Category Archives: Republican

Georgia Democrats have announced a list of five finalists to replace John Lewis on the ballot for Novembers congressional elections.

The civil rights leader, who had represented the fifth district since 1987, died on Friday aged 80. He had been suffering from pancreatic cancer. Funeral plans have not yet been announced.

A state senator, a state representative, the head of the state National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), an Atlanta city councilman and the former president of a prominent historically black college are in the running to replace him.

The winner will face the Republican Angela Stanton-King in November. Stanton-King is a reality TV personality who was pardoned earlier this year by Donald Trump for her role in a stolen car ring, after serving six months of home confinement in 2007.

Stanton-Kings pardon, in February, came in the same batch as pardons or acts of clemency for former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich and Wall Street financier Michael Milken, among others.

In March, Stanton-King caused controversy when she equated LGBTQ rights with pedophilia, telling NBC News she was very concerned about the whole LGBTQ movement and the way it sexualizes children. She also said she was not against LGBTQ rights like same-sex marriage.

Lewis won more than 84% of the vote when he last faced a Republican in the district, in 2016.

A select group of Georgia Democrats sifted through 131 applications to decide who will replace Lewis on the ballot in a district which includes parts of Atlanta. The group included the Atlanta mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, and former state House minority leader and gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams, both potential vice-presidential picks for Joe Biden.

The five selected were to be considered at a meeting of the state partys executive committee later on Monday.

They are: state senator Nikema Williams; state representative Park Cannon; Georgia NAACP president James Woodall; Atlanta city councilman Andre Dickens; and Robert Franklin, a former president of Morehouse College in Atlanta.

The seat will remain empty until Georgias governor, Brian Kemp, schedules a special election. The Republican, who beat Abrams in a 2018 election widely said to have been swung by his own voter suppression efforts as secretary of state, has given no indication when he will do so.

Kemp declared flags in the state will be at half-staff until sunset of the day of Lewiss funeral. On Sunday, hundreds gathered at a giant mural of Lewis near his Atlanta home.

Flowers, balloons, photos, candles and cards piled up at the base of the building, on which HERO is written above a painting of Lewis speaking.

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Democrats pick shortlist to replace John Lewis and face Republican pardoned by Trump - The Guardian

President Trump and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel appear at a New York fundraiser in 2017. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

President Trump and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel appear at a New York fundraiser in 2017.

The Republican National Committee raised nearly $37 million in June, almost $10 million more than in each of the two months before, according to figures shared first with NPR.

The RNC says June's haul leaves it with a record $100 million cash on hand.

"This unprecedented support has allowed us to build the biggest and most sophisticated Party infrastructure in modern political history, which will be critical to victory up and down the ballot on November 3rd," RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement, while also praising President Trump.

Monday is the deadline for presidential campaigns and parties to file their detailed monthly campaign finance reports with the Federal Election Commission. Already, they've revealed many top-line numbers.

On July 1, the campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, announced that it, combined with the Democratic National Committee and affiliated committees, had outraised Trump, the RNC and affiliated committees in June and over the quarter.

Trump and the RNC still maintain an advantage when it comes to money in the bank. As of June 30, they had $295 million cash on hand. But Biden's team has been making up ground rapidly and ended June with a combined $242 million cash on hand, according to campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon.

The nearly $37 million that the RNC raised in June includes transfers from other committees. How much was transferred won't be clear until the FEC report is filed later Monday. The party raised $27 million apiece in April and in May.

A DNC spokesperson didn't release the organization's numbers in advance of the filing, but on Sunday teased that its FEC report "will show the DNC has blown past how much we raised at the same point in 2016" and that it just had its "single best online fundraising quarter in the history of the organization."

The Trump campaign and the RNC are closing in on $1 billion raised this campaign cycle, an indication of just how expensive the 2020 fight for the White House and control of Congress is shaping up to be.

These numbers reflect a limited return of in-person fundraising for Trump and the RNC in June, after going more than two months without in-person events because of the coronavirus pandemic. The fundraisers were relatively small, with 25 attendees each and safety protocols that included testing every attendee for the coronavirus. And they raised a lot of money. For a fundraiser at a private home in Dallas, each couple donated $580,600 to Trump Victory, a joint fundraising committee with the RNC, the Trump campaign and 22 state parties. A fundraiser at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., brought in $250,000 per attendee.

What does all this money buy? The RNC and Trump's campaign now boast an army of more than 1,500 paid field organizers and other staff members in targeted states. The party is also investing heavily in legal battles with Democrats over voting laws.

And it is going to need the party infrastructure to turn out voters if current polling trends hold. Trump is trailing Biden nationally and is behind in key swing states.

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The RNC Raised Nearly $37 Million In June - NPR

On Wednesday afternoon, the latest batch of polls in the Presidential campaign were released, and they showed an increasingly grim picture for Donald Trump. The NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey had Joe Biden up by eleven points. Fifty per cent of those surveyed said that there was no chance they would support Trump. The Quinnipiac University poll showed an even wider national lead for Biden, of fifteen points. Trumps job-approval rating had sunk to thirty-six per cent, and a daunting sixty per cent of Americans disapproved of his performance in office. There is no upside, no silver lining, no encouraging trend hidden somewhere in this survey for the President, Tim Malloy, the Quinnipiac polling analyst who oversaw the study, said. A few hours later, Trump ousted his campaign manager, Brad Parscaleor, rather, had his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, do so. His new campaign manager is Bill Stepien, a New Jersey operative and former Trump White House political director best known for his role in former New Jersey Governor Chris Christies Bridgegate scandal. I look forward to having a big and very important second win together, the President tweeted, shortly before 9 P.M.

Reaction was swift, and withering. Brads not the one going off message. Brads not the one refusing to wear a mask, a senior White House official told CNN, lambasting Trump. Hes not focussed. Everyone has told him that. Nothing has changed. The political analyst Amy Walter said, The campaign manager isnt the problem. The problem is the candidate. Of course, she was right: Trumps summer slump is real, and it is his own fault.

Parscale did not tell Trump to downplay the threat of the coronavirus, or to deny its deadliness. He did not force Trump to undercut Americas scientists and public-health officials. He did not demand that America open back up for business in the midst of an untreatable plague. He was merely an extremely well-compensated cheerleader for the Presidents reckless actions. Now, with cases rising in forty-one states, the country has come to a new awareness that there will be no return to normalcy this fall. Many of Americas largest school districts announced this week that they will not welcome students back to classrooms in September. Trumps own head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Robert Redfield, said this week that this fall may be one of the most difficult times that the country has ever confronted. With little more than a hundred days left until the election, no amount of Trumpian rage, denial, bluster, or attacks has been able to obliterate this unpleasant reality of the Presidents making.

One of the enduring mysteries of this most unusual of campaign seasons is why Trumps precarious relection bid has not affected his standing with the Republican politicians who will be on the ballot alongside him. In the past, a historically unpopular President plummeting in the polls would have caused a slew of panicking pols to distance themselves. In July of 1980, when Jimmy Carters popularity sank into the low twenties and he hovered just under forty per cent in the polls in his race against Ronald Reagan, Carter even gave a speech in which he volunteered to stay away from Democratic members districts if they thought that his campaigning for them would hurt their chances. It didnt work, of course, and when Carter was defeated by Reagan his party lost twenty-nine seats in the House and control of the Senate.

But the vast majority of Republicans this time are not abandoning Trump; some are even choosing to double down on their embrace of the President, a political choice that speaks loudly to the current moment. Part of it is that Trump is an unusually vengeful politician, one who is obsessed with loyalty and who does not hesitate to go after members of his party who cross him. On Tuesday night, Trump and his inner circle crowed when his former Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, was soundly defeated in a Republican primary in Alabama, a humiliating end to his bid to win back the Senate seat that he gave up to serve in Trumps Cabinet. Sessions, who committed the unpardonable sinto Trumpof recusing himself from the Russia investigation, had been the first senator to endorse Trump, back in 2016. Even after being fired by the President, Sessions continued to publicly suck up to Trump during his comeback bid. A few weeks ago, when Trumps mid-pandemic return to the campaign trail, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, bombed, Sessions blithely praised the President for his masterful performance and winning message. But that was not enough for Trump, who endorsed Sessionss opponent and bad-mouthed his former A.G. as a disaster who let us all down. After the vote, Trump exulted in Sessionss defeat. So did Trumps close adviser Stephen Miller, the young immigration hawk who owes his career to Sessions. Asked on Wednesday about Sessionss loss, as he strolled across the White House driveway, Miller called it a great victory for the country, a great victory for the President.

Fear alone, however, does not explain whats going on with Republicans. Not every state is Alabama, where Trump will win in November no matter what. Trump has been sagging even in reliably red states, such as Georgia and Texasa Democratic Presidential candidate has not won the latter state since Carter, in 1976where surveys now show Biden more or less even with Trump. The Dallas Morning News wrote the other day that Trump represents a bigger threat to fellow Republicans than any GOP nominee in forty-four years. As coronavirus cases spike in Texas, the crucial suburban voters in Dallas and Houston, who have long been the G.O.P.s bedrock in the state, appear to be souring on the President. Yet Senator John Cornyn, a mild-mannered Republican-establishment type never previously seen as a Trumpite, has chosen to respond to his increasingly uphill relection challenge in Texas by becoming one of the Presidents more ardent public defenders. Hes tweeting more. Hes trolling. He told Texans to go out and drink some Corona beer and not to panic about the disease. Democrats are now calling him Mini-Don. There are plenty of other Republican officeholders like him.

The best, or at least most vivid, explanation for this phenomenon that Ive seen is a recent piece in Rolling Stone by the Republican strategist Tim Miller, an adviser to Jeb Bushs doomed 2016 Presidential campaign who became a fervent Never Trumper. Miller asked nine G.O.P.-consultant friends who are still welcome in the Party why the dumpster fire that is the Trump 2020 campaign has not caused their Republican candidates to abandon the President. There are two options, you can be on this hell ship, or you can be in the water drowning, one told Miller. Millers report from the U.S.S. Hellship suggests that the trapped sailors are well aware of how badly Trump is faring but are unable to bail outespecially in competitive elections, where the Party can ill afford to lose any Republican votes. In rural Texas, one of Millers informants pointed out, Trump gets like Saddam Hussein level numbers here. Cornyn desperately needs those Trump superfans in order to win statewide. Loyalty to Trump among such voters now outweighs any policy position, which means that catering to them requires Cornyn to strike a hard pro-Trump line, even if it further alienates the suburban moderates now wavering on the President. No dissent is tolerated, a consultant in another state told Miller. And, besides, another strategist told him, the election is all about Trumptheres no use pretending otherwise. Their observations are strikingly similar to a conversation that I had last month with a veteran Republican pollster, whose clients are running in competitive states. I asked him whether, given the bad and worsening poll numbers, we might soon see his candidates running away from the President. I dont think so, he said, citing the Trump Twitter curse. He stirs up his base all the time, so you cant take a position to reach out to the independents who have trouble with his persona, because the Republican Trump base will turn on you in a second. And so the Hellship sails on.

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Trumps Losing, So When Are Republican Candidates Going to Abandon Him? - The New Yorker

Welcome to Pollapalooza, our weekly polling roundup.

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, governors have generally received better marks for the way theyve handled the crisis than President Trump has. However, new polling suggests that may be changing, especially for Republican governors in states where the number of coronavirus cases has spiked in recent weeks.

Gallup recently found that Americans in the 26 states governed by Republicans are souring on their leaders approach to the public health crisis, while sentiment remains steadily positive among residents of the 24 states governed by Democrats. In fact, over the past month, the share of respondents who agreed that their governor cared about the safety and health of their community fell by 8 points, from 61 percent to 53 percent, in states where a Republican is governor; opinion in Democratic-run states hovered around 65 percent, despite some movement week to week.

And on the question of how clearly governors were communicating their plans to address the coronavirus, the GOP also got low marks. Among respondents in Republican-run states, just 43 percent said their governor offered a clear plan, down from 54 percent about a month ago. Meanwhile, 58 percent of respondents in Democratic-run states said that their governor was communicating clearly, which was nearly identical to the share who said so in early June.

Gallup isnt the only pollster to find GOP leaders getting lower scores for the way theyre dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. Change Researchs polling of six battleground states found especially poor numbers for Republican governors in two states where the number of coronavirus cases surged in the first half of July: Florida and Arizona. In Changes polling, 57 percent disapproved of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantiss handling of the outbreak, and a whopping 71 percent disapproved of Arizona Gov. Doug Duceys response. Additional polling in Arizona and Florida second these findings. OH Predictive Insights found that opinion of Duceys approach went from a net positive in June (59 percent approved, 37 percent disapproved) to a net negative in July (35 percent approved, 63 percent disapproved). Likewise, surveys by CBS News/YouGov found 53 percent of Floridians said DeSantis was doing a somewhat or very bad job and 62 percent of Arizonans said the same of Ducey.

Not every Republican governors pandemic-response ratings are underwater, however. Some, in fact, have sterling numbers. In late June, a survey from the University of New Hampshire found Gov. Chris Sununu had a 78 percent approval rating for his handling of the virus. Considering Sununu is up for reelection this November, his response could help him win another two years in office. Meanwhile, in Ohio, 77 percent of respondents in a late-June Quinnipiac University poll approved of Gov. Mike DeWines performance. And in Massachusetts, another late-June survey from Suffolk University found 81 percent approved of Gov. Charlie Bakers handling of the outbreak.

What these three governors have in common is the coronavirus hasnt been surging in their states recently as much as it has in Arizona or Florida, but that doesnt explain everything. Texass case rate has also shot up since late June, but Gov. Greg Abbott has gotten better marks than either DeSantis or Ducey. A CBS News/YouGov survey, for instance, found that public opinion was split as to how well he was handling the crisis: 50 percent said he was doing a good job and 50 percent said he was doing a bad job. And in another early-July survey from The Dallas Morning News/UT-Tyler, 49 percent approved of Abbotts response while 40 percent disapproved (10 percent said they neither approved nor disapproved).

Some Democratic governors have middling approval ratings, too. Change Researchs early-July survey found, for instance, that 56 percent approved of Wisconsin Gov. Tony Everss handling of the pandemic, while 55 percent approved of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolfs responses. And just 51 percent approved of North Carolina Gov. Roy Coopers efforts. Wolf got some better numbers from a Monmouth University poll released earlier this week, in which 67 percent said hed done a good job handling the coronavirus, but Cooper seems to be stuck around 50 percent. A late-June survey from East Carolina University found 53 percent approved of his response.

But on the whole, Americans have a somewhat more favorable view of the way Democratic governors have handled the pandemic than the way Republican governors are responding. In late June, a consortium of universities conducted a poll of governors handling of the coronavirus across all 50 states and found that the median approval rating for Democratic governors was about 55 percent, compared to 49 percent for Republican governors. And some Democratic executives have sky-high numbers for how theyve handled the pandemic. A late-June poll from Siena College gave New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo a 76 percent approval rating for his handling of the coronavirus, while a Garin Hart Yang Research Group survey found that 69 percent of Kentucky voters approved of Gov. Andy Beshears response.

Of course, as president, Trumps response to the coronavirus has continued to garner the most attention, but unfortunately for him, public opinion of his efforts has only worsened. About 58 percent now disapprove of his handling of the pandemic while just 38 percent approve, according to FiveThirtyEights coronavirus polling tracker.

According to FiveThirtyEights presidential approval tracker, 40.3 percent of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president, while 55.6 percent disapprove (a net approval rating of -15.2 points). At this time last week, 40.1 percent approved and 55.9 percent disapproved (a net approval rating of -15.8 points). One month ago, Trump had an approval rating of 40.8 percent and a disapproval rating of 55.1 percent, for a net approval rating of -14.3 points.

In our average of polls of the generic congressional ballot, Democrats currently lead by 8.3 percentage points (49.0 percent to 40.7 percent). A week ago, Democrats led Republicans by 9.0 points (49.4 percent to 40.4 percent). At this time last month, voters preferred Democrats by 7.9 points (48.5 percent to 40.6 percent).

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Americans Increasingly Dislike How Republican Governors Are Handling The Coronavirus Outbreak - FiveThirtyEight

WASHINGTON Representative Don Bacon, a Republican, had a blunt message for President Trump when a White House aide called him personally early this month and asked that he abandon legislation to strip the names of Confederate leaders from military bases.

Youre wrong you need to change, Mr. Bacon, a second-term Nebraskan and former Air Force brigadier general, told the official, he said in an interview. Were the party of Lincoln, the party of emancipation; were not the party of Jim Crow. We should be on the right side of this issue.

The sharp exchange between the White House aide and Mr. Bacon, who is facing an unexpectedly difficult re-election race, reflects just how much Mr. Trump has isolated himself even from members of his own party who rarely break with him on an issue that has come to the forefront of the political debate amid a national outcry for racial justice.

It will take center stage on Capitol Hill this week, when the House and Senate each consider sweeping annual military bills that contain bipartisan measures mandating that the Pentagon remove Confederate names from military assets. Mr. Trump, who has sought to stoke cultural and political divisions over symbols of the Confederacy, has said he would veto any bill with such a requirement.

The disconnect has raised the prospect of a rare, election-year clash between congressional Republicans and Mr. Trump on the military bill, the measure that authorizes pay raises for American troops and is regarded as must-pass legislation. Despite the presidents unapologetic stance, most Republicans have been unwilling to defend symbols of the Confederacy, and some have warned the president not to force the first veto override of his presidency.

The House voted on Monday to begin consideration of the bill and is expected to pass it this week, as the Senate debates a similar measure slated to be approved next week.

Mr. Trump, who has positioned himself against a growing movement for racial justice, renewed his veto threat in an interview aired Sunday. Mr. Trump told Fox Newss Chris Wallace that he rejected the counsel of military leaders like Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has called for taking a hard look at changing the names of the bases.

We won two world wars, two world wars, beautiful world wars that were vicious and horrible, and we won them out of Fort Bragg, Mr. Trump said. We won them out of all of these forts, and now they want to throw those names away.

On Monday, Senator James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, batted away the prospect of a veto showdown.

Hes threatened several times to do that, but he also knows thats the most important bill of the year, Mr. Inhofe said in a brief interview.

The measures cruising through Congress along bipartisan lines, including Mr. Bacons proposal and a separate one in the Senate, led by Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, go much further than an order issued by the Pentagon late last week that effectively banned displays of the Confederate flag on military installations around the world. Ms. Warrens amendment would require the Pentagon to strip all military assets of names and symbols of the Confederacy within three years. Another measure in House Democrats military spending bill would provide the Army with $1 million to rename the installations and other assets.

Few Republicans in Congress have rallied to Mr. Trumps side on the issue. Senate Republican leaders have moved to avoid a contentious showdown on the issue, ducking a vote on a proposal by Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, to remove Ms. Warrens requirement and replace it with a weaker measure that would instruct the Pentagon to study the issue.

This cancel movement seeks to divide us, not unite; to erase our history, rather than to reckon with it, Mr. Hawley said in a speech on the Senate floor, accusing proponents of Ms. Warrens measure of being driven by a kind of woke fundamentalism.

Taking such a vote on the Senate floor would have squeezed several Republicans in tight re-election battles. And Republican leaders in both chambers on Capitol Hill have been largely supportive of the effort to rename the bases.

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, told The Wall Street Journal last week that he would not block the effort to rename the bases, and in an interview with a Louisville radio station, he said he didnt have any problem with renaming the bases for people who didnt rebel against the country. He has urged the president not to veto the bill.

The issue of Army bases being named after Confederate generals is a legitimate concern in the times in which we live, said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina. Im OK with a process that the Senate came up with. And theres a lot of good things in this bill.

Representative Mac Thornberry of Texas, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, opposed the measures deadlines, saying that it did not give the Pentagon enough time to facilitate community discussion around the change and that the end goal should be increased understanding and changed hearts.

My personal opinion is that the names of some, if not all, of these installations should be changed, Mr. Thornberry said.

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Defying Trump, Lawmakers Move to Strip Military Bases of Confederate Names - The New York Times

But, so far this year, one topic has been off the table for these endangered Republican incumbents: the elected official at the top of the ticket this fall. It's a stark illustration of President Donald Trump's declining poll numbers and the danger they could pose to the Republican majority in the Senate.

The stakes are high for Republicans: Democrats need a net gain of just four seats to flip the chamber (or three seats if the party's presumptive presidential nominee, Joe Biden, captures the White House, giving his vice president tie-breaking power in an evenly divided Senate.)

In all, the five Republican incumbents in races viewed as pure tossups by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report -- Tillis, Collins and Gardner, along with Arizona Sen. Martha McSally and Montana Sen. Steve Daines -- have run nearly 37,000 television spots between January 1 and July 9, according to a tally by Kantar's Campaign Media Analysis Group for CNN.

But fewer than 5% of those ads contained pro-Trump messages, the analysis found. And, during the period examined, Tillis, Collins and Gardner ran no ads mentioning the President.

None of the five incumbents in tossup races have run any ads during the 2020 cycle that criticize Trump.

'Tough spot

Those spending decisions underscore the "tough spot" vulnerable incumbents in battlegrounds such as Colorado and North Carolina face, said Nathan Gonzales, editor of "Inside Elections" and a CNN contributor. "They need to form a coalition of voters that includes people who love Trump and people who don't like him very much," he said.

"They need every last Trump supporter," Gonzales added, "but also the independents and some moderate Democrats."

The careful dance among vulnerable Republicans of distancing themselves from Trump without sharply criticizing the President comes as Democratic candidates find themselves awash in campaign donations as the general election draws closer.

The latest sign of Democratic fundraising strength: Retired astronaut and first-time candidate Mark Kelly announced Tuesday that he had raised nearly $12.8 million in the second quarter of this year and had about $24 million remaining in the bank as he prepares for a showdown with McSally in Arizona.

Like it or not, "many of these senators will rise or fall based on how the President is handling his own job," said David Flaherty, the CEO of Magellan Strategies, a Republican polling firm in Colorado.

And in Colorado, where Gardner is a top target for Democrats, the first-term Republican likely will face an electorate that's less Republican and younger than the group of voters who sent Gardner to the Senate by a narrow margin six years ago, Flaherty said. Voters unaffiliated with any party now outnumber registered Democrats or Republicans in the state.

"It's a math problem" for Gardner, he said.

Aides to Gardner and Tillis did not immediately respond to interview requests.

Asked about the lack of Trump advertising, Collins' spokesman Kevin Kelly said the four-term senator "historically campaigns on her long record of accomplishments for the people of Maine," no matter who occupies the White House.

And Jesse Hunt, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said it's no surprise that Republicans are focusing on their accomplishments.

"Republican senators," he said, "have incredibly impressive records to run on and they're making sure voters are aware."

Coronavirus and jobs

Daines has run the most spots that include pro-Trump messages between January 1 and July 9 among the GOP Senate incumbents in tossup seats: 1,223, according to CMAG's data.

But they account for a tiny fraction -- just 8% -- of Daines' overall advertising this year.

The lion's share of his ads focus on coronavirus surging through the country and how to restore a US job market decimated by the pandemic. A recent spot argues that the US must hold "Communist China accountable" for what Daines called lying about the virus and then pivots to touts the first-term senator's effort to give tax credits to companies that return production and jobs to the United States.

In Arizona, meanwhile, McSally's most-run spot in July features an Arizona voter warning that "the coronavirus taught Americans that we are too reliant on China for our prescription drugs," and praising McSally's work on the issue.

Still, the reticence about embracing Trump does not extend to all Republicans running for Congress, particularly candidates in safe GOP seats.

Overall, more than four out of every 10 congressionally focused spots run by Republican candidates, PACs, parties and groups during the period examined were classified as pro-Trump by CMAG -- roughly on par with the party's embrace of Trump during the same period in the 2018 midterm elections.

Trump endorsed Tuberville and repeatedly attacked Sessions for recusing himself from the FBI investigation into Russian interference into the 2016 presidential election while serving as Trump's attorney general.

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Endangered Senate Republicans tout their records, not Trump, on the airwaves - CNN

Well, at least they dont have a lot of old people down there. Or at least, thanks to their governor, they wont in about three weeks. STEPHEN COLBERT

As one G.O.P. representative put it, Everybody just assumes no one is going. Yeah, even the R.S.V.P.s say, Check one: Not attending, What? No!, or Im ready, Jesus. STEPHEN COLBERT

I dont blame any of these people for not going. Not only is Florida the new epicenter, but in addition, Party officials were considering docking cruise ships in the citys port to provide extra lodging. So, youre in Florida, spending all day in an auditorium full of screaming people who wont wear masks, then you go home to sleep on a floating petri dish. The only way it would be more infectious is if the dinner was an all-you-can-bob lasagna buffet. STEPHEN COLBERT

Yeah, the president is now holding a three-day outdoor event in Florida in August. It will be worth watching just to see Trump lap up glasses of water like a thirsty golden retriever. And poor Mike Pence is going to be sweating like hes sitting through a Drag Race marathon. JIMMY FALLON

Yeah, Trump decided to move the convention outside after meeting with his most trusted advisers, Chuck Woolery and the My Pillow guy. JIMMY FALLON

Theyre shutting down again. Hollywood loves a sequel. This time its Shutdown 2: We Opened Up 2 Fast and People Are Furious. STEPHEN COLBERT

It was also announced that Los Angeles and San Diego have abandoned plans for even a partial physical return to classrooms. No in-person schooling. So bullies, youre going to have to get the nerds to Venmo you their lunch money. STEPHEN COLBERT

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Republicans Wont Do Much Convening in Florida, Colbert Thinks - The New York Times

Just like in 2016, a faction of the Republican party has emerged to try to defeat Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential election.

But unlike the last presidential race, where the effort never truly took off, this time those rebel Republicans have formed better organized groups and some are even openly backing Trumps Democratic opponent, Joe Biden.

In 2016, as Trump steamrolled his way through the Republican primary, some Republican lawmakers and operatives tried to mount an effort to stop him. Elected officials and veterans of previous Republican administrations organized letters, endorsed Hillary Clinton, and a few set up meager outside groups to defeat Trump.

Thats happening again but there are differences. The outside groups are more numerous and better organized, and most importantly, Trump has a governing record on which Republicans can use to decide whether to support him or not.

I think its qualitatively different, said Republican operative Tim Miller, who co-founded one of the main anti-Trump organizations. A lot of people who opposed [Trump] did the whole, Oh, Hillarys also bad, and Trumps bad, and everybody can vote their conscience kind of thing.

Miller said that 2016s effort was far more of a pox on both your houses phenomenon versus 2020s organized effort to defeat him.

The latest prominent Republican anti-Trump organization made its debut in early July. Its a Super Pac called 43 Alumni for Biden, and aims to rally alumni of George W Bushs administration to support the Democrat.

The new Super Pac was co-founded by Kristopher Purcell, a former Bush administration official; John Farner, who worked in the commerce department during the Bush administration; and Karen Kirksey, another longtime Republican operative. Kirksey is the Super Pacs director.

Were truly a grassroots organization. Our goal is to do whatever we can to elect Joe Biden as president, said Farner.

The Super Pac is still in its early stages and isnt setting expectations on raising something like $20m. Rather, 43 Alumni for Biden is just focused on organizing.

After seeing three and a half years of chaos and incompetence and division, a lot of people have just been pushed to say, We have got to do something else, Purcell said. We may not be fully on board with the Democratic agenda, but this is a one-issue election. Are you for Donald Trump, or are you for America.

This is a one-issue election. Are you for Trump, or are you for America?

43 Alumni for Biden is new compared with two other larger anti-Republican groups.

The best-knownis the Lincoln Project, a political action committee founded in 2019 by Republican strategists who have long been critical of Trump.

The Lincoln Project has made a name for itself for its creative anti-Trump ads. It has also brought on veteran Republican strategists like Stu Stevens, a top adviser for now-Utah senator Mitt Romneys 2012 presidential campaign. George Conway, the husband of Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, is also a co-founder of the group.

Unlike other anti-Trump groups, the Lincoln Project has weighed in to Senate races and has begun endorsing Senate candidates. It has backed the Montana governor, Steve Bullock, in his Senate bid against the sitting Republican Steve Daines.

Then theres Republican Voters Against Trump, a group led by Bill Kristol, a well-known neoconservative and former chief of staff to then vice-president Dan Quayle, and Republican consultants Sarah Longwell and Tim Miller.

That group is focused on organizing anti-Trump Republicans.

Lincoln is doing two things really well. One is narrative-setting, and just beating Trump over the head with hard-hitting attacks, Miller said. And theyre also working on Senate races, which were not doing. I think that, frankly, theyre bringing the sledgehammer and working on Senate races, and we are elevating these peer voices in a way to persuade voters.

A set of Republican national security officials has also emerged in opposition to Trump.

That group hasnt given itself a name yet, and includes the former Bush homeland security adviser Ken Wainstein, and John Bellinger III, who served in the state department. The group is looking to rally national security officials away from Trump either by supporting Biden or writing in someone else.

Even with all the organizing by these groups, theres still the persistent fact that swaths of former Republican officials and operatives methodically endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016, and since then Trump has enjoyed sky-high approval ratings among the Republican party electorate.

But these groups say that was a result of Americans having not yet experienced a Trump presidency. They also say that the reason elected officials arent coming out to support Biden is because theyre worried about the blowback.

Colleen Graffey, part of the national security group of Republicans opposing Trump, said the reason some elected Republican officials arent coming out to oppose Trump publicly is because theyre scared.

Theyre worried theyre going to be primaried, Graffey said. Theyre worried theyre going to be tweeted, if that can be a weaponized verb.

Asked what his big fear is now, Farner said its that Republicans wont come out to vote at all.

My fear is that they will not come out and vote. And were here to say that its OK. Were putting ourselves out here too, Farner said. Its OK.

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'We've got to do something': Republican rebels come together to take on Trump - The Guardian

You see the convention go to another state and you know theyre going to reap the benefits, and we desperately needed that, said Elaine Wordsworth, whose husband, Steve Wordsworth, is a North Carolina businessman who has donated generously to Mr. Trumps re-election fund.

Indeed, when Jacksonville was selected as the host city for the convention in June, the news was seen by leaders there as a huge financial shot in the arm for a second-tier city that would never have been considered for such a role under normal circumstances. The average economic impact of hosting a convention for the local economy is about $200 million, and officials in Jacksonville initially estimated that even a hurried version of the Republican event would bring in at least half of that.

But now, many of the people involved in the process in Jacksonville are beginning to feel like the dog that caught the car. About 58 percent of registered voters in Duval County, which encompasses Jacksonville, say they are opposed to the city hosting the mass gathering, according to a new poll from the University of North Florida, which also showed that 71 percent of voters said they were at least somewhat concerned about transmission of coronavirus.

For Republican officials, untangling the financial knot from the Charlotte convention remains a work in progress. Given the contracts that had been signed and the many parties around the table including the local host committee, the R.N.C. and the city itself, among others concerns about potential legal action have figured into managing the fallout, several people connected to the process said.

Patrick Baker, Charlottes city attorney, said in an interview that the city itself had spent roughly $14 million preparing for the convention. Much of that went toward insurance and security costs, he said, and the city expected to be reimbursed in full through a federal grant from the Justice Department.

The focus of the City Council has been to make sure, at a minimum, that were made whole and not left holding the bag, Mr. Baker said.

The Charlotte program has been scaled back to the bare minimum. Only the 168 national committeemen are expected to visit Charlotte. While there, they will attend meetings at one hotel and then take a bus together to the airport, where they will board a chartered plane and fly to Jacksonville for the remainder of the convention, according to someone briefed on the plans.

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How the Republican Convention Created Money Woes in Two Cities - The New York Times

A Kansas newspaper whose publisher is a county Republican chairman posted a cartoon on its Facebook page likening an order from the states governor requiring people to wear masks in public to the round-up and murder of millions of Jews during the Holocaust.

The cartoon on the Anderson County Reviews Facebook page depicts Democratic governor Laura Kelly wearing a mask with a Jewish Star of David on it, next to people being loaded on to train cars. Its caption is: Lockdown Laura says: Put on your mask ... and step on to the cattle car.

The newspaper posted the cartoon on Friday, the day Kellys mask order took effect. It drew several hundred comments, many strongly critical.

Publisher Dane Hicks, who is also Anderson countys Republican party chairman, said he would answer questions once he could reach a computer. His newspaper is based in the county seat of Garnett, about 65 miles south-west of Kansas City. It has a circulation of about 2,100, according to the Kansas Press Association.

Kelly, who is Catholic, issued a statement saying: Mr Hicks decision to publish antisemitic imagery is deeply offensive and he should remove it immediately.

Kansas Senate minority leader Anthony Hensley, a Democrat, called the cartoon appalling and disgusting and said anyone connected to its posting should be fired.

Rabbi Moti Rieber, executive director of Kansas Interfaith Action, said most if not all comparisons of current events to the Holocaust are odious and said it was incoherent to equate the masks order, an action designed to save lives, with mass murder.

Finally, he said, putting the Star of David on Kellys mask was antisemitic because it implies nefarious Jews are behind her actions.

This thing is like the trifecta of garbage, Rieber said, calling on Republican leaders to repudiate the cartoon and Hicks.

Some Republicans have criticized Kellys order for infringing on personal liberties, though Kansas law allows counties to opt out and Anderson county has done so.

The governor issued the order because of a resurgence in coronavirus cases that increased the states total to nearly 16,000 as of Friday, when Kansas finished its worst two-week rise since the pandemic began. The state has reported 277 Covid-19-related deaths.

The number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected without feeling sick.

State Republican chairman Mike Kuckelman was spending the Fourth of July in the Missouri Ozarks and did not immediately respond to a text seeking comment.

Hicks previously criticized Kelly in a blogpost for taking a one-size-fits-all approach to reopening what he called the states bureaucracy-hammered economy.

Kelly lifted statewide restrictions on businesses and public gatherings on 26 May, after weeks of criticism from the Republican-controlled state legislature. Some conservative lawmakers have accused her of being heavy handed and dictatorial.

Anderson county, with about 7,900 residents, is part of a conservative swath of eastern Kansas. Republicans outnumber Democrats two to one and Donald Trump carried it with nearly 73% of the vote in 2016.

The state health department has reported four coronavirus cases for Anderson county, all since 8 May. There have been no reported deaths there.

County commission chairman Jerry Howarter said of the more than 70 people who showed up to its meeting on the mask mandate on Friday, all but one opposed it. He said he had not seen the cartoon.

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Kansas paper published by Republican posts cartoon likening masks order to Holocaust - The Guardian