The masses turned in for the night during the early hours on Wednesday with President Donald Trump ahead of Democratic candidate Joe Biden by around 5 points. By sunrise, Biden had gained nearly 139,000 votes due to an alleged data error.
As Wednesday morning’s counts added to the early morning influx of votes, the race had slimmed down to less than one percentage point – a slightly larger margin than Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016.
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In viral video posted Wednesday afternoon, a woman alleged that Governor Gretchen Whitmer had ordered health officials to block poll watchers and challengers from entering a Detroit ballot counting facility.
The woman, Connie Johnson, shot the video using Facebook Live. She showed herself standing on the second floor of the TCF Center in Detroit. The following is her account of the ballot counting on Wednesday afternoon in Detroit.
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Tennessee’s elections were called for Republicans across the board not long after the polls closed on Tuesday night. The red state remained red, for the most part. One state-level seat flipped in Davidson County: a blue dot surrounded by red.
On the national scale, President Donald Trump won with an approximate 23 point lead over Democratic candidate Joe Biden. That lead is 3 points shy of his 2016 victory against Hillary Clinton. A total of just over 3 million votes were reported. Absentee votes favored Biden by just under one percent.
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Big and Rich country singer John Rich will host an election night watch party at his downtown bar, Redneck Riviera. The Tennessee Republican Party emailed invitations to the event on Monday.
Currently, President Donald Trump is favored to win Tennessee. The same holds true for Republican Bill Hagerty in his senate race against Democrat Marquita Bradshaw.
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University of Virginia (UVA) postdoctoral fellow and former George Mason University (GMU) professor David Walsh called for government overthrow if Democratic challenger Joe Biden loses the election.
“Here’s the thing: if the worst-case scenario happens next week, Americans don’t need to just ‘protest.’ They need to actively try to topple the government,” wrote Walsh. “Also worth nothing that the military has already made it clear that in such a scenario, they’re not going to back Trump.”
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The Lynchburg Republican Party lost in its lawsuit against the Lynchburg Registrar’s Office over ballot counting practices in this election. The two went to trial on Monday.
The lawsuit alleged that the registrar had failed one day to process absentee ballots with a Republican representative present, and had also failed to notify Republican representatives of preprocessing last Friday. The judge ruled in favor of the Lynchburg Registrar’s Office in under several hours.
Representatives Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) and Jim Cooper (D-TN-05) tweeted that voters should be fearful heading into Election Day. Both representatives issued their remarks on the day before the election.
The tweets from Cohen and Cooper reflect one of two messages: encouraging individuals to submit their votes and questioning the integrity of the election. The day before Election Day, Cohen suggested that the election’s aftermath should be feared.
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Well over 200 people showed up on a rainy, gray Sunday to a Trump Rally supporting their Republican candidates: Scott Taylor for Congress and Daniel Gade for Senate. The rally took place inside the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach.
Virginia Beach attorney Tim Anderson hosted the rally, with The Star editor-in-chief and Trump Virginia Delegation Chairman John Fredericks emceeing.
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Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN) and other Democrats have accused White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany of violating the HATCH Act. Cohen retweeted an article from The New York Times that accused McEnany of breaking the law.
“Kayleigh McEnany’s violations of the #HatchAct would be a scandal in any other administration,” wrote Cohen. “Grifters and miscreants. Utterly appalling. #CultureOfCorruption”
With three days until Election Day, voting turnouts far surpassed 2016 records for early voting. Turnout jumped from about 273,000 the first day to nearly 2.3 million in under two weeks.
These numbers represent over half of Tennessee’s registered voters. More ballots are still forthcoming.
The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (DCS) revoked a cultural awareness training on Tuesday for violating President Trump’s Executive Order. DCS is reviewing the program, Cultural Awareness for Foster Parents, currently.
DCS sent the memo to agency provider trainers on the same day the curriculum was pulled.
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Leading constitutional law scholar Alan Dershowitz spoke during the 2020 National Constitution Bee on Saturday. All contestants had the opportunity to join the video call and ask questions afterwards.
Dershowitz touched on topics including Electoral College, impeachment, equal protection, and Supreme Court justice term limits.
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Ahead of the third and final presidential, Turning Point USA of Nashville hosted a debate watch party downtown. Speakers included country star John Rich, “Final Thoughts” political commentator Tomi Lahren, First Liberty Institute President and CEO Kelly Shackelford, Students For Trump co-founder Ryan Fournier, pro-life advocate Victoria Robinson, world-renowned eye surgeon and public speaker Dr. Ming Wang, and famed conservative public intellectual Dr. Carol Swain.
The idea for the event came about three to four weeks ago, according to Turning Point USA Belmont President Jeffrey Seraphine. Ahead of the debate, Seraphine told The Tennessee Star that the speakers volunteered their time when asked.
In the hours preceding dawn, five women dressed in long red cloaks and white bonnets gathered on a street corner by Belmont University. These “Handmaid’s Tale” protestors held up a spray-painted bedsheet: “PRO-LIFE IS A LIE. TRUMP LET 222K DIE.” One woman held a plastic coat hanger.
Handmaid’s Tale protestors were inspired by the book and subsequent television series of the same name. In the fictitious world of the series, women trapped in reproductive slavery wear red cloaks and white bonnets. In our world, Handmaid’s Tale protestors commonly appear to protest pro-life bills and “oppressive” legislators.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Morales is on the steering committee of “Our Black Party,” a political organization to defund the police. Morales has stated explicitly that she wants to defund the police and shrink the criminal justice system.
The Code of Virginia states that Commonwealth’s Attorneys are “a part of the department of law enforcement of the county or city in which [s]he is elected or appointed.” It is unclear whether Morales’s leadership within Our Black Party conflicts with her duties as a Commonwealth attorney.
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) defended Dr. Anthony Fauci’s COVID-19 advice after President Donald Trump’s remarks.
The senator also stated that people weren’t doing enough to counteract the spread of the virus.
The woman running to be the first Republican to represent Maryland’s 7th congressional district, told the Star News Network she campaigns every day to defeat the Democratic incumbent without the help of the state’s GOP Gov. Lawrence J. “Larry” Hogan Jr. Kimberly Klacik said she is grateful the support of President Donald J. Trump, but Hogan? “Governor Hogan? No. No, but I know he’s friends with my opponent, so I wouldn’t expect him to say anything on my behalf.” Hogan’s friend is Democrat Rep. Kweisi Mfume, who won the April 28 special election to fill the seat made vacant upon the death of Elijah Cummings. Congratulations to Congressman Kweisi Mfume, who was sworn in today to the U.S. House of Representatives. I have great respect for him, and look forward to working together as we continue to navigate this crisis. — Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) May 5, 2020 Mfume held the seat from 1987 to 1996, leaving Congress to takeover the leadership of the NAACP, and was succeeded by Cummings. Mfume left his post at the helm of the NAACP after multiple women came forward with stories of his misconduct. The incumbent, despite his experience and tenure, refused to…
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Governor Ralph Northam criticized President Donald Trump’s statement preceding his release from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
“I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!”
Governor Bill Lee announced during the weekly Tuesday briefing that Tennessee will receive around 2 million rapid viral tests for COVID-19. The tests from BinaxNOW will come in staggered shipments throughout the end of the year.
BinaxNOW tests are significantly more cost-effective and quicker at giving results. They are also more comfortable than the standard deep nasal swab. Instead of going up the nose and into the back of the throat, swabs will go just inside the nose.
In an interview with The Virginia Star, Kilgore shared that Barrett’s nomination was a long time coming.
“A lot of us were looking to the President, hoping he would nominate her last time instead of Kavanaugh [in 2018]. She carried herself so well during her 2017 hearing for the 7th Circuit Court, and she was a former clerk for Justice Scalia. She is a favorite justice for many conservatives throughout the nation.”
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Donald Trump’s Senior Campaign Advisor John Pence, nephew to Vice President Mike Pence, visited Virginia last Saturday for two events encouraging citizens to vote.
The “Get Out and Vote” trail made stops in Amelia County and Fluvanna County, following President Trump’s Friday night rally in Newport News.
President Donald Trump announced his intentions to visit Virginia after denouncing Governor Ralph Northam and endorsing congressional candidate Bob Good.
Trump tweeted his remarks on the first day of Virginia’s early voting and submission of absentee ballots, September 18.
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Senators Tina Smith (DFL-MN) and Amy Klobuchar (DFL-MN) stated that President Trump shouldn’t pick the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) nominee. Instead, Smith and Klobuchar say that the newly-elected president should, and the Senate should wait to vote until then.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died Friday from cancer complications. The SCOTUS vacancy is now the epicenter of political leaders’ attention.
Minnesota’s Secretary of State Steve Simon is sending letters telling those who haven’t requested an absentee ballot to vote from home. An estimated 2.3 million voters will receive the letter and an absentee ballot application.
The letter asserts that staying safe and keeping other citizens healthy “means voting from home.”
President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden both hosted campaign events in Minnesota on Friday. Trump held a “Great American Comeback” speaking event with a crowd, while Biden hosted an event addressing a near-empty union training center.
President Trump visited Bemidji Aviation in Bemidji, Minnesota. He was greeted on the tarmac by a large crowd as the song, “God Bless the U.S.A.” played.
University of Minnesota (UMN) fall football is back in play after The Big Ten rescinded its decision to postpone the season until spring.
The Big Ten Conference canceled fall sports last month “due to ongoing health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.” The announcement caused widespread backlash within the football community.
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Michigan and Ohio state secretaries Jocelyn Benson and Frank LaRose endorsed $300 million directed to elections by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan. The Center for Tech and Civil Life (CTCL) and Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR) announced Tuesday that Zuckerberg and his wife donated in order “to promote safe and reliable voting in states and localities.”
Both Benson and LaRose agreed that the investment was necessary considering the pandemic’s effects on the presidential election. LaRose reposted the press release the day it came out, citing the need for accurate information during voting.
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Six Democratic mayors from Minnesota’s Iron Range presented a letter in support of President Donald Trump during Vice President Mike Pence’s Duluth visit on Friday. They announced their support after presidential candidate Joe Biden shared his plans to campaign in Minnesota and other battleground states.
“Today, we don’t recognize the Democratic Party. It has been moved so far to the left it can no longer claim to be advocates of the working class,” wrote the mayors. “Lifelong politicians like Joe Biden are out of touch with the working class, out of touch with what the country needs, and out of touch with those of us here on the Iron Range and in small towns like ours across the nation.”
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Election season is in full swing, and with the Democratic National Convention (DNC) underway, the Trump campaign and Republican National Convention (RNC) are busy with counterprogramming this week.
Samantha Cotten, the Regional Communications Director for the Trump campaign, said that Republicans are focusing on 17 battleground states: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
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Prior to President Trump’s arrival in Minnesota Monday, Governor Walz claimed in a virtual interview that he had warned Trump to avoid Minneapolis. Twin Cities PBS reporter Mary Lahammer uploaded a segment of Walz’s statement on Twitter.
“My activism started sixteen years ago with a presidential visit to Mankato, and in a few hours President Trump will visit Mankato, my hometown. I spent this weekend trying to tell the White House why it was a really bad idea to have President Trump go down and stand at the George Floyd Memorial, and use [it] as a backdrop for his campaign and ignite the pain and the anguish that we’re feeling in Minnesota.”
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Federal agents will be sent to Cleveland as part of “Operation Legend.” The operation, named after four-year-old Legend Taliferro who was killed in Kansas City, was created to help combat the uptick in violence in the wake of the George Floyd Protests. Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams stressed that there will not be “Federal Troops” in the city.
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President Donald Trump announced on Twitter Monday that he recruited McLaughin & Associates, a “highly respected pollster,” to explain why two recent polls from CNN and NBC are “fake.”
A Monday CNN poll had President Trump trailing Democratic nominee Joe Biden by 14 points, while an NBC poll claimed Trump was down by seven.
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Gov. Bill Lee confirmed Tuesday afternoon that GOP leaders are considering Nashville as an alternative site for August’s Republican National Convention just hours before President Donald Trump announced that he will be pulling the convention from North Carolina.
Lee’s office told WTVF that officials with the Republican National Committee will be visiting Nashville Thursday to tour the city.
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President Donald Trump announced that the United States will designate Antifa a domestic terrorist organization.
“The United States of America will be designating Antifa as a Terrorist Organization,” the president wrote on Twitter Sunday morning, acting on an idea long called for by conservative lawmakers. The president said in 2019 that he was considering labeling Antifa a terrorist organization, but didn’t take any further action.
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A legal “expert” invited by Democrats to testify at Wednesday’s impeachment hearings targeted President Donald Trump’s 13-year-old son.
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Another Ohio-grown terrorist pled guilty this week to federal charges that included, “…attempting to provide support to a terrorist group and threatening to kill President Trump and his family.” Demetrius Nathaniel Pitts, also known as Abdur Raheem Rafeeq, was indicted in January on those charges which included scouting locations for a possible July 4th attack in Cleveland.
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Rumors began to swirl this week that Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH-04) would be appointed to the Intelligence Committee to fight the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry. The Ohio Star reported the story on Thursday. On Friday the announcement was made that Jordan had been assigned to the committee.
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During an interview with Fox & Friends Tuesday morning, Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH-04) made big news when he was asked whether he was going to be added to the House Intelligence Committee. Jordan, who is currently on House Oversight, responded, “We’ll see. That’s a call for Leader McCarthy. If Kevin and ranking member Nunes want that to happen, I just want to help our team.”
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Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH-04) on Fox and Friends Tuesday morning gave quite the analogy when talking about Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s planned impeachment vote.
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U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL-05) introduced a bill Wednesday demanding that impeachment-related work be “done in an open setting and in public view.”
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In a shocking development, the White House sent a letter Tuesday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejecting the impeachment inquiry as “illegitimate” and refusing to participate in her “partisan and unconstitutional inquiry.”
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President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign released a statement Wednesday morning calling the impeachment efforts “just another hoax from Democrats and the media.”
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The White House released a full, unredacted transcript Wednesday morning of President Donald Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
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Bill Hagerty, a candidate for U.S. Senate in Tennessee, criticized Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN-05) in a Tuesday statement for joining Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) in calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump. Hagerty, President Trump’s former U.S. ambassador to Japan, said it was “disappointing” to see Cooper embrace “the Squad and other radical liberals’ call for impeachment.” “A clear majority of House Democrats, led by Nancy Pelosi and ‘The Squad,’ are calling for impeachment, and now that includes both of Tennessee’s Democrat Congressman,” Hagerty said in a press release. “It’s disappointing to see both Jim Cooper and Steve Cohen join in tearing down President Trump, rather than working with him to make life better for Tennessee families.” “As your Senator, I will help President Trump keep winning for Tennessee families, and I will always stand with him against the radical socialist agenda that seeks to destroy our conservative values,” he added. The statement comes in response to the growing number of moderate Democrats who are coming out in support of pursuing an impeachment inquiry. As reported Tuesday morning, two Minnesota Democrats representing suburban swing districts released statements in support of impeachment. The growing support for impeachment is based…
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CINCINNATI, Ohio – President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence came to Cincinnati, Ohio’s U.S. Bank Arena Thursday evening. Trump campaign Director of Communications Tim Murtaugh spoke exclusively with The Ohio Star before the event about anti-ICE politicians and President Trump’s support of replacing federal Common Core with state and local control.
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President Donald Trump has endorsed Bill Hagerty, the current ambassador to Japan, in the U.S. Senate race in Tennessee. “Tennessee loving Bill Hagerty, who was my Tennessee Victory Chair and is now the very outstanding Ambassador to Japan, will be running for the U.S. Senate. He is strong on crime, borders and our Second Amendment. Loves our military and our vets. Has my complete and total endorsement,” Trump wrote on Twitter Friday afternoon. Tennessee loving Bill Hagerty, who was my Tennessee Victoy Chair and is now the very outstanding Ambassador to Japan, will be running for the U.S. Senate. He is strong on crime, borders & our 2nd A. Loves our Military & our Vets. Has my Complete & Total Endorsement! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2019 The announcement comes a day after both former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Rep. Mark Green (R-TN-07) announced that they would not be entering the race. Hagerty will run for the seat currently held by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who announced in December that he would not seek reelection in 2020. On Thursday’s Tennessee Star Report, Club for Growth Chairman David McIntosh discussed a potential Hagerty candidacy with the hosts.…
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The debate over whether or not to include a citizenship question on the 2020 U.S. census has become the latest division in American politics, but a similar question has been included on Canada’s census for more than a century. On Saturday, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported that America’s neighbor to the north has included a citizenship question on its census since 1901. CBC notes that Canada’s long-form census asks: “Of what country is this person a citizen?” Respondents can select three possible answers, including: “Canada, by birth,” “Canada, by naturalization,” or “Other country – specify.” “The citizenship question has a long history on the Canadian census, being introduced for the first time on the 1901 census,” Emily Theelen, a spokeswoman for Statistics Canada, told CBC. “This information is used to estimate the number of potential voters and to plan citizenship classes and programs,” Theelen added. “It also provides information about the population with multiple citizenships and the number of immigrants in Canada who hold Canadian citizenship.” Canada conducts its census every five years, while the U.S. census occurs every 10 years. Immigration lawyer Lorne Waldman said there’s no evidence that census information has been abused for immigration-enforcement purposes…
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When any American President formally speaks before a joint session of the two houses of the U.S. Congress, it is considered a matter of great importance to our nation — and certainly ought to be viewed as quite significant by members of Congress. The State-of-the-Union (SOTU) address — regardless of which President is delivering it, and irrespective of his or her party affiliation — is never trivial. When a President gives his or her remarks, both houses of Congress are officially in session at that point and — just as at any other such time — the words spoken to those persons present within the House chamber are to be reduced to writing and spread upon the Congressional Record. This, of course, is to preserve for posterity such historic comments and to make them more widely available to anyone desiring to reflect back upon them. Hence, it is with some surprise that the full and complete verbatim text of President Donald Trump’s February 5, 2019 speech — and, as it turns out, likewise his February 28, 2017 as well as his January 30, 2018 SOTU addresses – are all completely missing from the Congressional Record. So, I did some investigating.…
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President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign announced Wednesday that it will be holding its first rally of 2019 in El Paso, Texas on February 11. According to the Trump campaign, the rally will mark the president’s first in El Paso and seventh in the state of Texas. “We are please to announced the Make America Great Again rally on Monday, February 11 in El Paso, Texas, featuring President Donald Trump,” said Michael Glassner, chief operating officer of Donald J. Trump for President Inc. “As the president continues his fight to secure our border, there’s no better place to demonstrate that walls work than in El Paso. President Trump looks forward to visiting with the patriots of Texas who are on the front lines of the struggle against open-border Democrats who allow drugs, crime, and sex trafficking all along our border every day,” Glassner added. During his Tuesday night State of the Union address, Trump pointed to El Paso as shining proof that his border wall would work. “The border city of El Paso, Texas, used to have extremely high rates of violent crime—one of the highest in the country, and was considered one of our nation’s most dangerous cities. Now, with…
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President Donald Trump delivered his second State of the Union address Tuesday night in front of a bitterly divided Congress. His address touched on a number of sensitive issues, including the southern border wall, and the recent pro-abortion legislation passed in New York. He began, however, with a call for unity, urging Congress to “govern not as two parties, but as one nation.” “The agenda I’m laying out this evening is not a Republican agenda, or a Democrat agenda. It’s the agenda of the American people,” Trump said. “Victory is not winning for our party. Victory is winning for our country.” Trump called illegal immigration a “moral issue,” saying the “lawless state of our southern border is a threat to the safety, security, and financial well-being of all Americans.” “We have a moral duty to create an immigration system that protects the lives and jobs of our citizens. This includes our obligation to the millions of immigrants living here today who follow the rules and respected our laws. Legal immigrants enrich our nation and strengthen our society in countless ways,” Trump said. He went on to claim that the issue of illegal immigration “illustrates the divide between America’s working class…
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