Tag: Jeb Bush

‘Chiefs for Change’ Names Newest Member Cohort, Includes Two Candidates from Tennessee

TC Weber

A national education policy advocacy group founded by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has named its newest cohort of future members. Among them are Tennesseans, Eve Carney of the Tennessee Department of Education and Hamilton County’s Deputy Superintendent, Sonia Stewart. The two are part of the Chiefs for Change seventh cohort of its Future Chiefs ​leadership development program.

Eve Carney, per the Tennessee Department of Education’s organizational chart, serves as the Chief of Districts and Schools, despite the Chiefs for Change press release identifying her as Deputy Commissioner. Carney, a graduate of the University of Tennessee, has served with the TDOE since 2014. 

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Commentary: Predictably, the Republicans Form Their Circular Firing Squad

Admin

With the disappointing midterms, Republicans have lost a major battle in the fight to restore American greatness. We are now rapidly approaching the final standoff between the flailing Republican Party and the reenergized Democratic Party. The Democrats survived what should have been a political bloodbath in 2022, and the Right seems to be in the most vulnerable position since the 1960s, when Republicans were essentially a permanent minority in Washington.

It could happen again. Whether the GOP returns to minority status in two years will depend on the party determines who will be its nominee in the next presidential election. While many on the Right assume it will be Donald J. Trump, there are other candidates in the offing.

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Nikki Fried’s Republican Donations Complicate Attacks on Charlie Crist

Steve Stewart

Less than two months out from the Democratic primary for Florida governor, Fried’s attacks on Charlie Crist for his time as a Republican has become complicated due to Fried’s own campaign donations to GOP candidates.

Crist, who served as a Republican governor in Florida from 2007 to 20011, changed parties and won the Democratic nomination for governor in 2014 and lost to then-Gov. Rick Scott. Crist now serves as a Democratic member of Congress.

Fried’s message to Democratic voters has attempted to take advantage of Crist’s past ties to Republican causes.

“They’re tired of recycled politicians especially people that haven’t delivered for Democrats ever,” Fried stated. She also said that Crist needs to be held “accountable” for his past “destructive” record assisting Republicans.

Specifically, Fried has highlighted Crist’s past positions on guns and abortion.

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78 Percent of Campaign Contributions to Carpetbagger TN-5 Candidate Morgan Ortagus Are Out-of-State

Aaron Gulbransen

The 2022 FEC first quarter report filed by announced TN-5 Congressional candidate Morgan Ortagus on April 15 shows that 78 percent of her campaign donations come from out-of-state sources.

Of the $591,418 in receipts reported by the Ortagus campaign in the FEC first quarter reporting period covers the time period of January 1 through March 31, only $126,477, or 22 percent, came from itemized individual contributions made by Tennessee residents. The average contribution made by the 84 Tennessee residents who donated to the Ortagus campaign was $1,505.

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Youngkin Adds Former DeVos Aide to Conservative Department of Education Administration

Eric Burk

McKenzie Snow, a former aide to Trump’s U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, is Virginia’s new Deputy Secretary of Education appointee. Snow is Youngkin’s latest education appointee, and continues Youngkin’s pattern of conservative picks for the Department of Education.

“The Governor has built a team who have been leaders and change agents in their fields. McKenzie knows first hand what it takes to build a best in class education system and we are thrilled to have McKenzie join the administration,” Youngkin spokesperson Macaulay Porter said.

Democrats reacted with alarm after The Virginia Mercury reported the pick.

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TN-5 Carpetbagger Candidate Morgan Ortagus to GOP-Controlled Tennessee General Assembly: Drop Dead!

Aaron Gulbransen

In an op-ed published in the Left Wing Gannett-Owned Tennessean, TN-5 Carpetbagger Candidate Morgan Ortagus effectively told the GOP-Controlled Tennessee General Assembly to drop dead. She advocated against pending Tennessee General Assembly legislation that would establish a three-year residency requirement for candidates who seek to be on the ballot in primaries for the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate.

The op-ed is titled “Morgan Ortagus: Tennessee voters should have the ultimate say on who represents them.” In the piece, Ortagus advocates  The House version of the legislation is scheduled for a floor vote on Monday.

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Ortagus Campaign D.C. Fundraiser with Never Trumpers and Fired State Dept. Staffer Still Scheduled to Take Place on Ash Wednesday

Aaron Gulbransen

Despite it falling on Ash Wednesday, sources tell The Tennessee Star Morgan Ortagus, a candidate for Tennessee’s Fifth Congressional District and former State Department spokesman, still has a scheduled out-of-state fundraiser in Washington, D.C. with a host committee that includes Never Trumpers and a fired State Department staffer who tweeted that President Trump was unfit for office.

The Star previously reported that the point of contact for the fundraising event is professional fundraiser Lisa Spies, a former staffer for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012 and a 2016 Never Trumper who has a history of opposing President Trump.

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Ortagus Holds Out-of-State Fundraiser in D.C., Host Committee Includes Never Trumpers and Fired State Dept. Staffer

Aaron Gulbransen

The host committee for an out-of-state fundraiser for the Morgan Ortagus for Congress campaign includes a former Trump administration State Department staffer who was fired for tweeting that President Trump was unfit for office, as well as several Never Trumpers.

Former Trump administration State Department spokesman and candidate for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional district Morgan Ortagus will be in Washington, D.C. on Ash Wednesday, March 2, 2022 to attend this fundraiser for her campaign.

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Records Shock: House Hopeful Morgan Ortagus Does Not Live in the 5th Congressional District

Aaron Gulbransen
Morgan Ortagus

Records indicate that a candidate running in the Tennessee 5th Congressional District Republican primary does not live in the district.

Records read to The Tennessee Star say that former Trump administration State Department spokesman Morgan Ortagus’ current address is in the 7th Congressional District, not the 5th District that she is seeking to represent.

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Morgan Ortagus Officially Enters GOP Primary Race in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District

Aaron Gulbransen
Morgan Ortagus

Former Trump Administration State Department spokesman Morgan Ortagus officially announced her candidacy for the Republican nomination to represent Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District early Monday morning.

Ortagus’ campaign sent out a press release announcing the candidacy, along with a campaign video. Ortagus then joined Nashville’s Morning News with Dan Mandis to discuss her candidacy. Mandis immediately asked her about her previous comments disparaging President Trump.

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President Trump Reiterates Support for Ortagus, Says He Didn’t Know Starbuck but Heard ‘He Voted for Obama’

Aaron Gulbransen

President Donald J. Trump says he stands by his offered endorsement of Morgan Ortagus and that he didn’t know Robby Starbuck but heard that he voted for Obama.

President Donald J. Trump appeared on the Newsmax program Rob Schmitt Tonight on Tuesday. He was asked about the blowback his offered endorsement of potential candidate and former Trump Administration State Department spokesman Morgan Ortagus received.

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Trump’s Preferred Potential Candidate for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District, Morgan Ortagus, Had History of Bashing Him Before Joining His Administration

Aaron Gulbransen

President Trump is strongly encouraging Morgan Ortagus to run for Congress in the race for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District but the former state department spokesman has had strong words for him in the past.

When she was a spokeman for the Jeb Bush campaign, Morgan Ortagus referred to President Trump’s words as disgusting and expressed on MSNBC that she was unsure if she would vote for him if he was to become the Republican nominee.

Those previous comments appear to be water under the bridge for President Trump and Ortagus’ relationship. It was previously reported that President Trump issued the following statement on Morgan Ortagus’ potential candidacy:

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Jeb Bush Comes Out Against Florida Gambling Pact

Peter D'Abrosca
Jeb Bush

As the Florida Legislature reconvened in Tallahassee Monday for a special session to iron out the details of the state’s new gambling compact with the Seminole Tribe, one former Republican Governor spoke out against the deal.

“South Florida is on a roll!” failed 2016 presidential candidate Jeb Bush said in a statement. “Our great quality of life and an incredible surge of job creators to our region have put us on a path for rising income and prosperity for many more of our neighbors. At the time when our economy is poised for an unprecedented takeoff after taking a hit from the pandemic, now is not the time to expand casino gambling which will benefit a handful at the expense of many.”

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GOP Attorney General Candidate Jack White Campaign Confirms Actual Amount He Contributed to Joe Biden Presidential Campaign Committees Was $5,600

Matthew Hall

  The Jack White for Attorney General campaign confirmed to The Virginia Star that Jack White gave $5,600 to campaign committees associated with the Biden for President campaign in October 2020. The money was sent as two separate contributions. The first donation occurred October 1st, 2020, to the Biden Victory Fund in the amount of $2,800. The second donation occurred 29 days later on October 30th, 2020 to the Biden Action Fund for $2,800. The Star published a story on April 25 with the headline “Virginia GOP Attorney General Candidate Jack White Gave More Than $10k to Biden in 2020—Including $2,800 Days Before Election,” the details of which were confirmed in the story by White campaign spokesperson Alyssa Farah: When reached for comment, White for Attorney General Campaign Spokesperson Alyssa Farah, did confirm that it was, in fact Jack White, candidate for Attorney General, that made these campaign contributions. The White for AG campaign did say that Jack White voted for President Donald Trump in the 2020 general election. The following day, the White campaign approached The Star to ask for a correction on the amount of the donation given by White to the Biden campaign committees in 2020. It…

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Commentary: Jeb! Goes ‘Full Bush’ on Sanctuary Cities

Admin

by George Rasley   Jeb Bush is to Republican politics what the little mechanical moles are to the arcade game Whack-A-Mole; an annoyance that bursts forth according to some malevolent algorithm and the faster you beat it down the quicker it pops back up. With the Florida legislature about to pass a bill prohibiting Florida local governments from implementing so-called sanctuary policies, Jeb! has surfaced to opine that sanctuary cities in Florida were “not a problem.” (Despite Jeb Bush’s opposition the bill passed yesterday and Florida now has a tough anti-sanctuary city law.) Said the former governor and failed Republican presidential candidate: This is one of those new political issues where it’s designed to make a point rather than to solve a problem. I’m not sure we have this problem. But it could be in the last few years something has changed. As our friend John Binder of Breitbart documented, this is what the Democrats have been saying before and during the current debate in the legislature, and it’s not true. As Binder pointed out, the left-leaning fact-checking site PolitiFact debunked Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum’s claim that there were no sanctuary cities in the state, writing, “Whether Florida has sanctuary…

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Commentary: A History Lesson for Jeb Bush

Admin

by George Rasley   Jeb Bush is to Republican politics what the little mechanical moles are to the arcade game Whack-A-Mole; an annoyance that bursts forth according to some malevolent algorithm and the faster you beat it down the quicker it pops back up. Jeb! surfaced most recently to encourage some as yet unidentified sacrificial lamb to run against President Trump in the upcoming 2020 Republican primaries. Bush’s reason for encouraging the challenge was that it would be good for the GOP to “have a conversation about what it is to be a conservative…” “I think someone should run. Just because Republicans ought to be given a choice,” Bush said in an interview with Obama advisor David Axelrod on CNN’s “The Axe Files.” “But to have a conversation about what it is to be a conservative I think is important,” Bush added. “And our country needs to have competing ideologies … that are dynamic, that focus on the world we’re in and the world we’re moving towards rather than revert back to a nostalgic time.” Former Governor Bush has apparently forgotten, or maybe he never figured out, what such a conversation about what it is to be a conservative did…

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Klobuchar Campaigns Across Iowa: ‘Everyone Has to Clap for That’

Anthony Gockowski

2020 Democratic contenders descended upon Iowa over the weekend, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who made stops in Dubuque, Waterloo, and Independence. “I followed the Mississippi River down from our snowy announcement and ended up in Dubuque! Great conversations with Iowans who are looking forward to 2020,” the Minnesota senator wrote on Twitter. I followed the Mississippi River down from our snowy announcement and ended up in Dubuque! Great conversations with Iowans who are looking forward to 2020. pic.twitter.com/ut8V71DnKW — Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) March 16, 2019 Politico’s Elena Schneider was on the ground following Klobuchar across the state and reported on a humorous gaffe Klobuchar made while visiting Dubuque. “Everyone has to clap for that,” Klobuchar told a crowd gathered for the campaign stop, immediately prompting comparisons on Twitter to Jeb Bush’s infamous “please clap” moment. Klobuchar started the day by stumping for Eric Giddens, the Democratic candidate in a Tuesday State Senate special election who was also joined by Democrat Beto O’Rourke Saturday. .@amyklobuchar in Waterloo for canvass launch for Eric Giddens, State Senate special election candidate. pic.twitter.com/5DUraIogRs — Elena Schneider (@ec_schneider) March 16, 2019 During a stop at a Pizza Ranch in Independence, Klobuchar was asked about the…

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Randy Boyd Fundraiser With Jeb Bush Closed to the Public, $4,000 Bought a Picture With Both

Wendy Wilson

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Jeb Bush on Thursday headlined a fundraiser for Republican gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd at the Omni Hotel downtown. Boyd, who is considered an establishment figure by grassroots conservatives, has faced criticism for turning to Bush to boost his campaign. The former Florida governor badly failed in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination last year. Thursday’s event was closed to the media, which a Boyd campaign spokeswoman reiterated in the hotel lobby when approached by a reporter and photographer for The Tennessee Star.  There did not appear to be any other journalists at the Omni. Several Boyd supporters and volunteers approached by The Star declined to be interviewed. Earlier in the day, Bush spoke at a conference on education at the Omni, where U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos also spoke. The conference, which concludes today, was organized by the Foundation for Excellence in Education (ExcelinEd), an initiative founded by Bush that promotes school choice and other education reforms. In the evening, Bush fans paid big bucks to mingle with him and Boyd and Boyd’s wife, Jenny, at the fundraiser. A photo reception cost $4,000 per person/couple. A general reception cost $1,000 per person/couple, and the dinner that…

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Mae Beavers Bashes Bushes and Boyd for Undermining Trump Presidency

Tennessee Star Staff

Republican gubernatorial candidate Mae Beavers took the gloves off on Saturday and bashed former President George W. Bush, failed 2016 presidential candidate Jeb Bush, and gubernatorial rival Randy Boyd for undermining the presidency of Donald Trump. “We don’t need globalists who oppose the Trump agenda leading the country or the state of Tennessee,” Beavers told The Tennessee Star in an exclusive interview on Saturday. “That’s what you get with George W. Bush, Jeb Bush, and Randy Boyd,” the former State Senator from Mt. Juliet added. Beavers criticized Boyd for the leadership role he plays in one of the largest globalist organizations in the country. “Randy Boyd is a named member of the New American Economy, along with Democrats Rahm Emanuel and Karl Dean,” Beavers noted. Boyd’s position with the New American Economy, formerly known as the Partnership for a New American Economy (PNAE), was reported by The Star in March. The Star noted  that “included in PNAE’s ‘15 key economic issues of immigration reform in America’ are:” Supporting legal status for the 11.4 million undocumented immigrants which PNAE says pay taxes and do the jobs American citizens won’t do, and despite being in the country illegally, “even start their own businesses.” In a…

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‘La Raza Randy’ Boyd Defends Never Trumper Jeb Bush

Tennessee Star Staff

On Thursday, the Randy Boyd for Governor campaign demonstrated that it has not yet grasped the first rule of holes: “When you’re in a hole, stop digging.” Boyd’s announcement on Wednesday that failed presidential candidate and prominent Never Trumper Jeb Bush will headline a November 30 fundraiser for the Knoxville businessman in Nashville was met with a fury of online scorn and pointed derision from his Republican gubernatorial rivals. “Please clap,” read the subject line of an email sent out by gubernatorial candidate Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-06) within minutes of the announcement. The email pointed out Bush’s consistent attacks on President Trump, and his long-term Never Trumper status. “As for Randy Boyd, his decision to bring the very unpopular Jeb Bush to Tennessee on his behalf shows how out-of-touch he is with issues affecting Tennessee’s schools,” gubernatorial candidate Mae Beavers told The Tennessee Star. The Chattanooga Times Free Press carried the Boyd campaign’s response to Black’s devastating critique of the Randy Boyd/Jeb Bush fundraising event: Republican Randy Boyd’s campaign is hitting back at GOP gubernatorial primary rival Diane Black after her campaign labeled his plans to have former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush headline a Nashville fundraiser as a “match made…

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Never Trumper Jeb Bush to Headline ‘La Raza Randy’ Boyd Gubernatorial Fundraiser in Nashville

Tennessee Star Staff

The Randy Boyd for Governor campaign confirmed on Wednesday that failed presidential candidate Jeb Bush will be the headliner at a November 30 fundraiser for Boyd in Nashville, The Tennesseean reported: Exact location and cost of attending the event were not immediately available. Bush is scheduled to be at this year’s National Summit on Education Reform, which is being held in Nashville beginning Nov. 29. Although Tennesseans favored former President George W. Bush in his two presidential elections, his brother Jeb Bush performed poorly in the 2016 presidential election. Jeb Bush received about 1 percent of all votes in last year’s Republican primary election, behind then-candidate Donald Trump, U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Ohio governor John Kasich. In March, The Tennessee Star broke the news that “gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd and his wife Jenny donated a quarter of a million dollars to Conexion Americas, a non-profit Latino advocacy organization headquartered in Nashville founded by Renata Soto.” In 2015, Soto was elected as chairman of the board of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), an organization generously funded by George Soros. She had previously served as vice-president for three years. NCLR lobbies for Hispanic…

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‘Please Clap’ – Diane Black Campaign Reacts to Jeb Bush/Randy Boyd Fundraiser

Admin

Randy Boyd’s campaign for governor announced Wednesday it will host a fundraiser November 30 featuring former Florida governor and 2016 presidential hopeful, Jeb Bush. Representative Diane Black’s gubernatorial campaign was quick to respond, with a sharp email blast to media with the cheeky subject line: ‘Please Clap.’ “Today, it was announced that Jeb! would be coming to Tennessee to fundraise for ‘moderate Republican’ Randy!” the statement begins. It continues: It’s no surprise that Randy Boyd would bring in Jeb Bush to shake down Nashville donors…besides, they agree on pretty much everything. Jeb Bush said Donald Trump was the “chaos President” and refused to vote for him. Randy Boyd said supporting Trump would be “anathema to me.” Jeb Bush said illegal immigrants come out of an “act of love.” Randy Boyd gave $250,000 to a group that helps illegal immigrants integrate into Tennessee society. Jeb Bush helped create Common Core education standards. Randy Boyd is a “staunch supporter” of Common Core. Campaign spokesman Chris Hartline said, “Jeb Bush and Randy Boyd are a match made in establishment heaven. Their pro-illegal immigration, pro-big government, anti-Trump positions are more suited to the Democratic primary than the Republican primary.” Representative Diane Black (TN-06) is running to…

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Jeb Bush Rallies Establishment Republicans to Attack Donald Trump on Russia

Tennessee Star Staff

Jeb Bush, former Florida governor, former presidential hopeful and former loud critic of President Donald Trump, has stepped back into the political arena to call out his fellow Republicans as hypocrites – for not publicly condemning Trump. Sigh. Why, why, why do these entrenched Republicans insist on picking public fights with their fellow GOPers? It doesn’t…

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