Colorado: Hickenlooper wins Democratic Senate primary
01 July 2020
Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper won the state's Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday evening, per AP.
Why it matters: Hickenlooper will now face off against Sen. Cory Gardner — largely considered one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the November general elections. But the former governor has faced recent backlash over past comments and ethics complaints.
- Hickenlooper apologized this month for his 2014 comments comparing public officials to slaves being whipped on an "ancient slave ship."
- An ethics committee determined that Hickenlooper violated state law by accepting gifted rides in a private jet and a Maserati limousine, per the Washington Post. He was fined $3,000, and held in contempt after failing to appear for the first day of hearings on the matter.
Between the lines: Hickenlooper was the latest establishment Democrat to face a possible upset from a more progressive challenger — in this case, former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff.
- 16-term Rep. Eliot Engel (D) was notably defeated last week in the New York primaries by Jamaal Bowman, a progressive former middle school principle.
- Amy McGrath, a 2018 sweetheart of the Democratic Party, nearly lost to progressive Charles Booker in the Kentucky Democratic Senate primary amid ongoing pressure from Black Lives Matter activists.
- In Colorado, Romanoff was in favor of Medicare-for-All and the Green New Deal — both policy positions that Hickenlooper has veered to the right of.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly 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.