Mollie Hemingway Commentary: Taking on the Establishment

Before the 2018 midterm elections, Trump’s political advisors were thinking about the president’s re-election bid and noticed a curious commonality among incumbent presidents who didn’t get re-elected: they all faced challengers from within their own party.

Five U.S. presidents since 1900 have lost their bids for a second term. William Taft lost to Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover lost to Franklin Roosevelt, Gerald Ford lost to Jimmy Carter, Jimmy Carter lost to Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush lost to Bill Clinton. While each election is determined by unique factors, all five of these failed incumbents dealt with internal party fights or serious primary challenges.

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Colorado Uses ‘Side-Door’ Tactic to Appoint Unelected Officials to State Legislature

Iman Jodeh is hoping to be selected to fill a Colorado Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Daniel Kagan, who resigned as an investigation was heating up about his repeated use of the women’s rest room in the State Capitol. Jodeh, the daughter of Palestinian immigrants who was born and raised in Colorado, is competing with two others for the seat. The appointee will be chosen in January by a Vacancy Committee, not by the governor. According to a recent analysis by The Colorado Sun, the “side-door entrance” to the Colorado Legislature has been used increasingly of late to choose lawmakers whom the voters themselves might not have wanted. The replacements won’t get picked by voters, but rather by a vacancy committee of activists from the party that holds the seat. Colorado is one of only five states to use this kind of partisan process, which gives appointment panels outsized influence in shaping the legislature and public policy. According to The Sun, one in four sitting legislators were given the seat by the Vacancy Committee. Jodeh, 36, wants the job of representing Senate District 26, which includes Littleton, Englewood, and parts of Aurora. She told Westword that her community includes…

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New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu Among Lone Republicans Left Standing

The blue wave made its way through New Hampshire Tuesday night when both U.S. House seats went to Democrats as well as both houses of the state legislature. Neither of the state’s U.S. senators, both Democrats, were up for reelection this year. The results left incumbent Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH) among the only victorious Republicans of the night in the state, beating his opponent Democrat Molly Kelly 53 percent to 46 percent. “The next two years are going to be a little bit different, but that’s OK. That’s New Hampshire. Anybody who has ideas is invited to the table,” he said in his victory speech. Sununu will also be up for reelection in 2020, since governors are elected every two years in New Hampshire. Local conservatives blamed nobody but the state GOP for the bad results. The local website GraniteGrok wrote: If the NH Republican Party wants to win, and win Consistently, act like you believe in the Platform.  Speak like you do and at each and every turn.  Vote like you do at each and every opportunity.  And Legislate like there’s no tomorrow because two days ago was that “no more tomorrow” – and you blew it. Creating additional trouble for Sununu is the state’s Executive Council, a political body…

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Virginia’s 7th District Contest between Rep. Dave Brat and His Democrat Opponent Could Set the Mood for the Night

It will definitely set your mood if you have been a supporter of President Donald Trump and his efforts to control immigration and get that wall built. Incumbent Republican Dave Brat (R-VA-07) is in a statistical dead heat in recent polls with political newcomer Democratic candidate Abigail Spanberger who said in a debate with the incumbent Brat that she wants “comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reform” which she knows is a coded endorsement for giving amnesty to millions here illegally. Spanberger, a former CIA agent, went on to say she would “give certainty to dreamers” referring to the Obama executive order granting the right to stay in America to young people who came into the country illegally with their parents. In that same debate in Culpeper on October 16th, Brat, the former chairman of the Economics Department at Randolph-Macon College, touted his two-term record in the House of Representatives as an immigration hawk who attempted to work with Democrats to begin reforming a dysfunctional US immigration system. Citing Spanberger’s support for sanctuary cities, Brat said, “my opponent falls to the very far left on this issue of immigration.” Indeed Rep. Brat is entitled to point to his immigration record in the House.…

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Donald Trump Jr. Films Video Urging Tennessee Republicans to Vote on Election Day

America First Policies is launching a digital ad campaign recorded with Donald Trump Jr. urging voters in Tennessee to vote Republican on Election Day. The ad will start today and run through Election Day on Nov. 6. “America First Policies is a non-profit organization supporting key policy initiatives that will work for all citizens in our country and put America first,” its website says. “We are committed to empowering, educating, and mobilizing the voices of tens of millions of Americans who support a more prosperous, safer, and stronger country that allows everyone the opportunity to achieve their own American dream.” The ad is available to watch here. Donald Trump Jr. is extremely popular with the conservative base, the organization said. In the ad, he says, “Every day President Trump fights for the millions of forgotten men and women who deserve a bigger paycheck, a better deal and a brighter future. We always knew the radical left, the mainstream media and the Swamp would fight back. But their time is over. This is our time. Our nation. And our future … on the line. So this November 6th, every patriot in Tennessee needs to go to the polls and vote Republican.” This ad is part of…

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President Donald Trump to Visit Chattanooga This Sunday Nov. 4, Speaking at McKenzie Arena

As previously rumored, President Donald Trump will visit Chattanooga Sunday just ahead of Election Day, with the administration focusing on the closely connected Southeast Tennessee-North Georgia region. The White House says President Trump will speak at McKenzie Arena Sunday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. Eastern, WDEF says. You must go to this website to register for a ticket; there is a maximum of two per transaction. The tickets are free, but they are first-come, first-serve. Previous rumors had the president visiting the Scenic City on Monday, Nov. 5. “We are pleased to announce the final stretch of our national midterm campaign tour with MAGA rallies scheduled in key congressional districts and states including Florida, Missouri, West Virginia, Indiana, Montana, Georgia, Tennessee, and Ohio,” said Michael Glassner, chief operating officer for Donald J. Trump for President Inc. “It will be a sprint to the finish of the midterms for President Trump who is campaigning hard for GOP House and Senate campaigns across the map. We can’t go back to the days of high taxes and low expectations. Voters must choose the right future on Election Day and support President Trump’s successful America First agenda with the continued support of GOP majorities in…

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Senator Lindsey Graham to Stump for Candidates in 12 States, Including Tennessee

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) will kick off a 12-day campaign tour to support expanding Republican majorities in the 2018 midterm elections. The Republican National Committee made the announcement Thursday. The message Graham will take across the country is clear: Remember Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said, “President Trump has enlisted Senator Graham, a key ally in confirming Justice Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, to go on the road for Republican candidates. Voters are fired up about the disgraceful confirmation process and the Democrats’ disturbing mob attacks. Senator Graham will rally Americans across the country to take that energy to the polls and reject the Schumer Sham and liberal mob.” The left smeared the newest Supreme Court justice in a shameless series of dishonest attacks on his character. Graham stands a good chance of delivering a timely message. The Tennessee Star recently carried a commentary by Julie Kelly, a senior contributor to American Greatness, that Democrats have risked losing suburban women over the opportunistic attacks on Kavanaugh and his family. Graham will campaign to boost Republican candidates in the following states: Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee. Graham’s appearance…

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‘Dear Tennessee’: Get Ready for Historic Mass Migration – From Illinois

Moving to TN

More people left Illinois last year than did residents of any other state. And most of them landed in Tennessee. Why are they leaving and why do they choose Tennessee? While the violence in Chicago has received much publicity, most of those fleeing Illinois are not the ones who live in the hellish inner-city neighborhoods. No, what’s driving Illinoisans away is not bullets but tax burdens. In a Sept. 4 editorial for the Chicago Tribune, Kristen McQueary lays out, with sardonic wit, the reasons why Illinois is losing population while Tennessee is gaining. By McQueary’s estimation, the steady outward migration, which has been going on for several years, is about to get a lot worse if the political winds in the state’s Nov. 6 gubernatorial election blow more Democrat lawmakers into the Capitol and Democrat J.B. Pritzker into the governor’s mansion. Pritzker and company have let it be known they intend to overhaul the state’s tax structure – again – with a sweeping constitutional amendment. The change would replace Illinois’ flat tax and give politicians the flexibility to institute a graduated income tax — “and then adjust the tax rates in perpetuity,” McQueary writes. Those “adjustments” will occur in one…

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Commentary: Will Democrats Ride a Wave in 2018 or More Likely Just Wipeout?

Jeffrey A. Rendall April 21, 2017 For a collection of people who have been so wrong about virtually everything since 2012, Democrats sure are a confident lot in predicting what the future holds for Donald Trump and the Republican party. After the disastrous (at least for Republicans) 2012 election, Democrats arrogantly boasted they were unstoppable. Mr. “Hope and Change” Barack Obama was set for four more years in the White House where he would use the time to cement his radical leftist agenda into the federal statute books. The Senate was firmly in WipeoutHarry Reid’s hands with a 53-47 majority. The House remained under Republican control but was led by the feckless and ineffective establishmentarian Speaker John Boehner, a man so inept even own his party base couldn’t stand him. Everyone knew – including Republicans and conservatives – the spray-tanned, chain smoking, Merlot guzzling, often sobbing Boehner would prove to be but a speed bump on the Obama highway to hegemony. Democrats used their dominance to boldly project an end to the Republican Party unless its members adopted key elements of the Obama agenda, including unfettered immigration and same-sex marriage. Then came 2014 where Republicans gained seven Senate seats to…

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