Transcript of Democratic Party Divide, Lettuce is Saving You Green, Colombia Rescue Efforts New

Recent primary results were supposed to offer clues on voters' appetite for progressive candidates, but the results so far paint a muddled picture.

What does that mean for the party's midterm strategy?

I'm Michelle Martin. That's Leila Fadel, and this is Up First from NPR News.

New inflation numbers are out, and lettuce—as in your produce aisle's leafy greens—was a highlight.

Retailers, you know, are going to cut prices in order to move that inventory. Particularly because it's also a perishable product.

How are lettuce prices impacting the cost of living?

And in Colombia, rescue teams are racing to find earthquake victims still buried under rubble. Nearly 500 people are still missing. Stay with us for news you need to start your day. Democrats are clear on the goal: they want to win back control of Congress this November.

But throughout primary season, the party has faced high-profile divides over its future. Those Those tensions were on display this month in 3 Midwestern states where primary voters sent a mix of signals about what they want from the party.

NPR political reporter Elena Moore has been following it, and she's with us now. Good morning, Elena. Good morning. So now that the Democratic primaries in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin are over, what would you say is the key takeaway?

Yeah, well, for months we've seen leftist candidates pull off upsets in a handful of solidly blue House districts, running on an anti-establishment message focused on affordability concerns. What made these races, Michelle, notable is candidates were running on a similar message but putting it to a much broader statewide audience, and the results were mixed. Okay, so talk us through that. Well, let's start last week in Michigan, where Abdul El-Sayed defeated Congresswoman Haley Stevens in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate there. El-Sayed pitched himself as a populist political outsider, and he had the backing of key progressives like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He drummed up a lot of enthusiasm, and heading into Election Day, the polls indicated he had a sizable lead. But that's not what the results showed. He won, but only by a single percentage point, a little over 15,000 votes. And, you know, make no mistake, a win is a win. But those results show how divided this party is. I mean, it was virtually a 50-50 split.

It also shows that the polls are not that great in primaries and state primaries. Let's be clear on that. Okay. And this week, there was another race where this dynamic played out, the Wisconsin governor's race. What happened there?

Yeah, I mean, this was another really close race decided by less than 4,000 votes. Ultimately, the establishment pick, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, narrowly defeated State Representative Francesca Hwang, a self-described Democratic Socialist. And people had been comparing Hwang's candidacy to El-Sayed in Michigan, but there were some key differences. I mean, for one, Hwang had fewer endorsements from national progressives. She also faced criticism for past comments, supporting things like defunding the police and abolishing prisons, positions other leftist candidates have avoided. So running on this anti-establishment message may be politically popular right now, but the messenger still matters, too.

And let's go to Minnesota now. What stands out there?

Well, it was an example that, you know, this intraparty fight is manifesting in different ways, right? Like, take the Democratic primary for Senate there, where we saw the state's lieutenant governor, Peggy Flanagan, decisively beat Congresswoman Angie Craig. And Flanagan established herself as the more progressive candidate. But in the end, one of the big things that defined this race was the issue of immigration. Specifically, Craig faced criticism over her vote for a bill that makes it easier for immigration officers to detain and deport people without legal status.

So where does all this leave Democrats as they start to shift from primary season to general election mode? Right.

Well, the general election is all about growing your coalition, but that only matters if Democrats show up and in full. It's clear these anti-establishment candidates are re-energizing a part of the base that has felt disconnected from the party in recent elections. But that could come at a risk of alienating other key parts of the base. And Michelle, when you're looking at toss-up races this fall, Democrats can't afford to have any voter stay home.

That is NPR political reporter Elena Moore. Elena, thank you.

Thank you, Michelle.

There's a fire sale on lettuce right now. That was one of the highlights of this week's inflation report.

Lettuce producers are trying to win back grocery shoppers who are nervous after a widespread outbreak tied to iceberg lettuce from Mexico. Discounts on leafy greens are one of the factors helping to keep the overall cost of living in check.

NPR's Scott Horsley is with us now to tell us more about this. Good morning, Scott. Good morning, Michelle. So tell us what's happening in the produce aisle.

Yeah, well, we got a new inflation report from the Labor Department this week, and it shows lettuce prices plunged more than 16% last month. It was the biggest 1-month drop on record, and it's all because of that deadly cyclosporiasis outbreak that forced a recall of some imported iceberg lettuce. Since then, anxious shoppers have been steering clear of other kinds of lettuce, and food economist David Ortega of Michigan State University says a lot of suppliers are offering discounts rather than let that lettuce go to waste.

Retailers, you know, are going to cut prices in order to move that inventory, particularly because it's also a perishable product.

Produce prices tend to bounce around a lot depending on growing conditions and other factors, and, you know, lettuce prices will probably rebound once this food scare passes. But for now, there are some bargains to be found, and that helped lower grocery prices by about 0.1% last month. Now, I don't want to overstate this. Obviously, lettuce is a fairly small part of most families' overall grocery list. Ortega notes that supermarket prices in general are still up about 2.7% over the last year.

We're nowhere near those double-digit increases that we saw in 2022. But, you know, this is still top of mind for many consumers because what they are reacting to is the cumulative impacts of inflation.

Beef prices, as many people know, are still quite high compared to where they were a year ago. On the plus side, though, chicken prices are down a bit.

Okay, but we got to talk about gas, Scott, because high gasoline prices Everybody's talking about it. So what's happening at the gas pump?

Yeah, gasoline prices came down a little bit in July as they did in June, but they are still way up compared to where they were before the war with Iran began. AAA puts the average price of regular gas today at $4.07 a gallon. It's actually been going up again in recent days, and prices could climb further in August unless there's some real progress to get oil moving more normally through the Strait of Hormuz. Big picture, this week's inflation report shows the cost of living was up 3.4% in July from a a year ago. That is a smaller annual increase than the two previous months. But look, inflation is still higher than most of us would like. And that remains a challenge for the inflation fighters at the Federal Reserve.

And the Fed has promised repeatedly that it will get inflation under control. What is that going to take?

Yeah, not so long ago, investors were betting it was going to take a jump in interest rates. At their last meeting in July, Fed policymakers held their benchmark rate steady. But there were three members of the committee who voted to raise rates. One of those was Beth Hammack, the president of the Cleveland Federal Reserve Hamrick later told Yahoo Finance it would be better for the central bank to act sooner rather than wait and let inflation get out of control.

I think about it a little bit like when you're driving your car. When you see that stop sign coming, you can either slowly pump your brakes, or if you're not paying attention, you have to jam on the brakes really fast. You know, my passengers usually prefer when I've got that gentle glide into it.

But this week's somewhat cooler inflation report could prompt the Fed to coast a little bit longer and see if inflation continues to moderate. Right now, that's the way a lot of a lot of investors are betting.

That is NPR's Scott Horsley. Scott, thank you.

You're welcome.

In Colombia, the clock is ticking.

After Monday's powerful earthquake that killed more than 260 people, each day that goes by means the chances of finding survivors drop.

Nearly 500 people are still missing. Reporter John Otis is in Cali. That's a city in western Colombia that was one of the hardest hit by the quake, and he's with us now once again. John, good morning. Good morning, Michelle. So it's been 3 days since the earthquake struck. You've been there for much of that time. Are search and rescue teams still going to be able to find survivors?

Uh, yes, that's very much possible. I've spoken with rescue workers elsewhere who've pulled people out of collapsed buildings after 6 days. One factor is climate, and here in Cali, the warm weather could help trapped people stay alive. That said, Colombian officials know they're in a race against the clock. At a news conference yesterday, Cali Mayor Alejandro Eder said they have identified 7 sites in the earthquake zone where they have the best chance to save people. Let's listen. So here the mayor is calling on Cali residents to avoid the disaster the disaster zone so as not to create traffic jams or to get in the way of rescue teams. Another reason is that workers inside the building need silence so they can use their listening devices to detect signs of life.

Can you tell us more about these search and rescue teams?

Well, most are from Colombia, which has a fairly robust civil defense system, but search and rescue teams have also arrived from the U.S., Mexico, and other countries. You also see hundreds of volunteers doing the backbreaking work of removing rubble. I met one of them, a software developer from Cali. His name was Andrés Cifuentes. He spent the past 2 days cutting through rebar and pulling chunks of concrete from a collapsed building. And as you'll hear, we kept our voices down to avoid disturbing the search teams listening for survivors. So Cifuentes is telling me that all 5 floors of this particular building collapsed right on top of one another, and that leaves little space for survivors. But he also vows not to give up. You mentioned Cali's mayor.

You were able to spend some time with him during these recovery efforts.

Yes, I tagged along with Mayor Alejandro Eder as he visited a food distribution center There he consoled quake victims who had lost their homes and thanked people arriving with donations. He looked pretty beat, but he actually sounded optimistic. For example, he thinks the city will get a lot of money from the national government to rebuild homes, hospitals, and the 167 schools that were knocked down.

You can sit down and start crying, or you can see it as a huge opportunity to rebuild 167 schools as brand new modern schools, you know. So I think I think that's the way you have to look at it.

Yeah, and I'll just note that the mayor hadn't slept since Monday's earthquake, so as soon as our interview ended, he took off to catch a well-deserved nap.

And you deserve one too, because you haven't slept either. That is John Otis reporting from Cali. John, thank you. Thank you.

Congressman Ro Khanna is seriously considering a run for president.

Well, you know, they said Lincoln had an engine of ambition that knew no rest. I don't apologize for ambition. The question is, is it ambition for a public purpose?

The California congressman on why he thinks Democrats need a more progressive candidate in 2028. That's available today on a special episode of Up First.

And that's Up First for Thursday, August 13th. I'm Michelle Martin.

And I'm Leila Fawzi. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Arzu Razvani, Alice Wolfley, Jason Breslow, Raphael Naam, and Tina Krya. It was produced by Ziad Butch and Milton Guevada. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Carly Strange. Our technical director is Zach Coleman, and our deputy executive producer is Kelly Dickens. Join us again tomorrow.