A group of Virginians have started Fair Districts, a political action committee (PAC) created to oppose Amendment 1.
Amendment 1 — supported by FairMapsVA, a separate PAC — will create a citizen-led committee to lead redistricting in the state.
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Michigan has announced the 13 citizens who will be in charge of redrawing Michigan’s congressional and legislative boundaries for the next decade, drawing their names in a random selection process on Monday.
The Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission is made of four Democrats, four Republicans and four people not associated with either party.
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The future of Puerto Rico’s botched primaries rested in the hands of the island’s Supreme Court as answers trickled out Monday on why voting centers lacked ballots and forced officials to reschedule part of the primaries in a blow to the U.S. territory’s democracy.
A plan to hold another primary on Aug. 16 for centers that could not open on Sunday could change depending on the ruling of a lawsuit filed by Pedro Pierluisi, who is running against Gov. Wanda Vázquez to become the potential nominee of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party. Joining the lawsuit was Puerto Rico Sen. Eduardo Bhatia, of the main opposition Popular Democratic Party.
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In the first 12 days of early voting, turnout among Tennessee Democrats is 58 percent higher than in 2016. Republican turnout for early voting is 5 percent higher than four years ago, according to data from the Secretary of State’s office.
Overall, early voting turnout is about 15 percent higher than in 2016, with nearly half a million Tennesseans having cast ballots early so far.
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Allen West clinched the position of party leader for the Texas Republicans early Monday morning, ousting James Dickey, who was first elected to the position in 2017.
Retired Army Lt. Col. West won 22 state Senate districts to Dickey’s four and claimed victory around 3:30 a.m, according to the Statesman News Network. Five districts are yet to report.
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Former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign hired three full-time staffers this week to oversee its campaign operations in Minnesota.
According to ABC News, Ryan Doyle, who managed Keith Ellison’s campaign for attorney general, will serve as Biden’s Minnesota state director.
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Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH-04), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said his constituents want to see someone go to jail for targeting President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
The Ohio Republican said he hopes U.S. Attorney John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the Russia probe will produce indictments.
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Requests for absentee ballots are up by nearly one million compared to 2016, an increase of 350 percent, according to the Michigan Secretary of State.
Compared to this time in 2016 — 35 days before the primary election —the number of applications for absentee ballots is up by 945,605. Michigan has issued nearly 1,006,000 ballots compared to just 283,731 in 2016. More than 35,000 have already been returned, compared to the a little more than 23,800 four years ago.
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A Lorain County commission candidate who lost his race is suing to have the results from Dr. Amy Acton’s delayed primary election set aside, citing about 90 violations of state election law and the Ohio Constitution.
The candidate, Gerald W. Phillips, filed the election contest complaint in the Court of Common Pleas for Lorain County.
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President Trump slammed Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson on Wednesday, calling her a “rouge” official and threatening to withhold federal funding.
Trump originally tweeted that Michigan was planning to send absentee ballots to all of its residents, adding that “this was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path,” according to Politico.
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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed six bills into law on Tuesday on legislative topics ranging from health to underage marriage.
One law extends the funding used to increase testing capacity for the coronavirus pandemic, as well as ensure there are hospital beds and personal protective equipment. Another requires drug makers to provide a “detailed rationale to the state” for large price increases for drugs that cost $100 or more for a 30-day supply. A third prohibits marriage by residents in the state under age 18.
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Two legal organizations have filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Tre Hargett in an effort to overturn Tennessee’s “unconstitutional” restrictions on absentee voting.
The lawsuit was filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the Campaign Legal Center. The two groups filed the complaint on behalf of several Tennessee organizations “whose many members are not eligible for vote by mail under current law.”
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Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) called for nationwide mail-in voting in a recent op-ed published in The New York Times.
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Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said his office is exploring a number of “pandemic election options,” including conducting the entire presidential election by mail-in ballots.
“The current public health crisis has been a serious test for all Minnesotans. It has also been a test for our democracy. I’ve heard from many Minnesotans who wonder how, or even if, we will vote in this high-stakes election year,” Simon said in a statement released last week.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer extended the deadline to tally the votes from the Michigan primary by executive order on Wednesday due to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in the state.
The canvassing deadline for the March 10 primary was originally March 24, according to a guideline from the state of Michigan. Whitmer’s order has pushed it back to April 24.
“I am grateful to Governor Whitmer for ensuring our democracy will remain robust during this public health crisis,” said Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in a statement. “Providing more time to canvass the recent election will provide certainty for Michiganders that our elections are accurate and worth everyone participating in.”
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“I went from the dog house to the White House,” he shouted into it.
Presler is best known for his city clean ups across the country, including Baltimore, Chicago and San Francisco, but has rocketed to activism celebrity in recent months. He says he started his career as a dog walker — or in the “dog house” — before tweeting out that he was going to clean up Baltimore. He ultimately went viral, drawing in around 170 volunteers to pick up 12 tons of trash from the city.
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As part of “Super Tuesday,” Tennessee will begin early voting Wednesday, February 12 in the 2020 presidential preference primary. Super Tuesday refers to the single day that the highest number of U.S. states and territories hold a presidential primary or caucus during a presidential election year. In the 2020 presidential election year, Super Tuesday will be held on March 3. In Tennessee, early voting starts this Wednesday and runs through Tuesday, February 25. Tennessee joins 14 other jurisdictions holding a primary event on Super Tuesday, according to Ballotpedia, including Alabama, America Samoa, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia. With California and Texas – the two most populous states – holding their primaries on Super Tuesday, more than one third of the U.S. population is expected to vote on March 3, Ballotpedia predicts. In a December 19, 2019, letter to county election commission offices, Secretary of State Tre Hargett certified the presidential candidates on the presidential preference primary ballot. The Republican primary ballot will include presidential candidates: Donald J. Trump Joe Walsh Bill Weld The Democratic primary ballot includes 15 presidential candidates: Michael Bennet Joseph R. Biden Michael R. Bloomberg Cory Booker…
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by John Haughey Russian hackers gained access to voter information files in Washington County, a sparsely populated Republican-dominated Panhandle county, where 77 percent of its 11,000 votes cast in the 2016 presidential election went to Donald Trump. The revelation was reported by The Washington Post Thursday night, citing two unnamed officials “with knowledge of the investigation,” who said Washington County was one of the two Florida counties breached by the Russian military spy agency, the GRU, in the days before the November 2016 election. The Washington Post also cites two unnamed Florida sources that the second county the FBI maintains was penetrated by the GRU in 2016 is “a mid-sized county on the East Coast of the state.” The disclosures have further inflamed already angry state officials, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Florida’s congressional delegation, who are demanding the FBI and the Trump Administration be more forthcoming in discussing with them and county election officials what its investigation has uncovered. “The public needs to know which counties were hacked and what steps are being taken to hold the bad actors accountable,” U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Orlando, said during a bipartisan Washington D.C. press conference staged by five of the…
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by Steven Bittenbender With election security frequently in the news, the Ohio House Transportation and Public Safety Committee took the opportunity recently to discuss a cybersecurity bill. The panel convened a hearing on Senate Bill 52, which deals with bolstering the state’s cybersecurity. A major part of the initiative is to protect the state’s elections from outside interference or tampering. Secretary of State Frank LaRose said it’s an important issue, especially given that Ohio’s likely to be a swing state in next year’s presidential election. “The eyes of the world will be on Ohio in 2020, and we will rise to that occasion,” he said. The Secretary of State told the committee that, if passed, the measure gives Ohio a chance to become a national leader in cybersecurity. It received unanimous support in the Senate. Beyond the election provisions, the bill also creates a permanent Chief Information Security Officer for the state that would be based within the Secretary of State’s office. LaRose said that position’s role would be different from the Chief Information Officer, which also reports to him. The CISO would work with the state’s 88 county boards of elections. In addition, the state also would create…
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In an appearance on The View, Ohio Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan (OH-17), announced Thursday his candidacy for the 2020 presidential election. The nine-term representative from Ohio’s 13th district (formerly 17th) pointed to the recent closure of the Lordstown Assembly Complex in his district as evidence that President Donald Trump is failing in his central campaign promise to revive and renew America’s economy and manufacturing sector. When Co-Host Abby Huntsman cited a poll that found 70% percent of Americans were optimistic about America’s economy, Rep. Ryan replied “Not in my district.” Throughout his appearance, Ryan articulated his appeal with the midwest and blue-collar voters as his chief competitive advantage over other candidates. Republican National Committee (RNC) Communications Director Michael Ahrens, however, wasted no time in blasting the candidate in a message stating: Tim Ryan is a Congressional backbencher who has no chance of becoming president. You can just add him to the long list of liberal candidates demanding government-run health care, and it underscores how radical and out-of-touch this Democratic field truly is. Rep. Ryan has just concluded a multi-state tour of key battleground states including Iowa and New Hampshire. This left little doubt for most that the Ohio native was considering running…
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Saturday evening, Ohio Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan made one of his last appearances in a multi-state blitz tour of early presidential primary states. When Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown decided not to run last month, most Ohioans thought that would be it for Ohio politicians entering the 2020 race. Yet Rep. Ryan, despite not announcing his candidacy or forming an exploratory committee, seems to be making all the moves one would expect from a 2020 candidate. The nine-term representative from Ohio’s 13th district (formerly 17th), has been prominently featured at several Iowa events. Saturday, he appeared at the Heartland Forum. The event was organized and sponsored by the Huffington Post, several Iowa state papers, and Open Markets Action. Ryan was joined by declared and potential candidates; “former U.S. HUD Secretary Julián Castro, Rep. John Delaney, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Rep. Tim Ryan, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren.” While he has found positive support at this and most of his campaign events, some of his recent comments seem to clash with the direction of the Democratic party in 2020. At an event in New Hampshire, the potential 2020 candidates said to Fox News: I think we’ve got to be very careful. We come off sometimes as hostile to business……
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The United States Supreme Court began hearing oral arguments Tuesday on a pair of cases that could lead to the Ohio electoral map being completely redrawn. The two cases, Rucho v. Common Cause and Lamone v. Benisekm, could both set precedents that could supersede a similar Ohio case making its way to the Supreme Court. On August 5, 2016, Common Cause, the North Carolina Democratic Party, and a group of voters filed a complaint against Robert A. Rucho “in his official capacity as Chairman of the North Carolina Senate Redistricting Committee,” and several other key members who presided over the drawing of the 2016 North Carolina congressional map. The complaint alleged that the map is an: unconstitutional partisan gerrymander that violates the First Amendment (Count I), the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (Count II), and Article I, section 2 of the Constitution of the United States (Count III), and also to declare that in adopting the 2016 Plan the legislature exceeded the authority granted by Article I, section 4 of the U.S. Constitution, which provides that state legislatures “determine the times, places and manner of election” of members of the U.S. House of Representatives (Count IV). They also alleged that Democratic votes…
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The Ohio State Senate’s Committee on Government Oversight and Reform took up a bill Wednesday with a unique solution to protect the ballot box in the next election. Senate Bill 52 (SB 52) will authorize the creation of the “Ohio Cyber Reserve,” a new division of the Ohio National Guard that will focus on cybersecurity. Uniquely the division will be largely comprised of an all-volunteer force of various cybersecurity and technology experts. Though they will serve with the Guard, the bill, under sections; 5922.04. 5922.02 to 5922.08 of the Revised Code, explicitly does “not authorize the Ohio cyber reserve, or any part thereof, to be called or ordered into the military service of the United States. The reserve may become a civilian component of the Ohio National Guard.” According to Republican State Senator Theresa Gavarone of District 2, the bills Primary Sponsor: The new force which Senate Bill 52 creates within the Ohio National Guard, consists of qualified civilians who are cyber security experts. The Ohio Cyber Reserve will maintain regional Cyber Response Teams (CRT) capable of deterring, mitigating, and remedying cyber-attacks against our local governments, local agencies, election systems and community partners. The clear utility of this approach is to…
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A week into a trial that will determine if the Ohio congressional districts will be redrawn before the 2020 presidential election, Ohio Republicans have the opportunity to defend their map. Monday, attorneys representing the Ohio Republicans began calling witnesses to testify that the current congressional map of Ohio was made in good faith and was not gerrymandered. The case, Ohio A. Philip Randolph Institute v. Householder was filed on May 23rd, 2018. Per the Brennan Center: The Ohio A. Philip Randolph Institute, the League of Women Voters of Ohio, and a group of Ohio residents filed suit contenting Ohio’s 2011 congressional map is an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander that violates the First and Fourteenth Amendment and Article I of the U.S. Constitution. The plaintiffs argue the map was intentionally designed to give Republicans an 12-4 advantage and entrench their power over the course of the decade. This skewed partisan advantage, the suit argues, prevents large segments of Ohio’s voters from having their votes meaningfully reflected in their congressional delegation. In the suit, the referred to the current map as “the most egregious gerrymanders in recent history.” The current district map was drawn by the Republican party in 2011, the majority party at the…
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House Democrats on Thursday voted down an amendment by U.S. Rep. Dr. Mark Green (R-TN-07) to protect free speech in House Resolution 1, which seeks to change campaign finance, election and lobbying laws. Tracking information on H.R.1 is here. “Free speech should be protected,” Green said in a hearing at the Committee on Oversight and Reform. “House Resolution One is a misguided bill with many problems. One problem in particular has united everyone from the Heritage Foundation to the ACLU. It’s the bill’s assault on free speech.” Video of Green’s speech is available here from C-SPAN. Green pointed out a statement by the ACLU that the bill will “chill speech essential to our public discourse.” “When the ACLU admonishes a Democrat bill … everyone should take notice,” he said. Green said his amendment reaffirms the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech.” The congressman tweeted, “I offered an amendment on the House Floor today to H.R. 1 expressing the sense of Congress that free speech should be protected. Why are Democrats opposing an amendment simply reaffirming free speech? https://www.c-span.org/video/?c478503″ I offered an amendment on the House Floor today to H.R. 1 expressing the sense of…
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Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown arrived in South Carolina Friday in the final planned stop on his three-month “Dignity of Work” tour. The official aim of the tour, which began in January, was to share “some of his ideas to make hard work pay off for everyone.” Unofficially, the tour has been an attempt to “test the waters” to see if he would be a viable candidate for a potential 2020 run. The tour took the Senator to Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina, which are all considered critical battleground states in presidential elections. While it appears he will conclude the tour without announcing his candidacy, the tour did, as far his public statements are concerned, seem to fully convince him that his campaign would have one unassailable advantage over his opponents. In an interview with Buzzfeed, Brown stated: It has surprised us that this many people, including Republicans, that this many people have begun to talk about the dignity of work. I don’t think they flesh it out well enough yet or extensively enough. I think they mean it. I don’t mean there’s any insincerity in it. But I think we can’t do it enough … I carry it better than anybody else…
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Ohio Democratic State Rep. Jack Cera (D-96) has introduced a bill that would permanently delay the Ohio presidential primary by two months, a move that could have major implications for Ohio. House Bill 101 (HB 101) would officially move the Ohio primary from March to “the first Tuesday after the first Monday in May.” Currently, Ohio’s early March primary has made it one of a handful of seminal states in several recent presidential primaries. The state has already lost a significant amount of presidential election “clout” with its number of electoral votes dropping to a historical low of 16. The move would also have a significant effect on state revenues just as the amount of money spent on electoral races continues to climb at shocking rates. By delaying the primary, the value of airtime in the state is also delayed. In addition, it could be the death knell of one prominent Ohioan’s presidential aspirations. Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown had long maintained that his resonance in Ohio is one of his key political advantages, should he decide to run in 2020. The Ohio senator was one of the only Democrats to win re-election in the 2018 midterm. Most surprising, he did so by close to…
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Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown is not mincing words when it comes to former Starbucks CEO, and 2020 independent candidate hopeful, Howard Schultz. Within 24 hours of launching his “Dignity of Work” tour, Brown told a group of voters that Schultz was a “total idiot.” Strangely, the Senator was not prompted, in any way, as to what his opinion on Schultz was. The broadside came on Friday during a farmers roundtable in Perry, Iowa. When a voter expressed his concern with dark money and PACs during the 2020 cycle, Brown interjected: “Yeah, I mean you got this idiot Schultz running, maybe. He’s an idiot, I mean, he’s a total idiot.” Schultz has neither formally launched his candidacy, nor has established a disproportionate amount of PACs supporting him at this point. It can be inferred that Senator Brown was referencing the fact that Schultz is the first billionaire to enter the race. When the voter continued his question, directly asking the Ohio senator if he would accept PAC money, he replied: “Well, I have not decided yet.” He then intimated that it doesn’t matter where the money comes from as his record speaks for itself. The issue of PAC money is already proving to…
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In terms of legislation, 2018 may be considered one of Ohio’s most impactful years in recent history. From the approval of the first medicinal marijuana dispensary to new abortion limitations, 2019 will see a dramatic change for many Ohioans. Compiled below are ten of the most significant changes coming to the Buckeye State. Expanded Gun Ownership Rights – House Bill 228 Through an override of Ohio Governor John Kasich’s veto, the Ohio congress passed HB 228, expanding a citizen’s right to self-defense. The bill was originally intended to be a ‘stand your ground’ law but shifted following the significant public controversy. As passed, the law shifts the burden of proof in self-defense cases to the prosecution. Before passage, Ohio was the only state in America in which a defender had to prove that they were acting in self-defense. Dismemberment Abortion Ban – Senate Bill 145 While Governor Kasich’s received widespread conservative criticism for his veto of the “Heartbeat Abortion Bill,” the Governor did sign one of the most extensive abortion limits in the country. SB 145, signed into law in late December, has banned one of the most commonly used second-trimester abortion procedures currently practiced nationwide. Governor Kasich has signed more than 20 abortion limitations during…
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by Molly Prince Defeated Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is suing the state of Georgia over alleged and widespread voter suppression, however, the lawsuit condemns legislation that Abrams herself helped pass. Fair Fight Action filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Fair Fight was launched by Abrams after her loss to Gov.-elect Brian Kemp to “pursue accountability in Georgia’s elections and integrity in the process of maintaining our voter rolls,” according to a press release. The suit lists curtailing the duration of early voting as among the election board’s barriers, making it more difficult for residents to vote. However, Abrams was a co-sponsor of the bill to shorten the early voting period when she was a member of the Georgia General Assembly. At the time, Abrams argued that “smaller, poorer counties could not afford the longer period,” reported The Atlanta Journal Constitution. Consequently, she sponsored legislation that reduced early voting in Georgia from 45 days to 21 days. https://twitter.com/Seth_C_Clark/status/996530204796424192 The lawsuit also re-ups a claim that Abrams made in October, accusing Kemp, in his capacity as Georgia’s secretary of state, of shutting down voting precincts in a predominately black county, leading to possible…
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Democrat Stacey Abrams ended her challenge to Republican Brian Kemp in the Georgia governor’s race on Friday but pledged to fight the former secretary of state’s “gross mismanagement” of the elections with a federal lawsuit. Speaking defiantly to a news conference, Abrams said her actions did not constitute a concession, but she acknowledged that she had no further recourse under the law and that Kemp would be certified the winner. “Let’s be clear: This is not a speech of concession,” she said. “Because concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true or proper. As a woman of conscience and faith I cannot concede that.” Officials from Abrams’ campaign had told The Associated Press on Thursday that the candidate was considering the unprecedented move of invoking a state law that would let her challenge the results based on “misconduct, fraud or irregularities …sufficient to change or place in doubt the results.” But ultimately she declined to do so. Praise for her passion In accepting Abrams’ decision to end her campaign, Kemp said he appreciated “her passion, hard work and commitment to public service.” “The election is over and hardworking Georgians are ready to move forward,” he said. “We can…
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by Michael Bastasch Not only did a Democratic “blue wave” fail to materialize on Tuesday night, the “green wave” of major global warming and energy-related ballot measures largely failed to get voter approval as well. Voters in Arizona, Colorado and Washington rejected measures aimed at fighting global warming, despite two of those states being in Democratic hands. The “Green New Deal” pundits gushed over in Washington state went down in flames, with voters overwhelmingly rejecting a state ballot measure to tax carbon dioxide emissions, despite its support from Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee. Washingtonians voted against the carbon tax initiative 56 percent to 43 percent, according to state election officials. “The voters have spoken,” Tom Pyle, president of the free market American Energy Alliance, said in an emailed statement. “It’s time to listen to them and focus on policies that expand the availability, affordability, and reliability of energy, rather than on policies that makes energy more scarce, more expensive, and less reliable,” said Pyle, a former Trump transition team leader opposed to carbon taxes. Environmentalists argue the oil industry’s $30 million cash influx into the ballot measure campaign tipped the scales, compared to the more than $15 million spent by…
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While there will be plenty of new faces as the Tennessee legislature enters into its 111th general assembly, the total number of seats held by Republicans is reduced by one, but still carries the super majority status of both chambers through a volatile mid-term election. All 99 seats in the State House of Representatives, consisting of 74 Republicans and 25 Democrats, were up for election during Tuesday’s mid-term elections. There were a total of 24 House seats vacated prior to the primaries, several of whom ran for other elected positions at the local, state or national level. Additionally and quite remarkably, two House Committee Chairmen, Barry Doss (R-Leoma) and Tim Wirgau (R-Buchanan) were defeated in the August Republican primaries by first-time conservative candidates Clay Doggett (R-Pulaski) and Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) in Districts 70 and 75, respectively. Both Doss and Wirgau voted for the gas tax increasing IMPROVE Act, which was a major factor in both races. It’s not as though Republicans didn’t have a fight on their hands, since just eight House Republican candidates went unchallenged by a Democrat in Tuesday’s elections, while nine had to battle both a Democrat and an Independent opponent. Meanwhile, House Democratic candidates got off…
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The group Citizens of the American Republic announced it will live stream Election Night Coverage of the 2018 midterms. Dubbed ‘the most important election of our lifetimes’ by both the Left and the Right, voters from across the country will decide whether to keep Republicans the majority in the House and the Senate, or instead opt for a divided government by handing control of one or both chambers of the national legislature to the Democrats. Viewers can watch all the coveral live, starting at 8pm eastern time:
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by David Fowler I don’t watch much television for fear it will rot my mind, but I’ve sure heard complaints about all the “negative” television ads and mail pieces paid for by some Republican gubernatorial hopefuls. Whether perceived by voters as negative or not, ads and literature that truthfully point out another candidate’s record provide helpful information. But what I’ve heard from many is that they don’t know what to believe or what to make of the information they’ve been given, so here are some thoughts about some of what I’ve seen and read. The Bottom Line First, this thought keeps running through my head: There is none righteous, no not one. Though, as a Christian, I believe that God, by grace alone and by no merit of my own, has imputed to me the righteousness of Christ, I am not righteous in myself and fall short of the mark every day. I fall short of God’s standards individually, as a state senator, and as a lobbyist. The same is true of all the candidates of both parties. I can give you reasons why you might not want to vote for any one of the Republican gubernatorial candidates, though…
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On Monday’s edition on The Gill Report – broadcast on Knoxville’s 92.3 FM WETR – Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill discussed the unscrupulous battle between Republican nominees for Governor elections August 2nd in Tennessee and the support that the winning candidate may or may not receive from members of their party once elected. Steve Gill observed, “The Republican primary for governor is getting brutal and bitter. You’re seeing attack ads flying back and forth. Beth Harwell’s attacking her opponents with one ad that features them as little children dressed up as you know, a working construction guy, she’s got Diane Black with a blonde wig and her glasses, and then Randy Boyd with his suit. But these are all young kids.” He continued: You’ve got Diane Black and Randy Boyd both viciously attacking each other and Bill Lee. And Bill Lee is kind of using the attack, “I’m the only nice guy vote for me!” The bottom line is there is a lot of vitriol and bitterness that has been built in, baked in to this primary process. And on August 2nd the votes will be counted. Someone, one of these four, will win the Republican primary for Governor. And…
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NoTax4Tracks, a PAC that seeks alternatives to Metro Nashville’s $9 billion light rail plan, is making a final push to defeat the measure on today’s ballot. “From the beginning we knew that this transit plan had problems. We’ve been around government long enough to know that when you hide the price on page 55 of a plan, there is something fishy,” the group said in a newsletter Monday. NoTax4Tracks has previously pointed out that the light rail system would only serve 3 percent of Davidson County’s population and not cover most of the high-traffic areas. “The more we looked, the more we saw the fatal flaws, like it really doesn’t solve the congestion and hits those who can least afford it with one the biggest sales tax of any major city.” The group said a focus group in February provided three key messages for undecided voters: Does this really fix congestion and what areas does it cover? How much is this actually going to cost? How long will the streets be torn up to build this? NoTax4Tracks responded with fact-based commercials. “Online, if you can get 25% of the people to watch a thirty second commercial, you have a home run. Over…
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Dr. Rolando Toyos dropped out of the Tennessee Republican primary for U.S. Senate. The Tennessee GOP made the announcement Wednesday night. State party Chairman Scott Golden said, “I appreciate Dr. Toyos’ decision to suspend his campaign and look forward to working with him to support Republican candidates in the November elections. He has a bright future. Every Republican knows that we cannot allow liberal Phil Bredesen to go to Washington and destroy the progress of President Trump’s Administration. Bredesen’s support for Hillary Clinton alone disqualifies him from representing the values and interests of Tennesseans, which is why our Party must stand together and work to elect a Republican to the United States Senate.” WBBJ quoted Toyos as saying, in part, “My dear departed mother used to say, ‘when faced with obstacles do not complain but instead figure out a solution and work harder.’ I have exhausted every possibility to keep my name on the ballot that would not be distracting to the Republican Party and the truly important issues facing our country. I will not pursue other remedies.” The withdrawal of Toyos from the race leaves Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) an uncontested path to the Republican nomination on primary day…
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The Public Interest Legal Foundation is warning nearly 250 counties that they could face a lawsuit over bloated voter rolls, after their own analysis released Monday found they have more people registered to vote than could theoretically be eligible. New York City’s big counties are on the list, with New York County – also known as…
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A Peruvian immigrant named Margarita Del Pilar Fitzpatrick walked into a driver’s license office in Illinois and left as a registered voter — after a clerk told her that it was up to her whether or not to register. That decision led to Fitzpatrick’s eventual deportation, which she now hopes the Supreme Court will overturn. The…
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By David Tulis / Noogaradio 1240 AM 92.7 FM The mayor of a small Tennessee town faces a fight for his seat Saturday after having spent nearly two years involved in a dispute with an elderly couple and demanding the right to search their house absent probable cause. The case against Thomas and Carol Gaddy has received virtually no local media coverage and many people do not know about the conflict for what he calls an “inspection.” The civil prosecution of the elderly couple, who are restoring a 19th century house, has cost the city taxpayers at least $20,000. Because the Gaddys would not voluntarily consent to a search, a chancery court jurist without city charter jurisdiction ordered them jailed for contempt. To avoid Judge Thomas Graham’s order, the Gaddys – he 71, she 69 – fled and are in hiding. “There’s a lot of people that are upset about the Gaddys,” says mayoral candidate Jennifer Lockhart Greer, who seeks to unseat Mayor Dwain Land in an election Saturday. “People are concerned that they are an elderly couple. People are concerned that possibly they could be next – it could be their home next.” Critics of the Gaddy case grumble that the…
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Sixty-seven percent of recently polled Americans just said the Democratic Party is out of touch with the real cares and concerns of the average individual. This is not an ah-hah moment. This is a no-duh moment, if there ever was one. My gosh, the party’s losing presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, is still running around and tossing…
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By Susan Gingrich Can a person not born with a silver spoon in their mouth or with acquired great wealth be elected governor in Tennessee in 2018? Someone whose primary concern really is the taxpayers and all the citizens of Tennessee. An honest, truthful, God fearing person who loves family first and fellow Tennesseans next. Someone who worries about the physical security of people living in our state more than the financial security of big business. Could such a person be the conservative version of Bernie Sanders, generating a visceral and massive following from people fed up with Nashville and all the politicking as usual. Could the rightfully so, distrustful and cynical electorate believe, just one more time, that a candidate could make a difference in the lives of their families and in their small businesses? That a governor could actually be interested in what is really best for them, one who would share power with the people instead of concentrating on his legacy, raising money for the next election, and schmoozing with rich and powerful allies. An official who that once elected didn’t treat taxpayers as irrelevant and invisible. Such an individual would not be the favorite of…
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