Free Republic

Out of touch as ever, President Biden celebrated record-high gas prices Monday, gushing that the pump pain was part of “an incredible transition” of the US economy away from fossil fuels. “[When] it comes to the gas prices, we’re going through an incredible transition that is taking place that, God willing, when it’s over, we’ll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels when this is over,” Biden said during a press conference in Japan following his meeting with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Tuesday brings the next big batch of primaries, as voters head to the polls in Alabama, Arkansas and Georgia — plus we get a little bonus electoral action thanks to several runoffs in Texas and a special election in Minnesota. And thanks to former President Donald Trump’s attempt to dislodge multiple incumbents who refused to overturn the 2020 election, Georgia is the election on everyone’s mind this week, but there are even more races of note in the other four states — 11, to be exact. Here’s the lowdown on each of them.

Voters in southern Minnesota will choose candidates in a special primary next week in the first step in a complicated process for filling the seat of Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn, who died of cancer in February. The GOP candidates Tuesday for the 1st District seat include Hagedorn’s widow, Jennifer Carnahan, who has leveled a series of bitter attacks in the final days of the campaign against two of her main rivals in the primary, state Rep. Jeremy Munson and former state Rep. Brad Finstad. She has labeled both of them as captives of “Establishment Republicans and the Washington Swamp.”...

The last time Alabama hosted a U.S. Senate and governor’s primary runoff on the same day, Jimmy Carter was president and the Democratic Party ruled Alabama. It was in September 1978, slightly less than 44 years ago when two Senate runoff contests – a regularly-scheduled Democratic race won by Howell Heflin, and Democratic special election runoff won by Donald Stewart to fill a vacant seat – coincided with a lively governor’s race that also went to a runoff. The winner of the governor’s runoff on September 26, 1978? Fob James, father of Tim James who is attempting to push incumbent...

Two months ago, former President Donald Trump rescinded his endorsement of conservative Rep. Mo Brooks' Senate bid, claiming that the longtime political ally went "woke" in saying that the party needed to look to the future. At the time, Brooks was lagging in fundraising and his polling numbers had stalled in the Republican primary against former Business Council of Alabama president and CEO Katie Britt — who was endorsed by retiring GOP Sen. Richard Shelby — and former US Army pilot Michael Durant. But Brooks has made a major rebound — a development that might have seemed improbable after Trump...

Rep. Mo Brooks is regaining ground in Alabama’s expensive Senate race, and a grassroots immigration reform group has endorsed him shortly before the May 24 ballot. “Americans for Legal Immigration PAC [ALIPAC] is launching online ads and sending in donors and volunteers to inform Alabama voters about Rep. Mo Brooks’ proven record as a national leader against Biden’s Border Disaster and AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty,” said a statement from the grassroots group. “The most important issues in the 2022 elections are our sabotaged borders and immigration laws and reversing illegal immigration,” said ALIPAC founder William Gheen. “Mo Brooks is...

Prepare to vote!

The world population checks in at just a little under 7.9 billion people. Of that number, Europe has identified 100 cases of monkeypox and the United States has identified...two cases (out of a population of roughly 330 million people). Nevertheless, Joe Biden is already hard at work ratcheting up the fear. Based on the information available, though, we probably don’t need to worry and this should not turn into a government power grab, complete with election control. Preliminarily, Dr. Robert Malone has written a great post about monkeypox (“Truth versus Fearporn”), from which I’ve gleaned a lot of my facts...

Illegal votes are far more dangerous than illegal guns. Illegal votes threaten the very structure of the United States. They place organized criminals and incompetents in power over the criminal justice system. At the national level, they can determine who controls the military and the intelligence services. This places all of society at risk.If you doubt illegal vote trafficking is a problem, see 2000Mules. It removes 95% of any doubt. Once a vote is paid for or leaves the proper chain of custody, it is an illegal vote.Trafficking in illegal votes has long been a feature in Democrat politics, particularly...

AUBURN, Ala. -- Alabama’s Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby has become a bitter high-dollar contest with the three strongest contenders jockeying for the nomination. The leading candidates are U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks who won — and then lost — former President Donald Trump’s backing in the race; Katie Boyd Britt, the former leader of Business Council of Alabama and Shelby’s former chief of staff; and Mike Durant, an aerospace company owner best known as the helicopter pilot whose capture during a U.S. military mission in Somalia was chronicled in the...

ased on the barrage of television ads and mailers leading up to Tuesday's primary election in Arkansas, it's obvious who the most influential Republicans in the state are. Tom Cotton's making the case for fellow Sen. John Boozman, talking up his conservative bona fides while the two-term senator fends off challenges from the right. Donald Trump's image appears in ads for Boozman and for Sarah Sanders, who served as the former president's White House press secretary and is now running for governor. Sanders, whose endorsement is almost as sought after as Trump's, is helping make the closing argument for Boozman...

Beyond the marquee races for governor and U.S. Senate, several statewide officials are battling to keep their offices in primary elections that will be decided Tuesday in Georgia. Georgia's incumbent attorney general and insurance commissioner both face fellow Republicans endorsed by former President Donald Trump, who also picked a favorite in the open race for lieutenant governor. Meanwhile, the Republican state school superintendent is being opposed by his predecessor. A look at some key down-ballot races in the Georgia primaries.

SPRINGFIELD — Republican activists Saturday overwhelmingly endorsed a Donald Trump-backed conservative for governor at the Massachusetts GOP convention, where speakers leaned heavily into national themes and culture war debates, railing against abortion, characterizing Democrats as “evil,” and issuing vague yet vulgar warnings about the state of education. Geoff Diehl, a former Whitman state lawmaker who’s trumpeted Trump’s false claims the 2020 election was rigged, received 71 percent of the 1,194 votes cast by party delegates, winning the party’s backing for governor. Diehl, also a former US Senate candidate, far outpaced Chris Doughty, a Wrentham business owner running for office for...

Australians today ejected the rightwing coalition government that has held power for almost a decade. As counting continued after yesterday’s general election, Labor leader Anthony Albanese was expected to form a minority government. Scott Morrison, the prime minister, conceded defeat in a televised address to party supporters late on Saturday and said he would be resigning as leader of his defeated Liberal Party. He said: “I’ve always believed in Australians and their judgement, and I’ve always been prepared to accept their verdicts. And tonight they have delivered their verdict and I congratulate Anthony Albanese in the Labor Party.”

With less than two weeks before the primary election, State Sen. Doug Mastriano was leading in the polls, and some of the candidates and their aides were holding out hope Trump would use the rally to endorse a rival who could topple the front-runner. But behind the scenes, some of the most influential players in Pennsylvania Republican politics were hatching a plan of their own to stop Mastriano, who they saw as a potential liability in a general election. That afternoon, Andy Reilly, a Republican National Committee member, sent an email to associates of the leading candidates. It included a...

Arkansas primary is next Tuesday. Boozman’s scramble shows the risk he confronts in 2022: The second-term senator is trying to beat back an under-the-radar primary challenge from 33-year-old Jake Bequette, a former Arkansas Razorbacks star and reserve for the NFL’s New England Patriots who is trying to claim the MAGA mantle — and is financed by Richard Uihlein, one of the wealthiest conservative donors in the country. In response, Boozman has raced to maintain Trump’s support, get backup from Republican leaders and receive his own funding from major contributors looking to protect him. The incumbent has started airing TV ads...

President Biden is behind the curve on everything, we need to take back the presidency, Arkansas Sen. Dan Sullivan told 'The Evening Edit.' ...

Canyon County voters showed strong support for some far-right candidates in Tuesday’s Republican primary, which was underscored in two races where establishment Republicans were defeated. Sen. Jeff Agenbroad, R-Nampa, who is co-chair of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, lost Tuesday to newcomer Brian Lenney. And Meridian businessman Chris Trakel beat Rep. Greg Chaney, R-Caldwell, who had made a bid for an open Senate seat, the Idaho Press previously reported. Trakel garnered nearly 54% of the vote, while Chaney received about 46%. “I’m glad,” Trakel said. “I’m looking forward to actually working with people and keeping my promises to them and hopefully...

Nearly a dozen incumbent lawmakers lost their re-election bids in Tuesday’s primary election including one, possibly two, long-time Republicans who hold top caucus leadership posts. Rep. Stan Saylor of York County and Sen. Pat Browne of Lehigh County, both Republicans, serve as the majority chairman of the powerful appropriations committee in their respective chambers. In those roles, they review all legislation to determine its fiscal impact on taxpayers and play a role in helping to shape the state budget. Saylor, who was first elected to the House in 1992, has served as the appropriations committee chairman since 2016. Prior to...

YORK COUNTY, Pa. — Two multi-decade Republican lawmakers in York County will not be up for re-election in the fall, after losing their primary races to challengers. In Windsor Township, Wendy Fink beat State Rep. Stan Saylor (R-York), who has been in office nearly 30 years. In Hellam Township, Joe D’Orsie beat State Rep. Keith Gillespie (R-York), who has been in office nearly 20 years. “Something happens after a couple of decades after you're in political office. After talking to people, I think the fact that I am a rookie kind of appeals to them,” D’Orsie said while making campaign...