Free Republic

A white nationalist who ran for the U.S. Senate in Florida and was a featured speaker during the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, was arrested on charges of kidnapping, domestic violence and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. Augustus Sol Invictus, 36, was arrested Monday at a Florida mall by Brevard County Sheriff’s deputies on a warrant issued out of South Carolina, the Miami Herald reported. Jail records described him as an “out of state fugitive.” The Herald noted that news of the arrest was first reported on Twitter by the journalist Nick Martin,...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Two years ago, Augustus Sol Invictus walked from central Florida to the Mojave Desert and spent a week fasting and praying, at times thinking he wouldn't survive. In a pagan ritual to give thanks when he returned home, he killed a goat and drank its blood. Now that he's a candidate for U.S. Senate, the story is coming back to bite him. The chairman of the Libertarian Party of Florida has resigned to call attention to Invictus' candidacy in hopes that other party leaders will denounce him. Adrian Wyllie, who was the Libertarian candidate for governor...

There is a lesson from scandal of moonwalking Gov. Ralph Northam (D-Va.) being photographed in either in a KKK hood and sheet or blackface in his medical school yearbook. In 2017 Northam decisively defeated Ed Gillespie for governor 54 to 45. (As an aside, Bill Kristol backed Northam.) In that race, the Democrats played the race card for all it was worth, while Gillespie was as hapless as a deer in the headlights. This should not be a surprise. Democrats do what Democrats do -- play to win at any cost. And establishment Republicans do what establishment Republicans do --...

Incoming Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) indicates that banning private gun sales in the state will be a priority for 2018. In other words, he will continue to pursue the gun controls that outgoing Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) pursued but failed to secure. NBC Washington reports that Northam will be pushing “universal background checks for gun buyers.” This means private gun sales will be treated like retail sales, with a point-of-sale background checks required at time of purchase. Such a framework will require a law-abiding gun owner to seek out a government representative, a federal firearms license holder, and have...

We conservatives need to get our heads right about the mid-terms or liberals will end up guzzling patriot tears and their gloating will be flat-out intolerable. We’re not doomed in 2018 – I mean, it’s not like tax reform or pulling out of the Paris Climate Scam, which have already killed millions of people, including me and you. But, if we fail to get on course for victory then we’re going to see Nancy Pelosi and the Gropeocrats back in charge and trying to make America into California. Trust me. You do not want to live in the United States...

If you wanted to predict the results of Tuesday's gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey, you would have been wise to ignore the flurry of polls and campaign events. You would have paid no heed to the conventional wisdom that Republican Ed Gillespie had a solid chance to beat Ralph Northam in Virginia. In fact, Northam's 9-point victory margin in Virginia was not much different from Phil Murphy's 13-point margin over Republican Kim Guadagno in New Jersey. And both almost precisely mirrored the 2016 presidential results. Hillary Clinton carried New Jersey by a 55-41 percent margin last year; Murphy...

Will someone please throw an ocean of ice water on the Pelosi-Schumer-MSM axis of evil? Their ecstasy over the results in Virginia's election returns Tuesday night shows how desperate the Democrats are for any sign of hope that their party is not already dead. Democrats merely won the elections for governor in Virginia and New Jersey - two Blue States where they were always expected to win. It was hardly a "wave election." Republicans suffered no surprise losses to Democrats and the GOP still controlled a huge majority of the country's governor's offices and state legislatures. Yet by Wednesday morning...

Republicans regained a bare majority in the House of Delegates on Wednesday, a day after losing a 32-seat advantage in a wave of Democratic victories that crashed from Northern Virginia through Richmond to Hampton Roads. But the GOP’s 51-49 margin is far from secure, as both parties prepare for weeks of vote recounts in at least four closely contested races that ultimately will decide the balance of power in the House.

The day after his "Silent Majority" speech on Nov. 3, 1969, calling on Americans to stand with him for peace with honor in Vietnam, Richard Nixon's GOP captured the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey. By December, Nixon had reached 68 percent approval in the Gallup Poll, though, a year earlier, he had won but 43 percent of the vote. Contrast Nixon's numbers with President Trump's. Where Trump won 46 percent of the vote against Hillary Clinton, his approval rating is now nearly 10 points below that. He has less support today than on the day he was elected, or...

Don’t believe the Democrat-driven anti-Trump hype about Tuesday night’s election results, said LevinTV host Mark Levin. He explained: In addition to factors like immigration and Democrat-leaning northern Virginia's increasing political clout, one of the biggest factors Tuesday night was the repeated failures of the do-nothing Republican Congress. This should serve as a wake-up call, said Levin. “If the Republican Party doesn’t get their act together … they could well lose the House [in 2018] and I fear they might,” Levin said. “Because they have nothing to run on.” "And if the Republicans lose the House, the president will be impeached,"...

<p>President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon said Wednesday that Republican candidates cannot “fake” it and must double down on Trump’s agenda despite fresh GOP election losses.</p> <p>Bannon spoke at a Republican event in Michigan on the anniversary of Trump’s presidential victory and a day after Democrats scored big victories in Virginia, New Jersey and elsewhere. He downplayed the gubernatorial loss in Virginia, calling it a “blue state” and GOP candidate Ed Gillespie a “good man.”</p>

RUSH: Here is one more sound bite, Larry Sabato. Some people say in Rio Linda Sabato, but it’s Sabato. He runs the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. He’s a renowned political scientist of great repute among some, and he was on Shannon Bream’s show on the Fox News Channel last night — Fox News @ Night, Fox News After Dark — and she said, “Did Ed Gillespie try to embrace some of the president’s policies while not necessarily embracing him? What led to this resounding defeat?” SABATO: Virginia is now a blue state. We’ve been calling it...

The American suburbs appear to be in revolt against President Trump after a muscular coalition of college-educated voters and racial and ethnic minorities on Tuesday dealt the Republican Party a thumping rejection and propelled a diverse class of Democrats into office. From the tax-obsessed suburbs of New York City to high-tech neighborhoods outside Seattle to the sprawling, polyglot developments of Fairfax and Prince William County, Va., voters shunned Republicans up and down the ballot in off-year elections. Leaders in both parties said the elections amounted to an earsplitting alarm bell for Republicans ahead of the 2018 elections, when the party’s...

Steve Bannon offered to stump for Republican candidate for Virginia governor, Ed Gillespie, but Gillespie's campaign declined, according to multiple reports. The decision, which preceded Democratic opponent Lt. Governor Ralph Northam trouncing Gillespie at the polls on Tuesday, left Bannon's camp fuming, per the ABC. Bannon was also frustrated with Gillespie's refusal to appear on his Breitbart radio show or do any interviews with the conservative media outlet. “Ed Gillespie had no message, was inauthentic, spoke from both sides of his mouth, and at the end of the day, even the deplorables couldn’t save him,” Andrew Surabian, Bannon’s political adviser,...

There will be a lot of speculation and recrimination around the results of yesterday’s elections. The DNC will (and already are) claiming it as a rejection of President Trump, whilst the GOP is remaining somewhat silence. But what is the real deal here? Who truly won and lost, and what are the wider ramifications? The DNC, and most specifically Tom Perez, have bought themselves a stay of execution. After losing every major election since (and including) the presidency, they were sorely in need of a big win. Virginia (already Democrat headed) and New Jersey Governorships are not huge, but they...

Four years ago, Virginia conservatives were told you couldn’t win with a candidate who excited the Republican base. Conservatives were told that candidates like Ken Cuccinelli spelled certain doom, that the answer was a moderate establishment candidate. Tonight we now know that that candidate Ed Gillespie did worse than Ken Cuccinelli did. And Cuccinelli performed better without the support of the Virginia GOP establishment. Ed Gillespie is certainly a good fellow. But his campaign used messages from 2004 and tactics from 1996. It seemed to exist outside of the ferocious upheavals of the modern polarized political world. Let’s take a...

Once again, Virginia voters elected a radical pro-abortion governor in Democrat Ralph Northam. Northam beat pro-life Republican Ed Gillespie Tuesday in a closely watched race, the AP reports. NBC reports Northam won with 54 percent of the vote, while Gillespie received 45 percent. The current lieutenant governor, Northam raised nearly $11 million for his campaign, including huge contributions from the abortion industry. Earlier this year, the abortion business Planned Parenthood said it planned to spend $3 million to back Northam. Northam’s position on abortion is extreme and out of touch with most voters, according to the National Right to Life...

Republican Establishment, RINO, Ed Gillespie wanted no part of POTUS, Donald J.Trump in his campaign. Instead, he chose and preferred the deadbeat, "has-been" ex-POTUS, G.W.Bush to campaign with and for him. Ed Gillespie got massively politically slaughtered last evening by a weak, incompetent Democrat. Thousands of Virginian Trump supporters stayed home and did not turn out to vote for Gillespie. In fact, Gillespie's two running mates Jill Vogel & John Adams received more votes then Gillespie who was heading the ticket. I did not like Ed Gillespie, never did like him, but I gave him 100% support...across the board in...

As I predicted, Northam won the Virginia governorship.  Some takeaways.  Some say it is a referendum on Trump, and that is indeed why Northam won.  Obviously, anti-Trump sentiment played a part in that.  However, I don't believe Trump himself is necessarily the primary reason that he won because Trump himself lost the state, and this wasn't a Trump guy.  Here is some analysis: 1. Trump lost the state of Virginia by 5% points.  This was in an election where people stayed home because they weren't enthused about Hillary.  Trump's approval rating is very low in Virginia (low 30s).  More Democrats...

People asked a few months ago during debates “Can Ed Gillespie win in Virginia?” It struck me how this is a totally meaningless and absurd question. Of course Ed Gillespie could win. Of course Ed Gillespie could lose. Months ago, I rejected the dominant thinking that Candidate A (automatically) wins while Candidate B (automatically) loses. It’s how a candidate campaigns for office that counts. Yet all of our thinking and talking suggests that Candidate A wins merely and exclusively because she is “A” while Candidate B loses merely and exclusively because he is “B.” First, the Republican Party has to...