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Susana Martinez and Brian Sandoval were swept into office as part of the 2010 GOP wave two Hispanic governors in Western states who each had the potential for political stardom.

Ms. Martinez has struggled in New Mexico, fulfilling her campaign promise of fighting against tax hikes but failing to get the states economy moving again. The unemployment rate has fallen just 1 percent since she took office in 2011 and is among the bottom third of the country.

Mr. Sandoval, meanwhile, is riding high in Nevada, politically speaking, despite or perhaps because he broke his no-new-taxes promise. His states unemployment rate, which topped out at nearly 14 percent in 2011, is now under 5 percent, and hes managed to score some conservative victories on social policies like school choice.

Seventeen new Republican governors were elected in 2010 as part of the national GOP wave, and like their congressional counterparts, they promised to usher in a new era of booming economies, slimmer government and a bulwark against President Barack Obama.

Most have been successful in reviving their economies, and many made major strides in conservative policies such as limiting the power of public employee labor unions. But theyve not always been rewarded by their own voters.

The class of 2010 did very well. They put in place some substantial tax cuts, said Chris Edwards, who studies state governors for the Cato Institute. But he added: States get into fiscal trouble because of a lot of things outside of their control, like oil prices in a state thats dependent on oil, like Oklahoma. Sometimes they have to do things that are unpopular to balance that.

The wave of new GOP governors included a dozen who captured seats from Democrats or independents, including the big states of Florida, Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Five other GOP governors won seats that had been held by a Republican who was term-limited or lost in a primary.

Jon Thompson, communications director for the Republican Governors Association, said it was Republican governing in these states that helped President Trump take the White House.

Without Scott Walkers success in Wisconsin, Rick Snyders success in Michigan and John Kasichs success in Ohio, it would have been a lot tougher for Donald Trump to win these states in the 2016 presidential election. These governors ushered in a new wave of Republican power, and it culminated with the election of President Trump to the White House in 2016, he said.

Governors shot out of the blocks with a series of big promises.

In Wisconsin, Mr. Walker promised to bring the public sector labor unions to heel after a bitter battle that saw him have to win in the legislature, then in the courts, and then survive a recall election. Gov. John Kasich won a similar showdown in Ohio, though voters later overturned his new law.

In Iowa, Gov. Terry Branstad promised 200,000 new jobs by 2016. He and his critics debate whether hes reached that goal, but as Mr. Branstad departs for a new job as the Trump administrations ambassador to China, theres little doubt the economy is humming: Unemployment in the state has shrunk from 5.6 percent to 3 percent.

Gov. Rick Scott also promised 700,000 jobs would be created in Florida, and hes nearly doubled that, with 1.3 million private-sector jobs added between January 2011 and January 2017. Unemployment, which was a staggering 10.5 percent in January 2011, was just 5 percent at the beginning of this year.

Other GOP governors took on social issues, with Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam pushing charter schools and Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin winning a bill pushing the states health department to create an abortion-free society curriculum for high school students.

In Michigan, Gov. Rick Snyder steered clear of hot-button issues, instead putting his effort into cleaning up the troubled city of Detroit. He put the city into managed bankruptcy in 2013, appointed an emergency manager to handle city assets and struck a deal with public-sector unions over benefits.

Within 16 months the city was out of bankruptcy, and Mr. Snyder gave talks around the country about how he achieved such a feat, even stirring up rumors of a presidential bid in 2016 that did not come to fruition.

Mr. Walker and Mr. Kasich did both mount presidential bids that stumbled, while South Carolina Gov. Nikki R. Haley, also part of the class of 2010, was mentioned as a potential vice presidential pick. Instead, she has become President Trumps ambassador to the U.N.

The governors have struggled with some issues including whether to embrace Obamacares expansion of Medicaid. Only six of the 2010 GOP governors agreed to some sort of expansion, while the others declined it, saying they feared putting their future budgets in jeopardy.

Of the 17 GOP governors newly elected in 2010, all but one won re-election in 2014.

Mr. Thompson said that it was Republicans economic agenda that brought them political victory.

While Republican governors have been successful on multiple avenues of reform, a main focus was making their states strong engines of economic growth, and on that policy, they have exceeded expectations, he said.

The exception was Tom Corbett in Pennsylvania, who faced challenges on both the right and the left in his state legislature. Mr. Corbetts biggest downfall was slashing funding to public education, which Democratic challenger Tom Wolf hammered him on during the election. But his relationship with Republicans in Harrisburg was also frosty. He was the first Pennsylvania governor to lose re-election in over 40 years.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley also departed early, resigning earlier this year over reported ethics and campaign violations.

Most of the rest of the Class of 2010 is term-limited and unable to run again, save for Mr. Walker in Wisconsin.

Democrats say this is a good thing for them looking toward 2018.

I think that in terms of popularity, in measures of how voters think about it, youve had GOP governors for eight years, and people are tired of those governors, said Jared Leopold, spokesman for the Democratic Governors Association.

He said hes seeing Republican candidates drift even further toward the right than their sitting Republican governors, something he thinks will turn off voters.

Whats interesting in the 2018 class running to replace these guys is theyre far more to the right than these sitting governors, he added. The people of those states dont believe those have been successful.

Sticking to campaign promises hasnt always been easy, however, nor has it been a path to political success. In Kansas, Gov. Sam Brownback pushed a major cut on personal income tax and eliminated income tax on profits for limited liability companies. The state has struggled with budget shortfalls and elimination of other services as a result.

His political standing is so low that analysts said it nearly dragged down the GOP candidate in a special congressional election earlier this year.

One difference between the successful and the struggling governors is the nature of the legislatures they deal with.

Voters tend to reward governors who find ways to work with their statehouses, said Nathaniel Birkhead, a professor at Kansas State University who studies state legislatures.

Governors might be better off to find balance with legislators of [a] different party, he said. While we expect fidelity to campaign promises, we tend to reward those who compromise.

Even those states where the legislature is controlled by the same party as the governor can prove to be obstacles, particularly when the legislatures are considered strong compared to the chief executive.

In Nevada, for example, Mr. Sandoval wanted to enact major tax cuts to help fund his public education program, but the state legislature forced him to negotiate. He ended up agreeing to extend existing taxes that had been set to expire during his term.

Mr. Sandoval later agreed to the largest tax increase in the states history, yet remains one of the most popular governors nationwide.

Jon Ralston, a top political analyst in the state, said Mr. Sandoval did pursue conservative policies such as school choice, but the tax battle overshadowed that. Fortunately for Mr. Sandoval, hes been blessed with a business climate thats attracting major businesses to the state, thereby boosting his standing.

It doesnt hurt that hes also been able to charm his legislature and his voters.

The guy is just so likable in addition to getting so much done, Mr. Ralston said. Even though he passed the largest tax increase in state history, with a Republican-held legislature, he remains one of the most popular governors in the country. Who else could do that?

Ms. Martinez, meanwhile, has faced a Democratic legislature and frequently battled it.

She upheld her campaign promise of not raising taxes, even vetoing the legislatures budget in April because it called for tax hikes. Lawmakers sent her a new bill last week with more taxes something the governor has said she will not support.

I think I could say that, as far as I can tell, New Mexicans would have been more satisfied if the governor had found a way to cooperate more, said local pollster and analyst Brian Sanderoff. People get tired of the gridlock and fighting. They have worked together on some issues, and shes found success there.

One such area is the voter ID law that restricts illegal immigrants from obtaining a drivers license. Ms. Martinez repeatedly pushed the issue, which finally passed in 2016 with the cooperation of the state legislature.

Part of Ms. Martinezs success, however, is due to the Department of Homeland Security, which claimed the states ID law failed to comply with the Real ID Act and would not be accepted in federal buildings or airports starting in 2018.

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Republican governors elected in 2010 delivering to their states what Congress hasn't - Washington Times

Common Dreams

The Republican Party's Sickness of the Soul Common Dreams Sometimes people look at the cruelties in Republican policies and ask, How can these people live with themselves? Here's how: By telling elaborate lies and fictions so you don't have to face the cruelty and consequences of your own deeds every time ...

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The Republican Party's Sickness of the Soul - Common Dreams

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. The first speech of a marathon Memorial Day weekend went as well as Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) could have hoped. He quoted his old boss, Ronald Reagan. He thanked the military for saving America, from its founding through those long years when communism threatened to establish atheist dictatorships around the world.

And after he wrapped, retirees in star-spangled polo shirts chased him down to thank him and to say how well hed done the other night on Fox News.

These people arent going to vote for Democrats, Rohrabacher said, strolling along the water on the way to his house. A lot of Republican women voted for Hillary. That is not going to translate into anything else next year. Trump is a very boisterous guy, and that was a turnoff for some people, but these are Reagan-type conservatives.

Democrats dont share that read on Rohrabachers district. In 2016, for the first time in 80 years, the Democratic presidential nominee carried Orange County, sweeping up districts including Rohrabachers beach-bound 48th. A stretch of pristine beaches and increasingly diverse suburbs, the 48th District had previously been one of the nations wellsprings of modern conservatism.

Down the ballot from Hillary Clinton, Democrats didnt recruit candidates to take advantage of Californias anti-Trump swing, and Rohrabacher kept his seat. But now, Democrats are trying to fix that and they view Rohrabacher, elected in 1988 and rarely challenged since, as a target.

Yet Rohrabacher, 69, is not behaving like a politician facing oblivion. Many of the 23 Republicans in districts that backed Clinton, or only narrowly backed Trump, have agonized over the American Health Care Act and grimaced when asked about the probe into possible Russian meddling in the election.

The reason: Like the north Atlanta suburbs where Jon Ossoff is trying to flip a seat for Democrats, Orange Countys coast is tempting Democrats with a rising electorate college-educated, rich, only two-thirds white.

Rohrabacher understands as much This is not a blue-collar area, he said but he does not acknowledge a larger political threat.

Rohrabacher, without question the most resolute supporter in Congress of closer ties to Russia, never grimaces. In an interview this weekend, and in the wake of stories about Russians sounding him out as a spy and colleagues joking that he was paid by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Rohrabacher simply restated his strategic theory: It is better for America to be friends with Russia than spit at it as an enemy.

I was hard-core anti-communist and anti-Soviet; I was never anti-Russian, said Rohrabacher, who paused the interview occasionally to say hi to neighbors on the walk home. The very same groups of people who are unrelenting in their hostility today wanted to be friends with Russia when it was run by atheistic communist dictators.

Democrats, who have put the 48th and other Orange County districts on their 2018 dream board, are convinced that Rohrabacher is busily un-electing himself.

He is who he is, but Republicans vote for him because hes a Republican, and weve never had much luck finding a challenger, said Fran Sdao, the chair of Orange Countys Democrats. This year, theyre coming out the woodwork.

Even lower-information voters, she suggested, could not miss the stories of Rohrabacher defending Trump or the Russian intrigue spilling into the paper every day. Hes gotten a lot more attention because of the Russia stuff.

Outside Orange County, Democrats cant quite agree on how big a part Russia should play in their 2018 comeback strategy. In the 48th District, its at least an irresistible hook. Los Angeles-area Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D), whose role on the House Intelligence Committee has made him a party star, has spent parts of congressional recesses introducing new candidates to party clubs; he did so for the Democrats favored candidate against Rohrabacher, Harley Rouda, earlier in May.

Rouda, a 55-year-old lawyer and businessman, had been in electoral politics for just a few weeks. If Hillary Clinton had won, I dont think Id be sitting here, Rouda said over coffee at a spot near Laguna Beachs sandy coast. If Romney was president, voters wouldnt be as engaged and enraged as they are now. Its about Trump and his cronies.

To take the House, Democrats are salivating over half a dozen California districts; in each one, theyre scouting for candidates who can run against the Republican majority by making their opponents infamous and sidestepping their own ideological swamps. Rouda, who donated $1,000 to John Kasichs presidential campaign, blends country club issues such as balancing the budget with left-wing issues such as a $15 minimum wage and a move toward single-payer health care.

Trump even praised the health-care system in Australia, he said.

Confidently, Rouda and Democrats speculate that simply informing Orange County voters who represents them in Congress would knock Rohrabacher out, and a few other Republicans besides. In 2010, Republicans found conservative districts that had been controlled by Democrats for generations falling their way, simply because they had candidates, money and a president to rally against.

Thats why raising enough money is so important, Rouda said. The Democrats tend to be very aware of his record; Republicans, I dont think, fully understand where he is. Most Republicans in this district are moderate. They do not want to see offshore drilling. They do believe in climate change. And we have a congressman who doesnt agree with them.

In some districts, embattled Republicans are adjusting by looking for political space. In Orange County, Rohrabacher sees no need. Over 24 hours of Memorial Day events, no voters came up to him to complain. A few encouraged the president to tweet less; more thanked the congressman for doing his job.

For many, the perception of that job has been shaped by a conservative media that has dug in against Democratic story lines. The Fox News segment that many constituents said theyd watched portrayed Rohrabacher as an avuncular victim of character smears, a surfer and public servant who had been attacked unfairly.

McCarthyism by its nature hurts people, makes it harder for them to do the jobs they do, Foxs Tucker Carlson said. Has this affected your life? I mean, youre running for reelection is this an issue in your campaign?

They have been putting out these hit pieces that are aimed at trying to convince people that I have been engaged in some type of illegal act or something, Rohrabacher replied. Its the same thing they are doing with Trump.

Later in the interview, Rohrabacher said hed been looking for proof that the coverage of Russia would amount to something. He cited the stories of Russia-linked hackers breaking into the Democratic National Committee allegations that did not convince him.

In The Washington Post interview Sunday, he asked how the newspaper had been able to run an article saying definitively that a murdered DNC staffer had nothing to do with the release of party documents to WikiLeaks and other sites.

I hope youre wrong, he said. The story says these various people had determined that there was a Russian connection to the hacking. Well, I havent seen any. Can you tell me any conclusion where the Russians were involved?

As he hustled to his next event, pausing at home to make (and share) an energy drink with yogurt, Rohrabacher explained that he knew too much about spycraft and intelligence to believe every accusation that blipped across the news.

There are people who work for the intelligence agencies who are very dedicated conservatives, right-wingers, patriots, he said. There are people who work for the agencies who are on the left. Just because they work for the agency, that doesnt mean you can always trust them. If an intelligence agency verifies this or that, I dont take that for granted.

Read more at PowerPost

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His district voted for Clinton, but this Republican congressman isn't worried - Washington Post

PHOENIX (AP) - U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake on Wednesday launched an effort to save the North American Free Trade Agreement even as President Donald Trump begins a renegotiation he promised during his election campaign.

The Arizona Republican said in an interview that the agreement known as NAFTA has been a huge boon to Arizona and the U.S. and that any honest accounting of the 23-year-old agreement shows that its been good for everybody. He said thats especially true in Arizona, where a boost in cross-border trade has increased jobs and economic growth. He said hes worried that an overhaul could essentially gut the positive effect of the trade deal.

The president campaigned on negotiating a new NAFTA deal with Canada and Mexico and called the current agreement a disaster. Aides signaled a potential pull out in April but Trump changed course and started the formal renegotiation process in mid-May.

Flake said he doesnt know what the president has in mind but could be supportive under the right circumstances.

If hes modernizing it, great, more power to him, Flake said. I think any honest accounting of NAFTA would show that its been good for everybody. Certainly good for Arizonas economy, good for the united States economy. When trade has gone from under $60 billion a year to over $600 billion a year, whats not to like?

The trade agreement has drawn criticism since it was being negotiated in the early 1990s, with some warning it would result in U.S. factory jobs moving to Mexico. The deal triggered a big boost in trade among the three counties when it went into effect in 1994, with farmers especially benefiting, but factory jobs did move south.

Flake hopes to gather success stories from Arizonans to help ensure any new agreement continues to spur job creation and growth. The effort is prompted in part by concerns that Trump will abandon the agreement.

In the campaign many times it was were going to rip it up - it was the worst trade deal ever negotiated, Flake said. Theres a lot of rhetoric that was tough.

There are other implications to pulling out of the deal, Flake said. They including influencing Mexican voters to move toward a populist president of their own, and putting pressure on migration by cutting employment in Mexico.

For us, obviously if Mexicos economy is better thats less pressure on the border, Flake said. The net of Mexican migrants is south rather than north. We have security arrangements that are better than they were, the Mexican economy is doing better, better rule of law, criminal justice reform is moving ahead that we worked with them on.

A lot of good things that we can point to, that if our trade relationship goes south, or sour I should say, then those things are in jeopardy, he said.

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Arizona Republican Sen. Flake highlighting NAFTA positives - Washington Times

Financially outgunned in the Virginia governors race GOP primary, Corey Stewart is trying to blow a hole in the conventional political wisdom that winning comes down to who racks up the biggest war chest.

The self-described Trump acolyte has been trying to make the most of his cash-strapped situation by turning to the Trump playbook, harnessing social media and harping on issues such as immigration that get the Republican base going.

On Wednesday he made the trek across the Potomac with a staffer and streamed through Facebook Live an attack against Ed Gillespie, the GOP front-runner, accusing him of being beholden to large corporations trying to undercut Americans with a stream of foreign workers.

He was the lobbyist on record for Tyson Foods when they smuggled in thousands of illegal aliens, taking American jobs and then, of course, exploiting these people you know, paying them next to nothing when they got here and making them work in inhumane conditions, Mr. Stewart said into a handheld camera phone. Not to mention the fact that the biggest victims here are those who are victims of crimes committed by illegal immigrants.

Mr. Gillespies campaign dismissed the attack as part of a constant stream of fabrication and falsehoods from Mr. Stewart.

Immigration has long been a thorny issue for Republicans a potentially powerful cudgel, as then-candidate Donald Trump proved in last years elections, but one that also invites charges of racism.

Its not the only area where Mr. Stewart, the chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, is following Mr. Trumps campaign playbook. Hes also trying to create the kind of online presence that made Mr. Trump the talk of the campaign in 2015, long before the first GOP primary.

I think that social media has transformed so many industries, but especially politics, Mr. Stewart said Wednesday after he launched his Facebook Live attack at Mr. Gillespie. You dont need $3 million to $3.8 million that Ed has raised in order to win a primary for [a] governors race anymore.

Mr. Stewart, 48, has remained loyal to Mr. Trump since getting fired as chairman of Mr. Trumps Virginia campaign over a dustup with the Republican National Committee. He signaled Wednesday he hopes to recreate some of the social media magic that helped Mr. Trump win the 2016 election.

But, unlike Mr. Trump, Mr. Stewart has consistently trailed in the polls and on the fundraising front.

Mr. Gillespie, who served as a top adviser to President George W. Bush, has raised about $3 million more than Mr. Stewart, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, and leads him by 20 percentage points in a Washington Post-Schar School poll released this month. Also in the GOP race is state Sen. Frank Wagner.

Searching for ways to make up ground, Mr. Stewart has turned in part to first-person riffs on social media that have been viewed by tens of thousands and feature him, among other things, knocking Establishment Ed for not taking a firmer stand against Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe on illegal immigration and against Democrats who want to tear down the states Confederate memorials.

While Mr. Stewart isnt the political neophyte Mr. Trump was when entering the GOP presidential primary, hes never run statewide in Virginia. Mr. Gillespie, however, ran a closer-than-expected battle to unseat U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner, a Democrat, in 2014.

Mark Rozell, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, said Mr. Stewarts strategy suggests he knows how difficult his path to the nomination is.

Hes trying to activate a base that is not terribly large using overheated rhetoric, divisive issues and wrapping himself in the Confederate flag, Mr. Rozell said. The latest statewide poll has Gillespie way up over Stewart right now. So Stewart has to count on most of his base showing up and most of Gillespies supporters sitting out the primary. Very, very long shot strategy.

This weeks immigration attack stems from a Washington Post report highlighting the work Mr. Gillespies firm, Quinn Gillespie and Associates, did on behalf of Tyson Foods after the chicken processing giant was prosecuted for hiring illegal immigrants.

Mr. Stewarts Facebook post read: LIVE! From Quinn-Gillespie lobbyists in DC to discuss the Washington Posts bombshell article about Eds complicity in Human Trafficking.

A jury acquitted Tyson Foods of the charges in 2003, and Abbi Sigler, a spokeswoman for Mr. Gillespie, said her boss wasnt involved in the matter anyway.

Tyson Foods retained Quinn Gillespie in 2001 to provide public relations services dealing with charges for which a jury later found the company not guilty, Ms. Sigler said. As The Washington Post reported, Tysons made clear the firm was not retained to lobby on the issue and Ed was not involved in the day-to-day work for them.

Mr. Gillespie has promised to stiffen immigration enforcement in Virginia, including encouraging state and local police to sign up to help federal officials and cracking down on so-called sanctuary cities that try to thwart enforcement.

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Corey Stewart, Republican candidate for Virginia governor, applies Trump playbook in election - Washington Times