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Almost every competitive Senate race looks shaky for Republicans

20 September 2020
 Dan Ackermann

Polls increasingly pointto Democrats winning the Senate.

Why it matters: Republicans had been optimistic about holding on to the Senate even if President Trump lost. But they know they could be swamped by a blue wave.

Maine and Arizona, once tossups, lean Democrat.

  • There’s a new poll in Iowa with Republicans down (3 points, within the margin of error).

The context ... Cook Political Report rates six seats as tossups, all held by Republicans: Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Montana and North Carolina.

  • As a seat that's trending their way, Republicans point to Sen. Thom Tillis (N.C.), and say he bested challenger Cal Cunningham last week in their first televised debate.

The bottom line: Almost every competitive race looks shaky for Republicans.

  • And Democrats are raising gobs of money after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.