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After President Joe Biden delivered a speech imploring the Senate to pass a voting-rights bill, an angry Mitt Romney took to the Senate floor to denounce him. Biden accused a number of my good and principled colleagues in the Senate of having sinister, even racist inclinations, he complained. (Imagine! Racists! In the Republican Party! In this day and age!)

But more troubling, Romney continued, was Bidens description of Republican voting restrictions as part of a scheme to turn the will of the voters into a mere suggestion. Here Romney unsheathed his sharpest insult, comparing Biden to Donald Trump: And so, President Biden goes down the same tragic road taken by President Trump casting doubt on the reliability of American elections.

Romney speaks for an important faction of Republican elites who may abhor Trumps naked authoritarianism (either openly, like Romney, or more often in private) but also believe fervently in their partys policy of voter suppression. Romneys position holds the pivotal point in the U.S. Senate: Anti-Trump, pro-voter-suppression Republicans like him are the key impediment to passing any voting-rights bills.

The Trump strain and the Romney strain have crucial differences. Trump is willing to support almost any measure, legal or extralegal, in order to maintain power. Romney abhors violence and venerates rule-following but shares Trumps belief that the franchise is more privilege than a right, and supports his partys blizzard of voting impediments to keep the Democratic hordes at bay.

Romneys allies in the Republican partys non-insurrectionary wing see their stance as the antithesis of Trumpism. What they seem unable to grasp is the degree to which his crude and even violent brand of authoritarianism is a product of their refined elitist version.

Traditional Republicans generally subscribe to some or all of the following three propositions:

First, Democrats habitually engage in wide-scale, undetected vote fraud, especially in large cities. (A leading congressional Republican once confided at an off-the-record event that he doubted the legitimacy of Bill Clintons 1996 election, which Clinton won by 8.5 percent of the vote, owing to presumptive vote-padding.)

Second, even if the votes are technically legal, the geographically concentrated nature of Democratic voting reduces its legitimacy. This is a belief expressed by the ubiquitous conflation of maps showing red occupying most land space with Republican majorities. This belief is the only way to make sense of otherwise bizarre comments, like Robin Vos,the Republican Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly, casually asserting, If you took Madison and Milwaukee out of the state-election formula, we would have a clear majority.

And third, elections would be better if the electorate was refined by winnowing out uninformed or unmotivated voters. Conservative pundits proudly and openly write lines like this, from National Review in 2016: We must weed out ignorant Americans from the electorate. And Republicans occasionally blurt out comments like this, by the Republican chair of Arizonas Government and Elections Committee: Everybody shouldnt be voting Not everybody wants to vote, and if somebody is uninterested in voting, that probably means that theyre totally uninformed on the issues. Quantity is important, but we have to look at the quality of votes, as well.

These convictions inspire voting restrictions that bring together pro-Trump and Trump-skeptical Republicans alike. Republicans, with little to no intraparty dissent, have passed laws to winnow the electorate of voters who are either illegal or, in Republican eyes, undeserving. These measures include reducing the hours of voting or the locations where votes can be cast, requiring voters to jump through bureaucratic hoops (separate registration and acquiring papers or identification, often at different buildings open only during working hours), or even (in Florida) to pay back fines in order to vote.

One indication of the depth of Republican unanimity on voting restriction is their complete unwillingness to entertain any protections against abusive voter suppression. In November, Senator Joe Manchin proposed a compromise voting-rights bill. His plan would have allowed voter identification requirements, but required states to allow an array of legitimate acceptable identification, including utility bills. (States like Texas recognize gun permits, but not student identification, as legitimate ID.) It would combine automatic vote registration with measures to clean up voting rolls, make Election Day a national holiday, let volunteers provide water and snacks to voters waiting in long lines, accept provisional ballots from registered voters who appear at the wrong precinct, and other modest proposals to make voting less burdensome.

The only Senate Republican to show any interest in Manchins compromise is barely-a-Republican Lisa Murkowski. The rest of the caucus has taken the view that restricting the electorate as it sees fit is a matter of states rights.

It is important to understand that many Republican advocates of voter suppression hold Trump in at least equal contempt as advocates of voting rights. Georgia governor Brian Kemp may represent the archetype of the anti-Trump vote suppressor. In 2018, while simultaneously running for his office and serving in a job overseeing elections as secretary of State, Kemp closed 200 polling locations, primarily in minority neighborhoods, and purged hundreds of thousands of people from the voting rolls, many of the victims merely for failing to cast a vote in the previous election.

Its impossible to tell whether these restrictions played a decisive role in his narrow win. (Precisely how many people were deterred from voting, and how many of them would have voted for his opponent, is a matter of conjecture.) But Kemp was perfectly clear beforehand that he saw minority turnout as a primary threat to his success, telling supporters, You know the Democrats are working hard, and all these stories about them, you know, registering all these minority voters that are out there and others that are sitting on the sidelines, if they can do that, they can win these elections in November.

Yet Kemp also bravely defied Trumps efforts to undo the 2020 election results in the state, making himself a target of a Trump-backed primary that threatens to end his career. Its important to understand that many advocates of these laws hold Trump and liberal supporters of voting rights in at least equal contempt. From their standpoint, they occupy the midpoint between two equally noxious populist threats: to their left, Democrats who would open the floodgates to illegal or unqualified voters and delegitimize any outcome those restrictions produced, and to their right, Trump supporters who push to overturn elections Democrats win in spite of Republican-designed voting restrictions.

None of these Republicans seem to have contemplated how their assumptions about Democratic perfidy directly inspired Trumps response. Trumps most powerful appeal to the Republican base has always been to cast the partys leadership as weak losers who passively accept defeat.

If Its Not Close, They Cant Cheat is the title of a book by conservative talk-show host Hugh Hewitt. The book is not dedicated to uncovering Democratic vote fraud it provides barely a wisp of evidence for any but, rather, assumes its pervasive existence as a starting point. Hewitt reasoned that, since Republicans cant stop Democrats from cheating at the polls, their best recourse is to win elections by overwhelming margins. That book came out in 2004, before Republicans responded to Barack Obamas election by emphasizing vote-suppression measures. Two years later, he wrote a book making the case for Romney as the partys presidential nominee.

Trumpism offers a more intuitive response to the assumptions Republicans like Hewitt have long held. If it is true that Democrats always cheat, why should Republicans have to win by huge margins every time? Why not fight fire with fire?

The approach to elections of a Romney or a Kemp is not as dangerous as Trumps, not by a long shot. It is, at least, peaceful and stable, lacking the reckless Trump lurch into total systemic collapse virtues we cannot take for granted. But it also falls far short of the democratic ideal Americans have taught themselves as a shared creed. You might even call it sinister.

Analysis and commentary on the latest political news from New York columnist Jonathan Chait.

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Republican Voting-Rights Opponents May Be Better Than Trumpists, But Theyre Not Good - New York Magazine

Rep. Warren DavidsonWarren Earl DavidsonTrump war with GOP seeps into midterms House Freedom Caucus elects Rep. Scott Perry as new chairman Congress needs to step up on crypto, or Biden might crush it MORE (R-Ohio)sparked criticismfor comparing Washington,D.C.'s vaccine mandate and COVID-19 requirements to Nazi Germany.

"This has been done before. #DoNotComply," Davidson tweeted along with an image of a Nazi-era identifying document that depicted a swastika.

Lets recall that the Nazis dehumanized Jewish people before segregating them, segregated them before imprisoning them, imprisoned them before enslaving them, and enslaved them before massacring them, Davidson said.

He also posted a photo of a column from the Los Angeles Times about mocking those who are anti-vaccine and said, Dehumanizing and segregation are underway and wrong.

Davidson'sposts, which were first reported by The Washington Post, were in response to another tweet from D.C. Mayor Muriel BowserMuriel BowserThe Hill's Morning Report - Biden champions filibuster reform, but doesn't have the votes Conservatives push for boycott of GOP club over DC vaccine mandate State of emergency declared in Virginia after record COVID-19 surge MORE (D) reminding residents about COVID-19 requirements including proof of vaccination for ages 12 and up, proof of vaccination and a photo ID for ages 18 and up as well as masks in order to enter certain indoor venues.

His remarkswere met with criticism from the American Jewish Committee.

"In what is becoming a disturbing trend, @WarrenDavidson is the latest elected official to exploit the Holocaust by making immoral and offensive comparisons between vaccine mandates and this dark period of history," the group said in a tweet. "Congressman, you must remove this shameful post and apologize."

The Hill has reached out to Davidson for comment.

The Ohio lawmakeris not the first member of the GOPto compare the pandemic to the genocide of millions of Jewish people during the Holocaust.

Last year, Rep. Marjorie Taylor GreeneMarjorie Taylor GreeneGOP efforts to downplay danger of Capitol riot increase The Memo: What now for anti-Trump Republicans? Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says she's meeting with Trump 'soon' in Florida MORE (R-Ga.) compared mask mandatesto the Nazi requirement that Jews to wear the Star of David.

Greene later visited the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and apologized for those comments,though she maintained her stance that mask requirements were discriminatory.

I believe that forced masks and forced vaccines or vaccine passports are types of discrimination. And I'm very much against that type of discrimination. What I would like to say is I'm removing that statement completely away from what I had said before, Greene said at the time.

Originally posted here:
Ohio Republican sparks condemnation for comparing DC vaccine mandate to Nazi Germany | TheHill - The Hill

The Republican who memorably resisted Donald Trumps attempt to overturn his election defeat in Georgia has said he will run for re-election on a platform of integrity and truth, against an opponent who as a churchman should know better than to advance the former presidents lies.

Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, became a household name after he turned down Trumps demand that he find 11,780 votes in order to overturn Joe Bidens win in the southern state. It was the first victory by a Democrat in a presidential race in Georgia since 1992.

The call is among subjects of an investigation by the district attorney of Fulton county into whether Trump and others committed crimes in their push to overturn election results in the state.

On Monday, Fani Willis told the Associated Press she expected to make a decision in the case in the first half of this year.

Were going to just get the facts, get the law, be very methodical, very patient and, in some extent, unemotional about this quest for justice, she said.

In this years elections, Raffensperger will face off against Jody Hice, a pastor, US congressman and Trump acolyte.

Congressman Hice, hes been in Congress for several years, Raffensperger said on Sunday, on CBSs Face the Nation. Hes never done a single piece of election reform legislation.

Then he certified his own race with those same machines, the same ballots [that were used for the presidential election]. And yet for President Trump, he said you couldnt trust that.

Thats a double-minded person. And as a pastor, he should know better. So, Im going to run on integrity and Im going to run on the truth. I dont know what hes going to run on.

Hice played a key role in legal and political attempts to overturn the 2020 election result.

Writing for the Guardian to mark the anniversary of the 6 January Capitol attack, in which Trump supporters failed to stop Congress certifying the election result, the former Clinton aide Sidney Blumenthal said that as the riot unfolded, Hice raced by a Democratic colleague, who told me Hice was screaming into his phone: You screwed it up, yall screwed it all up!

Hice, Blumenthal wrote, was tasked to present a challenge to Georgias electors as part of the far-rightwing Republican faction, the Freedom Caucus, directed by Congressman Jim Jordan, of Ohio, who was in constant touch that day with Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff and former Freedom Caucus member, and a watchful Trump himself.

Just as the violent insurrection launched, and paramilitary groups spearheaded medieval style hand-to-hand combat against the police and burst into the Capitol, Hice posted on Instagram a photo of himself headed into the House chamber with the caption, This is our 1776 moment.

Hice deleted that post and said he condemned the violence at the Capitol.

In an email to the Guardian, a spokeswoman for Hice said the congressman denied any phone calls on 6 January remotely similar to what Mr Blumenthal describes. The spokeswoman also said Hice was not in the Capitol when it went into lockdown.

But Hice formally objected to results in Arizona and Pennsylvania and voted against investigation of the attack. The select committee is reportedly interested in his own phone records as Hice remains a vocal proponent of the lie that Trump lost due to electoral fraud, a lie believed by clear majorities of Republicans.

Hice announced his run to be secretary of state in Georgia, last March, later gaining Trumps endorsement. Should he win, he will be in charge of state election counts.

Many outside the Republican party fear the prospect of Trump allies filling such posts in battleground states, preparatory to another attempt to overturn a presidential election.

Its certainly not by accident that were seeing individuals who dont believe in democracy aspire to be our states chief election officers, particularly in the states that were under the greatest spotlight in 2020, Jocelyn Benson, Michigan secretary of state, told the Guardian earlier this month.

Raffensperger and Governor Brian Kemp, however, have placed Georgia among Republican-run states which have implemented election laws which critics say aim to restrict Democratic turnout.

Asked about visits to Georgia this week by Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris, to promote federal voting rights protections, Raffensperger told CBS: 6 January was terrible, but the response doesnt need to be eliminating photo ID and then having same-day registration.

If you dont have the appropriate guardrails in place, then youre not going to have voter confidence in the results.

Pressed on claims by figures including the Georgia gubernatorial candidate and voting rights campaigner Stacey Abrams that state election law is skewed against people of colour, Raffensperger heralded provisions for early voting and said: I think that we have shown that Georgia has fair and honest elections. We have record registrations. We have record turnout.

He also said he was confident Hice would not take over the elections process.

The results will be the results, Raffensperger said, and those will be the results that will be certified. You cannot overturn the will of the people and so that wont matter.

But at the end of the day, I will be re-elected, and he will not be.

Original post:
Georgia Republican who resisted Trump insists he stands for integrity and truth - The Guardian

HARRISBURG, PA (WSKG) A proposal to redraw Congressional boundaries in Pennsylvania is one step closer to going to Gov. Tom Wolfs desk. The House approved the boundary lines almost along party lines Wednesday.

But the finish line still appears a long way off: Wolf is not happy with the proposed map and state courts are poised to intervene in the process.

Analysis shows the way the 17 districts were drawn may structurally favors Republicans. Wolf cited that in a letter to House GOP leadership outlining his opposition last month, in which he called the process that produced the map disgraceful.

Wolf has not changed his mind since then, even though Republicans have tried in vain to get him to talk about it. That signals he may veto the proposal if it reaches his desk.

The state Supreme Court has also left the door open for the courts to approve a map but only if Wolf actually vetoes it. If that panel doesnt weigh in, Commonwealth Court judges have said theyd pick a map if state lawmakers cant come to an agreement by months end.

David Thornburgh, a redistricting advocate and Senior Advisor to the Committee of Seventy, said it would be a shame to go that route.

I think people would have more confidence in a process where the legislature did its job and the governor did his job, Thornburgh said. I think were better off for all concerned if we can get this done[and] if the governor can sign a bill that shows evidence of bipartisan cooperation.

Sen. Dave Argall (R-Berks) chairs a committee that will weigh in on the Congressional map and said he is working with and Sen. Sharif Street (D-Philadelphia) on changes that could get Wolfs signature.

Its not a pro-Republican map, Argall said. Its not a pro-Democratic map. Its a bipartisan compromise that respects as many local government and county municipal boundary lines as is humanly possible.

One version leaked to the public last month creates a GOP-leaning district around Pittsburgh while eliminating Philadelphia Congressman Brendan Boyles (D, PA-2) district.

Argall said the changes arent quite completed and could be publicly discussed as early as Friday. Any plan would also have to gain Senate approval.

Were not quite there yet, but I hope to be there soon, Argall added.

The biggest factor in all of this is time.

If a final map isnt produced soon, the primary election date set for May may have to be pushed back. Beyond that, state Supreme Court Justice David Wecht alluded to the possibility that voters would have to elect members of Congress to at-large districts if mapmaking ends up deadlocked.

Federal law spells that out as a last-resort option for states that cant agree on a map but have to change the number of districts they host. Pennsylvania is losing one Congressional district because the states population didnt grow fast enough in the last decade.

The courts and the Department of State have said theyd like a final map in place by next month so candidates can begin filing nomination petitions.

More here:
Republican-flavored congressional redistricting plan passes PA House, but theres still a long way to go - WSKG.org

National politics seeped into governors races years before Trump came onto the political scene and gubernatorial campaigns still have maintained a degree of unique detachment. But Trumps influence over the GOP has rapidly pushed his signature policies and rhetoric into 2022 governors races especially his false, conspiratorial claims that election integrity is under threat or even that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Republican candidates are parroting those claims while running for offices that will have significant influence over election procedures in their states, potentially including certification of future elections.

I tell [Trump], the only way we can guarantee that, in 2024, we have a Republican president, is we need a leader here in the state of Nevada that understands our election laws and [is] willing to change them, Dean Heller, a former Republican senator now running for Nevada governor, said during the recent debate. He called the states current laws corrupt and said that he will make the state elections fair.

Republicans win when the process is fair, said Heller, who occasionally clashed with Trump during the presidents first year but later pulled Trump close during his losing 2018 campaign. I want a Republican president in 2024. It is going to take a Republican governor to make the necessary changes in order to make that happen.

In Pennsylvania, state Sen. Doug Mastriano who rose to prominence by parroting Trumps lies about the election and pushing for an election audit in his home state trotted out two Trump associates during his campaign launch last weekend: former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis. Both have been among the most vocal proponents of conspiracies about the 2020 election.

Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano speaks to supporters of President Donald Trump as they demonstrate outside the Pennsylvania State Capitol. | Julio Cortez/AP Photo

A slate of operatives with connections to Trump are finding work in the state. State Senate President Jake Corman announced that his team included Kellyanne Conway, Trumps final 2016 campaign manager, while former Rep. Lou Barletta hired the firm of Bill Stepien and Justin Clark, who led Trumps campaign into Election Day 2020. Bill McSwain, who was a U.S. attorney during the Trump administration, hired former Trump campaign aide James Fitzpatrick to run his campaign.

Pennsylvania where the primary field is so large that forum organizers had to cram two parallel rows of lecterns onstage at an event last week typifies the expansive roster of Republican gubernatorial hopefuls running in swing states including Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota and Nevada. Democrats control the governors mansion in all those states except for Arizona.

The exception to the crowded-primary rule has been Wisconsin, where former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch is the only credible GOP challenger to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers so far. But even there, Trump tried to draft former Rep. Sean Duffy before he passed on a campaign last week, and former Senate candidate Kevin Nicholson is actively considering jumping into the race.

Candidates across the map are vying for Trumps endorsement. So far, Trump has largely sat out open GOP gubernatorial primaries in the most competitive 2022 states only weighing in in Arizona to back former TV anchor Kari Lake.

He is, however, giving Lake some early political muscle. Trumps political committee announced on Tuesday that Lake would join the former president on stage at his rally in the state on Saturday alongside prominent election conspiracy theorists Mike Lindell and state Rep. Mark Finchem, who Trump has backed for state secretary of state. It is Trumps first rally of 2022.

But even for candidates who dont score Trumps endorsement, winning over the former presidents supporters will still be key in a Republican primary.

Not only do you not run away from that, you embrace that without hesitance, said Arizona-based Republican operative Barrett Marson, who is working for an outside organization supporting former Rep. Matt Salmons gubernatorial bid in the state.

Former Rep. Ryan Costello (R-Pa.), who has been critical of Trump since leaving office three years ago, said there will be a concerted attempt by some candidates to consolidate Trump-first supporters, so in that regard there's a Trump lane. But Costello warned that that many candidates vying for the same group of voters could fracture the vote in a primary, and that the field is unsettled in his state.

Its important to note not all Trump-first voters are reliable off-year primary voters, he added.

It's unclear whether Trump will endorse in Pennsylvania's gubernatorial primary. He previously backed Army veteran Sean Parnell in the state's open Senate race, only to see Parnell suspend his campaign after he lost custody of his children following his ex-wifes allegations of abuse. He is now staying out of that race for the time being, though that could change.

But Pennsylvania Republicans expect a Trump endorsement, if it comes, to play a big role in deciding the primary for governor, said former Trump administration official Mick McKeown, a Pennsylvania native.

"He's still the biggest name in politics, whatever you think about him. And for Republican primary voters, I think he can still resonate with a significant portion of the base," he said. "In a crowded primary like this, an endorsement from President Trump, while weighty, would carry even more weight."

Democrats, meanwhile, have cleared a path to replace the term-limited Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, with state Attorney General Josh Shapiro being functionally unopposed for the nomination.

Democrats across the battleground states have sought to further highlight the candidates ties to Trump. The Pennsylvania Democratic Party routinely refers to the GOP contest as the super MAGA primary. And Nevada Democrats warned on the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol that the Republican field continues to embrace those dangerous lies and instill doubt about the integrity of Nevadas elections.

Republicans also warn that battleground candidates will need to do more than link themselves to Trump if they want to win in November.

Bill McCoshen, a well-connected Republican lobbyist in Wisconsin who briefly considered his own gubernatorial run, highlighted Glenn Youngkin, the Republican governor-elect in Virginia who upset former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe late last year to flip the state, as having the perfect template for how to run in the general election in a battleground state.

Take his endorsement, keep him at bay unless you absolutely have to have him for a rally, and run your own race, McCoshen said.

And national Republicans argue that candidates tying themselves to Trump wont come back to hurt them in what is shaping up to be a strong Republican year.

The thing to keep in mind is right now the messaging and the issues that matter to voters are still on our side, said Joanna Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the Republican Governors Association. At the end of the day, we still think that regardless of who comes out of some of the most competitive races, were still going to have an effective message for them to carry into the general, especially when youre looking at the states with incumbent Democratic governors.

Trumps influence isnt just confined to open gubernatorial primaries in swing states. He has also increasingly sought to bring incumbent Republican governors to heel. Most consequentially, he endorsed against Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, backing former Sen. David Perdues primary challenge.

Trump has been at war with Kemp, an otherwise down-the-line conservative politician, for not supporting his efforts to overturn Trump's loss in the state. Even before endorsing Perdue, Georgia was expected to be one of the most expensive gubernatorial races this year, with Democrats rallying behind Stacey Abrams. But the endorsement there rips open still-healing wounds among the party in the state and could drain the bank account of whomever is ultimately the nominee.

But even with Trump playing an increasingly prominent role in gubernatorial races, some Republican strategists believe that it wont last through the general election in November. There is still some delineation between the almost uniformly nationalized congressional races and gubernatorial contests, they say.

"In most cases, governor's races are less Washington, D.C.-focused and thus less about the candidates' Trump orientation," said Christopher Nicholas, a longtime Pennsylvania-based GOP consultant advising gubernatorial candidate Charlie Gerow in Pennsylvania. "Because governors have to, as the old saying goes, make the trains run on time.

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Trump lost these states. Republican candidates for governor are emulating him anyway. - POLITICO