“Me Too” Comes Back To Congress

About this episode

The episode discusses the impact of sexual abuse allegations on the political landscape during the primary season.

It’s primary season, this time against a backdrop of heightened concerns and awareness of powerful figures skirting accountability for sexual abuse and misconduct. Survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have “made accountability for sexual abuse and sexual violence an electoral issue,” says Intercept politics reporter Jessica Washington.  One of the biggest stories to shake up politics in recent weeks are sexual assault allegations that upended Rep. Eric Swalwell’s bid to become the next governor of California, forcing the Democratic front-runner to also resign from his House seat . “You also have to give some credit to Democrats as well for immediately moving on these allegations very swiftly,” says Washington. This week on The Intercept Briefing, Washington and Intercept senior politics reporter Akela Lacy speak to host Jordan Uhl about the themes emerging this midterm election season. They talk about how the crowded California gubernatorial race is boosting Republicans to the top of the ticket to why powerful factions of the Democratic Party are hyperfixating on Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, rather than leveraging Trump’s sinking approval rating. “This is…

People in this episode

Host: Jordan Uhl

Guests: Jessica Washington, Akela Lacy

Topics covered

• sexual abuse accountability
• political elections
• California gubernatorial race
• Democratic Party dynamics
• progressive candidates
• midterm elections

Keywords

• Me Too
• Eric Swalwell
• California governor
• sexual misconduct
• midterm elections
• Democrats
• progressive politics

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Democratic Party, AIPAC, The Intercept, California, Jeffrey Epstein

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