Midterm Reaction

Observing a Sample Ballot

Addressing Electoral Integrity Concerns

Timetables

Missed Timetables, General Failures, Perfidy
in State and Federal Races:

Awry Tally Recourse

Local Adoption

'Eighteen Republicans joined all 48 Democrats and two independents in passing the bill.....The final vote was 68-29.'

'Trump had urged all members of his party to vote against the bill and called the bill a "disaster" for the Republican Party since Republican senators could have stopped it. Trump also criticized Democrats for pushing the bill through Congress before Republicans take control of the House in the new year.'

'Here is a full list of Republican senators who voted in favor of the bill:' ~ ANNA SKINNER | 12/22/22 AT 4:22 PM EST

'In this year’s midterms, the Republican leader of the United States Senate went out of his way to defeat Republican candidates for the United States Senate.'

'And just who was financing Murkowski over the Republican nominee, the state party’s endorsed candidate for the U.S. Senate, Kelly Tshibaka?'

'You guessed it. Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell.'

'In other words, if you were a Trump-supporting Republican Senate nominee this election cycle, Mitch McConnell would rather that you lost than that he help create a Republican Senate.' ~ JEFFREY LORD | December 25, 2022, 9:17 PM

'McConnell has held that leadership job in the Senate since 2007 and was widely expected to hold onto it despite Scott's suggestion Tuesday that there should be a "bold change" after the GOP failed to retake control of the chamber in last week's midterm election.'

'Kentucky's longtime senator never seemed to sweat the outcome, and the vote was not close. Thirty-seven Republican senators stuck with McConnell, while 10 voted not to keep him and one abstained from weighing in at all, USA TODAY reported.' ~ Morgan Watkins | Nov. 16 2022

'But House GOP leader McCarthy, with only four party votes to spare and an open rebellion among a handful of House conservatives, needs all the support he can get — even if it comes from a member-elect steeped in scandal.'

'House Republicans generally believe Santos’ future will become clearer once they have an official speaker. But right now, the Republican leader has five members threatening publicly to oppose his speakership bid on Jan. 3, which happens to be the same number required to block him from reaching the needed 218 votes. And the party is buckling in for potentially multiple votes, marking only the second time since the Civil War that the speakership race would go beyond a first ballot.'

'And the private chatter could translate to a frosty reception from his colleagues once in office. LaLota is sure to have company among Republicans in his belief that Santos’ antics paint the rest of them in a dim light, just as they prepare to take power after a campaign focused on holding the Biden administration accountable.' ~ OLIVIA BEAVERS | 12/28/2022 05:53 PM EST

'While Biggs’ challenge was always viewed as a long shot, the number of Republicans who voted for him underscored the level of frustration with the Republican leadership following the 2022 elections.'

'Biggs, a former chair of the House Freedom Caucus, announced on Newsmax on Monday night that he would run against McCarthy, while acknowledging it would be “tough” to beat someone who has “raised a lot of money” to elect his colleagues.'

'Biggs was nominated Tuesday by Texas Rep. Chip Roy and South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman, who asserted that the House GOP conference needs to change the way the House operates.'

'During a closed-door leadership candidate forum on Monday, Virginia Rep. Bob Good, a McCarthy critic, complained that a Super PAC aligned with McCarthy opposed some pro-Trump candidates, and criticized McCarthy for not calling to congratulate him when he won his primary, according to a source in the room. McCarthy replied that he directed $2 million to Good for his race. Good had to be gaveled down in order to cut him off from speaking so they could move to the next question, the source said.' ~ Melanie Zanona, Alex Rogers and Manu Raju | Updated 5:40 PM EST, Tue November 15, 2022

'The race for RNC chair comes as the GOP continues to lick its wounds from last month’s lackluster performance in the midterms. Republicans not only failed to win control of the Senate. They lost ground in the chamber, secured only a razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives and lost some races for governor and control of a handful of state legislative chambers in what many party leaders predicted would be a "red wave" election.'

'Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York mulled a bid for RNC chair before announcing earlier this month he wouldn’t challenge the chairwoman — for now.'

"McDaniel should not run for a fourth term," Zeldin argued. "I won’t be running for RNC chair at this time with McDaniel’s re-election pre-baked by design, but that doesn’t mean she should even be running again. It’s time the GOP elects new leadership! It’s time for fresh blood!"

'With McDaniel and her declared or potential challengers all having ties to the former president, sources in Trump’s political orbit tell Fox News that, as of now, the former president remains neutral in the race for RNC chair.'

"I think they’re both good. I like them both," Trump said of McDaniel and Dhillon in an interview on Friday with Breitbart.'

'RNC committee members have been flooded with emails in recent weeks from Republican activists calling on McDaniel to go after Dhillon, and her allies shared the committee members' email addresses on social media.'

'With a month to go until the RNC’s winter meeting, the war of words in the chair race may escalate.'

'McDaniel emphasized that "my message is unity," and warned that "if we're so vitriolic with each other that we can't even come together to win elections, that's going to be a long-term problem in 2024." ~ Paul Steinhauser | December 19, 2022 2:00am EST

'A generational fight is brewing inside the Democratic Caucus as a significant bloc of younger members is pushing for term limits for committee chairmen.'

'And in a potentially major shift that could anger the Congressional Black Caucus and other veteran lawmakers, Nancy Pelosi seems to be warming to the idea.'

'The move would bring a drastic change in the way the caucus operates. Pelosi’s possible embrace of the proposal shows just how much House Democratic politics have shifted in the month since the election. Democrats elected their largest freshmen class since Watergate, and many of the newcomers campaigned on the promise of bucking Pelosi or calling for new leadership.' ~ HEATHER CAYGLE | 12/05/2018 08:14 PM EST Updated: 12/05/2018 10:55 PM EST

'The Blue Dog Coalition is an official caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives comprised of 19 fiscally-responsible Democrats, who are leading the way to find commonsense solutions. They are pragmatic Democrats, appealing to the mainstream values of the American public. The Blue Dogs are dedicated to pursuing fiscally-responsible policies, ensuring a strong national defense for our country, and transcending party lines to get things done for the American people.'

'Blue Dog members say they still stand by the old centrist mantra of fiscal responsibility, a strong national defense, and commonsense solutions to practical problems. But their membership today reflects how much the demographic and geographic profiles of the Democratic Party have changed – and how much the political center has shifted.'

'Many push back against being labeled conservative, or even moderate. Representative Murphy would rather they’re called “pragmatic Democrats,” willing to work with Republicans and progressives alike to move practical legislation forward.'

“Bipartisanship, fiscal responsibility, defense, and working with business as well as labor ... the country is more reflective of that Blue Dog philosophy now,” Representative Schrader says.'

“Make America governable again,” Representative Brindisi adds. “That’s what got us into the majority.” ~ Jessica Mendoza Staff | June 4, 2019

'Since taking office, Harris has been assigned one of the administration’s thorniest issues: stemming the influx of immigrants attempting to cross U.S. borders. Republicans have sought to make her the face of an issue that they believe could help them politically.'

'After taking on that role, Harris’ approval ratings began to decline, with unfavorable opinions surpassing favorable ones in June 2021. Whether the decline is directly related to the immigration debate is uncertain.'

'Past polls show how the favorability of previous vice presidents changed during their first four years in office. Harris' net favorability is slightly lower than that of former Vice President Mike Pence at this point in their respective tenures, and it's well under the ratings of three previous vice presidents.' ~ Matt Stiles, Ryan Murphy and Vanessa Martínez | Last updated December 20, 2022

'Reports of turmoil have plagued Harris’s vice presidential office, with her chief of staff, communications director, press secretary, and other aides departing within the first 18 months.'

'The person disputed that former aides criticizing Harris were targeting her because of her race or gender. “When somebody raises an issue about Kamala, everybody’s like, you don’t want to see black women succeed. That’s completely backward. Everybody who goes to work for Kamala, by definition, wants to see her succeed. That’s why you take these jobs,” she said.' ~ Katherine Doyle | December 30, 2022 10:45 AM

'Vice President Kamala Harris lashed out at the media in an end-of-year interview claiming they have failed to cover her strengths during her tenure.'

'Harris, speaking with Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart who lavished praise on the VP, said that 'what you've been able to see is based on what gets covered.'

'Harris did not speak about her appointed role within the Biden administration to work on the crisis at the border, which has been referred to as a 'once-in-a-generation' storm in the wake of Title 42 having lapsed.'

'The Biden-Harris team is currently facing scrutiny over the chaos at the US-Mexico border as thousands of migrants are expected to try and seek asylum or sneak through.'

'According to excerpts published from a new book about the Biden administration's first two years by Politico on Tuesday, Biden called Harris a 'work in progress' and grew angry with her and second gentleman Doug Emhoff after hearing their complaints over her role in the administration.' ~ STEPHEN M. LEPORE | UPDATED: 21:57 EST, 23 December 2022

“For years, Harris had been considered a front-runner to grab the 2020 ticket. Her moment was nigh. Yet, Harris’s campaign was a disaster. She withdrew from the race in December 2019, well before the DNC primaries.'

'When Harris bowed out early, her supporters – known as the #KHive – blamed the early exit on racism and sexism. The assertion is absurd given that the DNC’s preceding three presidential nominees were either black or female. No, Harris’s identity markers were the explicit reason why she was chosen for the vice presidential slot despite having run such a poor campaign. Racism and sexism are convenient, blanket excuses. But the reality is that Harris is just bad at politics.'

'So far, Harris’s tenure as VP has not gone particularly well.'

'Back in November 2021, Harris’s approval ratings cratered. “According to a November survey by USA Today, Ms. Harris’ public approval rating sat at 28 percent, making her one of the least popular vice-presidents in modern history – lower than Iraq War architect Dick Cheney, who was reviled by Democrats.” ~ Harrison Kass | Dec 28, 2022

'Not that many even celebrate, mind you. In 2019, USA Today found that of those planning to celebrate a winter holiday, only 2.6 percent would be celebrating Kwanzaa. In 2012, NPR even asked, “Is Kwanzaa Still A Thing?"

'Vice President Kamala Harris used the occasion to double down on one of her more preposterous personal claims.'

'The problem here: Kamala Harris was born in 1964, before the holiday even existed, and long before it was popular enough that there was a high likelihood she was sitting on the floor as a wee tyke, talking with her sisters about the seven principles of Kwanzaa.'

'It’s too bad that “repeatedly making stuff up despite being called out on it” isn’t one of the seven principles celebrated during Kwanzaa. Then, not only could both Vice President Harris and President Biden have the same favorite principle, Harris could annually use the holiday to show just how dedicated to it she is.' ~ C. Douglas Golden | December 28, 2022 at 8:56am

'At year's end, Vice President Kamala Harris is making the rounds of syrupy and supportive interviews, but you can still wonder which of her communications staffers is going to quit after aerobically trying to prepare her for these softball sessions.'

'NPR promoted their Kamala cuddle on "All Things Considered" in the evening, on "Morning Edition," on their talk show "Here & Now" and at length on "The NPR Politics Podcast." On all but the last one, Khalid would helpfully introduce and frame the Harris answers instead of actually letting the audience hear her indolent inquiries.'

'As usual, the proof of a puffball interview isn't just the questions asked but those that were not asked. You could start with the feverish personnel turnover in her office, and then add tensions with President Joe Biden. Politico is reporting Biden vented early on that his veep was a "work in progress" and that Doug Emhoff, the vice president's lawyer spouse, was bitterly complaining about the tough issues added to his wife's policy portfolio that could hurt her presidential prospects.' ~ Tim Graham | Dec 23, 2022

'In his nearly thirteen years as a US Senator from Georgia, conservative Democrat Sam Nunn has earned the respect of colleagues of all ideological persuasions on both sides of the aisle for his savvy on defense issues, his parliamentary skills in debating them, and his record of consistently supporting a strong national defense without becoming the Pentagon’s puppet.'

'Senator Nunn introduced an amendment to the Fiscal Year 1985 military authorization bill that would have frozen and then drastically cut the number of US troops in Europe unless the NATO allies did more to shoulder their monetary and military share of the burden of defending western Europe.'

'Shortly after coming to the Senate, for example, Senator Nunn fought and voted against a proposal by Sen. Mike Mansfield (D-Mont.), at the time the Senate Majority Leader and now US Ambassador to Japan. to phase out US forces from Europe.'

'Years later, Senator Nunn coauthored legislation aimed at making the Pentagon cooperate more earnestly with the NATO allies in bringing about greater standardization and interoperability of NATO weapon systems.'

'As the Senator expresses it: “What matters is not the money going into the Pentagon, but the military capabilities coming out.” ~ By James W. Canan | Aug. 1, 1985

'In 1996, Sen. Nunn stepped down from the senate. Nunn was a centrist Democrat of the old school by weaving a coalition of black and rural voters, and was one of the last of his kind. Nunn tried to steer his party into the middle and was often frustrated. In his retirement remarks he described the Democratic Party as pursuing a “brain-dead defense of the status quo.” He praised the Republican revolution for seeking lower taxes and entitlement reform but also said the revolution was in danger of going to extremes.'

'In his retirement announcement he said that neither party is serving the people and that they need to break their dependence on money and special interests or a third party will surely rise. He called for two-year budgeting so the Congress can spend less time on passing money bills and more time overseeing how the money is spent. Nunn was the ninth senator to announce he won’t seek re-election in 1996, the eighth Democrat. Not much has changed since 1996.'

'Nunn also is a board member for the Concord Coalition, a grassroots nongovernmental organization that seeks to educate citizens about the fiscal problems and challenges facing the United States.'

'Nunn is a retired senior partner with the law firm of King and Spalding in Atlanta, and a distinguished professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech. In addition, he serves on numerous boards of such publicly held corporations as the Coca-Cola Company, Dell Computer Corporation, General Electric, and Scientific Atlanta.'

'In 1991 Nunn voted to oppose U.S. military action in the Persian Gulf to oust Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Many have speculated, and Nunn himself has admitted, that the negative vote ensured the early demise of his presidential candidacy in 1992.' ~ Tinaz Pavri | Originally published Dec 16, 2003 - Last edited Jul 17, 2018

'Senator Nunn’s public service continues today through his work at the Nuclear Threat Initiative and as chairman emeritus of CSIS. During a period of political polarization and partisanship, his reputation remains that of a statesman with a record of bipartisanship and a dedication to U.S. security interests.'

'Senator Nunn and Dr. Jones will be joined by Ambassador Laura Holgate, Vice President for Materials Risk Management at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, to discuss the book, Senator Nunn’s career in the Senate, and his continued work to address today’s nuclear dangers.' ~ Monday, May 17, 2021 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

November 28th, 2022 Former Senator Sam Nunn 1 | Rotary Club Of Atlanta

Sen. Sam Nunn makes comments about the current Ukraine War, nuclear proliferation concerns and the hackability of our nuclear weapons upgrades.

'This book chronicles the journey McElroy took with Sam Nunn as he presented a message of common sense conservatism to the voters of Georgia in 1972. Nunn's principled approach to making government work through cooperation and compromise, and his demonstrated mastery of complex issues, placed him among a rare few considered every four years for the highest office in the land.'

“The Supreme Court has agreed to a hearing for a case that could conceivably — PLEASE consider this the longest of long shots — overturn the election of 2020, throw out all the legislators who voted to certify the results and leave them ineligible to run for office ever again, even for town dogcatcher,” he explained.'

'The case is set for oral argument on Friday, Jan. 6, the second anniversary of the Capitol incursion.'

'Huckabee noted: “The argument in this case is that by not looking into serious allegations of election fraud, those who voted to confirm the results of the 2020 election broke their oath of office and are ineligible to run for any elected office again. To give you an idea of the scope of the potential fallout, Kamala Harris is in that group, and so is Mike Pence.”

'He pointed to the criminal referral by the Jan. 6 committee for President Donald Trump and the FBI’s collusion with Twitter and Facebook to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop story during the 2020 election, in violation of the First Amendment, as examples of the unusual season the country is passing through.'

“Supreme Court Justices may well see these approaching storm clouds and conclude that the Court’s intervention is necessary to prevent larger civil unrest resulting from constitutional violations that are undermining public trust and confidence in the outcomes of both the 2020 and 2022 elections,” Canova contended.' ~ Randy DeSoto | January 3, 2023 at 7:22am

'Should they proceed to inaugurate Biden without settling the election through the quorums of Amendment XII it will be a disaster for his party and any executive actions will be challenged and eventually annulled.'

“The Twitter Files, Part One: How and Why Twitter Blocked the Hunter Biden Laptop Story,” Taibbi began, explaining that “On October 14, 2020, the New York Post published BIDEN SECRET EMAILS, an expose based on the contents of Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop.”

'In response to the story, which according to the New York Post would have changed the minds of many voters in the 2020 election had they known about the Hunter Biden laptop, Twitter took extraordinary action to suppress the story claiming that it broke the platform’s hacked material policy.'

'In the subsequent hours and days following the marking of the story as “unsafe,” Twitter employees went back and forth attempting to create a justification for censoring the story with the vice president of global communications asking, “Can we truthfully claim that this is part of the policy?” ~ Sterling Mosley | December 4, 2022

'Elon Musk’s Twitter Truth Squad is exposing the FBI’s role in suppressing free speech before the 2020 election. But the FBI was practically a bit player in a far greater federal conspiracy to censor any American who cast doubts on the mail-in ballots that made Joe Biden the 46th president.'

'The Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency, created in 2018 as part of the Department of Homeland Security, gave grants to several private entities that formed the Election Integrity Project in mid-2020. That project, working closely with the feds, classified 22 million tweets as misinformation and affected “hundreds of millions of individual Facebook posts, YouTube videos, TikToks and tweets,” thanks to what it bragged of as “huge regulatory pressure” from government, per a Foundation for Freedom Online report last month.'

“The censorship focus was always and consistently foremost targeted at speech casting doubt on mail-in ballots,” FFO reported. That targeted effort devastated “the ability of concerned citizens to pressure their state representatives to take legal action on changing voting procedures” to prevent fraud.'

'US Civil Rights Commissioner Christian Adams noted that “Democrats succeeded in tossing out state laws related to absentee-ballot verification, deadlines and a whole range of laws all in the name of COVID. By and large, GOP efforts in court failed. It was a courtroom bloodbath that created vulnerabilities across the system.” ~ James Bovard | December 12, 2022 9:45pm

“Nearly two-thirds of [registered] voters [64 percent] think that Twitter employees engaged in political censorship during the 2020 election and the shadow banning of users.” Nor was there any doubt about which candidate benefitted: “Most voters [76 percent] think James Baker’s banning of Hunter Biden’s laptop tweets was politically motivated, and a plurality [48 percent] think Twitter executives were actively helping the Biden campaign during the last election.”

'It’s probable that the findings of an honest investigation into pre-Musk Twitter will reveal that the influence of the FBI was considerable in 2020 and, as the poll’s respondents believe, that it was meant to assist the Biden campaign. Unfortunately for the republic, it worked. At length, there will almost certainly be further revelations that rogue federal agencies and social media platforms colluded to assure Biden’s election. At the very least, it will ultimately become blindingly obvious that 2020 was by no means an immaculate election.' ~ DAVID CATRON | December 18, 2022, 11:34 PM

'State law says that the Board of Supervisors must certify the canvass of an election no more than 20 days after Election Day, and November 28 is 20 days after election day.'

“My colleagues and I felt it was important to gather all the data and information we could about the administration of the November General Election before holding a public meeting to discuss certifying the results,” Board of Supervisors chairman Bill Gates said in a press release. “Far from rushing, we are being deliberate and methodical before certification.”

'However, he added he doesn’t like seeing a lack of trust in elections in the state and across the country.'

"Starting November 4, 2020, two months before I took office, election administration has been front and center news in Arizona, and it's been filled with hate and it's caused divisions where there shouldn't be divisions,” Richer said. “I imagine this will have to continue for at least for another few weeks, but I don't think it is good for Arizona and I hope it can change in 2023.” ~ Tom Joyce | Nov 28, 2022

'The responses from election workers in key battleground districts and states around the country showed a mostly calm election cycle compared to 2020, with one massive and overwhelming exception. In Maricopa County, Arizona, election workers were appalled and aghast at how things had been run there.'

'Maricopa, which is home to almost 62 percent of Arizona’s 7.2 million people, was already in the news on Election Day for its hours-long lines and broken machines. After its close and contentious 2020 election, Maricopa County officials refused to cooperate with an audit of the election by state senators and dismissed concerns about how it conducts elections. This year, it took the county just under two full weeks to count ballots.'

'Election Day workers flooded the survey response team with stories of incompetence, chaos, and mismanagement that resulted in the disenfranchisement of voters.'

'Try as they might to downplay their administrative failures, Gates and Richer can’t hide the effect Maricopa’s abysmal voting problems had on the state’s elections. Even 84 percent of surveyed Maricopa election observers and workers reported they are “not at all confident” that Arizona’s election results are “completely accurate and honest.” ~ SHAWN FLEETWOOD | NOVEMBER 23, 2022

'In 2020, the votes of Maricopa County, where 6 out of 10 Arizonans live, were decisive for the narrow, declared victory of Joe Biden over Trump in the Grand Canyon State. Trump heatedly questioned the tally. Sensing misconduct, his supporters in the Arizona Legislature attempted to investigate the election. But Maricopa County politicians blocked these efforts.'

'Again, Maricopa County Supervisors and allied county officials were defiant. They didn’t give an inch when fighting in the friendly terrain of the media and the anti-Trump courts. Despite mountains of evidence, Lake and the other two candidates lost all their lawsuits challenging the election.'

'The corruption in Maricopa County was no secret to informed citizens in the county and state. In fact, for years, Maricopa County has been putting to shame the old-school corruption of Cook County, Illinois. I now frequently say that Maricopa County has replaced Cook County as the most corrupt county in the country.'

'Years before, Maricopa County officials showed they could take out prosecutors who dared to stand up to them. More than any other reason, this precedent is why Trump’s public appeals for “brave prosecutors and judges” to come forward have been in vain, particularly in Arizona.' ~ Rachel Alexander | January 3, 2023