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In 2016, Bloomberg reported spending nearly $10 million to successfully help reelect Toomey in his race against Democrat Katie McGinty. Independence USA ran TV ads in Philadelphias collar counties that drew attention to his support of gun control legislation, helping him win over critical moderate voters.

The fact that Bloomberg was willing to throw his money into it gave Toomey a talking point to appeal to suburban voters in Philly, and ultimately one of the reasons we lost is that he outperformed Donald Trump in the Philly suburbs, said Mike Mikus, McGintys former campaign manager. Im certain his hand in giving Mitch McConnell a majority in the Senate will be remembered by a lot of Democratic voters.

Bloomberg left the Republican Party in 2007 and registered as an independent. He voted for Barack Obama in 2008, an aide said, though he did not publicize it at the time. He wrote an op-ed in favor of Obama during his 2012 reelection campaign and campaigned for Hillary Clinton in 2016. In 2018, he changed his registration to Democrat.

Fetterman, who ran unsuccessfully in the 2016 Senate primary, said there is no appetite for the billionaires candidacy among Pennsylvania Democrats: Absolutely none that Ive encountered.

Over the weekend, liberal activists circulated a clip of Bloomberg speaking at the 2004 Republican National Convention in support of Bush.

I want to thank President Bush for supporting New York City and changing the Homeland Security funding formula and for leading the global war on terrorism, he said at the convention. The president deserves our support. We are here to support him. And I am here to support him.

Rebecca Katz, a New York-based consultant to progressive candidates, said the video is important context to understand Bloomberg.

Bloombergs presidential campaign is only telling one side of the story. For years, he helped the New York state GOP hold on to their Republican majority. And while hed prefer Democrats remember his 2016 convention speech, he also spoke at the RNC for George W. Bush in 2004, she said. The only thing thats been consistent about his party affiliation is that it has always been about benefiting Michael Bloomberg."

Sally Goldenberg contributed to this report.

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'The hubris is unbelievable': Dems seethe over Bloomberg GOP donations - POLITICO

I am a Democrat, but I have always felt that strong opposition parties were good for the country. For this, I have sometimes been harshly criticized by other Democrats. Such criticism could be confusing. Aren't Americans supposed to promote bipartisanship? Indeed, when I first came of age politically, I fundamentally disagreed with Republican leaders like former Gov. Chris Christie and former Rep. Paul Ryan on policy, but I respected them as public servants. I believed that they were the type of leaders who would turn the GOP in particular away from nativism and lead Republicans into some semblance of 21st century politics.

I was wrong. Instead, the GOP has done the opposite. Republicans have taken partisanship to a level that would make Newt Gingrich blush. They have embarrassed themselves, and they have embarrassed me for even suggesting that they could provide a better path forward and for what, some tax cuts and conservative judges? As angry as I am at Donald Trump for his lack of decency and empathy, I am equally as disappointed in the Republicans who aided his rise to power.

As angry as I am at Donald Trump for his lack of decency and empathy, I am equally as disappointed in the Republicans who aided his rise to power.

Still, while most Democrats would understandably prefer an America free from the Republican Party, I somehow find myself hoping for the rebirth of a more tolerant and inclusive conservative party that can help to one day restore Americas faith in government.

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Repairing what is broken is a task too heavy for one party to bear, and an obligation too onerous for any single group. Rebuilding our institutions and strengthening the bond between people of differing viewpoints requires a commitment from each and every one of us. It requires honest brokers, willing to find common ground and ignore the naysayers whose sole goal is to be the loudest in the room. It requires a confidence of purpose that cannot waver in the midst of an election season that could signal the end of ones political career. Most importantly though, repairing our broken country requires Republicans in particular to stand up and take their party back from those who are attempting to bastardize their message.

Succumbing to the worst tendencies of ones party isnt new or unprecedented; weve been here before. Moral crises have repeatedly tested the will of our great nation. This country has battled through the dark days of slavery, segregation, McCarthyism and Watergate, and still we stand. Not because of magic pixie dust but thanks to brave patriots, willing to take unpopular yet principled stands because our social contract demands it.

And America has always managed to find its way back from the brink because of our ability to come together, in search of a shared purpose, when we as a country need it the most. We are edging toward a brink now, not of violence necessarily but certainly of near-intractable partisanship. Just look at the differing ways the impeachment inquiry is being covered. I may be foolish, but I still believe in our shared purpose. I still believe that, in spite of those who have turned their back on our motto, e pluribus unum, principled conservatives will find their way back home.

So who will stand up now and help take the Republican Party in a new direction? Election season cannot go into perpetuity, at some point we must govern. Someone must lead.

I am not naive, nor do I believe that the majority of our political leaders have the intelligence or moral compass to act with the courage of Abraham Lincoln. Expecting an overnight solution to a longterm problem is a recipe for failure. And I realize that the same people who mocked me for believing that Republicans and Democrats could work together before, will likely mock me once again for believing that all hope is not lost.

I realize that the same people who mocked me for believing that Republicans and Democrats could work together before, will likely mock me once again for believing that all hope is not lost.

But what other choice do we have? Our democracy requires compromise and courage to meet the challenges that we face. We cannot afford to continue down the broken roads that have led us to gridlock. We need each other.

Like it or not, Democrats need a strong Republican Party to act a a counterweight in our deliberative process. The Framers fully intended for progress to be incremental, not overnight or all at once. A democracy absent diversity is not a democracy. This symbiotic relationship may not be pretty and certainly may not always be successful, but it is necessary to the framework that makes us a shining star on a hill.

I have often been called too optimistic and criticized for my faith in my fellow American. Yet I wear those labels with pride, because at the end of the day we have to believe. We have to believe that we are part of something worth fighting for and saving.

Most importantly though, we have to believe in the goodness of each other and our ability to correct course even when it seems impossible. That has been our saving grace throughout history, our ability to turn this social experiment around and live up to our motto out of many, one.

Michael Starr Hopkins is the founding partner of Northern Starr Strategies and served on the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

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Trump's Republican Party is an embarrassment. Here's why Democrats can't give up on it. - NBC News

Josh Eisen, a Republican, recently sat down for an interview with News 12s Tara Rosenblum after becoming the eighth candidate in the race for Rep. Nita Loweys congressional seat in the 17th District.

So far, the businessman is the only Republican to vie for the seat. Rep. Lowey, the first women to ever head the House Appropriations Committee is retiring at the end of her term after 31 years in office.

People call me a glutton for punishment. I call myself a progressive Republican, said Eisen.

He says he believes a Republican can win with the seat, which has been a Democratic stronghold.

A Republican can win in this [political] climate. At the end of the day, people make decisions about an individual with compelling ideas, he said.

Eisen spent decades starting, owning and investing in small businesses in the legal and education spaces. He's also the son of a Holocaust survivor, which is why he says he has a passion to stand up to radicalism.

Eisen has already laid out an ambitious list of priorities, including a Medicare rehaul and a $500 million investment into commercial drones.

We've all seen the technology where a drone can drop an 800-pound payload within a quarter-inch anywhere across the globe. That the technology hasn't made it to the consumer is unfathomable and it needs to happen, said Eisen.

Another Republican, former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino is also said to be considering a run. News 12 has learned Astorino was meeting with party officials in Washington Monday, but he has not said whether he's finalized a decision.

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'Progress is not partisan': Only Republican in race for Rep. Lowey's seat speaks to News 12 - News 12 Bronx

Brian Howey, Columnist Published 7:15 p.m. CT Nov. 26, 2019

INDIANAPOLIS The spooks eyes at the Londonskaya Hotel bar burned holes in me. Every time I glanced in his direction they were trained on me. I had entered Odessa, Ukraine as part of the last hurrah of Sen. Richard Lugars old Republican internationalist order in this pre-partitioned nation.

Brian Howey(Photo: Provided)

Vladimir Putin held only shadow power in the old Soviet remnants. His fractured standing belied a reeling nation, the former Soviet Union, in steep demographic decline. High rates of alcoholism, suicide and plunging birth rates defined this former empire. Donald Trump was a wannabe presidential aspirant who owned a couple of Gary riverboat casinos and a New York real estate empire.

It would have been impossible to foresee how this churn of events would play out a dozen years hence in Moscow, Kiev, Washington and even Indianapolis. The old Republican internationalist order that once thrived in Indiana has ended, begging the question in the emergent era of the Trumpian cult of personality, so what if it has?

The Indiana aspect of this story can be told through the hyper-supplicant Pences, with the Vice President accepting full ownership of that cult; Indianas two Republican senators, Mike Braun, who owes his station to Trump, and Todd Young, a former Lugar staffer who, had he taken a different career path, might have found himself briefing the Senate in a manner similar to Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman.

Last week Vindman, former Ukrainian ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, and State Department Ukrainian expert Dr. Fiona Hill testified before Congress of a disinformation campaign echoing Putins Kremlin that it was the Ukrainians, not the Russians, who meddled in the US 2016 elections. The Republican senators received a briefing on the Ukrainian fiction as multiple sources discredited the story.

In the wake of the sensational impeachment testimony which appears not to have swayed public opinion, the question for Hoosier voters remains, does it matter? Do people care? I dont think they do. Hoosier voters appear to be giving President Trump the benefit of the doubt, preferring to decide his future at the November 2020 ballot box.

Two recent polls in Indiana, the Old National/Ball State and the Bowen Center poll, put Trumps approval at 52%, while a Morning Consult poll had Trumps Indiana approval at 50%. While the perception is that Trump remains wildly popular in Indiana, particularly after he used the immigrant caravan and the Kavanagh hearings to help forge Sen. Brauns upset of Joe DonneLlly in 2018, another way to read this would-be Trump has faced a steep decline even in Indiana, given he won the state in 2016 with 59% of the vote. In 2018, Trump routinely drew capacity crowds on behalf of Braun, filling arenas with overflow crowds in Fort Wayne, Elkhart, Evansville, and Indianapolis. So the perception persists that he remains an outsized political force to be reckoned with. A national CNN/SRSS poll puts support for Trumps impeachmenrt at 50%, with 43% opposing. Neither figure has changed since October, with support for impeachment remaining at its highest level thus far in CNN polling.

Back in Odessa, Ukraine, HPI was confronted with a female beggar outside the Londonskaya hotel. We gave her American money and she threw it on the ground and spat on it. Americans were never very popular here. The question American voters may ponder heading into the 2020 elections is whether the cult of personality that is Trumpism is ultimately diminishing our standing in the world. Trump seems to think siding with Vladimir Putin is a politically expedient move.

Luga used this particular mission to Odessa to outfit Ukrainian Navy vessels with equipment that detects highly enriched uranium signatures on shipping entering ports like Odessa. He had the begrudging approval of Presidents Boris Yeltsin, Putin, Dmitri Medvedev and Bush41.

But its the Chinese who are poised to become a global powerhouse, particularly after Trump withdrew from the Trans Pacific Partnership, which would have cemented Western rule of law and economic norms in that sphere. Instead, Trump has opted for a trade war that does not promise resolution prior to the 2020 election, another factor that could impact his Indiana base of support.

What Hoosier voters should ponder is President Trump sidling up to the waning petro kleptocrasy despot of Putin and ask the question on whether the old international order matters.

HPI asked Sens. Young and Braun about the emerging and widely discredited Ukriane narrative pushed by The Kremlin and Trump White House. Braun did not respond to my inquiry. Young did, citing a Nov. 20, 2017 Brian Howey column, in which he said, President Trump said he believed Russian President Putin didnt meddle in the U.S. election.. I asked if Young believes Putin? No.1, theres something known as a diplomatic lie that is often deployed by sophisticated diplomats and leaders in furtherance of our national interest. Lets keep that in mind, he explained. No. 2, our intelligence community, which I trust, has indicated that Russia has hacked our elections. It never indicated that Russia has influenced our elections.

In a December 2018 Howey Poliiics Indiana Interview, Sen. Young said he generally trusts U.S. intelligence assessments. As a former Marine Corps intelligence officer, I've spent a lot of years relying on the work produce of our intelligence professionals. I trust their work product, Young responded to HPI questions about the gruesome dismemberment murder of Washington Post columnist and Indiana State University graduate Jamal Khashoggi. They don't always get it right but they're the best in the world. That informs my work on this and on other issues.

Young added, I'm always wanting to more information on what's going on in the world and the conversations that top leaders have. That will always be imperfect information I'll have. Vis-a-vis Russia, the Trump administration has been as vigilant as I can imagine with respect to their actual actions. President Trump and others in this administration, working with this Republican Congress, has sent heavy weaponry into Ukraine, to try and deter to the extent possible Russian encroachment. Clearly this president is a different sort of president than those I've served in my life time. That's one of the reasons the American people elected him. He communicates differently, he makes decisions differently. He wants to shape policy in different directions. I've not only accepted that, in many cases I embrace it.

One key final point: While U.S. ambassadorial class is in chagrin over Trumps protocol breaches, the masses dont appear to care. It may take a decade or more before we know if it matters.

The columnist is publisher of Howey Politics Indiana at http://www.howeypolitics.com. Find Howey on Facebook and Twitter @hwypol.

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Brian Howey: The end of the old Republican internationalist order - Courier & Press

The election is over. The votes are in. The Virginia Legislature will now be free from Republican control for the first time in decades. Having the Democrats in control of all three branches of state government is NOT the end of the world, even if some readers seem to think so. Democrats are not perfect, but I have confidence that the newly elected majority will pursue policies which will do the most good for the most people.

Initiatives regarding education, gun safety, climate change/environmental protection, expanding health care to more residents, the ERA and many other areas which affect us all will now be debated and voted upon, rather than being smothered to death in Republican controlled committees. And maybe there can be needed corrections made in matters like gerrymandering, pay-day lending, and campaign finance reform.

Now the task for all of us is to free our country from the Party of Trump. The image of America and what it represents to its citizens and to the rest of the world has been steadily degraded over three years. The ongoing testimony from the impeachment hearings is showing that the intentions of this president are even more foul and corrupt than anyone would have imagined from an occupant of that office. What he did was not a simple quid pro quo, but more a situation of bribery/extortion, with implications for our National Security. Vladimer Putin must be delighted.

It is becoming clear that there may, in fact, be nothing that Trump wouldnt do to further his own personal interests. And he acts with impunity because no one will stop him. The silence of nearly the entire collection of elected Republicans to Trumps awful words and his crude, cruel, and dangerous actions has been shocking. They are choosing party over country.

Even worse, they have chosen him over country.

In the televised impeachment hearings, many Republicans have abandoned all sense of right and wrong, as they try to defend the indefensible. Meanwhile, the dear leader and his agents heap scorn on the military officers and career diplomats who have stepped forward to tell the truth.

To anyone, in the midst of all this, who still plans to vote Republican, I ask, Why? Years ago there were reasons people might do that, but what does the Republican Party stand for NOW? What good things has it done recently? Seriously.

In Frederick County, the myth of the Republican Party endures. At different polling sites on Election Day I heard too many voters ask, Which candidates are the Republicans? Thats who Im voting for.

How sad that so many remain tied to a party which, in spirit, no longer exists. What a loss for Virginia to not have Ronnie Ross, Irina Khanin, and Mavis Taintor in the Legislature to contribute their skills to the states leadership. Instead, the incumbent placeholders will continue to represent us.

And what a shame that Frederick County will not benefit from any new blood. We had the opportunity to elect 3 energetic, forward-thinking people Heidi David-Young, Steve Jennings, and John Lamanna to the Board of Supervisors. How exciting that would have been! Frederick County is on the cusp of another growth spurt. I do hope that the old guard is up to the task.

Kevin Kennedy is a resident of Frederick County.

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Open Forum: Does the Republican Party still exist? - The Winchester Star