Free Republic

Sen. Marco Rubio is facing intense pressure to run for re-election to his Florida Senate seat, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell taking the lead in a campaign to get him to reconsider his plans to retire. Republicans fear that if Rubio doesn’t run for a second term they could lose his seat. And if Republicans lose Florida they increase their odds of losing their Senate majority altogether. […] At least one Republican, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, subsequently took the unusual step of issuing a public statement calling Rubio a “very valuable member of the Senate” and disclosing that...

Congress may not be able to reform the immigration system, fix the broken tax code or even pass a budget. But it’s telling the Library of Congress how to label immigrants living in the country illegally. That’s how conservative Republicans are responding to a move by the library to drop the term “illegal alien” in favor of “noncitizens” or “unauthorized immigration” for cataloging and search purposes. The move came in response to a petition from the American Library Association to change immigration-related search terms to make them less judgmental. The library’s move, announced in a three-page statement last month, was...

Forty-three Republican senators on Monday joined the legal challenge to President Barack Obama’s actions on immigration, arguing that the president overstepped his constitutional authority in unilaterally expanding programs for immigrants. The White House has countered that Obama had no choice after comprehensive legislation that passed the Senate in 2013 stalled in the GOP-led House. The senators, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case of United States v. Texas. A lawsuit from 26 states, led by Texas, challenges Obama’s actions, with the Supreme Court set to hear arguments later this month and possibly rule...

Rep. Todd Young has won the backing of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in his Indiana Senate bid, representing the business lobby's first entry into a Republican Senate primary this cycle. The Chamber announced Monday that it had cut an ad for Young, a three-term congressman representing Indiana's 9th District in the southern part of the state. Young faces another member of Indiana's delegation, fellow three-term Rep. Marlin Stutzman, in the GOP primary. Stutzman has the backing of the Club for Growth, a group that favors fiscally conservative candidates in Republican primaries, as well as other conservative groups. The 30-second...

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday blasted House Republicans for their intention to file a legal brief challenging President Obama’s unilateral actions on immigration. “It’s ironic that…they’re having this vote on St. Patrick’s Day,” Pelosi told a news conference. “Last night, we had a celebration of the Irish-American heritage. While I do not have Irish grandparents, I do have Irish grandchildren, and one of them was there at the dinner and we talked about immigration.” Pelosi then turned her attention to Irish citizens who are in the United States illegally: “So, and what it’s about is all the...

A group of conservative activists huddled behind closed doors Thursday at a Washington hotel to plot strategy to stop Republican front-runner Donald Trump , including calling for a unity ticket to oppose him and a floor fight at the GOP convention to deny him the nomination. The meeting was led by conservative talk radio host Erick Erickson, a longtime outspoken critic of Mr. Trump . “We believe that the issue of Donald Trump is greater than an issue of party. It is an issue of morals and character that all Americans, not just those of us in the conservative movement,...

A man has been found guilty of sexual assaulting a 14-year-old girl whose family he was staying with in McHenry County. Miguel Gomez, 37, was convicted Monday and now faces nine to 33 years in prison as well as deportation to Mexico. Authorities said Gomez was undocumented and was living with the family in southwestern McHenry County when he assaulted the girl last April.

Tapper asked: "Would I be overstating matters if I said you sound like you're actually concerned that somebody -- before this is all over -- somebody might lose their life? Rubio said: "I'm very concerned about that. We don't know what's going to happen next here. I know that we've reached the point where people in American politics have decided that if they don't agree with you, they can get angry at you, that you're a bad and evil person, that they can say anything they want about you.""I think that all the gates of civility have been blown apart....

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency is preparing for a record number of unaccompanied children, from birth to 17 years old, to flow over the Southwest border in the months ahead. In fact, it's already happening, CBP chief Gil Kerlikowske said in his written testimony for a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on CBP's FY 2017 budget request. For the first four months of Fiscal Year 2016 (Oct. 1, 2015-Jan. 31, 2016), Border Patrol agents have apprehended more than 20,000 unaccompanied children crossing the Southwest border, twice as many as the 10,000 apprehended during the same time period in FY...

Republican presidential hopeful John Kasich said on Saturday that he will drop out of the race if he doesn't win his home state of Ohio. "I will beat Donald Trump in Ohio, and that will be the beginning of a new day," Kasich told a crowd in Nashville, according to the New York Times. "Some of the other candidates, if they can't win their home state, they got to get out, OK?" he added. "If I don't win my home state, I'll get out. But you know what? I'm going to win Ohio." The remark was a dig at his...

This is one of the most difficult posts I have ever had to write. I had naively hoped that this election cycle, I would be treated to a substantive contest between a spate of highly accomplished two-term conservative governors, and Senators of great rhetorical skill acting as the ideological conscience of the bunch. As the primary wore on through the summer of 2015, it became clear that the GOP electorate was not interested in governors of accomplishment, but I still had hope for a final contest between two of my favorite Senators: Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. I hoped to...

Top 5 Senator Lifetime ratings through 2014: Cruz: 100% Coburn: 98.13% Rubio: 98% Paul: 98% Scott: 97% I continue to be amazed that on this website that was founded to promote Conservative viewpoints has been reduced to tearing down 2 of the top 3 Conservatives in the United States Senate in order to promote a conman that has spent his life buying off politicians.

-snip- Governor Walker said he thinks the bill is misunderstood. "Reaction to that one is simply a reaction to a couple of local governments trying to issue IDs at the individual local level, as opposed to a state wide standard. I think most states, regardless if it's Wisconsin or anywhere else preferred to have a statewide standard in terms of a state wide ID that can be used for things like voting and things of that nature," said Walker. Governor Walker said he has not seen the bill on his desk yet. And when asked if he would sign it...

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, whose own quest for the GOP presidential nomination ended unsuccessfully, on Thursday called Donald Trump a "nut job" who likely will win the party's nod, but lose in November's general election. "He's just generally a loser as a person and a candidate," the South Carolina senator told reporters, adding, "You can't nominate a nut job and lose, and expect it doesn't have consequences." Asked whether he'd endorse the billionaire businessman if nominated, Graham said, "I've got a ticket on the Titanic. So I am like on the team that bought a ticket on the Titanic after...

Wednesday during Fox News Channel’s presidential town hall hosted by Megyn Kelly, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), a candidate for the 2016 Republican nomination, was pressed on how to overcome his winless streak in the campaign thus far and if that might require a change of tactics.

OP consultant Mike Murphy - who was last seen flying the well-funded Jeb super PAC Right-to-Rise USA into a mountain - has some thoughts on Marco Rubio's chances against Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. First up, don't use the Nevada results showing a blowout victory from Donald Trump "as a model" for the rest of the Republican primaries coming up:

A vote cast for Marco Rubio is a wasted, thrown away vote!!! Marco Rubio, objectively, is not ready for prime time!!! He is flawed from the standpoint that he does not do well when questioned, with in depth, probing inquiries. His ears turn beet red, and he sweats under the collar profusely....not the sign of a supposed leader, comfortable in his own skin. Mr. Rubio is also a typical "run-of-the-mill" politician who will sell his political soul to the flavor of moment such as exhibited by his close tie in with the Democrat Party, relative immgration & amnesty (it's called...

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is finally getting off the sidelines to endorse Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), in a final effort to defeat Donald Trump after the billionaire took early states in New Hampshire and South Carolina by storm. According to the Huffington Post’s Scott Conroy, Romney had been waiting for Jeb Bush to exit the race before endorsing Rubio citing “respect" for the former Florida governor.

A day away from the South Carolina Republican Primary and things are looking interesting. Donald Trump holds a 6 point lead, but Marco Rubio seems to be nipping at his heels, trailing 31-25%. Donald Trump leads in support among most demographics, with some fluctuation among income levels. Rubio and Ted Cruz are well within striking distance, but it appears as though Donald Trump will win the South Carolina primary. He may not win by much, but the state awards 29 delegates to the statewide winner, while each Congressional district winner receives 3 votes per district. A Trump win by a...

Jeb Bush's brother, the former president, his sister-in-law, the former first lady, his mother, his sister, another brother, and of course his wife and children have come to South Carolina, where George W. Bush's political fortunes were made, in hopes of vaulting Jeb back into the Republican presidential race. But with poll after poll showing Bush hovering around 10 percent - fighting with John Kasich for fourth place — that looks less and less likely every hour. So it wasn't surprising that there was a big media turnout at Bush's townhall here in Columbia Thursday. Yes, there's plenty of press...