Republicans

The Texas Tribune reports: A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled late Thursday that Texas can keep its strict eligibility rules for voting by mail. Siding with the state’s Republican leadership, the appellate judges rejected the Texas Democratic Party’s effort to expand eligibility for voting by mail to all registered voters based on their argument …

Mediaite reports: A multitude of reporters on Capitol Hill tweeted out their progress on Wednesday — or lack thereof — as they tried to get Republican lawmakers to react to President Donald Trump’s recorded admission that he downplayed the coronavirus. As the United States nears 200,000 coronavirus deaths, Woodward’s tape on Trump’s virus downplaying became an instant flashpoint among the …

The National Review reports: Senator Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) called to repeal the 17th Amendment on Tuesday, which would eliminate the requirement that U.S. senators be elected by popular votes. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled “Make the Senate Great Again,” Sasse called for an end to the amendment, among other changes to the Senate “aimed at promoting debate, …

The Washington Post reports: President Trump’s reelection campaign is paying to replace sod on the White House South Lawn and Rose Garden after damage to the greenery late last month from large crowds and heavy equipment used for Republican National Convention festivities, White House and campaign officials said Tuesday. Trump’s unprecedented decision to stage overtly political events on public property …

Reuters reports: The Republican leaders of the U.S. Senate will introduce a proposal for additional coronavirus relief on Tuesday and could schedule a vote as soon as this week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. The two parties are sharply divided, but there are disputes also among President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans. Many of the Senate’s 53 Republicans are on …

NPR reports: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has made no secret of his affection for The Princess Bride – the 1987 cult classic starring Robin Wright. But he’s now making it clear he’s no fan of a plan by cast members to stump for Democrats in Wisconsin next week. According to a web post by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, several …

Axios reports: House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy is privately encouraging voting by mail and warned President Trump the party could be “screwed” by his fight against mail-in voting. “We could lose based on that,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) told me at a diner in Salt Lake City last week, during a campaign swing that began in the Pacific Northwest. McCarthy said the …

The Texas Tribune reports: The Texas Supreme Court on Saturday rejected an attempt by Republicans to kick 44 Libertarians off the ballot in the November elections. Several Republican Party candidates and organizations had sued to remove the Libertarians, arguing they did not pay filing fees — a new requirement for third parties under a law passed by the Legislature last …

The Times of Israel reports: Laura Loomer, a Jewish Republican congressional candidate in Florida with a history of bigoted statements, got a friendly visit on the campaign trail from Lara Trump, the US president’s daughter-in-law. In 2017, before she was banned from Twitter, she tweeted, “Good. Here’s to 2,000 more,” in response to news that more than 2,000 migrants had …

Media Matters reports: The National Rifle Association released its list of candidate ratings and endorsements for the 2020 elections, endorsing two congressional candidates who support the dangerous QAnon conspiracy theory: Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert. On September 3, the NRA’s political action committee Political Victory Fund announced it had released its candidate grades and endorsements for the 2020 election …

Forbes reports: Marjorie Taylor Greene, the House candidate and professed QAnon believer President Trump called “a future Republican star,” posted a photo of herself holding a gun she plans to raffle off saying she wanted to go on the “offense” against the three Congresswomen known as the “Squad” — and her campaign said anyone who takes offense is “paranoid and …

“He exhibited incredible restraint and presence and situational awareness. He didn’t empty a magazine into a crowd.  I think the strongest thing he has for him is the actual video evidence. And if I were on a jury and all I had was the evidence that I have been able to acquire through social media and the videos that are …

USA Today reports: Sen. Ted Cruz came under fire from abortion-rights proponents after saying Wednesday on social media that pregnancy is not a “life-threatening illness” when the U.S. has the highest maternal death rate out of the world’s developed nations. Cruz made the comment in a tweet promoting a letter signed by himself and other Republican senators calling on the …

The Hill reports: The House Democratic campaign arm has filed a formal ethics complaint against Republican Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (La.), who shared a video doctored to alter the wording of a question posed by activist Ady Barkan to former Vice President Joe Biden. The complaint filed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Wednesday alleges that Scalise violated the …

Reuters reports: Nearly 100 Republican and independent leaders will endorse Democrat Joe Biden for president on Thursday, including one-time 2020 Republican presidential candidate Bill Weld and the former Republican governors of Michigan and New Jersey, people involved in the effort told Reuters. The latest Republican-led effort to oppose the re-election of President Donald Trump also includes current and former Republicans …

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: The ACLU of Georgia this morning has released a report that says a 2019 purge of voters from the state’s registration database improperly removed nearly 200,000 on the grounds that they had moved – when they had not. The report is the work of the Palast Investigative Fund, a New York-based nonprofit headed by Greg Palast, …

Media Matters reports: On September 5, Trump supporters nationwide are planning a “Drag the Interstate” rally in which they’ll use their vehicles to “gather together and organize into rolling flag parade caravans within their States.” The event has been promoted with a flyer that contains the QAnon slogan “WWG1WGA” an abbreviation for “where we go one, we go all.” Republicans …

The Huffington Post reports: Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) said he’d be more than willing to shoot any armed demonstrators in Louisiana in a Facebook post Tuesday that was accompanied by a picture of Black men with guns. “One way ticket fellas,” he wrote on his campaign account. “Have your affairs in order. Me?… I wouldn’t even spill my beer. I’d …

The Washington Post reports: Federal prosecutors are preparing to charge longtime GOP fundraiser Elliott Broidy in connection with efforts to influence the U.S. government on behalf of foreign interests, according to people familiar with the matter, a result of a sprawling, years-long investigation that involved a figure who helped raise millions for Donald Trump’s election and the Republican Party. Broidy …

The Washington Post reports: When a man in the crowd of her Iowa campaign stop told Sen. Joni Ernst (R) on Monday that he believed the number of U.S. coronavirus deaths had been overcounted, Ernst replied that she too was “so skeptical.” “These health-care providers and others are reimbursed at a higher rate if COVID is tied to it, so …