Tag: U.S. Senate

Kari Lake Confirms She’s Considering a Senate Run if Election Challenge Fails

Rachel Alexander

Rumors have been swirling that Kari Lake is seriously considering running for the U.S. Senate, challenging Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, and during an interview with Turning Point USA President Charlie Kirk she finally confirmed the suspicion as accurate. However, she emphasized that she will fully litigate the results of the gubernatorial election first.

During the interview earlier this month, Lake responded when asked if she was going to run for the seat, “Yes, I am entertaining it. I mean my number one priority is our court case, and I have full confidence in our court case and I hope we will get a judge to do the right thing.”

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Ohio GOP Chairman Triantafilou Releases Statement Prior to President Biden’s State of the Union Address

Hannah Poling

Alex Triantafilou, the chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, made a statement on Tuesday prior to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. Triantafilou stated in a news release that “anything short of an apology during tonight’s State of the Union will be unacceptable to working Ohio families.”

At nine o’clock Joe Biden, the 46th President of the United States, will give the annual address before a joint session of Congress.

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Ohio Senator Vance and Arizona Representative Biggs Send Bicameral Letter Opposing Biden’s Illicit Misuse of Immigration Parole

Hannah Poling

Wednesday, U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) and Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ) wrote a bicameral letter to Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, requesting an explanation of the Department’s careless decision to drastically expand immigration parole programs in the face of a historic border crisis.

According to Vance, the American people have a right to know the reasoning behind the Biden Administration’s decision, as well as, more significantly, the legal basis for it.

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Republican State Senator Matt Dolan Announces Run for U.S. Senate

Hannah Poling

Republican State Senator Matt Dolan (R-Chagrin Falls) has announced he’s running for U.S. Senate against Ohio Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in 2024.

“I am unapologetically committed to putting the needs of Ohio first and delivering results as our next U.S. Senator. With the courage of my convictions, clarity of purpose, and a resolute focus on the challenges and opportunities facing our beloved state, I am ready to lead,” Dolan said in a statement.

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U.S. Senate Joins House in Enacting Rail Contracts to Avert Strike

The Center Square

The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed legislation to avert a nationwide railroad workers’ strike, but an Illinois congressman says the government should not be negotiating private sector labor deals.  

The legislation, which was approved by the U.S. House on Wednesday, enacts new contracts providing railroad workers with 24% pay increases over five years, immediate payouts averaging $11,000, and an extra day off.  

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Senator Sounds Alarm for Same-Sex Marriage Bill as It Clears Another Hurdle with GOP Support, ‘Without Sufficient Protections for Religious Liberty’

Susan Berry, PhD

A bill that would enshrine same-sex marriage in federal law progressed further in the Senate Monday evening with significant Republican support, but without sufficient religious liberty protections, and is now headed to a vote on Tuesday.

The Senate voted, 61-35, with four senators not voting, to end debate on the House-passed bill, dubbed the Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA), that would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act which defined marriage in federal law as between one man and one woman.

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Amid GOP Gains, Warnock, Walker Headed to December 6 Runoff to Decide Pivotal Georgia Senate Seat

The Center Square

The much-anticipated and widely watched Georgia Senate race is headed to a runoff.

U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia, and Republican challenger Herschel Walker will face off during a Dec. 6 runoff. With the balance of the U.S. Senate potentially on the line, The Peach State will be the epicenter of the political world for the next four weeks.

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Ohio Republican Party Chair Bob Paduchik Won’t Seek Re-Election

Hannah Poling

Ohio Republican Party (ORP) Chairman Bob Paduchik announced that he won’t seek reelection as state party chairman following a GOP sweep of statewide offices.

“I will not run for reelection for the chairmanship of the Ohio Republican Party. It is time for a new leader to take leadership of the party and I look forward to the January election of ORP officers,” Paduchik wrote in a letter to members of the Ohio Republican Party’s governing body.

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Ric Grenell Predicts Blake Masters Will Win as Latest 75,583 Ballots Come In from Maricopa and Pima Counties

Rachel Alexander

Trump-endorsed Blake Masters pulled closer to Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) after the results of counting more ballots were released shortly after 6 p.m. PST the day after the midterm election. Although Kelly took the lead initially on election night, his numbers have been shrinking as the types of ballots being counted last trended toward Republicans. 

Most of the new batch of ballots was early ballots that were dropped off between Friday and the Tuesday election. There were a much larger number of ballots dropped off on election day in Maricopa County than in the 2020 election, 275,000 versus 170,000.

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Sen. Hagerty Spends Weekend Campaigning in Swing States Nationwide

Peter D'Abrosca

A U.S. Senator from Tennessee has spent the past few days campaigning nationwide for fellow Republicans who are vying for critical seats in Tuesday’s midterm elections. 

“I look forward to working alongside [Ted Budd] in the U.S. Senate, but we need your help to make sure that can happen,” said U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty late last week, attaching a video of he and Budd on the campaign trail. 

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U.S. Senate Hopefuls Vance and Ryan Tour Central Ohio on Election Day

Hannah Poling

Both Ohio Senate candidates Democrat Tim Ryan (D-OH-13) and Republican J.D. Vance are making stops in central Ohio as the two vie for votes in the closing hours of Election Day

Both candidates projected confidence as they canvassed the state in the final days of Ohio’s U.S. Senate race. The candidates spent their weekend urging supporters to get out and vote.

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Ohio’s Democratic U.S. Senate Hopeful Projects Police Advocacy While Voting to Defund Them

Hannah Poling

Ohio Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Representative Tim Ryan (D-OH-13) is projecting a pro-police stance as part of his platform while simultaneously voting to defund them.

On March 3, 2021, Ryan voted against a motion to condemn calls to defund, disband, or abolish the police while at the same time also voting to allow for the federal government to micromanage local police and potentially defund them.

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Mitch McConnell Backs Electoral Count Reform Bill Ted Cruz Warns All Republicans to Oppose

Susan Berry, PhD

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced Tuesday he will back legislation that intends to make it more difficult in the future to object to the results of presidential elections.

The Electoral Count Act and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022, a bill sponsored by Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) and supported by other liberal-moderate Republicans, was dismissed, nevertheless, by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), who said it is based on Democrats’ belief voter fraud “helps elect more Democrats.”

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Second Wisconsin Deputy Backs Away from Barnes Endorsement

The Center Square

For the second time in two days an active duty deputy in Wisconsin has cleared their name of endorsement for Mandela Barnes in his race for U.S. Senate.

The first was La Crosse Sheriff’s Capt. John Siegel on Monday. He said he never endorsed Barnes and doesn’t know how he ended up on Barnes endorsement list. On Tuesday, Racine County Deputy Malik Frazier, the only other active duty deputy on the list, backed out.

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New Poll Shows Kari Lake with Small Lead, Blake Masters Down Three Percent

Aaron Gulbransen

A new poll released by the Trafalgar Group shows Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake with a 0.7 percent lead over Democrat Katie Hobbs and GOP U.S. Senate nominee Blake Masters facing a 3.3 percent deficit to incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator John Kelly (D-AZ).

The poll was conducted from August 24 through August 27, had 1074 respondents that were likely general election voters, had a confidence rating of 95 percent, and had a margin of error of 2.9 percent.

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Connecticut Republican Candidate for U.S. Senate Leora Levy: Blumenthal Has ‘Rubber-Stamped’ Biden’s Failed Policies Making Americans of Every Party Suffer

Susan Berry, PhD

“It’s time to retire Dick Blumenthal,” Leora Levy states on the home page of her campaign website, but the Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Connecticut says she is ready not only to take on the career Democrat politician, but also the “timid” members of her own party “who will abandon or betray us when it comes down to the important votes.”

“Drawing a strong contrast with Dick Blumenthal is the only way to win this Senate seat,” Levy says as she campaigns toward the Connecticut primary on August 9.

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Commentary: Keys to GOP’s Hispanic Outreach in Pennsylvania and Nationwide

RealClearWire

After this month’s historic special election win in South Texas, Republican strategists nationwide are asking themselves: how can we replicate now-Congresswoman Mayra Flores’s success in flipping an 84% Hispanic district to the GOP? Meantime, Democrats are burying their heads in the South Texas sand as Hispanic voters flee their party.

It’s not rocket science to appeal to Hispanic voters and persuade them to vote Republican. My firm’s work with the Hispanic Republican Coalition of Pennsylvania shows how to do it.

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U.S. Senate Reaches Agreement on Gun Control Bill

The Center Square

The U.S. Senate voted late Tuesday to advance a gun control bill with 14 Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, joining Democrats to approve the measure.

The vote was reached after weeks of negotiating a bipartisan bill in response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in which a gunman shot and killed 19 children and two teachers.

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Republican Senators Considering Voting for Gun Control Measures

Admin

In the U.S. Senate, some Republican senators appear open to signing off on Democrat-proposed efforts to increase gun control restrictions in the wake of several recent mass shootings.

Politico reports that the negotiations are being led on the Republican side by Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas). Cornyn has already briefed Republican leadership on what he has discussed with other senators over last week’s recess, and recently held a meeting with Democrats Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) to move talks forward.

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Still Teflon: The Trump Comeback No One’s Talking About

Admin

Former President Donald Trump now enjoys the highest favorability rating among the seven U.S. political leaders tracked in the RealClearPolitics (RCP) polling average, marking a striking political transformation from where he was 15 months ago while leaving office.

Trump has a favorability rating of 45.8%, more than three points higher than President Joe Biden’s rating of 42.6%, according to the RCP average.

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Robert Hyde, ‘America First’ Candidate, Seeks Republican Nomination to Defeat Connecticut U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal

Susan Berry, PhD

U.S. Marine Corps Operation Iraqi Freedom War Veteran Robert F. Hyde says he wants to unseat Democrat Sen. Richard Blumenthal in order to return America’s “core values” to its citizens and “secure the nation’s liberties and freedoms.”

In an interview with The Connecticut Star, Hyde said he is seeing Americans’ constitutional rights being “undermined” in both Washington, DC, and his own state of Connecticut.

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Pressure from Lawmakers Grows As IRS Begins New Tax Season with ‘Continued Confusion’

The Center Square

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are pressuring the Internal Revenue Service over ongoing problems and unaddressed issues from last year’s filing season even as this year’s season is in full swing.

A bipartisan group of more than 100 lawmakers from the U.S. House and Senate sent a letter to the IRS raising concerns about “continued confusion” and “numerous problems” with the agency.

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Senate Caps History-Making Day by Rejecting Filibuster Change

Admin

The Senate late Thursday rejected a Democratic effort to alter the filibuster in order to pass their long-sought voting bills over unanimous Republican opposition, capping one of the most consequential days in the history of the chamber.

The vote failed 48-52 after Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema voted as they said they would for months, joining a unanimous Republican caucus in opposition and denying their party the necessary support for the change to take effect. The change, had it been adopted, would have established a “talking filibuster” pertaining to the voting bills only, allowing any senator to speak for or against them for as long as they wanted but lowering the 60-vote threshold for passage to a simple majority.

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Republican Members of Congress Oppose Kevin McCarthy’s Proposal to Limit Insider Trading

Admin

After House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) proposed possible new legislation to limit the practice of insider stock trading among members of Congress, even some within his own ranks have anonymously voiced their opposition to such a plan.

As reported by the New York Post, McCarthy first made the suggestion to Punchbowl News, suggesting such a bill as one of many things he would want to see introduced if the GOP retakes the majority in November. Among other things, his proposal would restrict members to only holding professionally managed funds, as well as prohibit lawmakers from owning stocks in companies that are overseen by committees they serve on.

McCarthy pointed to the example of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has a net worth of over $100 million, and whose husband was found to have traded millions more worth of tech stocks. “I just think if you’re the Speaker of the House, you control what comes to the floor, what goes through committee, you have all the power to do everything you want,” McCarthy said on Tuesday. “You can’t be trading millions of dollars.”

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U.S. Senate Votes to Repeal Biden’s Private Sector Vaccine Mandate

The Center Square

The U.S. Senate Wednesday night sent the Biden administration a message: Congress’ upper chamber does not support the president’s vaccine mandate on private businesses.

With two Democratic senators joining all 50 Republicans, the Senate voted 52-48 to repeal President Joe Biden’s executive mandate requiring that private-sector employers with 100 or more workers ensure their employees are vaccinated against COVID-19 or face weekly testing. Businesses that didn’t follow the directive were to face stiff fines.

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Federally Funded Critical Race Theory Program Removes ‘Critical Race Theory’ from Description

Admin

Five years ago, the U.S. Department of Education approved a grant application for a summer research program whose “core feature” was introducing student fellows to “critical race theory.”

The feds approved a five-year extension of the original grant for the Research Institute for Scholars of Equity (RISE) this year, with one notable and unexplained omission: the term “critical race theory.”

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U.S. Senate Confirms Biden Nominee Gary Restaino as Arizona’s U.S. Attorney

Cooper Moran

The U.S. Senate on Friday unanimously confirmed Gary M. Restaino, President Joe Biden’s nominee for U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona.

Restaino has served as a federal prosecutor in the state since 2003 and previously worked for a Phoenix legal aid service, representing migrant and seasonal farmworkers. He also worked as a trial attorney for the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, according to a release from the White House.

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As Dems’ Hope of Keeping Senate Dims, Vulnerable Warnock Hews to the Left, Links Election Reform to Racial Politics

Bradley Vasoli

Even as the 2021 elections and President Joe Biden’s approval ratings make Democrats’ hope of keeping Senate control after next year seem less likely, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) has doubled down on his thoroughly leftist agenda.

In a tweet the day after Republicans swept statewide contests in the previously “blue” state of Virginia and nearly unseated Gov. Phil Murphy (D) in the even more Democratic state of New Jersey, Warnock is accusing Republicans of having “stood in the way of” voting rights.

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GOP Senate Candidate Timken’s Leadership PAC Backed 21 Ohio School Board Winners Among 43 Funded Candidates

Brian Ball

Republican primary candidate for U.S. Senate Jane Timken said her political action committee (PAC)’s support for supporting conservative candidates for Ohio school boards helped 21 candidates win seats at the November 2 ballot boxes across the state.

Her Jobs for A New Economy Political Action Committee supported 43 school board candidates throughout the state this fall with donations as well as providing field support, robocalls and text messaging assistance in the weeks and days leading up to the election.

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Senator Bill Hagerty Appoints Michael Sullivan to Serve as State Director

Kaitlin Housler

In a press release Friday, Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) announced he appointed Michael Sullivan to serve as State Director for his U.S. Senate office. Sullivan will take over for Jim Henry, who is retiring.

According to the Tennessee Office of the Governor, during his political career, Jim Henry was appointed by Governor Haslam as deputy to the governor on June 30, 2015, after serving two years as commissioner for the Department of Children’s Services. Henry was previously the first commissioner of the Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. A former mayor of Kingston, Tennessee, Henry also served 12 years as a state representative and six of those years as the minority leader.

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Law Professor Accuses University of Violating Federal Trade Commission Rules with Mask Mandate

Admin

A business law professor who has been put on paid leave for refusing to wear a mask in class is defending his actions with an unexpected authority: the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

“[B]y requiring employees to wear a mask, you are promoting the idea that the mask can prevent or treat a disease, which is an illegal deceptive practice,” David Clements, who teaches consumer law at New Mexico State University (NMSU), told provost Carol Parker in a Sept. 13 letter.

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Kari Lake, Mark Brnovich Have Highest Favorability in Their Arizona Primary Races

Rachel Alexander
Kari Lake, Mark Brnovich

A new poll from OH Predictive Insights shows former news anchor Kari Lake with the highest approval rate of Republicans running for governor of Arizona and Attorney General Mark Brnovich with the highest approval rate of Republicans running for the U.S. Senate. Lake scored 60% with Republican voters, well ahead of former Congressman Matt Salmon with 51% and former State Treasurer Kimberly Yee at 49%. On the Senate side, Brnovich has 61% compared to veteran Michael McGuire next with 43% and businessman Jim Lamon’s 39%. Blake Masters, a protege of GOP tech billionaire Peter Thiel, entered the race after the poll was conducted.

According to a general election matchup, Hobbs’ approval rating is slightly higher than Lake’s, 40% to 39%. Hobbs has very high name recognition due to her high-profile fight against the Maricopa County ballot audit. Hobbs also has a fairly high disapproval rating relative to the other candidates in the poll, 27%. She once referred to Donald Trump supporters as “neo-Nazis.” She also tweeted “The President is on the side of the freaking Nazis. Don’t just say stuff – DO SOMETHING!!!” She has not deleted the tweets.

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GOP Senate Candidates Pummel Biden on Inflation, Infrastructure in Wake of ‘Town Hall’ Talk

Brian Ball
Biden Town Hall

  President Joe Biden took to the stage at Mount St. Joseph University at 8 p.m. Wednesday before an intimate audience comprised of hand-selected, loyal Democrats and disgruntled Republicans to run the gamut of issues from the surge of the Delta strain of COVID-19 and the proposed federal infrastructure bill to economic issues such as inflation concerns and one restaurant owners’ inability to find workers. Biden singled out those in their 20s and 30s as well as skeptics in poor, minority communities to get immunized. “We have a pandemic (among) those who haven’t gotten the vaccine,” He noted his administration has stepped up efforts with ads featuring prominent athletes and entertainers urging reluctant Americans to get jabbed. The President downplayed the risk that massive federal spending has played in igniting inflation. “The good news is the economy is picking up significantly,” he said. “… Prices are up now but it will not be long term.” Mike Gibbons, a Cleveland businessman and GOP candidate to running to replace retiring U.S. Senator Rob Portman, said unchecked federal spending from Congress and Biden has fueled inflation, which he called a “hidden tax” on Ohioans. “Families and businesses alike are negatively impacted by rising…

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Ohio Senate Candidate J.D. Vance Hits Dems for Sneaking Amnesty into Budget Bill

Peter D'Abrosca
JD Vance

A U.S. Senate candidate in Ohio is speaking out against a provision in the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion proposed budget that would allow amnesty for some illegal aliens. 

“Joe Biden’s crisis at the Southern border is already grossly out of hand, and the Democrat plan to grant mass amnesty to illegal immigrants in their budget will only make things worse,” J.D. Vance said in a press release. 

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U.S. Senate Confirms Controversial DOJ Nominee Who Once Wrote Black Supremacist Essay

Admin
Kristen Clarke

On Tuesday, the United States Senate confirmed one of Joe Biden’s most controversial federal nominees, Kristen Clarke, to a key leadership post in the Department of Justice, as reported by the Daily Caller.

Clarke was confirmed as head of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division with 51 votes, when Republican Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) sided with the chamber’s 50 Democrats to confirm her nomination. As previously reported, her nomination originally stalled in the Judiciary Committee after the committee vote to advance her nomination ended in a tie, before Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) brought the motion to a full floor vote to advance it out of the committee.

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