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Madison Cawthorn didnt get the memo.

Sometime in early March, the extremist Republican congressman from North Carolina decided to go off on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Remember that Zelenskyy is a thug, Cawthorn told supporters. Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and is incredibly evil and has been pushing woke ideologies.

If Cawthorn had spoken, say, a month earlier, he might have earned the praise of former President Donald Trump and gotten invited to trash Zelenskyy some more on Tucker Carlsons Fox News program. But that was before Zelenskyy had emerged as a heroic figure, standing up to Russias invasion of his country with a combination of eloquence and courage. I need ammunition, not a ride, he said to those who thought he should flee.

So former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove, the sort of establishment Republican who was frozen out during the Trump era, used his Wall Street Journal column to let his readers know that Republicans like Cawthorn and Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance (I dont really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another) are outliers and that the party is oh-so-very supportive of Zelenskyy. Republican members of Congress, candidates and commentators echoing Mr. Trumps isolationism and Kremlin apologetics are out of sync with GOP voters, Rove wrote.

WRAL.com of North Carolina, which obtained video of Cawthorn taking the Kremlin line, pushed that message even harder, stressing in its lead that Cawthorns vile rhetoric was at odds with his party and calling it a comment that runs counter to the overwhelming share of Republicans with a favorable view of the leader fending off a military invasion from Russia.

Oh, please. Can we get real for a moment? Yes, Rove and WRAL cited poll numbers that show Republicans, like most Americans, are now pro-Zelenskyy and support Ukraine in fending off the massive Russian invasion. But that is an exceptionally recent phenomenon.

In January, for instance, a poll by The Economist and YouGov found that Republicans viewed Vladimir Putin more favorably than President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hardly surprising after years of pro-Putin pronouncements by Trump.

No wonder former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, whod like to run for president, told Fox News that Putin is a very talented statesman with lots of gifts who knows how to use power, as Eric Boehlert, who tracks conservative bias on the part of the mainstream media, took note of.

Now, some of this reflects a split between the Republican Partys right wing and its extreme right wing. Way out on the authoritarian fringes, figures such as Carlson and Steve Bannon have long admired Putin for his unabashed, anti-democratic espousal of white Christian dominance and attacks on LGBTQ folks. Politicians such as Cawthorn, Vance and Pompeo, rather than standing up for principle, are trying to thread the needle.

Meanwhile, their less extreme counterparts, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, have flipped from coddling Trump, Putin and Russia to claiming that Biden is to blame for the invasion and the high gas prices it has led to.

All of this has a historical context. As everyone knows, or ought to know, Putin has represented an existential threat to Ukraine since 2014, when he invaded the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and incorporated it into Russia. Putin appears to be gripped by the idea of a Greater Russia, of which in his mind Ukraine is a part. Ukraine was a Soviet republic, and Putin has always expressed nostalgia for the U.S.S.R. But the two countries ties go back centuries, and apparently no one cares about that more deeply than Putin.

Republicans, like most Americans, are now pro-Zelenskyy and support Ukraine in fending off the massive Russian invasion. But that is an exceptionally recent phenomenon.

Into this box of dry kindling came the spark of Trump in 2016. His numerous statements of support for Putin and pro-Russia actions couldnt possibly all be listed here, but a few that pertain to Ukraine stand out. One of Trumps campaign managers, Paul Manafort, had worked for a pro-Russian political faction in Ukraine and, upon being forced out, offered his services to Trump free of charge. You may also recall that a plank in that years Republican platform guaranteeing Ukraines security was mysteriously watered down and a delegate to that years convention later said she was asked directly by Trump to support the change. (Manafort later went to prison for financial crimes he committed in Ukraine, only to be pardoned by Trump.)

That was followed by revelations in the fall of 2019 that Trump, in a phone call to Zelenskyy, demanded dirt on Biden in return for military assistance assistance that Ukraine needed desperately to deter Russian aggression. Trump was impeached over that massive scandal. Yet not a single Republican House member (not even Liz Cheney) supported impeachment, and only one Republican senator Mitt Romney voted to remove Trump from office.

As detailed a month ago by The Washington Post, Trump has continued to praise Putin, hailing his war against Ukraine as genius and savvy, while Trumpers like U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona sneer, We should just call ourselves Ukraine and then maybe we can get NATO to engage and protect our border.

Mother Jones reported over the weekend that Russian media outlets have been ordered to quote Tucker Carlson as much as possible. Joe Kent, a Trump-endorsed Republican congressional candidate in Washington state, endorsed Cawthorns eruption this past Saturday and went him one better, tweeting: Zelenskyy was installed via a US backed color revaluation [sic], his goal is to move his country west so he virtue signals in woke ideology while using nazi battalions to crush his enemies. He was also smart enough to cut our elite in on the graft. @CawthornforNC nailed it.

There was a time when, as the old saying went, politics stopped at the waters edge. That wasnt always good policy, as elected officials came under withering attack when they dared to criticize misbegotten actions such as the wars in Vietnam and Iraq. But there was a virtue to it as well. When we go to war or, in the case of Ukraine, engage in high-wire diplomacy aimed at ending a war, its that much harder when critics are sniping at our leaders. Can you imagine if Republicans had gone on television in 1962 to say that Nikita Khrushchev was right to place Soviet missiles in Cuba?

Claiming that Republicans are united in supporting Ukraine doesnt make it so. Some are, some arent. Its shocking that a few fringe figures like Cawthorn and Kent are openly criticizing Zeleneskyy even now but its just as shocking that praise for Putin was a mainstream Republican position as recently as a month or so ago.

Unfortunately, the medias tendency to flatten out and normalize aberrant behavior by the Republicans will prevent this from growing into an all-out crisis for the party. Well move on to the next thing, whether it be expressing faux outrage over Vice President Harris and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigiegs touting electric cars while gas prices are high (what better time?) or Bidens latest miserable polling numbers.

Anything that enables our feckless media to cover politics as the same old both-sides game that it used to be.

GBH News contributor Dan Kennedys blog, Media Nation, is online at dankennedy.net.

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Republicans have a Putin problem and the media need to stop glossing over it - GBH News

Alex Roarty and Bryan Lowry / McClatchy Washington Bureau (TNS)

WASHINGTON Former President Donald Trump spent an hour channeling the mood of conservative voters last week when, during a free-wheeling rally in South Carolina, he riffed on favorite subjects ranging from Ukraine to Mark Zuckerberg.

Entirely absent during his hour-long appearance? Any mention of would-be Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Hes not the only Republican whose attention is elsewhere right now.

Less than a week before Jackson is set to begin confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court, the Republican Party and broader conservative movement are signaling theyre not interested in a knock-down, drag-out fight over the nomination. Most Republicans have avoided sustained personal attacks, TV ad campaigns have run dry, and even leading Republican media figures on Fox News and other outlets have largely focused on other topics.

Their lack of focus has transformed what many once expected to be a marquee ideological fight over the Miami-raised judge into a relatively subdued process, at least thus far. And even Republicans acknowledge thats indicative of the fact that Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to serve on the Supreme Court, is likely to win confirmation.

Every battle you get into you have to measure the cost of the battle and what is to be gained by the battle, said former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. And I dont think theres much to be gained by engaging in a full-scale assault on this nominee.

GOP officials like Santorum caution that even if Jackson is likely to be confirmed by the Senate, shell do so with at most a couple of Republican votes. They warn that her confirmation hearings will still be contentious, as GOP lawmakers zero in on what many of them consider her overly liberal judicial philosophy. And one member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., indicated Wednesday that he was ready to criticize Jackson in more severe terms, accusing her of taking a soft approach on sex offenders.

But compared to the recent marquee ideological showdowns of other Supreme Court confirmations, including those of recently appointed Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, the fight over Jackson has thus far been conspicuously dormant.

Its pretty clear that the Republican establishment has not swung into action in any sort of genuine effort to block this nomination, or even raise serious questions about Judge Jackson, said Clark Neily, senior vice president for legal studies at the libertarian Cato Institute.

President Joe Biden nominated Jackson in February to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer. Just a year earlier, Biden had nominated Jackson to sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, where she won confirmation in the Senate with every Democratic vote and the support of three Republicans: Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

White House officials point to endorsements Jackson has received, including from the International Association of Chiefs of Police and Thomas Griffith, a former circuit court judge appointed by George W. Bush, as proof of the strength of her nomination.

She is deeply qualified for the Supreme Court as Senator McConnell affirmed after meeting with her and her record and approach to cases is defined by respect for our Constitution and non-ideological neutrality, said Andrew Bates, White House spokesman.

Senate GOP Response

Senate Republicans have grumbled about her confirmations quick timeline and scrutinized Jacksons past decisions.

But theres little indication that theyre heading into next weeks hearings with a plan to employ scorched earth tactics to scuttle the nomination.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, one of the Senates foremost firebrands, said this week that viewers shouldnt expect the same level of contention that took place in 2018 with the hearings on Kavanaughs nomination when Democrats on the committee probed into allegations of sexual misconduct.

I am confident we will thoroughly consider every aspect of our record. What we will not be doing is repeating the spectacle of character assassination, Cruz, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told McClatchy.

But a focus on Jacksons record doesnt guarantee civility or a lack of controversy. Hawley, who along with Cruz sought to overturn Bidens Electoral College victory, accused Jackson of being overly lenient in sex offense cases.

Judge Jackson has a pattern of letting child porn offenders off the hook for their appalling crimes, both as a judge and as a policymaker. Shes been advocating for it since law school. This goes beyond soft on crime. Im concerned that this a record that endangers our children, Hawley said on Twitter.

He cited out-of-context remarks from a 2012 hearing of the U.S. Sentencing Commission in which Jackson, at the time the bipartisan commissions vice chair, was questioning a witness from the Justice Departments Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section on distinctions between types of offenders.

He also pointed to sentences she had given offenders as a federal district court judge that fell below the recommended federal sentencing guidelines.

Its common for judges to hand down sentences below the recommended guidelines in these cases. A 2021 report from the Sentencing Commission found that in 2019 only 30% of non-production child pornography offenders were charged within the federal guidelines. The commission said technological changes had rendered the current sentencing scheme insufficient for distinguishing between types of offenders.

Courts increasingly apply downward variances in response to the high guideline ranges that now apply to the typical non-production child pornography offender, although sentences remain lengthy, the report said.

Other Republicans appear more likely to use the hearings as an opportunity to reject efforts to expand or reform the court rather than attacking Jackson herself.

In a Tuesday floor speech, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., took aim at Demand Justice, a progressive group that advocates for court expansion and was co-founded by former Hillary Clinton campaign press secretary Brian Fallon.

McConnells criticism was similar to a line of attack pushed by the conservative Judicial Crisis Network, which spent millions of dollars in ads in February singling out Arabella Advisors, a liberal group that helps steer money to a network of progressive organizations and causes.

Conservatives say they expect to continue pushing the line of criticism through the confirmation hearings.

During the coming hearing and beyond, JCN will continue to do whatever is necessary to highlight the corrupting influence of Arabella Advisors vast dark money network on the judiciary and the judicial nominations process, said Carrie Severino, JCNs president, in a statement.

Reasons

But after its February ad blitz, JCN hasnt run an ad that references Jackson or the confirmation fight this month, according to two sources tracking TV ad spending. And officials with the group acknowledge that lockstep Democratic support for her nomination, even from moderate members like Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, makes it unlikely Republicans have a chance to stop it.

Republicans and Democrats say a perfect storm of circumstances explains why Jacksons nomination has yet to galvanize resistance on the right. As Severino mentioned, many of them doubt even a fierce GOP effort would be successful.

Even when theyre critical, most Republicans have carefully worded their statements about Jackson. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said his meeting with the judge did not ease his concerns about her nomination, but in the same statement referred to the judges personal story as inspiring.

And both parties acknowledge that conservatives already hold a six-member majority on the nine-member court, after Republican senators successfully blocked former President Barack Obama from appointing a new justice during the last year of his presidency and Trump successfully nominated three of them: Kavanaugh, Barrett, and Neil Gorsuch. Jackson would replace a liberal in Breyer, lowering the stakes.

There are a variety of reasons beginning with the fact that Republicans know this court has been so tilted toward the right wing, the three most recent appointees and they succeeded unconscionably in blocking Garland, said Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. So that may be a factor, but shes a very superbly qualified candidate, and very charming and intellectually impressive, and so I think thats really wowed a lot of Republicans.

Other Republicans speculate that, amid a favorable political climate, party leaders would rather continue keeping the public focus on issues like inflation, rather than their own dug-in opposition to a historic Supreme Court nominee.

And the war in Ukraine, which began the same week Biden nominated Jackson, has also commanded the vast majority of the medias attention, including among conservative networks. When Fox News host Sean Hannity interviewed Rubio on his show Monday, for instance, the topic was not the Supreme Court but Russias invasion of the European country.

Watchers of the network say theyve been somewhat surprised that, while not ignoring Jackson completely, conservative media figures have not led a sustained negative campaign against her.

This is nowhere near the virulence and volume with which weve normally seen, said Sergio Munoz, policy director here at the liberal group Media Matters.

The confirmation hearings are scheduled to be held from Monday to Thursday. Democratic leaders are aiming for a vote before the full Senate before Easter.

Santorum said that he hopes Republicans ask probing, difficult questions of Jackson during the hearings. But barring an unforeseen development, hes not sure the questions or any part of Jacksons confirmation will break through to the public.

My guess is this is going to struggle for airtime, he said.

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'I Don't Think There's Much to be Gained': Most Republicans Back off SCOTUS Fight - Centralia Chronicle

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) Mail-in voting is very popular with the electorate but very controversial for Republican lawmakers who are trying to get it booted. But Act 77, which gave no-excuse absentee balloting, also gave Republicans something they really liked that would be in jeopardy if the law were overturned.

Act 77 giveth vote by mail and taketh away straight-party voting. Where with just one lever on a machine or checking one box on a piece of paper, youve voted for every single office of one party, Christopher Nicholas of Eagle Consulting said.

That one button convenience is a hot button irritant for the GOP. Republicans were so dead set on getting rid of straight-ticket voting that they were willing to give to the governors demands for more ballot accessibility, Former Spokesman for Governor Wolf, JJ Abbott said.

So Republican lawmakers said yes to no-excuse mail-ins 50 days out from an election and relaxed voter registration deadlines. In 2020, as those mail-ins counted, Joe Biden surged to victory. But the states biggest upset was incumbent Democratic Treasurer Joe Torsela losing to unknown and underfunded Republican Stacy Garrity.

Torsellas loss had a lot to do with the elimination of straight-party voting, Rep. Dan Frankel (D-Allegheny) said. Republican strategist Nicholas agrees. I havent heard anyone give me a better explanation or better theory, Nicholas said.

Each party won something. Each party lost something. To longtime State Rep. Frankel, thats the way important issues are supposed to be horse traded.

Act 77 was an old school process that I miss and I wish we could get back to so we can move ahead and do the things that are important for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Frankel said.

He also says hed make the deal again. Giving lots more people access is more important than the convenience of straight-party voting. But Republican lawmakers are suing to toss the entire law insisting mail-ins are unconstituional. What were seeing now is complete hypocrisy from those who made that deal now wanting to go back on it, Abbott said.

So will Act 77 stay or will it go? Its fate is in the hands of the State Supreme Court.

Read more:
Pa. Republicans weigh haves and have nots with Act 77 - ABC27

One Thursday evening in February, hundreds of maskless Republicans packed into The River Church, a nondenominational evangelical house of worship located in a Salem strip mall.

While all the leading GOP candidates for governor were there, pitching an alternative to four decades of Democratic rule in Oregon, it wasnt your average candidate forum. Instead, it was billed as a prayer service for governor candidates followed by question and answer time, so as to be informed how to pray for them in the future.

Charismatic pastor Lew Wooten preached on his defiance of Gov. Kate Browns order to close churches at the height of the pandemic and his experience facing down antifa in Portland, which has made him something of an online sensation.

The party was in full revolt against the last days of pandemic restrictionsthat much was obvious. Older men and women who had brought their masks to the church wore them below their chins once they saw all the uncovered faces.

Eleven candidates were there, from Bud Pierce, the Salem oncologist who lost to Gov. Brown in 2016, to Christine Drazan, the onetime House minority leader.

Virtually all of them told the audience they wanted to restrict abortion, get tough on crime, and trash Oregons vote-by-mail system.

A mild-mannered candidate in a red tie, Reed Christensen told the crowd: The puppet Biden is a perfect example of the garbage you get when you order your president through the mail. Rousing applause ensued.

Christensen is under federal indictment for allegedly assaulting a police officer while storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

In multiple ways, the GOP is still nursing a massive hangover from the last election. A contingent of the party, led by the ex-president himself, wont accept the results. And to get elected, Republicans may have to bite into that red meat of politics and appeal to their base.

If the party seems stuck in the past, it also has an unusual opportunity to do something it hasnt managed to accomplish in 40 years: win the governors mansion.

A competitive, unpredictable GOP primary promises an especially meaningful prize: the chance to face a Democrat when most Oregonians think the state is headed in the wrong direction.

If the right message can be delivered to the right people with enough frequency to hit home, then I think this could be a year for a Republican governor, even in a very blue state like Oregon, says former state Rep. Jeff Kropf (R-Sweet Home), onetime state director of Americans for Prosperity, a Koch brothers group.

WW spoke to party insiders and outside observers, who agree that a perfect storm of conditions makes Republicans surprisingly relevant in deep blue Oregon.

Everywhere you turn, theres a bad issue for Democrats right now, says Lars Larson, the KXL talk radio host. Its a very tough choice to make. We have a wealth of talent on the Republican side.

This year is their best shot, perhaps in four decades, to win the states highest office.

Have You Herd?

There are three reasons why:

1. Oregon Republicans nearly always win at least 40% of the vote in statewide races.

Despite Oregons status as a solidly blue state, governor contests here are always reliably close. In the past three governors races, the Republican nominee received at least 43% of the vote.

In 2014, Dennis Richardson won 44.1%. In 2016, Bud Pierce won 43.5%. Knute Buehler? In 2018, he captured 43.7%. Sure, Buehler spent more than $19 million for little better than 4 out of 10 votes. But Richardson spent less than $2 million and got a better result.

Those numbers suggest a hard floor of 40%. In Attorney General Ellen Rosenblums last race, in 2020, her Republican opponent spent less than $12,000 and still won more than 40% of the vote.

Since 2002, in the governors race, the average margin of victories has only been 5 percentage points, says pollster John Horvick of DHM Research. There is a possibility for a Republican to win.

2. Virginia could be a harbinger of this election cycle.

A Republican win in the governors race last November in Virginiaa state Biden won by 10 pointsdoesnt necessarily translate to a win for Republicans in Oregon, where Biden won by 16. But it is a warning to Democrats and a clarion call to Republicans. Drazan entered the race not long after.

All politics are national now. Two years into a new administration, Democrats control the White House and the U.S. House and Senate. That means any problems in the country accrue to the Democrats.

Say, 7% inflation and a lingering pandemic.

In 2010, the last time a first-term Democratic president was proving a disappointment, Republican Chris Dudley lost to John Kitzhaber by 22,000 votes. Obamas approval rating was at 50% at the same point in his first term, while Biden began the year with 40% approval, according to national polls by Gallup.

Ive never seen anything quite like this at the most basic grassroots level, says Kropf. Weve got national politics. Weve got geopolitical issues going on: war. And weve got a very unpopular governor in this state. I mean, you start adding all this stuff up, not to mention inflationyeah, people are looking for alternatives here.

To top it off, Gov. Kate Brown has the dubious honor of being the least popular governor in the country, at least as of November.

3. Oregons race for governor has a well-funded, centrist, third-party candidate.

Betsy Johnson, the former state senator and Democrat turned independent, is changing the math of the race. Her entry means Republicans could win with 40% of the vote.

Republicans have the best chance theyve had in 12 years, says Jim Moore, a Pacific University professor who is working on a biography of Oregons last Republican governor. And the reason is, because Betsy Johnson is in the race.

The most famous third-party candidate in the past three decades, presidential candidate Ross Perot, helped propel Bill Clinton to the White House. Johnson, too, could entice Republican votes. She has Republican donors and is taking Republican positions on many issues.

There is no viable pathmathematically, philosophically, politically[for a Republican] between here and November, says Dan Lavey, a former Republican consultant working for Johnson.

But she could also hurt Democrats. Some Republicans see her as a pro-choice onetime Democrat who voted for some of the biggest tax hikes in state history.

Our internal polling shows that Betsy Johnson, as a lifetime, insider Democrat, takes twice as many votes from the Democrat candidate than the Republican, says David Kilada, Sandy Mayor Stan Pulliams campaign consultant.

And yet: There is the Trump problem.

The publicity-seeking ex-president not only endorses candidates but revels in the limelight, and disaffected Democrats and even the unaffiliated recoil at the orange-haired menace. Whether he controls who wins the GOP primary in Oregon by extending his endorsement is key to how the race unfolds.

As of November, more than 60% of likely Oregon Republican voters wanted to see a candidate for governor more like Trump than less. He still repulses unaffiliated voters.

Its a common problem politicians face: winning the party faithful in the primary and the party ambivalent in the general. But the problem is notched up to an extraordinary degree by Donald Trump never conceding the last election and his demand of hard-and-fast loyalty.

You have to have this craven allegiance to Cult Trump, says Elaine Franklin, the longtime Republican political consultant. These Republicans motivated to vote in the primary, when did they become part of a cult? It defies logic and reason to think that Biden stole the election in Oregon.

Consider the example of Jessica Gomez, a Latina gubernatorial candidate from Medford with the sort of homeless-to-entrepreneur bootstraps narrative that might have crossover appeal. At a Feb. 26 forum in Springfield, she urged the audience to consider that a fellow Republican had indeed gone looking for fraud in Oregon elections and found none.

So our last [GOP] statewide elected official, Dennis Richardson, did an audit on our election systems and was pretty comprehensive. And at the end of the day, he didnt find any evidence of fraud.

She received a politely quiet responsethe same sort of reception given to Brandon Merritt, a political newcomer who asks Republican forums to cheer him on with Lets go, Brandon! (WW apparently likes dad jokes better than Republican diehards.)

To be sure, a sliver of daylight has opened up between Republicans and Trump: An NBC poll in January found that 56% of Republicans support their party more than they do the former president, while 36% chose Trump over partya reversal from just months prior.

What happens in November may boil down to the simple calculus of which is more repellent to voters in the Willamette Valley suburbs: Trump or the hellscape of rising inflation, gun murders, and the ongoing pandemic?

After the Oregon Supreme Court evicted New York Times reporter Nick Kristof from the ballot, the Democratic primary became a rather sleepy affair between two leading contenders.

But 19 Republicans are slugging it out in a primary race in which there is still no overwhelming favorite, and the victor wont have to receive a majority of the vote.

Here are five who have the cash or name recognition to separate themselves from the rest of the packand how much they are willing to embrace the Big Lie.

Age: 40

Occupation: Mayor of Sandy, insurance executive

Money raised: $1 million, but only $286,000 on hand

Signature moment: Whenever Gov. Kate Brown restricted schools and businesses during the pandemic, Pulliam provided the GOP response with a press conference demanding they be allowed to reopen.

Chances to win the primary: Pulliams opposition to COVID shutdowns and his loyalty to Trump once made him the candidate to beat in the primary. But last month, Pulliam told WW that he and his wife were briefly part of a Portland swingers club. In a GOP primary, traditional sexual mores still matter. Last week, he was not among four Republican gubernatorial candidates to get an endorsement by the Oregon Right to Life political action committeeeven though he opposes abortion.

What he says about the Big Lie: Right after the Jan. 6 insurrection, Pulliam faulted Trump for the violence that ensueda statement he has since tried to walk back. At The River Church, he told the audience: Willamette Week reached out to all the leading Republican candidates, and I was the only one who stood up and said the last election was fraudulent.

Age: 65

Occupation: Oncologist

Signature moment: Won the Republican nomination for governor in 2016.

Money raised: $1 million, but he can self-fund.

Chances to win the primary: Pierce has arguably the best name recognition among Republicans, thanks to his 2016 campaign, which won him 43% of the vote. He is beloved in Marion County, where hes tended to cancer patients for decadesand hes liked by Republicans who watched him carry the party banner at times when momentum was against them.

A recent tragedy engenders even more sympathy. On the campaign trail, he brings up the untimely death of his beloved wife, Selma, who was killed by a car as she walked near their home in 2020; at a forum, he cited prayer as helping him through.

But with a personality as dry as cabernet, he seems unlikely to excite the party.

I like Dr. Pierce a lot, says Larson. As much as I like him, I think youve got to have a real fire in your belly.

What he says about the Big Lie: In 2016, Pierce pivoted from endorsing Trump in the primary to un-endorsing him in the generala gambit that does not make him a leading contender for the ex-presidents endorsement. He concedes Biden won the election.

Age: 49

Occupation: Former House minority leader

Signature moment: Led a walkout to shut down the Oregon Legislature, derailing the Democrats climate change package in 2020.

Money raised: $1.4 million, with more than $1 million on hand

Chances to win the primary: As the leader of House Republicans for two years, Drazan is a professional whos still a staunch conservative on issues like abortion. And many speculate that if she wins the primary, she is most likely to receive significant cash from the Republican Governors Association.

But some conservatives fault her for failing to block more Democratic bills by walking out.

And she may not be able to excite the MAGA-hatted GOP base in May or November. The base may prefer an angry, ass-kicking outsider in the mold of Trump.

One hint she can persuade them: Sen. Dallas Heard (R-Roseburg), the hard-right chair of the party who recently resigned after accusing his internal party opponents of communist psychological warfare, prefers Drazan over other leading candidates.

Im a small-town girl from Klamath Falls, she says on the campaign stump. Kate Brown and Tina Kotek have harmed Oregon. They have hurt our beautiful state.

What she says about the Big Lie: She was never a Trump diehard and opposed her partys resolution to call Jan. 6 a false flag operation. The election is over. It is time to govern, her statement read.

But she attacks Democrats when asked about election securitypointing to a bill that would have given inmates the right to vote in prison. It is just stunning to me the extent to which they will go to rig the system, she says on the campaign trail.

Age: 66

Occupation: Former legislator and chair of the state GOP, business consultant

Money raised: $1 million, half of it a loan from himself

Signature moment: Co-petitioned Measure 11, an initiative passed in 1994 that set mandatory minimum sentences for certain violent crimes.

Chances to win the primary: Tiernan has been out of the Legislature for two decades, and its been more than 10 years since he chaired the Oregon Republican Party. His name recognition is nil. Its hard when you jump back in and youve been out a long time, says former House Speaker and Secretary of State Bev Clarno, who overlapped with him in the Legislature and endorsed Jessica Gomez in the primary.

Then again, his style is Trump-likehe was a pugnacious lawmaker whose nickname was B-1 Bob, after the supersonic heavy bomber, and he once told two veteran GOP lawmakers to resign from the party after they supported a tax hike. (They ignored him.)

Tiernan entered the race just last month and can self-fund his campaign (he was once marred to the daughter of the founder of PayLess Drug Stores).

What he says about the Big Lie: I think Trump lost the election, for many reasons, Tiernan told WW on Feb. 17, after announcing his run. Part of that could have been voter fraud; part of that could have been bureaucratic bumbling; part of it could have been just what happens when you have over 3,000 counties trying to do a process.

Age: 68

Occupation: Writer, publisher and consultant

Signature moment: Helped fund a campaign to defeat liberals in school board races in suburban districts, including Sherwood, where Oregon Health Authority director Patrick Allen lost his seat.

Money raised: $708,000

Chances to win the primary: Barton published Brainstorm NW magazine alongside Jim Pasero for years and was well known among a small but influential group of prominent conservatives writing about politics and policy. For more than a decade, she was the architect of the Oregon Transformation Project, which roiled Clackamas County politics, electing conservatives to leadership roles.

With no elective history, Barton focuses on her personal story: training horses, a triumph over alcoholism. On the campaign trail, she likes to describe her childhood in Williamsburg, Va., an early historic colonial capital, as a source of her patriotism.

But she is not without political experience. Most recently, she and former state Rep. Kevin Mannix filed a successful lawsuit in 2020 against COVID mandates.

What she says about the Big Lie: When asked whether Biden won, she refused to answer.

Two other GOP candidates could take a notable chunk of the electorate and factor into who wins the nomination:

Age: 70

Occupation: Contractor

Signature moment: Authored and successfully campaigned for Measure 47, a limit on property tax hikes, in 1996.

Money raised: $500, from himself

Chances to win the primary: None, given that hes the only Republican nominee to get less than 40% of the vote in an Oregon governors race since the Great Depression (he was slaughtered by John Kitzhaber in 1998, with 30% of the vote). Sizemore was a charismatic leader of tax revolts in the 1990s and still has a higher profile than Barton or Tiernan. But hes been in the wilderness for two decades and filed for bankruptcy in 2013. A former carpet salesman and keen softball player, Sizemore dusted off his lawn signs after Pulliam admitted to swinging.

Age: 49

Money raised: $165,000

Occupation: Mayor of Baker City, businesswoman

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One of These Republicans Could Actually Be Your Next Governor - Willamette Week

More than a dozenHouse Republicans on Wednesday voted against legislation to promote public education about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

The bipartisan bill was authored by Republican Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) and passed handily by a vote of 406-16. All of the no votescame from Republicans, including several members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

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A spokesperson for LaMalfatold The Hill thatthe California Republicansupports the overall idea behind the bill but that his opposition stemmed from local concerns that a historical site in his district does not currently have sufficient capacity for tourists.

Harris said that the House should be prioritizing other legislation.

While a war is raging in Europe, gas prices are over four dollars a gallon, our open southern border allows fentanyl to enter our country and kill our youth, and there is record violence in our cities, Americans expect Congress should be spending our time on these issues, Harris said in a statement.

A spokesperson for Roys office said the opposition to the bill stemmed from the belief that the federal government shouldnt be involved.

Rep. Roy believes this matter should not be the responsibility of the federal government and that it would be best handled by private and charitable entities, a spokesperson said.

It wasn't immediately clear why others voted against the legislation. The Hill has reached out to the lawmakers' offices for comment.

The bill would specifically create a Japanese American World War II history network administered by the National Park Service to connect historical sites associated with the mass internment of Japanese Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor launched by Japan's military.

No one spoke in opposition to the legislation during the brief House floor debate. Rep. Bruce WestermanBruce Eugene Westerman16 House Republicans vote against bill to promote education on internment camps 51 organizations call on House panel to move on Puerto Rico statehood Interior recommends imposing higher costs for public lands drilling MORE (Ark.), the top Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee, said that the program "will be an important tool to ensure that this history, no matter how painful it may be, is always remembered, and the important stories of interned Japanese Americans are told with honor and respect."

The House also passed a separate bill by voice vote on Tuesday that would permanently authorize another program dedicated to preserving the confinement sites and establish a grant program to promote education about the internment of Japanese Americans.

About 120,000 people of Japanese descent were forced to live in detention camps as a result of a 1942 executive order from former President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Most of those people were American citizens.

The U.S. government didn't move to close the camps until the end of 1944.

Passage of both bills coincided with the one-year anniversary on Wednesday of the shootings at three spas in Atlanta that killed six Asian American women.

Multiple GOP-led state legislatures have passed measures in recent months to prevent schools or businesses from teaching critical race theory, or the idea that certain policies perpetuate systemic racism.

The Florida state Senate, for example, passed a bill last week that prohibits any instruction that says someone "must feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress" for their race or sex. It also bans teachings that state certain races or sexes are privileged or oppressed.

Updated:10:10 p.m.

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