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Democratic candidate Mana Abdi, one of two Somali Americans vying for the State House this year, will run unopposed in a competitive House district covering part of Lewiston.

This follows the unexplained withdrawal of her Republican opponent.

Republican Fred Sanborn-Sanders, who had posted on Facebook that Muslims "should not be allowed to hold public office," withdrew from the race Aug. 18, too late for the GOP to try to replace him on the ballot.

That clears the path for Abdi to become the first Somali American elected to the Maine Legislature.

Abdi, who came to the U.S. as a teenager and attended Lewiston public schools, may have some company.

South Portland Mayor Deqa Dhalac, the first Somali American mayor in the U.S., is also running for a House seat. She's facing Republican Michael James Dougherty.

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Mana Abdi is running unopposed for Maine House after Republican opponent unexpectedly withdraws - Maine Public

Updated at 4:50 p.m. ET on September 1, 2022.

Mary Peltola was declared the winner of Alaskas special congressional election last night, defeating the former GOP vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin. A Democrat hasnt held the seat in 49 years, and Peltola will be the first Alaska Native elected to Congress.

The election was the first in Alaska to utilize ranked-choice voting, a system adopted by the states voters in 2020. If no candidate reaches 50 percent support, the lowest-ranked candidate is eliminated and their votes go to the second-ranked candidate on their voters lists. This continues until one candidate has at least 50 percent. After the Republican candidate Nick Begich was eliminated in the second round of counting, Peltola ended up with about 52 percent of the vote. Ranked choice is more efficient than holding a runoff election, and its backers insist that it offers a better reflection of voters preferences.

But heres the problem: The Republican candidate didnt win, and Peltolas remarkable victory instantly sparked complaints from Republicans that the election had been rigged, echoing former President Donald Trumps rhetoric from July. Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas immediately tweeted, Ranked-choice voting is a scam to rig elections. Cotton elaborated in a second tweet that 60% of Alaska voters voted for a Republican, but thanks to a convoluted process and ballot exhaustionwhich disenfranchises votersa Democrat won. Separately, the political writer Josh Kraushaar argued that ranked-choice voting is so inscrutable to your average voter that it will only fuel the conspiracy theories that have defined elections in recent years.

Read: A step toward blowing up the presidential-voting system

This is a bit like arguing that denying a toddler ice cream for dinner will only fuel a temper tantrum, except that Republican elites who choose to announce that elections they dont win are fraudulent are adults and should be held responsible for their choices. Conspiracy theories are not being fueled; people like Cotton are fueling them.

There is nothing inherently wrong with opposing ranked-choice voting. Theres also nothing wrong with arguing that a particular set of rules is unfair, or might skew the outcome in one direction or another. People will come to different conclusions about the most fair or efficient way to run elections. Thats all a normal part of democracy. The difference here is that Alaskas system is not being evaluated on the basis of whether or not it results in a fair election, but whether it produces a GOP victory. If it does not, then the system is corrupt by definition.

For Trumpists, no system that results in a Republican defeat can be considered legitimate, a belief that manifested in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. (To Cottons credit, unlike many other ambitious conservative senators, he rejected Trumps election conspiracies then.) Before losing the California gubernatorial-recall election last year, Republicans were already announcing that the outcome had been rigged, rhetoric, as The New York Times noted at the time, that reflects a growing instinct on the right to argue that any lost election, or any ongoing race that might result in defeat, must be marred by fraud. Otherwise, how could a Democrat win an election in California?

Its amusing to hear Republicans devoted to the Electoral College argue that the person who gets the most votes should win the election, and that anything else amounts to disenfranchisement. Everyone knew the rules of this election before it was held. A majority of Alaskan voters might have preferred to support a Republican in theory, but they did not prefer Palin, the actual Republican candidate they ended up with. States are not party fiefdoms that are inherited by whatever empty suit the Republican National Committee sticks on the ballot. A majority of Alaskan voters preferred the Democrat. The fact that this could happen in a state as conservative as Alaska is really the GOPs failure.

David A. Graham: The Republican Partys irrational war on voting rights

That conservatives are embracing majoritarian arguments to argue against ranked-choice voting is nevertheless illuminating, because it shows that they believe in majoritarianism only where Republicans can expect a majority. Otherwise, they seem to believe, some sort of electoral system is necessary to properly weight the votes of conservative constituencies so that they count more than everyone elses. As the only true Americans, theyre entitled to win every election every time. Anything else is just election rigging.

This article previously misidentified the Republican candidate Nick Begich as former Democratic Senator Mark Begich of Alaska.

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Republicans Have Only Themselves to Blame for Their Alaskan Defeat - The Atlantic

Im personally pro-life, but I believe we can all come together on a policy that reflects our shared values, Ronchetti says in the ad, saying that Lujan Grisham was extreme on abortion. We can end late-term abortion, while protecting access to contraception and health care.

Ads like this are coming as Democratic groups have poured tens of millions into TV campaigns focused on abortion including making it a central theme that boosted Democratic Rep.-elect Pat Ryan to victory last week in a closely watched special election.

Ronchetti aired his ad for about two weeks in mid-July, spending $60,000 on it, according to data from the ad tracking firm AdImpact. On the day the Supreme Court issued its Dobbs decision, Ronchetti put out a statement saying he believed permitting abortion up to 15 weeks along with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother afterward was a very reasonable position that most in New Mexico will support regardless of party affiliation.

Republican Mark Ronchetti reacts with his supporters after winning the Republican primary for governor of New Mexico during an election party held at the Marriott in northeast Albuquerque, N.M., on June 7, 2022.|Chancey Bush/The Albuquerque Journal via AP

Still, Democrats continue to hammer away at him, saying he is not being honest. A recent ad from Planned Parenthood Votes says the real Ronchetti would take away a womens right to control her own body, tying him to strident anti-abortion groups like Right To Life that supported his Senate campaign last cycle, during which Ronchettis website described him as strongly pro-life and said that life should be protected at all stages.

Some other Republicans have moved to decentralize opposing abortion in other parts of their campaign. Republican Blake Masters pushed out a Twitter video last week attacking Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) as extreme on abortion for not supporting any limits, saying in the video that I support a ban on very late-term and partial-birth abortion.

But Masters own website once read that he supported a federal personhood law and declared him 100 percent pro-life lines which have since been scrubbed from his site, NBC News first reported. His campaign website, under the subhead protect babies, dont let them be killed, now reads that the Democrats lie about my views on abortion and says that Masters would support a third trimester federal abortion ban.

Masters had previously told the Arizona Republic that he believes a personhood law would provide the foundation to ban third-trimester abortions, while some proponents of that idea say it would ban all abortion. He also called Arizonas ban on abortion after 15 weeks a reasonable solution in the interview with the Republic.

Another prominent example of website-scrubbing was uncovered recently in Michigan by The Detroit News. State Sen. Tom Barrett, the GOP nominee challenging Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin in a top swing district, removed a section of his campaign site that touted his opposition to abortion.

Barrett told the Detroit News that he didnt know why the website was updated but that his position had not changed: he still supports a ban on abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest.

Still he is far from the only other candidate to tweak their online footprint.

Republican Christian Castelli removed his anti-abortion rights position from his site after winning a May primary to take on Rep. Kathy Manning (D-N.C.). In his second run against Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), Republican Tyler Kistner makes no mention of abortion access on his website though his 2020 site described him as 100% Pro-Life.

In a newly created Colorado battleground district, Republican Barb Kirkmeyer listed defending the Sanctity of Life on an issue page of her website, according to a July 5 archived version of the page. An old version also included a video of her speech at the 2022 March for Life event. Both references now appear to be gone.

Still, the issue has become so big in some Republicans campaigns that theyre cutting ads responding to Democrats on abortion. Tiffany Smiley, a Republican who is challenging Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), has put out a pair of ads over the past week emphasizing that she is pro-life but saying she wouldnt back a federal abortion ban.

As an OB-GYN triage nurse, I have seen the heartbreak and the tears. Im pro-life, but to be clear, I will oppose a federal abortion ban, Smiley says in an ad that started airing on Monday. It is past time that we stop treating pregnancy like a disease that prevents women from getting a job or a raise.

In Connecticut, Republican Bob Stefanowski, who is gearing up for a rematch with Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont after narrowly losing to him in 2018, goes one step further. In the race for governor, both Ned Lamont and Bob Stefanowski are pro-choice. The difference is on affordability, the narrator of one Stefanowski ad says, before attacking the incumbent over the economy.

And some Republicans who have not moderated on abortion have still downplayed it on the trail.

Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, the GOP gubernatorial nominee there, has championed efforts to ban abortion throughout the state, taking the most strident positions among the Republican primary field. But since then, Pennsylvania-based press has repeatedly noted that the candidate does not bring up the topic as much.

On the day Roe was overturned, Mastriano said the other side wants to distract us, adding that people in this area and in my part of the state across the border here are struggling to make ends meet and they dont care about those issues there.

View original post here:
Republicans fight abortion backlash with ads and stealth website edits - POLITICO

Rey Martinez, a candidate for Georgia's House of Representatives, kicks off the opening of the Republican National Committee's new Hispanic Community Center in Suwanee, Ga., on June 29. Ben Gray/AP hide caption

Rey Martinez, a candidate for Georgia's House of Representatives, kicks off the opening of the Republican National Committee's new Hispanic Community Center in Suwanee, Ga., on June 29.

In the heart of Atlanta's rapidly diversifying suburbs, Democrats have become a dominant force in local politics. But earlier this summer, Republicans gathered to stake their own claim in the community.

Dozens of people packed a strip mall in Gwinnett County to celebrate the grand opening of the Republican National Committee's Hispanic Community Center, including Rey Martinez, who was the first Latino mayor in the state of Georgia when he took office in nearby Loganville in 2018.

"I'm a candidate for Georgia House District 111," he told the crowd. "Now I'm back on the campaign trail again, and I know firsthand the benefit of grassroots efforts like what we are kicking off here with the grand opening of the RNC Hispanic Community Center."

Though the GOP is largely supported by white voters, the party has recently made inroads with voters of color. In the 2020 presidential race, former President Donald Trump made gains with Black and Latino voters in part through community outreach centers opened in key areas across the country.

Ahead of this year's midterm elections, Republicans have invested millions of dollars into expanding these centers into other minority communities in states like Georgia, Pennsylvania and Texas.

There are more than three dozen centers now open that reflect the diversity of the communities around them, from heavily Jewish Boca Raton, Fla., to a Native American community in North Carolina to a majority-Black neighborhood in northwest Philadelphia a city where Trump improved on his margins from 2016 to 2020.

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told the crowd at Georgia's newest outreach center that her party was committed to putting in the work and walking the walk when it comes to reaching voters of color.

"This is not us saying, 'We expect your vote, you owe us your vote,' " she said. "This is us saying, 'We want to earn your vote. We want to learn how we can better represent your community, how we can be here long-term.' "

Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel gives remarks to a packed room at the opening of the RNC's new Hispanic Community Center in Suwanee, Ga., on June 29. Ben Gray/AP hide caption

Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel gives remarks to a packed room at the opening of the RNC's new Hispanic Community Center in Suwanee, Ga., on June 29.

The RNC Hispanic center is one of three in Georgia, joining an Asian Pacific American outreach location in another pocket of Gwinnett County and a Black American outreach center just south of Atlanta.

Paris Dennard, a former national spokesperson for the RNC, says these outreach spaces are not a new development, but rather continued investments that reflect the party's commitment in meeting voters where they are.

"What we understand is that all politics is local, but also politics is about relationships," Dennard said. "Politics is about establishing a connection with the voters. The more the voters are connected to you be it a political party or a campaign or a candidate the more likely they are to support you, to vote for you, and also to advocate for you among their friends and family members."

In the 2020 presidential cycle, Trump launched his "Black Voices" coalition in Atlanta and delivered a major policy speech for Black voters in suburban Cobb County weeks before the election. The campaign opened numerous Black Voices for Trump and Latino Voices for Trump centers across the country.

And now, the RNC has been expanding the reach of those centers and other minority outreach initiatives like helping prepare immigrants for their naturalization tests to prepare for the midterms and beyond.

Dennard also said another important aspect of the community centers is that they are staffed by locals who know the community and not out-of-state operatives coming in at the last minute.

"It's because we understand that this is a two-way street, meaning the RNC is listening and learning from the community about what their specific needs are, what their concerns are and how we can better address them as our candidates," he said.

Someone who understands the importance of open communication is John King, Georgia's Republican insurance commissioner and the first Latino statewide officer in the state's history.

"It's incredibly important because we know not only are we creating a bridge for the Latino voice to be heard at the highest levels of our state, but also for established communities," he said.

King says conservative policies are resonating with more nonwhite voters, especially Latinos and especially with the current state of the national economy.

"We're having a permanent presence and having a permanent conversation in Spanish, in English, about the values that the Republican Party brings, which are very much in line to the values that generally you hear from Hispanics," he said. "They're interested in having conversations about opportunities to succeed, to improve the quality of their life for their families, and I think Republicans have a good case to make for creating opportunities for people to thrive."

King also says the community centers show meaningful community connections and don't come across as pandering for votes by offering free stuff in exchange for votes.

"There's a common saying in Spanish that when you take free stuff from the government, you're giving up something in return either a little bit of your freedom, or a little bit of your soul," he said. "At the end of the day, that's not genuine, so people can see through that."

"They can continue to waste money in our communities trying to reach out to us, but we understand that they're not here to help us and they're just trying to use us in order to expand their power," said Nabilah Islam, a Georgia state Senate candidate of Bangladeshi descent who's running in a district that includes two of the RNC outreach centers. "And we're not going to let that happen."

That said, Democrats have also been accused of not investing consistently in voters of color who the party often depends on, especially in the South.

"We must invest in our communities by doing ethnic media outreach, by reaching out to Black voters, Latino voters and AAPI voters and meeting them where they are," Islam said. "So you have to always compete in order to win, and we can't take anyone for granted."

Dennard, the former RNC spokesman, says the party is already seeing an uptick in voters of color supporting Republicans, including Georgia, where voter data showed the number of Black voters double in this spring's primary.

"It is by no surprise that when you saw the recent primary election, there was an uptick in voter participation across the board," he said. "But also, we saw an uptick in support for minorities crossing over to vote Republican. That is a good thing."

And while many of these outreach centers are located in areas that have seen Republican growth, they also overlap with places where Trump sought to invalidate votes following his 2020 defeat.

Georgia will see two Black Senate candidates square off for a pivotal seat that once again could decide control of the chamber: Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker. Dennard said Walker is a prime example of a candidate who is "changing the narrative of what it is to be conservative, what it looks like to be a Republican."

"And that's what you see across the country," he added. "Because our party is more diverse, our party is an open tent and our party is more inclusive."

Polling shows Walker's campaign is not resonating with Black voters in a significant way, and in this fall's elections, voters of color will still likely overwhelmingly vote for Democrats. But in a closely divided Congress, even a small shift in preference in battleground races could make the difference in who wins and who loses.

Republican leadership says this investment into voters of color is not a onetime deal. Once all the votes are counted, you can expect these RNC community centers to keep their lights on and doors open with an eye towards 2024 and beyond.

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Republicans have invested millions in nonwhite voter outreach ahead of the midterms - NPR

Rep. Liz Cheney lost the Republican primary in Wyoming but that hasnt stopped her from planning ahead.

She even told NBCs Today showthat a White House campaign in 2024 is something she is thinking about.

Republicans havent exactly warmed up to the idea of her next move. Deseret News Dennis Romboy reported that Utah Sen. Mitt Romney isnt encouraging Cheney to run.

Im not going to encourage anyone to run for president. Ive done that myself, and thats something Im not doing again. I dont know if she really wants to do that. She would not become the nominee if she were to run. I cant imagine that would occur, Romney told the Deseret News.

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro recently discussed Cheney and why he believes that she hasnt been able to fully get Republican support.

In a series of tweets, Shapiro said that the representative fundamentally misunderstands why people are so passionately angry at her inside the GOP base. Which is why she actually lost.

Cheney, in her concession speech, said that winning the primaries would have required her to go along with President Trumps lie about the 2020 election and enable his ongoing efforts to unravel our democratic system and attack the foundations of our republic.

Referencing her remarks, Shapiro said Cheneys statements were not true.

Shapiro wrote on Twitter that he believes the representative could have won in Wyoming if she hadnt acted as a front person for a Democratic committee dedicated to lumping together all Republicans and conservatives with January 6 rioters, and suggesting that anyone who would consider voting Trump 2024 is an incipient fascist.

The political commentator stated that politicians like Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw didnt go along with Trumps ideas, but neither were they enthusiastic participants in a broader Democratic and media agenda.

Meanwhile, Arizona Republic columnist Elvia Diaz disagreed about Shaprios perspective on Cheney.

She knows the Republican base has turned into diehard Trumpers willing and ready to carry out the unthinkable to destabilize the country, wrote Diaz.

Cheney represents the conservatives who still believe in the idea of America where people freely elect their leaders and everyone respects their vote.

Liz Cheney isnt the only Republican to lose steam in this year's elections. In another recent series of tweets, Shapiro said that constantly involving Trump in conversation only hurts the party.

When Trump is attacked, Republicans immediately return to making him the centerpiece of the conversation and this harms them electorally, as every poll is now showing, the commentator tweeted.

Americans vote against things, not for them. If Republicans want Americans to vote against Biden, they have to campaign against him, not against the FBI or the deep state or on whether Trump had the right to have boxes of classified documents in his closet, he said.

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The problem with Liz Cheney and the Republican Party, according to Ben Shapiro - Deseret News