The electric vehicle sector has faced some significant financial distress, bankruptcies, and liquidations in 2024. Electric vehicle startup Fisker Group on June 17 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy , citing various market and macroeconomic headwinds, and shut down all operations. 💸 💰 Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter 💰 💸 Fisker had begun deliveries of its Ocean battery-electric crossover SUV in 2023 to compete with Tesla, but by February 2024 the vehicles and the company began having various problems. Related: Popular furniture chain closes stores in Chapter 11 bankruptcy In its fourth-quarter earnings report on Feb. 29, 2024, Fisker said it didn't have enough capital to survive the next 12 months in business. After filing Chapter 11, the company funded its liquidation and wind-down from $46.5 million in proceeds from the sale of its fleet of 3,300 vehicles to American Lease. The company's Chapter 11 plan of liquidation was approved by court order on Oct. 16 and was effective on Oct. 17. And now, another important manufacturer in the EV industry has filed for Chapter 11 protection facing severe economic hardship. Emanuele Cremaschi/Getty Images EV Battery maker Northvolt files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Northvolt AB, which makes electric vehicle batteries for several carmakers, including BMW, Audi, Porsche, Volvo, Polestar, and Swedish truck maker Scania, and eight affiliates filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Nov. 21 seeking a going-concern recapitalization or sale of its assets as it faces an acute liquidity crisis. Related: Major airline handing company to lenders in Chapter 11 bankruptcy The company launched in Stockholm, Sweden, as SGF Energy in 2016 with plans to build a European battery gigafactory and changed its name to Northvolt in 2017. To operate in such a capital-intensive environment, Northvolt secured significant investments from Volkswagen and Goldman Sachs and currently has over $5.8 billion in total funded debt on its books, including over $3.9 billion in bridge loan and convertible debt instruments and $1.9 billion in first-and second-lien debt, according to a declaration from Chief Restructuring Officer Scott Millar. More bankruptcy news: The debtor listed $1 billion to $10 billion in assets and liabilities in its petition. Its largest unsecured creditors include Volta, owed $3.85 billion; KFW, owed about $696 million; Volkswagen, owed over $355 million; and Nordic Trustee and Agency, owed $154 million. Northvolt's capital structures and business plan were built on the assumption that the EV industry would continue a pattern of consistent growth. The European EV market had grown at a record pace, fueled by strong government support, increasingly strict emissions regulations, and growing consumer interest in sustainable transportation. Prosperity ends with EV sales slump The prosperity ended as EV sales slumped in 2023 due to economic uncertainties and operational challenges, which impacted battery manufacturers worldwide as customers canceled contracts, reduced orders, and renegotiated terms. At the same time, Asian battery manufacturers ramped up production, driving down battery prices that put added pressure on newer manufacturers like Northvolt, the declaration said. These economic challenges led Northvolt, which operates four manufacturing facilities in Europe, to report a $1.2 billion net loss in 2023. Facing financial distress, Northvolt sought $154 million in temporary bridge financing in August 2024 from shareholders and began debt negotiations with its stakeholders. The company's liquidity picture is dire as the company only had $30 million cash on hand on its petition date and would require approval of debtor-in-possession financing and use of its cash collateral during its Chapter 11 case to fund operations. The company will also seek a sale of its assets through the Chapter 11 filing, the declaration said. The debtor on Nov. 21 filed a motion seeking approval of $100 million in debtor-in-possession financing, with $51 million available on interim order, from its customer Scania and approval of use of cash collateral. Negotiations for a possible sale of the debtor are likely to continue, but no bidding procedures motion has been filed by Nov. 22. Related: Veteran fund manager sees world of pain coming for stocksKNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee running back Dylan Sampson is heading to the NFL draft after leading the Southeastern Conference in rushing and setting a handful of school records. The SEC Offensive Player of the Year announced on social media his intention Friday to leave after his junior season. He helped the seventh-ranked Vols go 10-3 with a first-round loss in the College Football Playoff where Sampson was limited by an injured hamstring. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.

A councillor at the centre of former UUP leader Doug Beattie’s resignation has removed any reference to the Ulster Unionist Party from his social media accounts. Cllr Darryl Wilson, who represents the Ballymoney area on Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council , previously spoke of how he was “disillusioned and heartbroken” to be overlooked for the Assembly seat vacated by Robin Swann following the UK General Election. At the time, it had been reported that then party leader Doug Beattie favoured Cllr Wilson for the role only to be vetoed by party officers and the seat was then offered to Colin Crawford. Days later, Doug Beattie announced that he was to stand down as leader of the party, citing irreconcilable differences with party officers. When contacted by Belfast Live on Friday, Councillor Wilson refused to comment on his future within politics and if he had any plans to defect to another party. Later on Friday, Cllr Wilson removed all mention of the Ulster Unionist Party from his social media accounts, including changing his X handle from @DarrylUUP to @CllrDarrylW. Earlier this week, Cllr Wilson took to social media to reflect on the year that has passed and some of the challenges he faced. “This year has brought its challenges, with many high points and some low moments as well. However, I firmly believe that it is essential to focus on the positives and to learn from the less favorable [sic] experiences. A new year presents the perfect opportunity to reflect, adapt, and change what isn’t working,” he said. “As such, there will be some significant changes ahead for me in politics. That said, I want to assure you all that my commitment remains steadfast: to serve the people of Ballymoney and always put community and country above party politics.” The Ulster Unionist Party have been approached for comment. For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our politics newsletter here.

Winnipeg to implement new homelessness plan in 2025Slovakia has confirmed it is ready to host peace talks on Ukraine, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Bratislava had offered to be a “platform” for dialogue on the Ukrainian issue. “We offer to host such negotiations on Slovak soil,” Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar said in a Facebook post. He stressed that the negotiations should be held “with the participation of all parties, including Russia,” as opposed to the June summit in Switzerland. At the same time, he said Bratislava informed its “Ukrainian partners” in October of its availability to host peace negotiations. Yesterday, Putin told a news conference that Slovakia offered to be a “platform” for possible peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, nearly three years after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fitso “said that if there are negotiations, he would be happy for his country to provide a platform,” the Russian president said, noting that Moscow “is not opposed” to such a proposal. “We consider the Russian president’s statement as a positive signal to end this war, bloodshed and destruction as soon as possible,” the Slovak foreign minister wrote. At yesterday’s press conference, the Russian president also said Moscow would achieve “all (its) goals in Ukraine”. “This is the number one goal,” he said. Although a member state of the European Union and NATO, Slovakia, with Fisso’s return to the premiership after the 2023 elections, has moved closer to Russia by reheating bilateral relations, following Hungary’s path regarding the war in Ukraine. The Slovak prime minister has halted all military aid to Ukraine and accuses Kiev of endangering his country’s supply of Russian gas, which he wants to continue to buy. Fitcho, one of the few European leaders to maintain close ties with the Kremlin even after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, visited Moscow on December 22. The visit drew the ire of Kiev. Explore related questions

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Greg McGarity had reason to be concerned. The Gator Bowl president kept a watchful eye on College Football Playoff scenarios all season and understood the fallout might affect his postseason matchup in Jacksonville. What if the Southeastern Conference got five teams into the expanded CFP? What if the Atlantic Coast Conference landed three spots? It was a math problem that was impossible to truly answer, even into late November. Four first-round playoff games, which will end with four good teams going home without a bowl game, had the potential to shake up the system. The good news for McGarity and other bowl organizers: Adding quality teams to power leagues — Oregon to the Big Ten, Texas to the SEC and SMU to the ACC — managed to ease much of the handwringing. McGarity and the Gator Bowl ended up with their highest-ranked team, No. 16 Ole Miss, in nearly two decades. People are also reading... "It really didn't lessen our pool much at all," McGarity said. "The SEC bowl pool strengthened with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma. You knew they were going to push traditional SEC teams up or down. Texas ended up pushing just about everyone down." The long waiting game was the latest twist for non-CFP bowls that have become adept at dealing with change. Efforts to match the top teams came and went in the 1990s and first decade of this century before the CFP became the first actual tournament in major college football. It was a four-team invitational — until this year, when the 12-team expanded format meant that four quality teams would not be in the mix for bowl games after they lose next week in the first round. "There's been a lot of things that we've kind of had to roll with," said Scott Ramsey, president of the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee. "I don't think the extra games changed our selection model to much degree. We used to look at the New York's Six before this, and that was 12 teams out of the bowl mix. The 12-team playoff is pretty much the same." Ramsey ended up with No. 23 Missouri against Iowa in his Dec. 30 bowl. A lot of so-called lesser bowl games do have high-profile teams — the ReliaQuest Bowl has No. 11 Alabama vs. Michigan (a rematch of last year's CFP semifinal), Texas A&M and USC will play in the Las Vegas Bowl while No. 14 South Carolina and No. 15 Miami, two CFP bubble teams, ended up in separate bowls in Orlando. "The stress of it is just the fact that the CFP takes that opening weekend," Las Vegas Bowl executive director John Saccenti said. "It kind of condenses the calendar a little bit." Bowl season opens Saturday with the Cricket Celebration Bowl. The first round of the CFP runs Dec. 20-21. It remains to be seen whether non-CFP bowls will see an impact from the new dynamic. They will know more by 2026, with a planned bowl reset looming. It could include CFP expansion from 12 to 14 teams and significant tweaks to the bowl system. More on-campus matchups? More diversity among cities selected to host semifinal and championship games? And would there be a trickle-down effect for everyone else? Demand for non-playoff bowls remains high, according to ESPN, despite increased focus on the expanded CFP and more players choosing to skip season finales to either enter the NCAA transfer portal or begin preparations for the NFL draft. "There's a natural appetite around the holidays for football and bowl games," Kurt Dargis, ESPN's senior director of programming and acquisitions, said at Sports Business Journal's Intercollegiate Athletics Forum last week in Las Vegas. "People still want to watch bowl games, regardless of what's going on with the playoff. ... It's obviously an unknown now with the expanded playoff, but we really feel like it's going to continue." The current bowl format runs through 2025. What lies ahead is anyone's guess. Could sponsors start paying athletes to play in bowl games? Could schools include hefty name, image and likeness incentives for players participating in bowls? Would conferences be willing to dump bowl tie-ins to provide a wider range of potential matchups? Are bowls ready to lean into more edginess like Pop-Tarts has done with its edible mascot? The path forward will be determined primarily by revenue, title sponsors, TV demand and ticket sales. "The one thing I have learned is we're going to serve our partners," Saccenti said. "We're going to be a part of the system that's there, and we're going to try to remain flexible and make sure that we're adjusting to what's going on in the world of postseason college football." Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Wemby at The Garden. LeBron vs. Steph. The NBA's Christmas Day lineup, as always, has star power

“I noticed the trans volunteer at Amberpet today,” remarked a passerby, adding, “Honestly, they didn’t stand out at all. Their only difference from the other policemen was the lack of badges.” It is not a light observation, it is instead a moment where “different” seemed to dissolve into the ordinary. “This is a great sensitisation programme for society who thinks we are only meant for sex work and begging at traffic signals,” said Dr Prachi Rathod, India’s first transgender medical officer at a government hospital. On Tuesday, 39 transgender individuals were officially deployed as traffic assistants across Hyderabad. This is a pilot project, introduced as part of the Congress government’s move towards inclusivity. “It feels surreal,” said Nisha, one of the recruits, stationed in the Secunderabad zone. “Just 15 days ago, I applied, and here I am, wearing a uniform, holding authority. Today was my first day, and it felt wonderful. Our training officer treated us with so much care, it was like we were being looked after as family.” This recruitment drive was done with the help of community members and organisations. Rachana Mudraboyina, founding member of the Telangana Hijra Intersex Transgender Samiti, who was part of the process, stated that while 50 vacancies were advertised, 44 candidates made it to training, and finally, 39 took up the job. The selection process included physical tests like running and long jumps. For the recruits, the job brings dignity and stability. Paid `30,000 per month on a six-month contract, they now find themselves in a position of respect. Their responsibilities are similar to those of any traffic officer like managing vehicular flow, ensuring road safety, and addressing traffic issues. “There’s no distinction in the way they’ve been trained or treated,” said Hyderabad traffic DCP Rahul Hegde. “They’re even paired with senior officers at junctions to ensure they settle in smoothly.” Dr Prachi Rathod, who is currently working at Osmania General Hospital, believes it’s a step towards reshaping societal attitudes. “People used to see my community begging at signals. Now, they’ll see us guiding traffic. That changes everything.” The city’s response has been largely positive, with social media brimming with applause. “This is how change begins,” said Aman Kumar, a citizen. “It’s a meaningful step towards inclusion.” Amidst the celebrations, there’s also a call for permanence. Advocates want the state to extend the program and offer permanent roles, and expand it to Telangana. Advocates also raise concern about the drive not encompassing the entire LGBTQIA+ spectrum. Like Anil (also known as Savitri), a long-time activist and NGO leader, acknowledged the impact, but said, “There’s still a long way to go. The government required transgender ID cards for recruitment, which isn’t always feasible. Gender identity is personal and doesn’t need validation through surgery or documentation.” For now, though, the volunteers are relishing their new roles. Nisha shared her excitement about the future. “They told us if we perform well, we might get to stay on beyond six months. I’m ready to prove myself.”Carter served just one-term in the White House, but became one of the most active former presidents in US history. Among the maize, yam and peanut farms of Savelugu-Nanton, a remote district of northern Ghana, the legacy of Jimmy Carter is less complicated than it is back in the former US president’s homeland. Thanks to the work of his charity, The Carter Center, locals are nowadays spared the misery of Guinea worm disease – a parasite that breeds in the human belly and emerges through the skin before laying larvae in stagnant pools to await the next victim. Carter’s work in fighting the bug and tracking votes in poor countries won him a Nobel Prize for Peace in 2002. It followed a presidency that achieved a landmark Middle East peace deal, but was hamstrung by economic woes and the Iranian hostage crisis. He died on Sunday, aged 100, the Carter Center announced. He had entered hospice care in February 2023, electing to stay home after a series of short hospital stays. The former president had been diagnosed with cancer in 2015 but had responded well to treatment. At 100, he was the longest-lived president of the United States. During six decades of politics, aid work and diplomacy, Carter “was committed to ideals like human rights, peace, and improving human life”, Steven Hochman, research director at The Carter Center, told Al Jazeera. “He didn’t just want talk, he wanted action,” Hochman said. “Whether this was through monitoring elections in Latin America or witnessing the terrible suffering from Guinea worm disease in Asia and Africa, and working to eradicate it.” Southern peanuts Carter grew up on the red clay soil of rural Georgia during the Great Depression. He sold boiled peanuts on the streets of Plains, his hometown, and ploughed the land with his family. His father James “Earl” Carter, was a peanut farmer and warehouseman; his mother, Lillian, was a nurse. He married Rosalynn Smith, a family friend, in 1946. The couple celebrated their 76th wedding anniversary in July 2022, a year before the former first lady died in November 2023. After a seven-year US navy career, Carter returned to his home state of Georgia, where he garnered national attention as a Democrat state governor for his prudent management, winning a spot on the cover of Time magazine as a symbol of the “New South”. Running for the presidency, Carter styled himself as an outsider to Washington politics, which were stained by the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War. His “Peanut Brigade”, a group of friends from Georgia, crisscrossed the US and trumpeted their candidate as a straight-talking man of principle. “Carter’s election in 1976 promised to redeem the nation from the sins of Vietnam and Watergate,” Randall Balmer, a historian and author, told Al Jazeera. “He aspired to restore faith in government, but betrayal during the Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon years had already given way to cynicism.” In the White House, Carter’s trademark candour did not always translate into political victories. Many of his progressive social and economic plans hit logjams in Congress; an inability to translate ideals into legislative reality sapped his popularity. The United States was mired in the stagflation woes of low economic growth, unemployment and high inflation, brought about by an energy crisis from the early 1970s. Carter’s solution, tackling US dependence on foreign oil via taxes and green energy , was quashed in the Senate. Better abroad Carter fared better overseas. He struck treaties that saw the Panama Canal brought under local control; established full diplomatic relations with China; and brokered a deal to limit nuclear weapons with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. His masterwork was bringing Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to his presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland, in 1978, and hammering out a peace deal between the foes over 13 tense days. “He had credibility as a peace negotiator because he listened to both sides. He could think on his feet; and speak on his feet,” said Hochman. “He was a skilled negotiator who came up with ideas for overcoming conflict and tried them out. He took chances, even if that meant he might fail.” The Camp David Accords led to full diplomatic and economic relations between the neighbours, on condition that Israel return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt. They did not solve the Palestinian issue, but they have spared the region a repeat of the multi-state Arab-Israeli wars of 1948 and 1967 . “When Carter was considering the summit, and even after he announced it, just about every foreign-policy guru, Henry Kissinger included, counselled against it,” Gerald Rafshoon, the White House communications director under Carter, told Al Jazeera. “The wise men warned that a head of state should never go into a negotiation without knowing the outcome in advance. Carter rejected that advice – and did more to further the security of Israel than any US president before or since.” Middle East tumult The Middle East offered Carter a diplomatic win, but it also brought his downfall. In 1979, Iranian students stormed the US embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage – sparking a 444-day crisis that did not end until Carter had been kicked out of the White House. Carter’s efforts to secure the release of captives via the government of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini were a political liability that was spotlighted nightly on US television news. A botched US rescue mission in April 1980 epitomised Carter’s misfortunes. Later that year, Americans gave the Republican presidential candidate, Ronald Reagan, a former actor and governor of California, a landslide victory over Carter. Carter’s talk of a US “crisis of spirit” and national “malaise” may have been true, but it was no vote-winner. “People say they want honest leaders, but when you give that to them, they say that’s not what a leader’s supposed to do,” Gary Sick, a White House official under Carter and other presidents, told Al Jazeera. “They expect their leaders to be somewhat devious and make things sound better than they really are. “Jimmy Carter called a spade a spade, and people weren’t prepared for that honesty.” Despite losing office, Carter’s diplomatic skills remained in demand. He mediated in Nicaragua, Panama, and Ethiopia, helped broker a power handover in Haiti and tackled North Korea’s nuclear weapons scheme. He wrote several books, mostly on Middle East peace. He also retained the frankness that created political foes while president. He said the 2003 invasion of Iraq was “unjust”; and that the US was “in bed with the Israelis to the detriment” of Palestinians. An evangelical Christian, he also criticised abortion . In 2006 Carter published the book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. He defended the use of the word apartheid in a 2007 interview with the US broadcaster NPR, calling it “an accurate description of what has been going on in the West Bank”. He also said he hoped the book would make Americans aware of “the horrible oppression and persecution of the Palestinian people and it would precipitate for the first time any substantive debate on these issues”. More than a decade later, major human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International , would back his assessment, accusing Israel of imposing apartheid on Palestinians. Philanthropy: The Carter Center Founded in 1982 by the former president and his wife, The Carter Center has monitored 113 elections in 39 countries and tackled diseases such as river blindness, trachoma and malaria, often by bringing medics to less populated, less frequented areas. There were 3.5 million cases of Guinea worm disease in 21 African and Asian countries when Carter declared war on the metre-long parasites in 1986. Savelugu-Nanton district and the rest of Ghana was declared rid of the disease in 2015, and has virtually been wiped out elsewhere. Late into life, the former president continued to volunteer for the home-building organisation Habitat for Humanity, hosting an annual event that attracted thousands of volunteers in the US and abroad. Carter’s supporters say that history will judge his presidency more favourably than American voters did in 1980. Outside the White House, the legacy of the father of four and grandfather of 22 is assured. In his own words: “I can’t deny I’m a better ex-president than I was a president.”

‘Quordle’ Hints And Answers For Wednesday, December 25

It was no different for Jimmy Carter in the early 1970s. It took meeting several presidential candidates and then encouragement from an esteemed elder statesman before the young governor, who had never met a president himself, saw himself as something bigger. He announced his White House bid on December 12 1974, amid fallout from the Vietnam War and the resignation of Richard Nixon. Then he leveraged his unknown, and politically untainted, status to become the 39th president. That whirlwind path has been a model, explicit and otherwise, for would-be contenders ever since. “Jimmy Carter’s example absolutely created a 50-year window of people saying, ‘Why not me?’” said Steve Schale, who worked on President Barack Obama’s campaigns and is a long-time supporter of President Joe Biden. Mr Carter’s journey to high office began in Plains, Georgia where he received end-of-life care decades after serving as president. David Axelrod, who helped to engineer Mr Obama’s four-year ascent from state senator to the Oval Office, said Mr Carter’s model is about more than how his grassroots strategy turned the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary into his springboard. “There was a moral stain on the country, and this was a guy of deep faith,” Mr Axelrod said. “He seemed like a fresh start, and I think he understood that he could offer something different that might be able to meet the moment.” Donna Brazile, who managed Democrat Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign, got her start on Mr Carter’s two national campaigns. “In 1976, it was just Jimmy Carter’s time,” she said. Of course, the seeds of his presidential run sprouted even before Mr Nixon won a second term and certainly before his resignation in August 1974. In Mr Carter’s telling, he did not run for governor in 1966, he lost, or in 1970 thinking about Washington. Even when he announced his presidential bid, neither he nor those closest to him were completely confident. “President of what?” his mother, Lillian, replied when he told her his plans. But soon after he became governor in 1971, Mr Carter’s team envisioned him as a national player. They were encouraged in part by the May 31 Time magazine cover depicting Mr Carter alongside the headline “Dixie Whistles a Different Tune”. Inside, a flattering profile framed Mr Carter as a model “New South” governor. In October 1971, Carter ally Dr Peter Bourne, an Atlanta physician who would become US drug tsar, sent his politician friend an unsolicited memo outlining how he could be elected president. On October 17, a wider circle of advisers sat with Mr Carter at the Governor’s Mansion to discuss it. Mr Carter, then 47, wore blue jeans and a T-shirt, according to biographer Jonathan Alter. The team, including Mr Carter’s wife Rosalynn, who died aged 96 in November 2023, began considering the idea seriously. “We never used the word ‘president’,” Mr Carter recalled upon his 90th birthday, “but just referred to national office”. Mr Carter invited high-profile Democrats and Washington players who were running or considering running in 1972, to one-on-one meetings at the mansion. He jumped at the chance to lead the Democratic National Committee’s national campaign that year. The position allowed him to travel the country helping candidates up and down the ballot. Along the way, he was among the Southern governors who angled to be George McGovern’s running mate. Mr Alter said Mr Carter was never seriously considered. Still, Mr Carter got to know, among others, former vice president Hubert Humphrey and senators Henry Jackson of Washington, Eugene McCarthy of Maine and Mr McGovern of South Dakota, the eventual nominee who lost a landslide to Mr Nixon. Mr Carter later explained he had previously defined the nation’s highest office by its occupants immortalised by monuments. “For the first time,” Mr Carter told The New York Times, “I started comparing my own experiences and knowledge of government with the candidates, not against ‘the presidency’ and not against Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. It made it a whole lot easier”. Adviser Hamilton Jordan crafted a detailed campaign plan calling for matching Mr Carter’s outsider, good-government credentials to voters’ general disillusionment, even before Watergate. But the team still spoke and wrote in code, as if the “higher office” were not obvious. It was reported during his campaign that Mr Carter told family members around Christmas 1972 that he would run in 1976. Mr Carter later wrote in a memoir that a visit from former secretary of state Dean Rusk in early 1973 affirmed his leanings. During another private confab in Atlanta, Mr Rusk told Mr Carter plainly: “Governor, I think you should run for president in 1976.” That, Mr Carter wrote, “removed our remaining doubts.” Mr Schale said the process is not always so involved. “These are intensely competitive people already,” he said of governors, senators and others in high office. “If you’re wired in that capacity, it’s hard to step away from it.” “Jimmy Carter showed us that you can go from a no-name to president in the span of 18 or 24 months,” said Jared Leopold, a top aide in Washington governor Jay Inslee’s unsuccessful bid for Democrats’ 2020 nomination. “For people deciding whether to get in, it’s a real inspiration,” Mr Leopold continued, “and that’s a real success of American democracy”.