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Senate Republicans on Thursday battered Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning for carrying water for Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly on Medicaid expansion and placing GOP candidates in jeopardy in an election year.

The backlash was a response to Denning and Kelly's appearance Monday in Wichita to promote a Medicaid expansion deal the two reached before the session began in January.

Criticism of Denning erupted during a meeting of Senate Republicans, with Denning and Senate President Susan Wagle sitting side by side. Wagle, a Wichita Republican who has vowed to prevent passage of Medicaid expansion, said Denning betrayed his caucus by teaming up with a Democratic rival.

"For us, all of a sudden you changed direction, Wagle said. You stood with the governor, and you carried the governor's water on a bill she wanted. And now, we're being put in a very bad situation in Sedgwick County."

Another Wichita Republican, Sen. Gene Suellentrop, said Denning has lost the support of a majority of the Senate GOP caucus. Denning didnt notify Senate Republicans that he planned to make the appearance alongside the governor, Suellentrop said.

In Wichita, Denning and Kelly welcomed constituents to call GOP holdouts on Medicaid expansion, which would unlock federal funding and provide health insurance to an estimated 130,000 low-income Kansas adults and children.

"I'll ask you to make a commitment to the caucus that you will not travel with the Democrat governor again to other districts to bully us, or whatever you want to call it, Suellentrop said.

No, Denning replied. Im not going to make that commitment.

Wagle and Denning have been at odds from the start of the session, when Wagle used her authority to place Medicaid expansion in a committee controlled by Suellentrop. Wagle wanted to use Medicaid expansion, a top priority for Democrats, as leverage for her efforts to rewrite the Kansas Constitution to clarify it offers no right to abortion.

When the proposed abortion amendment failed to gain two-thirds majority support in the House, Wagle responded by stifling progress on bills passed by the House, introduced by Democrats or relating to health care.

"We had a conversation at the beginning of the session, Denning said, and she said, 'My leadership position as Senate president will be to kill Medicaid. Your position as Senate majority leader will be to do anything you can to pass it. "

Suellentrop and Wagle expressed concern that Dennings push for Medicaid expansion will hurt vulnerable Republican candidates.

In Wagles district, Republican Rep. Renee Erickson faces a challenge from former Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston, who is running for the Democrats. Elsewhere in Wichita, Republican Sen. Mike Petersen is up against Democratic Rep. Jim Ward.

The political stakes are heightened by anti-abortion lobbyists who want to install their proposed amendment before passing Medicaid expansion to avoid any possibility of taxpayer-funded abortions.

"Our biggest voting bloc in the primary is the pro-life community, Wagle said. We cannot be asked to step on that community and get re-elected, so you're putting us in a very difficult spot, Jim. Very, very difficult."

Suellentrop said Denning was supposed to come up with a plan to be used only if Medicaid expansion couldnt be stopped.

"The understanding was the bill was here in case we got rolled, Suellentrop said.

Ethan Patterson, the chief of staff for Denning, said a small faction of six or seven Senate Republicans was trying to block the legislative process.

Kansans want lawmakers to work together, Patterson said, and weve had 10 years in this building where bipartisanship did not exist.

"If the caucus does decide Jim Denning is not the leader for them anymore, we know w'ere on the right side of this issue not only for our district but for the state on what people want and what the masses want, Patterson said. So we're going to sleep easy easy tonight and moving forward."

Last month, Suellentrops committee sent a message to Denning by attaching work requirements and other controversial provisions, then voting it down anyway.

One of the changes installed by Suellentrops committee would allow health care providers to refuse service for anything that violates their conscience, which is defined as deeply held religious beliefs. That language routinely is used to protect institutions that refuse service on the basis of sexual preference or gender identity.

Denning retaliated by introducing legislation that would apply the faith-based exemption for all health care services. Patterson said the bill was aimed at the Truth Caucus, a group of conservative Republicans.

"If they want that debate, we can have that debate, but what we do not want is that debate to have to be tied to Medicaid, Patterson said. The Truth Caucus little faction within the ranks here believes that if they put that on, it automatically kills Medicaid because the governor will not sign it. That is the whole purpose of tying that to Medicaid."

Suellentrop said he hasnt scheduled a hearing on the proposal because Denning hasnt talked to him about it.

Tom Witt, executive director of Equality Kansas, said the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents of the state were tired of being used as political footballs.

"Now they're willing to play a game where LGBT people are denied health care and we just die, Witt said. It's the most disgusting and vile thing I have seen come out of this building in several years."

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Senate Republicans blast majority leader for working with governor on Medicaid expansion - Hays Daily News

In public, Republicans minimize the long-term implications of Trump. Dan Crenshaw, a freshman congressman for Houston and a rising star in national circles, argued that Texans can distinguish between national and local Republicans. To his point, Greg Abbott, the popular incumbent governor, had a 60% approval rating among Latinos in that very same Lyceum poll. But Trump at the top of the ticket is a major drag on state Republicans. In 2018, when Trump wasnt even on the ballot, Republicans lost 12 State House seats and two U.S. House seats. With Trump as the face and brand of the partyand with members of the state party increasingly identifying as Trump Republicans rather than traditional Republicans, according to primary pollingthe Texas GOP has an uphill fight to hold on to its dwindling portion of the Latino vote. As one Texas Republican strategist put it to me, it doesnt work to say that we are a welcoming party, we are working for you, but we are also a little bit racist.

Behind the scenes, however, the party is attempting to adjust to a new reality. Some in the GOP have tried to distance themselves from Trumpism in subtle ways, or at least to foster a Texas Republican brand focused more narrowly on core issues. In the most recent legislative session, the Republican-controlled legislature abandoned its fixation with bathroom bills in favor of school funding issues, property taxes, and other economic issues. And they are reaching out to new voters. Crenshaw, for one, has made a point of visiting schools, and even convened a youth summit, headlined by Nikki Haley, for almost 2,000 young conservatives. James Dickey, the Republican state chair, told me he spends much of his time counseling Texas Republicans that they can win if they work hard, but risk losing if they take success for granted. He believes the message has gotten through: No one says bless your heart to me anymore when I tell them we have to work to save Texas.

They also think they have a hidden ace. Trump may be a millstone among Latinos, but many Republicans believe that the national Democrats are an equal vulnerability in Texas. Dickey seemed content with the fact that, in his view, the national Democrats have lost their minds. Crenshaw nodded when I asked whether Sanders would be a boon to Texas Republicans, and he seemed pleased with the possibility, until he noted with some horror, What would happen if he won?

For now the numbers still favor the GOP. In January, Democrats fared poorly in a hotly contested special election in House District 28. Both parties invested heavily, but Republicans were more effective in tying the Democrats to locally unpalatable positions on guns and health care. It all resulted in a thumping 16-point defeat. Lets not overstate the importance of an off-cycle State House special electionGary Gates, the winner, wont even get to attend a legislative session before his term expiresbut it is a signal of how the next election will be fought. Manny Garcia, the executive director of the Texas Democratic Party, sees Texas as a battleground state today, but the Republicans still hold the home field edge. Trumps margin of 807,179 votes in 2016 has surely been eroded by changing demographics and motivations, but it likely has not disappeared. It will take an unusual, but not impossible, combination of events for Democrats to overcome that lead.

All this has energized Texas Democrats, though you wouldnt know it from party headquarters: a shabby suite in an equally tired building on the outskirts of Austin. But inside Suite 508, the sense of excitement is palpable; on a recent Monday evening, dozens of staffers and volunteers shuttled back and forth making calls, sending tweets, organizing block walks, and doing whatever else a modern campaign requires. Being a permanent minority is difficult. Money dries up, volunteers and voters stay home, and potential candidates dont bother to run. But a lot has changed in the wake of the 2018 uprising. When I asked Garcia how things have shifted over his dozen years in state politics, he said the biggest change is belief. That belief is evident in the campaign office, but also in candidate-recruitment efforts. More than 1,000 people participated in a recent candidate-training program, and for the first time in memory, Democrats will likely contest every election in every county in Texas in 2020.

Excerpt from:
Trump Could Doom Republicans in Texas. The Party Is Still in Denial. - Vanity Fair

SALEM Sen. Tim Knopp and Rep. Cheri Helt represent the middle of the state, and in the past week, have found themselves in a new political middle.

They are the only Republicans who have not participated in a boycott against a proposal that aims to cut Oregons greenhouse gas emissions.

All other Republicans, including Eastern Oregon Republicans Sen. Bill Hansell of Athena, Rep. Greg Smith of Heppner and Rep. Greg Barreto of Cove, left the building last week, a move that effectively halts most legislative activity. The constitution requires that each chamber have two-thirds of its members present to vote on bills.

The other Republicans may not return before the constitution requires lawmakers to close up shop Sunday. Dozens of proposed bills and budget stopgaps could die.

Now, with mere days left in the 2020 Legislature, hope for a resolution is a rare sentiment around the Oregon Capitol.

Helt, of Bend, may be the exception.

Im here in hopes that we can reach a compromise, Helt, a restaurant owner, said in an interview Tuesday. We need both parties to come together and be able to create legislation thats good for all Oregonians. And my hope is that leadership can come together and we can continue to finish off session.

Both Helt and Knopp, also of Bend, represent districts where registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans in rapidly growing Central Oregon.

Jason Kropf, a Democrat, has filed to run against Helt, while two Democrats, Eileen Kiely and Brian Hinderberger, have filed to run for Knopps seat, according to state Elections Division records.

But Knopp and Helt insist their presence is not intended to appease voters who could give them a pink slip in November if they disapproved of Republican walkouts.

For me, these choices are not about elections, Helt said. These choices are about representing my constituents.

You have to represent your district, Knopp said in his office, where hed propped open a window to let the early spring breeze in. And its not about what would please Democrats. Its about representing the entire district.

In January, the public opinion research firm FM3 interviewed 750 Oregonians over the phone and online who were likely to vote in November, asking them whether they supported or opposed repeated walkouts by Republicans in the state legislature.

Thirty-six percent of respondents said they strongly or somewhat supported repeated walkouts by Republicans, while 59% said they somewhat or strongly opposed the tactic. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4% at the 95% confidence level.

These days, Oregon voters cant be sliced up into two neat halves. Nonaffiliated voters those who register with no party make up a larger share of voters than registered Republicans do.

In Knopps district, there are more nonaffiliated voters than there are Democrats, and in Helts district, nonaffiliated voters are only slightly outnumbered by Democrats, according to the Secretary of States Office.

The FM3 poll also asked nonaffiliated voters whether they were more or less likely to vote for a state senator who had walked out, and found that 63% were somewhat or strongly less likely to vote for such a candidate.

On Tuesday, two proposed measures to rein in the use of walkouts got incrementally closer to the ballot, according to a press release from Service Employees International Union 503, one of the states largest unions.

One petition would disqualify a lawmaker from running again for their House or Senate seat if they had 10 or more unexcused absences from a floor session, while the other petition would fine each lawmaker who walked out $500 a day, cancel their salary and daily expense payments, and would prohibit lawmakers from using campaign funds to pay for expenses associated with walking out.

Knopp, who is executive vice president of the Central Oregon Builders Association and executive director of Partners for Affordable Housing, participated in a walkout last year over an earlier version of the climate bill. He said he had a lot of input from constituents over the last six months.

They want me oppose cap and trade, but they want me to do it in the building and try to be constructive to try to find a consensus solution, Knopp said. My district likes bipartisanship.

Helt said she made it clear to her fellow Republicans that she would not walk out, but said she couldnt recall the moment she made that decision.

I do yes votes. I do no votes, Helt said. I dont do walkouts. I dont do boycotts.

Over the past week, Knopp and Helt have attended floor sessions. Knopp has attended policy committee meetings which have been rare in the waning days of session and Helt traveled back to Bend on Monday to host a roundtable discussion on the coronavirus.

Helt said she is not caucusing with Republicans, and Knopp said that hes not talking formally with his Republican colleagues.

Theyre caucusing and have their own strategy, and my strategy is to be here, Helt said. And, hopefully we can get people to work together and compromise and move forward.

Knopp and Helt have broken with their party before. Last year, Helt proposed tightening immunization requirements for public school students, a measure that drew fierce Republican opposition.

That proposal was sacrificed by Democrats in a deal to get Senate Republicans to end their May 2019 boycott over a school funding bill.

Knopp ticked off a list of issues that hes worked on over the years with Democratic colleagues, including a recent law creating a program for workers to take paid leave from work when they have a child or need to take care of a sick relative.

Helt said she had received positive remarks from constituents about not participating in the boycott.

Theyre glad that Im here, Helt said. I think that Bend wants a sensible center, pragmatic representative, and Im hoping that I meet those needs they will be deciding in the election.

Knopp said his office has received a lot of emails and calls.

Most people are respectful, but theres a lot of passion behind the issue, Knopp said. I understand that. I think if you are looking to avoid criticism, serving in the Oregon Legislature is not the place for you.

Read more from the original source:
Two Central Oregon lawmakers are the lone 2 Republicans remaining in the Capitol - East Oregonian

Later today, I will cast my Super Tuesday Virginia primary vote for a Democrat: Joe Biden. Theres a first time for everything.

Some people wont like this decision. Supporters of Bernie Sanders (who, ironically, shouldnt be considered a real Democrat) may resent the intrusion of conservatives like yours truly, especially when they learn that I am unlikely to vote at all in a general election (more on that later).

And to the extent that Donald Trump supporters approve of meddling in a Democratic primary, their goal is to boost Sanders and doom Biden. This sort of strategic voting strikes me as unethical, risky, and presumptuous.

My brand of meddling is different. First, to assuage my Democratic readers, I happen to be voting for the candidate who I sincerely believe would have the best chance of defeating Donald J. Trump. Second, for my Republican friends, what I am doing (albeit within the confines of the Democratic primary) is following the Buckley Rule: supporting the most conservative candidate who has a chance to win.

I have an affinity for Biden. He has been through a lot in his personal life. And now, having stumbled badly at the start of this campaign, his underdog status makes him all the more endearing. At some level, its hard not to root for Joe.

Admittedly, though, my real goal is to stop Sanders. Thats because the worst possible scenario for America is a Trump vs. Sandersmatch-up.

This lesser-of-two-evils scenario pits a right-wing nationalist against a socialist. Its the Ali vs. Frazier of horrific elections. Given a binary choice that hearkens back to pre-war Europe, most center-right folks will hold their nose and vote for the guy who isnt a commie (which is precisely why Trump wants Bernie to win).

You might scoff at this overwrought fear of Sanders, but I do not. Bernie is someone who praised Soviet-backed communist regimesat the very time when America was engaged in what appeared to be an existential battle against them. He praised Castros literacy programs. He called Daniel Ortega a very impressive guy. Even if you doubt Sanders could follow in Trumps norm-breaking footsteps as presidenteven if you assume he would be reined in by our liberal democratic institutionsthe fact that he has talked fondly of evil regimes with gulags and human rights abuses out the wazoo is, in my estimation, a dealbreaker.

Sanders must be stopped. precisely because the Bernie-Donald binary means that, either way, America ends up with a president who is far. far outside the mainstream of traditional American thought. This would be the most radical and least small c conservative match-up possible.

Republicans wont replace Trump on the ballot, so nominating Biden is the best way for Democrats to defuse this looming disaster, which is why Im voting for him in the primary and urging all my conservative brethren to do the same.

The good news is that many of you can join me. My maneuver is possible because I reside in the commonwealth of Virginia, a state that has an open primary, which means any registered voter can cast a ballot in either partys primary.

Other Super Tuesday states like Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Minnesota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Vermont also allow this. Other Super Tuesday states like Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Oklahoma allow unaffiliated or Independent voters, but not Republican ones, to vote in the Democratic primary.

One knock against open primaries is that outsiders can meddle. But one argument for them is that people who vote in a primary may then experience a sort of buy-in, where they suddenly have skin in the game and are invested in the partys success. It seems very likely to me that many center-right folks who vote for Biden today will also feel compelled to support him come November.

Ultimately, I was persuaded that stopping Sanders is a clear net-plus.

In this regard, I suspect Im weird (how many normal Americans have a political column?). As previously noted, Im still unlikely to vote in November. The reason? Because of my views on a myriad of important issues, including life, I cannot, in good conscience, cast a vote that, in my mind, is tantamount to endorsing the unacceptable platform, policies, and appointments of a presidential administration.

For this same reason, I have wrestled with the question of whether I should vote in the Democratic primary. This may open me up to charges of inconsistency, but ultimately, I was persuaded that stopping Sanders is a clear net-plus. Im confident I can sleep well at night knowing I tried to do that.

Still, voting for a Democrat feels utterly unnatural, and politics makes for strange bedfellows. On Super Tuesday, educated white suburbanites (including Never Trumpers) will join with the African-American community (once, but no longer, viewed as the most progressive Democratic coalition), in what might be a last-ditch effort to save American and stop crazy woke white folks from nominating Crazy Bernie.

What a long strange trip its been.

Read more here:
This Virginia Conservative Republican Is Ridin' With Biden - The Daily Beast

If the leader of the California Republican Party had her way, GOP candidates in this state would never mention President Trumps name.

Not that Jessica Millan Patterson is trashing Trump its hard to imagine a state Republican leader badmouthing a GOP president but she devours the polls like every political pro. And polls consistently show that throughout most of California, Trumps name is dirt.

The latest poll by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found that among likely voters, 94% of Democrats and 57% of independents disapprove of Trumps job performance. It was approved by 84% of Republicans, but theyve become increasingly scarce in California.

So for any Republican candidate running in a competitive district against a Democrat, warmly embracing the unpopular president would be a vote-killer.

Patterson, chairwoman of the California Republican Party, says legislative candidates should campaign only on state and local issues and avoid all subjects presidential.

Congressional candidates might assail Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders call for single-payer, government-only health insurance tying it to all Democrats but they should similarly focus on the everyday problems of California voters, she says.

Our focus in California is on keeping it local, Patterson told me when asked how Republican candidates should handle Trump. Were going to be talking about things happening here and affecting voters lives focused on whats happening in Sacramento. Democrats have given us a lot to work with.

Shed also change the vocabulary of state politicians. Theyd discard Sacramento-speak and talk to voters in plain words about their daily problems and concerns.

Everyone in Sacramento talks in a different language, she complains.

Such as? Bill numbers, authors and coauthors, hearings, amendments.

Well, yeah, its the basic language of governing, presumably taught in high school civics classes. But it does prompt eye glazing and drowsiness.

They should talk to voters about how much more some [Democratic proposal] is going to cost them as taxpayers, Patterson says. Talk about issues that are important to people.

One more thing, she says: Republican politicians should show up more.

Democrats show up, Patterson says. Many voters dont think Republicans care about their problems.

She doesnt mean merely showing up at campaign fundraisers. Shes talking about showing up at meetings in lodge halls and local hangouts to listen to voters problems and discuss solutions engaging every single community and gaining trust.

Patterson showed up at my office the other day to talk about how shes trying to rebuild the crumbled California Republican Party one year after being elected its chairwoman at a state convention. Shes articulate, energetic and savvy. Delegates chose her over a firebrand conservative. Patterson ran as a pragmatist.

Sacramento consultant and former advisor to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Cassandra Pye, who is black, told The Times at the convention:

Weve been a party thats essentially got a face that is primarily white and male and old. Its time we turn the party over to another generation and to some folks that look more like the rest of California.

Pattersons election was a significant step in that direction. She is the first Latino and first woman to be elected head of the California Republican Party.

Moreover, the two Republican leaders of the Legislature are women: Sen. Shannon Grove of Bakersfield and Assemblywoman Marie Waldron of Escondido.

A lifelong political junkie, Patterson, 39, grew up in Montebello and went to Cal State Northridge, majoring in political science. After college, she immediately began working in politics. She lives in Simi Valley with her two young daughters and husband, an assistant dean at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

As the full-time CRP chairwoman, Patterson is paid $250,000 annually almost twice the $127,500 salary California Democrats pay their state chairman, Rusty Hicks.

Pattersons parents were both Democrats her dad a Teamsters union shop steward and her mom a Reagan Democrat. Her father was of Mexican descent. Her mother was Irish and Ukrainian, a strong Catholic drawn toward the GOP by its opposition to abortion. Patterson also is anti-abortion, but says she has never been a pro-life activist.

In California, where voters strongly support abortion rights, Republican candidates wisely stopped focusing on the issue several years ago. The last two Republican governors Schwarzenegger and Pete Wilson were both pro-choice abortion rights advocates.

But Californians havent elected a Republican to statewide office since 2006. Its strictly one-party rule in Sacramento. Democrats hold supermajorities in both legislative houses.

And Democrats dominate the California delegation to the U.S. House by 46 to 7. Republicans lost half their seats in 2018 when Democrats tagged GOP incumbents as Trump toadies.

Coming out of November 2018, we were in incredibly dark times, Patterson says. But that darkness has been filled with some hope, some excitement and just the right amount of people being pissed off about everything from homelessness to just being able to afford staying in California any longer

We see that in candidate recruitment, volunteer recruitment and online contributions.

Patterson says the party raised $1 million online last year, a 1,000% increase. There has been a 33% increase in major donors.

But Republican voter registration has fallen in recent decades to 23.7% of the electorate, far behind Democrats, who are at 44.6%. The GOP even trails no party preference independents, 25.9%.

Democrats could be a huge help to California Republicans by dumping Trump in November.

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The leader of California's Republican Party has a strategy for success: Never mention Trump - Los Angeles Times