Senator Bob Corker Of Tennessee
Like Flake, Corker also has announced he won’t seek re-election. The decision has Tennessee voters speculating the junior senator may be eyeing the Oval Office, according to WTVC.
Corker also has been critical of the president, telling reporters, “The president not been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful,” in August.
In September, after he announced his retirement, Corker was coy about his future plans.
“If there’s an opportunity for me to make a difference in some other way I’m sure that I would look at it,” he said.
Raphael Warnock: I Cant Wait To Get To Work After Winning Georgia Runoff
But the fate of the larger progressive legislative agenda remains very much in doubt, given the Senates filibuster rule and the narrow size of Democrats majority.
If we have a Senate that is divided 50-50, that makes it very hard to do some of the things you just suggested like recognizing Puerto Rico as a state, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a close Biden ally, said on CNBC.
Schumer will face immense pressure from the left flank of his caucus to reform or eliminate the filibuster, but opposition from moderates like Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., has made it clear that that idea is basically dead on arrival.
With the filibuster in place, Republicans can block most legislation , imperiling many Biden priorities, from immigration reform to statehood for the District of Columbia.
The only viable path to enacting D.C. statehood is bypassing the filibuster a Jim Crow relic that has been used to block hundreds of racial justice bills, said DC statehood activist Stasha Rhodes.
There is one major exception to the filibuster rule for budget bills, which can through a process known as reconciliation that only a requires a simple majority, and Democrats are discussing ways to take full advantage of that rule or expand it.
The split chamber will put Harris in an unusual position as she is expected to take a more active role as president of the Senate, which is typically a mostly ceremonial role.
Ossoff will get to serve a full six-year term.
New Mexico Gov Susana Martinez
As a Latino woman who has at times been critical of Trump, Martinez personifies some of the traits the GOP are looking for in its hopes of expanding the base.
She refused to endorse Trump during the 2016 campaign, despite Trump saying he “would love to have” her support and that he “respects” her.
Martinez made it clear Trump would not grab her endorsement after the Access Hollywood tape came out.
“What Trump brags about is appalling and completely unacceptable,” she said. “No woman should ever be treated the way he claims he treated women. Unfortunately, there is a pattern of disturbing conduct and offensive rhetoric that raises serious questions about this fitness to be president. That’s why I have withheld my support from the very beginning, and will not support him now.”
Their relationship changed, though, after a meeting in February about health care, tax reform and other issues.
“What I feel most confident is this: His No. 1 priority is to keep America safe,” local news outlets. “And the way he’s going to do that is improve our military in every way possible so that we are the strongest military in the world.”
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Professional Input Checks The Power Of Billionaires And The Media
The conventional assumption that primaries are less elite than party selection overlooks the way todays primaries actually work. Thanks to court decisions such as SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission, there is today no limit on the size of contributions to independent groups the groups, in turn, are free to support and oppose candidates provided that they not coordinate their activities with the candidates and parties. In other words, todays campaign-finance rules funnel vast sums of unaccountable money to the political systems least accountable actors.
odays campaign-finance rules funnel vast sums of unaccountable money to the political systems least accountable actors.
That said, even if small donors were a perfectly representative group, they would still provide a pathway around gatekeepers, and that is a mixed blessing. True, candidates who rely on small donors are less beholden to big donors and special interests, which may make them more independent-minded also true, they are less beholden to their political peers, party leaders, and important constituencies, which may make them more reckless and demagogic.
Then there are the media, whose power in influencing candidate choice has grown enormously since the McGovern-Fraser reforms. Writing as long ago as 1978, Jeanne Kirkpatrick tartly observed:
Things have only gotten worse in the transition from Walter Cronkite to Sean Hannity and todays bevy of extremist internet sites.
Figure 20 Proportion Of Each Group Who Believed The Worlds Temperature Will Probably Go Up Over The Next 100 Years
Future warming. Since 1997, majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents have believed that the earth will probably be warmer in a century if nothing is done to prevent it. In 2020, 94% of Democrats, 72% of Independents, and 56% of Republicans believe that warming will probably continue in the future. No notable growth has occurred in the partisan gap since 2011.
5°F warmer would be bad. Majorities of Democrats and of Independents have consistently believed that 5°F of global warming would be bad, but the proportion of Republicans expressing that belief has hovered around the midline, peaking at 59% in 1997 and dipping to its lowest points of 47% in 2010 and 2015. The partisan gap in 2020 is the biggest observed since 1997 at 34 percentage points.
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Gsa Delays Certifying Biden As President
Although all major media outlets called the election for Biden on November 7, the head of the General Services Administration , Trump appointee Emily W. Murphy, refused for over two weeks to certify Biden as the president-elect. Without formal GSA certification or “ascertainment” of the winner of the election, the official transition process was delayed. On November 23, Murphy acknowledged Biden as the winner and said the Trump administration would begin the formal transition process. Trump said he had instructed his administration to “do what needs to be done” but did not concede, and indicated he intended to continue his fight to overturn the election results.
Why Dont Republicans Stand Up To Trump Heres The Answer
Rep. Mark Sanford
If youre still flummoxed by the abject servility of congressional Republicans, by their refusal to confront Trump and stand up for American values, check out last nights primary election in South Carolina. The purging of Mark Sanford says it all.
Sanford is a long-serving conservative lawmaker who typically votes with his party, but on a few public occasions, he has actually dared to suggest that Trump is not the supreme very stable genius that the deluded Republican base deems Trump to be. The result: Sanford loses his job.
For the inexcusable sin of speaking his mind about factual reality, the Republican base voters in Sanfords House district threw him out last night, handing the GOP nomination to a far-right Trumper who repeatedly denounced Sanford as disloyal.
This is why rank-and-file Republican lawmakers refuse to speak out. Theyre afraid of their own constituents. Its Trumps party now, and the constituents in red districts virtually worship the guy. Forget about putting country over party, because its actually worse than that. Sanfords colleagues wont put country over career. Theyll vow that what just happened to Sanford will not happen to them.
As conservative commentator Erick Erickson said today, Mark Sanford losing in South Carolina is pretty much proof positive that the GOP is not really a conservative party that cares about limited government. It is now fully a cult of personality.
I stand by every word.
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North Carolinas Vote Count Will Be Largely Unchanged For Next 8 Days Election Board Says
North Carolina, a crucial state for President Donald Trumps path to victory, wont update its total vote count until Nov. 12 with very few exceptions, the North Carolina State Board of Elections said, NBC News reported.
Officials said in a public meeting that the count will largely stay the same for the next eight days because most county election boards will not start checking absentee and provisional ballots until they hold previously scheduled meetings.
The county officials cannot legally move those meetings sooner even if they wanted to, NBC reported.
Kevin Breuninger
Reasons Democrats Must Never Vote In A Republican Primary
The opinions expressed in this article are solely the pervue of Mr. Daniel Cohen. His statements do not necessarily reflects the tenets of Indivisible Houston. Daniel is execising his first amendment right as an independent citizen.
Over the last year, I have gone from a voter who occasionally engages others in civic conversation over political issues to a Democratic Party Precinct Chair who organizes weekly to beat back the creeping wave of authoritarian conservatism at the local, state, and national levels. During that time, I have noticed a trend in conversations within activist circles. First, an idea is presented and people recommend we all do something about it. Then, people stop talking about the idea and start acting on it. Finally, it becomes ingrained as a strategy for the activist community.
The most recent idea that stands out to me as a focal point of discussion is the dilemma surrounding Harris County primaries. Namely, the question is whether or not to vote strategically in the Republican Primary as opposed to the Democratic Primary in order to move the Republican Party into a more moderate position.
My plea to fellow progressive Democrats: DONT.
Heres why.
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Democrats Weigh Next Options As Senate Republicans Filibuster Voting Rights Bill
They dont even want to debate it because theyre afraid. They want to deny the right to vote, make it harder to vote for so many Americans, and they dont want to talk about it, Schumer, D-N.Y., said on Tuesday. There is a rot a rot at the center of the modern Republican party. Donald Trumps big lie has spread like a cancer and threatens to envelop one of Americas major political parties.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who has been tasked by the White House to work on voting rights, presided over the Tuesday debate in the Senate.
The legislation is cosponsored by 49 Democratic members of the Senate. The one holdout, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said Tuesday hed vote to begin debate after receiving assurances that the Senate would consider a compromise version that he has said he can support.
Today I will vote YES to move to debate this updated voting legislation as a substitute amendment to ensure every eligible voter is able to cast their ballot and participate in our great democracy, Manchin said in a statement, while adding that he doesnt support the bill as written.
Well keep talking, he said after the vote. You cant give up. You really cant.
Schumer said the vote was the starting gun, not the finish line in the battle over ballot access and vowed that Democrats will not let it die.
He told reporters on Tuesday that the state-led system held up well in the 2020 election.
It has been rejected by top Republicans as a nonstarter.
Republicans Want To Change State Election Laws Heres How Theyre Doing It
Comparing the proposed law in Texas to the one that passed in Georgia reveals five key areas targeted since former President Trumps defeat.
Pedestrians pass signs near a polling site in San Antonio on Feb. 28, 2020. | Eric Gay/AP Photo
06/05/2021 07:00 AM EDT
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Passing new election laws has been one of the top priorities for Republican state legislators in 2021 and they are working from similar playbooks to tighten or restrict the old policies even in states with very different election systems.
The latest flashpoint in the GOP drive to change voting rules came in Texas, where Democrats temporarily blocked a sweeping new bill this week that touched many of the same voting policies that drew wide notice in Georgia earlier this year. Republicans across the country have proposed significant changes to their states election rules after former President Donald Trump promoted conspiracy theories and spread false claims that hed been robbed of victory there and elsewhere by massive fraud.
Together, Texas and Georgia show which areas Republicans are focused on after Trumps 2020 loss. Texas mail voting policies were already very tight, but both states sought to make their absentee policies stricter. Both states specifically targeted new voting policies piloted by big, blue counties in 2020. And Republicans in both states sought to impose new limits on election officials and expose them to new criminal penalties for wrongdoing.
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Will Trump Be Spoiler As California Gop Seeks Newsom Recall
LOS ANGELES California could witness a stunning turnabout in a nation of deeply polarized politics if the liberal state dumps Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and elects a Republican to fill his job in a September recall election.
With the countrys political center largely vanished, its rare to see governors win elections on adversarial ground, making the notion of a Republican upset in one of the nations Democratic strongholds seem implausible. Republicans havent won a statewide race in California since 2006.
But there are exceptions: Republican governors have defied the odds in solidly Democratic territory Vermont, Massachusetts and Maryland. Their success looks even more striking when considering those states delivered the largest percentage victories for Joe Biden in the presidential election last year.
That could provide a dose of encouragement for Republican recall candidates, but the circumstances dont square neatly with California, starting with the unavoidable shadow of former President Donald Trump.
All three of those governors are pretty significant critics of Donald Trump, noted Kyle Kondik, an analyst at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
Report: 9 Of The 10 Republicans Who Voted To Impeach Trump Facing Primary Challengers
Nine out of the 10 Republican lawmakers who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump are facing primary challenges for their congressional seats.
Fox News reports that a majority of those who joined Democrats and the media circus during the second impeachment trial are facing a barrage of pro-Trump primary challengers.
Some of them, like Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger , according to Fox, may have a very hard time holding on to their seats.
The former President has vowed to back challengers to any Republicans who voted in favor of impeachment as they gear up for a fight in 2022.
Republicans who voted for impeachment face barrage of pro-Trump primary challengers
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