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As just a citizen, my voice was not being heard, right? Talking to neighbors, talking to family and friends, you felt like things that you were passionate about were maybe falling on deaf ears, he said.

So he entered the race for House District 28 in Jefferson County, as a Republican.

In recent years, Colorados legislature has become increasingly diverse; the most recent session included numerous Latino and Black members, as well as Colorados first transgender lawmaker, first lawmaker to use a wheelchair and first Muslim lawmaker. Nearly all of them are Democrats. But this year a diverse slate of Republican candidates hope to change that.

The state party under chair Kristi Burton Brown has made a concerted effort to identify and encourage new types of candidates, like Montoya, to run for the statehouse.

Burton Brown, the first woman to head the Colorado GOP, said the diversity of this years candidates is a point of pride, one that kind of pushes back on the narrative that all Republicans run is old white men.

In addition to fielding candidates from different backgrounds, many are also on the younger side. Burton Brown, who is 34, said she believes that will appeal to voters looking for new ideas and new approaches.

Republican State representative Colin Larson, who is white and also in his early thirties, helped spearhead the effort to recruit candidates for this years races. He said he spent a lot of time talking to people in different communities to find out who the real local movers and shakers are. The goal, as he put it, was to avoid automatically picking the person who always shows up to the Republican mens breakfast.

We really just put an emphasis on reaching Republicans that weren't necessarily the party insiders, but were really more in tune with what was going on in the community, said Larson.

In addition to recruiting more diverse candidates for statehouse races, Republicans have the only statewide candidate of color this year on the ballot Danny Moore, who is Black. He was gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahls pickfor running mate.

At 26 years old, Jaylen Mosqueira could be the youngest member of the state legislature if he wins his House District 38 race in Denvers southern suburbs. Its one of Colorados most competitive House races this year.

Mosqueira has always been a Republican and worked as a legislative aide at the capitol. He said when he showed interest in running, the infrastructure and support were there for him to make a bid for the legislature.

I don't think it's necessarily that we are all of a sudden finding new minority voices here in Colorado to run, he said. I think they've been here and the Republican Party has made sure that we are getting those candidates and telling them it is time to step up and represent our communities and our values, our morals, the way that we know we can.

How many of this years diverse GOP candidates make it to the statehouse remains to be seen. Some are running in safely blue seats; Johnnie Johnson, who is Black and blind, is in House District 5, a downtown Denver seat where Democrats hold a 64-point advantage.

Other races wouldnt change the overall makeup at the capitol. Mosqueira is challenging incumbent Democratic Rep. David Ortiz, who is also Latino and has made accessibility a priority as the first lawmaker to use a wheelchair.

In Colorado Springs, Republican Rachel Stovall and Democrat Regina English who are both Black are competing for an open seat that leans Democratic.

I think its historic, said Stovall of her race. We have the possibility of minorities coming into these things from as many political perspectives as we have, that its not required to think the same way.

Colorado GOP Vice Chair Priscilla Rahn, who is Black and Korean American, notes that Republicans have some catching up to do when it comes to making their case to nonwhite voters.

Democrats have done a great job in recruiting and messaging, she said. We've acknowledged that as a Republican Party.

Rahn says historically Republicans have concentrated on issues, not demographics.

It hasn't been a focus. But because of that, there are communities who feel like we don't care.

However, the party nationally is taking steps to try to counter that image. Rahn points to the network of community centers the Republican National Committee is opening to reach voters of color as one of the many ways GOP candidates can hear the issues specific to people from different backgrounds.

Republicans new outreach efforts come at a time when the party is more marginalized in Colorado than it has been in decades.

Democrats have controlled both chambers of Colorados legislature for the past four years. They also hold all of the major statewide offices and both U.S. Senate seats.

To try to reverse that blue tide, Republicans this year are trying to focus much of their election messaging on the cost of living, crime and education issues voters have identified as major concerns while generally avoiding more polarizing topics like abortion and election conspiracy theories.

It's good to see that they're recognizing what we've known as Democrats for quite a long time, that representation absolutely does matter, said Lisa Calderon, the head of Emerge, a Democratic training program for female candidates that has had a lot of success and includes alumni at the statehouse.

But Calderon says both political parties need to do a better job of treating people of color as a serious voting bloc; shed like to see them interacting and engaging with these communities continuously.

Being an Afro Latina myself, were much more complex than I think either party gives us credit for, she said.

Democrat Junie Joseph, a first time House candidate in Boulder County, views the Colorado GOPs focus on broadening its pool of candidates as an act of necessity for the party to stay relevant. Joseph was born in Haiti and moved to the U.S when she was 14. She currently serves on the Boulder city council.

We have one of the most diverse countries, when youre thinking of developed nations, in the world. I highly doubt any institution will survive without diversifying itself, especially in the United States. She added that this is the countrys greatest strength and beauty.

I can understand why the Republican party wants to tap into that strength. But the thing is, it's about love of people. And I don't see that coming from the party yet, the love of people, the love of neighbor, bringing people in, they're not there yet.

For some of this years GOP candidates, though, the party offers exactly the respect they think Democrats have failed to deliver.

Just two years ago, Stephen Varela was helping to organize Democratic voter outreach to Pueblos Latino community ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

But hes since soured on the Democratic Party, feeling like it has moved too far to the left and hasnt done anything to really protect union jobs. And he said it felt like he was just viewed as the Hispanic guy in Pueblo who only got a call when the party wanted something. Varela has changed party affiliations numerous times in the past decade, the Pueblo Chieftain has reported.

People are tired of being polarized or tagged into one area, said Varela, being told that you're Hispanic or you're African American or you're Asian, so you have to be a Democrat. I don't believe that.

This year, Varela is a newly minted Republican running for state Senate in a hotly contested seat that could help determine which party controls that chamber.

For the first time I'm at the table, not because I was a union president or because I'm checking a box that I'm Hispanic, or because I'm a young Hispanic. It's more because, Hey, you have a lot to offer, he said.

The Republican Party holds a similar appeal for business consultant and attorney Tom Kim, a state Senate candidate in Arapahoe County. If Kim wins, he could be the legislatures only Asian American member, but he believes the focus of elections should be on issues, not the color of someones skin.

I'm not really a big proponent of identifying people by anything other than who they are as a person, he said.

Kims grandparents immigrated to the U.S from what is now North Korea and built a restaurant business. His father served in World War II and the Korean war. Kim is a long-time Republican; he registered in college and voted twice for President Ronald Reagan.

We were very much raised with this idea that America's the greatest country in the world and here are the values that make it so great, said Kim. It was never about our ancestry as being Korean. And I know there's lots of statistics about who's identifying with the Republican Party, but, I'm just thrilled to see all of the different perspectives that have come around the table.

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A diverse slate of Republican candidates hopes to reach the Colorado Capitol and prove the party is more than 'old white men' - Colorado Public Radio

Michigan State Universitys Board of Trustees removed a resolution from the agenda of its Friday morning meeting that would have called on companies doing business with the university to oppose the Republican-led Secure MI Vote ballot initiative.

It is understood that companies make political contributions for their own business reasons, including entities that are recipients of contracts with Michigan State University, the resolution read, in part. However, at times these contributions go to elected officials who supported voter suppression bills in 2021 and are poised to pass the Secure MI Vote initiative after the petition is certified. Therefore, these corporations are supporting voter suppression efforts, even if unintentionally.

It went on to call on the universitys politically active vendors take concrete steps to defeat the efforts to undermine our democracy.

Secure MI Vote would amend the state constitution to require a photo ID for in-person voting, eliminating the option for those without a photo ID to sign an affidavit confirming their identity. It would also require a photo ID or partial Social Security number for absentee ballot applications and bar officials from giving an absentee ballot to anyone who did not request one.

Republican Trustee Melanie Foster said the Board resolution, which was on the agenda prior to the meeting Friday morning, wasnt taken up because the Boards three Republican members didnt support it.

Board Chair Dianne Byrum, a Democrat, said in a statement that the resolution was pulled because we didnt want this to become a partisan issue.

Removing the resolution today does not take away for even a second our passion and support for equal access to the ballot by all citizens, particularly our students, and Black, Brown and working-class individuals and families, she said.

Democrats have a 5-3 majority on the Board.

Several other trustees did not respond to interview requests but brought up the issue in their remarks at the close of the meeting.

Trustee Brianna Scott said it was distressing to me that we werent able to move forward.

She made reference to a column by Nolan Finley of the Detroit News, in which he quoted Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, a Clarklake Republican, saying the resolution will cause us to immediately reevaluate the legitimacy of this university and its Board of Trustees and adding that, this is why public universities should be defunded.

Scott, a Democrat, said it was very discouraging to me that people believe its okay to withhold funding for a university based on their political views maybe being threatened and cant see outside of their own political beliefs for the greater good of a university.

I think that it is right for us to discourage people from purposefully doing anything to impede the ability of Black and brown voters to vote, she added, which is their constitutional right.

Editors note: An earlier version of this story misattributed a statement by MSU Trustee Melanie Foster.

Read more here:
MSU drops resolution asking vendors to oppose Republican-led Secure MI Vote ballot initiative - MLive.com

Democratic candidate Mana Abdi, one of two Somali Americans vying for the State House this year, will run unopposed in a competitive House district covering part of Lewiston.

This follows the unexplained withdrawal of her Republican opponent.

Republican Fred Sanborn-Sanders, who had posted on Facebook that Muslims "should not be allowed to hold public office," withdrew from the race Aug. 18, too late for the GOP to try to replace him on the ballot.

That clears the path for Abdi to become the first Somali American elected to the Maine Legislature.

Abdi, who came to the U.S. as a teenager and attended Lewiston public schools, may have some company.

South Portland Mayor Deqa Dhalac, the first Somali American mayor in the U.S., is also running for a House seat. She's facing Republican Michael James Dougherty.

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Mana Abdi is running unopposed for Maine House after Republican opponent unexpectedly withdraws - Maine Public

Updated at 4:50 p.m. ET on September 1, 2022.

Mary Peltola was declared the winner of Alaskas special congressional election last night, defeating the former GOP vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin. A Democrat hasnt held the seat in 49 years, and Peltola will be the first Alaska Native elected to Congress.

The election was the first in Alaska to utilize ranked-choice voting, a system adopted by the states voters in 2020. If no candidate reaches 50 percent support, the lowest-ranked candidate is eliminated and their votes go to the second-ranked candidate on their voters lists. This continues until one candidate has at least 50 percent. After the Republican candidate Nick Begich was eliminated in the second round of counting, Peltola ended up with about 52 percent of the vote. Ranked choice is more efficient than holding a runoff election, and its backers insist that it offers a better reflection of voters preferences.

But heres the problem: The Republican candidate didnt win, and Peltolas remarkable victory instantly sparked complaints from Republicans that the election had been rigged, echoing former President Donald Trumps rhetoric from July. Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas immediately tweeted, Ranked-choice voting is a scam to rig elections. Cotton elaborated in a second tweet that 60% of Alaska voters voted for a Republican, but thanks to a convoluted process and ballot exhaustionwhich disenfranchises votersa Democrat won. Separately, the political writer Josh Kraushaar argued that ranked-choice voting is so inscrutable to your average voter that it will only fuel the conspiracy theories that have defined elections in recent years.

Read: A step toward blowing up the presidential-voting system

This is a bit like arguing that denying a toddler ice cream for dinner will only fuel a temper tantrum, except that Republican elites who choose to announce that elections they dont win are fraudulent are adults and should be held responsible for their choices. Conspiracy theories are not being fueled; people like Cotton are fueling them.

There is nothing inherently wrong with opposing ranked-choice voting. Theres also nothing wrong with arguing that a particular set of rules is unfair, or might skew the outcome in one direction or another. People will come to different conclusions about the most fair or efficient way to run elections. Thats all a normal part of democracy. The difference here is that Alaskas system is not being evaluated on the basis of whether or not it results in a fair election, but whether it produces a GOP victory. If it does not, then the system is corrupt by definition.

For Trumpists, no system that results in a Republican defeat can be considered legitimate, a belief that manifested in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. (To Cottons credit, unlike many other ambitious conservative senators, he rejected Trumps election conspiracies then.) Before losing the California gubernatorial-recall election last year, Republicans were already announcing that the outcome had been rigged, rhetoric, as The New York Times noted at the time, that reflects a growing instinct on the right to argue that any lost election, or any ongoing race that might result in defeat, must be marred by fraud. Otherwise, how could a Democrat win an election in California?

Its amusing to hear Republicans devoted to the Electoral College argue that the person who gets the most votes should win the election, and that anything else amounts to disenfranchisement. Everyone knew the rules of this election before it was held. A majority of Alaskan voters might have preferred to support a Republican in theory, but they did not prefer Palin, the actual Republican candidate they ended up with. States are not party fiefdoms that are inherited by whatever empty suit the Republican National Committee sticks on the ballot. A majority of Alaskan voters preferred the Democrat. The fact that this could happen in a state as conservative as Alaska is really the GOPs failure.

David A. Graham: The Republican Partys irrational war on voting rights

That conservatives are embracing majoritarian arguments to argue against ranked-choice voting is nevertheless illuminating, because it shows that they believe in majoritarianism only where Republicans can expect a majority. Otherwise, they seem to believe, some sort of electoral system is necessary to properly weight the votes of conservative constituencies so that they count more than everyone elses. As the only true Americans, theyre entitled to win every election every time. Anything else is just election rigging.

This article previously misidentified the Republican candidate Nick Begich as former Democratic Senator Mark Begich of Alaska.

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Republicans Have Only Themselves to Blame for Their Alaskan Defeat - The Atlantic

Im personally pro-life, but I believe we can all come together on a policy that reflects our shared values, Ronchetti says in the ad, saying that Lujan Grisham was extreme on abortion. We can end late-term abortion, while protecting access to contraception and health care.

Ads like this are coming as Democratic groups have poured tens of millions into TV campaigns focused on abortion including making it a central theme that boosted Democratic Rep.-elect Pat Ryan to victory last week in a closely watched special election.

Ronchetti aired his ad for about two weeks in mid-July, spending $60,000 on it, according to data from the ad tracking firm AdImpact. On the day the Supreme Court issued its Dobbs decision, Ronchetti put out a statement saying he believed permitting abortion up to 15 weeks along with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother afterward was a very reasonable position that most in New Mexico will support regardless of party affiliation.

Republican Mark Ronchetti reacts with his supporters after winning the Republican primary for governor of New Mexico during an election party held at the Marriott in northeast Albuquerque, N.M., on June 7, 2022.|Chancey Bush/The Albuquerque Journal via AP

Still, Democrats continue to hammer away at him, saying he is not being honest. A recent ad from Planned Parenthood Votes says the real Ronchetti would take away a womens right to control her own body, tying him to strident anti-abortion groups like Right To Life that supported his Senate campaign last cycle, during which Ronchettis website described him as strongly pro-life and said that life should be protected at all stages.

Some other Republicans have moved to decentralize opposing abortion in other parts of their campaign. Republican Blake Masters pushed out a Twitter video last week attacking Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) as extreme on abortion for not supporting any limits, saying in the video that I support a ban on very late-term and partial-birth abortion.

But Masters own website once read that he supported a federal personhood law and declared him 100 percent pro-life lines which have since been scrubbed from his site, NBC News first reported. His campaign website, under the subhead protect babies, dont let them be killed, now reads that the Democrats lie about my views on abortion and says that Masters would support a third trimester federal abortion ban.

Masters had previously told the Arizona Republic that he believes a personhood law would provide the foundation to ban third-trimester abortions, while some proponents of that idea say it would ban all abortion. He also called Arizonas ban on abortion after 15 weeks a reasonable solution in the interview with the Republic.

Another prominent example of website-scrubbing was uncovered recently in Michigan by The Detroit News. State Sen. Tom Barrett, the GOP nominee challenging Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin in a top swing district, removed a section of his campaign site that touted his opposition to abortion.

Barrett told the Detroit News that he didnt know why the website was updated but that his position had not changed: he still supports a ban on abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest.

Still he is far from the only other candidate to tweak their online footprint.

Republican Christian Castelli removed his anti-abortion rights position from his site after winning a May primary to take on Rep. Kathy Manning (D-N.C.). In his second run against Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), Republican Tyler Kistner makes no mention of abortion access on his website though his 2020 site described him as 100% Pro-Life.

In a newly created Colorado battleground district, Republican Barb Kirkmeyer listed defending the Sanctity of Life on an issue page of her website, according to a July 5 archived version of the page. An old version also included a video of her speech at the 2022 March for Life event. Both references now appear to be gone.

Still, the issue has become so big in some Republicans campaigns that theyre cutting ads responding to Democrats on abortion. Tiffany Smiley, a Republican who is challenging Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), has put out a pair of ads over the past week emphasizing that she is pro-life but saying she wouldnt back a federal abortion ban.

As an OB-GYN triage nurse, I have seen the heartbreak and the tears. Im pro-life, but to be clear, I will oppose a federal abortion ban, Smiley says in an ad that started airing on Monday. It is past time that we stop treating pregnancy like a disease that prevents women from getting a job or a raise.

In Connecticut, Republican Bob Stefanowski, who is gearing up for a rematch with Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont after narrowly losing to him in 2018, goes one step further. In the race for governor, both Ned Lamont and Bob Stefanowski are pro-choice. The difference is on affordability, the narrator of one Stefanowski ad says, before attacking the incumbent over the economy.

And some Republicans who have not moderated on abortion have still downplayed it on the trail.

Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, the GOP gubernatorial nominee there, has championed efforts to ban abortion throughout the state, taking the most strident positions among the Republican primary field. But since then, Pennsylvania-based press has repeatedly noted that the candidate does not bring up the topic as much.

On the day Roe was overturned, Mastriano said the other side wants to distract us, adding that people in this area and in my part of the state across the border here are struggling to make ends meet and they dont care about those issues there.

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Republicans fight abortion backlash with ads and stealth website edits - POLITICO