their more left-wing members are harming the election prospects of centrists, several of whom lost seats last week.

Today Carlos is joined by model and activist Christy Turlington. Tune in to hear how she broke through with kindness, and learn about the eye-opening personal experience that caused her to become the pioneering maternal health advocate she is today.

Major Biden

After four years of a pristine White House lawn, dogs are headed back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in the form of German shepherds Champ and Major Biden. This won’t be Champ’s first time in the nation’s capital, since he was adopted in 2008 and thus was there during Biden’s tenure as Barack Obama’s veep. But Major, adopted two years ago, is the one barking barriers: He’ll be the White House’s first-ever rescue dog.