Donald Trump just can't seem to quit 2020. That means Republicans can't either.
The former president is returning to the national spotlight with plans to play a central role in the GOP's push to reclaim power, huddling with members of the conservative Republican Study Committee at his New Jersey resort last week. Trump told the crew there he is “more motivated than ever” to be engaged in House and Senate races, according to RSC Chair Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.).
But he brings with him the baggage of his repeated false claims that widespread voter fraud cost him the White House. In recent public settings, Trump has called his loss to President Joe Biden "the crime of the century" and likened it to a stolen "diamond" that needs to be returned. He's gone even further in private, reportedly entertaining the wild conspiracy theory that he could be reinstated as president in August. Some Republicans are palpably relieved that he hasn’t said that publicly — at least not yet.
The spectacle caused by Trump’s revival of unfounded voter fraud claims offers an early preview of the type of headaches facing Republicans who want to put him center stage in their quest to win back their congressional majorities, particularly the House GOP. Yet some members worry that Trump’s election grievances could create an impossible-to-avoid litmus test in 2022.
GOP candidates are bound to field questions about whether they agree Trump was cheated in the election — an uncomfortable position for some lawmakers who don’t want to cross an ex-president who still maintains an iron grip on the party. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) insisted last month that “no one is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election,” but the more he aligns with the legitimacy-doubting Trump, the more likely those words are to come back to bite him.
”If Trump focused on Pelosi and Biden's policy failures, he would help us. If it's about election fraud and sour grapes from 2020, it will hurt us,” said one GOP lawmaker who represents a purple district. “We may be able to still win the majority, but I think it makes the hill harder to climb.”
“Obviously, the base likes it, but the base doesn't win the majority in the House,” the lawmaker added.
Banks, for one, said Trump was focused during their meeting last week on how he could "stump around the country for candidates to help us win back the House." The ex-president did not give any signals about whether he plans to run again in 2024, Banks said, nor did he spend much time harping on the 2020 election or bringing up state election audits such as Arizona's.
“He was all about the future,” Banks said. “It was not focused on the past.”
That's the kind of Trump that Republicans would much prefer to see this cycle. Retiring Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) used a recent appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” to urge Trump to move on from baseless electoral grievances: "He could be incredibly helpful in 2022 if he gets focused on 2022 and the differences in the two political parties,” Blunt said.
But it’s not clear whether the freewheeling former president can stay focused on 2022 as he hits the trail for Republican candidates, and that uncertainty is far more than a mere potential political problem for the GOP. Some Republicans fear Trump’s 2020 election rhetoric, which incited a deadly mob to attack the Capitol and ultimately led to his second impeachment, threatens to undermine democracy and risks inspiring more violence.
“The continuing false claims of a stolen election have led to violent/death threats, intimidation, and claims of prison time coming for elections workers. They keep coming,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who refused to overturn his state’s election results, tweeted Friday. “Real leaders need to take steps to stop it. So far they haven't.”
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who was stripped of leadership power last month for her repeated rebukes of Trump, has continued to issue similar dire warnings.
“The problem we've got now is he's continued to say the same things. He's continued to use the same language that provoked that violence on January 6th,” she said during a recent Wyoming radio interview. “When you look at what's necessary for us as a country, when you look at what's necessary for us to sustain our republic and to sustain our democratic process, the things that he is saying are very toxic and dangerous, and as Republicans we have to stand up against those lies.”
McCarthy, who initially condemned Trump’s role in the Capitol riots but has since bear-hugged the ex-president, is feeling confident about winning back the House majority. And he sees the former president as crucial for GOP turnout and fundraising, trekking down to Trump’s resort in Florida to stay in his good graces. Posing for a picture with Trump while flashing a thumbs-up at one of his properties has almost become a rite of passage among the highest-ranking Republicans.
But even McCarthy seems eager to put 2020 in the rear-view mirror. The GOP leader argued last month that booting Cheney from the leadership team was necessary so that House Republicans could start healing from their Jan. 6-related wounds and finally focus on hammering the Biden agenda, which the GOP believes is a winning midterm message.
Republicans are also eager to exploit tensions across the aisle as the House returns to Washington this week. During a conference call on Friday, House Republicans reveled in growing Democratic divisions over everything from infrastructure to Rep. Ilhan Omar's (D-Minn.) latest remarks on foreign policy, according to a source on the call.
Yet McCarthy and the GOP may find it difficult to avoid litigating Trump’s election loss if the former president is out there doing it himself while stumping for their candidates.
McCarthy “is the one that said Trump was the leader of our party,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), one of the most vocal Trump critics in the GOP. “He's given his leadership card to the president. So if the former president is looking backwards, you don't have a choice.”
By contrast, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Republicans have shown more independence from Trump. But McConnell, despite torching Trump for inciting the insurrection, has since been careful not to poke Trump in the eye and assiduously avoids questions about the ex-president.
Republicans on both ends of the Capitol wish Trump would strike a forward-looking tone more often in public settings. Some of them are warning of a Georgia repeat, when Democratic candidates captured a pair of Senate seats — and with it, control of the upper chamber — after Trump repeatedly claimed the state’s election system was rigged instead of trying to drive more GOP voters to the polls.
“He should have learned from what happened in Georgia," the purple-district Republican lawmaker said. "He cost us Georgia by focusing on the election."
Senate Democrats are publicly divided over infrastructure strategy. The caucus' most conservative senator openly rebelled against the party’s signature elections bill. And two of Chuck Schumer’s members keep clashing on military sexual assault reform.
It’s enough to invoke a bit of pity for the voluble New Yorker who holds the reins of a 50-50 Senate. There's a growing feeling on the Hill that Democrats are already running out of time to deliver on years of promises.
As Schumer ally Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) put it: “Poor Chuck! He’s got the weight of the world on him.”
The majority leader has hugely consequential issues bearing down on him, such as climate change, Whitehouse said in an interview, “and he has no margin to work with. And an implacable and amoral opponent in" Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“There’s nobody that I can think of who could do it better than he does,” Whitehouse added. “But that doesn’t mean that it’s easy. And it doesn’t mean it’s easy on him.”
To the outside observer, Schumer’s strategy of letting maverick Senate gangs try to negotiate legislation and allowing disagreements to play out among his members might look a bit like chaos. But he keeps his members so close, with telephone calls and personal meetings, that none are criticizing him for his leadership style. Even his Republican counterparts insist there’s a method to the madness.
Schumer himself is a happy warrior who rarely shows that the weight of the job troubles him. He concedes being majority leader is tougher than uniting the minority, but he always pairs that with a love for his job and his 49 Democratic colleagues.
He has, however, taken an increasingly realistic view on the prospects for President Joe Biden’s agenda given a majority that ranges from Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren on the left to Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin on the right. With those constraints in mind, he recently promised to pursue the “biggest bold action that we can get.”
“America needs big, bold change and I’m doing everything I can to make that happen,” Schumer said in a brief interview.
Asked about whether he should be tougher on his resistant members, he responded: “Unity brings us strength and success. That’s what’s worked every time on every tough challenge in the past. And it’s going to continue to work that way.”
Schumer triumphed in passing a long-sought China competitiveness bill this month and kept his party together through the toughest issues of the last four years: Donald Trump’s two impeachments, Obamacare repeal attempts, GOP tax cuts and Biden's $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill. And he made considerable progress this month rallying his party around a strategy that gives Biden a little more time to negotiate with Republicans on infrastructure, with a unilateral fallback approach if the talks drag on much longer.
But after vowing that “failure is not an option” on voting rights, he’s staring down a potential major defeat thanks to the constraints of the GOP’s filibuster power and internal divisions over whether to kill the 60-vote requirement or keep trying to work with Republicans. Manchin’s opposition to his party’s bill has brought a new wave of scrutiny to Senate Democrats, and Schumer himself.
Progress on gun safety, immigration reform and police conduct is also unsteady at best, with no breakthroughs on those issues after weeks of talks. His New York Democratic colleague Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has taken to the floor seven times to try and force a vote on her long-sought military sexual assault reform, only to be stopped every time, usually by Senate Armed Services Chair Jack Reed (D-R.I.). Bipartisan infrastructure talks have staggered along for nearly two months now.
Still, the tasks at hand aren't quite as urgent as what Schumer faced when he first took over in January: a new majority and president, a pile of Cabinet confirmations, an impeachment trial after the Jan. 6 insurrection and responding to the Covid crisis.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a frequent Schumer combatant and longtime workout partner, said Schumer’s style “strikes me as a little unconventional.” Yet Cornyn believes, beneath the daily drama, there’s a grander plan afoot.
“I always know what Sen. Schumer’s priorities are,” Cornyn said. “To beat the Republicans in the election.”
Schumer’s style of letting his members publicly work out their differences is undoubtedly different than the tighter grip on party priorities held by his predecessor, former Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. (Reid also had larger majorities to work with.) It’s also vastly divergent from GOP leader McConnell, whose single-minded pursuit of judicial nominations may never be equaled.
The 70-year-old Brooklynite is more eager to let it all play out and pursue the messy process of legislating in an evenly divided Senate. And his members seem fine with the laissez-faire approach. Gillibrand said she would rather have Biden lean on Reed to relent and allow a quick vote than have Schumer use his procedural powers to force the issue, burning a week of floor time that could be used more efficiently on something else.
When asked about Schumer’s strategy, Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) replied that he “would not use the word chaos.” Instead, he said Schumer has a “solid plan.”
“He’s still on a good path. And he’s managing what is a very diverse caucus,” Heinrich said, adding that Schumer is “engaging when he needs to engage to get to the next level. But not micromanaging every little piece and part. Because that’s what builds buy-in, especially from the members that are closer to the edge of our caucus.”
Schumer's toughest voter to sway is happy with where things are. Before the Senate broke for the weekend, Manchin praised his leader by name for allowing bipartisanship to have a chance: “I really appreciate Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, going through this process that we’re all benefiting from."
Manchin is in the middle of a motley negotiating group trying to force bipartisan action on infrastructure, helping secure a tentative deal announced Thursday that is still short of details. Budget Committee Chair Sanders (I-Vt.) favors a different approach, pledging to move a bill as soon as he can that would allow Democrats to exclude Republicans.
“For many, many decades the United States Congress has worried about the needs of the rich,” Sanders said. “Now is the time to pay attention to the working families of this country.”
Asked if Schumer is addressing those priorities well, Sanders demurred: “OK, good.” He then got on an elevator and ushered himself away.
Internally, Schumer shored up his position last week by laying out a detailed blueprint for how to secure big infrastructure spending as well as other priorities like paid leave and tax increases for the rich at a Tuesday caucus lunch. His members left the room confident that regardless of whether they strike a deal with Republicans, there is a path to success on another massive tranche of spending.
“We’re not going to sit around and wait til forever. We’re also trying to develop the other track so we’re ready to go so it’s not, 'Oh darn, let’s start this,'” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the No. 3 Democratic leader.
Despite the building pressure, the setbacks this year have been few and far between for Schumer, at least when it comes to his fellow Democrats. Aside from divisions on the minimum wage and other issues related to the coronavirus bill, his caucus all voted for the final compromise as well as Trump’s second impeachment, the Jan. 6 commission and a pay equity bill.
Now, internal defections may be just over the horizon as the Senate prepares to consider the elections bill. But at the moment Schumer seemed most troubled that his China competitiveness bill, the Endless Frontier Act, was renamed with a boring acronym before it passed the chamber.
“I loved that name,” Schumer lamented last week. “But some people thought it had to do with covered wagons or something. So we changed it to USICA.”
When former special ambassador to Ukraine Kurt Volker appeared to testify before the House in hearings connected to Donald Trump’s first impeachment, Republicans were thrilled. Volker was part of the “three amigos,” who Trump had sent to Ukraine to force out experienced diplomats and see that Rudy Giuliani got all the assistance he needed in extorting the Ukrainian government into pretending to investigate Joe Biden.
As soon as Volker completed his testimony, it was clearly at odds with that delivered by other witnesses. Volker testified that he never talked about the company Burisma, where Hunter Biden was on the board, in his discussions with Ukrainian officials. He completely omitted any reference to a series of meetings and calls on July 10, 2019, after which then-Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman took his concerns about what was going on to the NSC’s lead counsel. Volkman contradicted the content of text messages he sent on July 19, in which he joined Rudy Giuliani in urging the Ukrainian president to initiate an investigation of Biden. He left out how Burisma and the Bidens factored into a statement Trump wanted from the Ukrainians. And he completely failed to testify about how he had insisted—as text messages showed—that Ukrainian officials had to include both claims that Ukraine had interfered with the U.S. election in 2016, and that Biden had tried to block an investigation into Burisma, if they wanted to “prevent a recurrence” of Trump blocking military aid to the country.
But what really excited the Republicans was the fact that Volker provided them with the Big Talking Point: a claim that there was “no quid pro quo” connecting the request for an investigation into the Bidens and the release of U.S. assistance to Ukraine. In his deposition to the House committee, Volker made it clear: “At no time was I aware of or took part in an effort to urge Ukraine to investigate former vice president Biden.”
But text messages at the time also made it clear this wasn’t true. And calls that CNN released this week while looking into the actions of Giuliani make this one thing exceedingly clear: In his sworn testimony to Congress, former ambassador Kurt Volker was lying his ass off.
As The Washington Post reports, it was Volker’s testimony that Republicans leaned on when they claimed that Trump had been exonerated.
“Ambassador Volker … confirmed what the President has repeatedly said: there was no quid pro quo,” tweeted Rep. Jim Jordan.
“Ambassador Volker, you just like took apart their entire case,” said a grateful Rep. Michael Turner during questioning.
In his testimony, Volker didn’t hold back. “At no time was I aware of or knowingly took part in an effort to urge Ukraine to investigate former vice president Biden. As you know from the extensive real-time documentation I have provided, Vice President Biden was not a topic of our discussions.”
How could this be the case when Volker repeatedly texted concerning an investigation into Burisma? The pretense that Volker put forward was that he didn’t know. He didn’t know why Trump wanted an investigation into a particular Ukrainian energy firm as part of his deal. He didn’t know why this was so vital that it could be a factor in allowing an ally to be preyed on by Russian forces.
Volker wasn’t the only one. His former “amigos”—Ambassador Gordon Sondland and Energy Secretary Rick Perry—pushed the same line. Apparently Trump and Giuliani had it out for this one gas company. After that, they all pled blissful ignorance.
Yeah, but … Volker was on the call when Giuliani said this to one of the Ukrainian president’s top assistants:
“All we need from the President is to say, I’m going to put an honest prosecutor in charge, he’s gonna investigate and dig up the evidence that presently exists, and is there any other evidence about involvement of the 2016 election, and then the Biden thing has to be run out.”
That was just one of several instances where Giuliani explicitly drew the connection between what was being asked of the Ukrainian president with the Bidens. Volker was on that call. Pretending that he didn’t know what he was asking when he asked about Burisma would mean not just acknowledging an astounding ignorance about the country he was supposed to be assisting—past allegations against Burisma had played a key role in both U.S. and U.K. actions in Ukraine—it would mean he wasn’t actually listening to what Giuliani said during their conversations with Ukrainian officials. In Volker’s testimony he claimed that “In referencing Burisma it was clear he was only talking about whether any Ukrainians had acted inappropriately,” which never made any sense at all. It still doesn’t.
The Post suggests that Volker hewed a very narrow line in his testimony and that he “referred specifically to the idea that Biden wasn’t brought up in the text messages he turned over—rather than at all in any conversations.” But that’s attempting to parse things way, way too finely.
It’s clear that when Volker, Sondland, and others mention Burisma in their text messages, that this is shorthand for announcing an investigation into the role Joe and Hunter Biden played in connection to that company. That’s specifically what Giuliani asks for, again and again.
And in his testimony, Volker goes much further than The Post suggests. Volker’s full statement to the committee, apparently in response to a question by Rep. Adam Schiff, was this:
“At no time was I aware of or took part in an effort to urge Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Biden. As you will see from the extensive text messages I am providing, which convey a sense of real-time dialogue with several different actors, Vice President Biden was never a topic of discussion.”
It might be possible to twist that statement so that the last mention of Biden is directed toward the text messages. It’s not possible to do so with the first mention. “At no time was I aware of or took part in an effort to urge Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Biden” is simply a lie. An out and out lie. A lie that was intended to cover Volker’s ass, and which Republicans seized on as justification to exonerate Trump.
It was always clear that Volker was lying when he claimed to not understand the connection between Burisma and Joe Biden. The most recent revelations just underline the extent of that lie.
it may be too late for a do-over of that first impeachment, this time with honest testimony. It’s not too late to charge Kurt Volker for his lies.
The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, Stephen Wolf, Carolyn Fiddler, and Matt Booker, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, Daniel Donner, James Lambert, David Beard, and Arjun Jaikumar.
● OH-15: Donald Trump waded into the crowded August Republican primary to succeed former Rep. Steve Stivers by endorsing coal company lobbyist Mike Carey on Tuesday.
Trump's decision came days after Stivers, who officially resigned from this very red suburban Columbus seat last month, backed state Rep. Jeff LaRe. That move, as well as Stivers' decision to use his old campaign committee to air ads for the state representative, briefly made LaRe the primary frontrunner; another candidate, state Rep. Brian Stewart, subsequently dropped out and acknowledged he didn't think he could compete against his Stivers-supported colleague. Trump's support for Carey, though, likely upends this contest.
Carey himself doesn't appear to have run for office since his 1998 defeat in an eastern Ohio state House seat against the late Charlie Wilson, a Democrat who went on to represent that area in Congress from 2007 to 2011, but he's long been influential in state politics.
Campaign ActionBack in 2011, Politico described Carey, who worked as an operative for the state coal industry, as "a one-man wrecking ball for Democrats who have strayed too far green for voters' liking." It noted that Carey's political organization ran TV ads in Ohio in 2004 savaging the Democratic presidential nominee as "John Kerry, Environmental Extremist," and he also targeted Barack Obama four years later.
Carey went on to work as a lobbyist for the coal giant Murray Energy, which was renamed American Consolidated Natural Resources Inc. last year after it emerged from bankruptcy protection. The company and its leadership has long been a major foe of environmentalists in Ohio and nationally, with former chief executive Robert Murray, a close Trump ally, lavishly funding global warming deniers.
● AK-Sen: A new poll from Change Research for the progressive group 314 Action finds Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski faring poorly under Alaska's new top-four primary. In a hypothetical matchup against fellow Republican Kelly Tshibaka (who is running) and independent Al Gross (who unsuccessfully ran for Senate last year with Democratic support and is considering another bid), Tshibaka leads with 39%, while Gross takes 25 and Murkowski just 19. John Wayne Howe of the far-right Alaska Independence Party would get 4%, and 12% are undecided.
Murkowski would still advance to the general election in this scenario, since, as the name implies, the four highest vote-getters in the primary move on, but she'd do no better then. To reduce the risk of spoilers, November elections will be decided via ranked-choice voting, but in a simulated instant runoff, Tshibaka would beat Gross 54-46. 314 Action, which endorsed Gross last cycle, is arguing that the poll suggests that Murkowski's weakness offers Democrats an opening, but Tshibaka's performance—and recent history—show just how tough it is for Democrats to win statewide in Alaska.
● AL-Sen: The Club for Growth has dusted off a late April poll from WPA Intelligence showing Rep. Mo Brooks leading businesswoman Lynda Blanchard by a wide 59-13 margin in next year's GOP Senate primary, with Business Council of Alabama head Katie Boyd Britt at 9 and 19% of voters undecided. (The survey was conducted well before Britt, who just kicked off her campaign the other day, entered the race.) The Club hasn't endorsed Brooks yet, but sharing this poll is a signal that it may do so.
● FL-Sen: On Wednesday, several weeks after a consultant said Rep. Val Demings would run for Senate, Demings herself made her campaign against Republican Sen. Marco Rubio official. Demings, who was a manager during Donald Trump's first impeachment trial and reportedly was under consideration as Joe Biden's running-mate last year, is by far the highest-profile Democrat to enter the race, though she faces Miami City Commissioner Ken Russell and (apparently?) former Rep. Alan Grayson for the nomination.
● OH-Sen: A new poll of next year's GOP Senate primary in Ohio from former state Treasurer Josh Mandel unsurprisingly finds Mandel leading former state party chair Jane Timken 35-16, with all other candidates (actual and hypothetical) in the mid-to-low single digits and 34% of voters undecided. The survey, from Remington Research, is likely intended as pushback to a recent set of Timken internals from Moore Information that showed her gaining on Mandel, the newest of which had Mandel up just 24-19.
● MI-Gov: A new poll from the Michigan Republican Party from Competitive Edge finds former Detroit police Chief James Craig (who hasn't actually kicked off a campaign yet) leading Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer 45-38 in a hypothetical test of next year's race for governor. Somewhat strangely, the survey also finds Whitmer beating Army veteran John James, who lost back-to-back Senate bids in 2018 and 2020 (and also hasn't announced a gubernatorial run), by a 50-45 margin.
These numbers are peculiar for two reasons: First, why would the state GOP want to make a prominent potential recruit like James look less electable—unless party leaders actually would prefer he stay out of the race, that is? The second oddity is the data itself. The 12-point difference in Whitmer's share as between the two matchups suggests that Craig, who's never run for office before, has an ability to win over Democratic voters so strong as to be almost unique in American politics today.
This extremely bifurcated take also stands in contrast to an independent poll last month from Target Insyght for the local tipsheet MIRS News, which found Whitmer up 48-42 on Craig and 49-39 on James. We'll need more polling before we can get a better sense of where things stand, but in today's extremely polarized political environment, the results from Target Insyght make much more sense than those from Competitive Edge.
● NJ-Gov: Just hours before polls closed in the Garden State for Tuesday's primary, Rutgers University's Eagleton Institute of Politics released a poll of a matchup between Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy and former Republican Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli that showed Murphy comfortably ahead 52-26. The survey found 10% of respondents undecided and an additional 11% who declined to choose either candidate.
The poll only pitted Murphy against Ciattarelli, a matchup that's no longer hypothetical since Ciattarelli secured the GOP nod with 49% of the vote on Tuesday and Murphy faced no intra-party opposition.
● OR-Gov: Businesswoman Jessica Gomez has joined next year's race for governor, making her the second notable candidate to seek the Republican nod after 2016 nominee Bud Pierce. Gomez has run for office once before, losing an open-seat race for the state Senate to Democrat Jeff Golden 55-45 in 2018.
● PA-Gov: The Associated Press reports that Republican strategist Charlie Gerow is considering a bid for governor, though there's no quote from Gerow himself. Gerow's run for office twice before, losing bids in the GOP primary for Pennsylvania's old 19th Congressional District in both 1996 and 2000. (The closest successor to the 19th is the present-day 10th District, as both are centered around York and Cumberland counties.)
● VA-Gov: With the general election matchup between former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Republican businessman Glenn Youngkin now set, Youngkin immediately began attacking his opponent, releasing two ads the day after McAuliffe clinched his party's nod.
The first commercial prominently features former Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, who finished second in the Democratic primary, and shows several clips of her criticizing McAuliffe. Youngkin appears at the end to call himself "a new kind of leader to bring a new day to Virginia". However, before the ad even had a chance to air, Carroll Foy had already unambiguously endorsed McAuliffe's bid for a second term as governor.
The second spot follows a similar theme of a "new day". It begins showing a legion of grey-haired white men in suits while Youngkin's voiceover decries "the same politicians taking us in the wrong direction". Youngkin, a younger, less-grey white man wearing a vest, then appears amid the crowd to describe the policies he would pursue as governor.
● TX-08: Republican state Sen. Brandon Creighton, who previously hadn't ruled out a bid for Texas' open 8th Congressional District, says he won't run for the seat held by retiring GOP Rep. Kevin Brady.
● NJ State Senate, Where Are They Now?: Michael Pappas, a Republican who represented New Jersey in the U.S. House for a single term from 1997 to 1999, won Tuesday's state Senate primary for the open 16th Legislative District by a 65-35 margin. Pappas will take on Democratic Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker for an open GOP-held seat in the west-central part of the state that Hillary Clinton carried 55-41.
Pappas earned his brief moment in the political spotlight in 1998 when he took to the House floor to deliver an ode to the special prosecutor probing the Clinton White House that began, "Twinkle, twinkle, Kenneth Starr/ Now we see how brave you are." Politicos would later blame that bit of awful poetry for Pappas' 50-47 defeat against Democrat Rush Holt that fall. Pappas tried to return to Congress in 2000, but he lost the primary to former Rep. Dick Zimmer, who in turn lost to Holt.
● Special elections: Here's a recap of Tuesday's special election in New Hampshire:
NH-HD-Merrimack 23: Democrat Muriel Hall defeated Republican Christopher Lins 58-42 to hold this seat for her party. Hall improved on Joe Biden's 55-44 win in this suburban Concord district last year, which was the best showing of any of the last three Democratic presidential nominees.
Republicans control this chamber 213-186, with one other seat vacant.
● Atlanta, GA Mayor: Former Mayor Kasim Reed filed paperwork Wednesday to set up a campaign to regain his old office, and while he has yet to make an announcement, there's little question he'll be on this year's ballot.
Local NBC reporter Shiba Russell tweeted that Reed "could officially announce he plans to enter the race" at a Thursday birthday fundraiser, a message the ex-mayor retweeted. If Reed wins this fall, he would be the first Atlanta mayor to secure a third term since the city's first-ever Black leader, Maynard Jackson, won back this office in 1989.
Reed himself had no trouble winning re-election the last time he was on the ballot in 2013 (term limits prevented him from seeking a third consecutive term in 2017), but a federal corruption investigation that ultimately resulted in bribery convictions for two senior city officials generated plenty of bad headlines during the end of his tenure. The matter isn't over, as Reed's former chief financial administration officer and director of human services are currently under indictment but unlikely to go on trial before this year's election.
Last month, Channel 2's Dave Huddleston asked Reed whether he was under investigation, to which the former mayor replied, "The Justice Department under [former Attorney General] Bill Barr has looked into every aspect of my life for more than three years and took no action." The former mayor also said of the scandals involving his old staffers, "Anything on my watch, I take responsibility for," adding, "I'm sorry I didn't see it faster."
Reed himself used that interview to argue that he could tackle Atlanta's rising crime rate if he returned to office, declaring, "I do know how to fix crime, and I do know I could turn our crime environment around in 180 days, and I know that I've done it before."
A number of fellow Democrats are already campaigning in this November's nonpartisan primary to succeed incumbent Keisha Lance Bottoms, who shocked the city last month when she decided not to seek a second term, and others could still get in ahead of the August filing deadline. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Tharon Johnson, whom the paper identifies as a "veteran Democratic strategist and businessman," is one of the prospective contenders thinking about running.
● Boston, MA Mayor: This week, state Rep. Jon Santiago became the first candidate to air TV commercials ahead of the September nonpartisan primary; Politico's Lisa Kashinsky says his "six-figure ad buy is for two 30-second spots that will air on the city's cable systems and Spanish-language broadcast."
Both Santiago's English and Spanish spots focus on his work as an emergency room physician and military service, with the narrator in the former ad asking, "You want a mayor who's got a pulse on Boston and its problems, literally?"
● New York City, NY Mayor: Attorney Maya Wiley picked up an endorsement Wednesday from Public Advocate Jumaane Williams ahead of the June 22 Democratic primary. Williams, who was elected in 2019 as an ardent progressive, is one of just three citywide elected officials: The others are termed-out Mayor Bill de Blasio and one of Wiley's rivals, city Comptroller Scott Stringer.
State investigators are reportedly looking into whether Governor Andrew Cuomo and his aides committed a crime by retaliating against his sexual harassment accusers.
New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) is conducting a wide-ranging probe of Cuomo and his inner circle and their actions following the initial allegation.
“Several witnesses said state investigators were particularly focused on the question of retaliation and whether the governor or any of the aides around him broke any laws or state rules in response to women coming forward,” according to the Washington Post.
Of interest is whether or not Cuomo or his aides illegally released a personnel file of Lindsey Boylan, a former aide who was the first to accuse the Democrat governor of sexual misconduct.
Boylan has claimed that Cuomo forcibly kissed her on the lips and suggested “let’s play strip poker.”
A total of 10 women have accused Cuomo of some form of sexual misconduct, the most serious of which involved an unnamed female aide who said the governor groped her at the Executive Mansion in November.
New York AG is probing if Gov. Cuomo committed a CRIME by retaliating against his sex harassment accusers including releasing personnel file of woman that branded her a bully https://t.co/DZx6RwyGLt via @MailOnline
— Fredric U. Dicker (@fud31) June 9, 2021
RELATED: Every Court Of Appeals Judge Who Would Vote In Cuomo Impeachment Trial Was Appointed By Him
Following Boylan’s bombshell accusations which kicked off several other reports, Cuomo’s office released some of her personnel files to the media.
The Washington Post reports:
After Lindsey Boylan, a former state employee, first alleged harassment by the governor on Twitter late last year, he talked with advisers about how to handle the allegations, which he has denied, according to people familiar with the conversations. The governor’s office ultimately released to reporters some of Boylan’s personnel records, which showed complaints against her as a state employee, according to people familiar with the decision.
The newspaper cites sources familiar with the line of questioning by investigators as saying they are probing “planned or actual retaliation against other women who came forward or were considering coming forward.”
“‘[Cuomo] leak may have violated..laws..private use of gov’t property—that personnel file—all for the personal use of defending Cuomo against allegations harmful to him..There is no legit way to characterize that. It’s just an abuse of power’” & a felony crime which means time. https://t.co/t3MdKmQyes
— Ed Cox (@ChairmanEdCox) March 13, 2021
The file was released following a meeting with advisers – a meeting that Cuomo denies having – on how to handle the allegations leveled against him.
It shows Boylan being labeled a bully and accusing her of speaking to co-workers as if they were children.
Boylan claims the release was part of a smear campaign to discredit her claims.
Steve Cohen was in the room where Cuomo folks decided to leak a supposed personnel file on me when I spoke about abuse from our boss. Now @NYGovCuomo wants him to run Port Authority.
This is all so monstrous and I know history will treat it this way. I will help make it so. https://t.co/R07OeHUGAK
— Lindsey Boylan (@LindseyBoylan) June 7, 2021
RELATED: Fox News Janice Dean Slams ‘Despicable’ Cuomo Over $10,000 Per Ticket Fundraiser This Month
In a statement to the Washington Post, Governor Cuomo’s acting counsel denies that releasing the personnel file of his accuser amounted to a crime.
“With certain limited exceptions … it is within a government entity’s discretion to share redacted employment records, including in instances when members of the media ask for such public information and when it is for the purpose of correcting inaccurate or misleading statements,” the attorney said.
Here is why it was unethical @ChrisCuomo to be on the phone with @NYGovCuomo and his staff.
It was not just brothers helping each other out.
It was about the rights of the woman who were being DISCREDITED by the governor’s top aids. https://t.co/Uxmef9vEYh
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) June 8, 2021
CNN anchor Chris Cuomo has also been embroiled in controversy for having advised his brother on how to deal with the sexual harassment allegations, an egregious breach of journalistic standards even for that network.
Cuomo, as per multiple sources for the Post, “joined a series of conference calls that included the Democratic governor, his top aide, his communications team, lawyers and a number of outside advisers” on “how to respond to sexual harassment allegations.”
The Washington Post report links to a separate article regarding Chris Cuomo’s involvement in strategy calls but does not specifically reference him as part of the effort to release Boylan’s personnel file.
“The question is if there was a crime or not,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic strategist in New York. “Voters are willing to forgive a lot of other things if they are happy with how things are going.” https://t.co/b1NkwNHDxy
— Nick Reisman (@NickReisman) June 8, 2021
Governor Cuomo has thus far survived the many investigations and impeachment inquiries he is currently facing, though his political future remains in question.
The scandals embroiling him are wide-ranging and numerous, including:
Still, the Washington Post report states that some in his inner circle believe “the attorney general’s office will release a report that does not include criminal charges” with respect to the sexual harassment scandal.
They do, however, fear being portrayed as “an unprofessional office where women were judged on their looks and subordinates were subjected to demeaning comments.”
James has interviewed at least a dozen current and former staff members as part of the sexual harassment probe.
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After tweeting last month that she's "seriously considering" running for Republican Sen. Marco Rubio's U.S. Senate seat, Rep. Val Demings, of Florida, confirmed on Wednesday that she's more than seriously considering it: she announced she's running. "I'm running for U.S. Senate because I will never tire of standing up for what is right," Demings said in a tweet. "Never tire of serving Florida. Never tire of doing good.”
In a 2 minute and 58 second campaign video, Demings said when asked where she got her "tireless faith that things can always get better," she got it in Jacksonville, Florida. "When you grow up in the South, poor, black, and female, you have to have faith in progress and opportunity," Demings said. “My father was a janitor, and my mother was a maid. She said, ‘Val, never grow tired of doing good. Never tire. Work hard, not just for yourself but for others.’”
Demings, a former Orlando police chief and the first woman to hold the title, was a House manager in former President Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial, and she has been an important voice in seeking accountability for his embarrassing response to the coronavirus pandemic. Rubio voted to protect Trump in the face of his second impeachment trial for inciting a riot at the U.S. Capitol in January. A month earlier, the Florida Republican helped himself to a COVID-19 vaccination in short supply in his state at the time.
He responded to Demings’ campaign announcement with the predictable arrogance and insults of a Florida Republican. “Look, I’ve always known that my opponent for the Senate was gonna be a far-left, liberal Democrat. Today, we just found out which one of them Chuck Schumer’s picked,” Rubio said in a video shared Wednesday on Twitter. “I’m looking forward to this campaign because it’s going to offer the people of Florida a very clear difference.”
Rubio went on to call Demings a “do nothing House member with not a single significant legislative achievement in her time in Congress.” “By comparison one nonpartisan group ranked me the most effective Republican in the entire Senate,” Rubio said. He is referring to a ranking released by the Center for Effective Lawmaking in March that based his ranking on “107 bills he put forward, ten of which passed the Senate, and six of which became law” under the 116th Congress. Let’s not forget, the senator had a majority-Republican Senate working in his favor.
Federal voting rights legislation top of Democrats' agenda is being held up in the Senate by a filibuster requiring 60 votes instead of a simple majority for a vote on proposed legislation. The filibuster has been used as a partisan weapon for decades,” Demings told the Orlando Sentinel. “We were not elected to be obstructionists. … We were elected to get things done. And when we talk about protecting some of the most basic rights in this country, the filibuster blocks those things, and we need to get rid of it.”
But beyond the filibuster, the more important question with regards to Rubio’s legislative record boasted as effective is: Does an effective Republican equate to what’s best for most Floridians? The answer to that is a clear no.
In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law legislation on "disruptive protests" that could put protesters in jail for up to 15 years if police determine at least nine people took part in a riot. “Under this bill, peaceful protesters could be arrested and charged with a third-degree felony for ‘committing a riot’ even if they did not engage in any disorderly and violent conduct,” the ACLU of Florida said in a news release. “It would also prohibit local governments from determining how to allocate funding for police reform to address critical needs in their local communities and seek to protect counter-protesters from civil liability if they injure or kill a protester.”
State legislators also passed a bill requiring voters to submit requests each election cycle to vote by mail."It would require voters to submit vote-by-mail requests each election cycle, restrict secure vote-by-mail drop boxes, and demand sensitive personal information from voters requesting a mail ballot,” the ACLU of Florida wrote in a news release. “Like the law recently passed in Georgia, this bill also criminalizes people who provide food or water to Floridians waiting in line to vote.”
Rubio has done nothing to enact the kind of federal legislation that would combat state-level voter suppression or anti-protest measures. “Marco Rubio voted against stimulus checks, he voted against COVID relief for our schools and our small businesses,” Demings said in the Orlando Sentinel. “And he voted against helping those on the frontlines, our first responders or teachers, our health care workers.”
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