Free Republic

Despite a punishing loss in New Hampshire, Nikki Haley has nearly a dozen fundraisers scheduled between now and the South Carolina primary — and insiders are now wondering how many of these shindigs will actually happen. On Jan. 30 in New York City, billionaires including Leonard Stern, Cliff Asness, Stanley Druckenmiller, Ken Langone and Henry Kravis are co-hosting an event for the former South Carolina governor. On Feb. 6, Silicon Valley mogul Tim Draper is hosting Haley in Atherton, Calif. On Feb. 15, Haley also is slated to be feted in Dallas by real estate tycoon Harlan Crow, according to...

Last week, we covered how Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA), a lesser known member of the Squad, is facing a primary challenger for her response to Hamas' attack on Israel earlier this month. As has been the case with other Squad members, her response to the terrorist attack certainly leaves something to be desired. Her response to the situation hasn't gotten much better, especially since she partook in a Squad press conference last Friday to demand a "ceasefire." Lee's response may not just affect her own race, but next year's Pennsylvania Senate race where vulnerable Democratic incumbent Bob Casey, Jr. is...

With just weeks left in his final term, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey played a key role in blocking sweeping anti-money laundering legislation that was created to choke off the billions of dirty dollars pouring into the United States from shady operators, including drug traffickers, oligarchs and corrupt foreign leaders. The outgoing Pennsylvania Republican pushed last week to halt the reforms from being included in the nation’s annual defense spending bill in a blow to advocates who had gained bipartisan support to wage the most comprehensive crackdown on money laundering in a generation. Citing the flow of suspicious money into the...

Outgoing Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) said Thursday on CNN’s “Situation Room” that it is former President Donald Trump’s fault Republican Mehmet Oz lost the Pennsylvania Senate seat to Democrat John Fetterman. Toomey said, “I think Dr. oz ran a very good campaign. I actually think he was a very good candidate in a lot of ways. So the question that I think arises is why did a good candidate running a good race in what should be a very good environment not prevail in a state like Pennsylvania, which is very, very competitive, always close, or almost always close? And...

A Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate currently employs two convicted murderers on his campaign staff, according to government documents. John Fetterman, the current lieutenant governor of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Democrat candidate vying for the Senate seat that Sen. Pat Toomey (R) will soon vacate, has on his campaign payroll Dennis and Lee Horton, two brothers convicted of murdering Samuel Alamo nearly 30 years ago. In May 1993, the Horton brothers and co-conspirator Robert Leaf committed armed robbery at Filito's Bar in Philadelphia. During the execution of the robbery, three people were shot: Alamo, Luz Archello, and...

Two new polls of the U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania suggest that the race may be closer than previous polls — and pundits — have suggested. The race between Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) and Trump-endorsed Dr. Mehmet Oz (R) is being closely watched. Sen. Pat Toomey (R) is retiring, giving Democrats an opportunity to pick up a seat and thwart Republican ambitions to take control of the upper chamber of Congress.

“Time to remember the best voting advice I’ve heard: Voting isn’t marriage; it’s public transport. You are not voting for “the one” who is absolutely perfect. You are getting on the bus. And if there isn’t one going exactly to your destination, you don’t stay home and sulk; instead, you take the one going closest to where you want to be.” I read this yesterday over on Bookworm’s blog. She does a weekly compilation of memes, cartoons, old photos, and things to think about. This is from her latest.Two American Thinker articles about Dr. Oz, one by Rajan Laad and...

Two new polls of the U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania suggest that the race may be closer than previous polls — and pundits — have suggested. The race between Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) and Trump-endorsed Dr. Mehmet Oz (R) is being closely watched. Sen. Pat Toomey (R) is retiring, giving Democrats an opportunity to pick up a seat and thwart Republican ambitions to take control of the upper chamber of Congress. Fetterman has led Oz in most polls, often by double digits. However, the race may be tightening. One poll, by former Republican internal pollster Carleton Polling, suggests that...

U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) had a brief response to comedian Jon Stewart calling him out specifically while criticizing Senate Republicans on Wednesday for blocking a bill to provide healthcare for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits while serving abroad. “That’s not worth responding to,” Toomey said when asked for his reaction. The military burn pits bill, or PACT Act, initially passed the 100-member Senate with the support of 34 Republicans and all 50 Democrats. It would increase spending by more than $300 billion over the next decade and dramatically boost health care services and disability benefits for veterans exposed...

Democrats are fighting tooth and nail to hold on to their ultra-narrow Senate majority this year in a midterm election cycle that has several of the party’s most vulnerable incumbents facing voters amid rising inflation and surging gas prices. Republicans need to net just one new seat this year to reclaim control of the upper chamber. Still, Democrats are more optimistic about their chances of holding their Senate majority than they are their House majority and are eyeing several opportunities to flip GOP-held seats.

JUST IN - Senators reach deal on new gun legislation in the US. 10 Republicans have signed on.

For the last couple of years at least, Morris has been a Democratic Party loyalist, and spent hundreds of thousands on backing Democratic candidates, including President Biden. He met Hunter Biden at a political fundraiser for his father in December 2019, according to the New York Times.... Morris, who owns a sprawling loft in Tribeca and spent more than $11 million to buy singer Olivia Newton-John’s Malibu compound in 2009, has doled out cash to other Democratic politicians, according to public records. Earlier this year, he gave $100,000 to a political action committee supporting Conor Lamb, a Democratic Pennsylvania congressman...

Ten days after a Trafalgar Poll showed Kathy Barnette running an unusually close third in the Republican primary for U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, talk and support have been mounting for the TV commentator whom few — if any — had given a chance against two multimillionaire front-runners. Last week, Sen. Joni Ernst issued a surprise endorsement for Barnette — one of two women in the six-candidate primary for the seat of retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey and the only contender who is Black. Iowa Republican Ernst, vice-chairman of the Senate Republican Conference and a conservative stalwart, is considered a promising...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed rules Monday that would force companies to publicly disclose a wide-range of climate-related information. “I am pleased to support today’s proposal because, if adopted, it would provide investors with consistent, comparable, and decision-useful information for making their investment decisions, and it would provide consistent and clear reporting obligations for issuers,” SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who President Joe Biden appointed in February 2021, said in a statement. The SEC, the nation’s top financial regulator, would require publicly-traded companies to disclose how “severe weather events and other natural conditions” may impact their business, under...

Rep. Conor Lamb (D-PA) who has been considered a so-called moderate, on Monday also indicated he supports getting rid of the filibuster. He's running for the Senate to replace outgoing Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican.Republican opponent Jeff Bartos was among those who quickly picked up on Lamb's threat to get rid of the filibuster, and Lamb engaged right back.

Former President Trump and his allies are struggling to clear the Republican field in North Carolina’s wide-open U.S. Senate race and galvanize GOP voters around his preferred candidate, Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.). Despite winning the former president’s endorsement early on, Budd has so far failed to become the runaway favorite in the GOP primary and has regularly trailed his chief rival, former Gov. Pat McCrory, in polling. That set off an effort by Trump and Budd’s allies to nudge former Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.) out of the race by promising an endorsement if Walker runs instead for a Greensboro-area House...

Dr. Mehmet Oz is likely to enter the high-stakes race for Pennsylvania’s open US Senate seat next year, according to state GOP insiders. The 61-year-old cardiac surgeon, author and host of TV’s “Dr. Oz Show” may declare his candidacy as early as this week, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Monday, citing Republican sources in the Keystone State. Oz — who would be vying to replace retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey if he decides to run — has already hired campaign aides and reached out to Pennsylvania GOP leaders, several sources familiar with the matter told the newspaper.

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) is asking Ms. Saule Omarova, President Biden’s nominee to head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), to turn over a copy of her thesis, “Karl Marx’s Economic Analysis and the Theory of Revolution in The Capital,” to allow the Committee to fully assess her nomination. Ms. Omarova’s thesis, which she authored while studying at Moscow State University on the V.I. Lenin Personal Academic Scholarship, recently disappeared from her resume. “While it appears that you have deleted any reference to your thesis in the version of...

A handful of open Senate seats have drawn a crowd of Republicans vying to replace outgoing GOP senators. Those senators are mostly staying neutral in the primaries — at least for now. Alabama’s Richard C. Shelby is so far the only retiring senator to take sides in a primary, backing his former chief of staff, Katie Britt. While others weigh picking a favorite, the primary fields have continued to grow. In some races, vocal backers of Donald Trump are battling each other to succeed senators who have openly criticized the former president or have built reputations as legislative deal-makers. Two...

It doesn't get any better in the U.S. Senate race where former party state chair Jane Timken, perennial right-wing candidate Josh Mandel and author J.D. Vance are fighting over who is the most Trumpian. Ohio State Sen. Matt Dolan jumped into the race, giving the anti-Trump forces an outside shot if the others split their vote. It'll be interesting to see if retiring Sen. Rob Portman — who didn't stand up to Trump for four years — will show political courage now that he’s not facing voters. It’s not much better in neighboring Pennsylvania, where the leading Republican U.S. Senate...