On Politics: Biden’s Connection With Black Voters

Joe Biden leads in the polls among blacks, but his comments over segregation could hurt that.

View in browser|nytimes.com SEPTEMBER 16, 2019

Good Monday morning. Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today.

After prompting a backlash with a problematic answer to a question about the legacy of slavery, Joseph R. Biden was met with a warm welcome at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, where he denounced institutional racism. The divergent responses underline the uncertainty surrounding whether Mr. Biden can translate his longstanding connection to black voters into votes next year.

Kamala Harris was 38 when she ran for district attorney in San Francisco. She challenged her ex-boss. She contended with opponents' claims she had gotten ahead in her career because of her ex-boyfriend. It was, her friends say, where she learned to fight.

Senator Bernie Sanders is overhauling his New Hampshire state operations, a sign that the campaign is struggling to maintain support in a state he won by more than 22 percentage points in 2016. Mr. Sanders introduced a $2.5 trillion housing policy plan on Saturday that would include ending homelessness and limiting rent increases across the country by imposing a national rent control standard.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer agreed to attend a "historic signing ceremony at the Rose Garden" as part of their campaign to put pressure on the president to back a House-passed bill on gun control measures.

The New York Times interviewed 25 Border Patrol agents who have gone from having one of the most obscure jobs in law enforcement to one of the most hated. They described an agency that is suffering a crisis in both mission and morale. With more and more government regulations, the gig economy is looking less like the future of the labor market, and more like a niche arrangement.

Leana Wen, the recently fired former president of Planned Parenthood, accused the organization's leadership of trying to "buy my silence" and withholding her health insurance and severance as "ransom" to pressure her to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Today's On Politics briefing was compiled by Isabella Grullón Paz in New York.

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