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SARAH WATSONQuad City Times

With a backdrop of spotless cars that spanned the decades of the 20th century in Dahl Fords Old Car Home in Davenport, Mariannette Miller-Meeks told dozens of Republicans shed work to bring down rising prices and be a check on the Biden Administration if reelected.

It was June, and the average price of gasoline that day was $4.62 cents a gallon, nearing Iowas peak price before falling under $4 in late summer.

It (the cars) hearkens back to a day when America was an innovator, was great, was a world power and there was so much hope in our country, Miller-Meeks told Republicans at her June campaign event, which was headlined by potential 2024 presidential contender Nikki Haley. And as I reflect on the things that we see today in our nation, there seems to be a lot of hopelessness.

Miller-Meeks puts the blame squarely on the Biden administration for rising inflation, and the veteran often has criticized the president for the U.S. handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

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She joined all Republican House members in voting against the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, called the American Rescue Plan Act, describing it as wasteful spending, and voted against the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, citing concerns that it was tied to a larger Democrat-backed social spending bill.

At the federal level, we need to monitor what were doing and spending, not increase taxes, and allow more energy development, Miller-Meeks said in a recent interview.

She supports a ramp-up of domestic oil and gas production through more land permits and leases and encourages more bio-fuel production as ways to address oil and gas prices.

Her opponent, Christina Bohannan, has contended Miller-Meeks hasnt done enough to combat price increases, pointing to her votes against Democrats Inflation Reduction Act, which would allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices. Some economists have predicted it will have a negligible impact on inflation.

Miller-Meeks also voted against the $1 trillion infrastructure bill that would funnel dollars to repair bridges, locks and dams, and other infrastructure in the district.

Miller-Meeks first came to Iowa for a residency in ophthalmology in 1988, and joined a private practice in Ottumwa. She ran for the 2nd District three times unsuccessfully, was the director of the state department of public health from late 2010 to early 2014, and served one term as a state senator.

The district

Miller-Meeks is seeking reelection in a newly drawn 1st Congressional District. She currently represents Iowas 2nd District in southeast Iowa. The new district covers 20 counties in southeast Iowa.

She won the seat in 2020, beating Democrat Rita Hart by six votes after a recount the narrowest margin of victory in a U.S. House election since 1984.

Miller-Meeks previously was the Republican nominee for the office three times in 2008, 2012, and 2014. She lost each election to then-incumbent representative Dave Loebsack, a Democrat.

She now faces an election challenge from state Rep. Christina Bohannan, a University of Iowa law professor and former environmental engineer.

Bohannan won election to the Statehouse in 2020, unseating 20-year Iowa City representative Vicki Lensing in the Democratic primary for the Iowa City seat.

Political forecasters have rated the race as competitive, and each candidate has attracted support from the national party. Most recently, one forecaster the Cook Political Report tightened its forecast of the race, changing its rating from likely Republican to leans Republican.

The new district drew Miller-Meeks home county, Wapello, into the 3rd Congressional District. She said she and her husband, Curt, kept their home in Ottumwa and she now has a second residence in LeClaire. The new district includes 16 of the 24 counties Miller-Meeks currently represents.

Abortion

The U.S. Supreme Court returned the decision of restricting or allowing abortions to the states this summer, spurring considerable and ongoing debate.

Mariannette Miller-Meeks has said she supports a federal ban on the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy with exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother.

A recent ad from Bohannan purports that Miller-Meeks wants to outlaw all abortions nationwide. No exceptions for rape, incest, or to save a womans life.

Miller-Meeks cosponsored the Life at Conception Act, a House proposal with 163 Republican co-sponsors that would guarantee a constitutional right to life of each born and pre-born human person from the moment of fertilization without explicit exceptions.

In an interview with a Quad-City Times reporter, Miller-Meeks said when asked about the Act: I think that you can recognize medically that life begins at conception, and still have exceptions... So, again, my long-held position in multiple public interviews has been Im pro-life with exceptions for life of the mother, rape, and incest.

The pandemic

Miller-Meeks called Operation Warp Speed, which cut red tape to speed up a COVID-19 vaccine a real shining moment for the United States.

She said, however, the U.S. had lessons to learn from the pandemic, including: amassing more sources of personal-protective equipment, or PPE; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention communicating pandemic risks more effectively; righting concerns that some state leaders prolonged lockdowns of schools and businesses longer than necessary.

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Who is Mariannette Miller-Meeks? Meet the Republican ophthalmologist running to defend her seat in Congress - WCF Courier

More than 100 days ahead of Marylands primary and facing an uphill battle against three rivals, Del. Dan Cox stood proudly on the floor of the House of Delegates to introduce his wife and 10 children, expressing confidence he would be the Republican Partys gubernatorial nominee.

I just wanted to real quickly let the body know my bride, Valerie, [and] the future first family of Maryland is here visiting me today in the gallery, a smiling Cox said. Some colleagues clapped. Others jeered.

But the Trump-endorsed, anti-abortion backbencher went on to defeat fellow Republican Gov. Larry Hogans hand-picked successor in the July 19 primary, widening a rift between Trump and Hogan supporters in Marylands GOP.

Hes got another mountain to scale in the Nov. 8 race against Wes Moore. Democratic voters outnumber Republicans 2-to-1 in Maryland and Moore is out-fundraising him at a rate of 10-to-1. But as the GOP nominee, Cox, 48, is closer to the governors office than early polls, the media and political scientists ever imagined.

By now, many voters have heard Cox is a Make America Great Again Republican, arranged for buses to the Jan. 6 Stop the Steal rally in Washington, wont say whether hell accept the results of his gubernatorial race or that Hogan dubbed him a QAnon whack job.

So, where did he come from? And what happens to him on Election Day and in the ballot-counting days that follow?

Republican Dan Cox speaking Wednesday during a gubernatorial debate with Democrat Wes Moore in Owings Mills. (Michael Ciesielski/AP)

Hes a father of 10, ranging from a baby to a 25-year-old, and is one of 10 children himself.

I named my son Daniel after the prophet Daniel in the Bible, Coxs father, Gary, said in an interview at his sons primary victory party. I was awe-struck that its possible for people of faith to live their faith and, in the process, to impact the culture around them for good.

Gary Cox is the founder and superintendent of Wellspring Christian Family Schools, an organization that offers support services to families who home-school their children. Dan Cox enrolled in the school as a child, and served as a high school instructor and registrar from 1995 to 2005. According to its website, Wellspring Christian Family Schools is a faith-based, home-school organization that requires meaningful church attendance for all enrolled families and emphasizes parents involvement.

Cox attended Mount St. Marys University, a Catholic college in Emmitsburg, from 1992 through 1995, then earned a bachelors degree in government and politics in 2002 from whats now University of Maryland Global Campus. In 2006, he received a law degree from Regent University in Virginia Beach, which was founded by televangelist and former Republican presidential candidate Pat Robertson.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox greets supporters July 19, 2022, with two thumbs up at his campaign party on primary night in Emmitsburg. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun)

Cox announced on July 4, 2021, that he would run for governor, but his interest in politics was evident 20 years earlier.

Cox and his wife, Valerie, were living in the Eastern Shore town of Secretary in 2001 when they wrote a letter to The Dorchester Star about a state bill to bar discrimination against people based on their sexual identity in employment, housing and other areas. They said it would violate the rights of business owners ... who firmly believe homosexuality is sin and those who practice it are in danger of temporal disease and eternal death.

I love civil rights, as many bigoted business owners have been stopped from persecution of people because of their skin color or ethnicity. But there is no bigotry in standing strong against an action, the letter said. Homosexuality is not the same thing as being African-American or Hispanic. The legislature passed the anti-discrimination bill.

In 2006, Cox ran an unsuccessful clerk of court campaign in Dorchester County. According to a 2006 report from The Star, Coxs platform included establishing a division to help fathers gain visitation and ensure mothers receive child support. It also included a plan to refuse to issue licenses for same-sex marriages, which were not legal in Maryland at the time.

Cox won office in 2008 in Secretary, which had around 500 residents at the time. He served a term on the Town Commission, and was its president.

Cox has described himself as both a constitutional and civil rights attorney. Cox founded a law firm in 2007; according to his most recent legislative ethics disclosure filing, it netted over $200,000 in 2021.

Hes litigated cases that included a challenge to public health restrictions Hogan established during the COVID-19 pandemic. The lawsuit was dismissed in November 2020. Also, Cox represented a father and son who sued the Harford County Board of Elections in 2020, alleging their civil rights were violated when they couldnt vote without masks. That case, too, was dismissed.

Del. Dan Cox, a Republican, speaks April 9, 2022, at the state House of Delegates against a measure to expand abortion access in Maryland. (Brian Witte/AP)

In 2016, Cox ran unsuccessfully against then-state Sen. Jamie Raskin in parts of Carroll, Frederick and Montgomery counties to represent Marylands 8th District in Congress. Raskin won with 61% of the vote to Coxs 34%, and went on to help lead the impeachment trial against Trump after the Jan. 6 riot.

During the attack on the Capitol, Cox tweeted Republican Vice President Mike Pence was a traitor. Cox has said he was not involved in the buildings takeover.

The nice thing Id like to say is that he has nice and very patient kids who were brought to every protracted, interminable debate and forum that we had, Raskin told The Baltimore Sun.

Raskin contrasted Coxs campaigning with his.

He has extremist politics and a conspiratorial cast of mind. Im devoted to grassroots, door-to-door campaigning, Raskin said. As far as I can tell, they werent doing any of that. He really was just trying to organize right-wing elements online.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox greets his family at his party on primary night July 19, 2022, in Emmitsburg. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun)

With a congressional seat not in the cards, Cox ran a successful campaign in 2018 for a term in the Maryland House of Delegates representing areas of Frederick and Carroll. In a field with three Republicans and three Democrats running for the districts three seats, he finished at the top with 21% of the vote.

Cox filed 84 bills in four years in the House, including a 2022 resolution to impeach Hogan. The Democrat-controlled legislature passed two Cox bills, both from his first session: one requiring a sign about National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline in every state courthouse and another creating a task force to study crime classification and penalties.

He voted this year against a bill prohibiting schools from discriminating against LGBTQ students and their families. He supported an amendment similar to a Dont Say Gay policy in Florida that prohibits teachers from discussing sexuality and gender in public schools. The amendment failed and the Maryland bill became law this summer.

Cox opposes the expansion of LGBTQ rights in education, highlighting at several turns during his gubernatorial campaign his belief that addressing issues of gender, sex and sexual orientation in schools equates to indoctrination and propaganda, and that schools are participating in brainwashing and sexual grooming.

Cox is vocal about parental involvement in education. He introduced an unsuccessful bill in 2022 that would have allowed parents to object to instructional materials if they disagreed with the content on moral, philosophical and religious grounds. The bill also would have allowed parents to keep a child from studying some of their schools health curriculum.

The many unknowns swirling around the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in its early days, afforded Cox and other politicians a way to raise their profiles and connect with voters. Cox and Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, now that states GOP gubernatorial nominee, used Facebook to urge their respective governors to roll back public health restrictions they deemed onerous.

Mastriano and Cox, both endorsed by Trump, have struck up a friendship. Trump gave Cox a shoutout last month at a rally for Mastriano.

Trump is hosting a fundraiser Monday for Cox at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. For $25,000, attendees can stand alongside Cox and the former president for a photo. Its not clear how much of that money Cox gets; the Maryland limit for a campaign contribution to a candidate is $6,000.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox gave two thumbs up to supporters after speaking with reporters June 30, 2022, in Annapolis. He had appeared at a news conference held by one of his primary opponents, Kelly Schulz. (Kenneth K. Lam / Baltimore Sun)

Cox, often a showman, is no stranger to controversy.

Ahead of the primary, Cox ambushed a June campaign event for Republican Kelly Schulz, Hogans pick to succeed him. Standing just feet away, Cox yelled, Defamation, sir! when the governor called him a QAnon conspiracy theorist.

During a House debate in 2021, Cox compared a bill to expand access for preteens to mental health care without parental consent to Nazi experimentation on Jews. And he did it on Holocaust Remembrance Day, while wearing a mask printed with a depiction of the Nuremberg trials at which the Allies sought to bring Nazi officials to justice after World War II.

In July, Cox defeated Schulz 52% to 43% to become the GOP nominee. But establishment Republicans notably Hogan; Barry Glassman, the Republican nominee for state comptroller; and GOP leaders in the Maryland House and Senate have not endorsed him.

Republican Del. Ric Metzgar of Baltimore County said he was the first House member to endorse Cox in his gubernatorial bid. He told The Sun that his constituents made it clear they were not interested in seeing Schulz provide the equivalent of a third term for Hogan.

People in my district said to me, Delegate, if theyre connected to Governor Hogan, Im not voting for them. And with that said, they saw how Governor Hogan alienated himself against Trump, he said.

Republican Dan Cox, candidate for governor, speaks with reporters after debating Democrat Wes Moore at Maryland Public Television. (Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun )

Cox has run a shoestring campaign compared to Moore, who raised $1.7 million compared to Coxs $252,000 in the five weeks after the July 19 primary, according to the latest campaign finance reports, which were filed at the end of August. The next reports are due in two weeks.

His family has pitched in to work on the campaign, with one daughter serving as campaign manager during the primary. He only recently hired a veteran campaign spokesperson.

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Keep up to date with Maryland politics, elections and important decisions made by federal, state and local government officials.

The campaign provided a quick denunciation Oct. 10 after information started circulating about a planned Unite the Right event in Maryland. The gathering with Republican candidates had the same name as a white supremacist rally that turned deadly five years ago in Virginia.

We will not be associated with anything that is reminiscent, accidental or otherwise, of the unspeakable tragedy that took place in Charlottesville, VA on August 12, 2017, Cox said in a statement. Anything less is unacceptable. Dan Cox and his campaign remains committed to the empowerment, safety and freedom of all Marylanders.

It was a forceful rejection for a candidate who has, at times, embraced conspiracy theories, such as his continued support for false claims that Trump only lost his reelection bid in 2020 because of widespread election fraud.

Cox recently lost an appeal in the states highest court in which he tried to keep county election boards from scanning any mail-in ballots that arrived before of Election Day. Cox has yet to say whether he will accept the results of his own race, and is aligning his campaign with groups that plan to press for their own audit of the results.

So, can Cox pull off a win and give Republicans a third consecutive term in Marylands top executive office?

I wouldnt bet my house on it, said House Minority Leader Jason Buckel of Allegany County, who supported Schulz in the primary. If he wins, thats great for him. If he loses, thats something we all accept as the nature of politics and we move on to getting the work done.

Baltimore Sun reporters Jeff Barker, Emily Opilo and Sam Janesch contributed to this article.

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Dan Cox upended the status quo in Maryland's Republican primary. Where will the election for governor take him? - Baltimore Sun

NEW YORK In Donald Trumps assessment, Mike Pence committed political suicide on Jan. 6, 2021.

By refusing to go along with the then-presidents unconstitutional push to overturn the results of the 2020 election, Pence became a leading target of Trumps wrath and a pariah in many Republican circles.

But the final weeks of this years intensely competitive midterm elections suggest that the former vice presidents fortunes have shifted as he lays the groundwork for his own potential 2024 White House campaign. The man who was booed last year at a conservative conference is now an in-demand draw for Republican candidates, including some who spent their primaries obsessively courting Trumps endorsement, in part by parroting his election lies.

Pence has traveled the country, holding events and raising millions for candidates and Republican groups, including signing fundraising solicitations for party committees.

For some campaigns in tight races, Pence is seen as something of a neutralizing agent who can help broaden their appeal beyond Trumps core base of support. Thats the case in Arizona, with a critical Senate race this year and where the 2024 presidential campaign will be hotly contested. Last week, Pence endorsed Senate nominee Blake Masters, who has struggled to pivot from the primary and win over moderates in a state where one-third of voters are registered independents.

He takes a little bit of the edge off Masters with a lot of voters, veteran GOP strategist Scott Reed said. You know Masters is new to this, first-time candidate, said some silly things he probably regrets during the campaign. But now its all about undecided voters in Maricopa County. Theres not a lot more science behind this.

The endorsements can seem jarring given that Pence has spent much of the past year pushing back on Trumps election lies, which spurred the violent mob that descended on the Capitol on Jan. 6 while Pence was trying to preside over the formal congressional certification of Joe Bidens election victory. Pence and members of his family had to be rushed to safety and were held for hours in an underground loading dock as the marauders roamed the buildings hallways. Some rioters chanted Hang Mike Pence! and erected a makeshift gallows outside.

Pence agreed to endorse Masters even though Masters, during the primary, baselessly denied the 2020 election results. Masters recorded a video in which he said he thought Trump had won and claimed on his website that if we had had a free and fair election, President Trump would be sitting in the Oval Office today. Trump endorsed Masters in June, saying in a statement: Blake knows that the Crime of the Century took place, he will expose it and also, never let it happen again.

Pence made no mention of that in Phoenix on Tuesday.

What I came here to Arizona to say is not only is Blake Masters the right choice for the United States Senate, the people of Arizona deserve to know Blake Masters may be the difference between a Democrat majority in the Senate and a Republican majority in the Senate, Pence said.

The former vice president, along with Masters and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, took just three questions, two of them from conservative websites. When a television reporter tried to ask Masters if Pence was right to move forward with certifying Bidens victory, the candidate was quickly cut off by a Masters spokesman.

Masters is not the only election denier Pence has endorsed or assisted.

Two days after the Masters event, Pence was in Georgia headlining a fundraiser for Burt Jones, the nominee for lieutenant governor. Jones not only embraced Trumps claims of widespread election fraud and called for a statewide investigation into the 2020 race, but he also signed on to be one of his states fake alternate electors a scheme now under criminal investigation.

Last month, Pence was in New Hampshire for Senate nominee Don Bolduc, a retired Army general who also spent his primary campaign telling voters the race was stolen from Trump.

Marc Short, a longtime Pence adviser, declined to set a red line for candidates Pence would and would not endorse.

Its more about making sure that hes being a team player where he needs to be, Short said. I think as a lot of these candidates look to solidify the party behind them, Pence can be helpful.

There is no evidence of any widespread fraud or manipulation of voting machines in the 2020 election, underscored by repeated audits, court cases and the conclusions of Trumps own Department of Justice. Still, support of false election claims run deep among GOP candidates this year.

The Masters endorsement notably came days after a debate in which he made headlines for seeming to have shifted from his most outrageous rigged election claims. Masters instead blamed Trumps loss on big tech, big media and the FBI, and under repeated questioning, acknowledged he hadnt seen evidence the vote count or results were manipulated, as Trump has claimed. (After the Pence visit, Masters told Fox News he stood by what he had said on his now-modified website, adding: I think if everyone followed the law, President Trump would be in the Oval Office.)

Short said Pence was happy to support candidates who had moved past 2020, as the former vice president has urged the party to do.

If people sort of acknowledged a mistaken position before, he certainly wants to reward that, Short said. I think he wants to help conservatives first and foremost, but if people who were elected are now adopting new position about the events of Jan. 6, Short said, then thats a positive.

Jones and Bolduc have also tried to distance themselves from their previous statements.

In interviews, Jones has tried to play down the fake elector slate as a procedural move, while noting that voters rarely mention the 2020 race.

Look hes been consistent that he does not believe the 2020 election was rigged. He said that Joe Biden is president, said Jones campaign spokesman Stephen Lawson, who noted that Pence and Jones have a long-standing relationship and, like Masters, share former Pence staff.

For us, it was sort of a no-brainer because the vice presidents still very well liked in Georgia, very well received. And were in that final stretch where any Republican coming to raise money, support, is a value add, he said.

I think its certainly a nod to more mainstream kind of moderate Republicans. I think thats a fair assessment, he said.

Bolduc claimed throughout the primary race that the 2020 election had been stolen. During a debate, he proclaimed that Trump won the election, and damn it, I stand by and adding, Im not switching horses, baby.

But right after the GOP primary and a day after appearing with Pence he told Fox News it was time to move on. You know, we live and learn, right? And Ive done a lot of research on this and Ive spent the past couple of weeks talking to Granite Staters all over the state from every party. And I have come to the conclusion, and I want to be definitive on this: The election was not stolen, Bolduc said. He described Biden as the legitimate president of this country.

(Earlier this month Bolduc changed his position again, saying he wasnt sure what happened with the election. I cant say that it was stolen or not. I dont have enough information.)

Reed, the party strategist, said he understood the rationale behind Pences endorsements.

Hes a big picture party guy. And it doesnt surprised me that hes hustling as hard as he is for people who may not be 100% Pencers, he said. By doing these kinds of events, he added, theyre going to take another look at him if he decides to run.

Pences political future is an open question. Trump, who is widely expected to run again, remains deeply popular with Republican primary voters and would almost certainly be an early front-runner for the 2024 nomination. Pence has said his own decision about running will not be influenced by Trump, though allies often voice skepticism that Trump ultimately will end up on the ballot.

Beyond his endorsements, Pence has spent his time since leaving office performing a careful balancing act. He has distanced himself from Trumps most corrosive statements while promoting what he calls the Trump-Pence agenda. Pence, like generations of could-be candidates, has used the primaries as an opportunity to forge new relationships and build goodwill, and continues to align himself with conservative causes. His trips often include college visits and speeches before anti-abortion groups.

Other potential 2024 candidates have campaigned for the Republican cause, including Texas Sen. Ted Cuz, who is on a monthlong, 17-state Take Back America bus tour. Trump has held rallies and finally begun spending a small part of his vast political fortune to help his favored candidates.

I think he and all these guys are out there really helping the Republicans to win back the House and win back the Senate. Its an effort that everybody needs to contribute to, said David McIntosh, president of the influential Club for Growth, who has joined Pence at several events.

McIntosh, who has been at odds with Trump in recent months, said he believes the electorate is moving on from 2020 to whats on the ballot this election. He said candidates such as Masters want to show that theyve got support from all different types of Republicans, everyone thats out there, so theres a unity theme.

Its always been my view, he added, that leaders like that help themselves by helping.

But being popular enough that candidates want to campaign with you is very different from being popular enough to be competitive in a presidential primary, and right now, Pence routinely polls in the single digits, far lower than Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Around here people talk about DeSantis and Trump, said Georgia GOP strategist Brian Robinson, adding that attention is largely focused on the Nov. 8 midterms.

Pences policy group recently held a retreat in Utah at the Montage Deer Valley that was attended by GOP donors such as Matthew J. Bruderman, a New York investor who praised Pences election-year efforts.

Hes been extremely effective and deserves credit for continuing to help elect people who he believes will help advance conservative principles, Bruderman said by email, adding that he would support him or any fiscal conservative of courage and character that wins the nomination in 2024.

Art Pope, another donor who attended the retreat, said he personally would love to see Vice President Pence run in 2024.

Yes there are frictions and there are divisions in the GOP, he said, but the party is uniting behind its nominees now that primaries are over.

Vice President Pence is both benefiting for that unity and helping lead that unification, he said.

___

Associated Press writer Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.

Alabama and national politics.

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Republican hopefuls turn to Mike Pence to broaden appeal before mid-term election - AL.com

Gov. Ned Lamont said Friday that Republican Bob Stefanowskis consulting for Neom, a company founded by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, calls into question his opponents fitness and independence.

Lamonts comments were the first since Stefanowski confirmed Wednesday that he had been concealing his employment by Neom, a client of a consulting practice that has allowed him to largely self-fund his campaign for governor.

I can see why somebody running for office wanted to hide that from the public, Lamont said. I think it raises some real questions about his judgment and his independence.

Responding to reporting by Hearst Connecticut, Stefanowski acknowledged approaching the Saudis in late 2018, not long after Saudi agents killed Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist critical of the regime.

I think signing the deal with the Saudis, right after the assassination of Khashoggi raises questions about judgment, Lamont said.

At the time, Stefanowski had just lost his first race for governor and was looking for consulting work. He began working for Neom in 2019 as the CIA concluded that Khashoggis death was most likely was ordered by the crown prince.

On Friday, interviewed after a late-afternoon campaign stop at at turkey farm in Sterling, Stefanowski declined to directly respond to Lamonts attacks on his judgment or independence.

Gov. Lamont is no one to question my judgment, Stefanowski said.

He repeated his criticisms of Lamont for the state contracting with Sema4, a company in which a venture capital firm co-founded by First Lady Annie Lamont had invested.

But the Saudi disclosure flipped the script on a Stefanowski line of attack in 2022 that Lamont and his wife were not fully transparent in their finances.

Stefanowski said only after being approached by Hearst Connecticut did he seek permission from Neom to confirm they were a client. He said he had been bound by a non-disclosure agreement.

The reason I disclosed it was because it was made public by another means, he said. I have to put my clients first. And I wasnt going to disclose. I wasnt going to break my NDA.

He offered no explanation of how the mere disclosure they were a client would have jeopardized any portion of Neom, a project that the crown prince announced in 2017 to global fanfare.

Its not my determination to make. I put my clients first, he said.

The Lamonts say they have disclosed all sources of their income in their annual Statements of Financial Interest, as required by the state ethics code. Their filings are public.

In addition, they have disclosed the identities of companies in which Annie Lamonts company, Oak HC/FT, is invested, whether or not those investments have produced income for the Lamonts.

On that list is Sema4, one of four companies that won fast-track, no-bid contracts to provide COVID-19 testing in the earliest months of the pandemic.

The Lamonts say they have derived no income from Sema4, whose value has tanked. From a peak of nearly $26 a share in February 2021, it closed Friday at 86 cents.

Stefanowski acknowledged he was still working for Neom and traveling to Saudi Arabia earlier this year. He says has reduced his work by 98%, without saying if his Neom income also has fallen by 98%.

It sounds like Bob is still on the payroll. At the same time, hes a candidate for public office, Lamont said. So Im not quite sure if hes really working it right now or not. I think hes campaigning pretty much full time. But it does lead to questions. The Saudis are trying to get involved in our political process far and wide. So thats why I think let things settle out. But those are the questions I have.

Lamont said Stefanowski was hiding his ties to the Saudis, who recently have cut oil production to force higher prices, while the Republican was faulting Democrats for higher gas prices.

Until Wednesday, Stefanowski had not disclosed any sources of the income he earned through his consulting firm, Lolo. Last month, Stefanowski released summary pages of the $36.8 million he and his wife reported earning in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

His consulting practice produced sharply higher income than the millions he reported earning in 2016 and 2017, the last years as chief executive officer of DFC Global, a payday loan company. His income then was $6.9 million and $9.7 million.

On Friday, Stefanowski suggested Lamont was somehow tainted by Neom due to the reported interest in investing in Neom by Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates.

If the governor is going to say anything negative about me to this, hes got to speak to the fact that he took $100 million from Ray Dalio, Stefanowski said.

Stefanowski was referring to $100 million that Dalios family charity had pledged to the state, not Lamont, in a partnership to serve disaffected youth. The partnership was dissolved before going forward, and the Dalio family is pursuing its goals through private philanthropy.

In April, Lamont released his summaries of his tax returns showing an adjusted gross income that averaged $8.65 million a year in 2018, 2019 and 2020. He did not release 2021 taxes, for which he had sought an extension.

Ive now disclosed everything, Stefanowski said. Ive disclosed my 2021 taxes. Ive started to disclose major disclosures on clients.

Lamont, whose deadline for filing was Oct. 15, is expected to release the 2021 summaries.

Both Lamont and Stefanowski are largely self-funding their campaigns.

Reports filed late Tuesday night for the three-month period ending Sept. 30 showedthe Democratic governor and Republican challenger spending at a record pace: $14.8 million by Lamonts campaign and $9.2 million by Stefanowskis.

While the governors tax returns showed ample investment income to pay for his campaign, Stefanowski said Lamont should say what assets, if any, he sold to finance his reelection.

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Lamont, Stefanowski joust over the Republican's work for Saudis - The Connecticut Mirror

The election is only a couple weeks away, and the racist messages that have become a tradition in Republican election campaigns are reaching a crescendo right on cue.

On the national stage, we have Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville explicitly equating descendants of slaves with criminals and saying Democrats are pro-crime.

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson has attacked his Black opponent, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, for his support for ending cash bail, calling him a dangerous Democrat and darkening his skin for emphasis in campaign materials.

Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, meanwhile, embraced racist White supremacist rhetoric on the campaign trail, saying 5 million illegal aliens are on the verge of replacing you .

Here in Colorado, Republican Heidi Ganahl hammered Gov. Jared Polis in a recent debate on the issue of crime, calling herself a law-and-order girl, and insisting that Polis will prioritize criminals over victims.

Rep. Lauren Boebert continues to babble on about the dangers of allowing immigrants into the country after burnishing her racist Republican bona fides last year by characterizing her colleague, Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, as a terrorist.

And Rep. Doug Lamborn called people of color gullible for believing that Republican efforts to undermine the Voting Rights Act constitute voter suppression.

At the same time, Lamborn and way too many of his Republican buddies vilify as woke efforts to create respect across racial and gender differences in such places as schools, corporations, workplaces and, specifically, the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Cmon, Doug. We all know the whole anti-woke campaign is just another dog whistle.

The term woke goes back to the 1940s. It was used in the Black community to describe people who were aware of the racial prejudice and injustice in our culture.

In the 1960s, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of the great challenge to remain awake throughout the revolution of the Civil Rights Movement.

In the weeks, months and years after the murder of George Floyd, demonstrators worried that the injustices that had come so much to the fore would recede from public attention and once again be ignored. Millions around the world were awakened to systemic racism by that horrific crime.

Stay woke became a mantra in the Black Lives Matter movement.

Given our history, we all should have realized that a vicious backlash to the awakening to injustice would follow, demonizing anyone who would seek racial and gender justice and equity.

Woke, a term that for generations was associated with the struggle for civil rights, was transformed into a profane epithet.

Guys like Lamborn wielded it as a cudgel to humiliate anyone who might seek to cultivate an atmosphere of inclusiveness and decency in public life.

In their pugilistic white world, to be woke is to be weak.

In a letter to the superintendent of the Air Force Academy, Lamborn ridiculed diversity training as woke and said, the purpose of your institution is to make our future Airmen and Guardians more lethal, not more politically correct.

Given the history of the term woke and its prominence in the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in recent years, you cant help but wonder if he wants cops to be more lethal and less woke, too.

Lamborns choice of words was either shockingly ignorant or stunningly revealing.

As the election nears and the campaigns descend into classic deceptive Willy Horton-style negative ads, there is one thing voters still have the power to do see them for what they are and reject those on the ballot who employ them.

One of the most ruthless and successful practitioners of racist attack ads from the 1980s, Republican political consultant Lee Atwater, ultimately called his campaign for George H.W. Bush against Michael Dukakis naked cruelty.

He told the New York Times, While I didnt invent negative politics, I am one of its most ardent practitioners.

When he was dying of brain cancer, Atwater publicly expressed regret for his racist attacks, saying that at heart he wasnt a racist even though he knew full well his tactics were exactly that.

Some nights I cant go to sleep, so fearful am I that I will never wake up again, he said prophetically before he died an anti-racist racist at the age of 40.

Win or lose, one things for sure: truth finds a way to get the last word. Atwaters cynically successful career and his sad and bitter end say it all.

Karmas um a witch.

Diane Carman is a Denver communications consultant.

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