Republicans

The Tampa Bay Times reports: The Florida House speaker is calling into question the state’s COVID-19 death toll, warning that it was based on compromised data and used a methodology that inflated death rates. Speaker Jose Oliva, R-Miami Lakes, sent a memo Tuesday to all House members announcing the findings of an-in house analysis he ordered of the state’s COVID-19 …

Axios reports: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday that he would not put a potential $1.8 trillion+ deal struck by Democrats and the Trump administration on the Senate floor. “My members think half a trillion dollars, highly targeted is the best way to go,” he said. Why it matters: The economy and American workers need help. Democrats say …

The Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports: A campaign season tradition — the candidate debate — almost certainly won’t happen in the high-profile race between Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Mike Espy. Hyde Smith told the Clarion Ledger on Wednesday she doesn’t plan to debate, citing a busy schedule and “stark, drastic” differences between herself and Espy that she believes voters …

The Los Angeles Times reports: For years, Republicans across the country have decried the use of so-called “ballot harvesting,” arguing that laws that allow a third party to collect voters’ completed ballots serve as a breeding ground for election fraud. In California, the state’s Republican Party has taken Gov. Gavin Newsom and other officials to court over the practice. Now, …

Reuters reports: A federal judge late on Wednesday ruled that absentee ballots in the presidential battleground state of North Carolina must have a witness signature, a boost for Republican groups seeking to enforce stricter rules on mail-in voting. U.S. District Judge William Osteen in Greensboro issued an injunction essentially barring voters from being able to “fix” an absentee ballot they …

The Associated Press reports: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem on Tuesday blamed South Dakota’s recent surge in coronavirus cases on an increase in testing, even as the state saw a new high in the number of people hospitalized by the virus. There are currently no open general-care hospital beds in the southeastern part of the state, which contains the two …

The New York Times reports: President Trump on Wednesday expressed support to California Republicans who installed more than 50 unauthorized absentee-ballot drop boxes falsely labeled “official” — an extraordinary endorsement by a president of a practice that state officials say is deceptive and illegal. “Fight hard Republicans,” Mr. Trump wrote in a tweet that linked to an article about California …

Roll Call reports: Former Rep. Chris Collins began serving his 26-month prison term Tuesday at FPC Pensacola, a minimum security federal prison camp in Florida. Collins’ arrival at the camp comes after four delays and just under nine months since he was sentenced in January for conspiring to commit securities fraud and making false statements to the FBI. The former …

The Washington Post reports: As the presidential campaign entered its final stages, a fresh-faced Republican activist named Charlie Kirk stepped into the spotlight at a closed-door gathering of leading conservatives and shared his delight about an impact of the coronavirus pandemic: the disruption of America’s universities. So many campuses had closed, he said, that up to a half-million left-leaning students …

The Daily Beast reports: The business of a U.S. Supreme Court confirmation physically pulled Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) off the campaign trail just three weeks before the election during the race of his life. But he hardly checked that election at the door of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s chambers on Tuesday. Graham, the committee chairman, invoked home state concerns and …

Mediaite reports: President Donald Trump’s personal attorney and former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani claimed people are no longer dying from the coronavirus. At an Italians for Trump event in Philadelphia, Monday, Giuliani claimed, “People don’t die of this disease anymore.” “Young people don’t die at all,” he insisted. “Middle age people die very little, and even elderly people …

The Texas Tribune reports: Texas counties may collect mail-in ballots at only one location, a federal appeals court ruled late Monday, once again upholding an order from Gov. Greg Abbott that restricts voting options. Abbott in July acted to lengthen the early voting period and allow voters to deliver completed absentee ballots in person for longer than the normal period. …

The New York Times reports: The California Republican Party has admitted responsibility for placing more than 50 deceptively labeled “official” drop boxes for mail-in ballots in Los Angeles, Fresno and Orange Counties — an action that state officials said was illegal and could lead to voter fraud. The dark gray metal boxes have been popping up over the past two …

The Associated Press reports: A federal judge has upheld a Minnesota state court agreement that allows the counting of absentee ballots received up to seven days after Election Day. Republicans had asked U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel to block the seven-day extension that said ballots postmarked on or before Election Day must be counted. Brasel ruled late Sunday night that …

Media Matters reports: Daniel Wood is a longshot Republican House candidate who has used social media to push conspiracy theories related to QAnon and to encourage people to not wear masks in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Despite his history of conspiratorial claims and dangerous medical misinformation, Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ), who is running in one of the most competitive …

Mediaite reports: Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) attended the Senate Judiciary Committee’s first day of confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett on Monday, and he prominently chose to not wear a face mask as he spoke during the proceeding. Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court was thrown into turmoil at the top of the month when President Donald Trump, his allies, …

Politico reports: The undertold story in Washington right now is how Kevin McCarthy’s House Republican minority is likely to thin quite significantly after this election. Steve Shepard, our election guru, has moved a few Republican incumbents’ seats toward Democrats in his forecast: Reps. Anne Wagner in the St. Louis burbs, Jim Hagedorn in Minnesota and Steve Chabot in the Cincinnati …

The Orange County Register reports: In a photo posted to social media last week, a young man wearing a mask with Orange County congressional candidate Michelle Steel’s name on it is holding a mail ballot and giving a thumbs up next to a box about the size of a file cabinet labeled “Official ballot drop off box.” The post, from …

The New York Post reports: A West Virginia nurse who spoke at the Republican National Convention in August was arrested for shooting a woman in the gut after an argument, according to reports. Amy Thorn, 39, gained attention after volunteering to work in New York in April, and later to San Antonio to treat COVID-19 patients. Also known as Amy …

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports: A federal appeals court has agreed to reinstate Ohio’s limit on ballot drop boxes at least temporarily while it considers whether to make a more permanent ruling on the case. U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Judges Richard Griffin and Amul Thapar in an order Friday night sharply criticized a Thursday decision from a federal …