Tag Archive for: Republican

Rick Scott Tells Charlie Kirk He Won’t Support Trump’s ‘Beautiful Bill’ In Present Form

Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott told Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk on Tuesday that he would not vote for President Donald Trump’s House-passed “one big, beautiful bill” in its present form.

Trump gave Senate Republicans permission to make major changes to the bill on Sunday as some GOP senators are warning that the package is dead-on-arrival without significant reforms. On “The Charlie Kirk Show,” Scott said he would “absolutely” vote against it without additional spending cuts.

WATCH:

“If they brought it to the floor like right now, there’s not a chance it’ll get the 51 votes it needs … Look we all know we have to balance the budget,” Scott said. “Look, we know that it’s getting harder to sell our treasuries, we know interest rates are going up. We want to get interest rates down, we can get inflation under control. That means balance the budget.”

Kirk said Scott’s opposition to the current bill was “a big statement.” The host asked the senator what it would take to get the bill to pass and about the reconciliation process.

“Charlie, we’ll change it. We’ll have our own bill and … it will go back to a conference or just go back to the House and they’ll pass our bill. But I believe we’re going to dramatically reduce mandatory spending to get this budget balance in a short period of time, which is what we have to do,” Scott told Kirk. “It’s what we promise. I just went through my election just like President Trump did. We all promise we’re going to balance the budget. We are going to set the process to quickly balance in this budget.”

GOP Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rand Paul of Kentucky are among the fiscal hawks influencing the deliberation about spending deficits. Johnson has also noted Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee and Scott as senators who are seeking further spending cuts in the bill.

Johnson is advocating for the government to return to pre-pandemic spending levels — a nearly $6 trillion reduction — and calls the current bill “completely unacceptable.”

While House Republicans felt pressured to accept the bill due to the upcoming 2026 midterm elections, numerous Senators do not.

“In the House, President Trump can threaten a primary, and those guys want to keep their seats. I understand the pressure. Can’t pressure me that way,” Johnson told reporters on Thursday. “I’m not going to vote for it with minor tweaks. I think everybody’s kind of happy talking and ‘get together and pull together and gotta do this’ and that crap. That’s the way they’re going to try to make it go.”

Paul has said that he opposes the bill based on language that will increase the debt limit by $4 trillion over the next two years — something Trump has demanded.

“I’ve told them if they’ll take the debt ceiling off of it, I’ll consider voting for it,” Paul told reporters on Thursday. “We’ve never, ever voted to raise the debt ceiling this much. It’ll be a historic increase. I think it’s not good for conservatives to be on record supporting a $4 (trillion) or $5 trillion increase in the debt ceiling.”

“If they were to take the debt ceiling off of it and have the tax reductions and spending reductions, I’d probably vote for that,” Paul added. “The spending reductions are imperfect, and I think wimpy, but I’d still vote for the package if I didn’t have to vote to raise the debt ceiling.”

AUTHOR

Jason Cohen

DCNF Reporter/Clipper

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.


All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

TAKE ACTION: Urge The 53 Republican U.S. Senators Not To Botch The One Big, Beautiful Bill!

TAKE ACTION: Send then your email, now!


Click here to send your email to urge 53 Republican US Senators to use great wisdom in the changes they make to the House version of the One Big, Beautiful Bill.

Click here to share at X.


The Republican US House of Representatives approved its version of the budget resolution called the One Big, Beautiful Bill.  The bill passed by a vote of 215-214 on May 22, 2025.

Millions of Americans, including many who are not registered Republicans, are watching to see if the United States Senate can fulfill GOP campaign promises made during the 2024 elections.  They are looking forward to with great anticipation the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act renewal, border and immigration reform, energy deregulation, increased military spending, some new tax exemptions, etc.

Now that the US House has approved its version of the One Big, Beautiful Bill, voter expectations to see these promises kept are very high.

Disappointing voters, especially non-GOP voters, will have grave consequences for Republicans in the 2026 elections and beyond if the senate plays too hard and makes big changes to the One Big, Beautiful Bill.

GOP Senators know the slim margin in the House. They know the changes that would make it dead on arrival for a final vote on the bill.

Florida Family Association has prepared an email for you to send to urge 53 Republican US Senators to use great wisdom in the changes they make so as not to botch this historic opportunity to approve the One Big, Beautiful Bill that has everything voters expect and Americans and America need to be safe and prosperous.

To send your email
, please click the following link, enter your name and email address then click the “Send Your Message” button. You may also edit the subject or message text if you wish.


Click here to send your email to urge 53 US Republican Senators to use great wisdom in the changes they make to the House version of the One Big, Beautiful Bill.


©2025 . All rights reserved.

Republicans Finally Release Draft of Tax Bill—Read It!

Limping along. Barely.

Our GOP controlled House and Senate sent fewer bills to President Trump than any Congress in 70 years.

They sent five bills to President Trump’s desk to sign in his first 100 days. That’s the least out of any President since the 1950s.

It is inconceivable that these quislings think the majority of Americans voted for Republicans. Wrong.

They voted for Trump despite the impotent and feckless treachery of Republican (uniparty) chicanery. These quisling clowns better get with the program.

Read it: House Republicans release text for highly anticipated tax cut bill

By Zach Halaschak

Republican taxwriters have released the text of the slate of tax proposals that they want to go into the massive fiscal bill that would enact much of President Donald Trump‘s agenda.

The legislative text released Monday includes extending and making permanent various expiring provisions from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, as well as other Trump priorities, such as eliminating taxes on tips, ending taxes on overtime, and increasing the cap on state and local tax deductions.

House leadership released the 389-page document on Monday afternoon, a day before the House Ways and Means Committee is set to hold its markup on the tax provisions. During that process, the various tax proposals will be debated and amendments to the legislation offered.

The document is the most substantial chunk of legislative text yet for the legislation that Republicans hope to pass through the reconciliation process, which involves several committees and markups. Reconciliation is a legislative process that allows bills to bypass the filibuster and pass with only a simple majority in the Senate.

While some of the tax proposals in the “one big beautiful bill” are uncontroversial and will likely garner universal Republican support, others could end up being changed to satisfy certain members who might threaten to withhold support for the overall legislation.

Continue reading.

AUTHOR

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POSTS ON X:

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

‘Heir Apparent’: Here’s How JD Vance’s New RNC Role Puts Him In Pole Position For 2028

Vice President J.D. Vance is taking over as the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) finance chair, a new role that GOP strategists and pundits say bolsters his position as the clear frontrunner to represent the party as its nominee in the 2028 presidential race.

In his new role, Vance — the first sitting vice president to take on the RNC campaign finance chair job — will be one of the top fundraisers in the country for the party and play a pivotal role in directing its course in the 2026 midterms and beyond. The position will grant Vance access to major GOP donors from all over the country and an ability to build rapport with them, cementing his status as the obvious leader for the GOP nomination in 2028 over potential opponents who will not have the same opportunities, GOP strategists and pundits told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“This is an acknowledgement of the effectiveness of J.D. Vance advancing the Trump message,” Mark Warner, an Ohio-based GOP strategist, told the DCNF. “You do not put your lead fundraising person out if that person is not a skilled communicator who energizes the base. So, this is an acknowledgement of his skillset and his ability to do many things. Along the way, it will give him relationships with key donors that will be invaluable should he run for president in 2028 … Being the top Republican fundraiser is a tremendous advantage for J.D. Vance.”

Clearly, there is still plenty of time between now and the beginning of the 2028 primary season, but prospective 2028 candidates on the other side of the aisle are already beginning to test the waters in earnest as part of the very early “invisible primary” process. But the only things that could knock Vance out of his pole position would be a severe slip-up on his part or a sudden loss of support for the Trump brand among GOP base voters, both of which are highly unlikely, in Warner’s view.

To date, Vance has endeared himself to the America First base as vice president. Among other splashy moments and speeches, Vance has chastised European elites for censoring average citizens, confronted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over his perceived lack of gratitude in an Oval Office meeting, delivered strong speeches on topics ranging from the pro-life movement to the artificial intelligence race, sparred with liberal cable news hosts and helped get Trump cabinet picks like Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard over the finish line in the Senate confirmation process.

Other potential GOP 2028 candidates who have had their names floated include people like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and even Donald Trump Jr., who has unequivocally stated that he is not going to run to be his father’s successor. Trump did not name Vance as heir apparent in a February interview with Fox News, but former South Carolina GOP Executive Director Alex Stroman said Vance’s appointment to the RNC finance chair should put to rest any doubts about who is currently the clear GOP frontrunner in 2028.

“I think it is a smart decision for the party, for the president, and for the vice president to have him in this role. For the party, this is a major commitment from the White House to ensure that the party is able to raise the money it needs to win elections. For the President, this further integrates him into the party apparatus and ensures that his agenda can be implemented over the next four years. And obviously for the vice president, building relationships with donors and party leaders across the country is vitally important for his political future. It’s a win, win, win for all involved,” Stroman told the DCNF. “I don’t really understand why some in the legacy media want to play this game that J.D. Vance is not the front runner for the Republican nomination, if not the presidency in 2028 … This is a smart decision: J.D. Vance is going to be the 2028 nominee, and this sets him and the Trump legacy up for success now and in the future.”

The 2026 midterms will be a crucial early test for Vance and the RNC — which Trump revamped and effectively took over ahead of the 2024 cycle — given that Democrats will be highly motivated to take back a House majority and the GOP will not have as favorable a Senate map as it did in the 2024 cycle. Vance has already been incredibly active as vice president relative to recent predecessors, so raising cash for the RNC to deploy in pursuit of electoral victories will simply be the latest task he juggles on a day-to-day basis.

“Vance is in a fundraising role, not a strategic role. So, I think the advantage for him in this role is that if he raises the money, regardless of the outcome, he can come out looking okay,” Jamie Miller, a Florida-based GOP strategist, told the DCNF regarding Vance and the 2026 midterms. “Then you get to the real advantage, which is that they’re giving him the opportunity for the next 18 months to meet every major Republican donor in the country. That’s the real advantage for him in 2028 … I don’t know that his appointment removes all doubt, but I think from the second he was chosen as the VP nominee, the nomination in 2028 was his to lose.”

Scott Jennings, a conservative on-air pundit for CNN, told the DCNF that Vance’s appointment to the key RNC post “recognizes the massive influence J.D. has in the Republican Party as the heir apparent” and gives him a major advantage over any prospective challenger in the 2028 GOP primary. Vance has already differentiated himself from most GOP politicians with his contacts and connections in Silicon Valley, where he spent several years working in the tech space before jumping into the political arena and winning the 2022 Senate race in Ohio.

“Vance is going to have access to all the money guys in the Republican Party, all the donors and, truthfully, a pretty big chunk of the fundraisers. It’s an advantage,” Mike McKenna, a GOP strategist, told the DCNF. “The tricky thing about money in politics these days is that there’s so much of it, and there’s so much of it outside of the party apparatus that it’s not the advantage it would have been 20 or 40 years ago. But it’s still a pretty big advantage … It’s hard to beat a sitting vice president in a primary. It just is.”

AUTHOR

Nick Pope

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLES:

‘Bunch Of Losers’: Dems’ Emerging 2028 Field May Not Bode Well For Liberals

‘Political Athlete’: JD Vance Emerging As Most Active VP In Decades

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.


All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

More Americans Identify as Republican Than Democrat

Once upon a time, the great divide was essentially a political philosophical battle between individualism and statism. No more, now its common sense versus depraved irrationality. Real versus anti-real.

Remember the Republican majority on election night.

More Americans Identify as Republican Than Democrat. Here’s What That Means for the Election.

Rare GOP advantage takes pressure off Trump to win over independent voters

By Aaron Zitner, Wall Street Journal, October 9, 2024 5:00 am ET

Beneath the headline results in many polls, something unusual has turned up with big implications for politics: More voters are calling themselves Republicans than Democrats, suggesting that the GOP has its first durable lead in party identification in more than three decades.

The development gives former President Donald Trump an important structural advantage in the November election. But other factors could prove more important to the outcome. Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris still leads narrowly in many polls, in some cases because she does well with independent voters.

Bill McInturff, a GOP pollster who works on NBC News surveys, first noticed in May that more voters were calling themselves Republicans. “Wow, the biggest deal in polling is when lines cross, and for the first time in decades, Republicans now have the national edge on party ID,” he wrote. He called the development “the underrecognized game-changer for 2024.”

In combined NBC polls this year, Republicans lead by 2 percentage points over Democrats, 42% to 40%, when voters were asked which party they identified with. That compares with Democratic leads of 6 points in 2020, 7 points in 2016 and 9 points in 2012.

“Republicans being 5 to 9 points down on party identification—that is like running uphill,” McInturff said. “We don’t know the election’s outcome, but we know Republicans have a better shot at doing well if party ID is functionally tied, with perhaps the smallest tilt toward Republicans.”

Gallup also found more voters identifying as Republican than Democratic, by 3 points in its July-to-September surveys. It was the first time that the GOP had an advantage in the third quarter before a presidential election in Gallup surveys dating to 1992.

Continue reading.

AUTHOR

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

PODCAST: Damon Galdo, Let’s build back what we had!

GUEST AND TOPIC

DAMON GALDO

Damon Galdo is a union carpenter, construction superintendent, husband, and father who is campaigning for the Republican nomination for Congress in New Jersey’s 1st Congressional District. Getting into politics was never something Damon planned on doing. However, when he looked at his children and at the direction this country is heading, he feared for the future, and has decided that he could not wait for someone else to make a change. As they say, if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself. With that, Damon jumped in!

TOPIC: LET’S BUILD BACK WHAT WE HAD!

©2024. Conservative Commandos Radio Show. All rights reserved.

Trump’s newly minted apprentice, JD Vance

With his rough Appalachian upbringing, service in the Marine Corps, Yale Law School education, and success as an author and venture capitalist, one could hardly imagine a more colourful VP pick than JD Vance.

No doubt Vance’s zero-to-hero backstory had special weight for a showman and entrepreneur like Donald Trump, who knows a compelling story when he sees one.

In the media scramble to understand and frame this junior Ohio senator, speculations abound — and more than a few reactionary outlets have already satirised themselves in the process.

The vice-presidential path that Vance will carve is one that only time can tell, should the GOP be so fortunate. But from what we already know about him, here are three of my predictions on what Vance could bring to a second Trump presidency.

Vance, the decoder of Trumpism

Much is being made of JD Vance’s 180-degree about-face on Donald Trump.

The list of words Vance historically used to describe the 45th president is quite something to behold: “reprehensible”, “moral disaster”, “a total fraud”, “unfit for our nation’s highest office”.

While critics have used this as proof of instability on Vance’s part, they fail to see what he might represent to America’s undecided voter. Maybe it’s OK to change your mind about Trump. Maybe there’s room after all for never-Trumpers in a Trump-entrenched GOP.

Indeed, it is something of an irony that liberals despise Vance today for the same reason many of them loved him when he released Hillbilly Elegy: Vance has the ability to decode and interpret Trumpism to America’s coastal elite.

As Vance himself mused in a New York Times interview last month, liberal Americans drawn to the bestselling book were “genuinely trying to understand something about a part of the country they didn’t understand”.

Yes, unlike them, Vance finally overcame his repugnance for “the stylistic element of Trump” in favour of what the boisterous billionaire had to offer “on foreign policy, on trade, on immigration.”

While vowing at the RNC never to forget his Rustbelt roots, Vance’s life trajectory ultimately positioned him in elite company and made him highly conversant with elite sensibilities.

Some have lamented that as a VP pick, Vance secures no new voting block. I beg to differ. As a decoder of Trumpism to America’s highly educated, Vance may yet win many hearts and minds to the cause.

Vance, the heir apparent of Trumpism

Donald Trump is almost an octogenarian. If he wins back the White House, he has just four years to solidify his political legacy.

But Trumpism (which might best be described as a populist and bombastic twist on Paleo-conservatism or Buchananism) will likely outlive Trump by many decades. And Vance will more than likely be the vessel.

As JD Vance mentor Rod Dreher remarked last week in The European Conservative, the VP pick’s reception speech “sealed the realignment of American politics”. He expounded:

Given his brilliant choice of Vance, Trump has not only chosen the most articulate and credible possible advocate of his sensibilities, but laid the groundwork for the permanent restructuring not only of American conservatism, but of America itself. Because Trump chose J.D. Vance, Trumpism will long outlast its founder. Trump resisted the pleas of media mogul Rupert Murdoch to choose someone tamer and more controllable as his running mate, and in so doing, passed the torch to a fighting tribune of the new MAGA generation.

Like it or loathe it, to understand the heartbeat of that generation, you’ll do no better than to watch this segment of Vance’s speech:

Vance, a righteous restraint on Trumpism

In 2020 JD Vance gave a fascinating account of his conversion to Catholicism at The Lamp.

There, he weaves together sentimental stories of his Mamaw’s (grandmother’s) “deep, but completely de-institutionalized, faith”, quotes from antiquity and modern philosophers, an exposé of his fling with atheism, and an account of why Catholicism possesses such practical and social appeal for him.

Not your typical Trumpism, in other words.

Vance may be animated by the same national populist concerns as Donald Trump, but what drives him is quantitatively different.

I’ll leave it to others to articulate or defend Trump’s own internal motivators. For Vance, however, faith appears to be front and centre. He writes:

I slowly began to see Catholicism as the closest expression of [Mamaw’s] kind of Christianity: obsessed with virtue, but cognizant of the fact that virtue is formed in the context of a broader community; sympathetic with the meek and poor of the world without treating them primarily as victims; protective of children and families and with the things necessary to ensure they thrive. And above all: a faith centered around a Christ who demands perfection of us even as He loves unconditionally and forgives easily.

“I try to keep a little humility about how little I know, and how inadequate a Christian I really am,” he also writes.

You won’t hear this from Trump. And it is for the same reason that you will hear a lot less loose-lipped rhetoric from Vance. His Christianity is more than cultural. It even appears to have civilised him.

And wouldn’t that be a welcome restraint on Trumpism?


Is JD Vance a breath of fresh air for the GOP or stale, recycled gusts of Trumpian rhetoric?


AUTHOR

Kurt Mahlburg is a husband, father, freelance writer, and a familiar Australian voice on culture and the Christian faith. He is the Senior Editor at Australia’s largest Christian news site, The Daily Declaration, and a Contributing Editor at Mercator. His writings can also be found at Intellectual Takeout, The American Spectator and the Spectator Australia. He has authored or co-authored five books, including his breakout title Cross and Culture: Can Jesus Save the West?

EDITORS NOTE: This Mercator column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Rep. Mark Green Leads Bid To Reverse Biden Admin’s ‘Politically Motivated’ Gun Restrictions

Republican Tennessee Rep. Mark Green on Wednesday took action to reverse a Biden administration rule placing new restrictions on firearm exports.

The rule, released by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) on April 30, makes a number of changes to licensing requirements that could make it more difficult for firearm manufacturers and sellers to conduct business. Green, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, introduced a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to overturn the rule, along with 69 other Republicans.

“Congress cannot abandon American firearm exporters to the whims of an administration hellbent on undermining their businesses, their livelihoods, and their constitutional freedoms,” Green told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Congress has the authority to rein in rogue federal agencies—it’s time we used it.”

Republican Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty is introducing the Senate’s version of the CRA.

“This rule is another Operation Choke Point—a politically motivated effort that significantly harms Tennessee manufacturers—and will consequently destroy U.S. jobs and small businesses that support the firearm and ammunition industry,” Hagerty said in an April 30 statement. “The Biden administration has made clear that its goal is to damage the firearm industry that supplies the products that allow Americans to exercise their constitutional freedom. Crushing American exports is just a means to skirt the legislative process and do damage to yet another Biden-disfavored industry.”

The CRA comes on the heels of Green’s introduction of the Stop the Bureaucratic Ineptitude Shuttering Respectable and Upstanding Lawful Exporters Act (Stop the BIS RULE Act) bill in early May, which would prevent federal funds from being used “to finalize, implement, or enforce” the rule.

Green previously told the DCNF the rule would “harm American business owners, hinder the right of people overseas to protect themselves, and will allow China and Russia to fill the void.”

The rule lowers export license validity to one year rather than four, inserts a “crime control” licensing requirement that factors in crime in other countries and applies a “presumption of denial” to export applications to 36 countries deemed high-risk.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement announcing the new rule that it was designed to protect “America’s national security by making it harder for criminals, terrorists, and cartels to get their hands on U.S.-made firearms,” which she noted “fall into the wrong hands and end up being used in ways that directly undermine U.S. national security and foreign policy interests.”

BIS, an agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, issued the rule following a 90-day pause on new export licenses for civilian firearms, which was announced in October but ultimately lasted over 180 days.

President Joe Biden has a long history of supporting gun control. As a senator in 1994, he helped pass a ten- year ban on “assault weapons” and continues to advocate for a federal ban.

AUTHOR

KATELYNN RICHARDSON

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLE: Biden Proposes Increasing Budget Of Agency Pushing Gun Regulations By 30%

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.


All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Florida County Republican Registrations Report — May 2024


Executive Summary

  • Madison County has joined the now 57 (of 67) Florida Counties where the number of Republican registrations exceeds the number of Democrat registrations. Madison County is the last of the lower-population, heavily Republican voting counties, to have their number of Republican registrations surpass those of the Democrats. Gadsden County is the last low-population majority Democrat Registrations County in Florida. For those under the allusion that their traditional campaign tactics are effective, Gadsden County would be a great place to prove it!
  • Republicans need to implement the following items.
    • Moratorium on the building of rental housing unless county-wide homeownership rates are greater than 85%.
    • Change Florida election rules to have “universal primary contests” (multiple candidates from only one political party) and school board elections decided at the time of the general election and not at the time of the primary!
      • The primary should be used (if applicable) to narrow the field to two candidates.
  • Florida Republicans now hold an 928,157 registrations advantage over the Democrats, an increase of 25,712 relative registrations over the prior month.
  • The tables and a chart shows the following.
    • The chart shows graphically the change in active registrations since the 2022 book closing.
    • Table 1 lists Florida Counties by Republican registration margins relative to Democrat Registrations.
    • Table 2 shows how Florida Counties are performing relative to each other in Republican registration margin improvement (for example, St. Lucie County had the 57th best margin at the time of the 2022 election and now enjoys having the 43rd best margin of Florida’s 67 Counties).
    • Table 3 lists vote margin changes of Florida Counties between the last two presidential and gubernatorial elections
    • Table 4 lists Florida Counties in order by gains in Republican registrations and shows the associated registration changes for non-Republicans.
    • Table 5 presents various Republican registration and vote metrics on a percentage basis.
  • The “Vote August” effort is an attempt to educate voters that by not voting at the time of the August primary they will generally have their vote disenfranchised in local elections. The disenfranchising of the general election-only voters by having elections decided in August “universal primary contests” and in having school board elections determined at the time of the August primary, are abhorrent!

Florida Voter Registrations

Note: the registrations numbers in this writing refer to active registrations, a subset of total registrations.

Florida Republicans continue the trend of making relative gains in active voter registrations as Republican registrations relative to Democrat registrations increased by 25,712 registrations in May and by 622,207 registrations since the book closing for the 2022 general election. Florida Republicans now have a 928,157relative registrations advantage over the Democrats. Republican registrations were 39.08% of total registrations and Republicans now enjoy a 6.95% of total registrations advantage over the Democrats (see tables).

The Democrats lost 54,362 registrations in May, lost 678,479 registrations since the 2022 book closing, and 1,010,404 registrations since the 2020 election. Republican registrations decreased by 28,650 in May, and the number of registrations which are neither Republican nor Democrat decreased by 39,668 registrations in May (see chart).

Note: Vote August! Please make plans to vote in the Florida non-presidential primary election in August. A subset of elections categorized as “universal primary contests” may be deadly (in a political sense) for conservative Republicans. In the name of fairness, the system should be changed. The only current options for conservative Republicans are for conservatives to vote in the August primary!

The Epoch Times Letter-to-the-Editor

The three major factors in elections are the quality of the candidate, the quality of the candidate’s campaign, and the underlying political orientation of the voters. A significant election factor concerning the quality of the candidate is the performance of a candidate that has already held the office. The incompetence of the current president is highly favorable for Republican success in 2024.

The most critical election factor though is the underlying political orientation of the voters. Proving this is the small number of states that are competitive. Republicans completely and consistently ignore this factor.

A coveted, and until recently abandoned ritual, was the Sunday morning reading of the newspaper. The abandonment of the ritual was caused by the inability to find a paper that was readable. The ritual has been revived by the reading of The Epoch Times weekly newspaper on Sunday morning.

As a previously avid letter-to-the-editor writer, the first of such letters in years had been submitted to the Epoch Times. They were kind enough to print in their May 29-June 4, 2024, edition, the following letter dealing with one of the factors which changes the underlying political orientation of the voters.

“The Political Ramifications of a Growing Rentership Rate

To summarize the foundation of his opinion piece, Jeffrey A. Tucker (Your New Life of Housing Rental, May 22-28) writes that the federal government, starting at the end of World War II, undertook programs to increase the homeownership rate. The backstopping of mortgages by the government in pursuit of this goal eventually led to the 2008 housing crisis, which was the start of our country becoming a nation of renters.

The government has become so large and disjointed that it is at odds with itself. Starting in Hawaii in the early 1960s, and spreading throughout the U.S. by the 1990s, other government entities simultaneously adopted the United Nation’s eco-revolutionist strategy of restricting the footprint of land upon which development could take place. In their terms, sprawl had to stop. Their goal; to create a nation of renters. Why?

For brevity, being a renter is more predictive of a voter voting Democrat (aligned with the U.N.) than homeownership is of a voter voting Republican. Rentership is a much more robust political factor than homeownership. Restricting the footprint of developable land creates higher priced real estate, which in-turn forces more people to rent, leading to an out-sized increase in the Democrat vote!

An examination of Florida supports this finding. In the mid to late 1980s Florida adopted real estate development laws to be in place by 1995 that forced counties to create footprints where development could take place. This caused the supply of developable land to become scarcer, which in turn drove up all real estate prices. The result was the doubling, and even tripling, of home prices in much of Florida after the mandated footprints were established.

Florida Republicans suffered losses in their share of the presidential vote following the establishment of these footprints. George H.W. Bush carried Florida by an overwhelming 22% margin in 1988, and by 2000, George W. Bush barely captured the state, which President Obama won in 2008 and 2012.

These efforts may be thwarted. The seeds of changing Florida Republican political fortunes were planted in 2011 when determination of the size of the footprints on which development could take place transferred from the state to local governments, most of which were more accommodating to development. This made developable land in Florida less scarce, lowering its relative price, and making ownership more attainable.

This explains why President Trump carried Florida twice with an improving margin, and why Florida experienced a red wave in 2022!” (note: this is the end of the letter)

In a now two decades pursuit, there has been no Republican interest in lowing the rentership rate. This factor has now become critical.

An attribute of rentership becoming a political factor is growth restrictions, which the opposition has branded as “smart growth”. Smart growth efforts ultimately disrupt real estate markets and cause an increase in real estate prices. High real estate prices create fewer homeowners while financially benefiting existing property owners. Renters, who are unable to share in the wealth produced by the increasing real estate prices, become alienated voters, a group that predictably votes Democrat.

In analyzing the Republican losses in our four highest population states produced fascinating findings. In the late eighties, and throughout the nineties, Florida, New York, and California all suffered similar large Republican losses while Republicans made significant gains in Texas. We Floridian Republicans now look down our noses at the poor job Republicans have done in New York and California, but the only reason Florida is not a hugely Democrat state now is that Florida was much more Republican than were California and New York when smart growth policies were first adopted!

New York (rentership rate of 45.7%) and California (rentership rate of 44.4%) are forever lost to the Republicans unless a way to increase the percentage of homeownership is found. Texas (rentership rate of 37.6%) is a major concern. The concern in Texas is that their smart growth efforts did not cause higher home prices until the last decade or so. Texas is now suffering the Republican losses the other three large population states suffered decades ago. Florida (rentership rate of 33.1%) Republicans are in a better situation than the other three but its rentership rate is a far cry from Singapore’s world class 10% rentership rate.

The inability of Republicans to think-outside-the-box is a showstopper. May God have mercy on us for the pain we inflict on our progeny by our inaction in improving the homeownership rate!

©2024. Steve Meyer. All rights reserved.

Marjorie Taylor Greene Reveals Plan To Oust Speaker Mike Johnson

Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced on Wednesday that she will call for a vote to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson next week.

Greene initially filed a motion to vacate in late March over disagreements with Johnson’s latest appropriations plan. The Georgia Republican detailed her plan to advance her efforts to remove Johnson during a press conference following the House’s passage of Ukraine aid.

“I think every member of Congress needs to take that vote and let the chips fall where they may. And so next week, I am going to be calling this motion to vacate,” Green said. “We are not going to have a House majority if we keep Mike Johnson.” 

Johnson released a statement following Greene’s announcement, arguing that “this motion is wrong for the Republican Conference, wrong for the institution, and wrong for the country.”

Politico reported Wednesday that Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Whatley had attempted to dissuade Greene from going through with the vote.

“He said, one, this is not helpful, and two, we want to expand and grow the majority in the House,” said a person familiar with Whatley’s message to Greene, per Politico. “He was clear that any disruption to the conference on these efforts — including filing this [motion to vacate], does not help the case for party unity.”

House Democratic leadership announced on Tuesday they’d help save Johnson if Greene moved forward with her motion to vacate after he helped advance the national security supplemental.

“At this moment, upon completion of our national security work, the time has come to turn the page on this chapter of Pro-Putin Republican obstruction,” the Democrats said. “We will vote to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Motion to Vacate the Chair. If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed.”

AUTHOR

MARY LOU MASTERS

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.


All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Trump Reveals Endorsement In Senate Race To Replace Mitt Romney

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday endorsed Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs for the Republican nomination to replace outgoing Sen. Mitt Romney

Romney announced in September that he is not seeking reelection in 2024 after roughly five years in office. Trump threw his “complete and total” support behind Staggs on Saturday over the mayor’s top Republican political opponent in the election, Utah Rep. John Curtis.

“Trent Staggs is 100% MAGA, and is running to fill The Mitt Romney, a Total Loser, Seat as the next Senator from the Great State of Utah!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Saturday. “A Highly Successful Entrepreneur, who has served brilliantly as Mayor of Riverton for the past six years, Trent knows how to Create Jobs, Stop Inflation, Grow the Economy, and Secure the Border.

“As your next Senator, Trent will help us Unleash American Energy, Support our Military/Vets, and Protect our always under siege Second Amendment,” Trump said. “Trent Staggs has my Complete and Total Endorsement – He will be a GREAT Senator, and never let you down!”

Unlike Curtis, Staggs has endorsed Trump publicly for the 2024 presidential race, calling him the “one candidate” who can amend the “crippling” domestic and international policies of President Joe Biden. Staggs also boasts support not only from Trump but also from high-profile Republicans including former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and dozens of other current and former elected officials.

Staggs previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation that he seeks to address issues affecting the American homeland — such as the southern border crisis — before venturing to solve international problems, such as funding Ukraine in its war against Russia.

“I think it’s time we prioritize our own border over Ukraine’s,” Staggs previously told the DCNF. “At $34 trillion in debt, we cannot continue being the world’s piggy bank.”

Though current polling is scarce, Curtis was leading Staggs 27% to 5% in a poll conducted by Noble Predictive Insights from April 8 to 16. Other Republican candidates running to replace Romney’s seat include Brent Hatch at 11%, Brad Wilson at 10% and Jason Walton at 2%, with roughly 40% “unsure.”

Trump has had a historically troubled relationship with Romney, as the Utah senator voted to impeach the former president in 2021. Trump celebrated when Romney announced he would not be seeking reelection in 2024.

The Utah GOP convention is set to take place on Saturday, as delegates will gather to determine which candidate — possibly Curtis or Staggs — they want on the primary ballot in June.

AUTHOR

JAKE SMITH

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.


All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

This Video Builds A Rock Solid Case For Only Trump As The Commander-in-Chief

We have written about why Donald J. Trump is the only real choice for America’s patriots to become the 47th President of the United States, here, here and here.

It appears that World Net Daily’s Bob Unruh agrees with us. In his April 15th, 2024 article titled “Stunning video builds case for only Trump as commander-in-chief”  Bob wrote,

A stunning new video has been delivered that makes the case for ONLY President Donald Trump as commander-in-chief.

The Gateway Pundit explains it is the “most powerful pro-Trump ad of the year” – “It is that good.”

It is from Claremont Institute chairman Tom Klingenstein, a philanthropist, public speaker, writer, and playwright.

He explains:

Now that President Trump is the Republican nominee for President in 2024, it’s time for Republicans, including those who doubt him or even can’t stand him to get behind him. The times demand it. We are in a war fighting an enemy of revolutionaries that kick and spit on America. I call our enemy the Woke regime or the Group quota regime. This war is a contest between those who love America and those who hate it. But we do not have a commander-in-chief. You can’t win a war without one. We shouldn’t much care whether our commander-in-chief is a real conservative, whether he is a role model for children, or says lots of silly things, or whether he is modest or dignified.

What we should care about is whether he knows we are in a war, knows who the enemy is, and knows how to win.

Trump does. His policies are important but not as important as the rest of him. Trump grasps the essential things. He understands the Group quota regime is evil and will not stop until it destroys America. He is a fighter, bold, brave, and decisive, who has confidence in himself and his country.

Trump never apologizes for America. He rightly believes America is the greatest country in history. Trump says, in effect, we have our culture. It’s exceptional, and that’s the way we want to keep it. And we won’t keep it if we usher in millions of immigrants with cultures different from our own. Trump knows his job is to protect Americans and just Americans. Protect them not just from enemies abroad, but from the woke globalists within. He knows that America does not need more diversity. It needs more cohesion. The woke radicals tell the Trump voters they are a threat to democracy. Think about that. They’re saying, You Trumpsters are a threat to democracy. The woke radicals also tell us ad nauseam that America is systemically racist. Trump knows this is deadly nonsense, and he says so. This charge of systemic racism bounces off Trump because he has no white guilt, or any guilt for that matter. Trump tells his supporters what they already know. They are not racist, and they do not have white privilege. The woke radicals shut up those who disagree. Trump will not be shut up. If they manage to put him in jail, he will still roar like a lion.

The woke radicals have the moral arrogance of fanatics. Trump, God bless him, knows we are all sinners. Trump rejects the utopian fanaticism of the woke radicals. He is a businessman who takes the world on its own terms and navigates by facts and common sense. Trump’s base knows firsthand the America that Trump wants to recover. They love him, and they know he loves them. They will fight for him because they know he will fight for them. Trump speaks to his supporters as fellow citizens without any condescension or poll-tested BS. Despite his billions, he is one of them, an outsider looking in, a man who takes catsup on his steak. And is as disgusted as they are with the anti-American elite.

This natural appeal has molded everyday patriotic Americans into an army. We cannot stop the left’s revolution and retake the nation without these men and women. Unlike most Conservatives, they will actually fight for America. But they follow Trump. Without him, they stay home. With him, they are united and determined. At his rallies, his audience invariably breaks into chants of USA, USA. In these moments, Trump and his audience mutually pledge to each other their fidelity and their sacred honor.

His enemies hate him with an indescribable fierceness. Another Hitler, they say. Elect him and he will be a dictator. We should take this hysteria as reason for hope.

The America-haters rightly fear that Trump and his party are on the threshold of a successful counter-revolution. Trump hates his enemies every bit as much as they hate him. His enemies are America’s enemies. Trump is the most towering figure of our time. He has changed politics, not just in America, but in the West. If we are to take back America, we need someone who is unmovable, who has proven that he can stand up against the immensely powerful army of woke modernity that will attack him with all its might. Someone who will go after the deep state without pity or compassion. And someone who has the conviction that America is still the last best hope of Earth. That someone is Trump. Trump, the politician, came out of the blue. An unconventional commander against an unconventional enemy. Almost inconceivable as President at any other time.

Trump fits this turbulent moment to a T. Is it too much to wonder whether the appearance of this most unconventional man is providential?

Lincoln spoke of Americans as the almost chosen people. Trump gives us hope that the God who has never forsaken his almost chosen people will not do so now.

Read full article.

WATCH: Claremont Institute chairman Tom Klingenstein on Trump’s Virtues – Part II.

The Bottom Line

In our column Comparing Two Democrats: Confederate Jefferson Davis and Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. we warned that America is in a Civil War 2.0.

American Civil War 2.0 is about destroying our Constitutional Republic and replacing it with a one world order. It also requires the enslaving of the American people.

It is yet to be seen if it will become a fully armed conflict, although we are witnessing groups like the pro-Hamas supporters calling for “the death of America” and their storming of the White House and violent marches across America waving the flag of the terrorist group Hamas and the burning of the American flag.

Unlike the Civil War of 1861, the American Civil War 2.0 is in essence not seceding from the United States but rather destroying it from within by a cabal of traitors.

Abraham Lincoln wrote, “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

We know what President Donald J. Trump must do when inaugurated on January 20th, 2025.

He must drain the swamp from the schoolhouse to the White House, completely and totally.

©2024. Dr. Rich Swier. All rights reserved.

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‘It’s a New Day’: Mike Johnson Brings Principles and Purpose to Speakership

While D.C. politicos scramble to figure out who House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is, here at Family Research Council, we needed no introduction. To most of us, the young-looking Louisiana lawyer represents the best the movement has to offer. “He’s a social conservative’s conservative,” Politico pointed out in a lengthy piece about his relationship with FRC. But more than that, he’s a man who deeply loves God and this country. So as senators like Susan Collins (R-Maine) turn to Google to find out who the new speaker is, we can tell you simply: he’s the real deal.

My boss, FRC President Tony Perkins, met Mike more than two decades ago when the future speaker was just an up-and-coming law student at LSU. During Tony’s days in the Louisiana legislature, the two crossed paths a lot, eventually working together on a blockbuster bill that became one of the first abortion clinic regulation laws in the country.

“You mentioned how far back we go,” Johnson said in an interview on “Washington Watch” a couple years ago. “I saw you as a young state legislator, and I remember that your banner and your motto when you ran for office was ‘raising the standard.’ And that resonated with me, because I felt that same call on my life. And in so many ways, Tony, you were a huge influence on my life. I saw that you could do it. … [Other] people that I knew [also] did it right and did it well, and they followed the Lord first. And it showed in all their work and their life and their family. And that was a great encouragement to me.”

As Johnson alluded to in his speech before the House chamber Wednesday, the road to Congress was paved by his God-fearing parents. “I was blessed,” he emphasized to Tony. “I was raised in a Christian household, and my parents — I was actually the conception of a teenage pregnancy my parents’ junior year in high school. And they dropped out, decided to have me, and keep me. And that’s why I’m so pro-life today. I’m a living example of faithfulness. … They just trusted God.”

And made sacrifices. “My dad went to work early. They didn’t finish high school. Then he went back later, got his GED, but I don’t have any memory of not being a Christian,” Mike said. “I got saved when I was seven years old. I got baptized in a horse trough out behind our old country church in northwest Louisiana. And I was just raised to know and understand and believe that faith is very real. And it was just part of the fabric of our family, and who we are.”

But the fabric of that family was tested when Mike was just 12. His dad, an assistant chief for the Shreveport, Louisiana fire department, was a training officer. “And on September 17th, 1984,” he remembers, “he went into work on a hazardous materials leak in a cold storage plant. And the building blew up. He was burned 80% of his body, third-degree burns — and given a 5% chance to live. His co-captain died in the fire, so it was a terrible tragedy. [But] God miraculously saved my dad’s life.”

“He had a long journey back,” Mike said. “He lived another 30 years. And he was in pain every day — but he survived. … I was the oldest of four kids in my family,” he pointed out. “[And I learned that] our faith was real. … God saved my dad’s life … and I just knew that prayer worked. So that’s never left me. It’s been with me my whole life.”

When Tony asked Mike what surprised him most about his time in Congress, he replied that his answer was “kind of a sad one.” “I was surprised to see that many members of Congress are elected to serve, and they don’t truly have a fully formed philosophy of government. Some of them are not even crystal clear on what their worldview is, you know? And so it has an effect on their work and the decisions they make. … If you don’t have a fully formed philosophy of government, if you don’t have your principles set in stone … before you get there, then you’re going to be easy prey for all the influences that are out there.”

That’s why, he says, he’s been trying to encourage his colleagues to think about what it means to be a Christian in public service. “The only seedbed of virtue,” Johnson insisted, “is in religious faith. I mean, men have to understand that they owe an allegiance to a higher power, and they have a judge that is above all others. And that is what has guided our country since its founding. And that’s what’s going to continue to guide it. So we shouldn’t make apology for it. We should go out and live that boldly and encourage others to do the same.”

He owes that strength of conviction to a number of people who encouraged him along the way. “I had a mentor when I was really young, [and he] told me one time — he said, ‘Mike, you know what? Always remember this: What is popular isn’t always right, and what is right isn’t always popular.’ And we have to remember that even in politics, you know, highest levels of elected office in the country, that’s a pretty simple axiom that everybody needs to follow.”

Now, Johnson is passing that advice along to his four children — and all of the young leaders he meets. At the time, his son, Jack, was just starting high school, and he wanted to make sure that his son was firmly rooted in truth. “I said, ‘Listen, I want you to be real intentional about this. You know, the calling of a Christian young man or young woman is that you are not called to be a thermometer. You’re called to be a thermostat. What does that mean, Jack? You know, what does a thermometer do? Well, a thermometer goes into a new environment, takes a temperature, and adjusts to it. That’s not what we do. The Christian young man or woman is called to be an atmosphere changer, to be a thermostat. So you walk in, and you hold that standard, raise the standard.’”

At the end of the day, Mike said, “You live according to that truth that you know, and it will change the atmosphere you’re in. And people will look to you. … [They’re] dying for truth and authenticity. They want to know that there really is an absolute … that there’s a standard.” He pointed to Chronicles 6:9. “The eyes of the Lord range throughout the whole earth, seeking those whose hearts are holy, committed. There’s only a few in every generation, but if you’ll do that, God will give you His blessing. He’ll give you His platform. His promotion principles will set in place, and He’ll give you things that will amaze everyone.”

They were prophetic words for a man whose heart is holy, whose God has just given him that enormous platform he spoke of. And yet, back in January, Mike would have been the last to guess that when he and a handful of Republicans knelt in the House chamber to pray for the speakership, they would ultimately be paving the road to him.

As Tony said in a Newsmax interview Wednesday, America can be proud to have a man of substance at the helm. “That’s why he’s the first speaker, I think since 2011, to have unanimous support from his colleagues on the Republican side. … I’ve known Mike for 25 years, and he is going to be an excellent speaker for the times in which we live.”

Looking back on the arc of their long friendship, he said with pride, “He has a sense of purpose, and that comes from his faith. … And this is what’s important, because in politics this has gotten lost. It’s really about people. And he cares about people,” Tony insisted. “… He told me this morning, I was talking to him as he was working on his speech, and he said, ‘It’s a new day. They’re going to see a new thing in this Congress.’”

And those of us who admire him believe it.

AUTHOR

Suzanne Bowdey

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.

RELATED ARTICLE: Tale of Two Speeches: Speaker Johnson, Minority Leader Jeffries Articulate Different Visions for America

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. ©2023 Family Research Council.


The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

As Democrats Disparage School Choice, Experts Say Increased Competition Fuels Innovation

While states have successfully expanded their school choice programs, left-wing critics argue that the programs are an “existential threat” to public education. But experts are pointing out that not only do school choice programs relieve pressure off of the public education sector and provide parents with more schooling options, they are also proving to help students thrive academically and are fueling academic competition and innovation.

On Sunday, National Review reported that Florida has seen an additional 90,000 students enroll in private schools and other “innovative” educational programs in the last year due to the universal school choice bill that was enacted this year, marking a 43% increase in the number of students enrolled in the program, which now totals over 256,000 students. The program allows any Florida family to use state scholarships funded by corporate tax credits and other state funds to send their children to the private school of their choice.

Currently, 10 states have enacted school choice programs similar to Florida’s.

As the programs have expanded nationwide, Democratic lawmakers have almost universally denounced the programs, claiming that they present an “existential threat” to the public school system by redirecting public money away from it. But as observers have noted, the financial shortfall projections that left-leaning organizations have claimed would occur have proven to be wildly inaccurate. The Florida Policy Institute estimated that the state’s school choice program would cost the state $2 billion to fund scholarships in its first year, which was almost 10 times higher than the legislature’s estimate.

“They were grossly over-inflated in their estimates, and that they did so, in my mind, deliberately to stop kids from having the kind of customized, quality education that they deserve, and only for partisan purposes and in defense of their union allies that put the needs and interests of institutions and adults over the needs of children,” said Florida House Speaker Paul Renner (R).

Renner went on to tell National Review that “we’ve had Democrat members who have reached out to us, our staff, to find out how their families can benefit from the scholarship, even though they voted against our bill.”

In recent years, public education has seen a remarkable downturn in equipping students with proficiency in basic skills. Reading and math scores are currently at their lowest levels since 1971, and the Associated Press reported in May that “40% of eighth grade students are performing below basic proficiency in history, meaning they likely cannot identify simple historical concepts in primary or secondary sources,” with 31% “performing below basic proficiency in civics.”

At the same time, recent studies have shown that students who are enrolled in school choice programs show more political tolerance than public school students, with “13 studies showing a private-school advantage and only one showing a government-school advantage.” In addition, a study of Milwaukee’s school choice program found that it significantly reduced criminal activity of students, including a 53% reduction in drug convictions, an 86% reduction in property damage convictions, and a 38% reduction in paternity suits.

As Doug Tuthill, president of Step Up For Students, contended, school choice programs will lead to “a lot more growth with very innovative 21st-century learning environments.” He went on to observe that “we’re in a weird place where the people who like to think of themselves as progressives are very, very conservative and traditional. They do not want the innovation and change. When people say, ‘You’re trying to destroy public education,’ what I hear is, ‘You’re trying to destroy my 1950s concept about what public education should be.’ And that’s true, we are trying to move away from a one-size-fits-all industrial model that’s been around really since the 1800s.”

Meg Kilgannon, senior fellow for Education Studies at Family Research Council, concurred, while also arguing that the rise of controversial ideologies on gender, race, and sexuality that have arisen in public schools are a direct threat to Christian families — further highlighting the value of school choice programs and the need for Christian engagement in the educational sector.

“These kinds of dire predictions of ultimate demise are typical fearmongering from the Left,” she told The Washington Stand. “They are afraid of their own demise if they are prevented from indoctrinating a new generation of leftist activists via highly politicized public education. As birth rates decline in the U.S., the fight for the minds and hearts of children will intensify. Christians need to engage in our educational system in every way: churches starting their own schools and Christians running for office or serving as teachers, administrators, or staff. Our witness is desperately needed.”

AUTHOR

Dan Hart

Dan Hart is senior editor at The Washington Stand.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.


The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Party Switchers up in 2023, Spurning Social Extremism

State legislators switching parties in 2023 are at twice the 30-year average, according to Ballotpedia. The year 2023 is now tied for the sixth most party changes in state legislatures over the past 30 years, and it’s only July. Overall, the party changes favor Republicans, with five Democrats switching to the Republican Party and only one Republican switching to the Democratic Party. The majority of party changes were motivated by policy differences on social issues such as education, as well as party intolerance.

“This wasn’t a political decision for me. It was a MORAL one,” said Georgia Representative Mesha Mainor, who represents a blue-leaning Atlanta district and left the Democratic party last week. “I will NEVER apologize for being a black woman with a mind of my own.”

Mainor faced criticism from fellow Democrats when she supported and voted for a school choice bill that would provide vouchers to parents with students in the bottom 25% of public schools. “I support school choice, parent rights, and opportunities for children to thrive, especially those that are marginalized and tend to fail in school,” she explained.

“The Democrats at the [Georgia State] Capitol took a hard position and demanded every Democrat vote against children and for the teachers union,” said Mainor. “I voted ‘yes’ for parents and ‘yes’ for children, not failing schools.” In response, “They crucified me. When I decided to stand up in support of safe communities and refused to support efforts to defund the police, they didn’t back me. They abandoned me.”

“For far too long, the Democrat Party has gotten away with using and abusing the black community,” Mainor complained. “For decades, the Democrat Party has received the support of more than 90% of the black community. And what do we have to show for it?” When asked whether she expected more pushback from her former party, Mainor said, “The most dangerous thing to the Democrat Party is a black person with a mind of their own. So, it wouldn’t surprise me.” She added, “I have a few colleagues upset with me to the point where they are giving away $1,000 checks to anyone that will run against me.” Since, Mainor has received a flood of vile, racist hate mail, with comments such as, “You’re the stain on society that needs to be flushed,” and much worse.

The themes Mainor stressed — intolerance of political differences and extreme, left-wing values — were echoed in the reasons other party-switchers gave as well.

“[The] modern-day Democratic Party has become unrecognizable to me and to so many others throughout this state and this country. The Party wants to villainize anyone who has free thought, free judgment, has solutions,” said North Carolina Representative Tricia Cotham. “If you don’t do exactly what the Democrats want you to do, they will try to bully you.” Cotham is a primary sponsor of a universal school choice bill, which passed the state House (though not by a veto-proof margin) and now sits in a Senate committee.

Cotham’s switch to Republican gave that party a veto-proof supermajority in the state House (as well as the state Senate), which the party has used to advance pro-life, pro-family policies. With her vote, North Carolina Republicans protected babies from abortion after 12 weeks gestation, as well as banning partial-birth abortion and born-alive protections. Passed over the governor’s veto by the slimmest possible margin, their pro-life law also stipulated reporting requirements for abortion, established conscience protections, articulated informed consent requirements, imposed a 72-hour waiting period, granted a pregnant woman the right to view the ultrasound, and authorized funds to support motherhood and adoption.

With this demonstration of Republican unity, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper (D) declared a state of emergency over Cotham’s school choice bill. “There’s no Executive Order like with a hurricane or the pandemic,” he said, “but it’s no less important.”

The emboldened North Carolina legislature then ventured into the more controversial arena of LGBT policy, passing bills to protect women’s sports, parental rights, and minors from gender reassignment procedures. Cooper vetoed all three bills, but Republicans in the legislature plan to hold votes to override all three vetoes.

In Louisiana, two Democratic legislators switched to the Republican Party this spring. State Representative Francis Thompson explained his decision this way: “The push the past several years by Democratic leadership on both the national and state level to support certain issues does not align with those values and principles that are part of my Christian life.” Thompson’s switch handed the Republicans a supermajority in the House.

A month later, State Representative Jeremy LaCombe also switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican, explaining that “values and principles … will never change,” but that “the part of the state I represent has become more conservative, and I no longer think I can [do] the best that they deserve as a Democrat.” Thompson and LaCombe both voted for the Stop Harming Our Kids Act, which would protect minors from gender reassignment procedures. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards (D) vetoed the bill, but the Louisiana legislature has convened a rare veto override session to attempt to override his veto.

Yet another state legislator to switch parties is West Virginia Delegate David Pritt. “I simply cannot continue down the road that the Democratic Party is headed if I am to accurately represent my constituents and my people as well as my own conscience,” he wrote. “It has become more and more obvious that there is very little room in the party for traditional values or differences regarding political opinion — we are being pushed out.” He added that “the values, beliefs, and way of life” of his constituents “are no longer compatible with the trajectory of the Democratic Party.”

Not every state legislator who switched parties went from Democrat to Republican. In New Jersey, 87-year-old State Senator Samuel Thompson changed from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party because Republican leaders urged him to step down in favor of a younger candidate. In Vermont, State Representative Jarrod Sammis switched from the Republican Party to the Libertarian Party due to ideological differences over same-sex marriage, abortion, civil liberties, “social rights,” drug legalization, and foreign wars. Louisiana Representative Roy Adams switched from Independent to Democrat, while South Carolina Senator Mia McLeod and Mississippi Senator Kelvin Butler switched from Democrat to Independent — but both remain ideologically liberal.

In total, 10 state legislators have changed their party affiliation so far in 2023. This is nearly double the 30-year average of 5.5 legislators per year, according to Ballotpedia. So far, 2023 is tied for the sixth-most party changes of the past 30 years, and tied for the third-most party changes from Democrat to Republican.

According to Ballotpedia’s analysis, the most party changes over the past 30 years came in 2010, the year Obamacare was signed into law. In 2010, 28 state legislators switched parties, including 25 who switched from Democrat to Republican. Every other year with 10 or more party changes is odd-numbered (coming after a national election), and no other year has seen more than 15 party changes, or more than six Democrat-to-Republican party changes.

State legislators switching parties in 2023 have had a particularly noteworthy impact, granting the Republican party legislative supermajorities in two states with Democratic governors, and contributing to the success or advancement of a number of pro-life, pro-family bills.

AUTHOR

Joshua Arnold

Joshua Arnold is a staff writer at The Washington Stand.

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