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Days before the May 3 primary, Dolan appears to be experiencing a late burst of momentum. While J.D. Vance who received Trumps endorsement last week has surged into first place according to the most recent Fox News poll, Dolan was the only other top contender to gain ground in the poll since last month. A separate poll released Tuesday by Blueprint Polling actually placed Dolan in first place with 18 percent of the vote, followed by Vance at 17 percent.

Whatever momentum Dolan is riding, it was enough to prompt Trump to release a statement Tuesday suggesting that the state senator is not fit to serve in the Senate.

I think theres mounting evidence that hes in a scenario where hes running up the middle, unmolested, with a unique message and some things in his favor, said Mike Murphy, a Republican strategist who lives out of state but donated $250 to Dolans campaign in October. Does it mean he has a lock on the race? No way. But its a competitive race, and hes in it. Hes got the momentum, as of last week.

Dolan likely has a low ceiling of support, given his dependence on Republican voters who are willing to move on from Trump a minority of the party. But in a splintered field of candidates, that could be enough.

When I made my decision to get into the race, I knew that it was going to be a tough slog, at least publicly, for a while, Dolan said in an interview. I knew that I would not be doing well in the polls until much, much later in the campaign. I think its playing out as I thought it was going to play out.

Internal Dolan polling shows him tracking to second place, according to a person familiar with the data who said the campaign has a glide path to getting a plurality of the vote.

Widely viewed as a longshot, Dolan has avoided any real attacks from his opponents, who took turns going after one another for months in a cutthroat primary that has generated nearly $70 million in ad spending. The Club for Growth a super PAC supporting former state Treasurer Josh Mandel, who has led in polls throughout most of the primary took out ads targeting Vance, Jane Timken and Mike Gibbons as each saw gains in support in recent months.

But they and other campaigns and outside interest groups never targeted Dolan, who has spent heavily on television ads with his own positive message since January.

Dolan is the lone candidate who refuses to toe the Trump line. He has accused the former president of perpetuat[ing] lies about the outcome of the 2020 election. He called the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol a failure of leadership by Trump and an attack on democracy. At a March 21 debate, Dolan was the only candidate to raise his hand when the moderator asked who believed it was time for Trump to stop talking about the 2020 election.

Yet Dolan has been careful to highlight that he considers himself a Trump supporter. Throughout the campaign, Dolans staff has been dogged about seeking corrections to any news reports that referred to Dolan as anti-Trump or a Never Trumper, according to a person working on the campaign. They would explain to reporters that Dolan had twice voted for Trump unlike Vance and that Dolan has said he would do so again if Trump were the nominee. Dolan has also said that he would not have voted to convict Trump in an impeachment trial.

Though Dolans campaign was once dismissed as a vanity project, Trump has long paid attention to a possible rise by the candidate. On Tuesday, he attacked Dolan not as an opponent of his America First agenda, but because the Major League Baseball team Dolan and his family own, the Cleveland Guardians, changed its name from the Indians after the 2021 season.

Anybody who changes the name of the storied Cleveland Indians (from 1916), an original baseball franchise, to the Cleveland Guardians, is not fit to serve in the United States Senate, Trump wrote. Such is the case for Matt Dolan, who I dont know, have never met, and may be a very nice guy, but the team will always remain the Cleveland Indians to me!

A person close to Trump insisted there was no particular reason the former president released the Dolan statement Tuesday, and that it was unrelated to polling data circulating on Twitter that day placing Dolan in the lead or in second place. The person noted that the message was something Trump has been saying for months at least since Dolan entered the race in September and that Trump just wanted to remind people about the Dolans role in the team name change.

Throughout the campaign, Dolan has said he was not part of the decision to change the name, but supports his family.

While his campaign events this week havent drawn high-profile supporters such as Trump, who held a rally Saturday to support Vance, or Donald Trump Jr., who has visited the state twice in recent days to stump with Vance Dolan has earned endorsements from three newspaper editorial boards and dozens of municipal office holders around the state. Local surrogates have also engaged in an aggressive letters-to-the-editor campaign on his behalf.

Mandel, meanwhile, has kept a low profile after traveling to campaign stops last week with Michael Flynn, Trumps former national security adviser and a leading advocate for efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. This weekend, Mandel will appear at events with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

Dolans campaign is well aware that Trumps approval rating among Republican voters in the state is as high as 85 percent. Its approach has been to thread the needle between support for Trumps agenda Dolan joined other candidates in the primary in running an ad about closing the southern border and his unapologetic denunciations of Trumps baseless election fraud crusade.

What we sought to do from the outset was illustrate to folks that this race has to be about Ohio, said Chris Maloney, Dolans campaign consultant. You can be for pro-Trump policies and not share his personality, and thats what is taking hold among Ohio Republicans.

In contrast with Dolan, whose large investment in the race for months appeared futile as he failed to gain significant traction, Gibbons, a wealthy business owner, has taken a dive after peaking earlier this year and loaning his campaign more than $16 million.

Murphy, the Republican strategist, noted several factors are helping Dolan now. In addition to emerging unscathed after the other candidates spent months hurling insults at each other, Dolan fits the mold of pragmatic conservatives whom Ohio Republicans have traditionally chosen for Senate, including retiring Sen. Rob Portman, former Sen. and Gov. George Voinovich and current Gov. Mike DeWine.

Hes not an alien species at all to the normal comfort zone of the Ohio Republican Party, Murphy said.

Dolan and Timken have had campaign staff out on foot for more than two months, allowing them to have an established ground campaign. But Timken has been dark on broadcast television and cable for weeks in several markets, and has been completely off broadcast statewide the past week, running only $15,000 worth of cable ads. A super PAC supporting her, Winning for Women, now has only a small number of cable spots running.

Dolans campaign and the Club for Growth are leading in television ads right now, followed by the pro-Vance super PAC Protect Ohio Values, an outside expenditure group that has received $13.5 million in donations from billionaire tech executive Peter Thiel.

At a recent debate, Dolan was asked whether he could win the Republican nomination without Trumps support.

Of course I can win, Dolan said, pivoting to his record in the Ohio Legislature. The irony of this whole thing is Im the only one who has implemented Republican Trump ideas.

See more here:
Republican who refuses to bend the knee to Trump surges in Ohio Senate race - POLITICO

Connie Brown Collins felt ecstatic when a Wyandotte County judge recently struck down a congressional redistricting map drawn by the Republican-led Kansas Legislature.

The Kansas City, Kansas, resident said she and others repeatedly told lawmakers that the map unfairly split racially diverse Wyandotte County into two separate congressional districts. They argued the districts were drawn to drown out their votes to help Republican candidates win elections in all four of the states congressional districts.

Additionally, residents in Lawrence made a similar argument about shifting the Democratic stronghold into the deep-red 1st District that represents western Kansas.

It took a first-of-its-kind ruling from District Court Judge Bill Klapper to, for now, strike down the map.

Now that the ruling has been handed down, said Brown Collins, a plaintiff in the case, Im just very, very happy.

Now the state has appealed Klappers ruling to the Kansas Supreme Court.

The states highest court is scheduled to take up the case in May. That sets the stage for the justices to issue a landmark ruling on how far one political party in Kansas can gerrymander congressional districts.

But the justices will need to act quickly to meet a looming June 1 deadline, which is the registration deadline for candidates to file for election. That will stretch to June 10 if a map is not finalized by May 10.

On Friday, the court announced it scheduled the case to be heard on May 16, all but ensuring the registration deadline will be extended. Heres what could happen next:

Kansas Supreme Court hears appeal

The court will first hear oral arguments from attorneys in the case. The defendants in the case, who are representing the state and appealing the ruling, will need to argue Klapper misapplied state law.

Meanwhile, attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the case will argue that Klappers ruling is correct.

Unlike the trial in Wyandotte County, the court will not hear any new testimony or evidence. The justices will simply decide whether Klappers properly followed the Kansas Constitution.

Justices look at two separate issues in ruling

The court will face two specific issues: whether the state law protects Kansans from both political and racial gerrymandering.

Washburn University law professor Christopher Gunn, an elections expert, said the court only needs to uphold Klappers decision on one of those issues. He believes Klappers ruling on the racial gerrymander issue is much easier to sort out because state law is more strict in protecting Kansans from race discrimination.

But Gunn wants the court to consider both and issue a ruling that will set the standard for what constitutes racial and political gerrymandering for years to come.

Im hoping the justices on our supreme court take the time to look through these issues and identify for us what this is so that, at least for Kansans, this issue is largely put to rest, Gunn said.

Supreme Court orders vary based on ruling

If the court chooses to uphold Klappers ruling, it will have a few options on how to handle the issue going forward.

First, it would likely order the Kansas Legislature to redraw the map with stipulations that it doesnt again create racially and politically gerrymandered districts.

But because the deadline for candidates is close at hand, the court may order the 2020 maps to stay in effect for the 2022 midterm elections, Gunn said.

Alternatively, the justices could order the district court, specifically Klapper, to draw new districts to be put into place before the deadline. Gunn said that is less likely, but not unheard of. He noted the 2020 congressional district map was drawn by a federal court judge in 2012.

There is also the chance the map that was struck down is resurrected. The justices could disagree with Klapper and rule that he misapplied the state law. If that occurs, the congressional map drawn by the Republican-dominated Legislature would be reinstated to exist for the next 10 years.

Brown Collins said she hopes the court upholds Klappers ruling and lawmakers take her concerns into account when redrawing the districts.

If they send the map back to be redrawn by the Legislature, I just hope that they heed what the community has told them over and over and over, she said.

Dylan Lysen reports on politics for the Kansas News Service. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanLysen or email him at dlysen (at) kcur (dot) org.

The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio focused on health, the social determinants of health and their connection to public policy.

Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished by news media at no cost with proper attribution and a link to ksnewsservice.org.

See original here:
The Kansas Supreme Court to say if Republicans gerrymandered the state's congressional map - KCUR

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This year's midterms are shaping up to be one of the biggest tests Democrats face with a once reliable sector of the electorate: Latino voters.

According to polling by Quinnipiac University, done in early April, Biden's approval among Hispanic voters sits at just 26%. That same poll found approval with White voters at 31% and Black voters at 63-percent. When it comes to the most urgent issues facing the country today, Latino voters said inflation was the biggest concern at 31%. Coming in at a tie for second place is immigration and the war in Ukraine at 12-percent.

A sign reading, "Se habla Espanol", identifies a bilingual election official as voters go to the polls for Super Tuesday primaries in the predominantly Latino neighborhood of Boyle Heights on February 5, 2008 in Los Angeles, California. (David McNew/ Getty Images)

Fox News sent crews around the country to talk to Hispanic voters about immigration and what matters most in deciding their vote.

BIDEN'S PLAN TO CANCEL STUDENT DEBT ISN'T DEBT FORGIVENESS, IT'S DEBT FOR ALL

In Orlando, Florida, Fox News found Leticia Andaverde, who says her biggest worries right now are the price of gas and maintaining good employment. When asked if she feels the influx of migrants at southern border will impact how she votes in November, she told Fox News, yes.

"I feel the more people you add in a home, the more problems it can create," Andaverde said. "There's a lot of American people right now in need. And they're giving people that come from other countries the help where there's already enough people here that need that help."

In this Sept. 29, 2020 file photo, Eddie Collantes stands with an American flag draped around his shoulders as he attends a debate watch party hosted by the Miami Young Republicans, Latinos for Trump, and other groups in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)

North of where Andaverde lives, in Charlotte, North Carolina, Edgar Ulises says he worries most about the economy and says he thinks the American dream is gone. However, Ulises doesn't think the immigration issue is to blame.

"I don't think so, because the economy problems are already here," Ulises says,"everything is going up, everything is getting more expensive. And then I think that the immigration problem's never going to change, like the United States is a country built by immigrants and everybody is going to try to come to the United States all the time." Ulises says he didn't vote for former President Trump in 2020, but would in 2024. He also says he feels the Biden Administration is dealing with the southern border crisis well, "but the main problem is not how they handle it. It is the way they're telling people they're going to fix it and they don't."

BIDEN THINKS STUDENT LOAN BORROWERS DESERVE A BLANK CHECK FROM TAXPAYERS

Heading West, Fox News found Hector Zaragoza in Las Vegas, Nevada, who calls the current administration's handling of illegal immigration, 'very poor, very sad." Zaragoza worries for the victims of sex trafficking and expressed frustration over the decision to end Title 42. "I believe it is, it's just like opening the borders and saying, welcome. That's all he's doing."

Voters cast ballots at the Fairfax County Government Center on November 02, 2021 in Fairfax, Virginia. (Getty Images)

Further west, in Los Angeles Toki Muriel says her biggest issues are immigration and crime. But her concerns revolve around the sluggishness of immigration processing.

"As far as like being able to become a legal permanent resident, you know, just, it just takes forever. And I get, you know, I wish that something there was something that could be done to speed up that process a little bit."

Also in L.A., Rudolph Zalez. He doesn't like the state of California's biggest city. He worries about the homeless problem, that can be seen just feet from where he is standing.

On immigration and the Biden Administration's handling of it, Zalez says, "I feel like the government is just sweeping under the rug, everything. And because it doesn't get reported, they pretend it's not happening. And then again, us as residents, we deal with the consequences."

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According to research by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), at least 11.6 million Latinos will cast ballots in 2022, a 71.4 percent increase in the number of Latino voters from 2014.

Read more from the original source:
Republicans have an edge in midterms with Latino voters, new poll shows - Fox News

Ever since the House of Representatives instituted proxy voting a procedure that allows members of Congress to vote on behalf of their colleagues Republicans have made their opposition to the practice clear.

When the House voted in May 2020 to allow proxy voting due to the public health emergency spurred by COVID-19, every single Republican lawmaker voted against the measure. Days later, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy sued House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over it, challenging the constitutionality of proxy voting.

"It is a brazen violation of the Constitution, a dereliction of our duty as elected officials, and would silence the American people's voice during a crisis," McCarthy said at the time. "Democrats are creating a precedent for further injustice. If their changes are acceptable, what stops the majority from creating a 'House Rule' that stipulates the minority party's votes only count for half of the majority party's?"

Ultimately, the Supreme Court declined to hear the complaint in January 2022. Republicans have also claimed that Pelosi only keeps the procedure in place to this day in order to shore up Democrats' razor-thin majority.

But with time, Republicans have begun to break with their stated opposition to the practice and attest that they are "unable to physically attend proceedings in the House Chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency" while dealing with health issues, the births of children, political events, and ailing family members.

Insider analyzed the data from each of the over 700 roll call votes taken by the House between May 20, 2020 until April 7, 2022, analyzing which members used the practice most frequently.

While proxy voting is still overwhelmingly used by Democrats versus Republicans, Insider identified 15 Republican House members who've cast over 100 proxy votes in the last two years.

Read more:
15 Republicans proxy voted over 100 times despite their opposition to it - Business Insider

This week on mypodcastReal America, I sat down with Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) and Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.), the first two Republican Korean American women to serve in Congress, to discuss how Democrats are leaving Asian Americans behind.

On the eve of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, the Republican National Committee is highlighting our efforts to reach communities Democrats take for granted. As Democrats run further left, their radical agenda has become out of step with voters. Americans of all backgrounds are discovering that theres never been a better or more important time to vote Republican.

The GOP has been making inroads into the Asian American community for years. Under the Trump administration, Republicans saw a7 percent gainwith Asian Americans from 2016 to 2020. The shift was even greater among Vietnamese Americans, who experienced a14 percent shift towardRepublican candidates. And if that news wasnt bad enough for Democrats,43 percent of the Asian American and Pacific Islander communitysee race relations getting worse under Joe Biden.

Meanwhile, the RNC is building relationships with Asian Americans by opening Asian Pacific American community centers in California, Georgia, Texas and a brand new one in Nevada, with more to come. These grassroots, local offices are part of how were building relationships with Asian Americans and taking our message of law and order, educational opportunity, and economic growth to new voters.

Asian Americans arent the only community where the RNC is making inroads. While Democrats push socialism, radical abortion policies and refer to them as Latinx, Hispanic Americans are concerned about preserving freedoms, raising strong families and putting food on the table. Its no wonder a recent Quinnipiacpollfound that Bidens approval rating with Hispanic voters was lower than any other racial or ethnic group: just 12 percent say they approve strongly of his time in office.

In fact, polls consistently show Hispanics are moving away from the Democratic Party. A Wall Street Journalpollfrom December found that Hispanic voters were equally divided over who they would vote for in the next election. The momentum certainly seems to be with the GOP: A record103 Republican Hispanic candidatesare seeking congressional seats this year. Its an early sign that our efforts to take our message to new voters and investment in Hispanic community centers in states like Texas, Wisconsin and Florida are making an impact.

A similar pattern is playing out among Black voters, who have been particularly hard hit by Democrats destructive agenda. Democratic support for the defund-the-police movement has led to asurge in violent crimethats disproportionately impacting Black Americans. Inflation is hitting Black Americans especially women hardest, with 44 percent saying rising prices pose a serious financial hardship. Thats why Black support for Democrats is quickly eroding: Backing for Democratic Congressional candidates fell from 56 percent in November to only 35 percent in March.

Its no better for Biden, whose approval with Black Americans plummeted 30pointssince he took office. Black GOP Congressional candidates like Texas Wesley Hunt and Michigans John James are proof that skin color doesnt dictate values or political affiliation. Our strategic engagement with Black Republican candidates, elected officials, and community leaders through our RNC Black American community centers are helping Republicans establish a presence in districts previously dominated by Democrats all over the country.

These trends are part of a broader story. For generations, Democrats thought they had a monopoly on minority voters. But now, Democrats failed promises, polarizing agenda and rising prices are catching up with them. Were building relationships and making significant investments in these communities. Were winning over new voters by taking our message of freedom and opportunity to their doorstep. And were identifying and equipping young Republican leaders from minority communities through our RNC Rising Star program.

Democrats are simply doubling down on their failed policies and overplaying their divisive rhetoric without offering solutions or plans to keep families safe, empower entrepreneurs and create opportunities for advancement. Meanwhile, Republicans are committed to enacting policies that will lift all Americans from every background. Come November, Democrats will be in for a rude awakening.

Ronna McDaniel is chairwoman of the Republican National Committee. Follow her on Twitter: @GOPChairwoman.

Link:
Minorities are finding a new political home with the Republican Party - The Hill