Category: Elections

Commentary: Chris Christie Needs a Wide Lane to Run in 2024

Minnesota Sun Staff

I must admit, when former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie removed himself from the 2016 Republican presidential primary race very early in the contest, I thought we’d seen the last of his oversized run as a major influencer in the Grand Old Party.

Like with other Republican comers and goers in recent memory, Christie had, at one point at least, been considered the future of the post-Bush GOP, a semi-common man who wasn’t the least bit afraid to stand on a stage, look liberals in the eye, and tell it like it is. To make the newcomer’s phenomenon even more enticing, Christie appeared to enjoy the resistance. Unlike most Republicans who were more than content to take a verbal beating from the much more aggressive Democrats, Christie punched back, and for a few political moments, appeared to be a great possible candidate for president. It seemed like a “when” not “if” proposition.

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Cornel West Announces He’s Running for President

Just the News

Cornel West, a prominent left-wing academic and philosophical writer, announced on Monday that he is running for President in 2024.

West, 70, announced that he was running in a video posted on Twitter and will be seeking the People’s Party nomination. West said that he had decided to run for “truth and justice which takes the form of running for president of the United States.”

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Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to Launch 2024 Presidential Campaign at New Hampshire Town Hall

Just the News

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is launching his second bid for the Republican presidential nomination at a New Hampshire town hall Tuesday evening. Christie also ran in 2016, losing the nomination to former President Donald Trump. He went on to become an adviser to Trump before their relationship soured over their disagreement about the 2020 election results.

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‘It’s Just Unacceptable’: The Border Crisis Is Overwhelming Schools in Some of America’s Most Populated Cities

Admin

The crisis at the southern border is overwhelming school systems in several metropolitan areas of the country, according to multiple reports.

New York City, Miami-Dade County, Denver and Chicago school systems have all had to adapt to the influx of migrants, according to reports. Border Patrol recorded more than 632,000 encounters of migrant families and unaccompanied children in fiscal year 2022 at the southern border and more than 365,000 in the first seven months of fiscal year 2023, according to federal data.

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Commentary: A Whisper to the Conservative Movement

RealClearWire

America is in a state of decline, if not chaos, following disappointing results in three straight elections and too many years of organized turmoil in our streets, schools, government institutions, and elsewhere. Reversing this requires fundamental changes in conservatives’ political and philanthropic strategies.

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Commentary: ‘Chasing’ Ballots is Not Enough

Admin

Apparently there’s some confusion about what some of us are actually proposing for winning in 2024. The best place to start in clearing up that confusion is by defining terms correctly.

We argued here and here, that if MAGA wishes to turn out its voters and win, the movement and its candidates must aggressively pursue their vote by securing their consent, and then, protecting them by implementing that agenda. Some have found these arguments less than persuasive because they fear Republicans are joining the Democrats in their less-than-honest methods of securing votes. So, we must explain further for those who appear confused.

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Minnesota Secretary of State Dodges Question over Voting Rights of Incarcerated

Admin

Everything was rolling along smoothly at a press conference in St. Paul on Thursday morning where Secretary of State Steve Simon gathered with felon voting rights restoration activists and a handful of legislators to celebrate the June 1 enactment of a new law that restores voting rights to an estimated 55,000-plus Minnesotans serving probation or parole for a felony crime.

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Commentary: Trump Still Has the Magic

Minnesota Sun Staff

The Republican primary is already in full swing. While a few second-tier candidates have joined the fray, including neoconservative Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.), and old school evangelical and former Vice President Mike Pence, the chief contest is between former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Things are already heated. Some former Trump supporters now support DeSantis. Indeed, they have completely turned against Trump. The firehose of criticism reminds one of the refrains of a jilted lover.

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GOP Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Makes the Cut for the GOP Debates

M.D. Kittle

Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy has risen in the polls to a top 5 candidate. Now the Ohio businessman and political outsider has secured a spot on the Republican National Committee debate stage.

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Counties Switching to Hand Counting Ballots as Election Integrity Advocate Provides Model

Just the News

Counties across the U.S. are switching to hand-counting election ballots instead of using electronic tabulation machines over concerns about the accuracy and security of the devices.

At the forefront of the transition is election integrity advocate Linda Rantz, who says her model, now being used in a Missouri county, is less expensive than critics continue to say it is.

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DFL Party Bans Minneapolis City Council Candidate After Endorsing Convention Melee

Minnesota Sun Staff

The DFL has officially banned a Minneapolis City Council candidate from seeking future endorsement from the political party, two weeks after his supporters were allegedly involved in starting a melee that broke out at a local endorsing convention.

On Tuesday evening, longtime DFL Party Chair Ken Martin released a statement announcing the organization had utilized a pair of newly-approved bylaws that allowed its state central committee to ban Nasri Warsame, a Minneapolis resident, from “seeking the DFL Party endorsement for any office.”

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Mike Pence Expected to Launch 2024 Presidential Campaign Next Week

Just the News

Former Vice President Mike Pence is reportedly planning on launching his 2024 presidential campaign next week, setting him up to face off against his old boss, former President Donald Trump, for the Republican nomination.  Pence is likely to launch his campaign on June 7, his birthday, at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, according to multiple news reports. Later that day, he is scheduled to speak at a CNN town hall at Grand View University.

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Texas, Georgia, Arizona: Three Cases Studies of State Oversight of Troubled Local Elections

Just the News

Republican-run Texas and Georgia have given state officials oversight of some local elections following issues in Democratic counties, while Arizona didn’t do so there was a Republican administration. 

Last week, the Texas House passed two pieces of election integrity legislation that were previously passed by the state Senate.

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Trump Vows to End Birthright Citizenship for Children of Illegal Immigrants

Minnesota Sun Staff

Former president and 2024 presidential contender Donald Trump pledged to end birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants in a video posted to Twitter Tuesday.

Trump vowed that on his first day in office, if he’s elected president, he will sign an executive order that the children of illegal immigrants won’t be eligible for citizenship, according to his social media video. A wave of illegal immigration began at the U.S.-Mexico border soon after Biden assumed the presidency, where federal authorities have recorded more than 5.3 million migrant encounters since January 2021.

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Commentary: Ron DeSantis Has All the Right Enemies

Admin

A lot of people are upset with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, especially as he launches his presidential bid.

Start with America’s wokest corporate titans. While perched in a Los Angeles County rapidly losing population and companies to Florida, Disney CEO Bob Iger’s company alleged DeSantis is “weaponizing the power of government to punish private business.”

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Scott, Haley’s South Carolina Roots Aren’t Enough to Secure Victory in the State’s Early Primary, GOP Operatives Say

Admin

South Carolina has two natives in the 2024 presidential race, with former Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott, but Republican operatives from the state don’t believe it’s enough to secure them a victory in the early state primary, they told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Although the two Republicans have served their state for years, former President Donald Trump still has a stronghold in South Carolina and would likely win the state’s primary if it were held today, several GOP political experts told the DCNF. For either Scott or Haley to be competitive in South Carolina’s primary, which is critical in determining the eventual Republican nominee, the experts said they would need to show a strong performance in key early primary states like Iowa and New Hampshire.

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Progressive Activists, Officials Work to Extend Voting to Prisoners, Noncitizens to Expand Base

Admin

by Fred Lucas   Inmate voting, noncitizen voting, and even mandatory voting have been among the initiatives pushed in Democrat-led jurisdictions this year to expand their voting base. “The Left wants to normalize voter classes that nobody took seriously a generation ago—criminals, foreigners—to help them win elections,” J. Christian Adams, president of the…

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Twitter’s Top Engineer Resigns after DeSantis’ Glitch-Plagued Presidential Announcement on Platform

Just the News

The head of Twitter’s engineering operations has resigned after the platform’s hosting of Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis’ glitch-plagued 2024 presidential campaign launch.

“After almost four incredible years at Twitter, I decided to leave the nest yesterday,” Twitter’s Foad Dabiri tweeted. “The combination of the fantastic community, the impact it has, and its limitless potential sets Twitter apart.”

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DeSantis Enters Presidential Race with ‘Skewed’ Narrative He’s Better Positioned to Beat Biden than Trump

M.D. Kittle

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis officially launched his presidential campaign Wednesday, ending months of speculation and ratcheting up what promises to be an intense battle for the Republican Party nomination. 

DeSantis enters the race as a top tier candidate, but still lagging far behind frontrunner Donald Trump, according to just about every poll out there. 

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Trump, DeSantis, Ramaswamy, and More: News and Notes from the Presidential Campaign Trail

M.D. Kittle

A glitchy start to the Ron DeSantis campaign, Tim Scott fires back at “The View,” Vivek Ramaswamy takes on Target, and Nikki Haley gets a CNN Town Hall.

There’s no rest for the weary on the expanded presidential campaign trail.

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Kari Lake Announces Ballot Chasing Operation in Arizona, Plans to Go to SCOTUS with Election Case

Just the News

Former GOP Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake announces the launch of a ballot chasing operation in Arizona. “We are officially launching the largest, most extensive ballot chasing operation in our state’s history and frankly, possibly in American history,” Lake said during a press conference. “The courts just ruled that this corrupt election will stand. The courts just ruled that our elections can run lawlessly. The courts have ruled that anything goes. Well, we can play by those same rules.”

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DeSantis to Announce 2024 Presidential Campaign in Twitter Conversation with Elon Musk: Reports

Just the News

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is reportedly expected to formally announce his 2024 presidential campaign Wednesday on Twitter in a conversation with the social media company’s CEO, Elon Musk. The announcement will be made 6 p.m. ET Wednesday on Twitter Spaces, which is Twitter’s audio conversation part of the platform. Tech entrepreneur and DeSantis supporter David Sacks is expected to moderate the conversation.

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North Dakota’s Republican Governor Weighing Presidential Bid in 2024

Admin

Republican North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is weighing a presidential bid in 2024, two sources familiar with the governor’s plans told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Burgum, who is the 33rd governor of North Dakota, will decide whether he’ll run for the GOP nomination within the next few weeks, the sources confirmed with the DCNF. The two-term governor is currently filming television advertisements in preparation for a presidential launch.

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U.S. Senator Tim Scott Launches Presidential Campaign as Living Example of the Land of Opportunity

M.D. Kittle

U.S. Senator Tim Scott made it official Monday, launching his campaign for president in the North Charleston, SC, hometown that informed his core belief: That the United States of America is “the land of opportunity, not a land of oppression.”

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Thousands of Non-Citizens Are Listed on U.S. Voter Rolls, Watchdog Warns

Just the News

Tens of thousands of non-citizens have tried or made it onto voter rolls across the U.S. over recent years, according to an election watchdog’s analysis of data from several states.

Non-citizen voters have been found on voter rolls in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and Maricopa County, Ariz. In Georgia, there were non-citizens who attempted to register to vote but were placed in a pending status because there wasn’t evidence of their citizenship, so they didn’t make it onto the voter rolls.

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Trump Seven Points Ahead of Biden in Head-to-Head Matchup: Poll

Just the News

Former President Donald Trump stands well ahead of his old rival, President Joe Biden, in a hypothetical 2024 rematch between the two, a recent poll suggests.

Trump claimed 47% support among registered voters in the latest Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll, whereas Biden claimed 40% support, according to The Hill. A further 13% were undecided between them.

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American Greatness Poll: Trump Leads DeSantis by 21 Percent in New Hampshire

Minnesota Sun Staff

Among likely GOP primary voters in New Hampshire, former President Donald Trump holds a 21-point lead over Governor Ron DeSantis, 39%-18%. New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu is virtually tied with DeSantis for second place, garnering 17% of the vote.

Although Sununu is competing with DeSantis for the “not Trump” vote, among those who describe themselves as “very likely” voters, DeSantis leads Sununu by 6 percent, 19%-13%. Trump leads both men among these voters with 45%.

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Nikki Haley Had a Dozen Lucrative Speaking Engagements Since Last Year, Financial Disclosure Shows

Just the News

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley received between $100,001 and $1 million for each of her dozen speaking engagements in 2022 and 2023, which means she made at least $1.2 million from speaking honorariums, her financial disclosure report shows. 

Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina governor, received payments for her speeches in Singapore, Australia and Canada, as well as for talks she gave across the U.S. in cities such as Chicago, New York and Dallas, according to her disclosure filed Monday. The speeches were for a variety of organizations such as the National Automobile Dealers Association and the Canadian Friends of Jerusalem College of Technology.

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Commentary: The Voter Registration Machine Flipping the States Blue

Minnesota Sun Staff

In modern elections, the candidate who can turn out the bigger base is usually the winner. Put differently, the campaign with better voter data holds the trump card.

For more than a decade now, Democrats unquestionably have owned that trump card and used it to carve deep inroads into once solidly red states such as Arizona, North Carolina, and Georgia, while Republicans have looked on in bafflement. It’s no secret why the Left is winning elections despite shrinking in the polls: They register new voters in droves, and conservatives do not.

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Ramaswamy Says Carroll Case Verdict Against Trump Another Attempt to Attack Establishment’s ‘Chief Political Virus’

M.D. Kittle

Former President Donald Trump’s political rivals weighed in Tuesday on a Manhattan jury’s finding that Trump is liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll in a civil lawsuit brought decades after the alleged abuse took place. 

Ohio businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who declared his campaign for president in February, agreed with critics of the lawsuit who believe it’s another politically charged attempt to diminish the GOP presidential frontrunner ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

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New Study Identifies Eight Reforms that Took Florida’s Election Day from ‘Worst to First’

Just the News

Florida elections have come a long way since the “hanging chad” debacle of 2000. During the 2022 midterms, the state reported the results of all elections within two hours of polls closing, and a new report examines the election law changes that have been credited for the turnaround.

The 2000 presidential election between then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush and then-Vice President Al Gore was decided by the 25 electoral votes from Florida, which didn’t announce its results until five weeks after Election Day.

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State Voting Laws Banning Student IDs Won’t Tank the Youth Vote, Experts Say

Admin

State laws that prohibit students from using their school-issued IDs to vote are unlikely to suppress youth voter turnout, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

States including Idaho, Ohio and Georgia have laws on the books that limit what identification students can present to prove they are an eligible voter when at the polls. While critics of these laws argue that preventing student IDs from being used is a barrier to voting, several experts told the DCNF that there are other ways students can vote and that these laws likely will not have an overwhelming impact in preventing young voters from casting a ballot.

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Trump Gaining Support of Minorities, both Trump and DeSantis Likely to Beat Biden in 2024: Poll

Just the News

Former President Donald Trump is gaining support from minorities and both Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis – the top two potential Republican candidates for 2024 –  are poised to beat President Joe Biden, spelling trouble for the president as he runs for reelection, according to a poll released Sunday.

Biden is losing support from black and Hispanic Americans as Trump is gaining, according to a Langer Research Associates poll produced for ABC News.

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Trump, Tucker Carlson Mull Alternative Republican Primary Debate: Report

Just the News

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson is reportedly in discussions with former President Donald Trump to moderate an alternative Republican candidate forum, as the the pair move on from the cable news network.

Trump has threatened to boycott the first Republican debate, which Fox News will host, amid increasingly frayed relations between him and the network. Carlson, meanwhile, is reportedly looking to build a media presence for himself in the aftermath of his firing and has approached Trump about the independent forum, the Washington Post reported, citing “people familiar with his thinking.”

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Republican Representative Introduces Bill to Crack Down on Illegal Immigrants Voting in U.S. Elections

Minnesota Sun Staff

Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy introduced a bill Friday cracking down on illegal immigrants’ and noncitizens’ ability to vote in federal elections.

The Protecting American Voters Act, co-sponsored by Republican Reps. Matt Rosendale of Montana, Pete Sessions of Texas and Michael Burgess of Texas, would equip state officials with the information needed to verify citizenship upon voter registration, according to the bill obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The bill also requires federal agencies to provide information upon the states’ request, free of fees, from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ SAVE system that confirms who is a naturalized citizen.

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Nikki Haley Video: A Vote for Joe Biden Is a Vote for President Kamala Harris

M.D. Kittle

GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley is out with a new campaign video that should send chills down the spines of anyone worried about Vice President Kamala Harris ascending to the presidency. 

Taking on the possibility that octogenarian President Joe Biden may not be able to serve out a second term, Haley says, “President Kamala Harris? No thank you.” 

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Senators Tell Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Turn over All Correspondence with Hunter Biden

M.D. Kittle

Secretary of State Antony Blinken wasn’t straight with congress about his communications with President Joe Biden’s ne’er-do-well son Hunter, according to emails and a transcript of a 2022 interview first reported by The Star News Network. 

Now, U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI), whose committees have long investigated allegations of Biden family corruption, are demanding the Secretary of State “produce and preserve” all records related to his correspondence with Hunter Biden.

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Commentary: Biden’s Election ‘Big Lie’ Is of Little Interest to Mainstream Media

Minnesota Sun Staff

Democrats whine on and on about “The Big Lie.” In their minds, this phrase summarizes President Donald Trump’s argument that vote fraud, ballot irregularities, and ninth-inning rules changes sank his 2020 reelection bid.

However, Democrats are mum about the Big Lie that slimed Joe Biden into the White House.

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Amid Rising Cheating Fears, House Republican Seeks to Make DC ‘Gold Standard’ for Clean Elections

Just the News

With 60 percent of likely voters in a recent Rasmussen Reports poll saying that “cheating” likely affected the 2022 midterm elections, House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil (R-Wisc.) is seeking to reform Washington, D.C.’s elections to make the nation’s capital the “gold standard” for election integrity in the U.S.

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State Senate DFLers Vote to Abandon Electoral College for National Popular Vote

Admin

DFLers in the Minnesota House and Senate voted this month to transform American presidential elections by abandoning the Electoral College.

The Senate voted along party lines, 34-33, on Wednesday to pass an elections omnibus policy bill that includes a provision that would have Minnesota award its presidential electors to the candidate with the most votes nationwide. Republicans unsuccessfully tried to remove that language from the bill.

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