Tag: U.S. Senate

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

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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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Trump Antagonist Opposes Arizona Election Audit as Justice Department Official

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Polling station sign

A foe of former President Donald Trump is leading the Biden Justice Department’s push to discredit or halt an election audit in Arizona’s largest county—an issue that is heating up this week. 

Pamela S. Karlan, principal deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, warned the leader of the Arizona state Senate that the audit of Maricopa County’s election results in November could run afoul of federal law regarding security of voter information and voter intimidation. 

President Joe Biden, who appointed Karlan, narrowly defeated Trump in Arizona, where Maricopa County was a crucial battleground. 

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Crom Carmichael on the Continued Persecution of Christians in Africa and the Democrats Push to Eliminate the Filibuster

Julie Carr
Christians in Africa

Friday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael in studio to weigh in on whether or not the Biden administration interprets the murder of Black Christians in Africa as racist and ponders Mitch McConnell and possible Senate filibuster scenarios.

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Bill Proposes Granting Legislature Power, Not Statewide Political Parties, to Select U.S. Senate Candidates

Corinne Murdock

The Tennessee General Assembly has been considering whether it should be in charge of selecting U.S. Senate candidates for primaries. On Tuesday, the sponsor of the bill encompassing that proposed change, State Senator Frank Niceley (R-Strawberry Plains), requested that the legislature have until next March to contemplate the bill. 

During the Senate State and Local Government Committee hearing on Tuesday, Niceley asserted that the U.S. Senators have gotten out of touch with the state legislature. He explained that this bill would improve the working relationship between their lawmakers in D.C. and the Tennessee Capitol. 

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Former U.S. Senate Candidate Launches PAC to Help Elect Republicans in 2022

Peter D'Abrosca

A Republican former U.S. Senate candidate from Michigan is launching a Political Action Committee (PAC) with the goal of helping other GOP candidates get elected in 2022.

John James is a West Point graduate, Iraq War veteran and businessman who ran twice for U.S. Senate in Michigan. In 2020, he was barely edged out by incumbent Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) by a 49.6 percent to 48.5 percent margin. 

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Minnesota Democrats Respond to ‘Incredibly Harmful’ Voter ID Bill, Call for Permanent Mail-in Voting

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Minnesota Senate Democrats announced a sweeping elections platform Monday and attacked their Republican colleagues for introducing “incredibly harmful” voter ID legislation.

“Over the past year, we watched as Republican leaders across the country and here in Minnesota helped spread the big lie that our elections are not fair,” Senate Minority Leader Susan Kent, DFL-Woodbury, said at a Monday press conference, accusing Republicans of participating in a “voter suppression” campaign.

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Omar: ‘We’re Sending Money to Less People than Trump’

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Rep. Ilhan Omar said she is disappointed that Democrats are “ultimately sending money to less people than the Trump administration.”

The $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package passed Saturday by the U.S. Senate includes $1,400 stimulus checks for individuals making up to $75,000 and married couples with a joint income of up to $150,000. Unlike the two previous relief bills — which included $600 and $1,200 stimulus payments — higher-income earners won’t receive partial checks.

“I see it as a really disappointing development. We obviously are now ultimately sending money to less people than the Trump administration and the Senate majority Republicans,” Omar told CNN Friday night.

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Former Sen. Corker Bashes Trump, Wants to Guide GOP Forward

Peter D'Abrosca

A former Republican Senator from Tennessee who had a tumultuous relationship with President Donald J. Trump has resurfaced to bash the forty-fifth President in his final days in office, along with, by extension, those who support him.

“Look, there’s no one that feels more strongly about the fact that Republicans ought to celebrate some of the policy gains that have occurred, but never ever, ever allow someone like President Trump to serve again, certainly to become the Republican nominee or be president of the United States,” former Sen. Bob Corker (T-TN) told Knox News last week. 

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Still No Chain of Custody Documents Produced in Georgia for 76 Percent of Absentee Ballots Cast in Drop Boxes Two Months Ago in Presidential Election

Tiffany Morgan

Two months after the November 3 presidential election, the Georgia Secretary of State’s office and county officials in the state have failed to produce chain of custody documents known as ballot transfer forms that tracked the movement of 76 percent of the estimated 600,000 absentee ballots deposited in 300 drop boxes around the state and subsequently delivered to county registrars responsible for accurately and honestly counting those votes in that election.

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Daniel Gade Doesn’t Concede Senate Race to Mark Warner as Vote Counting in Virginia Paused

Jordan Bondurant

It’s been a long, hard-fought battle for Virginia’s U.S. Senate seat between Republican nominee Daniel Gade and incumbent Democrat Mark Warner. And that battle will carry on just a bit longer.

As ballot counting and reporting by the Virginia Department of Elections paused just past 11 p.m. on Election Night, Gade told supporters that he’s not going to concede the race.

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Senate Votes to Advance Barrett; Confirmation Expected Monday

The Associated Press

Senate Republicans voted overwhelmingly Sunday to advance Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett toward final confirmation despite Democratic objections, just over a week before the presidential election.

Barrett’s confirmation on Monday was hardly in doubt, with majority Republicans mostly united in support behind President Donald Trump’s pick. But Democrats were poised to keep the Senate in session into the night in attempts to stall, arguing that the Nov. 3 election winner should choose the nominee to fill the vacancy left by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

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Gade: Democrats Will Destroy America as We Know It

Eric Burk

At the 41st annual GOP Pig Roast U.S. Senate candidate Daniel Gade warned that American values are at risk if the Democrats gain power.

“The Left in the United States have decided that now is the time when they come after our values. And they’ve openly said what they’re going to do if, God forbid, they win the presidency and if, God forbid, they win and they take the Senate,” Gade said in his speech.

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Warner and Gade Face off in Second Debate for Senate

Eric Burk

Incumbent Senator Mark Warner (D) and challenger Daniel Gade (R) debated police reforms, social justice, and COVID-19 at Norfolk State University on Saturday evening. The live-streamed event was the second debate between the two candidates.  Warner touted his experience as a governor and senator, and cast himself as a middle-of-the-road Democrat. Gade portrayed himself as a free-thinker who nonetheless supports many traditional Republican values.

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Dr. Manny Sethi to Supporters: Continue the Fight

Laura Baigert

At about 9 p.m. Dr. Manny Sethi gave his concession speech to several hundred people just down the road from where he grew up in Coffee County, telling supporters three separate times to continue the fight.

With 15 people in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Lamar Alexander, Sethi got about 240,000 votes or 40 percent of the vote against the winner Bill Hagerty with just over 300,000 votes or 50 percent.

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Sen. Ted Cruz Supports Dr. Manny Sethi Because ‘Washington Needs Strong Conservative Fighters’

Laura Baigert

MT. JULIET, Tennessee – At the last of three events held in the state Friday, Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said he was in Tennessee supporting Dr. Manny Sethi because Washington needs strong conservative fighters.

The support rally featuring Cruz was held at the Music City Baptist Church in Mt. Juliet, was attended by nearly 400 fro all over middle Tennessee who filled out the main auditorium and an overflow room to a standing-room-only situation that started filling up more than a half-hour before the official start time.

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Inaugural ‘Conservative Caucus’ Held in Murfreesboro Saturday

Laura Baigert

  MURFREESBORO, Tennessee — The inaugural Conservative Caucus, a free event attended by a few hundred people, was held across several ballrooms at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Murfreesboro Saturday. The event was organized for those who intend to honor the nation’s forefathers with the Constitutional rights they laid out with a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people” rather than one that is “over the people,” according to the website. It was originally scheduled to be held at the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville, but due to the large gathering size and the face mask order, Mayor John Cooper would not have allowed the event to proceed. Senator Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) and Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) took the lead in developing the concept, scheduling and organizing the event along with Representatives Clay Doggett (R-Pulaski) and Mike Sparks (R-Smyrna) as well as Senators Janice Bowling (R-Tullahoma), Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald), Shane Reeves (R-Murfreesboro) and Dawn White (R-Murfreesboro). Emcee State Sen. Mark Pody, after a prayer by Pastor Alan Jackson and the Pledge of Allegiance lead by State Sen. Shane Reeves, introduced the other legislators who organized the event as well as Rep. Chris Todd and Terri…

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Jason Lewis Says Parents Should Be Refunded for Property Taxes If Schools Don’t Reopen

Anthony Gockowski

Republican Senate candidate Jason Lewis said parents should be refunded for property tax payments and tuition if schools aren’t allowed to reopen in the fall.

“The more we learn about COVID, the more it becomes apparent that we have done a huge disservice to our children in the way we have handled this virus. Research has proven that COVID presents minimal risks to young people. But what isn’t minimal is the toll this prolonged lockdown and social isolation has on our kids’ social, mental, and physical well-being,” Lewis said in a statement released Wednesday.

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Blackburn Joins Bill to Strip Federal Funding from ‘Anarchist Jurisdictions’

Anthony Gockowski

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has added her name to a bill that would prevent federal funding from going to cities with “violent anarchist jurisdictions.”

The bill, carried by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), defines an anarchist jurisdiction as a city or state that abdicates its constitutional duty to its citizens to uphold the rule of law, or fails to provide police, fire, or emergency medical services to its residents, according to Blackburn’s office.

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‘Absolute Lie’: DFL Chairman Falsely Claims Jason Lewis ‘Denouncing Need for Police Reform’

Anthony Gockowski

Minnesota DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin falsely claimed that Republican Senate candidate Jason Lewis is “denouncing the need for police reform.”

Lewis, a former congressman who’s running against Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN), hosted a press conference Monday outside the Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct to express his support for the “good men and women of law enforcement,” and condemn Democratic efforts to abolish the police.

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Republican Pete Stauber, Former Law Enforcement Officer, Carries Police Reform Bill in the House

Anthony Gockowski

Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN-08), a former law enforcement officer of more than 20 years, announced last week that he will carry police reform legislation in the U.S. House.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) introduced on Wednesday the Just and Unifying Solutions to Invigorate Communities Everywhere (JUSTICE) Act, a Republican-backed police reform bill that was set in motion after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

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Democratic PAC Supporting Gary Peters Criticized for Taking $1 Million from UAW

Anthony Gockowski

A Democratic PAC that has spent millions attacking Republican Senate candidate John James took donations from the United Auto Workers (UAW), whose former president pleaded guilty to embezzlement last week.

Former UAW President Gary Jones pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $1 million in union dues in addition to charges of racketeering and tax evasion. He is one of 14 former UAW officials convicted in an ongoing federal corruption investigation.

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Lewis Says Any Politician Who Purports to Represent the People Can’t ‘Deny Them Their God-Given Right to Earn a Living’

Anthony Gockowski

  There’s no “pandemic exception” to the Bill of Rights, Republican Senate candidate Jason Lewis told The Minnesota Sun in a recent interview. That’s the same argument U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr made in an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt. “We have three branches of government, and allowing the unitary executive to do this, especially making a pandemic exception to the Bill of Rights, seems to me to be, and to Attorney General Bill Barr, to be overstepping their bounds. Now states, to be perfectly objective about it, states do have plenary police powers, but that assumes the state will make a law in the normal order – introduced in the legislative branch and signed by the governors. That’s not what’s happening here,” Lewis told The Minnesota Sun. Lewis said he’s been campaigning all over the state for the past two weeks because his team decided “enough was enough.” Going through “a second Great Depression” won’t do “anything to stop a virus,” he said. “The lockdown was meant to give hospital capacity a head start – we’ve accomplished that by anybody’s standard. Any official who purports to represent the people of Minnesota cannot deny them their God-given right to earn…

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Jason Lewis Running for ‘Forgotten Man and Woman,’ Calls Opponent ‘Poster Child’ of the Elite

Anthony Gockowski

  Republican Jason Lewis, a former conservative radio host turned congressman, said his campaign for the U.S. Senate will be about the “forgotten man and woman in Minnesota.” His opponent, Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN), on the other hand, has become “the poster child for how the DFL has left behind the working man and woman of Minnesota.” “This is not Hubert Humphrey’s party anymore. This is the party of Jacob Frey, Ilhan Omar, and Tina Smith. And that is a total, radical departure from at least the Farmer-Labor part of the DFL. She sort of represents the elite one percent of Democrat orthodoxy,” Lewis told The Minnesota Sun in a recent interview. According to Lewis, Smith can “spit all over” Minnesota’s working class so long as she says “the right things on a couple of hot button issues.” “And that’s where the Democratic Party is, which is why they’re losing, losing the forgotten man and woman of Greater Minnesota in droves,” Lewis said. Before entering politics, Smith worked as an executive for the abortion giant Planned Parenthood while her husband, Archie, was a venture capitalist. According to financial disclosure forms from 2018, the two have a net worth of at…

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Tennessee Star Poll: Haslam Faces Difficult Challenge If He Seeks GOP Nomination for U.S. Senate

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A new Tennessee Star poll reveals that former Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam could face a serious challenge if he seeks the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Senator Lamar Alexander. As noted previously in the Tennessee Star, Haslam’s approval lags far below the support level for President Donald Trump, Senator Marsha Blackburn and Governor Bill Lee. And now it appears that even in a potentially crowded primary field Haslam would start off within reach of a significant challenge by conservative Congressman Mark Green. In a prospective matchup against Green, former Economic Development Commissioner and current Ambassador to Japan Bill Hagerty, and west Tennessee businessman Jeff Webb, Haslam secures 28.7% support, Green 12.7%, Hagerty .9%, and Webb 1.3% with a huge number of voters (56.3%) undecided. Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill points out that such a huge undecided number among likely Republican primary voters with Haslam having served the past 8 years as Governor should be big red flag that Haslam shouldn’t ignore. “The other 3 potential opponents are not as well known, and voters would clearly like to learn more about them before they decide to support Haslam.” The Triton Polling survey was conducted over…

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Mainstream Media Turns on Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown

Andrew Shirley

Ohio Senator and potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sherrod Brown is in trouble. In these early moves before formally announcing his candidacy, Brown has been focusing on courting both sides of the political spectrum. On the right, he has attempted to present himself as a populist candidate whose blue-collar priorities would have wide appeal with the working class candidates that propelled President Trump to victory. On the left, he has focused on aggressive anti-Wall Street and anti-corporate rhetoric while emphasizing greater government regulation. While the strategy has shown potential, the first cracks are starting to form. The Ohio senator is now facing scrutiny from both sides aisle. On the right side, he has received significant criticism for his refusal to support Trump’s revised U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA), a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). One of the key issues in 2016 that galvanized many working-class voters to support Trump was opposition to NAFTA and a desire to see it replaced. While he claims that he still wishes to replace the agreement, it strikes many as hollow and having more to do with a blanket opposition to Trump. Should he prove unable to shake this perception, it is likely he…

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Gregory Watson Commentary: U.S. House of Representatives’ Quiet Procedural Snub of President Trump’s 2019 SOTU Address

Gregory Watson

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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Senators Give Up On Effort to Rename Senate Office Building in Honor of John McCain

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by Molly Prince   The effort to rename a Senate office building after the late Republican Sen. John McCain has seemingly gone to the wayside as months pass without any further action. Following McCain’s death in August, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer pledged to introduce a resolution that would change the name of the Russell Senate Office Building as a tribute to the Arizona senator. “As you go through life, you meet few truly great people. John McCain was one of them,” Schumer tweeted the day of McCain’s passing. ‘His dedication to his country and the military were unsurpassed, and maybe most of all, he was a truth teller — never afraid to speak truth to power in an era where that has become all too rare.’ ‘The Senate, the United States, and the world are lesser places without John McCain,” he continued. “Nothing will overcome the loss of Senator McCain, but so that generations remember him I will be introducing a resolution to rename the Russell building after him.” Schumer, however, never introduced the aforementioned resolution and his office did not respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation when asked if he was still planning on doing so. The…

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Martha McSally Will be Appointed to John McCain’s Seat

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by Henry Rodgers   Arizona Republican Rep. Martha McSally will be appointed to John McCain’s former Senate seat after Republican Sen. Jon Kyl announced he is resigning from the U.S. Senate at the end of December. Gov. Doug Ducey, announced in a Tuesday statement that McSally will be taking the seat. This comes as McSally lost her Senate bid to Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema in a tight Nov. 6 midterm race. “All her life, Martha has put service first — leading in the toughest of fights and at the toughest of times,” Ducey said in his statement. “With her experience and long record of service, Martha is uniquely qualified to step up and fight for Arizona’s interests in the U.S. Senate. I thank her for taking on this significant responsibility and look forward to working with her and Senator-Elect Sinema to get positive things done.” Kyl, who replaced McCain after his death, told The Arizona Republic that he will leave office on Dec. 31, when the legislative calendar ends. He said he agreed to finish working until the 115th Congress concluded, he also thanked Ducey for his appointment. McCain’s wife, Cindy, tweeted out her support for McSally shortly after the news broke: “Arizonans will be pulling for…

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Commentary: The U.S. Constitution Allows For The Appointment Of Temporarily ‘Acting’ Officials Without Senate Confirmation

Gregory Watson

In its Article II, Section 2, Clause 2, the United States Constitution provides that the President of the United States: …by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States whose Appointments are not otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law…” This means that, by a simple majority vote of the 100-member U.S. Senate, the President may nominate — and the Senate may confirm — various appointees within the Executive branch and within the Judicial branch of the federal government. In the aftermath of the November 6, 2018, general election — and the Republican Party enjoying a net gain of three seats in the U.S. Senate — President Donald Trump should experience less difficulty, during the upcoming 116th Congress (2019-2020), with how his nominees are received in the nation’s highest legislative body, than had been the case during the 115th Congress. But not every appointment requires action by the U.S. Senate — regardless of whether that body is officially in session or is in recess between sessions. The Constitution’s Article II, Section 2, Clause 3, reads…

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