Free Republic

<p>Democrats hope to enlist military veterans in another type of fight — for majority control of the House.</p> <p>Looking ahead to next year's elections, Democrats are trying to recruit at least two dozen military veterans to challenge Republican incumbents, arguing that candidates with a military background on their resumes appeal to independent voters and can help the party break the GOP grip on Washington.</p>

It wasn't supposed to be this hard. The party elders had got all their Democratic ducks in a row, merrily quacking, to escort Ralph Northam, Virginia's lieutenant governor, to victory in this year's gubernatorial primary on June 13. Both of the commonwealth's United States senators endorsed him. His boss the governor endorsed him, and so did nearly every Democrat in the state legislature. Even the state's hard-charging and ambitious attorney general, his only plausible rival for the Democratic nomination, had been persuaded not to run. The field cleared. Everybody loved old Ralph. And then Tom Perriello showed up. Perriello spent...

Don’t put away those “I’m With Her” signs yet. Did anyone really think Hillary Clinton was going to stay in the woods and live like a hermit for the next three years? She’s back and she wants to run. Again.

Montana Democrat nominee Rob Quist encouraged climate skeptics to consider suicide in a response to a question on climate change. Quist debated Republican nominee Greg Gianforte and Libertarian Mark Wicks for Montana’s U.S. House at-large seat to replace Ryan Zinke, the interior secretary. Montana’s at-large district will hold their special election on May 25th. The Democrat nominee was criticized for performing many times at a nudist resort in Idaho. National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Jack Pandol said in an email, “The more Rob Quist’s past is laid bare, the more his claim to represent Montana values is exposed as another...

Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph S. Northam is highlighting gay marriage, gun violence and opposition to President Donald Trump in the first TV commercial of Virginia’s gubernatorial primary season. The ad buy seven weeks ahead of the June 13 primary, described by the Northam campaign as a “substantial, six-figure buy across Virginia,” underscores Northam’s financial advantage over Democratic rival Tom Perriello and the changing tone of Democratic campaigns in a purple state trending blue. The Northam campaign said the ad is believed to be the first in a gubernatorial race to mention marriage equality. The ad features a testimonial from Tim...

<p>Hillary Clinton reacted angrily to then-Senate candidate Chris Van Hollen's attempt to not help black voters to the polls at Maryland's primary, a new book reveals.</p> <p>The Hill’s Amie Parnes and Sidewire’s Jonathan Allen report in “Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign” that Van Vollen’s campaign urged its union allies to not aggressively push black voters to the ballot box, fearing that they would support Van Hollen's primary opponent, former Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.).</p>

Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is drafting a health care plan for California that he plans to unveil as a core component of his gubernatorial run, based in part on the universal health care program he signed into law when he was mayor of San Francisco. Newsom, seen as a strong contender in the increasingly crowded field of candidates vying to succeed Gov. Jerry Brown in 2018, is staking out an ambitious plan to rein in rising health care costs, expand universal access to people across the state regardless of income or immigration status and preserve coverage for the estimated...

After failing miserably in her 2016 bid for the White House, several sources are reporting today that Hillary Clinton is mulling a potential run for New York City Mayor. Although Mayor de Blasio, whose term ends at the end of 2017, has close ties to the Clintons there is no love lost between the two after de Blasio initially refused to endorse Hillary's presidential bid. According to New York's Daily News, Hillary is being pressured by many New York Democrats to challenge Mayor de Blasio and wouldn't explicitly rule out a run when pressed by one top Dem late in...

Queens State Senator Tony Avella gathered a dozens-strong crowd outside the Holiday Inn Express in Maspeth, Queens—the site of a bitter battle over the city’s effort to lodge homeless families—to launch a quixotic bid to beat Mayor Bill de Blasio in next fall’s Democratic primary, accusing the liberal leader of an arrogant “top-down” approach that ignores the needs of local communities.[snip] “It is time to stop dumping homeless families and individuals in hotels and motels throughout the city without support services and the prospect of stable long-term housing and without community notification or involvement,” Avella said. “It is time to...

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Breitbart research into Hillary starting birther movement

Debbie Wasserman Schultz has won the Democratic primary for the 23rd Congressional District in Florida. Wasserman Schultz has 6,774 more votes than Tim Canova, with 99% reporting.

Orange County congresswoman Loretta Sanchez let loose on resident Obama for endorsing her rival in California’s U.S. Senate race, accusing him of being part of the “entrenched political establishment” that has failed California voters. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden announced their support for U.S. Senate candidate Kamala Harris early Tuesday morning, praising her record as California’s attorney general and a prosecutor. Harris has been a longtime political ally of the resident. Sanchez said she was “disappointed” that Obama would intervene in a Senate race between two Democrats, ... I believe that California voters are deeply concerned about the entrenched...

WASHINGTON — Transgender women won two congressional primary races Tuesday night — and made history as the first trans people to become major candidates for the U.S. House or Senate. Utah voters chose Misty Snow (D) to run against Sen. Mike Lee (R) in November. In Colorado, voters backed Misty Plowright (D) to take on Rep. Doug Lamborn (R). It’s a long shot for either to get elected. Utah is a solidly Republican state, and Lamborn’s district in Colorado is extremely conservative. Still, it’s a positive sign that transgender candidates aren’t just out there, they can also succeed. “In what...

Two transgender women — both named Misty — won Democratic nominations for Congress on Tuesday, becoming the first transgender politicians to ever win major-party nominations. Utah grocery store cashier Misty Snow will take on incumbent Sen. Mike Lee in November, while IT consultant Misty Plowright is set to challenge US Rep. Doug Lamborn in Colorado’s 5th Congressional District. Snow, a liberal Bernie Sanders supporter, defeated marriage therapist Jonathan Swinton, a moderate Democrat who campaigned for limitations on abortion rights.

California voters made history on Tuesday in the race for the U.S. Senate, sending two Democrats to a November runoff and denying a Republican a spot on the fall ballot for the first time since the state’s first direct election of senators in 1914. State Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris won the largest share of the vote and the title of winner in the primary. By the end of the night, Harris led Orange County Rep. Loretta Sanchez by more than 800,000 votes, a margin of 23 percentage points.

CROSSVILLE (WATE) – A Crossville congressional candidate said she’s guilty after a large-scale marijuana grow operation was busted last week, but says she’s also victim of a bad law. Detectives raided Flo Matheson’s property Friday after “in-depth undercover investigations led to the discovery of an indoor grow operation,” according to a press release that says Crossville Police Department narcotics detectives worked with the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, 13th Judicial Drug Task Force, the HIDTA/TBI Drug Task Force, and the Office of the District Attorney General to execute the search warrant at Matheson’s home. Matheson said they broke through her gate...

In a speech before the Senate Thursday, on the sixth anniversary of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, Elizabeth Warren made clear - for those with ears to hear - that she will not endorse Hillary Clinton. If you have observed how closely Warren's and Bernie Sanders' messages line up, it is hard to imagine that she would endorse Clinton over him, anyway. Even so, the question has remained. But now, were there any question about whether or not Clinton is truly a Progressive, Elizabeth Warren - with her extraordinary, precise eye for the heart of an issue, and her...

Democratic Rep. Donna Edwards of Maryland intends to join the race to replace retiring Sen. Barbara Mikulski, hoping to become the first African-American elected to the Senate from her state, according to officials familiar with her plans. Edwards would become the second member of the state’s House delegation to announce her intentions to run for the Senate. Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen joined the race last week. No Republican has yet stepped forward to run for a seat in a Democratic state. …

Sen. Barbara Mikulski’s (D-MD) decision to retire at the end of her term has sparked a predictable succession feud among Democrats in that deep blue state, but the coming internecine squabble has the potential to engulf the entire party. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), a six-term member of Congress and the former chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, wasted no time in declaring his intention to run for Mikulski’s seat. On Friday, he received a powerful endorsement from Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. “I enthusiastically endorse Chris Van Hollen for the United States Senate,” Reid said in a statement....