Free Republic

Republicans are gearing up for what could be an epic showdown for majority control of the Senate with several contentious elections around the country later this year. Democrats control the U.S. Senate with a 51-49 majority, but Republicans are looking at a favorable Senate map in 2024, with Democrats defending 23 of the 34 seats up for grabs. Three of those seats are in red states former Donald Trump carried in 2020 - West Virginia, Montana and Ohio. Five other seats, one of which is held by an independent, are in key swing states narrowly carried by President Biden in...

A proposed Capital One-Discover merger drew swift backlash from some Democratic lawmakers and consumer advocacy groups who say the deal could reduce competition and increase fees and costs for consumers. “With a merger this size, the regulators need to ensure our financial system remains strong and competitive, so that consumers continue to have access to safe, affordable financial products and services,” said Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). “A rubber-stamped merger that makes powerful financial companies even bigger and more powerful will do nothing for families,” he added. Capital One announced Monday that it would acquire Discover Financial Services...

The United States must have an “absolute zero tolerance policy” on illegal immigration, Republican Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno said during a candidate forum this week in the Buckeye State, differentiating himself from his challengers.The forum featured three Republican Senate candidates — Moreno, GOP Secretary of State Frank LaRose, and State Sen. Matt Dolan (R) — all vying for Sen. Sherrod Brown’s (D-OH) seat.During the forum, Moreno — who legally migrated from Columbia — listed eliminating illegal immigration as one of the three biggest issues facing the business community, thereby identifying it as something that Congress should promptly address. Further,...

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...

Republicans are gearing up for a competitive primary as they look to unseat Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in next year’s closely watched Ohio Senate race. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) became the latest Republican to announce his candidacy earlier this week, joining a crowded field that includes businessman Bernie Moreno and state Sen. Matt Dolan (R). Brown, a third-term incumbent, is seen as one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats up for reelection next year, and the race could be key to deciding which party wins control of the upper chamber in the 2024 election. “It’s going to...

In Montana, Republican leaders want Bridger Aerospace chief executive Tim Sheehy — a former Navy SEAL and multimillionaire who could self-fund his own campaign — to challenge three-term Democratic Sen. Jon Tester. In Ohio, state Sen. Matt Dolan, whose family owns the Cleveland Guardians, could face Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. Other names the outlet reported being floated as potential candidates in other states include: Karrin Taylor Robson, an Arizona attorney who lost the 2022 GOP gubernatorial nomination to former journalist Kari Lake

When Democratic Sen. Jon Tester finally announced that he’s running for reelection from Montana, you could almost hear the collective sigh of relief from party leaders. The same dodged-bullet greeted Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown when he revealed: “I’m running in 2024,”

Ohio state Sen. Matt Dolan - the moderate Republican who lost to Trump-backed J.D. Vance in a primary - is now setting his sights on Democrat Sherrod Brown's U.S. Senate seat in 2024. 'I am unapologetically committed to putting the needs of Ohio first and delivering results as our next U.S. Senator,' Dolan said in a statement. 'With the courage of my convictions, clarity of purpose and a resolute focus on the challenges and opportunities facing our beloved state, I am ready to lead.'

President Biden will have plenty of company from leading Ohio Democrats when he formally announces a plan on Wednesday to protect retirees’ pensions and prevent the cutting of benefits for millions of workers and retirees. Joining the president in Cleveland, Ohio, will be Sen. Sherrod Brown, Reps. Shantel Brown and Marcy Kaptur, and Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb. But the top two Democrats running for statewide office in this year’s elections — Senate nominee Rep. Tim Ryan and gubernatorial nominee Nan Whaley, the former Dayton mayor — will not be joining the president due to scheduling conflicts

Senate Republicans and Democrats are rebuking claims from President Joe Biden and Treasury Department Secretary Janet Yellen that United States tariffs on Chinese imports have helped spur record inflation for American consumers. Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH), Sherrod Brown (R-OH), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Mike Braun (R-IN), Robert Casey (D-PA), Rick Scott (R-FL), James Inhofe (R-OK), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) have written a letter to Biden urging him to keep in place U.S. tariffs on billions of dollars worth of China-made products.

Recently, the Akron Roundtable of Ohio invited me to give a presentation on the issue of election integrity as part of a recurring series it calls “Point/Counterpoint.” As I told the audience, the sponsors of the Roundtable, which includes the Kiwanis Club, the Greater Akron Chamber, and the Akron Beacon Journal, were to be applauded for upholding the great American tradition of having civil, even vigorous discussions on important issues from individuals with differing points of view, a tradition that has virtually disappeared in our communities and college campuses. The progressive, radical left, however, has no interest in upholding this...

Liberals love to insist they're on the "right side of history," and their confidence crests in the liberal dominance among historians. Just as the liberal media dominate our evaluation of day-to-day developments, liberals count on their historians to dominate our evaluation of the decades behind us. It's not just historians but our taxpayer-funded storytellers, like the insufferable PBS documentarian Ken Burns. On the day before President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration, NPR's "Morning Edition" presented him as an American treasure with no partisan bias. So, skip over the propaganda film on Ted Kennedy he made for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, which...

The Obama administration targeted sole proprietors and small businesses in the real estate industry after the crash of 2008, while letting the big banks off the hook with bailouts. One of most horrific cases involved Republican real estate broker Tony Viola, who served nine and a half years in prison as a juicy target of Ohio Democratic prosecutor Dan Kasaris. He was convicted of supposedly tricking banks into offering mortgages with no money down. But in reality, the banks were knowingly offering those loans — evidence the prosecution withheld from him. Viola only got out of prison due to an...

The student newspaper at an Ohio college known for its left-leaning politics published a column addressing the number of white students attending campus concerts. “When there are so few resources for non-white students on campus, it can be upsetting when concerts headlined by artists of color are dominated by white students,” wrote Kayla Kim, a first-year student at Oberlin College.... In the Dec. 10 column titled “Concerts Need to Be Better for Students of Color,” Kim claimed that whites, who comprise the majority of the student population, take over events by displacing black students in the front rows.... ...Kim also...

Five Democratic senators have told the White House they won't support Saule Omarova to head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, effectively killing her nomination for the powerful bank-regulator position.Why it matters: The defiant opposition from a broad coalition of senators reflects the real policy concerns they had with Omarova, a Cornell University law professor who's attracted controversy for her academic writings about hemming in big banks.Their opposition also hints at a willingness of some Democratic senators to buck the White House on an important nomination, even if it hands Republicans a political — and symbolic — victory.Republicans...

A hearing for the Senate Banking Committee went off the rails when Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) sparred with Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) over the insinuation that Saule Omarova is a communist... ...As the hearing got underway, Republicans accused Omarova of backing “radical” and “socialist” economic ideas, while Brown derided this line of thinking as “Trumpism meets McCarthyism.” When Kennedy got his turn to ask questions, he immediately focused on Omarova’s involvement in a communist youth group... ..From there, Kennedy ran through a number of written works and economic opinions Omarova expressed over the years. ... [video at link]

The top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee blasted Republicans on Thursday for “vile attacks” on President Biden’s pick intended to make her a “Marxist boogeyman.” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), chairman of the Banking panel, ripped Republicans for efforts to “degrade” the confirmation process for Saule Omarova, who Biden nominated to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). Omarova, a law professor at Cornell University, was born and raised in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan before emigrating to the U.S. While she has been a U.S. citizen since 2005 and served in the George W. Bush...

Once the Senate returns from its latest recess, the world’s greatest deliberative body will take up a Resolution of Disapproval under the Congressional Review Act for a Trump era rule which aided working class Americans in obtaining access to financial instruments. Progressives are so blinded by hatred for banking institutions, they are giving Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) a platform to rail against the industry and to advocate for further government intervention in the sector. For this attack on liberty and the working class to be successful, the Democrats only need one Republican to validate this effort...

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) did not miss an opportunity on Tuesday to once again call out Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) for not wearing a mask while around his colleagues. Brown was in Columbus visiting a mass COVID-19 vaccination site when a reporter asked him about senators who don't wear masks, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. Brown responded that most are being courteous and wearing face coverings, except "one of them that's an M.D. isn't, but he's kind of a lunatic." Brown was referring to Paul, an ophthalmologist who last spring was the first senator to announce that he had tested positive...

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has spent a lot of time pleading for patience and talking of the dangers of rushing to judgement in reaction to the shooting death of a 16-year-old girl by Columbus police officers. Community organizers, however, are calling for a U.S. Justice Department investigation of the Columbus Police Department, and Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said there is lack of trust between the community and police. Yost consistently has said half-facts lead to half-truths, tweeting two days after the death of Ma’Khia Bryant, “Let’s get all the facts and find the whole truth.” Yost responded to a...