Republicans

The Hill reports: Justice Amy Coney Barrett on Tuesday was asked to recuse herself from participating in a dispute over a mail-ballot extension in Pennsylvania, with the newly confirmed justice facing immediate political pressure on her first day on the job. The recusal motion was filed by the Luzerne County Board of Elections, one of the parties that has asked …

The San Antonio Express-News reports: The Texas Army National Guard said Monday it had been ordered to dispatch 1,000 troops to five major cities around the state in conjunction with the Nov. 3 election, including San Antonio. The guard in recent weeks had told the San Antonio Express-News that its commander, Maj. Gen. Tracy Norris, had been asked to draft …

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports: Sen. Cecile Bledsoe, R-Rogers, is the seventh state lawmaker to test positive for the coronavirus during the past several days. Bledsoe, who co-chairs the Legislative Council, received test results Sunday night that she tested positive, according to Senate President Pro Tempore Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs. Bledsoe is a former chairwoman of the Senate Public Health, Welfare …

NBC News reports: Wisconsin cannot count mail ballots that arrive well after the polls close under an order issued late Monday by the Supreme Court, a defeat for Democrats in a battleground state. By a vote of 5-3, the justices declined to lift a lower court ruling preventing the state from counting mail ballots that arrive as much as six …

CNN reports: Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is delivering his final remarks on the Senate floor right now on Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination. But in what is unusual for the majority leader, he is delivering his speech largely to his GOP conference. He is turning to them and gesturing to them frequently. And like they did yesterday for the procedural vote, …

The Tennessean reports: An attorney for Tennessee Sen. Joey Hensley conceded Monday the politician, a small-town doctor, prescribed opioids to family members and an employee with whom he was in a romantic relationship, in what the state contends is a violation of medical ethics. During opening arguments in a medical discipline proceeding, attorney David Steed said it was well-intentioned, harmless …

The Associated Press reports: Six years after being elected in an expensive and heated race, Republican Sen. Tom Cotton is on the ballot again and he’s campaigning hard — just not in Arkansas. With no Democratic rival and millions in campaign funds to spend, Cotton has run ads in the battleground states of Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. He’s on …

CNBC reports: Minnesota Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis was rushed into emergency surgery Monday for a severe internal hernia, just eight days before the election, his campaign announced. The condition is life-threatening if not treated quickly, the campaign said in a statement. Lewis, a one-term former congressman best known to Minnesota voters from his days as a conservative talk …

The Hill reports: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who is battling for his Senate career in a toss-up re-election race, on Sunday brushed off a sharp attack from Fox Business host Lou Dobbs, telling reporters, “I don’t really worry much about Mr. Dobbs.” Graham, when asked whether he wanted President Trump to stand up for him against attacks from the right, …

CNN reports: Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced Saturday that she will ultimately vote yes on Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court of the United States. “I believe that the only way to put us back on the path of appropriate consideration of judicial nominees, is to evaluate Judge Barrett as we would want to be judged — on the …

The Hill reports: Democratic Louisiana House candidate Rob Anderson is fundraising off of opponent Rep. Clay Higgins’s (R) Friday claim that his wife has “the gift of premonition” and woke up this week crying over a dream of a dystopian future. Higgins tweeted Friday that his wife dreamed that “Federal squads were in our home seizing guns, knives, ‘unauthorized foods’ …

The Washington Post reports: Madison Cawthorn, a House Republican candidate in North Carolina, created a website attacking his Democratic opponent that made a racist characterization of a watchdog reporter as someone who works “to ruin white males.” The website, MoeTaxes.com, about Cawthorn’s Democratic opponent Moe Davis, alleged that local journalist Tom Fiedler was working with Davis allies and described Fiedler …

The Detroit News reports: U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga of West Michigan compared Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive orders to the presidential orders in the 1940s that sent Japanese people to internment camps. Huizenga, R-Zeeland, made the comments during a Thursday debate with his Democratic challenger Bryan Berghoef, a debate hosted by the Grand Haven Tribune and held via Zoom roughly a …

The Washington Post reports: Senate Republicans are growing increasingly frustrated with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin as he makes what they see as unacceptable compromises in his quest for a stimulus deal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, multiple people familiar with the talks said Thursday. Mnuchin has committed to a top-line figure of around $1.9 trillion, much too high for many …

The New York Daily News reports: Mitch McConnell asserted Thursday that he is healthy after speculation swirled over what is wrong with the Senate majority leader’s hands. McConnell showed up to work at the Capitol Thursday with both hands appearing severely discolored in a deep purple, with band-aids covering some of the knuckle areas. The Kentucky Republican’s lips and the …

The Washington Post reports: After reporting more than 16,000 coronavirus-related deaths, the Florida Department of Health said Wednesday that the fatality data “presents confusion and warrants a more rigorous review.” State Surgeon General Scott Rivkees said in a news release that health officials will begin an additional review of all coronavirus-related deaths to ensure that Florida’s public health statistics are …

Vice News reports: Almost 21,000 Election Day polling places have been eliminated heading into the 2020 U.S. election, a drastic dip in voting locations driven by a heavy shift to mail voting, coronavirus-related consolidations, cost-cutting measures, and voter suppression. VICE News obtained data from all 50 states and Washington, D.C., on the number of physical polling locations they will have …

The Texas Tribune reports: Lacey Mase, one of the top aides who accused Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton of crimes including bribery and abuse of office, has been fired, she told The Texas Tribune on Tuesday evening. “It was not voluntary,” she said, but declined to comment further. Mase was hired in 2011 and worked most recently as the deputy …

Reuters reports: The Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote on Thursday on President Donald Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to a lifetime U.S. Supreme Court post, with Democrats boycotting the proceedings after fiercely opposing her confirmation. Barrett, a federal appeals court judge whose confirmation would expand the top U.S. judicial body’s conservative majority to 6-3, was poised …

The Washington Post reports: Former New Jersey governor and longtime Trump ally Chris Christie published a striking op-ed in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal in which he laments “the polarization of something as practical as a mask” and admits that his own failure to wear one at a White House event last month could have been fatal. “I am lucky to …