Republicans

Via press release from Sen. Ted Cruz: Today, an emergency appeal was filed in the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the election results in Pennsylvania. This appeal raises serious legal issues, and I believe the Court should hear the case on an expedited basis. The Pennsylvania Constitution requires in-person voting, except in narrow and defined circumstances. Late last year, the Pennsylvania …

We’ve still got two weeks of this bullshit: President Trump’s allies said Tuesday they have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block a decision by Pennsylvania’s highest court dismissing a challenge of the state’s mail-in voting system. The lawsuit is one of many protesting the results in the swing state’s elections, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Saturday said that …

The New York Daily News reports: The state of Florida recorded its 1 millionth COVID-19 case on Tuesday, becoming the third U.S. state to reach the ignoble mark since the pandemic began last winter. However, as the state approaches 20,000 coronavirus deaths, Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to refuse a statewide mask order or to close bars and restaurants. “Yes, we …

The Washington Post reports: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that there will be a new administration in January, going further than he previously has in acknowledging Trump’s election loss. “I think we all know that after the first of the year there’s likely to be a discussion about additional — some additional package of some size next …

Roll Call reports: Retiring GOP Rep. Mark Walker announced Tuesday that he is running for Senate in North Carolina in 2022, kicking off a potentially competitive Republican primary to replace retiring GOP Sen. Richard Burr. “Washington has lost its mind. Job-killing regulations, the Green New Deal, defund the police and our military — seriously? I’m proud of my record taking …

Axios reports: In a six-figure radio ad being released in Georgia today, Donald Trump Jr. tells the state’s voters that the U.S. Senate — and his father’s accomplishments — are on the line during January’s special election, according to audio obtained by Axios. Why it matters: Trump Jr.’s first of many advertisements in the Georgia Senate races argues the race …

CNN reports: Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey sent a lengthy string of tweets Monday night defending the state’s election process after being attacked by President Donald Trump for his handling of it. “I’ve been pretty outspoken about Arizona’s election system, and bragged about it quite a bit, including in the Oval Office,” Ducey tweeted in part, praising the state’s election …

Politico reports: Longtime friends worried that McDaniel wasn’t merely humiliating herself publicly; she seemed to be changing in private. She was no longer coolly detached from the passions of politics. If anything, she was turning into a true MAGA believer. There was some relief, then, when in recent weeks McDaniel told multiple confidants that she doubted there was any scalable …

The Hill reports: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of President Trump’s closest allies on Capitol Hill, says it would be “good for the country” for Trump to attend President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20 “if Biden winds up winning.” “If Biden winds up winning, yeah, I think so,” Graham said when asked about whether Trump should attend Biden’s swearing-in …

The Texas Tribune reports: The head of the Republican Party in Texas’ largest county has resigned after less than four months on the job. Keith Nielsen, chairman of the GOP in Harris County, home to Houston, submitted a letter of resignation and the party’s secretary, Josh Flynn, said he received it Monday morning. Nielsen was engulfed in controversy before he …

The Associated Press reports: Indiana’s attorney general submitted a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that it should reverse a federal appeals court’s ruling that allowed both members of same-sex couples in Indiana to be listed as parents on the birth certificates of their children. The petition from Attorney General Curtis Hill follows a January decision by the U.S. …

Raw Story reports: In particular, Kemp’s office took issue with Trump’s demand that he overrule Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger to conduct a signature-match audit of ballots, despite the fact that voters’ signatures were only used on the envelopes used to send in ballots, not the ballots themselves. “Georgia law prohibits the governor from interfering in elections,” said Kemp …

Newsweek reports: Sen. Rand Paul has been criticized for suggesting that “fraud” may be the reason Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden in key election states because of “data dumps” which occurred during a five-hour period. The Kentucky Senator tweeted about disputed claims of voter fraud which were made in a lengthy blog post entitled “Anomalies in Vote Counts and …

Business Insider reports: A group of incoming Republican House members are banding together and calling themselves the “Freedom Force” in an attempt to oppose the Democratic Party’s progressive “Squad.” One member of the new GOP group, Rep.-elect Burgess Owens of Utah, told Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” that they will offer “a contrast to the hard left.” “We have a …

NBC News reports: After months of shadowboxing amid a tense and toxic campaign, Capitol Hill’s main players are returning for one final, perhaps futile, attempt at deal-making on a challenging menu of year-end business. COVID-19 relief, a $1.4 trillion catchall spending package, and defense policy — and a final burst of judicial nominees — dominate a truncated two- or three-week …

The Hill reports: Georgia is emerging as an early proving ground for the 2024 presidential race, with a handful of potential Republican hopefuls flocking to the state to test their political coattails in its two Senate runoffs. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who just landed the chairmanship at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is among the prospective 2024 contenders who have …

The Associated Press reports: A Pennsylvania state senator abruptly left a West Wing meeting with President Donald Trump after being informed he had tested positive for the coronavirus, a person with direct knowledge of the meeting told The Associated Press on Sunday. Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano had gone to the White House last Wednesday with like-minded Republican state lawmakers …

Politico reports: Sen. Roy Blunt repeatedly declined to refer to Joe Biden as the “president-elect” on Sunday, despite acknowledgments from some fellow Senate Republicans colleagues who have recognized the former vice president’s electoral win. “Well, we’re certainly moving forward as if that what is going to happen on January the 20th,” the Missouri Republican said when asked by CNN’s Dana …

The Washington Post reports: Raffensperger said Republicans were only harming themselves by questioning the integrity of the Dominion machines. He warned that these kinds of baseless allegations could discourage Republicans from voting in the Senate runoffs. “People need to get a grip on reality,” he said. More troubling to Raffensperger were the many threats he and his wife, Tricia, have …

The Hill reports: Republicans are preparing to re-embrace their inner deficit hawks after green-lighting big spending bills under President Trump. GOP senators say they expect to refocus on curbing the nation’s debt and reforming entitlement programs starting in 2021, as the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the debt has surpassed the size of the American economy. “I think that’s kind …