Rap lyrics, Kavanaugh take the stage in pivotal House race

Hip-hop, health care and Brett Kavanaugh have emerged as issues in a tight congressional race in New York's Hudson Valley that pits a freshman Republican congressman against a rapper-turned-corporate lawyer seeking his first political office.

Democrat Antonio Delgado is running on universal access to Medicare, creating good jobs and eliminating tax loopholes for the rich. But his supporters say Republicans have instead obsessed over his brief rap career more than a decade ago, portraying Delgado, who is black, as a thuggish "big-city liberal" who denigrated women, police and American values.

Rep. John Faso, meanwhile, says his conservative voters have been both angered and energized by the contentious fight over President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who was confirmed after facing an allegation that he sexually assaulted a woman while he was in high school.

Republican U.S. Rep. John Faso speaks during a candidate forum in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018. Hip-hop, health care and Brett Kavanaugh have emerged as issues in a too-close-to-call congressional race in New York’s Hudson Valley that pits the freshman Republican congressman against a rapper-turned-corporate lawyer seeking his first political office. (AP PhotoSeth Wenig)

At stake is one of the nation's most closely watched midterm races. The sprawling 19th Congressional District, stretching from New York City's northernmost suburbs to rural counties near Albany, is a key battleground as Democrats seek to flip the House. With voters evenly split among Democrats, Republicans and independents, the district, which backed President Barack Obama for two terms and favored Trump in 2016, is a toss-up in 2018.

A Siena College poll in August found Faso with a narrow 5-point lead over Delgado among likely voters, 45-50 percent. A September Monmouth University poll found Delgado leading 45-43 percent.

"This is a very politically divided district," Faso said at a recent pancake breakfast in rural Speigletown. "Conservative voters are galvanized by the way the Democrats handled the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination. The character assassinations and mob tactics deeply alienated people."

But Delgado's supporters say Republicans were the ones who went too far, with attack ads with racial overtones in a district that is 90 percent white.

An ad released last month by the National Republican Campaign Committee showed clips of Delgado performing songs from his 2006 rap album under his stage name A.D. The Voice. Lyrics included the N-word and references to sex, drug use and "white supremacists."

Faso has repeatedly portrayed Delgado as an outsider who should explain whether the lyrics he voiced 12 years ago represent his political views today. "I don't think it's OK to call women trick-ass hos, to call white people crackers," he said.

Delgado, 41, who was born and raised in Schenectady, just outside the district, studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and earned a Harvard law degree before pursuing rap in Los Angeles. He later lived in New Jersey while working in New York City as a litigator for an international law firm representing Fortune 500 companies and investment funds.

Last year, he moved into the Hudson Valley village of Rhinebeck in the 19th District, where his wife is from, and launched his congressional campaign soon afterward.

Delgado has demurred from dissecting his rap lyrics but said his goal dovetailed with his current political aspirations.

"The objective was to use the most popular art form to empower young people to get more civically engaged," he said in an interview on the campaign trail. "To highlight issues like income inequality, the Iraq war, climate change, wealth disparity and criminal justice reform."

Faso, a 66-year-old lawyer and former state Assemblyman, has a record of bipartisanship in Congress on such issues as health care reform and the opioid epidemic. He has supported some White House policies, such as the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, but voted against Trump's tax plan because of concerns that eliminating the deduction for state and local taxes would hurt families in his district.

Delgado's rhetoric disparaging Faso is less personal but no less infuriating to the incumbent, depicting him as beholden to corporate political action committees and accusing him of breaking a promise to an ailing constituent who begged him to preserve coverage for pre-existing medical conditions.

"He's not here to serve the people; he's bought," Delgado told a crowd in Hoosick Falls. "A lot of people in D.C. are bought, on both sides."

The race may come down to old-fashioned hand-shaking, said Speigletown volunteer Fire Chief Bill Maloney, who buttonholed Faso about equipment funding.

"If someone doesn't make it a point to get out there for people to get to know them, there's a good chance they won't get the votes — if people vote at all," Maloney said.

"I've never voted in a midterm election before," said Sarah Roberts, 30, who met Delgado at an apple festival with her husband and two young boys. "But I have a lot of enthusiasm for him, and I'm looking forward to getting out and voting in November."

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has told key lawmakers it would send more than $1 billion in additional arms and ammunition to Israel, three congressional aides said Tuesday. But it was not immediately known how soon the weapons would be delivered.

It's the first arms shipment to Israel to be revealed since the administration put another arms transfer, consisting of 3,500 bombs of up to 2,000 pounds each, on hold this month. The Biden administration, citing concern for civilian casualties in Gaza, has said it paused that bomb transfer to keep Israel from using those particular munitions in its offensive in the crowded southern Gaza city of Rafah.

The package disclosed Tuesday includes about $700 million for tank ammunition, $500 million in tactical vehicles and $60 million in mortar rounds, the congressional aides said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an arms transfer that has not yet been made public.

There was no immediate indication when the arms would be sent. Two congressional aides said the shipment is not part of the long-delayed foreign aid package that Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed last month. It wasn’t known if the shipment was the latest tranche from an existing arms sale or something new.

The Biden administration has come under criticism from both sides of the political spectrum over its military support for Israel's now seven-month-old war against Hamas in Gaza — at a time when Biden is battling for reelection against former President Donald Trump.

Some of Biden's fellow Democrats have pushed him to limit transfers of offensive weapons to Israel to pressure the U.S. ally to do more to protect Palestinian civilians. Protests on college campuses around the U.S. have driven home the message this spring.

Republican lawmakers have seized on the administration's pause on the bomb transfers, saying any lessening of U.S. support for Israel — its closest ally in the Middle East — weakens that country as it fights Hamas and other Iran-backed groups. In the House, they are planning to advance a bill this week to mandate the delivery of offensive weaponry for Israel.

Despite the onetime suspension of a bomb shipment, Biden and administration officials have made clear they will continue other weapons deliveries and overall military support to Israel, which is the largest recipient of U.S. military aid.

Biden will see to it that “Israel has all of the military means it needs to defend itself against all of its enemies, including Hamas,” national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday. “For him, this is very straightforward: He’s going to continue to provide Israel with all of capabilities it needs, but he does not want certain categories of American weapons used in a particular type of operation in a particular place. And again, he has been clear and consistent with that.”

The Wall Street Journal first reported the plans for the $1 billion weapons package to Israel.

In response to House Republicans' plan to move forward with a bill to mandate the delivery of offensive weapons for Israel, the White House said Tuesday that Biden would veto the bill if it were to pass Congress.

The bill has practically no chance in the Democratic-controlled Senate. But House Democrats are somewhat divided on the issue, and roughly two dozen have signed onto a letter to the Biden administration saying they were “deeply concerned about the message” sent by pausing the bomb shipment.

One of the letter’s signers, New York Rep. Ritchie Torres, said he would likely vote for the bill, despite the White House’s opposition.

“I have a general rule of supporting pro-Israel legislation unless it includes a poison pill — like cuts to domestic policy,” he said.

In addition to the written veto threat, the White House has been in touch with various lawmakers and congressional aides about the legislation, according to an administration official.

“We strongly, strongly oppose attempts to constrain the President’s ability to deploy U.S. security assistance consistent with U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said this week, adding that the administration plans to spend “every last cent” appropriated by Congress in the national security supplemental package that was signed into law by Biden last month.

Associated Press writers Stephen Groves, Lisa Mascaro and Aamer Madhani contributed.

President Joe Biden arrives to speak in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, announcing plans to impose major new tariffs on electric vehicles, semiconductors, solar equipment and medical supplies imported from China. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Joe Biden speaks at the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies' 30th annual gala, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)