Marjorie Taylor Greene wins GOP nod for 2nd term in Congress
Source: Yahoo! News
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has made a name in Washington pushing hard-right conspiracy theories, easily won her party’s nomination for Congress on Tuesday. The Associated Press called the race just over an hour after polls closed. With 99% of the vote reported, Greene had 69% of the vote.
Voters picked Greene, commonly known by her initials, MTG, over her Republican challengers, including health care executive Jennifer Strahan. Strahan received 17% of the vote on Tuesday.
Greene will face off against a Democratic challenger in the heavily Republican 14th Congressional District, which includes the exurbs of Atlanta and a rural northwest swath of Georgia.
An effort to remove Greene from the ballot for her role in former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, but a state judge determined that Greene’s opponents lacked enough evidence to prove she had “engaged in insurrection.”
Katie Britt, U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks in Alabama Senate runoff
Source: Associated Press
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama’s Republican primary for U.S. Senate is going to a June runoff between Katie Britt and U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, who overcame losing former President Donald Trump’s endorsement to remain a contender for the GOP nomination.
The candidates are seeking the Senate seat now held by U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, who is retiring. Britt is Shelby’s former chief of staff and the former leader of the Business Council of Alabama. Brooks is a six-term congressman from north Alabama.
The two edged out Mike Durant, a businessman best known as the helicopter pilot shot down and held captive in the events chronicled in “Black Hawk Down,” to advance to a June 21 runoff, which is required when no candidate captures more than 50% of the initial vote.
“It is clear tonight that Alabamians want new blood. They want someone to go to Washington, D.C., and shake it up. It is clear that they want a true Christian conservative Republican who will lead on the America first agenda and doesn’t just talk about it but knows how to actually get something done,” Britt told supporters gathered in Montgomery.
(NPR) In Texas, incumbent Attorney General Ken Paxton topped George P Bush, nephew of former President George W. Bush and the state's land commissioner, in a GOP runoff.
There were runoffs for both Democrats and Republicans in Texas' 28th Congressional District. For Democrats, a highly contested race between incumbent Rep. Henry Cuellar and progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros remained too close to call. Cassy Garcia, a former staffer for Sen. Ted Cruz, won the GOP runoff.
The Worst Lawyer in Texas Just Put an End to the Bush Dynasty
by Tim Murphy
May 24, 2022
Introduction:
(Mother Jones) If you were to lay out in one place the Bush family’s contributions over the last half century, it would not be a particularly balanced ledger. In one column, you’d have PEPFAR; birth control; good reflexes; and one very succinct distillation of Donald Trump’s inaugural address. In the other: the never-ending War on Terror; two wars with Iraq; Iran-Contra; torture; war crimes; Clarence Thomas; Samuel Alito; same-sex marriage bans; tax cuts for rich people; illegal surveillance; global warming; the AIDS epidemic in the US; private equity; the Department of Homeland Security; air pollution; the Florida Recount; Terri Schiavo; “school choice”; the bungled Hurricane Katrina response; the savings and loan scandal; the Great Recession; Willie Horton; the War on Drugs; and the Texas Rangers’ baseball stadium.
So you do not have to shed any tears over George P. Bush—son of Jeb, nephew of Dubya, grandson of H.W.—face-planting in his bid to unseat Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in Tuesday’s Republican primary runoff. In fact, it would be weird if you did. Bush, the state’s land commissioner, has coasted through his political career on the back of his family name, and he’s now come to at least a temporary stop, in part because of it. But as notable as it is that the Bush dynasty is over (for now), the most important story from the race is that Paxton’s own career isn’t. Paxton, who narrowly held on to his job in the 2018 Democratic wave, heads into the general election as a clear favorite against either Rochelle Garza or Joe Jaworski.
Paxton…has been under indictment since 2015 for alleged securities fraud. Much of his staff quit en masse in 2020 and accused him of abusing his office to help a campaign donor whose home had recently been raided by the FBI. He allegedly cheated on his wife with a state-senate staffer who went on to work for said donor. And he is a bad lawyer. His lawsuit attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election was so error-strewn and poorly argued that the state bar is now suing his deputy over it.
'Wholesale Fraud' in Michigan Governor Race Could Disqualify GOP Candidates
by Jessica Corbett
May 24, 2022
Introduction:
(Common Dreams) After weeks of allegations that multiple Republicans running for governor in Michigan submitted fraudulent signatures to get on the ballot, the state Bureau of Elections on Monday confirmed what one journalist called "wholesale fraud" involving five GOP candidates.
"For all the Michigan GOP's feigned outrage over 'election integrity,' several of their candidates seem very comfortable with using shady, underhanded tactics to get on the ballot," said Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan, in an apparent reference to 2020.
Though President Joe Biden won Michigan by over 150,000 votes, the state was included in former President Donald Trump's "Big Lie" that the election was stolen. Trump and others unsuccessfully pressured the Board of State Canvassers to refuse to certify the results.
While Michael Brown withdrew from the gubernatorial race after Monday's revelation, the Board of State Canvassers—made up of two Democrats and two Republicans—will vote Thursday on whether to disqualify Donna Brandenburg, James Craig, Perry Johnson, and Michael Markey Jr.
Factoring in thousands of fraudulent entries, those five Republicans fell short of the necessary 15,000 signatures, according to the Bureau of Elections. The candidates, who were also required to have 100 names from each of at least half of the state's congressional districts, were allowed to submit 30,000 signatures in total.
Recount Officially Declared In Oz Vs. McCormick PA GOP Senate Race
Source: Patch (PA)
PENNSYLVANIA — A recount has been officially announced by the Pennsylvania Department of State in the deadlocked Republican primary for U.S. Senate, with only a tiny margin separating celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz and former George W. Bush administration official David McCormick. The announcement comes a day after McCormick's campaign filed a lawsuit in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in an effort to mandate the counting of undated ballots.
The effort has been staunchly opposed by President Donald Trump, who endorsed Oz, and the Republican National Committee, which claims that McCormick is using a Democratic tactic that would compromise election integrity. The recount is expected to take weeks. The move has been long expected, as recounts are typically automatically triggered if the margin between two candidates is less than 0.5 percent. The margin between Oz and McCormick is just 902 votes, according to the latest unofficial returns. Oz maintains a very narrow lead of 419,365 to 418,463.
McCormick's campaign issued a statement saying they were proud of the results thus far, noting the "razor thin" difference and supporing the recount."This narrow difference triggers an automatic recount," McCormick said. "And we look forward to a swift resolution so the party can unite to defeat socialist John Fetterman in the fall." Oz has not yet issued a public statement on the recount being officially confirmed, although Trump has urged Oz to "declare victory" and has cast the same baseless aspersions on the 2022 primary election process as he did on the 2020 election.
The Department of State estimates the recount will cost about $1 miillino in taxpayer funding. It's the seventh recount that has ever been triggered in Pennsylvania history. Only three of those recounts were actually carried out, as the others were waived by the second place finisher. In all three recounts, the initial results of the election stood. Counties can begin recount process on Friday, but must begin no later than June 1. The deadline for the recount to be completed in June 7, and results must be submitted to the Department of State by noon on June 8.
Doug Mastriano, Christian Nationalism, and the Cult of the AR-15
by Thomas Lecaque
May 31, 2022
Extract:
(The Bulwark) Doug Mastriano…is the GOP’s gubernatorial candidate for Pennsylvania.
…The House Jan. 6th Committee subpoenaed him for being part of a plan to send pro-Trump electors to Congress, and he responded with loyal silence.
Mastriano also has an increasingly familiar religious profile. He has described the Gulf War, in which he served in 1991, as a “holy” war—a belief reflected in his bizarre 2002 graduate thesis, “Nebuchadnezzar’s Sphinx.” He has attended events of the Charismatic Christian dominionist movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation. He shares anti-Muslim memes, hangs out with militia members to guard Confederate statues at Gettysburg, and constantly hits all the main themes of Christian nationalist discourse in his speeches and other activities. In one particularly tasteless moment, he announced his gubernatorial candidacy while wearing a tallit and blowing a shofar—symbols that Christian nationalists have appropriated from the Jewish tradition and use to declare apocalyptic spiritual war.
American syncretic spirituality animates every part of Mastriano’s public profile and political career. Perhaps it should be no surprise that he associates with an extremist sect that places special emphasis on America’s most notorious gun.
…Vice reported last year that Mastriano has been a speaker at Rod of Iron events. It’s no surprise, given how much he and (Rod of Iron movement leader) Rev. Sean Moon have in common.
caltrek wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 4:06 pmDoug Mastriano, Christian Nationalism, and the Cult of the AR-15
by Thomas Lecaque
May 31, 2022
Extract:
(The Bulwark) Doug Mastriano…is the GOP’s gubernatorial candidate for Pennsylvania.
…The House Jan. 6th Committee subpoenaed him for being part of a plan to send pro-Trump electors to Congress, and he responded with loyal silence.
Mastriano also has an increasingly familiar religious profile. He has described the Gulf War, in which he served in 1991, as a “holy” war—a belief reflected in his bizarre 2002 graduate thesis, “Nebuchadnezzar’s Sphinx.” He has attended events of the Charismatic Christian dominionist movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation. He shares anti-Muslim memes, hangs out with militia members to guard Confederate statues at Gettysburg, and constantly hits all the main themes of Christian nationalist discourse in his speeches and other activities. In one particularly tasteless moment, he announced his gubernatorial candidacy while wearing a tallit and blowing a shofar—symbols that Christian nationalists have appropriated from the Jewish tradition and use to declare apocalyptic spiritual war.
American syncretic spirituality animates every part of Mastriano’s public profile and political career. Perhaps it should be no surprise that he associates with an extremist sect that places special emphasis on America’s most notorious gun.
…Vice reported last year that Mastriano has been a speaker at Rod of Iron events. It’s no surprise, given how much he and (Rod of Iron movement leader) Rev. Sean Moon have in common.
Well, the republican base feels that they're protecting what the founders built and that they're preserving such concepts as freedom, liberty and the mindset that protects such concepts. They believe in Ar-15's for the same reasons our founders believed in the militia and the declaration of independence as a tool to fight against the government attacking their liberty and freedom. There's a huge divide in culture and belief in this country and that is what this is really about. One side believes something totally different then their brother across the street. How do we come to any kind of agreement is the question?
Supreme Court case may determine winner of Pennsylvania's GOP Senate primary
Source: CNN
(CNN) Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito agreed Tuesday to temporarily block a lower court decision that allows the counting of undated ballots in Pennsylvania in a case that could directly tip a judicial race and also impact the commonwealth's Republican US Senate primary. Alito, who has jurisdiction over the lower court involved in the case, issued an administrative stay in the case to give the justices more time to consider the issue. The case comes as the Supreme Court wades back into electoral politics. At issue is a federal appeals court decision ordering the state to count undated mail-in ballots that were initially set aside.
David Ritter, a Republican state judicial candidate in Lehigh County, wants the Supreme Court to block the appeals court decision, arguing that if the ballots were counted, he would lose his election to Democratic rival Zachary Cohen. How the justices decide the case in the under-the-radar-race could also impact more high-profile contests including the Republican Senate primary between David McCormick and Mehmet Oz, which has gone to a recount. Oz is currently leading by roughly 900 votes. The case has drawn the interest of voting rights experts because it pits state election law against federal law and raises questions regarding when voters can be disenfranchised for making errors in voting that some believe are ultimately "immaterial" to determining the validity of the ballot.
It comes as the last election cycle was one of the most litigious in recent history. "In this case, voters forgot to date their ballots but their ballots arrived on time and we know they were timely," said election law expert Rick Hasen at the University of California, Irvine. Hasen noted that the state ultimately did accept ballots where the voter put in the wrong date. The current dispute at the court dates to 2019, when the Pennsylvania General Assembly enacted new mail-in voting provisions. To receive the mail-in ballot a voter must complete an application, provide her name, address and proof of identification. If the material is consistent with registration information, the voter receives a ballot package with instructions to complete the mail-in ballot.
Under the Pennsylvania Election Code, the voter must date and sign the declaration that is printed on the return envelope. Delivery is timely if received by the board of elections by 8 p.m. on Election Day. The Lehigh County Board of Elections held an election on November 2, 2021, to fill vacancies for the office of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Lehigh County. During the count, the board set aside 257 of 22,000 votes because they lacked a handwritten date next to the voter declaration. All the ballots were received by the 8 p.m. deadline. The board initially decided to count the votes, but Ritter challenged the decision in state court. The trial court ruled for Cohen, but the commonwealth court reversed on appeal. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined to upend the decision.
Representative Kurt Schrader Loses Oregon House Primary to Jamie McLeod-Skinner
By Samuel Chamberlain
May 27, 2022
Introduction:
(NY Post)Seven-term Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) was projected to lose the May 17 Democratic primary in his newly redrawn 5th Congressional District Friday — handing the party’s nomination to a left-wing challenger and allowing Republicans to dream of a potential pickup opportunity in November.
The Associated Press call of the victory by attorney and former city planner Jamie McLeod-Skinner was delayed for more than a week after the vote count was held up by ballots with blurry bar codes in Clackamas County, Oregon’s third-most populous, being rejected by vote-counting machines.
With 82.6% of the expected vote tallied Friday, McLeod-Skinner had 57.1% of the tally compared to 42.9% for Schrader.
Schrader, 70, was first elected to Congress in 2008 and was endorsed by President Biden last month, but alienated progressive members of his party over the course of this term.
He was one of two House Democrats to vote against a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package, in part because he didn’t want the bill to include an increase in the minimum wage. He also voted in committee against a Biden-supported plan that would have allowed Medicare to negotiate outpatient medication prices with pharmaceutical companies.
McCormick Concedes to Oz in Pennsylvania GOP Senate Primary
Source: US News and World Report/AP
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Former hedge fund CEO David McCormick conceded the Republican primary in Pennsylvania for U.S. Senate to celebrity heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz, ending his campaign Friday night as he acknowledged an ongoing statewide recount wouldn't give him enough votes to make up the deficit. McCormick said he had called Oz to concede.
“It’s now clear to me with the recount now largely complete that we have a nominee,” McCormick said at a campaign party at a Pittsburgh hotel. “Tonight is really about all us coming together.” Before the recount, Oz led McCormick by 972 votes, or 0.07 percentage points, out of 1.34 million votes counted in the May 17 primary. The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the race because an automatic recount is underway. Friday's development sets up a general election between Oz, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, and Democrat John Fetterman in what is expected to be one of the nation's premier Senate contests. The race could help determine control of the closely divided chamber.
Fetterman, the state's lieutenant governor, acknowledged earlier Friday in a statement that he nearly died when he suffered a stroke just days before his primary. He said he had ignored warning signs for years and a doctor's advice to take blood thinners. Oz, who is best known as the host of daytime TV’s “The Dr. Oz Show,” had to overcome millions of dollars in attack ads and misgivings among hard-line Trump backers about his conservative credentials on guns, abortion, transgender rights and other core Republican issues.
The 61-year-old Oz leaned on Trump's endorsement as proof of his conservative bona fides, while Trump attacked Oz's rivals and maintained that Oz has the best chance of winning in November in the presidential battleground state. Rivals made Oz’s dual citizenship in Turkey an issue in the race. If elected, Oz would be the nation’s first Muslim senator.
Cisneros to File for Recount in Texas Runoff Against Democratic Representative Cuellar by Zoë Richards
June 6, 2022
Introduction:
(NBC) Progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros said Monday she would file for a recount in her primary runoff against Rep. Henry Cuellar after the Texas Democratic Party said fewer than 300 votes separated the two candidates.
Cisneros is trying for a second time to deny Cuellar another term representing the 28th Congressional District, which stretches from south of San Antonio to the Mexico border. She fell short in her effort two years ago.
“Our community isn’t done fighting, we are filing for a recount,” Cisneros said in a statement. “With just under 0.6 percent of the vote symbolizing such stark differences for the future in South Texas, I owe it to our community to see this through to the end.”
The state Democratic Party certified Monday that Cuellar had 281 more votes than Cisneros, according to both campaigns.
Primary Results 2022: South Dakota and Iowa June 8, 2022
Extract:
(CBS) Meanwhile in South Dakota, Republican Gov. Kristi Noem, won the Republican nomination for governor after facing a primary challenge from the right. Noem, one of the Republican party's rising stars and possible presidential contender, focused her victory speech on President Joe Biden. She will face Democrat Jamie Smith in November, who ran unopposed on Tuesday.
Incumbent Sen. John Thune, who is seeking his fourth term, also defeated his primary challengers.
In Iowa, Sen. Chuck Grassley, who is 88, has served in the Senate since 1981, survived his primary challenge from Iowa state Senator Jim Carlin.
Grassley will face Michael Franken, who defeated former U.S. Rep. Abby Finkenauer. She was elected to Congress in 2018, but lost her bid for reelection in 2020. Finkenauer had to fight to get on the ballot after a judge initially ruled that she did not have enough signatures to qualify for the primary ballot. The Iowa Supreme Court reversed that decision several days later.
Franken helped close the gap with Finkenauer, who entered the race as the perceived frontrunner, by outspending her on advertising. He often pitched his military service as helping him appeal to independents and some more moderate Republicans.
What Went Down At The June 7th Primaries 12:44 a.m. - June 8, 2022
Introduction:
(FiveThirtyEight) There are still a lot of uncalled races tonight — especially in California — but your indefatigable live blog crew is going to call it a night, as we actually have a pretty good sense of where most of these races are headed. Tonight didn’t carry too many big surprises either (although things in the Mississippi 3rd Congressional District were certainly closer than we originally anticipated). However, it did seem like there was a healthy protest vote out there tonight, as Republican incumbents in several districts, like New Jersey’s 4th, South Dakota at-large, California’s 22nd, Mississippi’s 3rd and Mississippi’s 4th, all turned in weak showings, even though none of them have lost reelection (yet).
But for the most part, a lot of our answers about who will ultimately prevail in these races is going to have to wait until November. It does look, though, that in some of the primaries — from former state Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. winning in New Jersey’s 7th District to state Sen. Zach Nunn winning in Iowa’s 3rd to Rep. Young Kim in California’s 40th — Republicans backed more mainstream candidates whenever possible. Democrats, for their part, have also backed more moderate candidates in races that look to be competitive come November. But, of course, it might be downballot races like the recall of San Francisco’s progressive district attorney, Chesa Boudin, and the neck-and-neck Los Angeles mayoral race between Rep. Karen Bass and billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso that end up overshadowing things tonight.
Los Angeles Mayoral Race Advances to Runoff by Edvard Pettersson
June 8, 2022
Extract:
(CNN) The race to be Los Angeles' next mayor won't be decided until November, with neither businessman Rick Caruso nor Rep. Karen Bass able to win more than 50% of the vote on Tuesday night.
Caruso and Bass both ran on the need to tackle homelessness and crime, but they approached the issues with markedly different solutions and styles, distinctions that will likely define their campaigns through November.
Caruso, a real estate developer who has worked for years to accrue private power in Los Angeles, argued the city was in "a state of emergency," citing "rampant homelessness" and "people living in fear for their safety." Caruso promised to increase the size of the Los Angeles Police Department, running against the "defund the police" effort.
Bass, a longtime congresswoman and former member of the California State Assembly, ran more as a progressive, highlighting her ties to the city and her years of service representing it.
But Caruso's strong showing on Tuesday will provide a warning to more traditional Democrats running on their records, especially if the bulk of that time was spent in Congress, a body currently held in low regard by Democrats and Republicans alike.
2022 New Mexico Primary Elections Results June 8, 2022
Introduction:
(Washington Post) New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) is uncontested in her primary, but a collection of Republicans are running to be her challenger in November. In the 2nd District, the Democratic party has thrown its support behind Gabe Vasquez, a former aide to Sen. Martin Heinrich (D), to target incumbent Rep. Yvette Herrell (R).
(Mark) Ronchetti is projected to win (the Republican nomination for governor). An estimated 98 percent of votes have been counted.
