Category Archives: Republican

Republicans have seized in particular on a March 2020 commission vote lifting a rule that required special voting deputies trained and dispatched by municipal clerks offices to visit nursing homes twice before issuing absentee ballots to residents. The special voting deputies, like most other visitors, were barred from entering nursing homes early in the pandemic, and the commission reasoned that there was not enough time before the April primary election to require them to be turned away before mailing absentee ballots.

The vote was relatively uncontroversial at the time: No lawsuits from Republicans or anyone else challenged the guidance. The procedure remained in place for the general election in November.

But after Joseph R. Biden Jr. won Wisconsin by 20,682 votes out of 3.3 million cast, Republicans began making evidence-free claims of fraudulent votes cast from nursing homes across the state. Sheriff Christopher Schmaling of Racine County said the five state election commissioners who had voted to allow clerks to mail absentee ballots to nursing homes without the visit by special voting deputies as is prescribed by state law should face felony charges for election fraud and misconduct in office.

Robin Vos, the Republican speaker of the State Assembly, who represents Racine County, quickly concurred, saying that the five commissioners including his own appointee to the panel should probably face felony charges.

The commissioners have insisted they broke no laws.

Ann Jacobs, a Democrat who is the commissions chairwoman, said she had no regrets about making voting easier during the pandemic and added that even my Republican colleagues were afraid about the future of fair elections in the state.

We did everything we could during the pandemic to help people vote, she said.

Mr. Johnson a two-term senator who said he would announce a decision on whether to seek re-election in the next few weeks is lobbying Republican state legislators, with whom he met last week at the State Capitol, to take over federal elections.

The State Legislature has to reassert its constitutional role, assert its constitutional responsibility, to set the times, place and manner of the election, not continue to outsource it through the Wisconsin Elections Commission, Mr. Johnson said. The Constitution never mentions a governor.

Read the rest here:

Wisconsin Republicans Push to Take Over the States Elections - The New York Times

by: TheRealDeal Staff via Nexstar Media Wire

(Getty Images)

(TheRealDeal) Where you live and whom you vote for have never been moreclosely tied. Mappedelection resultsover the past few decades show the red middle has grown redder and the blue coasts bluer.

But when it comes to settling down in another partys territory, areportby apartment-listing site Zumper shows registered Republicans are more liberal about living among Democrats than the other way around with one caveat.

To conduct the survey, Zumper asked 1,500 people from across the country, Would you move to an area that did not match your political leaning?

Democrats were less inclined than Republicans to lay down roots among people on the other end of the politician spectrum, as 40 percent said they would not move to a red area and only 27 percent said they would.

Republicans, however, were game to mix with the left, with 43 percent of GOP voters saying they would move to an area that did not match their politics and 36 percent saying they would not.Read more

Jeff Andrews, report author and data analyst at Zumper, said Republicans openness to liberal enclaves makes more sense if you split them into two camps upper-middle-class and wealthy constituents who prize low regulation in one, and low-income, rural voters who favor identity politics in the other.

A wealthy Republican who works in finance might prefer to live in New York City, despite its blue leaning, Andrews said, pointing to job location and the perks of living in a cultural hub as factors. Plus, higher earners could afford to relocate.

The lasting popularity of Manhattans Metropolitan Republican Club speaks to that cohorts existence. Just last month, the group sold out its 118th annual dinner honoring Forbes Editor-in-Chief Steve Forbes with the Ronald Reagan Award in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Reagan Tax Cuts.

The Silk Stocking District on the Upper East Side is also routinely the top-donating area to Republican campaigns.

Similarly, in San Francisco, where just over 6 percent of voters are registered as Republicans, some ballots were cast for Donald Trump in 2016. The votes were concentrated in the citys richest areas Pacific Heightsand Sea Cliff, among them, the San Francisco examinerreported.

In New York, there are likewise Republican pockets within the cities tight-knit communities, such as Brooklyns Hasidic and Russian Jewish enclaves. Brighton and Manhattan Beachelected a Republican City Council memberthis year for the first time this century.

Still, Republican openness to relocation knows some bounds, the report found. For many, Covid-19 protocols were a critical catch.

While 86 percent of Democrats said they would move to an area with a mask mandate, less than half of Republicans said the same. Aversions to vaccine mandates held similar sway. Just over one-third of Republicans said they would move somewhere that had vaccination requirements; 82 percent of Democrats said they would.

Considering the strict vaccine mandates for certain jobs and venues in San Francisco, Los Angeles andNew York, it seems unlikely that the three cities will see an influx of Republicans anytime soon.

Go here to see the original:

Republicans more willing to live among Democrats than vice versa, survey says - KXAN.com

Tony Quinn| Special to CalMatters

After 70 years of political squabbling, it looks like California will finally have a state redistricting not tainted by partisanship. Thats the message the new California Citizens Redistricting Commission seems to be sending.

It is hard to believe but we have had seven decades of political fights over district lines, beginning in 1951. In 1981, Rep. Phil Burton showed the nation what gerrymandering could really be with a plan he called My contribution to modern art. That led to Republicans trying to hand off redistricting to a nonpartisan commission, which was finally achieved for the 2011 cycle.

But that commission quickly came under attack that some of its commissioners had partisan motives and were corrupting the process.

So why is it different this time? For one thing, none of the 14 current commissioners had involvement in partisan politics.

Another major reason is that there are really no partisan stakes left as California has become such a deep shade of blue. There is no way a plan could be written that would deny Democrats supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature; the Republican collapse has been so pronounced over the past decade.

But California almost certainly will be a factor in the U.S. House of Representatives, something that has not been the case for decades. Democrats have only a five-seat majority in the House, and the make or break for Democrats could be California.

More importantly, Republicans control more legislatures around the country and Republican-run states are gaining seats. So one might have expected pressure on the California commission to help balance Democratic losses with some sweetheart districts here. A careful examination of the four visualizations and theinitial draft planreleased by the commission shows that this simply is not the case.

Democrats won seven GOP held Congressional districts in 2018, and Republicans won back four of them in 2020. The three remaining Democrats, Reps. Josh Harder, a Democrat from Turlock,Katie Porter, a Democrat from Irvine, and Mike Levine, a Democrat from San Diego, all have worse districts under the commissions first draft.

Why is this? For one thing, the commission has followed the lead of its legal staff and made a priority of creatingVoting Rights Act districtswith a majority of Latino voters, as the law requires them to do. This makes playing partisan games much more difficult. The2020 Censusshowed an interesting phenomenon: The Latino population is rapidly reaching middle-class status and moving to the suburbs, so the new Voting Rights Act districts are in the suburbs like the Inland Empire.

This is nothing new, for decades Democrats depended on urban political machines populated by immigrant Irish, Italians and Jews. After World War II, second and third generations moved to the suburbs. The same thing is occurring with Californias Latino population. Only it is happening faster than with other immigrant groups.

There is criticism in some Latino circles that the commission has not created more Latino districts, but in fact Latino, Asian and African American candidates regularly win in non-minority areas. The commission has collapsed the Los Angeles district of Democratic Rep. Lucille Roybal Allard, a seat that has been in her family for 60 years. But it was the most underpopulated district in the state, and Los Angeles grew much slower than the rest of the state.

This is not to say everything the commission has done is perfect. They have made a mess of Bakersfield and Fresno, creating wild-looking districts that violate communities of interest. In trying to create three Voting Rights Act congressional districts in the Central Valley they actually lowered the Latino population in the two that exist now. So they do have some clean-up work to do.

But Californians should be pleased with this commission so far. Finally, after 70 years, it seems that partisan politics has been taken out of district drawing.

Tony Quinn was a longtime Republican consultant whose work on redistricting began in 1971. He was an expert witness in two lawsuits against the 2011 commission plans.

Read more:

Commentary: I'm a Republican, and I think California's redistricting commission is doing well - The Desert Sun

COLUMBIA, S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster, Lt. Gov. Pamela S. Evette, and First Lady Peggy McMasters schedules for the week of November 22includethe following:

Note: There are no scheduled public events at this time. You will be notified if an event is added.

-###-

Gov. Henry McMasters Weekly Schedule: November15, 2021

COLUMBIA, S.C. Gov. Henry McMasters schedule for the week of November 15, 2021, included:

Monday, November 15

8:00 AM:Policy meeting.

Gov. McMaster was in the Office of the Governor for office hours, State House, firstfloor, Columbia, SC.

10:30 AM:Meeting with members of the South Carolina General Assembly.

Tuesday, November 16

8:30 AM:Gov. McMaster held a COVID-19 briefing call with state officials.

3:30 PM (MST):Republican Governors Association meeting.

5:45 PM (MST):Republican Governors Association event.

6:30 PM (MST):Republican Governors Association event.

8:30 PM (MST): Republican Governors Association event.

Wednesday, November 17

10:30 AM (MST): Republican Governors Association meeting.

10:45 AM (MST):Republican Governors Association meeting.

11:00 AM (MST):Republican Governors Association meeting.

11:15 AM (MST): Republican Governors Association meeting.

11:30 AM (MST):Republican Governors Association meeting.

11:45 AM (MST):Republican Governors Association meeting.

12:00 PM (MST):Republican Governors Association meeting.

12:15 PM (MST):Republican Governors Association meeting.

2:00 PM (MST):Republican Governors Association event.

3:15 PM (MST):Gov. McMaster spoke at the Republican Governors Association event - Corporate Plenary I: DC Dysfunction - Republican Governors Lead the Way Forward, Phoenix, AZ.

4:45 PM (MST):Republican Governors Association event.

6:30 PM (MST):Republican Governors Association event.

8:30 PM (MST): Republican Governors Association event.

Thursday, November 18

8:00 AM (MST):Republican Governors Association event.

10:30 AM (MST): Republican Governors Association event.

11:45 AM (MST): Republican Governors Association event.

1:00 PM (MST): Republican Governors Association event.

Friday, November 19

8:30 AM:Gov. McMaster held a COVID-19 briefing call with state officials.

3:00 PM:Gov. McMaster and First Lady Peggy McMaster attended the funeral service for Senator Hugh K. Leatherman, Sr., Francis Marion University Performing Arts Center, 201 S. Dargan Street, Florence, S.C.

Sunday, November 21

6:00 PM: Gov. McMaster and First Lady Peggy McMaster participated in the 55th Annual Governors Carolighting, north steps, State House, 1100 Gervais Street, Columbia, S.C

Visit link:

Gov. Henry McMaster, Lt. Gov. Pamela S. Evette, and First Lady Peggy McMaster's Weekly Schedule, November 22, 2021 | SC Governor Henry McMaster - S.C....

Dr. Johnson

Dr. A. Wayne Johnson

Plains, GA, Nov. 23, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- Dr. A. Wayne Johnson, successful businessman and a former senior official with the U.S. Department of Education as part of the Trump Administration, announced today he will run for the Republican nomination from Georgias 2nd Congressional District in the May primary.

Johnson said he believes the upcoming mid-term Congressional election in this newly balanced district will be one of the most competitive, most highly watched and most pivotal Congressional races in the nation.

I want to go to Washington and work on the kitchen table issues that citizens of this district discuss as part of their everyday lives, said Dr. Johnson. Rural healthcare, family-wage jobs, senior care, support for farmers and a quality education for their children are important things that people care about and that I will focus on.

Dr. Johnson was born in Georgia and has been a lifelong resident of Georgia.

Having been introduced to public policy in Washington by Sen. Johnny Isakson, Dr. Johnson, a recognized national expert in the field of educational funding, served in the Executive Branch as head of the $1.7 trillion Federal Student Loan program.

I learned how Washington works and know it can be made to work better for residents of the 2nd District, said Dr. Johnson.

Dr. Johnson is a respected former banker who has established businesses in the district and other parts of Georgia. He has enjoyed both cattle and tree farming and worked for a major corporation in the 2nd District.

I have a deep appreciation for public service, and I look forward to once again serving, said Dr. Johnson. I will be visiting with people from all parts of the 2nd District to hear what is important to the hard-working people who live in this important part of Georgia.

Dr. Johnson is an Eagle Scout and served as an Officer in the U.S. Army. He obtained his undergraduate and doctoral degrees from Mercer University and his MBA from Emory University. Dr. Johnson currently resides in Macon.

Story continues

Contact:Davis Lundy478-324-8856davislundy@aol.com

Attachment

Read more from the original source:

Dr. A. Wayne Johnson, Former Trump Administration Official, Announces Bid for Republican Nomination in Georgias 2nd Congressional District - Yahoo...

Dr. Ozs next shtick could be politician. Photo: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

With Republicans already heavily favored (by history and public-opinion trends) to flip the U.S. House in the 2022 midterms and bust up the Democratic governing trifecta, the bigger drama next year may be over the Senate, where the landscape is significantly more favorable to Democrats thanks to the particular class of senators who are up for reelection, as Cook Political Reports Jessica Taylor explains:

[Democrats are] defending 14 seats to the 20 Republicans have up this cycle. And the GOP has five open seats including three we rate as competitive in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Ohio while Democrats only got their first vacancy earlier this week with Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahys retirement, which isnt expected to become competitive.

Of the three open Republican seats, the one in Pennsylvania being vacated by Pat Toomey is considered the most vulnerable, since Democrats are on a bit of a mini-streak in statewide races lately (holding the governorship in 2014 and 2018 and carrying the state for Joe Biden in 2020).

So Republicans are really focused on holding that Pennsylvania Senate seat, but have no clear-cut favorite for the nomination. The early front-runner was Afghanistan war hero, frequent Fox News guest, and 2020 House candidate Sean Parnell (who narrowly lost a southwestern Pennsylvania race to Democratic incumbent Conor Lamb). Most importantly, Parnell won an early endorsement from Donald Trump. But Parnells candidacy has been all but overshadowed by a noisy and potentially lethal custody battle with his ex-wife, who alleges he physically abused her and their children. A number of other candidates are in the race or considering it most prominently, 2018 nominee for lieutenant governor Jeff Bartos, who has the wealth to keep himself viable. But these troubled waters have now been roiled further by the rumored imminent candidacy of someone with very few direct connections to either the Republican Party or the Keystone State: celebrity TV physician Mehmet Oz, better known simply as Dr. Oz.

Oz did quietly register to vote in Pennsylvania late last year. But hes from Ohio, has lived for years in New Jersey, and is arguably really from Hollywood. A cardiothoracic surgeon with excellent credentials, Oz was one of Oprah Winfreys most successful protgs, parlaying regular appearances on Oprahs show into his own syndicated TV show. While originally he was just someone telegenic and articulate who offered standard medical advice, he soon began to focus on topics like weight loss that were of interest to his daytime and largely female audience. Eventually, he was accused of promoting pseudo-medical remedies on his show and in his many books, and became a controversial (albeit still popular) figure.

Ozs career crossed over conspicuously into politics when he featured Donald Trump as a guest during the 2016 presidential contest and appeared to validate the candidates undocumented claims of excellent health. But he really became a figure of political controversy in early 2020, when he promoted hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment in multiple appearances on Fox News and apparently influenced Trumps own passion for the dubious panacea. As the New York Times columnist Frank Bruni said in April of 2020: Of course President Trump is getting advice about the pandemic from Mehmet Oz, and of courseDr. Ozis eager to provide it. Theyre a match made in ratings-obsessed heaven.

Subsequently, Trump appointed Oz as one of 29 members of the Presidents Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition. But little is known of the docs political views. Back in 2007, he called himself a moderate Republican, which is no longer a thing. According to Politico, Pennsylvania Republicans dont know what to make of the potential candidacy, which was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon but has yet to advance beyond speculation and some rumored private maneuvering. Presumably, Oz could self-finance a pretty robust campaign. Unlike Parnell, from the Pittsburgh area, and Bartos, from the Philadelphia suburbs, the doctor would have no geographical base other than the screen in nearly every living room. There are a lot of questions about his background that opposition research might turn up. From an influential Turkish family, Oz is a dual citizen who appears to have some sort of relationship with the intermittently sinister Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Conservative Evangelicals might be less than thrilled to learn that Oz is a practicing Muslim (albeit one influenced by the Pacific Sufi tradition).

His big assets are near-universal name ID and some maneuverability on issues as a political outsider. His main path to a Senate nomination, though, would be a Parnell implosion (entirely possible if he loses his court fight over custody of his kids), followed by a Trump endorsement of his TV buddy.

Beyond the Parnell, Trump, and Oz factors, the trajectory of the Pennsylvania Senate race is hard to predict. Democrats seem headed toward a potentially fractious primary fight between progressive-populist lieutenant governor John Fetterman and centrist representative Conor Lamb (as noted before, Parnells conquerer in 2020). If control of the Senate and thus the ability of the Biden administration to get its executive-branch and judicial nominees confirmed comes down to Pennsylvania, dont bet the farm on any one outcome.

Daily news about the politics, business, and technology shaping our world.

Go here to read the rest:

Doctor Oz Mulls Republican Senate Run in Pennsylvania - New York Magazine

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus's (CHC) campaign chief on Friday lashed out at Republicans following House passage of President BidenJoe BidenHouse Democrats push vote on social spending plan to Friday Fauci says all adults should 'go get boosted' Senate confirms Park Service director after years of acting heads MORE's Build Back Better bill.

Rep. Rubn Gallego (D-Ariz.), the chairman of Bold PAC, called out Republican opposition to the bill, which includes health care, immigration, education and family care provisions that are popular among many Hispanic communities.

"Were building back better for the Latino community by expanding access to affordable health care, making our immigration system more humane and efficient, and investing in childcare and caregiving by extending the Child Tax Credit and establishing universal preschool," said Gallego.

"Republicans have proven time and again that if people elect them, they will vote against policies that help hard working Americans like the American Rescue Plan, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the Build Back Better Act and will then go back to their districts and lie to their constituents about supporting them," he added.

Most Democrats are taking a victory lap Friday, as the bill's passage marked the end of long and sometimes contentious intraparty negotiations that threatened to break down often over the last few months.

The bill has yet to be approved by the Senate, and certain aspects still have to be cleared by the upper chamber's parliamentarian to see if they are compatible with the reconciliation process.

Still, House passage of Biden's signature legislation comes as the president's poll numbers seem to have hit rock bottom and Democrats face mighty headwinds heading into the 2022 midterm elections.

Party campaign committees, like Bold PAC, were hungry for legislative accomplishments to take to their base and energize armies of volunteers to rile up voters before the election.

Bold PAC's core missions are to protectCHC incumbents and expand the number of elected members of the caucus.

In recent cycles Bold PAC has also moved aggressively with independent expenditures promoting the CHC's non-Hispanic allies around the country.

View post:

Hispanic Democrats hit Republicans over opposition to House-passed bill | TheHill - The Hill

Chris Christie has been cosplaying the respectable Republican for a while now, but we here in his home state of New Jersey remember. We remember the screaming at teachers, we remember the government shutdowns, we remember the beach vacation he took during that shutdown and we remember his shameless groveling over the four years of the Trump administration during which he gladly humiliated himself and enabled a man who actively tried to overthrow Democracy. He just wrote a book about how to save the Republican party, which is the moral equivalent of breaking someones legs and standing outside the emergency room to sell them crutches.

Christie was a loyal member of team Trump until it became convenient for him not to be. If Trump rang he came running. COVID-laden Supreme court nominee reception? Thank you, Sir, may I have another. Debate prep? My pleasure Mr. President. Now, he happily tells anyone with a camera that the GOP must move on from Trump, and wouldnt you know it, hes available for the job.

I have no doubt in my mind that if it becomes advantageous for Christie to rejoin team Trump a year or six months from now he would disavow everything he wrote or said that cast aspersions on the fearless leader and fall in line. Maybe this time Trump will actually make Christie Attorney General instead of stringing him along for four years. Or maybe the former president will just drag him on stage at a rally to mock him again. I remember that. I wonder if he does.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow us on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and on Facebook at NJ.com Opinion. Get the latest news updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.

Continued here:

Chris Christie is here to rescue the Republican Party | Sheneman - nj.com

America is exceptional, but we need fresh leadership, innovative ideas, and a different direction for the Fifth District of Tennessee.

Manny Sethi| Guest Columnist

Tennessee Voices: A conversation with Manny Sethi

Opinion and Engagement Director David Plazas spoke with U.S. Senate candidate and trauma surgeon Manny Sethi.

David Plazas, USA TODAY NETWORK Tennessee

America is the greatest country in the world. My family and millions of others are proof. My parents were legal immigrants and came to America with nothing, but by the grace of God, hard work, and rural community values, my brother and I lived the American Dream in Tennessee.

I vividly remember as a young boy my father taking me to India to show me the slums where he grew up. He always said, Be very grateful you were born in America.

My dads words ring as true today as they did when I was a young man.

As we return to some sense of normalcy, we face incredible hurdles both at home and abroad. These obstacles are a direct result of the Biden Administration, who is clearly out of touch with the American people. In short, this administration is off the rails with endless mandates, international gaffes, and overall incompetence.

RELATED: Manny Sethi, former Republican U.S. Senate candidate, will not run for Congress

Internationally we face serious threatsthe greatest comes from China. Economically, China is unquestionably our greatest rival, and yet we continue to allow them to dominate American supply chains, manipulate the value of their currency, and steal intellectual property.

As China grows its military with a navy fleet that rivals our own and a new hypersonic missile, it is critical that we reinforce our commitments to freedom in places like Taiwan, Hong Kong, across the Pacific, and beyond. China is filling the vacuum in Afghanistan forging new relations with the Taliban in the wake of our chaotic exit. We needed to end the war in Afghanistan, but the disorganized evacuation did not honor the American patriots who served and sacrificed for our country over two decades.

Hear more Tennessee Voices: Get the weekly opinion newsletter for insightful and thought provoking columns.

At home, we also face very serious uncertainty. America went from having the strongest economy in our nations history under President Trump, to inflation rates not seen since the 1970s.

Instead of harnessing the power of the private sector, we find ourselves doubling down on big government through uncontrolled federal spending, higher proposed taxes, and new vaccine mandates.

Americans are also starting to encounter unthinkable challenges as prices of gas and groceries soar.

America is exceptional, but we need fresh leadership, innovative ideas, and a different direction. A new congressional Fifth District in Tennessee that is currently under discussion is important to our nations future. I believe that we must elect a conservative Republican who will fight for America first, politicians last, and policies that will once again bring respect back to our country.

Sign up for Latino Tennessee Voices newsletter:Read compelling stories for and with the Latino community in Tennessee.

Sign up for Black Tennessee Voices newsletter:Read compelling columns by Black writers from across Tennessee.

I am grateful to the hundreds of supporters who have encouraged me to pursue this new congressional seat, but after faithful deliberation, my path leads me to family and patients who need care, especially those impacted by the unprecedented pandemic.

One day my journey may take me back to the political arena, but only the good Lord knows that.

But during this season of Thanksgiving, one thing is clear to me I remain hopeful and optimistic about our countrys future. I am so grateful to those who protect our freedoms, defend our Republic, and always keep America first.

Manny Sethi is an orthopedic trauma surgeon in Nashville and president of Healthy Tennessee. He was a candidate for the U.S. Senate in the 2020 Republican Primary.

Follow this link:

Nashville needs a conservative Republican to fight for citizens in Congress | Opinion - The Tennessean

Then-US President Donald Trump with RNC Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel on December 2, 2017.Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

Ronna McDaniel said publicly for the first time on Thursday that Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

"Painfully, Joe Biden won the election," she said. "He's the president. We know that."

The RNC chief said she believes the GOP remains tethered to Donald Trump and "would lose" without him.

Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, acknowledged publicly for the first time on Thursday that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

"Painfully, Joe Biden won the election and it's very painful to watch," McDaniel told the audience at a breakfast in Washington hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. "He's the president. We know that."

McDaniel has established a "Committee on Election Integrity" at the RNC and claimed on Thursday that there were "lots of problems" with the 2020 election, despite there being no evidence of widespread election fraud. McDaniel's very delayed concession that former President Donald Trump lost the election is a testament to just how many Republicans either believe or refuse to contradict the false claim that Trump actually won the election.

Polling over the last year has consistently shown that the majority of Republican voters believe Trump won reelection in 2020. A Politico/Morning Consult poll conducted in June found that almost a third of registered Republicans believed the conspiracy theory that Trump would be reinstated as president this year.

The RNC chief, a close ally of Trump's, said on Thursday that she believes her party remains tethered to the former president.

"If he left the party, we would lose," McDaniel said of Trump. "If he left the party, Republicans would lose. He has built our party. He has added a new base."

McDaniel is the niece of Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee who voted with six other Republicans to convict Trump in the Senate trial after the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Story continues

Trump insists that investigating false claims of election fraud is the "the single most important thing for Republicans to do" ahead of the midterms next year. But McDaniel argued that the GOP's focus should be on attacking Biden and his policies.

"I think every Republican right now should be talking about 2022. I'm not talking about anything else other than what Biden is doing to destroy our country: high gas prices, an open border, an opioid crisis," she said. "Everybody else can do their own thing, but I think we should be talking about Joe Biden."

Read the original article on Business Insider

See more here:

Republican National Committee head Ronna McDaniel admits Biden beat Trump for the first time: 'Yeah, he's the president. It sucks' - Yahoo News