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Georgia Rep. Carter confident Republicans will win House, Senate

November 8, 2022

Georgia is a battleground state in the 2022 midterm elections. Results are coming in for the Senate race between Republican candidate Herschel Walker and Sen. Raphael Warnock, as well as the gubernatorial race between Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams and Gov. Brian Kemp.

Georgia’s First District Congressional candidate and incumbent Rep. Buddy Carter is in the lead against his Democratic challenger, Wade Herring.

“I tell people all the time, this race is not about me, it’s not about my opponent,” Rep. Carter told Straight Arrow News. “It’s about the people in the first congressional district and they are suffering right now. They’re suffering the consequences of the Biden administration’s policies. And that’s what everyone talks about when we’re in the district.”

“People are talking about inflation, the price of gas price of groceries, they’re talking about rent, they’re talking about crime, they’re talking about the southern border, and the drugs coming across that border,” Carter said. “And they’re talking about education. That’s the things that are mattering to people right now. And that’s what they’re voting on.”

Carter said he’s confident that Republicans will take over the House and the majority in the Senate. He said when it comes to election security concerns, his state has come a long way.

“I have to applaud the miracle the Georgia State Legislature and the Election Integrity Act,” Carter said. “I think they gave people confidence that only legal votes are going to be counted and no illegal votes are going to be counted, said the changes that they were made were good changes. It gives people confidence. And I think that we can be confident in this voting system that we have in place right now.”
Rubio wins Florida Senate race over Demings

November 8, 2022

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has won a third term. The Republican lawmaker successfully fended off a challenge from Democratic Rep. Val Demings, who represented Orlando in the House of Representatives.

This contest was between two of the top 10 fundraisers in the entire country. Demings ranked third in individual contributions at more than $73 million, Rubio was eighth at $47 million. Despite the fundraising disadvantage, Rubio had a consistent, comfortable lead.

Democrats believed Demings was the ideal candidate to take on Rubio. Demings became Orlando’s first female chief of police in 2007 and violent crime dropped 40% under her watch. At a time when voters consistently rank crime as one of their key concerns, Demings had a history of public safety and supporting the police.

But Republicans have a strong hold on Florida politics. The GOP’s dominance in the state, coupled with Floridians’ disapproval of President Joe Biden were difficult roadblocks to overcome.

During their one and only debate, the candidates sparred on abortion policy in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. Rubio said he is “100% pro-life” but has always voted for bills that have exceptions because he said that’s what can pass and that’s what a majority of people support. Demings said decisions regarding abortion should be made between the woman, her family, her doctor and her faith.

Gun violence was also a key issue in a state that has seen two of the deadliest mass shootings in history — Parkland and Pulse. Rubio said he supports red flag laws, while Demings said Rubio has spent 24 years in elected office and not done enough to address public safety risks posed by guns.
Rep. Dusty Johnson weighs in on historic midterm election spending

November 7, 2022

The 2022 election is expected to be the most expensive midterm election in history for state and federal races, according to OpenSecrets. The nonpartisan group projects spending will surpass $16.7 billion by Election Day.

Federal candidates and outside groups are expected to spend $8.9 billion, well beyond the inflation-adjusted $7.1 billion spent in 2018. State candidates, party committees, and groups supporting ballot measures are on track to raise $7.8 billion, outpacing the inflation-adjusted $6.6 billion raised in 2018.

“I hate the campaigns as much as anybody does. But I think if we’re going to have these robust elections in swing states, they’re going to be expensive,” South Dakota Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson told Straight Arrow News. The lawmaker noted that politicians spending trillions of dollars in D.C. may not be fiscally responsible, but it’s necessary.

“When you’ve got these high-profile Senate seats like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Arizona, Georgia, it’s hard to tell the candidates, gosh, even if somebody wants to give you 100 bucks, ‘Don’t spend it on radio ads,’” Johnson said.

Spending has picked up as Republicans and Democrats have battled on the issues of the economy and abortion. Johnson said he predicts a variety of different solutions brought forth at the state level.

“Politics is not a spectator sport. And I think you’re seeing across this country, that people are really fed up with inflation,” Johnson said. “They’re fed up with a border that allows 2 million people to illegally cross that border every single year. And frankly, they don’t like the violent crime is on the rise in cities. And those sort of highly emotional issues are driving up motivation.”
Armed robbery of USPS letter carrier highlights mail theft epidemic

November 1, 2022

Authorities in Detroit are offering a hefty reward for information on a suspect who committed armed robbery on a United States Postal Service (USPS) letter carrier last week. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service said they will give out $50,000 for tips that lead to the arrest and conviction of the suspect.

The suspect is described by officials as a dark-complexioned African American male wearing a dark hoodie, blue and black striped pajama pants and a black neck gaiter. He is said to stand approximately 5′ 11″ tall, weigh roughly 160 lbs., and appeared to be in his 20s.

The armed robbery of the letter carrier comes amid a worrying trend of mail theft that experts say the U.S. Postal Service is not equipped to handle. The president of a national union for the postal police force has called it a “mail theft epidemic.”

According to an internal USPS memo, there’s been a 400% increase in postal robberies since 2019. That’s an increase of more than 7,000 reported violent crimes against postal employees.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, wrote a letter to top postal officials last month, urging them to do something to keep mail and mail carriers safer. The senator blamed the Postal Inspection Service for no longer allowing postal police officers to patrol mail carrier routes.

It’s not just Sen. Brown who is concerned. A subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform went to Philadelphia to ask local leaders about recent increases in postal mail theft, crime and whether the Postal Service was prepared to effectively receive and deliver mail-in ballots nationally during the upcoming midterm elections.

The mail theft epidemic is just part of a larger crime wave that has swept over the United State just ahead of the midterm elections. Now one of the top concerns for Americans, Republicans made Democratic mishandling of the crime wave a key campaign message, and are now in position to take the House and possibly the Senate as well.

USA Today and WWJ 950 contributed to this report.
Last-minute strategy: Republicans on offense as Democrats defend districts

November 1, 2022

As the midterm elections get closer, Republicans and Democrats are scrambling to secure every last vote they can. With Republicans looking strong in the polls, Democrats have adjusted their strategy quite a bit through messaging and campaign funds.

“The amount of undecided voters has stayed fairly large leading up to election day,” Republican strategist Ash Wright said. “Voters are ultimately breaking towards Republicans. And a lot of it, at least from what I see, is based ultimately on economics.”

Inflation has remained the top issue for most Americans. According to Morning Consult polling data, the next issue voters call “very important” is crime, another Republican talking point.

“Democrats are talking a lot about social issues, which leading up to elections always perform well, but voters ultimately in bad economic times, vote for their pocketbooks,” Wright said.

The big social issue Democrats are using to motivate voters is abortion, but that is not gaining them enough ground. So Democrats are pivoting to also talk about inflation.

“Democrats all voted to pass a bill that was called the Inflation Reduction Act,” Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha said. “It’s pretty simple for most folks, while Republicans all voted against a bill. That was the inflation Reduction Act. Let’s start there.”

Messaging, of course, is not all it takes. Democrats are shifting House campaign money. Instead of trying to flip seats, they are diverting money to protect blue seats.

For example, AdImpact data shows reduced ad spending in California’s 22nd Congressional District, where the incumbent is a Republican, and increased spending in places like Pennsylvania’s 7th District to defend the Democratic incumbent Susan Wild.

“You’ve only got so much money, and you’ve only got so many races,” Rocha said. “And so what the party is doing on the House side is trusting their pollster who has been working in those top 30 or 40 House races to determine if they can actually win going into the last couple of weeks where they probably should take the money in ones that they determined they can’t really win and move those into the ones that have really been tightening.”

Both parties’ final strategies are especially apparent in New York’s 17th District, where the incumbent is Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D). Maloney could be the first House campaign chief ousted by the other party since 1980. To defend Maloney, the DCCC reportedly announced it’ll spend more than half a million dollars on a new attack ad. Republicans are, of course, trying to flip the seat by spending $6 million on the race, according to the New York Times.
9 mass shootings reported over Halloween weekend

November 1, 2022

Just over a week out from the midterm elections in which crime was polled to be a high priority, nine mass shootings were reported across the United States over the Halloween weekend. In one of those shootings, as many as 15 people, including three children, were injured in a drive-by shooting in Chicago. The victims’ conditions range from non-life threatening injuries to critical condition.

Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said preliminary information indicates there were at least two shooters seen on surveillance video firing indiscriminately into a crowd on Halloween night. According to Brown, the child victims are a 3-year-old, an 11-year-old and a 13-year-old.

“They’re putting on an outfit just to enjoy the evening and then you got a clown that goes and discharges that weapon, bringing great bodily harm to these families,” community activist Andrew Holmes told WGN-TV.

No one was immediately arrested following the shooting. Investigators were trying to determine a motive, as well as a description of the car and those responsible.

Brown said there were no known conflicts at the street corner Monday night. He added there were several large groups at the corner, which is a popular gathering spot in the neighborhood. Some were reportedly attending a vigil.

Other mass shootings over the Halloween weekend spanned from Florida to California. According to the Gun Violence Archive, at least 10 people were killed and 46 injured in the mass shootings from Friday night through Monday night, including the one in Chicago. According to ABC 7 Chicago, prior to Monday night’s shooting, Chicago police said that at least 35 people were shot across the city over the weekend.

The Associated Press and The Washington Post contributed to this report.

Georgia Rep. Carter confident Republicans will win House, Senate

Rubio wins Florida Senate race over Demings

Rep. Dusty Johnson weighs in on historic midterm election spending

Armed robbery of USPS letter carrier highlights mail theft epidemic

Last-minute strategy: Republicans on offense as Democrats defend districts

9 mass shootings reported over Halloween weekend

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