When Ben Ray was chair of the DCCC last year...When Tom Udall announced he wouldn't run for another 6 year Senate term in 2020, DC swamp monster, Ben Ray Luján, immediately announced his availability. Like his old pal, Joe Crowley, Luján is quite popular in DC and if it was only lobbyists and consultants and the Washingtonian elite voting, he would win.
As the lady says, Texans don't give up easy. Yesterday MJ Hegar, the former Air Force helicopter pilot who ran a strong race against John Carter in 2018, is taking on bigger game in 2020-- Texas senior Senator John Cornyn. The was the seat everyone wanted Beto to run for before launching is ill-advised presidential run.
Big Tobacco was once a much bigger player in congressional politics than it is now. As recently as 1990, the sector was handing out hefty bribes on a bipartisan basis. That year the tobacco companies gave $1,139,125 to Reoublicans and $1,012,249 to Democrats.That year the two top tobacco bribe takers were Senators Mitch McConnell ($60,650) and Jesse Helms ($57,280).
Above is McTurtle's announcement ad for his 2020 reelection campaign. Pretty ugly, huh? But I have a feeling he knows better than we do about what sells in rural Kentucky. He sure isn't going to get elected by voters in Louisville or Lexington.In his last reelection campaign, 2014, his opponent was Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes. She ran a good campaign and won 10 of the state's 120 counties. He beat her 806,787 (56.2%) to 584,698 (40.7%) despite quite a bit of voter apathy. Six years earlier he had beaten Democrat Bruce Lunsford 953,816 (53%) to 847,005 (47%).
2014 was a big year for elections in Georgia. Former Democrat Nathan Deal beat Jimmy Carter's grandson, Jason, 1,345,237 (53%) to 1,144,794 (45%). Not bad, huh. And on the same day, there was a Senate race that pitted two candidates with big family names: Republican David Perdue against Democrat Michelle Nunn. Perdue won 1,358,088 (53%) to 1,160,811 (45%). Wow! Same results, more or less. Last year's gubernatorial election was different. Way more people voted-- for both candidates-- and the Democrat in the race, Stacey Abrams, had a real shot.
by Ryan CaseySometime in the next 12 months, Donald Trump will almost certainly be impeached. But what is the likelihood that at least 67 senators will vote to convict? More importantly, how will this probability change over time as revelations of Trump’s criminal conduct continue to spill into the public sphere?
On Thursday, by a large bipartisan majority, the Senate approved HJ 46, the resolution of disapproval for Trump's phony state of emergency declaration. A dozen Republicans voted with every single Democrat against Trump.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McTurtle by Nancy OhanianBy now it's a truism to note, as Republican strategist and pollster Frank Luntz did Sunday on PBS' News Hour, that "If you are a Republican today, you are a strong supporter of Donald Trump.
