hosting a saudi-backed golf tournament at one of his clubs. good morning. and welcome to way too early. i m jonathan lemire. it is friday, july 29th. thanks for being here. let s get started with the news. we begin on capitol hill where senate democrats are racing against the clock to pass a wide-ranging spending bill through the process of reconciliation. with just about a week to go before congress leaves for a month-long recess, a source says that senate majority leader chuck schumer called on his caucus to stick together during a closed door meeting yesterday. just one day earlier schumer and west virginia democrat joe manchin sent shot waves through congress by shock waves through congress by introducing the inflation reduction act of 2022 seemingly out of left field. planning to bring it to a vote at the senate floor next week and democrats are expressing cautious optimism about the chances of moving forward and that includes president biden who had this to say at
in a race for the senate, republicans are struggling to gain a foothold in pennsylvania. according to a new fox news poll released yesterday, democrat john fetterman is leading rep mehmet oz by nine points. and fetterman 47, and oz 36. and independent candidate everett stern.% and 13% support someone else or remain undecided. pennsylvania s republican nominee for governor, doug mastriano is facing criticism for ties to a far right website, according to campaign finance records mastriano paid the social media platform 5,000 dollars back in april for advertising consulting. the founder of the site is notorious for making notorious anti-semitic comments and several groups and individuals on both sides of the aisle called on mastriano to remove himself from the site and many denounced his candidacy.
supports anti-semitism, and white nationalism and the list goes on. mastriano not only playing footsie, but former president trump s endorsement and one of the republicans who has said as this joe biden was not duly elected in 2020. my book the big lie out this week talks about this exact concept and the lie did not end on january 6th by no means and we re seeing it shape the politics of today, and including, as a litmus test for republicans. talk to us, if you will, about just how dangerous this is, for our democracy, yes, but also, for the mechanics of future elections and if mastriano is elected, what could that mean for 2024, and could votes be fairly counted then? jonathan, i m incredibly concerned as a political scientist and as a citizen and as a black american, the list goes on. don t forget, donald trump serves the big lie in 2016 when
in response to that criticism, mastriano said he rejected quote anti-semitism in any form. yesterday, he reportedly made his account private before then removing it. joining us now political science professor at fordham university, professor grere, great to see you again. let s talk about the importance of pennsylvania. it was a state for cycle after cycle after cycle republicans worked hard to get it and never could and trump broke through and got it in 16 and biden wins it back in 20, it is definitely an official battleground state. how large does it loom this fall? it absolutely does, jonathan, and we don t forget, pennsylvania was one of the states that donald trump wanted to recall the election and trying to put pressure on those being in harrisburg, to overturn the election results that joe biden had won. and so this is a really contentious race, senate race, you have seen john fetterman with health challenges and it