WHAT'S BREWING
EMBOLDENED ANTI-VACCINE MOVEMENT THREATENS RETURN TO NORMALITY The unprecedented effort to develop a vaccine in record time risks being undermined by a revitalized anti-vaccination movement, which has been gaining strength worldwide since the start of the pandemic. Conspiracy theories and misinformation, spread widely on social media platforms, have fueled distrust of a coronavirus vaccine. As a result, regardless of when a coronavirus vaccine becomes available, an even bigger challenge may be getting the public to embrace it. [HuffPost]
SARA GIDEON TO FACE SUSAN COLLINS IN MAINE SENATE RACE Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon won Maine’s Democratic Senate nomination in a landslide on Tuesday, cementing her spot in the highly anticipated contest against Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins. Gideon handily beat two progressive candidates ― former Maine gubernatorial candidate Betsy Sweet and attorney Bre Kidman ― to win the party’s nomination. “This campaign is about all of us, and about how we can build a stronger future together,” Gideon said during a livestream address on Facebook following her win. [HuffPost]
AIR FORCE VET MJ HEGAR TO FACE JOHN CORNYN MJ Hegar narrowly won the Democratic Senate nomination to take on Republican incumbent John Cornyn in November after holding off a late charge from state Sen. Royce West in Texas’ primary on Tuesday. Hegar, a former Air Force pilot, had the support of her party’s establishment groups, including the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and EMILY’s List, which helped boost her campaign to challenge Cornyn with TV and radio advertising. [HuffPost]
WHAT IF YOU THROW A PRESIDENTIAL CONVENTION, BUT NOBODY WANTS TO COME? Just six weeks away from the start of Trump’s nominating convention in Jacksonville, Florida, a coronavirus flare-up is complicating planning and scaring off potential attendees. “There’s no chance of this convention happening,” said one informal White House adviser on condition of anonymity. "It’s just losing momentum.” A GOP consultant based in the Midwest said: “I’ve talked to a few of my candidates who say they are not planning to go because they’ve got campaigns to win, and there aren’t any swing voters at the convention.” [HuffPost]
AGING TEACHERS ASK: "DO I QUIT OR RISK MY LIFE?" David Galloway became a teacher 13 years ago, after three decades working in other fields. He calls teaching a calling, but now he’s considering cutting his time in the classroom short. Galloway, who is 64, has Type 2 diabetes and is married to a breast cancer survivor, teaches sixth grade science in Jackson County, Florida. Last week, the state’s education commissioner said that all schools would soon have to open five days a week, despite the state’s record-setting number of COVID-19 cases. Galloway misses his students, but returning to the classroom feels like a gamble. [HuffPost]
BIDEN'S AMBITIOUS CLIMATE PLAN FALLS SHORT Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, laid out a new proposal Tuesday to transition the nation’s electricity grid off gas and coal by 2035 and spend $2 trillion over four years creating millions of jobs deploying renewable energy and upgrading old buildings. The plan fell short of the sweeping climate visions on which the former vice president’s erstwhile primary opponents campaigned, leaving the door open to a continued expansion of fossil fuel production. But the new campaign pledge marked a significant shift in that direction. [HuffPost] |
