Tag: Republicans

In the mob’s eyeline: A senior Republican’s close brush revealed in new Jan. 6 footage

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The video, taken by a rioter who entered the Capitol moments after the breach and released in a case separate from Pezzola’s, shows the Proud Boy gazing past the police officer at the evacuating senator, though it’s unclear if he recognized Grassley. As the camera pans, Pezzola is shown speaking on his phone before turning away from the scene.
That first wave of the mob — which also included Jacob Chansley, known as the “QAnon Shaman” — would moments later follow Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman up a flight of stairs to come within feet of the Senate chamber in a now-famous confrontation.
The footage is the latest example of how close powerful government figures came to a direct brush with the mob of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters. Rioters came within 40 feet of then-Vice President Mike Pence during his own evacuation, according to evidence released by the Jan. 6 select committee. And then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, accompanied by his own security detail, came within sight of rioter Joshua Pruitt while waiting for an elevator.
“The security detail and Senator Schumer reversed course and ran away from the elevator, back down the ramp, away from Pruitt,” according to a “statement of facts” agreed to by prosecutors and Pruitt in connection with his plea deal.
Then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris had a different kind of close call on Jan. 6: She had been ensconced at Democratic National Committee headquarters near the Capitol when police discovered pipe bombs had been placed outside the DNC and RNC buildings.
Just moments before the timing of the video, Grassley had been presiding over the Senate — filling in for Pence, who was evacuated from the floor himself just minutes earlier by Secret Service agents. The Iowan was the Senate president pro tem at the time, putting him in the line of presidential succession.
C-SPAN footage showed Grassley being rapidly ushered off the Senate dais at about 2:15 p.m. and out a nearby door.
Grassley told POLITICO that he couldn’t remember many details about the rushed evacuation, noting that he was taken down a back staircase to the first floor of the Capitol — where the footage shows he unknowingly had that close brush with rioters — and then down another staircase to the basement. Grassley’s office declined to comment but did not dispute that the footage appeared to show the 89-year-old senator’s swift exit from the Senate.

“I wasn’t aware of any of it,” Grassley said of his apparent near-encounter. “They just said: ‘We’ve got to get you out of here.’”
The footage also underscores the possibility of more significant revelations about Jan. 6 sitting in the thousands of hours of security camera video that Speaker Kevin McCarthy has indicated he intends to release publicly, after providing early access to Carlson.
And Grassley’s evacuation isn’t the only snapshot laid bare by recently released footage in Jan. 6 criminal cases. Other film shows the moment the Senate parliamentarian’s door was breached, leading to rioters ransacking her office. NBC recently revealed that Sen. Jim Risch’s (R-Idaho) hideaway was among those trashed by rioters.
In addition, court papers connected to a newly filed criminal case indicate that rioters breached the House Appropriations Committee’s third-floor space in the building, before Capitol Police officers with their guns drawn subdued them.
“There, the officers held rioters under supervision while Members of the House of Representatives were evacuated from the House Gallery,” according to the charging documents.
Those new details are in addition to well-known breaches of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) office suite, Sen. Jeff Merkley’s (D-Ore.) hideaway and the Senate chamber itself.
The video of Grassley’s apparent close encounter was released in connection with Chansley’s criminal case, after a request by media outlets for videos the government used in his sentencing. Chansley is one of the most widely recognized members of the Jan. 6 mob due to his appearance during the attack — he wore a horned Viking helmet and face paint, striding shirtless through the Capitol.
He returned to the spotlight after Carlson aired security footage showing Chansley walking alongside police officers calmly, footage the Justice Department said misleadingly cast his hour-long trip through the Capitol as authorized by police.
The footage of Chansley’s entry into the Capitol, just moments after Pezzola set off the breach by smashing the window, appears to have been taken by Jan. 6 defendant Daniel Adams, who closely followed Chansley inside. Adams can be seen on security footage holding up his camera and recording the moment.
Pezzola is currently on trial for seditious conspiracy, along with other Proud Boys leaders.
The video also shows a moment that Chansley himself had highlighted in his own defense: his chastising another member of the mob for attempting to steal items from the Senate refectory. Other recently released footage shows members of the Proud Boys snatching snacks and drinks from the convenience store after they entered the building.
The Justice Department indicated that Carlson’s footage showed only a four-minute window of the hour Chansley spent inside the Capitol. That time also included Chansley breaching police lines outside the complex, a standoff with police outside of the Senate chamber and his decision to leave an ominous note for Pence on the Senate dais.

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#mobs #eyeline #senior #Republicans #close #brush #revealed #Jan #footage
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 16, 2023
Mitt Romney castigated Biden’s budget chief on Wednesday over Democrats’ insistence that Republicans want to cut Social Security.

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It’s the latest instance of cross-party tensions boiling over on how to fix the entitlement program.

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#Mitt #Romney #castigated #Bidens #budget #chief #Wednesday #Democrats #insistence #Republicans #cut #Social #Security
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 15, 2023
Senate Republicans are breaking with Ron DeSantis over his opposition to more Ukraine aid, saying further assistance would help the U.S. be more hawkish on China.

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“Well, I don’t know what he’s trying to do or what the goal is,” Marco Rubio said.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 14, 2023
House Republicans could expand their majority if they win these court cases

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Michael Martin of Springfield, Va., with UpVote Virginia, holds a sign that reads “End Gerrymandering Again!” in front of the Supreme Court in Washington on Dec. 7, 2022.
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Andrew Harnik/AP Photo
Party operatives believe a favorable ruling in North Carolina could clear the way for a new configuration that nets Republicans four more additional seats. In Ohio, it could help the GOP win between one and three more districts. And nationwide, a dozen other states have active litigation that could shift their balance of power too.
“The cumulative effect of all these fights is significant, and I think could be the determining factor for control of the House following the 2024 elections,” said Marina Jenkins, who was recently named the executive director of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, the party’s mapmaking power center.
The case in North Carolina is an especially unusual one. The state’s Supreme Court invalidated a map drawn by the GOP-controlled state legislature after the 2020 census that would have given Republicans control of as many as 11 of the 14 districts. Instead, the court set into place for the midterms a new map that resulted in the election of an equal number of Democrats and Republicans.
But the justices themselves were also on the ballot.
Republican candidates won both of the state Supreme Court seats up in the midterms, flipping the balance of the court from a 4-3 liberal majority to a 5-2 conservative one. In a rare move, the new conservative majority agreed to rehear the already decided case.
A new ruling in North Carolina could give Republican lawmakers a much freer hand in the state, granting them an opportunity to draw maps similar to their initial proposal. State House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican, said in February he didn’t expect lawmakers to redraw the lines until summer.
The North Carolina delegation could be scrambled dramatically
A best-case scenario for North Carolina Republicans could shift the delegation from an even split to 11 Republicans and 3 Democrats, though mapmakers may not be that aggressive. Perhaps most at risk is Democratic Rep. Kathy Manning, whose Greensboro-based district was eviscerated in the initial map that GOP legislators crafted. Former GOP Rep. Mark Walker, who represented the seat before it was redrawn to favor Democrats, is rumored to be eyeing a comeback bid, although he has publicly acknowledged he is also considering a gubernatorial run.
Manning said she’s trying to stay hopeful that the new state Supreme Court doesn’t reverse its prior ruling but she knows it could doom her nonetheless.

“Maybe it’s unrealistic to expect that they’re going to put partisanship aside and do what’s right for the state,” she said.
Also on the chopping block: Democratic freshmen Reps. Wiley Nickel, who holds a newly created seat in the south Raleigh suburbs, and Jeff Jackson, who nabbed a safe blue seat in the Charlotte area. Jackson’s seat is likely to shift west in a redrawn map toward Cleveland County. That’s the home base of the state’s speaker, who has long eyed a perch in Congress and would have great influence over any new map.
A redraw could also endanger another freshman, Rep. Don Davis, a moderate Air Force veteran who took over retiring Rep. G.K. Butterfield’s rural northeastern district in 2022.
“Republican judges are gonna call balls and strikes,” said Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.
“I think the current map is a partisan gerrymander and that we need fair and legal maps,” he added. “And if you have fair and legal maps, I think you’ll have more Republican representatives.”
President Joe Biden lost North Carolina to former President Donald Trump by less than 2 points.
Ohio, similarly, saw a back-and-forth battle over its congressional lines. The state Supreme Court twice struck down maps that favored Republicans, though the second ruling came too late to get a new map in place for the midterms.
For now, any future legal challenges would ultimately land in front of a newly made up Ohio state Supreme Court.
Then-state Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, a Republican, sided with three Democratic justices to strike down the congressional maps. (The court also ruled five times that legislative maps violated the state constitution.) But O’Connor did not run for reelection. And while the partisan balance of the court did not shift, the new conservative majority is not expected to rule the same way.
“The liberal majorities on the Ohio and North Carolina supreme courts overreached,” said Adam Kincaid, the leader of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, “and the voters responded by electing new conservative majorities.”
In Ohio, three Democrats could feel a squeeze under new lines. Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur‘s Toledo-based district already favors Republicans, but could become even redder under a new map. In 2022 she faced flawed opponent, JR Majewski, who misrepresented his military service, leaving Republicans eager to block him this time around. (State Rep. Derek Merrin, who narrowly lost a bid to be speaker of the Ohio House, lives in her district.) In Akron, freshman Rep. Emilia Sykes, a Democrat, is also a clear redistricting target.

Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s Toledo-based district already favors Republicans, but could become even redder under a new map.
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Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo
A big question is how aggressively Republicans decide to target the Cincinnati-based first district, which elected a Democrat in 2022 for the first time since 2008. Redistricting reform laws in the state prohibit mapmakers from splitting the city between two districts.
The U.S. Supreme Court is watching
Looming over both states is the U.S. Supreme Court.
The high court has already heard arguments surrounding North Carolina’s congressional maps in a case called Moore v. Harper in December, before the state Supreme Court court granted a rehearing.
In that court case, Republican lawmakers challenged the ability of the state court to question their maps, advancing a once-fringe legal theory known as the “Independent State Legislature” doctrine. That theory argues that state courts have little — to no — ability to police legislatures on laws passed around federal elections, including redistricting, under the U.S. Constitution. And while the justices seemed chilly to North Carolina’s arguments in December, at least four of the court’s conservative justices had signaled a friendliness to the theory in the past.
But Tuesday’s rehearing of the case in state court raises the question of what the nation’s highest court will do. Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court directed parties in the federal case to submit briefs on how the rehearing and “any subsequent state court proceedings” would affect the court’s jurisdiction — suggesting that the justices could consider dismissing the case as improvidently granted, which is the court functionally saying it should not have heard the case.
Rick Hasen, a well-known election law professor at UCLA Law, said he was “uncertain” if the high court would do that, given that the underlying issue of the independent state legislature theory is something “I think almost everybody recognizes the court has to resolve before the 2024 elections.”
But should the high court actually do so, another case is waiting in the wings — from Ohio. Lawmakers from that state have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to toss their own state Supreme Court’s rulings out as well, while also advocating for the Independent State Legislature theory. The U.S. Supreme Court has not yet acted on that petition.
If the court does punt on the North Carolina case, it could continue the sense of unevenness in redistricting, Hasen notes, with some state courts wading in on gerrymandering while others don’t. Some Democratic-drawn maps were struck down by their state courts last cycle as illegal partisan gerrymanders.
Hasen said that if the case gets dismissed as improvidently granted, “then that would — for the short term — allow North Carolina to engage in a partisan gerrymander, but would not free New York or Maryland.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 14, 2023
Republicans launch opening salvo against food aid

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Supporters say enhancing work requirements as outlined in Johnson’s proposal is key to reducing cycles of perpetual poverty, and it will also save taxpayers money.
“We know that work is the only path out of poverty,” said Johnson, a member of the House Agriculture Committee whose family received SNAP benefits when he was a child growing up in Pierre, South Dakota.
Johnson hopes his proposal will be folded into the upcoming farm bill, which lawmakers will draft later this year, but it will face stiff resistance in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Other GOP lawmakers are now pressing for similar work requirements to be part of any deal on the debt limit between the White House and the House GOP. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) reintroduced a bill in January that would raise the age for food assistance work requirements by a decade to 59.
Democrats, however, note the majority of people who receive SNAP benefits are already working and, at the moment, are grappling with surging food prices, a challenge exacerbated by the end of a pandemic-era increase in aid.
“These guys talk about states’ rights all the time, except when it comes to poor people,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, one of the biggest anti-hunger advocates in the House.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations committee who’s had a series of budget talks with her Republican counterparts, noted this is a perennial fight.
“This is not something new, this go round. All you have to do is look back over the years,” DeLauro said. She added many House Republicans, who are currently eyeing broad cuts across anti-hunger programs and other social spending, would “decimate” food assistance programs if given the chance.
But even though they know what’s coming, some House Democrats are quietly raising alarms about their lack of plans to push back on the GOP proposals, which are likely to come up during negotiations over the debt limit, federal budget and farm bill.

“We need to be prepared for a showdown on food security — and right now, we’re not ready,” said one House Democrat, who was granted anonymity in order to speak plainly about internal caucus matters.
As POLITICO first reported last year, some Democrats have been particularly concerned about the leadership atop the House Agriculture Committee, which oversees SNAP and other federal food assistance programs. A handful of Democrats have pressed their leaders multiple times to remove top committee Democrat David Scott (D-Ga.) from his post, citing Scott’s health and concerns about his ability to effectively lead the committee. A steady churn of committee staff turnover under Scott has added to Democrats’ worries about their ability to effectively push back on Republicans. So far, leadership has rebuffed their efforts.
According to conversations with more than a dozen committee members and Hill aides, many believe Scott isn’t planning to run for reelection, and could even step down in the middle of his current term. They note he recently quit the Blue Dogs coalition and also has stopped attending key subcommittee hearings and farm bill listening sessions in various states — a major part of his role as ranking member as the two parties lay out their priorities for the legislation.
Asked last week about Republicans’ desire to cut food assistance, Scott declined to weigh in.
In a committee hearing the following day, Scott praised the “vital role” SNAP plays in feeding the nation. But then he made a procedural move that allowed House Agriculture Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) to approve the committee’s budget guidance letter, which endorsed a review of “strong pathways to employment” and “robust and effective integrity measures within farm bill nutrition programs.”
It was McGovern who spoke up during the hearing to express concerns. “Some of us will submit additional views regarding SNAP,” the Massachusetts Democrat told the chair. “And we will follow up with you in a timely fashion.”
The White House has largely stayed out of the brewing fight on food assistance amid the GOP calls for stronger work requirements and funding cuts — to some Democrats’ disappointment. But a paragraph tucked in the president’s budget released last week does call for “eliminating barriers to food assistance for vulnerable groups,” including time limits on SNAP eligibility. That proposal isn’t likely to gain any traction in the GOP-majority House, especially with Thompson at the Agriculture Committee helm.
The Pennsylvania Republican has been trying to carefully navigate the fraught politics around food assistance.
In an interview, Thompson said the current work requirements are “sufficient.” He’s also encouraged his colleagues to keep food assistance out of the debt limit fight. But given his experience as the former chair of the nutrition subcommittee, Democrats worry he could succeed in pushing through a series of smaller technical reforms to SNAP that would have broad implications, like pulling back flexibility around work requirements that has been allowed in recent years. The topic has come up in recent meetings of GOP committee members, according to lawmakers.
“G.T. Thompson made us all pretty much aware of the fact right off the bat that there are already work requirements in current law requiring work for able-bodied single people,” noted Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), who sits on the House Agriculture Committee and is also a member of the Freedom Caucus. “The issue is that certain governors in certain states, there’s some loopholes in the rule where they can waive those. So I am interested in closing those loopholes.”
On the other flank of the party, the fight over federal anti-hunger programs could end up squeezing vulnerable members who represent districts Biden won in 2022.
That’s especially true of House Republicans like Marc Molinaro in New York, where state officials regularly ask the federal government to waive SNAP work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents. Molinaro, who received food assistance growing up, says he knows first-hand the benefits and the inefficiencies of the programs.
“Confronting that in a way that’s sensitive to the individual is really important,” he said, declining, for now, to say whether he’d support steps to expand work requirements for that aid.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 13, 2023
Republicans release top targets of Democratic-held House seats in 2024
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“Republicans are in the majority and on offense. We will grow our House majority by building strong campaigns around talented recruits in these districts who can communicate the dangers of Democrats’ extreme agenda,” NRCC Chairman Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) said in a statement. “These House Democrats should be shaking in their boots.”
The list features 19 Democrats who won despite the NRCC spending heavily against them last cycle, including Reps. Yadira Caraveo of Colorado, Gabriel Vasquez of New Mexico and Pat Ryan of New York, according to FEC reports. Each of them won by just a few thousand votes. Several races the NRCC is targeting this time around were among the most expensive in terms of outside spending in 2022.
Reviewing spending for 2022 from those on the NRCC list, Slotkin’s 7th District in Michigan attracted the most money from outside groups from both parties during the general election, followed by Reps. Susie Lee, of Nevada’s 3rd District, Abigail Spanberger, of Virginia’s 7th, and Angie Craig, of Minnesota’s 2nd. All of those races featured more than $20 million of spending from outside groups, according to OpenSecrets.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee released its own list of most vulnerable members last Friday. The NRCC is targeting all but one of the members on the DCCC’s list and has added Reps. Josh Harder of California, Darren Soto of Florida and Jeff Jackson of North Carolina, each of whom won by more than 12 points. Reps. Dina Titus of Nevada, Val Hoyle of Oregon, Seth Magaziner of Rhode Island and Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, who each won by single digits, are also on the list.
Democrats have not yet released their own target list.
The full list of NRCC targets:
- (AK-AL) Mary Peltola
- (CA-09) Josh Harder
- (CA-47) Open (Porter)
- (CA-49) Mike Levin
- (CO-08) Yadira Caraveo
- (CT-05) Jahana Hayes
- (FL-09) Darren Soto
- (IL-17) Eric Sorensen
- (IN-01) Frank Mrvan
- (KS-03) Sharice Davids
- (ME-02) Jared Golden
- (MI-03) Hillary Scholten
- (MI-07) Open (Slotkin)
- (MI-08) Dan Kildee
- (MN-02) Angie Craig
- (NC-01) Don Davis
- (NC-13) Wiley Nickel
- (NC-14) Jeff Jackson
- (NH-01) Chris Pappas
- (NM-02) Gabriel Vasquez
- (NV-01) Dina Titus
- (NV-03) Susie Lee
- (NV-04) Steven Horsford
- (NY-18) Pat Ryan
- (OH-01) Greg Landsman
- (OH-09) Marcy Kaptur
- (OH-13) Emilia Sykes
- (OR-04) Val Hoyle
- (OR-06) Andrea Salinas
- (PA-07) Susan Wild
- (PA-08) Matt Cartwright
- (PA-17) Chris Deluzio
- (RI-02) Seth Magaziner
- (TX-34) Vicente Gonzalez
- (VA-07) Abigail Spanberger
- (WA-03) Marie Gluesenkamp Perez
- (WA-08) Kim Schrier
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
March 13, 2023
OMB director fires back at Republicans over debt ceiling

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Their proposal stood in contrast to Biden’s budget proposal released Thursday; his plan calls for a 7 percent increase over current non-defense spending levels and higher taxes on wealthier Americans.
The OMB director said it was good the House Freedom Caucus put their plan out, as it allows for a clear contrast of the priorities between the president and House Republicans. She also noted that the debt ceiling was raised three times during the Trump administration without these type of conditions.
Though the Freedom Caucus plan did not call for cuts to Social Security, Young said that Republican policies post a threat to it.
“Let me be clear, the top existential threat to Social Security is those in this town that want to cut it,” Young told Collins. “I wish we were in the part of the debate where we could talk about extending. This president chose to focus on protecting benefits.”
Speaking later on the same CNN program, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) said she was bothered by Young’s remarks on the debt ceiling and negotiations.
“The comments by the director of OMB on this program a few moments ago were disturbing to me just not even as a member of Congress, but as an American,” Mace said, adding: “We should be negotiating on this issue. This shouldn’t be one-sided.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 12, 2023
Republicans look to end Florida’s abortion-haven legacy

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“We’re talking about thousands of people whose care will be delayed or new travel plans have to be made,” Florida Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat who previously worked at Planned Parenthood, said. “It shows this is truly a bill to be cruel just to be cruel.”
Florida last year banned people from getting abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for victims of rape or incest. But that law is still much less restrictive than other states across the South.
Florida’s proposal signals that the battle over reproductive rights will continue long after the high court’s decision and will be a major factor in the 2024 election cycle , especially as DeSantis eyes a likely presidential bid. DeSantis’ support for the bill shows he’s eager to continue courting the right wing of the GOP, regardless of how further restricting abortion will be received during a general election.
But Florida’s legislation also highlights how a network of providers in the state, who created an infrastructure to help patients from Georgia, Mississippi and elsewhere get abortions in the state, will need to change tactics if the six-week ban is approved.
Monthly reports obtained from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration show that 6,708 people came from outside the state to get an abortion last year, a more than 37 percent increase compared to 2021. The sharpest increase in visitors began after the Supreme Court ruling was handed down. There were 3,917 out-of-state abortions last year between June 1 and Dec. 31, a more than 140-percent increase compared to the same time period in 2021.
More than 82,000 people total received abortions in 2022.
Clara Trullenque, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood of South, East and North Florida, said caseloads at clinics along the state’s northern border quadrupled after the high court ruling.
“Our health centers in Tallahassee and Jacksonville receive more patients from other states where abortion access is even more restricted than it is in Florida,” Trullenque said in an email. “We are continuing to hire additional staff, extend hours and make every accommodation we can to ensure we can serve all of our patients.”

Amber Gavin, a vice president for A Woman’s Choice, an abortion clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., said a patchwork of national funding organizations, regional abortion support groups and local clinics emerged to help manage the skyrocketing number of patients.
“We’re working really closely with local and national abortion funds to make sure people who reach out to us can get care they need and that we get the care we need,” Gavin said. “There’s specialized funding to make sure they are able to get the funds to get their care.”
A Woman’s Choice’s clinic also provides information to patients from outside Florida who are looking to the Sunshine State for help. Its website states: “Need Help? We help with feeds, travel, and more. We provide abortion care from everywhere. In fact, your abortion could be fully covered if your State has banned or Severely Restricted Abortion Care, including: AL, AK, GA, KY, LA, MS, MO, OK, TN, and WV.”
Another complication is Florida’s 24-hour wait period law. A state circuit court ruling threw out a lawsuit challenging a requirement that people wait a day between an initial clinic visit and receiving an abortion. Gavin said that rule requires most out-of-state patients to make a two-day trip to Florida, and the subsequent costs of airfare, lodging, and child care quickly pile up.
“It’s already a barrier to have to come here,” Gavin said. “We’re talking about folks who are having to take off one to two days at work, the cost of travel and lodging.”
Data provided by AHCA, the state health agency, shows that most people who came to the state for an abortion over the past few years hailed from Alabama and Georgia but the number of clinics in North Florida has since dropped. In May of last year, AHCA shut down the only clinic in Pensacola after at least three patients suffered complications that were investigated for malpractice. With the Pensacola clinic closed, people were forced to seek access in already overwhelmed offices in Tallahassee and Jacksonville.
“They’ve just been coming from all over,” Gavin said.
The June Supreme Court ruling that led to the explosion of out-of-state visitors prompted regional support and logistics organizations, such as the Atlanta-based ARC Southeast, to reallocate the dollars it receives from much larger abortion fundraising groups to switch from covering doctor’s bills to paying for travel and lodging.
ARC Southeast Healthline Manager Elsie Vazquez said before the Roe ruling, only a small fraction of the money her group received went to those logistical costs. Now, at least half of that money goes toward those ancillary costs, which she called “practical support.”
“Due to the bans in many of the [southeast] states, hundreds of folks are having to travel long distances to get care,” Vazquez said. “And it’s one of the biggest barriers they face apart from paying for their abortion.”
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#Republicans #Floridas #abortionhaven #legacy
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 12, 2023
McCarthy returns to his home state to rally beleaguered California Republicans

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McCarthy’s speech comes as California Republicans could be poised to play an important role in the March 2024 primary, which is early enough in the year that the state’s large delegate pool could influence a potential race between former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The speaker avoided presidential politics in his speech at a downtown hotel, though he did take cracks at Rep. Adam Schiff, who is running to replace retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and Gov. Gavin Newsom for his support of a high-speed rail system planned to eventually cut through the state’s Central Valley.
“The only thing I think Gavin spends more time on than high speed rail is spending time on his hair,” McCarthy said.
The speaker, who is from the Central Valley city of Bakersfield, is in familiar territory in Sacramento, where he served in the Assembly as the Republican leader before he was elected to Congress. His influence is welcome to a party that has fallen on hard times in California.
“He may be the highest-ranking Republican in the nation,” said California Republican Party Chair Jessica Millan Patterson, who was picked for the job by McCarthy in 2019. “But as a California Republican, he will always be one of us.”
While the speaker and Patterson avoided talk of the presidential race, it was clearly on the minds of many at the weekend convention.
Trump was by far the dominant name at the convention, with vendors hawking bedazzled “Let’s Go Brandon” hats, MAGA flags and rhinestone-encrusted purses shaped like stilettos and guns emblazoned with “Trump.” But many spoke fondly of DeSantis.
“I know what I get with Trump,” said Susan Walsh, a delegate from Nevada County who was attending the convention with her dog, a Portuguese podengo named Trump. “I want DeSantis to stay [in Florida], just in case I need to flee.”

Marty Miller, a resident of nearby Lincoln, Calif., was the only vendor offering DeSantis merchandise on Friday, including a blue “DeSantisland” t-shirt written in Disney font.
A native of Florida, Miller said California Republicans are open to DeSantis, but many are waiting to see what Trump does.
“They like Trump,” he said. “But he’s got to keep his mouth shut.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 12, 2023
Republicans are winning more Latino votes. But rising turnout still benefits Dems.

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Despite having a Latina candidate in the race in Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Democrats’ Senate overall vote share in Nevada fell to 62 percent among Latinos, compared to fellow Sen. Jacky Rosen’s 67 percent among the demographic in 2018, according to exit polls.
And in Arizona, the ratio for Democratic Senate hopefuls fell even more dramatically. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema enjoyed a 70 percent victory over her Republican opponent in 2018 among Latinos, while incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly fought for his 58 percent from the same demographic. Biden won about 61 percent of the Latino vote in 2020 in both states.
Yet Latino voters still boosted Cortez Masto, Kelly and Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs enough to victory over their Republican counterparts, who took larger shares of white voters who make up the voting majority — bridging gaps as high as the 18-point deficit between Cortez Masto and Adam Laxalt among white voters.
Voto Latino conducted the analysis because of the large impact the two states had in the midterms. By analyzing precinct data, the organization’s projections show even modest increases of Latino turnout by 2.5 or 5 percentage points would net a fraction of a percentage for Democrats in a two-way race — boosting someone like Cortez Masto’s vote shares that much more, in a race that ultimately saw her and Republican Adam Laxalt separated by less than 1 point.
Voto Latino president María Teresa Kumar said she was unsurprised by the results, adding that even a little more investment would have avoided such a “close contest.”
“The reason we did this analysis was, had there been some investment based on historical participation of the Latino community of the last several years, wiser decisions would have been made,” Kumar said.
Latinos have become a growing voting contingent that both Republicans and Democrats have sought in the past two cycles, from releasing more ads in Spanish to boosting congressional surrogates to turn out votership.
Outside of the close contests in Arizona, where Democrats lost their overall Congressional majority, candidates in majority-Latino districts were reelected — including Reps. Raúl Grijalva and Ruben Gallego, who has now announced his candidacy for Senate.

“What Nevada and Arizona really give you a very crisp picture of is how important every voter is when you’re looking at [increasingly] razor thin margins in many elections,” said Clarissa Martinez De Castro, vice president of the Latino Vote Initiative at UnidosUS. “Latinos are increasingly a factor in the winning equation in more places than people have traditionally thought, like… California, Texas, Florida. The reality is that the numbers are growing all over.”
Latinos are the nation’s youngest demographic, with a median age under 30 and a growing young adult voter base, millions of whom will newly be eligible to vote by 2024. Experts say they could be convinced to turn out to vote, and for Democratic candidates — if the party continues to adapt their playbook outside the “white soccer mom” mentality.
This is why the turnout factor has to include data-driven analysis, Kumar added. Among Latinos, many young people may not yet see voting as the first option to secure rights for their community, she said. But that doesn’t mean they are automatically and permanently low-propensity.
“The majority of Latino voters are under the age of 33,” Kumar said. “By default, they’re low-propensity. It doesn’t mean they’re detached — they’re just flowing into the process. They should be taken seriously because they have the ear of their family in a way no party does.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 10, 2023