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Michigan state Rep. Jim DeSana (R) said that some people don’t see Vice President Kamala Harris as Black, the Detroit News reports.
Said DeSana: “Well and I’m not sure that everybody perceives Kamala as authentically Black, because doesn’t she have a Jamaican father? There’s some Jamaican and Indian in there. Some Asian blood, too. Like Samoan? I don’t know.”
“House Republicans are expected to bypass mounting GOP opposition to a spending bill to keep the government running into December by using a procedural floor move that would rely heavily on Democrats to pass the legislation and avoid a government shutdown,” CNN reports.
“The House Rules Committee stripped the government spending bill from consideration Monday night, forcing House GOP leadership to tee up the spending bill under a procedure known as suspension of the rules, which requires a two-thirds majority vote to pass.”
“Relying on Democrats to overcome their narrow, divided majority and keep the government open has been a regular occurrence for Republicans this Congress, and was the exact maneuver that got former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy ousted from his job.”
Senate Republicans are privately telling their biggest donors the Montana Senate race is nearly in the bag and Ohio is heading their way, Axios reports.
“Federal prosecutors investigating whether Mayor Eric Adams conspired with the Turkish government to funnel illegal foreign donations into his campaign have recently sought information about interactions with five other countries,“ the New York Times reports.
“The demand for information related to the other countries — Israel, China, Qatar, South Korea and Uzbekistan — was made in expansive grand jury subpoenas issued in July to City Hall, the mayor and his campaign, the people said. The prosecutors’ focus on the other five countries has not been previously reported.”
“The full scope of the inquiry into the mayor is not publicly known, and it remains unclear why investigators were seeking information about the additional countries or whether Mr. Adams has had dealings with them.”
Ohio U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno (R) questioned why a certain group of women would be concerned about abortion during an event in the state, WCMH reports.
Said Moreno: “You know, the left has a lot of single issue voters. Sadly, by the way, there’s a lot of suburban women, a lot of suburban women that are like, ‘Listen, abortion is it. If I can’t have an abortion in this country whenever I want, I will vote for anybody else.’ … OK. It’s a little crazy by the way, but — especially for women that are like past 50 — I’m thinking to myself, ‘I don’t think that’s an issue for you.’”
“Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp withdrew his support Monday from beleaguered North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who was linked in a CNN report to a series of inflammatory comments on a pornographic website,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
“Larry Hogan just got some major reinforcements in his uphill Senate bid in the deep-blue state of Maryland,” Politico reports.
“Maryland’s Future, a super PAC created to aid Hogan, placed $18.2 million worth of ad buys so far this week, with ads set to begin airing on Tuesday… Republicans are now outspending Democrats in the state by a more than two-to-one margin.”
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) indicated that he will not vote for North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R) for governor, The Hill reports.
Bozeman Daily Chronicle: “Election officials were notified of the error shortly after the Electronic Absentee System that allows certain voters to cast their ballot electronically went live on Friday at 8 a.m., according to the Montana Secretary of State’s Office which reported that the error was isolated to the online system.”
“Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is withdrawing his support for embattled North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, reversing a previous endorsement for his gubernatorial bid, following reporting on the salacious and racist remarks Robinson is accused of making on pornographic websites prior to his political career,” the Tennessean reports.
“Campaign officials are weighing a potential visit by Vice President Kamala Harris to the US-Mexico border while in Arizona on Friday as the campaign tries to close the gap with former President Donald Trump on the issue of immigration,” CNN reports.
“The political network largely funded by billionaire industrialist Charles Koch has been quietly touting North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson for his policy positions despite a litany of controversies,” according to records uncovered by CNBC.
“The Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity ran digital advertisements supporting Robinson as recently as this month. It’s also funded pro-Robinson door knocking, launched a website that encouraged voters to thank him for his work as lieutenant governor, interviewed him on a podcast and hosted him for an April event featuring Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC).
Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) “gave part-time jobs to both his lover and his fiancée’s daughter, in possible violation of House ethics rules,” the New York Times reports.
“Top Republican leaders in North Carolina have called on Mark Robinson to provide proof that he wasn’t behind salacious posts on a pornography website — but new information continues to point to his involvement in the type of online sexual activity he denies,” Politico reports.
“User data… shows that the person using the ‘Nude Africa’ account that reportedly belonged to Robinson had accessed the porn website from a location not far from Robinson’s home. Robinson’s email address is also registered with other previously unreported dating websites.”
A defiant Mark Robinson (R) said today he is suing CNN over a story that linked the North Carolina gubernatorial candidate to racist and lewd posts on a porn site message board.
Said Robinson: “We’re going after them for what they’ve done!”
Mother Jones: “In their place, a group of young pastors hope to spearhead a Christian nationalist glow-up as they eagerly await a ‘Christian prince’ to rule America. These often bearded thirty- and fortysomethings have suits that actually fit. They are extremely online, constantly posting on myriad platforms, broadcasting their YouTube shows from mancaves, and convening an endless stream of conferences for likeminded followers. Let’s call them, as one scholar I spoke with did, the TheoBros.”
“For all their youthful modishness, this group is actually more conservative than their older counterparts. Many TheoBros, for example, don’t think women belong in the pulpit or the voting booth—and even want to repeal the 19th Amendment. For some, prison reform would involve replacing incarceration with public flogging. Unlike more mainstream Christian nationalists, like House Speaker Mike Johnson, who are obsessed with the US Constitution, many TheoBros believe that the Constitution is dead and that we should be governed by the Ten Commandments.”
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R) “rejected multiple offers from supporters to connect him with information technology specialists to help the Republican gubernatorial nominee investigate racist and lewd comments on a pornographic website made by someone with a username that CNN tied to Robinson,” WRAL reports.
“Robinson’s alleged rejection of the offers sowed doubt among some staff members… His response in the wake of the report likely played a role in the exodus of some staff members.”
With news that Nebraska is unlikely to change the way it allocates its electoral votes, our interactive map now shows Kamala Harris with 226 likely electoral votes and Donald Trump with 219 likely electoral votes.
There are seven states with 93 electoral votes that are still considered Toss Ups.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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