Wednesday, January 24, 2024
A kiss of death
Trump defeats Haley in New Hampshire primary Kennedy Thomason News & Lifestyle Editor
Column
Tribune Content Agency People hold campaign signs as others stand in line to cast their ballots in the New Hampshire primary outside Londonderry High School on Tuesday in Londonderry, New Hampshire.
Donald Trump soundly defeated Nikki Haley in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, taking a crushing blow to her campaign for president. Haley’s campaign pushed hard in New Hampshire in an attempt to win over the more independentleaning voter base. At the very least, Haley needed to have a close second-place finish. She didn’t. AP called the race at 7 p.m. in favor of Trump, before all the votes were counted. That’s how sure AP was about Trump’s victory. As I’m writing this, a little over 70% of the votes have been counted, and Trump
leads Haley 54.6%-43.9%. It’ll be hard for Haley to recover from this one, if she does. Haley remained optimistic going into the primary after a long weekend of campaigning. She even celebrated her 52nd birthday as she talked with voters on Saturday. When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis bowed out of the race on Sunday, Haley jumped on the opportunity to frame it as a two-candidate showdown. DeSantis threw his weight behind Trump, adding to the already loyal die-hard base of Trump conservatives. Despite her efforts to appeal to the less severe right-leaning voters of New Hampshire, Haley was bested. Her Trump-alternative campaign couldn’t win out over the former president, and it might be the beginning of the end for Haley. It might even be time for Haley to start the early grieving process of a campaign loss. Practically since the
beginning of the presidential campaigns, media outlets have said the Republican candidates are “in a race for second place” behind Trump. That rhetoric once again held true on Tuesday night. With wins from the Iowa caucus and now from the New Hampshire primary, a nomination from the Republican party is looking inevitable for Trump. There’s a likely chance the U.S. will see another Trump/Biden rematch come November. And it’s not one that many voters are excited about. Although Haley lost a crucial battle, she is still pressing on with her campaign. Nevada and the Virgin Islands will hold the next primaries, but the big ticket item Haley should have her sights on is South Carolina. As the former governor, Haley should have a better shot at defeating Trump. But it’s safe to say that if Trump takes a victory from her home state, voters can expect to see Trump and Biden on the ballot in November. news.ed@ocolly.com
Cherokee artist Mendoza’s first Oklahoma solo exhibition opens at OSU’s Gardiner Gallery of Art Lindsay Aveilhe Gardiner Gallery Director, OSU News
An exhibition of works by Kansas-born Cherokee artist Hattie Lee Mendoza opened at the Gardiner Gallery of Art in the Bartlett Center on Oklahoma State University’s Stillwater campus on Tuesday, Jan. 16. “Hattie Lee Mendoza: Gathering Joy” is the first solo exhibition in Oklahoma for the Illinois-based artist. It features roughly 100 artworks across a variety of media, including drawings, prints, sculptures and paintings, using techniques such as weaving, quilting, etching, appliqué and beadwork. As a part of the Cherokee Nation diaspora — in addition to her Swiss-German, Scotch-Irish and other ancestry — Mendoza investigates through her body of work how culture and tradition is often diluted due to history and cultural climates or locations, and how they can be relearned and revalued. This results in a broad array of works that blend vibrant abstracted patterns, personal imagery, traditional craft techniques and cultural symbolism into a collaged and layered expression of joy. “Visitors to the Gardiner Gallery will experience the spiraling nature of Mendoza’s work, which covers the walls and, even in some cases, the floor of the gallery in visual and thematic echoes of one another,” reviewer Emily Christensen wrote in Art Focus Magazine’s winter
2024 issue. Although Mendoza has never lived in Oklahoma, this is a homecoming of sorts for her; Mendoza’s grandmother was born and raised in White Oak, Oklahoma, and much of her art is inspired by her grandmother’s legacy. This includes Mendoza’s “Intertwined (Wedding Quilt)” and “Dickies (Grandmother’s Tribute Series),” the latter comprised of a set of her grandmother’s dickies — or detachable shirt-front inserts — decorated to represent different things that her grandmother loved. “In the two generations between us, it wasn’t emphasized,” Mendoza told Art Focus Magazine. “It was, ‘Oh, we’re Cherokee, and grandma’s very proud of being Cherokee,’ and that’s kind of where it was left. I always grew up interested in my Native heritage, but I wasn’t in a position to know what to do about it.” Solidifying her ties to her Cherokee heritage, Mendoza won first place in the Emerging Artist category at the 51st Annual Trail of Tears Art Show and Sale in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, for her gouache and watercolor work “Winter Has Passed,” which is featured in the Gardiner Gallery exhibition. In 2023, Mendoza also won first place in the Contemporary Basketry category at the 28th annual Cherokee Homecoming Show. Mendoza has consistently shown her work across the U.S. over the past five years and was recently included in the inaugural exhibition “Native Futures” at the Center for Native Futures in Chicago. See Artist on 6
Tribune Content Agency President Joe Biden speaks at a ”Reproductive Freedom Campaign Rally” at George Mason University on Tuesday in Manassas, Virginia.
Biden kicks off reelection push with singular goal: Restore Roe Sandhya Raman CQ-Roll Call
MANASSAS, Va. — President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ first campaign rally of 2024 sought to build voter enthusiasm and boost turnout on a singular issue: abortion rights, which the campaign sees as the golden ticket to reelection. Flanked by their respective spouses, Biden and Harris on Tuesday kicked off a fullcourt press strategy elevating abortion rights, highlighting it as a crucial issue this election cycle. Biden was introduced by Amanda Zurawski, the lead plaintiff in a Texas case of women denied abortions in emergency medical situations. Zurawski recounted how
she almost died during her pregnancy in 2022. “The stakes of this election could not be higher for our future and for our lives,” she said. “Over and over again, Donald Trump brags about killing Roe v. Wade. It is unthinkable to me that anyone could cheer on these abortion bans that nearly took my life.” The choice to double down on abortion access is not surprising, given Democratic wins with messaging on the issue down ballot — Democrats have seen wins on the abortion issue in seven successive state ballot initiatives. The issue has also shaped gubernatorial, attorneys general and congressional campaigns since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in June 2022. It’s also essential to support from abortion rights groups who invested millions rallying to get Biden elected. Biden faces a historically
low approval rating at 33%, according to an ABC News/ Ipsos poll conducted earlier this month. About two dozen protesters were escorted out of the rally in the first few minutes of Biden’s remarks, in each successive interruption calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, waving banners and in one case a Palestinian flag. Biden did not seem phased by the rapid series of interruptions from different pockets of the packed auditorium at George Mason University’s Hylton Performing Arts Center. Nor did the rows of supporters standing behind him on stage holding red, white, and blue signs that said “Restore Roe” and “Defend Choice.” “This is going to go on for a while. They’ve got this planned,” he said, while supporters attempted to drown out the protesters with chants of “Four more years.” See Biden on 5