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NEW YORK In Donald Trumps assessment, Mike Pence committed political suicide on Jan. 6, 2021.

By refusing to go along with the then-presidents unconstitutional push to overturn the results of the 2020 election, Pence became a leading target of Trumps wrath and a pariah in many Republican circles.

But the final weeks of this years intensely competitive midterm elections suggest that the former vice presidents fortunes have shifted as he lays the groundwork for his own potential 2024 White House campaign. The man who was booed last year at a conservative conference is now an in-demand draw for Republican candidates, including some who spent their primaries obsessively courting Trumps endorsement, in part by parroting his election lies.

Pence has traveled the country, holding events and raising millions for candidates and Republican groups, including signing fundraising solicitations for party committees.

For some campaigns in tight races, Pence is seen as something of a neutralizing agent who can help broaden their appeal beyond Trumps core base of support. Thats the case in Arizona, with a critical Senate race this year and where the 2024 presidential campaign will be hotly contested. Last week, Pence endorsed Senate nominee Blake Masters, who has struggled to pivot from the primary and win over moderates in a state where one-third of voters are registered independents.

He takes a little bit of the edge off Masters with a lot of voters, veteran GOP strategist Scott Reed said. You know Masters is new to this, first-time candidate, said some silly things he probably regrets during the campaign. But now its all about undecided voters in Maricopa County. Theres not a lot more science behind this.

The endorsements can seem jarring given that Pence has spent much of the past year pushing back on Trumps election lies, which spurred the violent mob that descended on the Capitol on Jan. 6 while Pence was trying to preside over the formal congressional certification of Joe Bidens election victory. Pence and members of his family had to be rushed to safety and were held for hours in an underground loading dock as the marauders roamed the buildings hallways. Some rioters chanted Hang Mike Pence! and erected a makeshift gallows outside.

Pence agreed to endorse Masters even though Masters, during the primary, baselessly denied the 2020 election results. Masters recorded a video in which he said he thought Trump had won and claimed on his website that if we had had a free and fair election, President Trump would be sitting in the Oval Office today. Trump endorsed Masters in June, saying in a statement: Blake knows that the Crime of the Century took place, he will expose it and also, never let it happen again.

Pence made no mention of that in Phoenix on Tuesday.

What I came here to Arizona to say is not only is Blake Masters the right choice for the United States Senate, the people of Arizona deserve to know Blake Masters may be the difference between a Democrat majority in the Senate and a Republican majority in the Senate, Pence said.

The former vice president, along with Masters and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, took just three questions, two of them from conservative websites. When a television reporter tried to ask Masters if Pence was right to move forward with certifying Bidens victory, the candidate was quickly cut off by a Masters spokesman.

Masters is not the only election denier Pence has endorsed or assisted.

Two days after the Masters event, Pence was in Georgia headlining a fundraiser for Burt Jones, the nominee for lieutenant governor. Jones not only embraced Trumps claims of widespread election fraud and called for a statewide investigation into the 2020 race, but he also signed on to be one of his states fake alternate electors a scheme now under criminal investigation.

Last month, Pence was in New Hampshire for Senate nominee Don Bolduc, a retired Army general who also spent his primary campaign telling voters the race was stolen from Trump.

Marc Short, a longtime Pence adviser, declined to set a red line for candidates Pence would and would not endorse.

Its more about making sure that hes being a team player where he needs to be, Short said. I think as a lot of these candidates look to solidify the party behind them, Pence can be helpful.

There is no evidence of any widespread fraud or manipulation of voting machines in the 2020 election, underscored by repeated audits, court cases and the conclusions of Trumps own Department of Justice. Still, support of false election claims run deep among GOP candidates this year.

The Masters endorsement notably came days after a debate in which he made headlines for seeming to have shifted from his most outrageous rigged election claims. Masters instead blamed Trumps loss on big tech, big media and the FBI, and under repeated questioning, acknowledged he hadnt seen evidence the vote count or results were manipulated, as Trump has claimed. (After the Pence visit, Masters told Fox News he stood by what he had said on his now-modified website, adding: I think if everyone followed the law, President Trump would be in the Oval Office.)

Short said Pence was happy to support candidates who had moved past 2020, as the former vice president has urged the party to do.

If people sort of acknowledged a mistaken position before, he certainly wants to reward that, Short said. I think he wants to help conservatives first and foremost, but if people who were elected are now adopting new position about the events of Jan. 6, Short said, then thats a positive.

Jones and Bolduc have also tried to distance themselves from their previous statements.

In interviews, Jones has tried to play down the fake elector slate as a procedural move, while noting that voters rarely mention the 2020 race.

Look hes been consistent that he does not believe the 2020 election was rigged. He said that Joe Biden is president, said Jones campaign spokesman Stephen Lawson, who noted that Pence and Jones have a long-standing relationship and, like Masters, share former Pence staff.

For us, it was sort of a no-brainer because the vice presidents still very well liked in Georgia, very well received. And were in that final stretch where any Republican coming to raise money, support, is a value add, he said.

I think its certainly a nod to more mainstream kind of moderate Republicans. I think thats a fair assessment, he said.

Bolduc claimed throughout the primary race that the 2020 election had been stolen. During a debate, he proclaimed that Trump won the election, and damn it, I stand by and adding, Im not switching horses, baby.

But right after the GOP primary and a day after appearing with Pence he told Fox News it was time to move on. You know, we live and learn, right? And Ive done a lot of research on this and Ive spent the past couple of weeks talking to Granite Staters all over the state from every party. And I have come to the conclusion, and I want to be definitive on this: The election was not stolen, Bolduc said. He described Biden as the legitimate president of this country.

(Earlier this month Bolduc changed his position again, saying he wasnt sure what happened with the election. I cant say that it was stolen or not. I dont have enough information.)

Reed, the party strategist, said he understood the rationale behind Pences endorsements.

Hes a big picture party guy. And it doesnt surprised me that hes hustling as hard as he is for people who may not be 100% Pencers, he said. By doing these kinds of events, he added, theyre going to take another look at him if he decides to run.

Pences political future is an open question. Trump, who is widely expected to run again, remains deeply popular with Republican primary voters and would almost certainly be an early front-runner for the 2024 nomination. Pence has said his own decision about running will not be influenced by Trump, though allies often voice skepticism that Trump ultimately will end up on the ballot.

Beyond his endorsements, Pence has spent his time since leaving office performing a careful balancing act. He has distanced himself from Trumps most corrosive statements while promoting what he calls the Trump-Pence agenda. Pence, like generations of could-be candidates, has used the primaries as an opportunity to forge new relationships and build goodwill, and continues to align himself with conservative causes. His trips often include college visits and speeches before anti-abortion groups.

Other potential 2024 candidates have campaigned for the Republican cause, including Texas Sen. Ted Cuz, who is on a monthlong, 17-state Take Back America bus tour. Trump has held rallies and finally begun spending a small part of his vast political fortune to help his favored candidates.

I think he and all these guys are out there really helping the Republicans to win back the House and win back the Senate. Its an effort that everybody needs to contribute to, said David McIntosh, president of the influential Club for Growth, who has joined Pence at several events.

McIntosh, who has been at odds with Trump in recent months, said he believes the electorate is moving on from 2020 to whats on the ballot this election. He said candidates such as Masters want to show that theyve got support from all different types of Republicans, everyone thats out there, so theres a unity theme.

Its always been my view, he added, that leaders like that help themselves by helping.

But being popular enough that candidates want to campaign with you is very different from being popular enough to be competitive in a presidential primary, and right now, Pence routinely polls in the single digits, far lower than Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Around here people talk about DeSantis and Trump, said Georgia GOP strategist Brian Robinson, adding that attention is largely focused on the Nov. 8 midterms.

Pences policy group recently held a retreat in Utah at the Montage Deer Valley that was attended by GOP donors such as Matthew J. Bruderman, a New York investor who praised Pences election-year efforts.

Hes been extremely effective and deserves credit for continuing to help elect people who he believes will help advance conservative principles, Bruderman said by email, adding that he would support him or any fiscal conservative of courage and character that wins the nomination in 2024.

Art Pope, another donor who attended the retreat, said he personally would love to see Vice President Pence run in 2024.

Yes there are frictions and there are divisions in the GOP, he said, but the party is uniting behind its nominees now that primaries are over.

Vice President Pence is both benefiting for that unity and helping lead that unification, he said.

___

Associated Press writer Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.

Alabama and national politics.

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Republican hopefuls turn to Mike Pence to broaden appeal before mid-term election - AL.com

Gov. Ned Lamont said Friday that Republican Bob Stefanowskis consulting for Neom, a company founded by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, calls into question his opponents fitness and independence.

Lamonts comments were the first since Stefanowski confirmed Wednesday that he had been concealing his employment by Neom, a client of a consulting practice that has allowed him to largely self-fund his campaign for governor.

I can see why somebody running for office wanted to hide that from the public, Lamont said. I think it raises some real questions about his judgment and his independence.

Responding to reporting by Hearst Connecticut, Stefanowski acknowledged approaching the Saudis in late 2018, not long after Saudi agents killed Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist critical of the regime.

I think signing the deal with the Saudis, right after the assassination of Khashoggi raises questions about judgment, Lamont said.

At the time, Stefanowski had just lost his first race for governor and was looking for consulting work. He began working for Neom in 2019 as the CIA concluded that Khashoggis death was most likely was ordered by the crown prince.

On Friday, interviewed after a late-afternoon campaign stop at at turkey farm in Sterling, Stefanowski declined to directly respond to Lamonts attacks on his judgment or independence.

Gov. Lamont is no one to question my judgment, Stefanowski said.

He repeated his criticisms of Lamont for the state contracting with Sema4, a company in which a venture capital firm co-founded by First Lady Annie Lamont had invested.

But the Saudi disclosure flipped the script on a Stefanowski line of attack in 2022 that Lamont and his wife were not fully transparent in their finances.

Stefanowski said only after being approached by Hearst Connecticut did he seek permission from Neom to confirm they were a client. He said he had been bound by a non-disclosure agreement.

The reason I disclosed it was because it was made public by another means, he said. I have to put my clients first. And I wasnt going to disclose. I wasnt going to break my NDA.

He offered no explanation of how the mere disclosure they were a client would have jeopardized any portion of Neom, a project that the crown prince announced in 2017 to global fanfare.

Its not my determination to make. I put my clients first, he said.

The Lamonts say they have disclosed all sources of their income in their annual Statements of Financial Interest, as required by the state ethics code. Their filings are public.

In addition, they have disclosed the identities of companies in which Annie Lamonts company, Oak HC/FT, is invested, whether or not those investments have produced income for the Lamonts.

On that list is Sema4, one of four companies that won fast-track, no-bid contracts to provide COVID-19 testing in the earliest months of the pandemic.

The Lamonts say they have derived no income from Sema4, whose value has tanked. From a peak of nearly $26 a share in February 2021, it closed Friday at 86 cents.

Stefanowski acknowledged he was still working for Neom and traveling to Saudi Arabia earlier this year. He says has reduced his work by 98%, without saying if his Neom income also has fallen by 98%.

It sounds like Bob is still on the payroll. At the same time, hes a candidate for public office, Lamont said. So Im not quite sure if hes really working it right now or not. I think hes campaigning pretty much full time. But it does lead to questions. The Saudis are trying to get involved in our political process far and wide. So thats why I think let things settle out. But those are the questions I have.

Lamont said Stefanowski was hiding his ties to the Saudis, who recently have cut oil production to force higher prices, while the Republican was faulting Democrats for higher gas prices.

Until Wednesday, Stefanowski had not disclosed any sources of the income he earned through his consulting firm, Lolo. Last month, Stefanowski released summary pages of the $36.8 million he and his wife reported earning in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

His consulting practice produced sharply higher income than the millions he reported earning in 2016 and 2017, the last years as chief executive officer of DFC Global, a payday loan company. His income then was $6.9 million and $9.7 million.

On Friday, Stefanowski suggested Lamont was somehow tainted by Neom due to the reported interest in investing in Neom by Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates.

If the governor is going to say anything negative about me to this, hes got to speak to the fact that he took $100 million from Ray Dalio, Stefanowski said.

Stefanowski was referring to $100 million that Dalios family charity had pledged to the state, not Lamont, in a partnership to serve disaffected youth. The partnership was dissolved before going forward, and the Dalio family is pursuing its goals through private philanthropy.

In April, Lamont released his summaries of his tax returns showing an adjusted gross income that averaged $8.65 million a year in 2018, 2019 and 2020. He did not release 2021 taxes, for which he had sought an extension.

Ive now disclosed everything, Stefanowski said. Ive disclosed my 2021 taxes. Ive started to disclose major disclosures on clients.

Lamont, whose deadline for filing was Oct. 15, is expected to release the 2021 summaries.

Both Lamont and Stefanowski are largely self-funding their campaigns.

Reports filed late Tuesday night for the three-month period ending Sept. 30 showedthe Democratic governor and Republican challenger spending at a record pace: $14.8 million by Lamonts campaign and $9.2 million by Stefanowskis.

While the governors tax returns showed ample investment income to pay for his campaign, Stefanowski said Lamont should say what assets, if any, he sold to finance his reelection.

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Lamont, Stefanowski joust over the Republican's work for Saudis - The Connecticut Mirror

The election is only a couple weeks away, and the racist messages that have become a tradition in Republican election campaigns are reaching a crescendo right on cue.

On the national stage, we have Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville explicitly equating descendants of slaves with criminals and saying Democrats are pro-crime.

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson has attacked his Black opponent, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, for his support for ending cash bail, calling him a dangerous Democrat and darkening his skin for emphasis in campaign materials.

Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, meanwhile, embraced racist White supremacist rhetoric on the campaign trail, saying 5 million illegal aliens are on the verge of replacing you .

Here in Colorado, Republican Heidi Ganahl hammered Gov. Jared Polis in a recent debate on the issue of crime, calling herself a law-and-order girl, and insisting that Polis will prioritize criminals over victims.

Rep. Lauren Boebert continues to babble on about the dangers of allowing immigrants into the country after burnishing her racist Republican bona fides last year by characterizing her colleague, Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, as a terrorist.

And Rep. Doug Lamborn called people of color gullible for believing that Republican efforts to undermine the Voting Rights Act constitute voter suppression.

At the same time, Lamborn and way too many of his Republican buddies vilify as woke efforts to create respect across racial and gender differences in such places as schools, corporations, workplaces and, specifically, the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Cmon, Doug. We all know the whole anti-woke campaign is just another dog whistle.

The term woke goes back to the 1940s. It was used in the Black community to describe people who were aware of the racial prejudice and injustice in our culture.

In the 1960s, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of the great challenge to remain awake throughout the revolution of the Civil Rights Movement.

In the weeks, months and years after the murder of George Floyd, demonstrators worried that the injustices that had come so much to the fore would recede from public attention and once again be ignored. Millions around the world were awakened to systemic racism by that horrific crime.

Stay woke became a mantra in the Black Lives Matter movement.

Given our history, we all should have realized that a vicious backlash to the awakening to injustice would follow, demonizing anyone who would seek racial and gender justice and equity.

Woke, a term that for generations was associated with the struggle for civil rights, was transformed into a profane epithet.

Guys like Lamborn wielded it as a cudgel to humiliate anyone who might seek to cultivate an atmosphere of inclusiveness and decency in public life.

In their pugilistic white world, to be woke is to be weak.

In a letter to the superintendent of the Air Force Academy, Lamborn ridiculed diversity training as woke and said, the purpose of your institution is to make our future Airmen and Guardians more lethal, not more politically correct.

Given the history of the term woke and its prominence in the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in recent years, you cant help but wonder if he wants cops to be more lethal and less woke, too.

Lamborns choice of words was either shockingly ignorant or stunningly revealing.

As the election nears and the campaigns descend into classic deceptive Willy Horton-style negative ads, there is one thing voters still have the power to do see them for what they are and reject those on the ballot who employ them.

One of the most ruthless and successful practitioners of racist attack ads from the 1980s, Republican political consultant Lee Atwater, ultimately called his campaign for George H.W. Bush against Michael Dukakis naked cruelty.

He told the New York Times, While I didnt invent negative politics, I am one of its most ardent practitioners.

When he was dying of brain cancer, Atwater publicly expressed regret for his racist attacks, saying that at heart he wasnt a racist even though he knew full well his tactics were exactly that.

Some nights I cant go to sleep, so fearful am I that I will never wake up again, he said prophetically before he died an anti-racist racist at the age of 40.

Win or lose, one things for sure: truth finds a way to get the last word. Atwaters cynically successful career and his sad and bitter end say it all.

Karmas um a witch.

Diane Carman is a Denver communications consultant.

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Carman: When Republicans talk about crime, the real message of bigotry comes through loud and clear - The Colorado Sun

Peggy Hubbard was a 2022 candidate for the GOP nomination to challenge Sen. Tammy Duckworth, and gaslighter of the highest degree.

Welcome to what is the 1146th original profile here at Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day, where were profiling Peggy Hubbard, who was a 2022 candidate for U.S. Senate in Illinois, hoping to be the Republican that could end the career of Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth. While Duckworth proudly and honorably served our country, and still does as a public servant, Hubbard is not as inspring, being just a shill for the NRA and other pro-gun groups who started promoting Donald Trumps Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him, and in the days before the attack on the Capitol, hyping Jan 6th as a the fight to take the Constitution directly to the establishiment. Yes, she was present at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021 when Trumps failed coup attempt took place, so she should be aware of what happened there yet proving that shes not exactly grounded in reality, after the attack, shes tried pretending the attack on the Capitol wasnt that violent at all, comparing the attack by domestic terrorists present as a party at Showbiz Pizza.

Peggy Hubbard finished a far-too-high second out of a possible seven Republicans running for her partys nomination, and we suspect that wont be her only run for office, barring sedition charges.

One Year Ago, October 16th, 2021: Matthew Morris (DE) Two Years Ago, October 16th, 2020: John James (MI) 2020 UpdateThree Years Ago, October 16th, 2019: John James (MI) Original ProfileFour Years Ago, October 16th, 2018: Raul Labrador (ID) 2018 UpdateFive Years Ago, October 16th, 2017: Raul Labrador (ID) 2017 UpdateSix Years Ago, October 16th, 2016: Raul Labrador (ID) 2016 UpdateSeven Years Ago, October 16th, 2015: Raul Labrador (ID) Original ProfileEight Years Ago, October 16th, 2014: Scott Lively (MA)

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Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day: Peggy Hubbard - Daily Kos

Utah Senate hopefulEvan McMullin(I) said on Sunday that he would refuse to caucus with either party if elected to the upper chamber.

I will not caucus withDemocrats or Republicans.Im going to maintain myindependence, because I thinkour country needs that,certainly our state needs that, McMullin said on NBCs Meet the Press.

I have made that commitment, forparty bosses and others inWashington, theyre going tohave to figure out what it meansfor them.That is what Im going to do, he added.

McMullin is vying to unseat Trump-endorsed incumbent Sen.Mike Lee(R) to represent Utah in the Senate. McMullin, a former Republican, also lodged an independent bid for the presidency in 2016.

He argued on Sunday that independents have more latitude and influence in Congress.

Weve seen well enough that thesenators in the chamber who arewilling to act with greaterindependence, serving theirconstituents, standing up toparty bosses, they have the mostinfluence in the chamber, McMullin said.

Recent polling has shown Lee holding a slight lead in a tight race with less than a month to go before the midterms.

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McMullin: I will not caucus with Democrats or Republicans - The Hill