When an Attorney General’s Letter to a Process Server Ends, You Can’t Stop Talking about Abortion and Crime: An Inappropriate Post-Democracy Campaign
The journalist and author of the book “OK Boomer, Let’s Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind” is based in New York. Follow her on the social networking site. The opinions expressed in this commentary are of her own. View more opinion on CNN.
While many leading Republicans on the national stage do indeed support extreme abortion bans, many are angry that members of their party are raising this issue at all. Some of the most ardent abortion opponents, like the Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, are trying to change the subject from abortion to crime and the economy.
According to the Texas Tribune, process server Ernesto Martin Herrera said in a sworn affidavit that he knocked on Paxton’s front door and introduced himself to Paxton’s wife, only to be told that the attorney general was unavailable because he was on a phone call and “in a hurry to leave.” Herrera added in his statement that he told her he would wait.
The man and his wife left the house again, got in a truck that was parked in the driveway and drove off without taking the document.
In his opinion, he didn’t deny that he ran. He ran from a shady stranger outside of his house, not from the subpoena. “This is a ridiculous waste of time and the media should be ashamed of themselves,” Paxton tweeted. “All across the country, conservatives have faced threats to their safety – many threats that received scant coverage or condemnation from the mainstream media.”
It was clear to him that the media wanted to drum up another controversy with his work as Attorney General so they attacked him for avoiding a stranger who was showing concern for his family.
Paxton makes a fair point: It’s awfully scary to have your privacy invaded, and infuriating when people try to interfere when you are trying to protect your own safety and the well-being of your family. Texas women can certainly relate to that.
When abortion becomes a political issue, the naivete of Blake Masters is outraged. Axne, Kandee, Junge, and the rest is up to the states
Arizona’s Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters used to champion fetal personhood laws, which would fully criminalize abortion and potentially IVF as well, along with some forms of contraception; recently, though, that information was deleted from his website.
In his campaign website, Mark Ronchetti said that “life should be protected at all stages”, as he is now putting out ads saying that he is pro-life.
Mr. Kildee’s opponent, Paul Junge, said during a 2020 Republican primary debate that Roe v. Wade extended “made-up rights” to women and that he was “pro-life” and “supports life at all times.” House Democrats’ super PAC featured the comments prominently in an advertisement that included an OB/GYN.
Americans do not support broad abortion bans. When you poll voters, even many who identify as pro-life and vote Republican, and even majorities in conservative states, hedge when it comes to actually criminalizing abortion.
These laws are wildly unpopular, and they may cost Republicans at the ballot box. The solution is simple: Stop penning and passing wildly unpopular laws. So far, though, Republicans continue to do just that – and then they raise their hands in a cartoonish “it wasn’t me!” pressed on it, gestured.
Zach Nunn, the Republican challenging Democratic Rep. Cindy Axne in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, touted in a recent ad how “most Iowans support common sense limits on abortion” but that his opponent “votes for the most extreme abortion laws in the world.” Axne has been running ads attacking Nunn for raising his hand during a GOP primary debate when candidates were asked if they supported a policy banning “all abortions” with “no exceptions.”
The NRSC sent a memo to the Senate campaigns in the wake of the Dobbs decision stating that the Democrat stance was extreme and strident and should not be confused with compassion and reason. The group said candidates should “call out Democrats” who “hold extreme views on abortion that are out of the mainstream.”
“I believe it should be up to the states,” he said after a rally in New Britain hosted by the Republican National Committee, according to The Connecticut Mirror. “Right here in Connecticut, we have codified a woman’s right to choose. That’s what I support.”
Democrat politicians have ruined America, causing chaos at our border and increased crime in our cities. They changed our lives. But one thing hasn’t changed: abortion in Nevada,” the spot says.
Laxalt, who prior to the Supreme Court ruling called the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision a “joke,” wrote in an August op-ed that abortion should be decided at the state level. He said it was a “a falsehood that I would support a federal ban on abortion as a U.S. senator” but noted he would support a potential state referendum banning abortion after 13 weeks of pregnancy.
The Democrats are running an ad saying that Masto will always fight for a women’s right to make their own health care decisions.
Republican Senate candidate Tiffany Smiley in Washington state has aired multiple ads expressing her opposition to a federal ban. “Patty Murray has spent millions to paint me as an extremist,” Smiley says of the longtime Democratic senator in one of her spots. “I’m pro-life, but I oppose a federal abortion ban.”
Murray began running a straight-to-camera ad after the abortion case was decided, in which she said that politicians were in control of the most private health care decisions.
In the month of September, Democratic campaigns and outside groups spent more than $70 million airing 285 unique ads about abortion, according to tracker AdImpact. Republicans, by comparison, spent just $6 million on 23 unique ads about abortion in the same period.
Republican candidates have been told not to fight the election on the issue of abortion but to allow their opponents to do so.
This is exemplified by the way Joe O’Dea, the Republican nominee for Senate in Colorado, has addressed the issue in his race against Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet in a blue-leaning state.
In his first ad for the race, the candidate said he was an outsider and that he supports abortion in the earliest stages of the baby’s life.
O’Dea has said that he would vote for Elena Kagan because he wants to end the “blood sport” of the Supreme Court confirmation process.
The vehement protests of Walker against the publication of a newspaper article suggesting he had paid for a woman’s abortion
“If it is an issue in the district and it is showing up in your polling, talk about. If it is not an issue that shows up in your polling, talk about issues like the economy that are more advantageous to you,” the operative said.
Ted Budd, North Carolina GOP Senate nominee, said in an interview in September that the Supreme Court made it clear that the decision was not a Washington decision.
But shortly after making that point, the congressman co-sponsored the House companion bill to Graham’s proposal, which would let elected officials in Washington, and not the North Carolina capital of Raleigh, decide how to regulate abortion.
Everyone in America deserves due process, and Walker vehemently denied the Daily Beast report suggesting he had paid for a woman’s abortion in 2009 after the two conceived a child while they were dating. Walker has opposed abortion rights. He was going to take legal action against the publication. But the impact in the court of public opinion was immediate and intense. Even influential conservative personality Erick Erickson described it as “probably a KO.”
Matt Fuller, the editor of The Daily Beast, told his followers that they stand behind every word and feel solid about the story.
Herschel Walker Resents Abortion Report Georgia Republican ”I’m for Life, I’m For You”
“Well, I sent money to a lot of people,” he said. “I give money to people all the time because I’m always helping people. I believe in being generous. God has blessed me. I want to bless others.”
The campaign of the first-time candidate in one of the most competitive Senate races in the country was thrown into turmoil by a new allegation about his past and a series of other stories about the football legend’s past. Walker has acknowledged that he has three children he had not previously talked about.
The report said that a review of public records showed accusations of Walker threatening his ex-wife, exaggerated claims of financial success and alarmed business associates with unpredictable behavior. Walker has battled with mental illness.
“I’m for life,” Walker has said repeatedly as he campaigns. He says there are no excuses for the procedure when asked if he’d allow for any exceptions.
I’ve got a profound reverence for life. I have a deep and abiding respect for choice. I believe a patient’s room is too small and cramped a space for a woman, her doctor and the United States government,” he said, emphasizing Walker’s support for a national ban.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/04/1126692026/herschel-walker-rejects-abortion-report-georgia-republican
When Senator Warnock threw the country down: Herschel Walker’s latest blow to the US Senate and his campaign against Sen. Perdue
Warnock was dismissive when told of The Daily Beast story and when asked whether it might affect the outcome in Georgia. He said he would let the pundits decide.
Editor’s Note: Geoff Duncan, a Republican, is the 12th Lieutenant Governor of Georgia. His own views are reflected in this commentary. Read more opinion articles on CNN.
The shock involving Herschel Walker, the Republican nominee for Georgia’s US Senate race, meant that one of the nation’s closest elections would be thrown into turmoil five weeks before Election Day. Just as there should not be two Democrats representing a center-right state like Georgia in the US Senate, the Republican Party should not have found its chance of regaining a Senate majority hanging on an untested and unproven first-time candidate.
The efforts went for naught. And by around this time last year, McConnell had given up – endorsing Walker’s bid. “Herschel is the only one who can unite the party, defeat Senator Warnock, and help us take back the Senate,” McConnell said at the time.
Now, members of a nervous GOP infrastructure must hold their breath and hope Walker can weather the storm. He has faced serious allegations, including domestic abuse, an overblown business career and an erratic personality. So far, he has had a Trump-esque Teflon quality of surviving scandals that would sink mere mortals. Walker’s latest test is his most serious one yet and it happened in October.
Kemp has shown other Republicans the road map for navigating the post-Trump presidency. After certifying the 2020 election in Georgia, the governor found himself in the former president’s constant crosshairs. The primary challenge that David Perdue was assigned to was based on the fabrication that the 2020 election was stolen. Kemp won the race by more than 50 points.
Her stock price has gone down a lot. Abrams famously refused to concede her 2018 defeat. Just days ago, a federal judge tossed out her group’s lawsuit claiming the election was decided improperly. She also faced an investigation by the State Ethics Commission about her fundraising practices in 2018, which was dismissed this past summer.
Yet Kemp is breathing easier this year for factors that extend beyond Abrams’ flaws. He has his own record to fall back on, and it is one of accomplishments and results. Georgia was recently named the best state for business for the ninth consecutive year by Area Development magazine. In a decision that has aged well over time, Kemp re-opened our state from the pandemic faster than many others, angering even then-President Trump. As more people and businesses have re-located to our state for our business-friendly climate, Georgia has taken meaningful strides toward becoming the technology capital of the East Coast.
The Warnock Era and the Republican Implications of a Supreme Court Decision on Roe v. Wade: A Conversation with Vice President Richard Harris
Most polling shows Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, who’s running for a full six-year term, with a modest lead over Walker in the final stretch of the campaign.
The numbers do not lie. Our Senate race should be a referendum on Warnock’s blind rubber-stamping of Biden’s agenda. In an evenly divided upper chamber, Warnock could have stopped every piece of flawed legislation that passed along party line votes, including the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act and the $750 billion Inflation Reduction Act, both often cited by conservatives as some of the culprits for inflation rates at four-decade highs.
The American public needs to be told that if they want us to be taken seriously, they need to nominate candidates who are serious. That process goes well beyond fame. It requires leaders who can win elections that have a conservative vision for governing.
Ever since the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade first leaked in May — a decision that led to bans and severe restrictions on abortion in 15 states — Vice President Harris has had a lengthy series of conversations.
Harris, who was a district attorney and California’s attorney general before she entered national politics, has a long track record on reproductive rights.
“Let’s link arms, and do what we need to do, including in the next 34 days,” Harris said last week at one such event at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, Conn.
When Jahana Hayes Meets the White House: Bringing Out the Bounds on Abortion and Other Restrictions
We know that abortion is a motivating factor for voters who identify as Democrats. The dynamic is more complex for independents. Only 16% of independent women share the same sentiment as 29% of Democratic women, when it comes to candidates talking about abortion.
In her New Britain stop, Harris was introduced by Rep. Jahana Hayes. It’s normally a safe Democratic district, but Hayes is in a tight race this year — one of a bunch that Democrats are pushing to win to try to hold on to their majority in the House of Representatives.
Harris has brought people from across the country to listening sessions at the White House, but she has also traveled to states like North Carolina, Indiana and Florida, and will be traveling to more states with competitive elections into November.
These events give Harris the chance to hear from people affected by the new restrictions on abortion. They’re also a smart move according to Elrod.
The events don’t get a lot of national attention, but they do get a lot of local attention. “Her visit to those states will likely lead most of the daily papers in that state, or at least in that area,” Elrod said in an interview.
Harris is focused on details according to people who have been in the meetings. “I think what is immediately evident when you attend those meetings is that she is very much involved in the conversation,” Jocelyn Frye, an ally of the Biden administration who is president of the advocacy group National Partnership for Women and Families.
“This not a meeting where she is just reading talking points. She is constantly looking at what is going on. it was a conversation where she really wanted to learn. She had done her homework, according to Frye.
Harris told the crowd at the Connecticut event that fighting for the dignity of women in the health care system was ingrained in him as a child.
Harris said the issue is going to be about what all of the movements have been about. “There’s going to be a need for litigation and legislation, there’s going to be the need for organizing.”
In the meetings, Harris often raises the “Venn diagram” way in which states that are restricting abortion access are also restricting access to voting and LGBTQ rights.
At one of Harris’ roundtables in August with other Latina state lawmakers, it was this message that caught the eye of a Utah state representative. She said she left the meeting feeling like the call to action Harris had given them was about more than abortion.
“We were given a challenge as elected officials to organize,” Ramos said. The topic was about making sure that everyone has the chance to vote.
Ramos said she learned from the roundtable that there is more at stake, and that it pushed her to get out the vote.
Putting a Democrat on a Roll: Josh McConnell, Mike McCarthy, Mark Levinson, Pat Brown, EPR/CNN, and an advocate for abortion reform
And it’s been made worse by the fact that smart Republican strategists have known for the better part of a year that Walker was a) deeply untested and b) deeply unpredictable as a candidate.
More than a year ago, in response to an Associated Press story detailing Walker’s turbulent past – including reportedly threatening his ex-wife and exaggerating his business successes – Josh Holmes, a longtime confidante to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, was blunt in his assessment of the situation.
And while McConnell stayed silent publicly, he was operating behind the scenes to try to maneuver Walker from his prime position in the Georgia Senate primary.
“McConnell has suggested to allies that former Georgia senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler should take another look at running again, according to three sources familiar with the matter, after their narrow losses in January flipped the Senate to Democratic control.”
But those initial doubts that led him – and one of his top political consiglieres – to be skeptical of Walker never went away. It was a classic case of, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” in action.
The Ethics and Public Policy Center is based in Washington, DC and has a fellow named Patrick T. Brown. He was a senior policy adviser to the Joint Economic Committee. Follow him on Twitter. His views are his own. View more opinion on CNN.
Most of the Republican candidates would rather change the subject or not talk about it. The last weeks of the campaign are a good time to make a more concerted effort to win over moderate voters.
Imagine a voter who is personally opposed to abortion but knows someone that got an abortion because of the economic pressures in their life. If they were to champion the expansion of safety net programs like theWIC, they would feel more comfortable voting for a candidate that would support greater abortion restrictions.
There are some Republicans who have already decided to go that way. A package of safety-net proposals was released that would increase resources available to pregnant mothers and give on-the-ground programs that give mom and baby the help they need.
Red states like Tennessee, Florida and South Carolina have opted into a federal program that provides postpartum Medicaid coverage for a year after birth, up from the previous standard of 60 days; it should be a no-brainer for every state that advances restrictions on abortion to follow suit. Texas and Indiana also passed new spending aimed at supporting low-income moms at the same time as passing restrictions on abortion, demonstrating their commitment to being pro-life both during and after pregnancy.
What was he saying when he lost? How Walker felt about the outcome of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election and how he coped with his frustrations
Voters in Georgia were asked to name their biggest concern in a recent poll, and it showed the results. The economy was the most common answer given by 40% of them. The threat to democracy was the second most common answer. It came in a distant third. Only a tiny fraction of respondents said that.
Did they dislike Biden for using an executive order to forgive billions of dollars in student loans? Walker let them know — succinctly and clearly — that he was, too. Did they think that too many progressives had contempt for the police? He registered his own upset about that.
He disciplined himself so as to make it appear as if he was going through a list of reasons Republicans should be with him, and he did it in a manner that made it seem as though he was a hapless buffoon. Was he eloquent? Please. Was he articulate? Sporadically — and that was all that was necessary to exceed the expectations for him.
He supported a Georgia law that makes various exceptions, including in the case of rape and incest, when it comes to abortion, but he didn’t say he opposed it all the time.
Previously, he had claimed that the results of the 2020 election were not trustworthy, but he said for the record that Biden won. Walker might as well have been wearing a sandwich board upon which he’d scrawled: “See? Not half as kooky as you thought I was.”
Forecasting the US Senate Race: Oz vs Fetterman, and a Dead Heat in Nevada, Wisconsin versus Wisconsin gov. Tom Nelson
A month ago, Democrats had a 7-in-10 chance of keeping the majority in the US Senate in the midterm elections, according to a forecasting model built by the wizards over at FiveThirtyEight.
The US Senate race is between Mehmet Oz and John Fetterman. Oz and Fetterman will debate for the first time in their campaign and the stakes are high for Fetterman, who almost died from a stroke days before the election.
The GOP nominee in Arizona appeared to have made up some ground on Mark Kelly. The incumbent remains the favorite in the race, but there’s no question there has been some tightening.
The Senate race in Nevada is a dead heat, with Republican candidate Adam Laxalt and Democratic candidate CatherineCortez Masto neck and neck according to the CBS News/You Gov poll.
- Democrats are beginning to point fingers in Wisconsin, where Lt. Gov Mandela Barnes has watched his lead over GOP Sen. Ron Johnson slip away over the last two months. “People are just hitting their heads against the wall. How do we let this happen?” said Tom Nelson, a Democrat who ran for the Senate nomination earlier this year.
The Ohio Senator, Charlie Dent, and the Mastriano/Shakerman-oz-Dent Scenario for Pennsylvania House Elections
All things considered, there is a reason for Republican optimism. Republican momentum is building nationally as likely voters express concerns about inflation and the economy, and Oz is well-positioned to win. Republicans are on the rise on issues related to the economy, notwithstanding candidate quality issues, and former President Donald Trump has made some comments about abortion.
There is a former congressman from Pennsylvania named Charlie Dent, who served in the House for 3 years, from 2015 to 2018, and chaired the House appropriations subcommittee on military construction, veterans affairs and related agencies. He is a CNN political commentator. The views that he expresses are his own. CNN has an opinion on it.
Pennsylvania has two statewide, open seat races, with US Sen. Pat Toomey retiring and Gov. Tom Wolf finishing the second of his two terms. It is very rare in the commonwealth.
It is not a surprise that many of the mainstream Pennsylvania Republicans, like me, feel horrified by the Mastriano candidacy and support Shapiro. If there is a massive GOP wave, it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which Shapiro does not prevail.
Shapiro has dominated the airwaves. Mastriano claimed during an interview on the Real America’s Voice network that the Children’s hospital of Philadelphia was experimenting on homeless kids and kids in foster care who were transitioning into females.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/24/opinions/pennsylvania-elections-fetterman-oz-dent/index.html
After Oz, Fetterman: The Philadelphian Pedestrian Doesn’t Host a Thing: A Memorino with Chuck Schumer
Questions have been raised about Fetterman’s capacity to perform the duties of a US senator due to auditory processing issues as a result of his stroke. All eyes will be on Fetterman, who will use closed captioning during the debate. Neurological experts have said people with auditory processing or hearing issues often use closed captioning.
Polling remains tight. Oz’s unfavorable ratings soared after he emerged from a brutal GOP primary. Republican voters have since come home to Oz.
He and his allies have been pounding Fetterman on inflation, taxes, fracking and the Green New Deal, a plan to wean the United States from fossil fuels and cut greenhouse gas emissions. Fetterman, an early supporter of US Sen. Bernie Sanders, has been attacked as a radical socialist.
With a record homicide rate in Philadelphia in 2021, Fetterman’s opponents have interpreted this “modern direction” as a mass release of convicted criminals, including pardons for convicted murderers. In fact, Republicans are contrasting Shapiro’s votes on the pardons board with Fetterman’s in an effort to capture voters like me who reject Mastriano and question Fetterman’s stance on public safety.
Fetterman has hammered Oz on the topic of abortion rights in the Philadelphia media market since the issue is so popular in the four suburban collar counties. Fetterman tried to bring Oz and all the baggage with him.
Pennsylvania also features three toss-up House races — in the Lehigh Valley, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and suburban Pittsburgh-based seats. The race between Susan Wild and Lisa Scheller is worth watching. I held it for nearly 14 years and it is an attractive swing district in the country. CNN’s John King produced an excellent report on the Lehigh Valley’s Northampton County, a key national bellwether that may determine the fate of the statewide races and control of Congress.
While Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer expressed concern over Democratic prospects in Georgia in the last few weeks before the election, he remained hopeful about Pennsylvania after seeing the debate performance of their nominee.
Schumer said that the debate between Fetterman and Oz didn’t hurt the state of Pennsylvania.
The overheard comments were made during a conversation among Schumer, President joe Biden and Kathy Hochul. Biden gave a speech in the state Thursday as part of his midterm closing message in which he painted Republicans as a threat to Americans’ pocketbooks.
The First Two Weeks of the Campaign: Picking Up Steam in Nevada and Bringing Back Up Pennsylvanians That Have Been Knocked Down
Less than two weeks out from Election Day, Democrats are fighting to hold onto their narrow majority in the 50-50 Senate, where Vice President Kamala Harris has the tie-breaking vote. Georgia, which is being defended by Democrats, and Pennsylvania, which is having the best opportunity to flip a seat, are critical to that mission.
The Democratic leader said his party was “picking up steam” in Nevada, where Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto is among the party’s most vulnerable incumbents.
Fetterman said on MSNBC that he could not afford to vote for a clown on the Supreme Court.
After the debate, most of the post-debate attention was on Fetterman’s stroke, and not Oz’s comments.
It was important for us to be there. And we showed up,” the Democrat told Reid. I got back up after getting knocked down. It is the essence of our campaign that we are trying to make sure that any Pennsylvanian that has been knocked down gets back up. And that’s really what we’re running on.”