Free Republic

Imagine winning a U.S. Senate debate when you did the following: Admitted you didn’t know what the current immigration law was. Flip-flopped on the marriage issue from a previous debate. Flip-flopped on subsidies during this debate. Said the first thing that differentiated yourself from your opponent was you were female. Gave probably the single most wretchedly-awful example of pandering in modern Iowa political history. No one would expect to win a debate, and likely the Republican Party’s nomination for U.S. Senate, committing these kinds of gaffes. But “no one” isn’t Joni Ernst, who is living the semi-charmed kind of life....

Washington, DC - Congressman Steve King released the following statement after his amendment to H.R. 4660, the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations (CJS) Act of 2015 was adopted. Also today, in a Full House Judiciary Committee Hearing, King questioned the witness, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Secretary Jeh Johnson, on the failure of the Obama Administration's immigration enforcement priorities. During this questioning, Secretary Johnson agreed that he would comply with the King amendment when passed. "I am pleased to see my amendment adopted to the CJS Appropriations Act in the House today," said King. "My amendment directs...

HIAWATHA, Iowa (AP) — Behind Texas Gov. Rick Perry's visit to Iowa this week to campaign for local politicians is a careful effort to remake his image from the 2012 Republican presidential candidate who couldn't remember a key message during a debate, to a more polished and prepared contender. While he denies it is a dress rehearsal for a second presidential run, Perry is studying policy, traveling and meeting with key activists as he campaigns for Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and U.S. Senate candidate Matt Whitaker in the state expected to host the first presidential caucus of 2016. "This hasn't...

Behind Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s visit to Iowa this week to campaign for local politicians is a careful effort to remake his image from the 2012 Republican presidential candidate who couldn’t remember a key message during a debate, to a more polished and prepared contender. While he denies it is a dress rehearsal for a second presidential run, Perry is studying policy, traveling and meeting with key activists as he campaigns for Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and U.S. Senate candidate Matt Whitaker in the state expected to host the first presidential caucus of 2016. …

Fellow Conservatives: There are two very important Republican primary elections for the U.S. Senate next week, and we need your help to achieve victory. In Mississippi, conservative state senator Chris McDaniel (R-MS) is running to replace incumbent Republican Thad Cochran (R-MS) who has been in Washington for 41 years and has voted for wasteful spending, bailouts, and mountains of debt. SCA McDaniel TV Ad - "Values"Thanks to the support of freedom-loving Americans like you, Chris McDaniel is running neck-and-neck with Cochran with just one week to go. We recently launched a new TV ad that highlights Chris McDaniel's conservative, Mississippi...

Some Republicans say state Sen. Joni Ernst's recent campaign ad featuring her firing a handgun will not sit well with some swing voters when Democrats resurrect it. Likewise, others say former Reliant Energy CEO Mark Jacobs' past public statements supporting climate-change legislation make him indistinguishable from likely Democratic nominee Bruce Braley. In what is their best chance to win the Senate seat in 30 years, Republicans have accepted the risks of focusing on GOP-favored issues in the June 3 primary after failing to convince the state's better-known Republicans to run once Sen. Tom Harkin, a six-term Democrat, announced he wouldn't...

Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee for president in 2012, will be in Davenport and Cedar Rapids on Friday, May 30, to campaign for GOP Senate hopeful Joni Ernst. Romney, who finished second in the 2012 Iowa caucuses, endorsed Ernst earlier in the five-way race for the nomination to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Tom Harkin. Details of the events will be announced soon, the Ernst campaign said in a news release. The stops will be open to the public. Ernst is running in the June 3 primary against retired energy executive Mark Jacobs, former U.S. Attorney...

"FORT DODGE, Iowa —A man who tried to take money from a Fort Dodge textbook store didn’t get a single dime Wednesday after an employee pulled a handgun on the would-be thief.#

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) on Thursday defended himself against Senate Democratic attempts to paint him as the face of obstruction on immigration reform. King read aloud several quotes from Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and countered each of them on the House floor. "This is what I get from Senator Chuck Schumer," King said. "He decided he would target me and blame me for the things he believes are failures of the entire House of Representatives."

Challengers see themselves in the Texas senator, even in races where their odds of an upset are considered steeper than Cruz’s surprise victory over a GOP establishment figure two years ago. He’s made endorsements in the Oklahoma and Nebraska Senate races, plus the Nebraska gubernatorial race, and sent almost $26,000 to federal candidates through his leadership PAC. “Ted Cruz would be extremely helpful as an endorser and a fundraiser,” said C. Edmund Wright, a consultant to longshot South Carolina Senate hopeful Lee Bright, in an email. “Rand Paul and Mike Lee would be great also.” But, he said, “the reason...

Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) is investigating allegations the Department of Homeland Security has deleted records related to a list of terrorists the agency maintains as part of a “hands off” policy on some of the individuals on the list. Grassley released emails last week describing the alleged terrorist “hands off” list at DHS which apparently resulted in the deletion of records of an individual who was allegedly a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and a “close associate” of a supporter of “Hamas, Hizbollah, and (Palestinian) Islamic Jihad.” The individual referenced in Senator Charles Grassley’s inquiry to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson...

The last time Rick Santorum was in Iowa, political reporters suspected that an endorsement in the Republican U.S. Senate contests was eminent. Santorum endorsed his longtime friend Secretary of State Matt Schultz, who is running for congress in Iowa’s third Congressional District on his trip to Iowa in back in March, but he refused to endorse U.S. Senate candidate Sam Clovis at the time. Clovis was an early and influential supporter of Santorum in the 2012 presidential race. This morning Santorum got of the sidelines and officially backed Clovis in Iowa’s U.S. Senate race, but in doing so called out...

THIS IS FOR THE SOUTH AND MIDWEST (NORTHEAST, WEST, AND CALIFORNIA are in separate threads and updates are coming, see links below) This is an update of previous threads. There are numerous important House Primary Races! And places where we can WIN! PLEASE contribute! And if you can't contribute money ... the least we can do is go to their pages and give them a "like" or a tweet. All of these candidates are involved in primaries that are close (or could be close) against generally more moderate or liberal Republicans. All of these districts are winnable in November. Georgia:...

The National Rifle Association (NRA) endorsed Jodi Ernst for U.S. Senate in Iowa on Tuesday, USA TODAY reported. "Joni Ernst has consistently opposed all attempts to restrict gun rights and has been a true friend of the Second Amendment," said Chris W. Cox, chairman of the NRA's Political Victory Fund. Ernst, an Iowa state senator and lieutenant colonel in the Army National Guard, initially made headlines for her first TV advertisement where she touts her experience castrating pigs. "I grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm, so when I come to Washington, I'll know how to cut pork," Ernst...

THIS IS FOR THE MIDWEST (NORTHEAST and SOUTH is in a separate thread and West coming later, see links below) There are numerous important House Primary Races! And places where we can WIN! PLEASE contribute! And if you can't contribute money ... the least we can do is go to their pages and give them a "like" or a tweet. All of these candidates are involved in primaries that are close (or could be close) against generally more moderate or liberal Republicans. All of these districts are winnable in November. West Virginia: ALEX MOONEY, WEST VIRGINIA-2, May 13th .... Open...

On the Senate floor yesterday, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, decried the Obama Administration’s proposed rule giving work permits to the spouses of certain H-1B visa holders. He said Congress did not authorize the Administration proposal. “They act on their own,” Sen. Grassley said. “And, they do it to the detriment of American workers.” Sen. Grassley argued the proposal will allow more foreign workers “to come, work, and compete with U. S. workers in high-skilled fields despite the well-documented fraud in the H-1B program.

Is it possible to be the anti-establishment candidate in a Republican primary for the U.S. Senate and be the choice of the Republican establishment in your state at the same time? By definition, this would seem impossible. Yet, State Senator Joni Ernst has managed to be the establishment backed, anti-establishment candidate in Iowa’s Republican U.S. Senate primary. Iowa’s Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds was an early endorser of Ernst’s campaign, and Governor Terry Branstad has reportedly been helpful behind the scenes, especially in the fundraising department. Ernst has also been backed by national Republican establishment figures like Mitt Romney, Sen. John...

It might be time to reconsider that license plate frame boasting your allegiance to your favorite baseball team, charitable cause or alma mater, especially if you’re driving in The Hawkeye State. The Iowa Supreme Court just ruled that drivers whose cars display the frames can be stopped if they obscure the small print below the plate numbers. The decision ended a five-year court battle stemming from the 2009 traffic stop of a man suspected of dealing drugs based on information from a confidential informant. The court ruled 5-2 last week that a 1984 law requiring drivers to “permit full view...

Washington (CNN) - Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will make allies in the key early presidential voting state of Iowa without even going there. Bush will host a re-election fundraiser for Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad in Coral Gables, Florida on May 22, Branstad's campaign confirmed to CNN. "With Gov. Bush's popularity and unmatched record as governor of Florida, we believe this will be a very successful fundraiser, and Gov. Branstad is excited to attend. Branstad admires the work Bush has done to manage Florida's finances while focusing on growing the state's economy," Branstad's campaign communications director Tommy Schultz told CNN.

The Senate confirmed four of President Obama’s executive and judicial nominees Thursday. Theodore Chuang and George Hazel will serve as U.S. district judges for Maryland. The Senate voted 53-42 on Chuang’s nomination and 95-0 on Hazel’s. Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said he couldn’t support Chuang’s nomination because he helped the Obama administration “stonewall” Congress on the investigation of the death of four Americans at the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya. “I can’t support his nomination because of the central role Mr. Chuang played in the administration’s efforts to stonewall an investigation into the situation in Benghazi,”...