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Allan Fung, a Republican House candidate in Rhode Island, is positioning himself to benefit from a red wave nationally that could wash over even the deep blue Ocean State.

Congressional Democrats have long weathered red waves in Rhode Island, which in 2020 voted 59% for President Joe Biden to 39% for former President Donald Trump. But the surprise announcement in January by 21-year congressional Democratic veteran Rep. Jim Langevin that he will retire from the states lighter blue of its two districts, in a fraught year for Democrats, has given the GOP a pickup opportunity.

The 2nd Congressional District covers southern and western Rhode Island. House Republicans need to net five seats in the 435-member chamber to reclaim the majority the party lost in 2018.

Fung brings to the race ample name recognition from his 2009-2021 tenure as mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island's second-largest city, and a reputation for governing as a centrist.

TOP RHODE ISLAND REPUBLICAN ENTERS RACE THAT COULD FLIP CONGRESSIONAL SEAT

'Im not running to be hyperpartisan in this election or bring even more hyperpartisanship to Washington, D.C., Fung told the Washington Examiner. I want to be a voice of moderation, just like I've been in Cranston, addressing the problems that are really hitting us in our wallets and pocketbooks.

Fung, who ran unsuccessfully for Rhode Island governor in 2014 and 2018, does not have the Republican nomination to himself. He'll face former state Rep. Bob Lancia, who ran unsuccessfully in 2020 against Langevin for the 2nd Congressional District seat. Redistricting made minimal changes to apportionment in the state.

Fung is likely the most electable Republican candidate in a state that still favors Democrats.

The thing that he offers is, he offers a respectable, middle-of-the-road Republican alternative, Maureen Moakley, political science professor emeritus at the University of Rhode Island, told the Washington Examiner. It's an uphill battle, but it's not out of the realm of possibility.

The last Republican to represent the district was former Rep. Claudine Schneider, from 1981-1991. Lincoln Chafee was the last Republican the state sent to Washington. He was a senator for seven-plus years but was ousted by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) in the 2006 Democratic wave. Chafee was subsequently elected governor as an independent and then became a Democrat.

Moakley believes Democrats risk losing the seat if they move too far left. Polling indicates that General Treasurer of Rhode Island Seth Magaziner is the clear front-runner in the Democratic primary, which takes place on Sept. 13 along with the Republican contest. Magaziner is a battle-tested politician who handily won two statewide elections to become treasurer.

Fung lost both of his statewide bids for governor to Democrat Gina Raimondo, which took place the same years as Magaziners victories. Fung is hoping to learn from that experience and emphasized that he did extremely well in the 2nd District during those elections.

As a candidate, Fung has staked out centrist positions on some key issues. He has expressed opposition to late-term abortions but also total bans and has sought to paint himself as a consensus-builder, highlighting his cooperation with Democrats when they controlled the Cranston City Council.

RHODE ISLAND REPUBLICAN DROPS CONGRESSIONAL BID, CLEARING WAY FOR FUNG

Ironically, Fung began his political career as a Democrat. He had been a member of the College Democrats of America and approached the party about running for a seat on the Cranston City Council in 2002 at the age of 32. But the party rebuffed him, informing him that they did not have a slot for him.

Fung was distraught with the way his hometown Cranston was being managed. The city had a rapidly deteriorating financial outlook at the time, with Fitch Ratings downgrading its credit rating. Fung was eager to attain a seat on the council to help right the ship. After being cast aside by the Democrats, he had coffee with Randy Valenti, a Republican Party official who talked Fung into running for the council as a Republican.

I've always been, you know, fiscally conservative, especially coming from a small business background, Fung said. A lot of those principles is what Randy and I shared. We had a good discussion, and thats what I see in what I delivered during my time as mayor.

Fung went on to win that race, planting the seeds for his rise to mayor in the 2008 election. As mayor, Fung took aim at the citys fiscal woes, addressing pension funding and other politically dicey issues. By 2016, the city had made the Wall Street Journals list of Americas 50 Best Cities to Live for the third time in a row.

Now, he sees a similar situation with the countrys fiscal picture and hopes to help tackle the unbridled inflation and surging energy prices stinging the nation.

I see a lot of similar fiscal problems facing this crisis, with a lot of policies that have been put in place by not only the Biden administration but by the Pelosi Congress, Fung said. With the basic cost of living crisis, where we're paying skyrocketing gas prices, home heating oil prices, groceries, and theres even labor shortages.

Fung is also concerned about elevated crime, particularly in urban regions of the country. When he visits friends in New York City, he refrains from using the subway due to concerns over anti-Asian violence in the city and opts for an Uber instead.

It's an eerie feeling. You know, when you're there. It's a different feeling, and I'm more cautious and guarded because of what is still happening in some of our urban areas, Fung said. I think it's a lot of these crazy, extreme progressive policies where they're focusing on defund the police. I will always do what's right to make sure that there's the proper investments in our law enforcement.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Magaziner has swiped at Fung over a photo of him wearing a winter beanie at Trump's inauguration in 2017. The image has haunted him, as the former president remains deeply unpopular in the state. Fung has sought to steer clear of political food fights with the former president but has not been an ardent supporter of him publicly either.

He is putting that out there because he wants to distract from the real issues that are on the minds of people, Fung said. I have not heard of any sound solutions to really help many of our residents, and that's why he wants to roll, you know, that old photo out.

Magaziner raised roughly $1.4 million during the first quarter of 2022, dwarfing Fungs $502,000, per the Providence Journal. If Fung is able to pull off an upset victory, it would mirror his wife Barbara Ann Fenton-Fungs 2020 triumph, in which she ousted Democratic Speaker Nick Mattiello in a state House race. It was the first time a sitting speaker of the General Assembly had suffered an electoral defeat in over 114 years.

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Rhode Island GOP House hopeful Fung sees Republican wave hitting the Ocean State - Washington Examiner

Detroit Today

On his way out of office, former President Trump helped inspire a political coup. Nearly 70% of Republican voters still believe the big lie that Trump espoused, declaring that Democrats did not actually win the 2020 presidential election.

But lying was not unusual it marked the Trump presidency. More than 30,000 lies espoused by the former president have been proven false, yet Trumps base still holds strong and Michigan is a great example.

Kristina Karamo recently won the GOP nomination for secretary of state, but was largely unheard of outside Oakland County until Trumps endorsement. Now, many moderate Republicans and Americans are wondering if there anything that can break Trumps hold on the Republican Party.

As these people run to the right or run Trump-ward, how are they going to try and pivot back in a way thats never had to happen before? Gunner Ramer, political director for Republicans for the Rule of Law

Guests

Gunner Ramer is the political director for Republicans for the Rule of Law, a national nonprofit. His colleague, Sarah Longwell, recently wrote, Trump supporters explain why they believe the big lie, for The Atlantic.

Ramer says his nonprofit frequently conducts focus groups with Trump voters, and that not only do most Republicans still believe the election was stolen, they want Trump to run again.

They say they like his policies, but we push them on it and the main response is, we like the America first agenda, Ramer says.

Shikha Dalmia is a visiting fellow with George Mason Universitys Mercatus Center, where she started a new program to study and resist the rise of right-wing populist authoritarianism around the world. She further explores this topic on her Substack, The Unpopulist.

Dalmia says a lot of Republicans are trying to out-Trump, Trump.

What we are witnessing right now, says Dalmia, is a movement of right-wing populism thats very much focused on the other the foreigner they are the ones being scapegoated.

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Trump has a grip on the Republican Party can it be broken? WDET 101.9 FM - WDET

The Republican governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, has admitted that an anti-abortion trigger law that he signed on to the books would lead to heartbreaking circumstances if Roe v Wade is overturned, in which girls as young as 11 who became pregnant through rape or incest would be forced to give birth.

Hutchinsons remarks give a revealing insight into the twisted human and political quandaries that are certain to arise should the US supreme court, as expected, destroy the constitutional right to an abortion enshrined in Roe v Wade when it issues its ruling next month. The governor told CNNs State of the Union on Sunday that in 2019 he had signed the Arkansas trigger law, Senate Bill 6, which would ban almost all abortions the instant Roe were reversed, even though he disagreed with its lack of exceptions for incest and rape.

Asked why he had put his signature on the law, despite the fact that it would prohibit all abortions other than in cases where a pregnant womans life were in imminent danger, he said: I support the exceptions of rape and incest I believe that should have been added; it did not have the support of the assembly.

Under intense questioning from the CNN host Dana Bash, the governor was asked why an 11- or 12-year-old girl who is impregnated by her father, or uncle or another family member be forced to carry that child to term?

He replied: I agree with you. Ive had to deal with that particular circumstance even as governor. While its still life in the womb, life of the unborn, the conception was in criminal circumstances either incest or rape and so those are two exceptions I think are very appropriate.

He added that if the supreme court does throw out the constitutional right to an abortion, then these are going to become very real circumstances. The debate and discussion will continue, and that could very well be revisited.

But Bash pressed Hutchinson on what would happen if the absence of rape and incest exceptions cannot be revisited in the law that he had personally approved, pointing out that his term as governor comes to an end in January. If you cant change [the trigger law], that means girls who are still children, 11- and 12-year-olds, might be in that situation in a very real way in just a couple of months, Bash said.

Those are heartbreaking circumstances, Hutchinson replied. When we passed these trigger laws we were trying to reduce abortions, but whenever you see that real-life circumstances like that the debate is going to continue and the will of the people may or may not change.

A report by the Guardian this month found that at least 11 US states have passed laws that ban abortions without any exceptions for rape or incest. Such trigger laws are legally written in such a way that they would come into effect the second that the constitutional right to an abortion embodied in Roe were overturned.

Earlier this month, a draft majority opinion of the supreme court written by Justice Samuel Alito was leaked to Politico. With the apparent backing of five of the six conservative justices on the nine-member court, it would eradicate federal abortion rights in the most aggressive terms.

The court has insisted that the draft is not final and that changes to its wording or outcome are still possible. But the country on both sides of the abortion divide is bracing now for Roe to be undone and power over womens reproductive choices to be handed to individual states like Arkansas.

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Arkansas Republican admits abortion trigger law would cause heartbreak if Roe is reversed - The Guardian US

Wirt Yerger, Jr. died May 2nd at 92. He founded the current Republican Party out of whole cloth beginning in the fifties. Back in the same period, I asked a prominent Sage in Greenville why we werent Republicans? He explained that the Republican Party at that time was controlled by a black attorney from Mound Bayou who lived and practiced in Washington. Perry Howard chose the convention delegates and what patronage there was.

It was a competition between the termed black and tans and the lily whites. This is just an indication of the political climate at that time. For example, in 1948, the Deweys forces paid Perry Howard $1,500 for the Mississippi votes. The bag man on the way from New York to Washington died on the train while he was trying to deliver the money.

The bag mans widow claimed the money and they had to pay twice. This story was confirmed to me by Lynn Hall the chairman of the Republican Party and by John Osborne a prominent reporter for the New Republic. In the late 1960s, Wirts good friend and mine Charles Blum slated to become the next Mississippi chairman.

He had a family problem that caused him to withdraw. Wirt turned to me and said you would take it if we cannot find anyone and the rest is history. I became state chairman in 1966. Wirt doggedly pursued what had to be done. For example, I met Wirt at his brother Swans wedding. He soon named me county chairman without anyones permission. Election was to come later.

The process of building a party was far more complex than this. He pushed to get every county in the state organized. There were miles to go but we were on a trajectory. By 1964, the Goldwater National Convention, the south and the conservative were clearly becoming the majority. Mississippi was on its way to become a majority Republican State. Rest in peace, Wirt.

Clarke Reed lives in Greenville, Mississippi. He is a former chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party.

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Opinion: Wirt Yerger built the state's Republican party - Northside Sun

MINOT, N.D. Jeffrey Powell is an administrator at Mayville State University and the Democratic-NPL candidate for secretary of state. He was endorsed by the partys executive committee (he made a late decision to run so didnt attend the partys state convention in Minot) and in November will be facing off against one of two potential Republican candidates.

State Rep. Michael Howe is squaring off with Bismarck mechanic Marvin Lepp in the NDGOP primary.

Powell has been watching that race, and on this episode of Plain Talk, said it frustrates him when the Republican candidates talk about election integrity, arguing thats a code word for voter suppression.

He said the primary job of a secretary of state is to protect the right of the people to vote, and he accused Republican lawmakers of enacting laws to suppress votes in past legislative sessions.

Powell also spoke about running as a Democrat in a state that has become deeply Republican over the last couple of decades. He said there is a sense of fear among Democrats who think about running for office in North Dakota. He acknowledged that both Republicans and Democrats have become more extreme in recent years, but that the alleged danger is more keenly felt by people who are more likely to be Democrats.

Powell said he hasnt personally felt any danger in running for office.

Also on this episode, Dickinson-based oil worker Riley Kuntz, who is challenging incumbent U.S. Sen. John Hoeven for the NDGOPs primary nomination, spoke about why he decided to mount what he admits is a long-shot bid to defeat one of North Dakotas most popular political figures.

He said he was disappointed state Rep. Rick Becker, who challenged Hoeven at the NDGOPs state convention, wasnt successful and felt he had to continue the challenge to Hoeven.

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Plain Talk: Dem sec. of state candidate says 'election integrity' is Republican code for 'voter suppression' | Say Anything - Say Anything Blog