JOHN LEWIS

President Joe Biden is using the searing memories of 1965's “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Alabama, to recommit to securing voting rights.

President Joe Biden has made a historical pilgrimage to what he calls “America’s freedom church” to mark Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.

The late congressman and civil rights giant John Lewis will be honored with a postage stamp in 2023.

A former Trump White House staffer from New Hampshire could make history as the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.

Control of the U.S. Senate could again come down to Georgia — and that means it could further come down to the state's runoff election rules.

A fight is brewing in Tennessee over a legendary civil rights and labor organizing center whose alumni and supporters include Rosa Parks and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Georgia's senior congressman is facing his toughest challenge from Republicans in more than a decade.

Maroon 5 and Usher will headline a benefit concert in Atlanta to honor the legacy of the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis.

When President Joe Biden visits a Lockheed Martin plant on Tuesday that manufactures an antitank weapons system, he’s certain to herald the U.S.-made arms as a gamechanger in Ukraine’s stiff resistance to the Russian invasion.

A trial has gotten underway in a federal lawsuit that alleges serious problems with Georgia's election system.

Vice President Kamala Harris is in Selma, Alabama, to mark the anniversary of a defining moment in the fight for equal voting rights.

Growing up in the civil rights epicenter of Selma, Alabama, Terri Sewell heard all the stories about the voting rights battles.

There’s a problem with putting someone on a pedestal: Exposed on all sides, a hero to some can be seen as a traitor to others.

“Whom have I helped today?”.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says Democrats "made progress” toward changing the Senate’s filibuster rules to advance voting legislation, despite the dramatic collapse of the package that his party says is central to protecting democracy.

The sweeping elections bill that has collapsed in the Senate dealt with much more than voting changes.

Martin Luther King III came to Arizona with harsh words for Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, whose refusal to change filibuster rules makes voting rights legislation unlikely to pass in the Senate.

Former President Barack Obama’s foundation says it has received a $100 million donation from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos that it says is the largest individual contribution it has received to date.

A Navy ship named for slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk has been launched in San Diego Bay.

Senate Democrats forced another test vote on voting rights legislation.

A statue memorializing George Floyd in New York City's Union Square Park has been vandalized.

The world knows the names of John Lewis and a few more of the voting rights demonstrators who walked across Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965 only to be attacked by Alabama state troopers on “Bloody Sunday.”.

In the nation’s capital on Saturday, multiracial coalitions of civil, human and labor rights leaders are convening rallies and marches to urge passage of federal voter protections that have been eroded since the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

House Democrats have passed legislation that would strengthen a landmark civil rights-era voting law weakened by the Supreme Court over the past decade.

House Democrats are offering a new proposal to update the landmark Voting Rights Act.

Democrats are renewing their push to enact their marquee elections bill.

Top congressional Democrats huddled with President Joe Biden, looking to salvage their push to enact voting rights legislation.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are both marking the one-year anniversary of the death U.S. Rep. John Lewis by urging Congress to enact laws to protect voting rights.

President Joe Biden is declaring that preserving voting rights is “a test of our time” as he urges passage of federal legislation to combat efforts by Republican-led state legislatures to restrict access to ballots.

Congressional Democrats want to reinstate key sections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The Biden administration has unveiled new efforts to help protect voting rights as complaints grow louder from civil rights activists and other Democrats that the White House has not done enough to fight the push from several Republican-led state legislatures to restrict access to the ballot.

The Biden administration has unveiled new efforts to help protect access to the ballot as complaints grow louder from civil rights activists and other Democrats that the White House has not done enough to fight attempts by Republican-led state legislatures to tighten voting laws.

Congressional Democrats are facing renewed pressure to pass legislation that would protect voting rights after a Supreme Court ruling made it harder to challenge Republican efforts to limit ballot access.

The filibuster is here to stay, for now, and that’s posing a challenge to President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress.

While many Americans have a vast array of knowledge about Juneteenth, others don’t know as much about the holiday and the history behind it.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s youngest daughter says she’s afraid American society is unraveling.

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin says he wasn't swayed by civil rights leaders who implored him to back his party's sweeping voting rights bill.

Black Voters Matter co-founders LaTosha Brown and Cliff Albright aim to increase the political power of Black communities.

The immunologist who leads the COVID-19 response in the United States says “the undeniable effects of racism” have led to unacceptable health disparities.

Senate Democrats are holding new Georgia voting rules up as a warning as they push a broad legislative overhaul of U.S. elections.

George W.

Some of the Black college students who integrated downtown Nashville in 1960 went on to play integral roles in nearly every major campaign of the civil rights era.

Some last thoughts from Rep. John Lewis will be published as a book this summer.

FILE - This Nov. 18, 2016 file photo shows Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., in the Civil Rights Room in the Nashville Public Library in Nashville, Tenn. The award-winning graphic novels about the congressmen and civil rights activist John Lewis will continue a year after his death. Abrams announced Tuesday that Run: Book One will be published Aug. 3, just over a year after Lewis died at age 80. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)NEW YORK – The award-winning series of graphic novels about congressman and civil rights activist John Lewis will continue a year after his death. Abrams announced Tuesday that “Run: Book One” will be published Aug. 3, just over a year after Lewis died at age 80.

(AP Photo/Ben Gray)ATLANTA – Critics of Georgia's new Republican-backed election law issued fresh calls Monday to boycott some of the state’s largest businesses for not speaking out more forcefully against the law, a day after advocacy organizations filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging it. The new election law was signed Thursday by Republican Gov. It also bans people from handing out food or water to voters waiting in line and allows the Republican-controlled State Election Board to remove and replace county election officials. “Georgia’s Election Integrity Act that I signed into law expands early voting and secures our vote-by-mail system to protect the integrity of our elections,” Kemp said in a recent tweet. But he said he does not support provisions that remove him as the chair of the State Election Board and replaces him with an appointee of the state legislature.

He told reporters the Georgia law is an “atrocity" and the Justice Department is looking into it. Allies meanwhile plan to fight the Georgia law, and others, in court. He called as well for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore some aspects of a landmark law struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013. Donald Trump, the former president who promoted false claims of election fraud, congratulated the Georgia governor and state leaders on the new law. 1 is vast, and its Senate counterpart would confront the new Georgia law by expanding voting by mail and early voting, both popular during the pandemic.

Democrats are vowing action on several of their top priorities in April, including strengthening hate crime laws to include Asian Americans and restoring voting rights protections to combat minority voter suppression. It would seek to restore elements of the Voting Rights Act that were struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013, a decision that Democrats say left minority voters vulnerable to disenfranchisement. Democrats see it as a forceful response to voting rights restrictions advancing in Republican-controlled statehouses across the country. Republicans are strongly opposed to the voting rights bill, arguing that it would tilt elections toward Democrats and take control of elections away from the states. While strengthening background checks is broadly popular among the American public, Senate Republicans have said they oppose the two House bills.

Democrats are vowing action on several of their top priorities in April, including strengthening hate crime laws to include Asian Americans and restoring voting rights protections to combat minority voter suppression. It would seek to restore elements of the Voting Rights Act that were struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013, a decision that Democrats say left minority voters vulnerable to disenfranchisement. Democrats see it as a forceful response to voting rights restrictions advancing in Republican-controlled statehouses across the country. Republicans are strongly opposed to the voting rights bill, arguing that it would tilt elections toward Democrats and take control of elections away from the states. While strengthening background checks is broadly popular among the American public, Senate Republicans have said they oppose the two House bills.

Bruce Springsteen, left, appears with former President Barack Obama during their podcast of conversations recorded at Springsteen's home studio in New Jersey. The eight-episode series covers their upbringings, racism, fatherhood and even recall a White House singalong around a piano. (Rob DeMartin/Spotify via AP)NEW YORK – Former President Barack Obama reveals in an upcoming podcast with rocker Bruce Springsteen that he chose a career of public service in part due to his mother, an acknowledgement that lands in the middle of Women’s History Month. Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, was an anthropologist who worked to help improve the lives of the poor in Indonesia. But it has blossomed into deeper conversations since he left office, Obama said in the first episode.

The Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee marks the 56th anniversary of Bloody Sunday — the day on March 7, 1965, that civil rights marchers were brutally beaten by law enforcement officers on Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Vivian, and attorney Bruce Boynton were the late civil rights leaders honored on Sunday. Footage of the beatings helped galvanize support for passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Let the people vote.”Lowery, a charismatic and fiery preacher, is often considered the dean of the civil rights veterans and led the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Organizers acknowledged the fallen civil rights leaders and planned to lay wreaths at the bridge in their honor.

House Democrats are expected to pass a sweeping elections and ethics bill, offering it up as a powerful counterweight to voting rights restrictions advancing in Republican-controlled statehouses. Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON – House Democrats passed sweeping voting and ethics legislation over unanimous Republican opposition, advancing to the Senate what would be the largest overhaul of the U.S. election law in at least a generation. The bill is a powerful counterweight to voting rights restrictions advancing in Republican-controlled statehouses across the country in the wake of Donald Trump’s repeated false claims of a stolen 2020 election. It would limit states' ability to purge registered voters from their rolls and restore former felons' voting rights. AdSome Democrats have discussed options like lowering the threshold to break a filibuster, or creating a workaround that would allow priority legislation, including a separate John Lewis Voting Rights bill, to be exempt.

As we all know, February is Black History Month, so it’s a great time to brush up on Black history and educate yourself.

A photograph of Henry "Hank" Aaron, longtime Atlanta Braves player and Hall of Famer, sits outside his casket during his funeral on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021 at Friendship Baptist Church in Atlanta. (Kevin D. Liles/Atlanta Braves via AP, Pool)ATLANTA – The Hammer made one last trip to the spot where he hit No. “Hank Aaron never bragged about anything — except carrying Georgia for me in 1992." “Just his presence, before he hit a hit, changed this city,” the 88-year-old Young said. A longtime Braves fan, Carter noted he was at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium the night Aaron hit his iconic home run.

Sen. Raphael Warnock was Lewis’ pastor and stood at his bedside before Lewis died. It seeks to restore portions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013. Democrats and voting rights groups argue that the ruling has led to a cascade of changes in many states that have disenfranchised voters, including polling place closures. They are the first Democrats to win a U.S. Senate election in Georgia since 2000. “My friend John Lewis planted the foundation of this Georgia over his career,” Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell of New Jersey said in a tweet.

At 33, the millennial Democrat will assume his own leadership mantle after being one of two candidates to help the party sweep Georgia's crucial U.S. Senate runoff elections, a victory that sealed Democrats' control of the chamber. Ossoff defeated Republican David Perdue in the runoff that was held Tuesday after neither he nor Perdue received 50% of the vote in November. This is Ossoff's first election to public office, and he will be the youngest member of the Senate. For his Senate campaign, he took a sharper approach. In a victory speech early Wednesday, Ossoff said he would follow the example set by Lewis.

But Black voters were a force in the early vote and on Election Day. Notably, it wasn’t just in metro Atlanta, but also in rural and small-town counties across South Georgia, where Black turnout has historically lagged. That means it was an alliance spanning from the most affluent Black residents of Atlanta, including recent transplants to Georgia, to those Black Georgia natives who hail from the most economically depressed pockets of the state. But Black voters can point to Tuesday’s vote count and take credit for that strategy ending in defeat. According to AP VoteCast, Republican voters are siding with Trump: About 6 in 10 approve of Kemp’s handling of the election aftermath.

It took a high-stakes Senate race and a Trump-era cultural debate to thrust Ebenezer Baptist Church into the center of the current political debate. “The Republican attack is not just against Warnock, it’s against the Black church and the Black religious experience,” said the Rev. ”It’s bigger than any individual.”Loeffler has responded, saying in a tweet last month that she isn't attacking the Black church. Since before the abolition of slavery, the Black church has played a role in brokering congregants' relationship to political power. It’s not uncommon for politicians, most often Democrats, to campaign from Black church pulpits.

Both of Georgia's Senate seats weren't supposed to be up for grabs in 2020. As for the challengers, Ossoff and Warnock are seeking to become the first Democrats to win a U.S. Senate election in Georgia since 2000. If he defeats Perdue, Ossoff would be the Senate's youngest member at age 33. The November elections resulted in Republicans holding 50 Senate seats and Democrats controlling 48. Trump has scheduled a Monday rally with Perdue and Loeffler in conservative northwest Georgia.

Both of Georgia's Senate seats weren't supposed to be up for grabs in 2020. As for the challengers, Ossoff and Warnock are seeking to become the first Democrats to win a U.S. Senate election in Georgia since 2000. If he defeats Perdue, Ossoff would be the Senate's youngest member at age 33. The November elections resulted in Republicans holding 50 Senate seats and Democrats controlling 48. Trump has scheduled a Monday rally with Perdue and Loeffler in conservative northwest Georgia.

Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate from Georgia Jon Ossoff speaks after voting early in Atlanta on Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020. For the second time in three years, Jon Ossoff is campaigning in overtime. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)ATLANTA – Though still chasing his first victory, Jon Ossoff is no stranger to the pressure of campaigning in overtime — this time for one of two crucial U.S. Senate seats that will determine control of the chamber. Ossoff ran a formidable campaign even while being mocked by Republicans as a lightweight unqualified to occupy the seat once held by Republican Newt Gingrich. Biden received nearly 100,000 more votes in Georgia than Ossoff.

The world also said goodbye to U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a lion of the civil rights movement who died in July. Other former political figures who died this year include Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, New York Mayor David Dinkins, Arizona Gov. Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2020 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):___JANUARY___David Stern, 77. The guitarist who supplied the scratching, seething sound that fueled the highly influential British punk band Gang of Four. He fused African rhythms with funk to become one of the most influential musicians in world dance music.

ATLANTA – Former Atlanta City Council member Kwanza Hall won a special runoff election Tuesday for a brief term in Congress and will succeed the late civil rights legend John Lewis. The 49-year-old Hall defeated fellow Democrat Robert Franklin, 66, in the Atlanta area district and will only hold the seat for a few weeks through Jan. 3. Hall and Franklin were the top vote getters in a September special election after Lewis, a civil rights titan, died in July following 34 years in Congress. Neither candidate won a majority, though, forcing a runoff that leaves the winner with only about a month to serve in Congress. Hall and Franklin both contended that they could get something accomplished during a short stay in Congress.

Fewer than 11,000 had cast early ballots in person or mailed them in as of Sunday according to state voting records. “It's making sure people know there's an election and making sure they vote,” Hall said. Voting on a temporary federal budget could be the most significant act that Hall or Franklin takes, although there are still fading hopes of additional COVID-19 relief legislation. Franklin and Hall share similar positions on issues, but Franklin, now a theology professor at Emory University, preaches a higher cause as well. Franklin has raised $282,000, including $65,000 he loaned his campaign, while Hall has raised $194,000.

As Georgia becomes the nation’s political hotspot this winter before twin runoff elections Jan. 5 that will determine control of the Senate, faith-based organizing is heating up. Billy Honor, director of faith organizing at the group, said the conservative Christian Faith & Freedom Coalition — founded by former Georgia GOP chairman Ralph Reed — has long positioned Georgia “as the home of evangelical fundamentalist types when it comes to the political space." Faith & Freedom made Georgia one of its top three spending targets in a $50 million get-out-the-vote program during the general election and plans increased organizing for the runoffs. Another faith-focused conservative group, the legislative affiliate of the Family Research Council, is holding trainings and pastor briefings before the runoffs. Jewish Democrats in Georgia predicted that the GOP attack on Warnock’s Israel record would fall flat, citing his record of friendship with the Jewish community through his pulpit at Ebenezer.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger speaks during a news conference on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020, in Atlanta. Georgia election officials have announced an audit of presidential election results that will trigger a full hand recount. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said at a news conference that the presidential race makes the most sense. Georgians cast nearly 5 million votes in the presidential race and counties have until Friday to certify their results. In addition to the audit of the presidential race, Raffensperger announced that he's consolidating runoff elections.

Republican candidate for Senate Sen. David Perdue speaks during a campaign stop at Peachtree Dekalb Airport Monday, Nov. 2, 2020, in Atlanta. But if the Democratic challenger wins, the ambitions of a Biden presidency could well come down to Georgia. But if the Democratic challenger wins, the ambitions of a Biden presidency could well come down to Georgia. That was cemented Friday evening when Democrat Jon Ossoff and Georgia Sen. David Perdue narrowly advanced to a second round after three days of vote counting. Otherwise, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, could wield the power to block Biden.

She soundly defeated Tipton, a co-chair of President Donald Trump’s Colorado reelection campaign, in the Republican primary in June. Republican state Sen. Stephanie Bice earned a reputation as a political moderate in her two terms in the Oklahoma Senate. ___11:20 p.m.Republican Maria Elvira Salazar has defeated Democrat Donna Shalala for a House seat in Florida. Republican Ronny Jackson has won a House seat in West Texas, where he moved after leaving the White House in 2018. The solidly Republican district is currently held by Mac Thornberry, one of six GOP congressmen in Texas retiring this year.

Democrats control the House 232-197, with five open seats and one independent. In contrast, of the 53 Democratic seats that Republican leaders named as takeover targets, Democrats raised more money in 49 races. “We are playing deep into Trump country," Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, House Democrats' campaign organ, told reporters recently. But Democratic counterparts like Bustos' group and the House Majority PAC responded in kind, often leaving such spending closely matched. Should Democrats retain the House majority, it would mark only the second time in a quarter century that they've controlled the chamber for two consecutive two-year Congresses.

FILE - In this July 26, 2020, file photo, mourners gathered at the Alabama Capitol following the death of Rep. John Lewis. Alabama voters will decide whether to remove racist, segregation-era language from the state's 1901 Constitution in the upcoming election. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett, File)BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Alabama voters once again have the chance to remove the racist language of Jim Crow from the state's constitution, which was approved in 1901 to enshrine white supremacy as state law. Voters in neighboring Mississippi will decide on a replacement for the Confederate-themed state flag, and Rhode Island voters will decide whether to remove a reference to plantations from the state's official name. Two decades ago, Alabama voters voted to repeal an unenforceable section of the constitution that made it illegal for Black and white people to marry.

A line forms outside of the State Farm Arena for early voting on Monday, Oct. 12, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)ATLANTA – The chance to cast ballots on Georgia's first day of in-person early voting Monday had thousands of people waiting for hours to make their voices heard. Technicians resolved the problem and the lines soon cleared at the arena, which is Georgia's largest early voting site, with 300 voting machines. Early in-person voting runs through Oct. 30 in Georgia. While voters must vote at their assigned polling place on Election Day, they can vote at any voting site in their county during early voting.

FILE-In this Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2016 file photo, Robert Franklin, a Laney Professor of Moral Leadership at Emory University's Candler School of Theology, speaks during his "Faith and Politics" course at Emory University in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Rebecca Breyer, File)

(AP Photo/Rebecca Breyer, File)ATLANTA – Former Atlanta City Councilman Kwanza Hall and former Morehouse College President Robert Franklin advanced to a runoff in Tuesday’s special election to fill the short remainder of the late John Lewis’ term in Congress. Hall and Franklin led five other candidates in Georgia’s 5th Congressional District, but no one won a majority. Voters will be called back to the polls for the Dec. 1 runoff, deciding whether Hall or Franklin will get only a month in Congress representing the Atlanta-centered district. Three Democrats didn’t advance after Tuesday’s vote: retiring state Rep. “Able” Mable Thomas, former state Rep. Keisha Waites and Barrington Martin II, a teacher who lost the Democratic primary to Lewis earlier this year. Thomas served 22 years in the state House over three separate terms and ran unsuccessfully for the congressional seat twice against Lewis.

Mourners gathered to honor Ginsburg under coronavirus distancing restrictions with the nation in political turmoil. Spectators booed and chanted “vote him out” as the president stood silently near Ginsburg’s casket at the top of the court’s front steps. She was the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court and the first Jewish person to lie in state at the Capitol. As visitors paid tribute at Ginsburg’s casket, resting atop the catafalque used for Abraham Lincoln, the Bidens quietly joined. Rosa Parks — a private citizen, not a government official — is the only woman who has lain in honor, a separate commemoration, at the Capitol.

FILE - U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., describes the events of Bloody Sunday during a visit to the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., Sunday, March 7, 2010. The film "John Lewis: Good Trouble" will debut on CNN on Sunday night. The unexpected commercial success of the “RBG” film in theaters two years ago had CNN looking for another contemporary leader whose life could be seen in historical terms. Porter finished the film late last fall, just before learning that Lewis had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It offers a deeper dive into Lewis' life for people who became intrigued about his story around the time he died.

WASHINGTON – The body of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will lie in repose at the Supreme Court, with arrangements to allow for public viewing despite the coronavirus pandemic. People pay respects as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lies in repose under the Portico at the top of the front steps of the U.S. Supreme Court building on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020, in Washington. Taft died in 1930, shortly after work began on the site where the Supreme Court would open in 1935. People pay respect in front of the Court as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lies in repose under the Portico at the top of the front steps of the U.S. Supreme Court building on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020, in Washington. The justice died Friday at age 87 from pancreatic cancer.

After about 15 seconds, they rose, trotted off the field, and the game proceeded as normal. So we’ll just stay inside until it’s time to play the game,” Miami players said in the video. Goodell posted a video in June conceding that the league had been late in acknowledging the problem. Since then, the league has taken visible steps like allowing racial justice messages in end zones and on helmets and T-shirts. Some team owners have pledged money toward social justice causes or offered their stadiums as polling places for the November election.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech. Sixty-five years later (after Tills murder), we still struggle for justice demilitarizing the police, dismantling mass incarceration, and declaring as determinately as we can that Black lives matter, King said. As peaceful protests turned to arson and theft, naysayers of the Black Lives Matter movement issued calls for law and order.The Rev. Theres a white system and a black system -- the black system aint doing so well.No justice, no peace! he proclaimed. Some participants headed toward Black Lives Matter Plaza, right outside of the White House, which was renamed from Pennsylvania Avenue during protests in June.

Martin Luther King Jr.s I Have a Dream Speech, yet torn apart by the Black Lives Matter protests against the police shooting of another Black man, this time in Wisconsin. Friday's commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington comes as a new civil rights era is unfolding in real time in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after Sunday's shooting of Jacob Blake. REP. MAXINE WATERS, D-CALIF.Maxine Waters said she started focusing on police violence in 1979 after Los Angeles police shot a Black homemaker, Eula Love, during a confrontation over an unpaid gas bill. Now the highest-ranking Black American in Congress, Clyburn was speaking Friday at a satellite rally in Columbia, South Carolina. So theres a lot of work for Black Lives Matter to do," Clyburn told AP, and I hope to live long enough to help them get it done.

WASHINGTON Since leaving the White House nearly four years ago, former President Barack Obama has repeatedly called for a new generation of political leaders to step up. Obamas political support and personal affection for Biden is genuine, forged during their eight years together in the White House. He is an incomparable witness for Biden, David Axelrod, a longtime Obama political adviser, said of the former president. During the 2016 race, Obama privately discouraged Biden from running against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. Certainly Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are among them.Indeed, the former president has enviable popularity, both among Democrats and all Americans.

In this image from video, people from across the U.S. sing the National Anthem during the first night of the Democratic National Convention on Monday, Aug. 17, 2020. (Democratic National Convention via AP)LAS VEGAS The pageantry often associated with presidential conventions will be remade again as Democrats gather virtually for a second day. The roll call vote of state delegations, which typically unfolds over several hours of fanfare, will instead be abbreviated Tuesday. BUT FIRST, BILLA speech from Bill Clinton is among the traditions that Democrats are including in Tuesday nights programming. The roll call will go alphabetically through the 57 states, territories and the Democrats Abroad delegation, meaning Alabama will lead off.

FILE - In this Feb. 29, 2020, file photo Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C. listens to Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speak at a primary night election rally in Columbia, S.C. Clyburn is now the highest-ranking Black lawmaker in Congress, the House Democratic Whip, and one of the few leaders of civil rights movement still in elected office today. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

As Democrats gather virtually this week to nominate Joe Biden for the presidency, party leaders and activists across the political spectrum agree on one unifying force: their desire to defeat President Donald Trump. Taylor nodded at Bidens pick of Kamala Harris as his running mate, the first Black woman on a major party's ticket. Despite Biden's five decades at the core of the Democratic Party, he's not a natural fit for every faction in 2020. Perez called Biden an ideal figure to tie disparate factions together with Trump as the opponent. Democrats won the House majority in 2018 largely on the strength of more moderate nominees running in suburban and exurban swing districts.

Martin Luther King Jr. as frustrations mounted over civil rights protests in what was becoming a tumultuous, dangerous year. This country moves like a pendulum on the clock, Clyburn told The Associated Press in an interview. Clyburn is pressing many of the same issues he has for decades particularly focusing on Black voting rights ahead of the election. Some Democrats downplay the influence, arguing South Carolina's robust Black electorate was already inclined to vote for Biden. One of Clyburn's longtime colleagues in the civil rights movement and Congress was Lewis, who died in July.

The Democratic National Convention, which formally begins Monday, is not a convention in the traditional sense. Along the way, Biden's party will make history by unveiling the nation's first Black vice presidential nominee, Kamala Harris. Im glad that John and other moderate-type Republicans understand that it is wrong to be supporting Trump, Sanders told The Associated Press. Al Sharpton, a civil rights activist, predicted next week's convention would lack excitement. He said it likely doesn't matter, however, especially as Trump and his party prepare for their convention the following week. As excited as I am about Kamala Harris, the best weapon Democrats have is Donald Trump, Sharpton said.

ATLANTA Georgia's House speaker on Friday took away a committee leadership post from a fellow Republican who said in a radio interview that the late U.S. Rep John Lewis' "only claim to fame was that he got conked on the head." A number of state lawmakers, including some Republicans, are supporting the proposal, saying they want to honor Lewis leading role in the civil rights movement. John Lewis, his only claim to fame was he got conked on the head at the Pettus Bridge. The comments made by Representative Benton are offensive and disgusting, House Speaker David Ralston said in a statement. They can't fix anything else, so they take out their frustrations on those statues, Benton said.

If mishandled, the outages could also endanger the lives of people being supported by medical devices after contracting COVID-19. Critics now worry PG&E will lean on deliberate blackouts to reduce the chances its equipment starts more wildfires that saddle it with staggering losses. Batjer emphasized that PG&E can only use the outages as a last resort." Despite all its recent work on its grid, PG&E expects to be making further improvements for years to come in a process known as hardening." But that is only a fraction of the 7,100 miles (11,400 kilometres) of distribution circuits that the utility believes needs to be hardened.

DETROIT Joe Biden's Democratic presidential campaign has launched a new national ad focused on Black Americans, urging them to stand up to President Donald Trump the way their ancestors stood up to "violent racists of a generation ago." The one-minute ad, which was shared exclusively with The Associated Press before its digital and television release on Thursday, is meant to drum up support among Black Americans, a key constituency for Biden, ahead of November's general election. The ad, titled Better America, also takes a direct swipe at Trump, without mentioning the Republican president by name. The ad is part of the Biden campaign's planned $280 million digital and television ad buy that was announced Wednesday and will run through the fall. A campaign spokesman said in a statement that the ad is the start of a series of content aimed at Black voters.

During the hour before the funeral's start, Fox averaged 1.67 million viewers, the Nielsen company said. In the same hour, MSNBC had 1.28 million viewers and CNN had 1.25 million. During the 2 p.m. hour, Fox had 595,000 viewers, Nielsen said. NBC had 2.8 million viewers, ABC had 2.3 million, Fox had 1.6 million, Univision had 1.5 million, ION Television had 1.2 million and Telemundo had 910,000. Fox News Channel led the cable networks, averaging 3.07 million viewers in prime time.

Seven candidates qualified Friday for the Sept. 29 election, but declining to run is replacement Democratic nominee Nikema Williams, a state senator and chair of the state Democratic Party. They both said they're holding their fire for the Nov. 3 general election, which will decide a full two-year term. The 5th Congressional District includes most of the city of Atlanta, as well as some suburban areas of Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton counties. The district is overwhelmingly Democratic and Lewis rarely faced any serious challenge in his 17 terms. "I will fight tirelessly to earn the support of voters in the 5th Congressional District and would be honored to serve as their voice in Congress in January.

Mourners stand outside Ebenezer Baptist Church during the funeral for Rep. John Lewis at , Thursday, July 30, 2020, in Atlanta. Lewis, who carried the struggle against racial discrimination from Southern battlegrounds of the 1960s to the halls of Congress, died Friday, July 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

The flag-draped casket of the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., is carried by a joint services military honor guard at Andrews Air Force Base in Md., Wednesday, July 29, 2020. Lewis' body is returning to Atlanta, his adopted home and final resting place. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)ATLANTA When John Lewis is mourned, revered and celebrated at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Thursday, he returns to a sacred place imbued with civil rights history. King continued to inspire Lewis' civil rights work for the next 65 years as he fought segregation during sometimes bloody marches, Greyhound bus Freedom Rides" across the South and later during his long tenure in the U.S. Congress. Later I saw him on many occasions in Nashville while I was in school between 1958 and 61," Lewis said.

Mourners stand outside Ebenezer Baptist Church during the funeral for Rep. John Lewis at , Thursday, July 30, 2020, in Atlanta. In an essay he wrote shortly before he died and that was published in The New York Times on Thursday, Lewis implores younger generations to keep fighting, telling them, Now it is your turn to let freedom ring.Lewis died July 17 at age 80. Though I may not be here with you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe, Lewis wrote. He said we are all complicit when we tolerate injustice, Lewis wrote. He said each of us has a moral obligation to stand up, speak up and speak out.

Obama called on Congress to renew the Voting Rights Act, which Trump and Republican congressional leaders have left unchanged since the Supreme Court diminished the landmark law in 2012. Obama endorsed ending the Senate filibuster if that is whats needed to pass an overhauled voting law. The Democratic-led House has adopted a sweeping rewrite of the Voting Rights Act, now named for Lewis. Obama noted that the original Voting Rights Act of 1965 and its renewals drew Republican and Democratic votes in Congress and were signed by presidents from both parties. Bloody Sunday and the voting rights marches occurred two years later, months before President Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act.

A mourner pauses by the casket of Rep. John Lewis lying in repose at the state capital, Wednesday, July 29, 2020, in Atlanta. Lewis, who carried the struggle against racial discrimination from Southern battlegrounds of the 1960s to the halls of Congress, died Friday, July 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)WASHINGTON One by one, they passed through the grand Capitol Rotunda to pay respects to the civil rights icon. But missing was a man whose absence spoke volumes: President Donald Trump. No, I wont be going, Trump told reporters when asked whether he planned to pay his respects to Lewis, the first Black lawmaker to lie in state in the Rotunda. And I'm sure that John Lewis would be supportive of it.The White House did not respond to questions about why the president did not attend. Trump had previously expressed a reluctance to publicly mourn Lewis because he remained angry about the congressmans past criticisms.

(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)ATLANTA John Lewis will lie in repose at the Georgia capitol in his hometown of Atlanta in one of the last memorial services for the late Democratic congressman before he is buried. Members of the public will be able to pay their respects to Lewis on Wednesday at the state capitol rotunda following a ceremony in his honor. On Sunday, his flag-draped casket was carried across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, where the one-time Freedom Rider was among civil rights demonstrators beaten by state troopers in 1965. A memorial service at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Monday drew Congressional leaders from both parties. Lewis was the first Black lawmaker to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda.

People view the flag-draped casket of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., as he lies in state on the East Front Steps of the Capitol in Washington, Monday, July 27, 2020. Born near Troy, Alabama, Lewis was among the original Freedom Riders, young activists who boarded commercial passenger buses and traveled through the segregated Jim Crow South in the early 1960s. He was at the head of hundreds of civil rights protesters who attempted to march from the Black Belt city to the Alabama Capitol in Montgomery. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on Aug. 6 of that year. Lewis crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge for the last time Sunday on a horse-drawn carriage before an automobile hearse transported him to the Alabama Capitol, where he lay in repose.

(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)WASHINGTON The body of the late Rep. John Lewis has arrived in Washington to lie in state as lawmakers gather to pay tribute to the long-time Georgia lawmaker and icon of the civil rights movement. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, who served in Congress alongside Lewis, is expected to visit the Capitol to pay his respects. Lewis was the youngest and last-living of the featured speakers for the March on Washington in 1963, where the Rev. In Selma, Alabama, on March 7, 1965, Lewis suffered a beating at the hands of an Alabama state trooper that became one of the defining moments of his life. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on Aug. 6 of that year.

The casket of Rep. John Lewis moves over the Edmund Pettus Bridge by horse drawn carriage during a memorial service for Lewis, Sunday, July 26, 2020, in Selma, Ala. Lewis, who carried the struggle against racial discrimination from Southern battlegrounds of the 1960s to the halls of Congress, died Friday, July 17, 2020. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

SELMA, Ala. The late U.S. Rep. John Lewis will cross Selmas Edmund Pettus Bridge for the final time Sunday as remembrances continue for the civil rights icon. Lewis will lie in repose at the Alabama Capitol on Sunday afternoon. A series of events began Saturday in Lewis' hometown of Troy, Alabama, to pay tribute the late congressman and his legacy. A native of Pike County, Alabama, Lewis became involved in the civil rights movement as a young man. The news coverage of the event help galvanize support for the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.