Commentary: In West Virginia, Carpetbagger Alex Mooney Meets His Match

When we last checked in with U.S. Representative Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.), evidence of his misuse of campaign funds had been referred to the House Ethics Committee by the Office of Congressional Ethics.

As American Greatness has reported, Mooney’s congressional campaign used campaign money to pay for the congressman’s personal expenses, including $3,475 in meals from Chick-fil-A and other fast-food restaurants, two vacation trips to resorts in West Virginia, and $17,250 in gift card purchases from a Catholic Church gift shop. He has repaid more than $12,000 of a disputed $40,115 as a result of the OCE investigation.

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Incumbent Democrat Rep. Elaine Luria Defends Seat Against Republican Scott Taylor

Incumbent Elaine Luria (D-VA-02) retained her seat in a battle against Republican candidate Scott Taylor that was similar to 2018. 

In the first hour after polls closed, Taylor started out with a 23 point lead in the 17 percent of votes reported. From there on out, Taylor’s lead dwindled. Two hours after polls closed, Taylor was up by 18 points with 36 percent of the votes reported. An hour later, Taylor dropped to lead Luria by 10 points with 48 percent of votes. By 1 in the morning, Luria made her first gain ahead of Taylor, leading by 3 points with 85 percent of the vote.

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Audit Finds Signs of Fraud in New Mexico House Race

by Fred Lucas   An audit of absentee ballots suggests fraud may have occurred in one of the closest House races in the country, The Daily Signal has learned. Democrat Xochitl Torres Small squeaked by Republican Yvette Herrell in the final results of the Nov. 6 election. On election night, Herrell declared victory in the race to represent New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District. But as more votes were counted, Torres Small secured the win. The roughly 3,500-vote victory for Torres Small—out of about 200,000 cast in the southern New Mexico district—relied heavily on absentee ballots from Doña Ana County, the largest county in the district, including the Las Cruces area. A new audit report obtained by The Daily Signal alleges a “concerted effort” to push for absentee votes where New Mexico voter ID laws are not enforced. It also points to potential fraud in applying for absentee ballots, and says a significant number of absentee ballots were time-stamped after the 7 p.m. deadline election night. The report was prepared for the losing Herrell campaign by Full Compliance Consulting LLC and Herrell campaign lawyer Carter B. Harrison. Herrell’s campaign is not contesting the outcome of the 2018 contest, but sought the…

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House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows Endorses Jimmy Matlock in 2nd Congressional District Race

Jimmy Matlock, Mark Meadows

Candidate for U.S. House District 2 Jimmy Matlock announced Wednesday that he has earned the endorsement of the current House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows. Matlock is in a heated race for the 2nd Congressional District seat which has been represented by a member of the Duncan family for over 50 years, with John J. Duncan Sr. preceding his son “Jimmy” from 1965 to 1988. The conservative known for his independence announced in August 2017 he would not seek re-election, and Congressman Jimmy Duncan has since thrown his support behind Matlock. While the Federal Election Commission reports a 10-year record of 17 candidates running for the office, since the Civil War the seat has not been held by a Democrat and the race is essentially between the two Republican front runners Jimmy Matlock and Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett. Meadows, who has served North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District since January 2013, was one of the original nine founding members of the House Freedom Caucus which originated out of a Hershey, Pennsylvania Republican congressional retreat at the start of Meadows’ second term in January 2015. In 2017, Meadows became the second Chairman of the estimated thirty-plus member Caucus, following the two-year…

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House Ethics Committee Confirms Investigation of Rep. Jimmy Duncan

In a rare move Tuesday, the House Ethics Committee confirmed it was investigating Republican John “Jimmy” Duncan, Jr. for possible violations related to alleged improper funneling of campaign funds to a family member. In 2013, Duncan III – then a county trustee – plead guilty to a felony charge of official misconduct when he was caught paying himself and six staffers bonuses for completing a training program they did not, in fact, take. The plea came after he lied to investigators, claiming he did not know it was improper to award the money before the training was completed. He ended up serving a year of probation. Subsequently, a series of payments Representative Duncan paid to his troubled son totalling approximately $300,000 came to light, apparently, for services rendered during over the course of the elder Duncan’s successful re-election bids. This, presumably, is the subject of the House Ethics investigation. In their statement, the Ethics Committee said it received a referral January 4 regarding Representative Duncan from the Office of Congressional Ethics, an outside agency charged with reviewing ethics allegations against House members. The committee is required to publicly disclose the subject of a review within 45 days of receiving a referral from the office.…

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Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett Announces Candidacy for 2nd Congressional District Seat

Tennessee Star

  On Saturday Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett announced his candidacy for the 2nd Congressional District seat in East Tennessee from which Rep. John J. “Jimmy” Duncan (R-TN-02) announced his retirement earlier this week. Burchett, who is term limited in his current job, becomes the second major candidate in the Republican primary to replace Duncan. On Thursday, State Rep. Jimmy Matlock (R-Lenoir City) announced his candidacy for the seat. Several hundreds supporters attended Burchett’s announcement, held at the popular Vols Market in Knoxville. “During his speech, the candidate listed off successes during his time as mayor. One of those was cutting the county’s debt by $50 million,” WKRN reported: A big portion of his speech focused on improving health care for veterans. “I owe everything I have in my life but my salvation to the people that fought for our country,” said Burchett. “It’s tough for those guys. They come back wounded. They come back mentally challenged,” said Dennis Dunn. Dunn is a Vietnam veteran. He said Mayor Burchett shares his same values and will get things done in Congress. Prior to his announcement, there had been some speculation that Burchett would take on Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) in the…

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