Free Republic

Sen. Ted Cruz again met with a small group of House Republicans late Tuesday night, this time to discuss over pizza a conservative strategy on the continuing resolution. While many of the Cruz meetings have seemed to lack a specific agenda or resolution, members trickled out of Tuesday’s nearly two-hour meeting repeating a similar refrain: We want a new expiration date on the CR. Earlier in the evening, the House GOP leadership unveiled a bill to keep the government funded through Dec. 11. And the early review from conservatives attending Cruz’s meeting in the Texas Republican’s office was that Dec....

HOUSTON, Texas -- State Representative Charles Perry sailed to a near landslide victory in a six-way race in the special election for State Senate District 28. Senator-Elect Perry defeated his closest rival Jodey Arrington by a margin of 53 percent to 30 percent with the remaining votes spread thin between the other four candidates in the race. His election to the Texas Senate is seen by many as yet another victory for the Tea Party and grassroots movement across Texas. “I am honored that the citizens of Senate District 28 have selected me to fill Chancellor Robert Duncan’s vacated senate...

The closest race at the moment is the one no one has been talking about. Allan Fung and Ken Block are locked in a dead heat. 2 vote diff with 6% reporting. Allan Fung (Declared) - Mayor of Cranston Ken Block (Declared) - Founder and former head of the Rhode Island Moderate Party Gina Raimondo (Declared) - State Treasurer appears to be winning the dem nomination. In NH, Scott Brown has been declared the winner with 23% reporting against 9 other candidates. Bob Smith is coming in THIRD. Frank Guinta and Melinda Garcia are taking the republican house nominations. Big...

The Democratic candidate in the race for U.S. Senate, Chad Taylor, withdrawing last week from the race has created an interesting dynamic going forward, in the race to represent the state of Kansas on the Senate floor on Capitol Hill. The latest KSN News Poll, conducted by SurveyUSA exclusively for KSN-TV, released Monday indicates that, if the race for the U.S. Senate were held today, September 8, and Chad Taylor’s name remained on the ballot, Independent Greg Orman and incumbent Republican Senator Pat Roberts are effectively tied. Orman would get 37 percent of the vote, while Sen. Roberts would get...

House Republicans are preparing a continuing resolution to keep the government open. In doing so, they’ve decided to be total sluts for K Street and Wall Street. The Crony Capitalists, emboldened by the Chamber of Commerce’s help during primary season, are doing some very unusual things. Here’s what I hear is happening. First, they will reauthorize the Ex-Im bank, which is something K Street is desperate to see happen. Second, current reports are that they will spend more than the original Paul Ryan — Patti Murray deal that had included a tax hike. However, that is subject to change. Third,...

As Mike Allen of Politico points out, this is a bit of a flip for the meta-prognosticators. Three weeks ago, Charlie Cook wondered where the GOP wave was, and two weeks ago Larry Sabato asked the same question. Thanks to continued polling erosion from Barack Obama and a sense of a leadership vacuum in Washington, voters are becoming more clear on the need for change. And so the prognostications have begun to change, with Stuart Rothenberg setting the floor for Senate switches to the GOP at seven: While the current Rothenberg Political Report ratings donÂ’t show it, I am...

Funnyman-turned-senator Al Franken is running a dead serious campaign for re-election, as some observers see him potentially vulnerable due to President Obama's low approval ratings in Minnesota and a vigorous GOP opponent with eyes on a sleeper upset. Just how vulnerable is up for debate, and the race nevertheless is seen as favoring the Democrats. But both sides now acknowledge that, with less than two months to go until Election Day, Minnesota's Senate contest between Franken and Mike McFadden, a longtime Minnesota businessman, is shaping up as a battle. "We've always known this was going to be a tough race...

For most of 2013 and 2014, Democrats thought the politics of immigration were in their favor. Every single Senate Democrat — even conservatives from deep red states like Joe Manchin of West Virginia — voted for comprehensive reform just 15 months ago. The GOP appeared to be in disarray, with elites and business interests arguing the party had to moderate on the issue to have any hopes of retaking the White House, but conservatives holding firm to their opposition. When several senators start acting skittish like this, it's usually because they're getting an earful from their constituents When Speaker John...

The Senate on Monday advanced a constitutional amendment meant to reverse two recent Supreme Court decisions on campaign spending. Republicans are likely to vote against the amendment when it comes up for a final vote, but by allowing it to proceed, ensured that it will tie up the Senate for most of the week. More than 20 Republicans joined Democrats in the 79-18 vote advancing the amendment, well over the 60 votes that were needed. The amendment is almost certain to fail, as it would need to win two-thirds support to pass the Senate, and then would still need to...

A former staffer for Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers accused the Republican Conference chairwoman of intimidation and retribution in a lengthy written statement made public Monday. “I can confirm for the first time that the Ethics Committee is investigating [McMorris Rodgers’] efforts to intimidate and punish me for my cooperation with the [Office of Congressional Ethics] and the committee,” said Todd Winer in an e-mail sent to reporters and published by Roll Call. He continued, “CMR’s actions include exposing the name of a cooperative witness in the media, slandering a cooperative witness in the media, and seeking reprisals against a cooperative...

This election year, Lindsey Graham has the weakest foothold of all Republican incumbents in the U.S. Senate, according to results of a poll released on Sept. 7. The 2014 “Battleground Tracker,” conducted by YouGov.com on behalf of the New York Times and CBS News, finds the South Carolina senator to have confirmed support from only 37 percent of voters in the state. Another five percent say they are currently leaning toward the incumbent, but can’t confirm their votes for Graham. His 37-percent take is not only lowest of all 13 Republican senators up for re-election this year, who average 53.5...

WILSON, N.C. — Thom Tillis, the Republican candidate for Senate in North Carolina, wouldn’t commit to supporting Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, if both of them win this fall. “I’m not going to look past the most important election and that’s the election in November,” he told BuzzFeed News on Saturday. “I think there are a number of people in Republican caucus who would be great leaders and it would be great for them to be in that position.” He may not be looking past election day, but Tillis did try and lay out part of his vision for the Senate...

Democrat Denise Andrews won re-election as state representative in 2012 by fewer than 200 votes, out of some 18,000 votes cast. Given the difference in expected turnout, that should mean a terrific opportunity for Republican Susannah Whipps Lee, the loser of that slim margin, to challenge for a rematch. Lee is running hard, with the endorsement of most of the current Republican House leadership, including Minority Leader Brad Jones. But first she has to get through Tuesday’s primary, in which she faces conservative favorite Karen Anderson. Anderson is endorsed by Massachusetts Citizens For Life (MCFL) and the Massachusetts Republican Assembly...

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) is tied with independent Greg Orman in a new independent survey of the Kansas Senate race. The poll, conducted by SurveyUSA for KSN-TV News, also shows that Democrat Chad Taylor is still drawing double-digit support, despite attempting to withdraw from the race last week — an effort to boost Orman’s chances that was blocked by the state’s Republican secretary of State, Kris Kobach. When voters are asked who they’ll vote for if Taylor’s name is still on the ballot despite his attempt to exit the race, Orman leads the four-way pack, taking 37 percent support among...

Within a few days, the Gallup Poll and the Battleground Poll provided more polling data that demonstrates just how much conservatives outnumber liberals in America. The Gallup Poll, in its August 26 “State by State: Key Metrics for 2014,” provided data that reveals that in all but three states – Hawaii, Vermont, and Massachusetts – conservatives outnumber liberals. This is consistent with all prior Gallup Poll results for many years. In a few of these polls, conservatives have outnumbered liberals in every state of the nation, and in a few of these polls, liberals outnumber conservatives in one or two...

Shut Up Already! Senate Dems Want To Amend The Constitution To Stop Koch Brothers’ Ads Democratic Senators said Monday the Constitution must be amended, because people like Charles and David Koch must be stopped from flooding TV with negative ads Americans don’t want to see. “A handful of super rich donors and giant corporations are now flooding our elections and determining entire narratives of closely contested races,” Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, said in a press conference Monday. “The American people are furious with the state of campaign finance in this country. They can’t stand the negative advertisements that...

Jim Geragthy, acclaimed author and National Review’s chief campaign analyst, has been grousing about the lack of quality polling in key Senate races this year. His frustration is well-founded. So yesterday must have felt like Christmas in September for Jim and political junkies everywhere, as two pollsters released a deluge of surveys covering the most contested races in the country. In light of the results, I’d expect that national Republicans are kicking off the week with an extra spring in their step, as well. We were leaked an advance copy of last week’s much-anticipated Politico/GWU Battleground poll, which was packed...

IMMIGRATION ISSUE FRONT AND CENTER IN U.S. SENATE RACE Independent conservative U.S. Senate candidate Thomas Ravenel has launched a new radio advertisement blasting incumbent “Republican” Lindsey Graham on the issue of immigration. The thirty-second spot – which is running statewide – highlights Graham’s 2007 assertion that those who opposed his support for amnesty were “bigots.” “We’re gonna tell the bigots to shut up,” Graham said during his speech to La Raza, a Hispanic political advocacy group. “Anyone who shows such disrespect for the people of South Carolina doesn’t deserve your vote,” Ravenel says in the spot, later adding “we shouldn’t...

A large collection of new Senate polls from the New York Times/CBS and NBC/Marist are very good news for the GOP effort to retake the Senate. In the two most vulnerable seats held by Republicans -- Kentucky and Georgia -- the latest polls show Mitch McConnell and David Perdue expanding their leads. Some Democrats had hoped to add Kansas to the target list, but it looks like the scheme to get the less popular Democratic nominee to give up his effort in hopes an independent could defeat Pat Roberts in a one-on-one race, may be stymied with the Secretary of...

As Congress returns to Washington from the month-long August recess, sources are telling POLITICO that Speaker John Boehner and House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling (TX-5) have a private agreement to act on a short-term reauthorization of the government-sponsored international trade finance bank. However, Hensarling spokesman David Popp told The Hill, “There is no agreement.” The Ex-Im Bank’s charter will expire on Sept. 30 and as The Dallas Morning News observed, Hensarling’s committee holds the keys to any bill that would keep its doors open. He has supported the bank’s closure, calling it a form of “corporate welfare” and “crony...