Category Archives: Republican

There arent a lot of things you can count on in this life, but one thing on which you definitely, 100% always can is Republicans rallying around the absolute worst members of society. Whether its an unsympathetic teen who killed two people, a colleague who proudly harasses school shooting survivors, or a Supreme Court justice accused of attempted rape, the GOP just loves to go to bat for these people. So naturally, their new pet cause is Steve Bannon, the indicted former Trump adviser who is literally still trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

In the wake of the Friday news that a grand jury had charged Bannon for refusing to appear for a deposition with January 6 investigators and refusing to turn over requested documentsneither of which is in dispute!Republican lawmakers have flown to the mans defense, claiming, amazingly, that hes a victim of a zealous Department of Justice and vowing to get revenge against the people who have wronged him.

Now that Democrats have started these politically-motivated indictments for Contempt of Congress, I look forward to seeing their reactions when we keep that same energy as we take back the House next year! Rep. Lauren Boebert tweeted on Saturday, as though theres a single, solitary thing that Republicans do thats not politically motivated. For years, Democrats baselessly accused President Trump of weaponizing the DOJ. In reality, it is the Left that has been weaponizing the DOJ the ENTIRE TIME - from the false Russia Hoax to the Soviet-style prosecution of political opponents, Rep. Elise Stefanikclaimed, apparently forgetting that Donald Trump desperately tried to get the DOJ to prosecute, among others, Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden. Matt Gaetz, who knows a little something about potential indictments, tweeted the hashtag #TeamBannon alongside a photo of the two of them on a tarmac near Air Force One.

Meanwhile, Rep. Jim Jordan suggested that Republicans will seek retribution for Bannon if they take over the House in 2022, claiming that Biden aides can expect to receive an avalanche of frivolous subpoenas. Joe Biden has evicerated [sic] Executive Privilege, Jordan wrote on Twitter. There are a lot of Republicans eager to hear testimony from Ron Klain and Jake Sullivan when we take back the House. Obviously, Jordan did not mention that Klain and Sullivan do not have information concerning the violent attack on the Capitol that took place last January, nor did he note that Congress is strictly interested in what Bannon might have discussed with Trump in regard to the insurrection, and not legitimate government business. Bannonis viewed as a key witness for the January 6 select committee because he reportedly had conversations with Trump in the weeks leading up to the Capitol attack, was present in the war room of Trump allies as the insurrection went down, andtoldpodcast listeners on January 5, All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. In September, Bannonsaidthat hetoldTrump before the insurrection that he needed to kill [the Biden] administration in the crib early on. In short, the House committee said in itsreportputting forward a contempt resolution against him, Mr. Bannon appears to have played a multi-faceted role in the events of January 6th, and the American people are entitled to hear his first-hand testimony regarding his actions.

For his part, Trump released a characteristically insane, historically inaccurate statement on Sunday, saying, This Country has perhaps never done to anyone what they have done to Steve Bannon and they are looking to do it to others, also. (The people imprisoned in Japanese internment camps would probably like a word. And enslaved people too. Oh, and the ones who died while someone was publicly claiming COVID-19 was no big deal.)

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Unhinged Republicans Threaten Retribution Over Bannon Indictment - Vanity Fair

Biden hails infrastructure win as 'monumental'

U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday hailed Congress' passage of his $1 trillion infrastructure package as a monumental step forward for the nation" after fractious fellow Democrats resolved a months-long standoff in their ranks to seal the deal. (Nov. 6)

AP

WASHINGTON Several Republican lawmakers were scheduled to attend President Joe Biden's ceremony at the White House where hewill sign his$1.2 trillion infrastructure bill into law.

The legislation passed with support from most Democrats as well as 19 Republicansenators and 13 GOP House members. The latter have faced a backlash, with their votes getting scorned byformer President Donald Trump, who slammed the House members as "RINOs" who "should be ashamed of themselves."

Biden invited everybody who supported the bill "because he felt that was the right thing to do," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday.

"Whether people come or not, that's their choice," she said.

The following Republicanswere expected at the ceremony:

A 'game changer'?: Mayors, governors ready to compete for $1 trillion in infrastructure funds

The independent-minded Murkowski announced her 2022 re-election bid days after touting the passage of the infrastructure bill as important to grow the economy and createjobs.

I will work with anyone from either party to advance Alaskas priorities, she said in her kick-off video.

Murkowski, the only GOP senator facing reelection who voted to convict Trump at his impeachment trial, is being challenged in the primary by a Republican backed by Trump.

Murkowski was part of the bipartisan group of lawmakers that negotiated the infrastructure package with the White House.

The notoriously-congested Brent Spence Bridge, which connects Cincinnati to northern Kentucky across the Ohio River, has for years been an often-pointed to example of why Americas infrastructure needs upgraded.

Were gonna fix that damn bridge of yours going into Kentucky, President Joe Biden said during a visit to Cincinnati in July.

Portman, who is retiring when his second term expires in 2022, helped negotiate the package thats being signed into law.

In addition to the package providing the toolsto fix this long-running traffic headache once and for all, Portman has said it will make the nation more productive and competitive against other countries like China.

And as Republicans are increasingly attacking Biden over rising inflation, Portman has described the billas "counter-inflationary because it makes long-term investments in ports, railroads, roads and otherassets.

Capito is the top Republican on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, which has jurisdiction over highways and other public work projects.

Shes said the infrastructure package includes significant wins for West Virginia including providing help to finish Corridor-H and to connect communities to the internet.

She also praised what she called the give-and-take among Democrats and Republicans to craft the final version.

This bill is further proof that this bipartisan process leads to better, lasting policy that will benefit the American people for generations to come, she said after House passage.

Capito was re-elected to a second term in 2020 with 70% of the vote.

Cassidy was among the bipartisan group of senators who helped craft the infrastructure bill.

The Louisiana Republican has said the bill is a major victory for his state, as well as the nation. He noted the bill would help protect Louisiana -- which has been hit several times by major hurricanes -- in future natural disasters.

This infrastructure package will rebuild our roads and bridges, increase access to high-speed internet, strengthen our electric grid, add levee protection, and improve flood resiliency, Cassidy said in a statement after the House passed the bill. After almost every corner of our state was hit by natural disasters in the last year, we must have the federal investment to protect us from future storms.

Despite Cassidys support for the infrastructure bill, he has been vocal about how hisopposition to the Build Back Better budget legislation.

This bipartisan bill is the right way to reinvest in our country, unlike Democrats reckless tax-and-spending spree, which I continue to strongly oppose, he said in a statement.

Collins is used to being in the middle of negotiations when Democrats look for allies across the aisle.

On infrastructure, Collins said she and nine other senators were determined to break through the partisan gridlock and pass this long-overdue infrastructure investment for the American people.

Congress has talked about truly modernizing our nations infrastructure for as long as we can remember, Collins and the bipartisan co-negotiators said in a joint statement after the Senate passed the bill.

Collins said she worked with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen,D-N.H., on the bills broadband provisions to expand high-speed Internet access to rural and unserved areas of their states. After being a top target of Democrats in 2020, Collins was re-elected to a fifth term with 51% of the vote.

The Utah Republican, who was among a bipartisan group of lawmakers who helped negotiate the bill, will be in attendance Monday.

Romney has said the bill will include historic investments that will benefit Utan and rebuild our nations physical infrastructure.

This legislation shows that Congress can deliver for the American people when members from both sides of the aisle are willing to work together to address our countrys critical needs, Romney said in a statement Monday.

Since the bill has passed the House, Romney has highlighted how the bill will help Utahs water supply and roads and highways.

All of us are responsible for serving the people of our state and our communityand our state is growing, Romney said during a stop in Central Utah, according to a local ABC station. Its essential that we have the water that we have the rights to and that we use the water in a way thats appropriate and responsible.

Reed may not be running for reelection during next years midterm election, but he has said that did not affect his vote.

I voted for this infrastructure bill because it was the right thing to do for the American people, he said during an interview on NewsNation last week.

Reed said earlier this year that he would not be running for reelection following sexual misconduct allegations. Reed has denied the allegations.

The New York Republican, who is a member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, has made infrastructure a key policy during his tenure in Congress. He said during a radio interview last week that he was glad to vote for this bill.

It was actually 10 years in the making, Reed said. It's time we stopped putting partisan politics as a motivating factor for everything that we do in Washington and do some things that are good for the American people, like this infrastructure bill.

Young, who announced he was running for reelection in late April,

was one of 13 GOP members who voted for the bill earlier this month. In a statement following his vote, he noted that the bipartisan bill may be our last best chance to make the federal investments necessary to modernize and strengthen America's infrastructure needs for the next century and beyond.

Was this bill perfect? No, but truthfully, few pieces of legislation are, he said in the statement. However, I firmly believe that we cannot sacrifice the good for the perfect. Very frankly, inaction on infrastructure risks our nation's fundamental economic independence and strength.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., did not attend the White House ceremony despite voting for the package. Here are the other GOP senators who backed the bill but were not expected to attend the signing:

Here the GOP House members who voted for the package but were not expected to attend the signing ceremony.

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32 Republicans voted for Biden's infrastructure bill. Here's who attended the signing ceremony - USA TODAY

At a conservative rally in western Idaho last month, a young man stepped up to a microphone to ask when he could start killing Democrats.

When do we get to use the guns? he said as the audience applauded. How many elections are they going to steal before we kill these people? The local state representative, a Republican, later called it a fair question.

In Ohio, the leading candidate in the Republican primary for Senate blasted out a video urging Republicans to resist the tyranny of a federal government that pushed them to wear masks and take F.D.A.-authorized vaccines.

When the Gestapo show up at your front door, the candidate, Josh Mandel, a grandson of Holocaust survivors, said in the video in September, you know what to do.

And in Congress, violent threats against lawmakers are on track to double this year. Republicans who break party ranks and defy former President Donald J. Trump have come to expect insults, invective and death threats often stoked by their own colleagues and conservative activists, who have denounced them as traitors.

From congressional offices to community meeting rooms, threats of violence are becoming commonplace among a significant segment of the Republican Party. Ten months after rioters attacked the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, and after four years of a president who often spoke in violent terms about his adversaries, right-wing Republicans are talking more openly and frequently about the use of force as justifiable in opposition to those who dislodged him from power.

In Washington, where decorum and civility are still given lip service, violent or threatening language still remains uncommon, if not unheard-of, among lawmakers who spend a great deal of time in the same building. But among the most fervent conservatives, who play an outsize role in primary contests and provide the party with its activist energy, the belief that the country is at a crossroads that could require armed confrontation is no longer limited to the fringe.

Political violence has been part of the American story since the founding of the country, often entwined with racial politics and erupting in periods of great change: More than 70 brawls, duels and other violent incidents embroiled members of Congress from 1830 to 1860 alone. And elements of the left have contributed to the confrontational tenor of the countrys current politics, though Democratic leaders routinely condemn violence and violent imagery.

But historians and those who study democracy say what has changed has been the embrace of violent speech by a sizable portion of one party, including some of its loudest voices inside government and most influential voices outside.

In effect, they warn, the Republican Party is mainstreaming menace as a political tool.

Omar Wasow, a political scientist at Pomona College who studies protests and race, drew a contrast between the current climate and earlier periods of turbulence and strife, like the 1960s or the run-up to the Civil War.

Whats different about almost all those other events is that now, theres a partisan divide around the legitimacy of our political system, he said. The elite endorsement of political violence from factions of the Republican Party is distinct for me from what we saw in the 1960s. Then, you didnt have from a president on down politicians calling citizens to engage in violent resistance.

From his earliest campaigning to the final moments of his presidency, Mr. Trumps political image has incorporated the possibility of violence. He encouraged attendees at his rallies to knock the hell out of protesters, praised a lawmaker who body-slammed a reporter, and in a recent interview defended rioters who clamored to hang Mike Pence.

Yet even with the former president largely out of the public eye and after a deadly attack on the Capitol where rioters tried to overturn the presidential election, the Republican acceptance of violence has only spread. Polling indicates that 30 percent of Republicans, and 40 percent of people who most trust far-right news sources, believe that true patriots may have to resort to violence to save the country a statement that gets far less support among Democrats and independents.

Such views, routinely expressed in warlike or revolutionary terms, are often intertwined with white racial resentments and evangelical Christian religious fervor two potent sources of fuel for the G.O.P. during the Trump era as the most animated Republican voters increasingly see themselves as participants in a struggle, if not a kind of holy war, to preserve their idea of American culture and their place in society.

Notably few Republican leaders have spoken out against violent language or behavior since Jan. 6, suggesting with their silent acquiescence that doing so would put them at odds with a significant share of their partys voters. When the Idaho man asked about killing political opponents at an event hosted by the conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Mr. Kirk said he must denounce the question but went on to discuss at what point political violence could be justified.

In that vacuum, the coarsening of Republican messaging has continued: Representative Paul Gosar, Republican of Arizona, this week tweeted an anime video altered to show him killing Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and swinging two swords at Mr. Biden.

Lee Drutman, a senior fellow at the left-leaning group New America who has studied political violence, said there was a connection between such actions and the growing view among Americans that politics is a struggle between enemies.

When you start dehumanizing political opponents, or really anybody, it becomes a lot easier to inflict violence on them, Dr. Drutman said.

I have a hard time seeing how we have a peaceful 2024 election after everything thats happened now, he added. I dont see the rhetoric turning down, I dont see the conflicts going away. I really do think its hard to see how it gets better before it gets worse.

Democrats are seeking Mr. Gosars censure, arguing that depictions of violence can foment actual violence and jeopardize the safety of elected officials.

The ranking G.O.P. lawmakers, Senator Mitch McConnell and Representative Kevin McCarthy, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Mr. McCarthy, who initially condemned the Jan. 6 attack and said violence is never a legitimate form of protest, more recently has joked about hitting Nancy Pelosi in the head with a gavel if he were to replace her as speaker. Like nearly all of the members of his caucus, Mr. McCarthy has said nothing about Mr. Gosars video.

For his part, Mr. Gosar suggested that critics were overly thin-skinned, insisting that the video was an allegory for a debate over immigration policy. He was slaying the policy monster of open borders, not Ms. Ocasio-Cortez or Mr. Biden, his office said. It is a symbolic cartoon. It is not real life.

Carlos Curbelo, a Republican former congressman from Florida who is a critic of Mr. Trump, said Republicans needed to take a stronger approach against violent language and intimidation tactics.

I do think the problem is more acute among Republicans because there are a handful of Republican officials who have no limits, he said. Your country and your integrity should be more important to you than your re-election.

The increasing violence of Republican speech has been accompanied by a willingness of G.O.P. leaders to follow Mr. Trumps lead and shrug off allegations of domestic violence that once would have been considered disqualifying for political candidates in either party.

Herschel Walker, the former professional football player running for Senate in Georgia, is accused of repeatedly threatening his ex-wifes life, but won Mr. Trumps endorsement and appears to be consolidating party support behind his candidacy. Mr. Trump also backed the Ohio congressional campaign of Max Miller, who faces allegations of violence from his ex-girlfriend, the former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham. Mr. Miller has sued Ms. Grisham for defamation.

And Sean Parnell, a Senate candidate in Pennsylvania who was endorsed by Mr. Trump, appeared in court this week in a custody fight in which his estranged wife accuses him of choking her and physically harming their children. He denies it.

A key issue yet untested. Donald Trumps power as former president to keep information from his White House secret has become a central issue in the Houses investigation of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Amid an attempt byMr. Trumpto keep personal records secret and the indictment of Stephen K. Bannon for contempt of Congress, heres a breakdown of executive privilege:

What is executive privilege? It is a power claimed by presidents under the Constitution to prevent the other two branches of government from gaining access to certain internal executive branch information, especially confidential communications involving the president or among his top aides.

What is Trumps claim? Former President Trump has filed a lawsuit seeking to block the disclosure of White House files related to his actions and communications surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. He argues that these matters must remain a secret as a matter of executive privilege.

Is Trumps privilege claim valid? The constitutional line between a presidents secrecy powers and Congresss investigative authority is hazy. Though a judge rejected Mr. Trumps bid to keep his papers secret, it is likely that the case will ultimately be resolved by the Supreme Court.

Is executive privilege an absolute power? No. Even a legitimate claim of executive privilege may not always prevail in court. During the Watergate scandal in 1974, the Supreme Court upheld an orderrequiring President Richard M. Nixon to turn over his Oval Office tapes.

May ex-presidents invoke executive privilege? Yes, but courts may view their claims with less deference than those of current presidents. In 1977, the Supreme Court said Nixon could make a claim of executive privilege even though he was out of office, though the court ultimately ruled against him in the case.

Is Steve Bannon covered by executive privilege? This is unclear. Mr. Bannons case could raise the novel legal question of whether or how far a claim of executive privilege may extend to communications between a president and an informal adviser outside of the government.

What is contempt of Congress? It is a sanction imposed on people who defy congressional subpoenas. Congress can refer contempt citations to the Justice Department and ask for criminal charges. Mr. Bannon has been indicted on contempt chargesfor refusing to comply with a subpoena that seeks documents and testimony.

Senator Rick Scott of Florida, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, declined to repudiate Mr. Parnell. Asked on CNN whether Mr. Parnell was the right candidate for the job, he said, Well see who comes out of the primary.

There is little indication that the party has paid a political price for its increasingly violent tone.

Even after corporations and donors vowed to withhold donations to the G.O.P. in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack, Republicans out-raised Democrats this year. And they outperformed expectations in the elections this month, capturing the Virginia governorship, winning a host of upset victories in suburban contests and making a surprisingly strong showing in New Jersey.

Yet violent talk has tipped over into actual violence in ways big and small. School board members and public health officials have faced a wave of threats, prompting hundreds to leave their posts. A recent investigation by Reuters documented nearly 800 intimidating messages to election officials in 12 states.

And threats against members of Congress have jumped by 107 percent compared with the same period in 2020, according to the Capitol Police. Lawmakers have been harassed at airports, targeted at their homes and had family members threatened. Some have spent tens of thousands on personal security.

You dont understand how awful it is and how scary it is until youre in it, said Representative Debbie Dingell, a Michigan Democrat who praised a Republican colleague, Representative Fred Upton, for publicly sharing some of the threats he received after voting to approve the infrastructure bill. (Mr. Uptons office did not respond to requests for comment.) But not telling people that this violence isnt OK makes people think it is OK.

Ms. Dingell, who said she was threatened by men with assault weapons outside her home last year after she was denounced by Tucker Carlson on his Fox News show, shared a small sample of what she said were hundreds of profanity-laden threats she has received.

They ought to try you for treason, one caller screamed in a lengthy, graphic voice mail message. I hope your family dies in front of you. I pray to God that if youve got any children, they die in your face.

Bradford Fitch, president of the Congressional Management Foundation, which advises lawmakers on issues like running their offices and communicating with constituents, said he now urged members not to hold open public meetings, an American tradition dating back to the colonies, because of security concerns. Politics, he said, had become too raw and radioactive.

I dont think its a good idea right now, Mr. Fitch said. I hope we can get to a point where we can advise members of Congress that its safe to have a town-hall meeting.

But even at right-wing gatherings of the like-minded, there is a shared assumption that political confrontation could escalate into violence.

At a Virginia rally last month for conservative supporters of Glenn Youngkin, the Republican candidate for governor, the urgency of a call to arms was conveyed right from the opening prayer. The speaker warned of the looming threat of communist atheists.

Heavenly Father, we come before you tonight, said Joshua Pratt, a conservative activist. Your children are in a battle, and we need your help.

Read more:

Menace Enters the Republican Mainstream - The New York Times

WASHINGTON A year before the polls open in the 2022 midterm elections, Republicans are already poised to flip at least five seats in the closely divided House thanks to redrawn district maps that are more distorted, more disjointed and more gerrymandered than any since the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965.

The rapidly forming congressional map, a quarter of which has taken shape as districts are redrawn this year, represents an even more extreme warping of American political architecture, with state legislators in many places moving aggressively to cement their partisan dominance.

The flood of gerrymandering, carried out by both parties but predominantly by Republicans, is likely to leave the country ever more divided by further eroding competitive elections and making representatives more beholden to their partys base.

At the same time, Republicans upper hand in the redistricting process, combined with plunging approval ratings for President Biden and the Democratic Party, provides the party with what could be a nearly insurmountable advantage in the 2022 midterm elections and the next decade of House races.

The floor for Republicans has been raised, Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the chairman of House Republicans campaign committee, said in an interview. Our incumbents actually are getting stronger districts.

Congressional maps serve, perhaps more than ever before, as a predictor of which party will control the House of Representatives, where Democrats now hold 221 seats to Republicans 213. In the 12 states that have completed the mapping process, Republicans have gained an advantage for seats in Iowa, North Carolina, Texas and Montana, and Democrats have lost the advantage in districts in North Carolina and Iowa.

All told, Republicans have added a net of five seats that the party can expect to hold while Democrats are down one. Republicans need to flip just five Democratic-held seats next year to seize a House majority.

Theyre really taking a whack at competition, said Michael Li, a redistricting expert at the Brennan Center for Justice. The path back to a majority for Democrats if they lose in 2022 has to run through states like Texas, and theyre just taking that off the table.

Competition in House races has decreased for years. In 2020, The New York Times considered just 61 of the 435 House elections to be battleground contests. The trend is starkest in places like Texas, where 14 congressional districts in 2020 had a presidential vote that was separated by 10 percentage points or less. With the states new maps, only three are projected to be decided by a similar margin.

Redistricting, which happens every 10 years, began late this summer after states received the much-delayed results of the 2020 census. The process will continue, state by state, through the winter and spring and is to be completed before the primary contests for next years midterm elections.

In most states, the map drawing is controlled by state legislators, who often resort to far-reaching gerrymanders. Republicans have control over the redistricting process in states that represent 187 congressional seats, compared with just 75 for Democrats. The rest are to be drawn by outside panels or are in states where the two parties must agree on maps or have them decided by the courts.

Gerrymandering is carried out in many ways, but the two most common forms are cracking and packing. Cracking is when mapmakers spread a cluster of a certain type of voters for example, those affiliated with the opposing party among several districts to dilute their vote. Packing is when members of a demographic group, like Black voters, or voters in the opposing political party, are crammed into as few districts as possible.

The Republican gains this year build on what was already a significant cartographic advantage. The existing maps were heavily gerrymandered by statehouse Republicans after the G.O.P.s wave election in 2010, in a rapid escalation of the congressional map-drawing wars. This year, both parties are starting from a highly contorted map amid a zero-sum political environment. With advancements in both voter data and software, they have been able to take a more surgical approach to the process.

Republicans are cautious about doing a premature victory lap in case the countrys political mood shifts again over the next year. Democrats believe that while keeping their House majority will be an uphill battle, they have a stronger chance of maintaining control in the Senate, where Vice President Kamala Harris currently breaks a 50-50 tie.

Republicans also argue that there could in fact be many newly competitive House districts if Mr. Bidens approval ratings remain in the doldrums and voters replicate the G.O.P.s successes in elections this month.

Democrats, without much to brag about, accuse Republicans of being afraid of competitive elections.

Fear is driving all of this, David Pepper, a former Ohio Democratic Party chairman, said on Wednesday at a hearing to discuss a proposed map that would give Republicans 13 of the states 15 congressional seats. Fear of what would happen if we actually had a real democracy.

More districts are certain to shift from Democratic to Republican in the coming weeks. Republican lawmakers in Georgia and Florida will soon begin debating new maps.

Several other states have completed maps for the 2020s that entrench existing Republican advantages. Republicans in Alabama and Indiana shored up G.O.P.-held congressional districts while packing their states pockets of Democrats into uncompetitive enclaves. In Utah, a new map eliminates a competitive district in Salt Lake City that Democrats won in 2018. Republicans have made an Oklahoma City seat much safer, while Colorados independent redistricting commission shored up the district of Representative Lauren Boebert, a Republican and Trump ally, so much that her leading Democratic opponent, who had raised $1.9 million, dropped out of the contest to defeat her.

And in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a map that protects the states 23 Republican incumbents while adding two safely red seats, a year after the party spent $22 million to protect vulnerable House members.

The competitive Republican seats are off the board, said Adam Kincaid, the executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, the partys clearinghouse for designing new maps.

In one of the few states where Democrats are on offense, Illinois will eliminate two Republican seats from its delegation and add one Democratic one when Gov. J.B. Pritzker signs the map that the states Democratic-controlled Legislature approved last month. New York is likely to add seats to the Democratic column once the partys lawmakers complete maps next year, and Maryland Democrats may draw their states lone Republican congressman out of a district.

Democrats in Nebraska also managed to preserve a competitive district that includes Omaha after initial Republican proposals sought to split the city in two.

Calling the Republican moves an unprecedented power grab, Kelly Burton, the president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said that the G.O.P. was not successfully taking over the battleground but instead proactively and intentionally trying to remove competitive seats.

Several other states where Republicans drew advantageous districts for themselves a decade ago will now have outside commissions or courts determining their maps.

What is redistricting? Its the redrawing of the boundariesof congressional and state legislative districts. It happens every 10 years, after the census, to reflect changes in population.

How does it work? The census dictates how many seats in Congress each state will get. Mapmakers then work to ensure that a states districts all have roughly the same number of residents, to ensure equal representation in the House.

Who draws the new maps? Each state has its own process. Eleven states leave the mapmaking to an outside panel. But most 39 states have state lawmakers draw the new maps for Congress.

If state legislators can draw their own districts, wont they be biased? Yes. Partisan mapmakers often move district lines subtly or egregiously to cluster voters ina way that advances a political goal. This is called gerrymandering.

Is gerrymandering legal? Yes and no. In 2019, the Supreme Court ruledthat the federal courts have no role to play in blocking partisan gerrymanders. However, the court left intact parts of the Voting Rights Act that prohibit racial or ethnic gerrymandering.

Wisconsin Republicans on Thursday passed a congressional map that would shift a Democratic seat to certain Republican control, though Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, promised to veto it. Michigan and Virginia, which had gerrymandered districts, have adopted outside commissions to draw new lines. Pennsylvania has a Democratic governor certain to veto Republican maps.

And its not clear what Californias independent commission will do when it completes the states process later this year.

Representative Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, the chairman of House Democrats campaign arm, said the party still had a path to hold its majority.

Weve got a battlefield that we can win on; I think we are very much in the fight, he said in an interview. No one is declaring victory just yet.

Still, Republicans have far more opportunities to press their advantage. G.O.P. lawmakers in New Hampshire proposed changing a congressional map largely unaltered since the 1800s to create a Republican seat. In Georgia, Republicans are set to place Representatives Lucy McBath and Carolyn Bourdeaux, Democrats who hold seats in Atlantas booming northern suburbs, into a single Democratic district while forming a new Republican seat.

Officials in both parties are preparing for years of legal fights over the maps, with the potential for courts to order the redrawing of maps well into the decade. Lawsuits have already been filed over maps in Oregon, Alabama, North Carolina and Texas.

But the legal landscape has shifted since the last redistricting cycle: The Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that federal courts were not the venue to bring lawsuits regarding partisan gerrymandering. (Lawsuits claiming racial gerrymandering under the Voting Rights Act are still an option.)

This is always in every decade a very accelerated process in the courts, but it is even more so this year because of the four months that were lost because of the delayed release, said Thomas A. Saenz, the president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a group involved in multiple redistricting lawsuits. The question is, will the courts run out of time and allow even maps that are legally flawed to be used for one election cycle in 2022?

Among the states with completed maps, nowhere more than North Carolina represents the vigorous Republican effort to tilt the scales of redistricting in the partys favor.

Republicans who control the Legislature in North Carolina, the only state forced by courts to completely redraw its congressional maps twice since 2011 for obvious partisan gerrymandering, this month approved highly gerrymandered districts that essentially revert the state to a map similar to the ones thrown out by the courts.

The map Republicans passed gives the G.O.P. an advantage in 10 of the states 14 congressional districts, despite a near 50-50 split in the statewide popular vote for president in 2020. Former President Donald J. Trump carried the state by 1.3 percentage points. (The current congressional breakdown is eight Republicans and five Democrats, the result of a court-ordered redrawing of the map for the 2020 election.)

The map packs Democrats into three heavily blue districts around Raleigh, Durham and Charlotte, as well as one competitive district in the northeast with a significant Black voting population that would put a Black congressman, G.K. Butterfield, in danger of losing his seat.

Republicans in the state argued that their redistricting process had been race blind because they drew maps without looking at demographic data. But the result, critics say, was even worse.

To pretend to be race-neutral and then draw these districts that are so harmful to Black voters flies in the face of why we even have federal law, said Allison Riggs, an executive director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, which is suing the state. The process is so broken.

Originally posted here:

How Republicans Have an Edge in the Emerging 2022 Congressional Maps - The New York Times

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After nearly a year of planning and months of negotiations with Congress, President Joe Biden is signing his landmark $1 trillion infrastructure bill into law Monday.

He will be joined by several Republican lawmakers, as well, in a rare showing of bipartisanship at a signing ceremony. GOP Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah, Rob Portman of Ohio and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia are expected to be in attendance.

The bill will inject $550 billion of new funds into transportation, broadband and utilities over the next five years. It also represents one half of Biden's domestic agenda, and opens the gate to passage of the second half, a $1.75 trillion social spending and climate change bill.

Biden's signature on the bill Monday follows years of failed efforts in Washington to pass legislation to overhaul physical infrastructure, improvements that advocates have said will boost the economy and create jobs.

The legislation will put $110 billion into roads, bridges and other major projects. It will invest $66 billion in freight and passenger rail, including potential upgrades to Amtrak. It will direct $39 billion into public transit systems.

The plan will put $65 billion into expanding broadband, a priority after thecoronavirus pandemicleft millions of Americans at home without effective internet access. It will also put $55 billion into improving water systems and replacing lead pipes.

Funding will go out over a five-year period, but it could take months or years for many major projects to start.

The bill passed the House shortly after 11:00 p.m. on Nov. 5, following weeks of wrangling between the progressive and centrist planks of the Democratic party.

Here is the list of speakers, according to the White House:

Read the rest here:

Watch live: Biden signs infrastructure bill with several key Republicans in attendance - CNBC

Republicans are more likely to move to blue states if there are no mask or vaccine mandates (Getty)

Where you live and whom you vote for have never been more closely tied. Mapped election results over 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, a report by 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.

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 Heights and Sea Cliff, among them, the San Francisco examiner reported.

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 Beach elected a Republican City Council member this 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 and New York, it seems unlikely that the three cities will see an influx of Republicans anytime soon.

Contact Suzannah Cavanaugh

Read the original:

Republicans game to live in blue states unless theres a Covid mandate - The Real Deal

And if the sane Republicans leaving don't speak up, and talk only in careful code, what responsibility do they have for what's left?

These are the thoughts spurred by the news last week that state Sen. Nicole Poolman, sane Republican from Bismarck, will not run for re-election in 2022. She cited family and professional reasons, but also said these "toxic times" in politics weighed in her decision.

Since Republicans hold a super-majority in North Dakota politics and you can fit all the Democrats in the Legislature in a thimble, we presume Poolman was referring to her GOP counterparts.

The same poisonous right-wing, loony-tune politics that have become popular around the United States in the Donald Trump era are overtaking the Republican Party in North Dakota. The non-existent problem of Critical Race Theory, the belief Trump won the 2020 election, the wild-eyed frothing over masks and COVID vaccines, the intimidation of school boards, support of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists .... it's all here in North Dakota.

And it's only going to get worse.

Poolman, best as we can tell, doesn't belong to the wacky wing of the Republican Party although the line between normal and wacky has moved decidedly to the right and is becoming blurred. She's a classic Republican, checking all the conservative boxes on taxes, regulation, business and other traditional GOP issues. A high school teacher, she supported public education.

Moderate Republicans and the handful of Democrats in Bismarck seemed to like Poolman and worked with her on policy. There was a genuine outreach of support when she announced her retirement, something that will not happen when, say, Fargo Rep. Jim Kasper leaves.

But there is also a measure of hypocrisy with Poolman citing toxicity as a reason for bailing out, just as there is when every Republican laments the current political atmosphere of disrespect and lack of decorum.

Which person is most responsible for the noxious state of political discourse and what party does he lead around by the nose?

Hint: It rhymes with Tonald Drump.

Republicans disgusted by the nastiness of modern politics have a clever, almost pathological, way of disassociating themselves from Trump to keep themselves clean. His policies are fine, they'll say, but I don't like the person. As if you can so easily separate the two. Mussolini kept the trains running on time, right?

Whether Poolman voted for Trump is unknown. She certainly never spoke out against him or the legion of nutjobs in North Dakota who are taking his cues. She and her husband Jim, the state's former insurance commissioner, are tight with U.S. Rep. Kelly Armstrong, who's also never spoken a cross word or taken a tough vote against the former president.

So if the reasonable Republicans aren't going to speak out against the insanity and insurrectionists, who will? Losing a sane Republican like Poolman isn't good, but neither is the silence of her and other like-minded Republicans who are getting out.

Readers can reach columnist Mike McFeely at mmcfeely@forumcomm.com

Read more from the original source:

McFeely: Another sane Republican bites the dust - Grand Forks Herald

If you see Joe Bidens picture on a gas pump these days, its not a tribute to his amazingly successful energy policy.

The stickers with Biden pointing to the $3.50 a gallon gas price and saying I did that! are part of a Republican guerrilla campaign to undermine the Democratic administration. Theyve gone viral online.

And its cheap and easy.

A 100-pack of the stickers is going for just six bucks on Amazon.

You might see the derisive stickers up in New Hampshire, the swing state Biden is set to visit on Tuesday to promote his $1.2 trillion infrastructure package that just passed Congress.

The Democratic president may not get the overwhelmingly positive reception he was hoping for, though.

New Hampshire is a blue state thats in danger of going red in the 2022 mid-term election and, like the colorful leaves that fall before winter, its often a harbinger of chilly political winds to come.

Bidens approval rating in the Granite State is the same as it is nationally abysmal. And the passage of the infrastructure bill wont change that, no matter how much the Democrats and CNN celebrate it.

The gas pump stickers are similar tactics to what Democrats did to Republican presidents like Trump. Remember those Not my President bumper stickers? So in a way Republicans now are just returning the favor.

Biden opponents have also adopted the Lets Go Brandon chant to taunt the president. Its a PG way of saying something much more crude that has the same number of syllables, but its a clever tactic and it drives Democrats crazy.

This is what passes for grass roots political strategy these days. The Lets Go Brandon chant and I Did it stickers went viral on social media platforms like TikTok.

New Hampshire is a hotbed of politics, because of the first in the nation primary. Voters have become accustomed to getting up close to presidents and candidates and arent afraid to confront them in person.

Thats why Bidens visit contains some risk, although hell be protected in his trip to Woodstock, far out of major cities like Nashua and Manchester.

Biden is also planning to spend some quality time in the little middle class enclave of Nantucket over the Thanksgiving holiday. Nothing like going to an ultra exclusive vacation island to showcase how the infrastructure bill will help the little people in the middle of an economic crisis.

Air Force One is expected to fly right into Nantuckets tiny airport, and Secret Service will be crawling all over the island, which Im sure the locals will appreciate.

Follow this link:

Biden tormented by Republican guerrilla campaign and I did it stickers - Boston Herald

Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey

Harris County leaders voted to confirm the results of the most recent election on Monday with the exception of one Republican.

Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey was the lone no vote on a measure to certify the results of the Nov. 2 election.

Citing grave concerns that included delays in election night results and a lack of equipment familiarity, Ramsey said he wanted an independent audit of the process.

This was a very small (turnout) election, Ramsey said. Weve got some big elections coming up next year. Weve got the primary likely in March, and weve got, of course, November 2022, and we just have to make sure that everything is as it should be.

Republican Commissioner Jack Cagle of Precinct 4 joined the three Democrats on Commissioners Court to vote yes on confirming the results.

The state has already announced it would review this years early voting returns in Harris County, which Elections Administrator Isabel Longoria said were delayed because of a power outage at the central count location. The Texas Secretary of States Office said it would work to ensure that all ballots were handled appropriately and counted validly.

The 2021 election was an off-year cycle, with no major candidates on the ballot. Voters did approve eight constitutional amendments, including one that would ban local governments from suspending religious services during an emergency.

But Ramsey's vote against certifying the results comes amid increased polarization among political parties over the validity of elections, despite no proof of widespread voter fraud.

Former President Donald Trump publicly called for an audit into Texas 2021 election results, insisting for months without evidence that widespread voter fraud cost him the election. Hours after Trumps statements, the Texas Secretary of States Office did open an audit into Harris and three other counties Dallas, Tarrant and Collin. All but Collin County voted for Joe Biden.

In September, Ramsey and Cagle voted against a resolution condemning that audit. The resolution nonetheless passed 3-2 along party lines, with Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo calling it yet another argument to feed a conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen.

A number of Texas Republicans have come under fire for refusing to accept the results of 2020s presidential election, in which Biden defeated Trump with 306 electoral college votes to Trumps 232. Biden also won 51.3% of the popular vote.

More than a dozen Texas Republicans and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz all voted to reject the presidential election results in January. That same day, violent pro-Trump extremists stormed the U.S. Capitol to stop the process of counting the votes and certifying the election.

Some state Republican lawmakers who echoed the false stolen election narrative later championed sweeping new voting laws that critics say amount to voter suppression. Houston-area state Rep. Briscoe Cain, who traveled to Pennsylvania to try and help Trump overturn the election, was chair of the House Elections Committee.

Abbott also later appointed John Scott, who briefly represented Trump in his attempts to overturn the election, as Texas Secretary of State.

Ramseys tenure on Commissioners Court has not been without controversy. At a meeting two weeks ago, he was criticized for going on a conservative talk radio show and accusing Democratic Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis of corruption without evidence.

Ramsey also said Ellis, who is Black, may have anger issues. Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia, also a Democrat, put forward a resolution to condemn Ramseys remarks, saying they promoted a stereotypical angry Black person image.

A resolution condemning Ramsey for his comments passed 3-2 on party lines.

Additional reporting by Andrew Schneider.

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A Republican Harris County commissioner voted against certifying the 2021 election results - Houston Public Media

The past couple of weeks have seen endless pundits predicting gloom and doom for the Democrats next year: Bidens approval rating is down. The party of the incumbent president always loses ground in midterm elections. Republicans control most state legislatures, so the decennial gerrymandering of Congressional districts will play out in Republicans favor. Inflation is up, and thats a pocketbook issue that will matter to voters. Finally, look at the results in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races.

Woe is Democrats!

Someone should offer a (slightly) contrary view.

Ive got some good news for you: Im just the guy to do it.

Three things are actually likely to be working in the Democrats favor by the time of next years midterm elections.

First, the pandemic is likely to be essentially under control in the United States by November 2022. One of the keys to controlling the pandemic is convincing (or coercing) the vaccine-hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Until the FDA approved approved, not approved through an emergency use authorization the COVID-19 vaccines, the government was hesitant to compel vaccinations. Once the FDA approved the vaccines, the government moved fairly rapidly to require government contractors and large employers to have their employees vaccinated. Although there are legal objections to those vaccination programs, theyre likely to have an impact. And those programs give other private employers the cover they need to require their employees to get vaccinated.

Add to that the availability of vaccines for children over 5 and likely under 5 by next spring and COVID-19 may be essentially under control in the United States by November 2022.

Nothing is certain, of course. Ive restricted my prediction to COVID-19 in the United States; the virus will probably still be running rampant overseas. And theres always the chance that a new, vaccine-resistant variant will emerge, putting public health, and the Democrats, back to square one. But, barring that public health disaster, the United States could almost be back to normal next year, and Democrats will benefit from that.

I suspect that Bidens approval rating will move inversely to infection rates. By November 2022, infection rates will decrease, and Bidens approval rating will improve, along with the Democrats chances.

Second, the economy is looking pretty good right now, and thats likely to continue for another 12 months. Were emerging from the virus; thats likely to continue. Businesses that benefit from the re-opening trade will reap the rewards. Unemployment is currently low and likely to move lower. Wages are increasing.

For the most part, the economy is doing well, and its likely to continue doing well for another year. Democrats will benefit.

Finally, everyone seems to be ignoring the possibility that Trump will be indicted between now and November 2022. New grand juries have been convened in New York and Georgia to investigate possible financial and electoral misconduct, respectively. Isnt the smart money betting that at least one of those two investigations will lead to an indictment?

If an indictment is handed down, any case against Trump is likely to be pending trial in November 2022. This puts Republicans in an awful bind: Trump will continue to insist that candidates pledge loyalty to him, insisting that any indictment is a Democrat-inspired witch hunt. Candidates will want to distance themselves from Trump, but Trump wont permit it. Whats a candidate to do?

Thats a tricky situation for all Republican candidates, and it cant help a political party to have its leading figure at risk of going to prison.

My crystal ball is of course cloudy. None of these events may come to pass. Even if they do, the many advantages that Republicans have in the midterm elections may outweigh the advantages accruing to the Democrats. But fate is funny, and I suspect that Democrats are not in as much trouble as the conventional wisdom suggests.

(Allow me to end on a point of personal privilege: Happy birthday to me! Today marks the eleventh anniversary of this column at Above the Law. Eleven years! Heaven help me, but thanks for reading.)

MarkHerrmannspent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and is now deputy general counsel at a large international company. He is the author of The Curmudgeons Guide to Practicing LawandDrug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy(affiliate links). You can reach him by email atinhouse@abovethelaw.com.

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Why The Expectation Of A Republican Landslide In November 2022 May Be Overstated - Above the Law