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☆ The 7 cities you 'must visit before you die,' according to 50 travel experts—only one is in the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Sharael Kolberg | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

As travel journalist of over 20 years, I recently interviewed more than 50 travel enthusiasts, experts and agents. New York City, U.S.Jonathan de Araujo, owner of The Vacationeer Travel Agency, calls the Big Apple "a city of superlatives." Just a short walk from the 9/11 Museum, New York City tourists can take a ferry to visit the Statue of Liberty. "It's now as much a part of New York City history as the Statue of Liberty," he says. Cape Town, South AfricaTom Marchant, founder of luxury travel company Black Tomato, calls Cape Town "the perfect destination for thrill seekers."

WASHINGTON — The 2022 midterm elections were full of surprises. Republicans began the year favored to notch big victories, yet they fell short and barely captured control of the House. Lake was widely seen as the election-denying candidate with the best chance to win a statewide race in a key battleground in the 2022 elections. Secretary of state contenders who echoed Trump’s fabricated claims of a stolen election lost, including Mark Finchem in Arizona, Kristina Karamo in Michigan and Jim Marchant in Nevada. Their wins led Democrats to win every competitive House race and gain control of the state House for the first time in more than a decade — although recent vacancies have called that majority into question.

In the 13 races in six battleground states where an election denier was on the ballot for governor, secretary of state or attorney general, 12 lost, according to the latest NBC News projections. Arizona — along with Michigan and Alabama — was one of three states where election deniers advanced to be the GOP nominees for governor, secretary of state and attorney general. In Pennsylvania, meanwhile, Republican Doug Mastriano — who was one of the most high-profile election deniers — lost the race for governor to Democrat Josh Shapiro. “But voters sent a very clear message that Americans deeply care about democracy and don’t want extremists running our nation’s elections.”The defeats of election deniers spanned well beyond swing states. All 14 races where election deniers won were in states that voted to elect Trump in both 2016 and 2020.

Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he's running for president again in 2024. Trump's 2024 campaign comes as he faces escalating federal and state criminal investigations. Trump cast himself as the lone panacea to a long list of ills on a "quest to save our country." Supporters wait for the arrival of former President Donald Trump during an event at his Mar-a-Lago resort on November 15, 2022 in Palm Beach, Florida. Grover Cleveland, of the National Democratic Party, was the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms in the White House.

☆ Republicans in disarray as McConnell faces a leadership challenge, McCarthy scrounges for votes to become speaker, and Trump seeks to stake his claim for 2024
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( John L. Dorman | Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Republicans last week faltered in producing the red wave election they had sought for over a year. McConnell now faces a leadership challenge, while McCarthy is looking for votes to lead the House. And on Tuesday, Scott informed colleagues that he would challenge McConnell, who since leading the Senate GOP caucus in 2007 has retained strong support within the party. The House Republican Conference on Tuesday voted 188-31 in favor of McCarthy leading the caucus over conservative challenger Andy Biggs of Arizona, but the California lawmaker will need 218 votes to win the Speaker's gavel next year. Republicans, already trying to navigate the new landscape on Capitol Hill, will have a lot to figure out as the 2024 presidential election looms.

Their defeats were a sign of voters rejecting anti-democratic tendencies in tight midterm elections. In swing states Arizona, Nevada and Michigan, "America First" candidates were nominated for secretary of state, the position that oversees elections. All of those candidates lost. Nevertheless, many Republican election deniers won other races around the country. Reuters/Ipsos polling has shown about two-thirds of Republican voters believe the election was stolen from Trump.

☆ Election denier loses secretary of state race in Nevada
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 12 (Reuters) - Jim Marchant, a former Nevada state assemblyman who opposed the certification of President Joe Biden's election win in the state in 2020, was defeated in his race to become Nevada's secretary of state, Edison Research projected on Saturday. Democrat Cisco Aguilar won the secretary of state race in Nevada, defeating Marchant, according to Edison Research. In Nevada, the secretary of state does not have the power to certify election results, but can set and enforce election rules. Nevada is a swing state that could play an important role in determining the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. Marchant lost a race for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020.

☆ Democrat Cisco Aguilar defeats Trump-backed election denier Jim Marchant in Nevada secretary of state race
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( Zoë Richards | Zoë Richards Is The Evening Politics Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Republican Jim Marchant, a prominent election denier, has lost Nevada's secretary of state race to Democrat Cisco Aguilar, NBC News projected Saturday. Aguilar, a lawyer and former staffer for the late Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., will make history as Nevada's first Latino secretary of state. Jim Marchant speaks at a Republican election night watch party on Nov. 3, 2020, in Las Vegas. “Cisco Aguilar will be the next Secretary of State for Nevada — a resounding win for democracy," Griswold said in a statement. "This victory means Nevada will have a Secretary of State who believes that voters should decide election results, not politicians.

☆ Election denier loses race in Michigan; Arizona and Nevada not yet called
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Republican candidate for Michigan Secretary of State Kristina Karamo campaigns in Clinton Township, Michigan, U.S. November 4, 2022. Democratic President Joe Biden narrowly won Michigan, Arizona and Nevada in 2020 and Trump and his allies have falsely claimed that the results were fraudulent. As of Wednesday, States Action United said 13 election deniers had won a statewide role in election administration in 9 states, while 24 election deniers had lost races in 17 states. The races in Michigan, Arizona and Nevada are particularly important because they are key battleground states. Ahead of Tuesday's elections, Biden accused Trump of inspiring Republican election denier candidates and warned voters: "Democracy is on the ballot for all of us."

“We cannot move on from the 2020 election,” he said at a debate in April during the GOP primary. Marchant has said he would not have certified the 2020 results in the state, which Biden won. Republican Tudor Dixon — who has said the 2020 election was stolen — is running for governor against Democratic incumbent Gretchen Whitmer. Matthew DePerno, who is running for attorney general against Democratic incumbent Dana Nessel, has also repeatedly espoused debunked conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 election results in Michigan. DePerno has also argued that any Michigan resident should have the right to demand a vote audit of the state’s election results.

☆ Election deniers on ballot aim to run U.S. presidential vote in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

According to States United Action, election deniers are running for secretary of state in 13 states, including in the key swing states of Arizona, Michigan and Nevada. In Arizona, Republican secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem said he would not have certified Biden's 2020 victory in the state. He supported an audit of Arizona's election results and backed a bill that would give the state's Republican-controlled legislature the power to overturn election results. Republican candidate and former state assemblyman Jim Marchant opposed certification of Biden's win in the state in 2020. Ahead of Tuesday's elections, Biden accused Trump of inspiring Republican election denier candidates and warned voters: "Democracy is on the ballot for all of us."

The polls will close over a seven-hour period on Tuesday, starting at 6 p.m. Eastern time in parts of Indiana and Kentucky and ending at 1 a.m. in western Alaska. Here is a guide to when the first polls close in each state, and what races to watch at each point. Show times in: Eastern Central Mountain Pacific Alaska HawaiiPolls open First polls closing First polls closed6 p.m. P.T. Not all polls in each state close at the same time, and polls in some areas may close earlier than shown if all registered voters in that polling district have already voted. There is also an unexpectedly competitive Senate race in Utah between Senator Mike Lee, a Republican, and Evan McMullin, an independent candidate.

☆ Special Report: Voting-system firms battle right-wing rage against the machines
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Helen Coster | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +19 min

Across the country, election officials have received hundreds of threats or menacing messages that cite debunked conspiracies involving the machines. Some have alleged without evidence that Dominion machines were rigged in plots involving Chinese communists, Venezuelan socialists or Antifa, the loosely organized U.S. anti-fascist movement. Among those calling for Louisiana to ditch Dominion machines is the state’s Republican National Committeewoman, Lenar Whitney. Authorities in the heavily Republican state acknowledge that their aging Dominion machines, most of them bought in 2005, are outdated. Dominion machines remain in use in 14 of Nevada’s 17 counties.

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☆ Election deniers are trying to influence the midterm elections at the polls, in the courts, and on the ballot
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Katie Balevic | Kenneth Niemeyer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Election deniers who challenged the 2020 presidential election are influencing the 2022 midterms. Organizing efforts to reach voters directlyState by state, election deniers are already having an impact on the ground. Election deniers on the ballotDozens upon dozens of election deniers are also running for office in the midterms — many of whom Trump has endorsed. Nearly 300 election deniers are running for public office with 171 expected to be victorious on election night, according to The Washington Post. Mario Tama/Getty ImagesMany election deniers are running for seats in Congress while others are running in significant statewide races.

☆ Factbox: These U.S. election deniers want to run the 2024 elections in battleground states
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Tim Reid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The fear is they could help Trump, if he decides to run again, or another like-minded Republican, overturn election results in 2024. Here are the Republican secretary of state candidates in the three states. He supported an audit of Arizona's election results and co-sponsored a bill that would give the state's Republican-controlled legislature the power to overturn election results. After the 2020 election, he also called for the arrest of the state's Democratic secretary of state, Katie Hobbs, who is running for governor in this election. Marchant is a member of the America First Secretary of State Coalition, a group supporting a slate of candidates supporting Trump's baseless claims about the 2020 election.

☆ Explainer: What U.S. election deniers could do in 2024 if they win this November
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Tim Reid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Nov 4 (Reuters) - Several Republican candidates for governor and secretary of state in next week's congressional elections are election deniers in battleground states that play a decisive role in U.S. presidential elections. All back former President Donald Trump's false claims that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden. Voting rights groups and many Democrats worry that if the candidates win their races in these midterm elections, they will be in key positions to influence the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. In Michigan, Republican secretary of state nominee Karamo has claimed Biden is an illegitimate president and she would not have certified his 2020 win in her state. "I could decertify every machine in the state with the stroke of a pen via the secretary of state," Mastriano declared during a March radio interview.

Fontes, a Marine and former Maricopa County elections administrator, is running for the job that oversees elections in Arizona. His opponent is Republican state legislator Mark Finchem, a 2020 election denier and self-identified member of the far-right militia group Oath Keepers. There are several Latino Republican candidates who are election deniers, too, such as Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican running for election to the U.S. House to represent Florida’s 13th District. 'Our community is demonized'Election denialism is still “overwhelmingly concentrated among non-Hispanic whites," said Francisco Pedraza, an associate director at Arizona State University's Center for Latinas/os and American Politics Research. In 2020, Latino voters helped Joe Biden win the state.

☆ Hand vote count on hold after Nevada Supreme Court calls it illegal
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Nye County officials and their lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. She said “no alternative hand-counting process may proceed” until she and the county can determine if there are any feasible alternatives that would comply with the Supreme Court order. After counting 900 ballots Wednesday, Kampf said his goal was to count about 2,000 ballots per day. While the state Supreme Court allowed the count to go ahead, it blocked a plan to livestream the counting, ruling that video can only be released only after polls close Nov. 8. Trump won 69% of the vote in Nye County although President Joe Biden won Nevada by about 2.4%.

☆ Nevada officials begin unprecedented hand count of ballots
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

A historic disaster is brewing in Nye County,” ACLU Nevada executive director Athar Haseebullah said in a statement after watching the first several hours of ballot counting. Nye County, an old silver mining region between Las Vegas and Reno, is home to about 50,000 residents, including 33,000 registered voters. Trump won 69% of the vote in Nye County even as President Joe Biden won Nevada by about 33,500 votes. Nye County wanted to start counting its early ballots before Election Day rather than risk missing the state’s Nov. 17 certification deadline. The most populous county in the continental U.S. to rely exclusively on hand-counting is Owyhee County, Idaho, which has one-fifth of the registered voters as Nye County.

Several Republicans who want to upend the way votes are cast and counted are also running for top election administrator offices in their states. Republicans who back Trump's false claim have become their party's nominees for top election officials in states that could play decisive roles in the 2024 contest. Voting groups are concerned that the election of some far right candidates could threaten the integrity of the next presidential election. That means Democrats must hold offices in closely-contested states to ensure the results of elections will be respected, he said. "Because it may turn out that in a close presidential election at some point, certification of an election in a key swing state may be at issue.

Over two dozen corporate leaders and businesses are quietly donating to the campaigns of at least four Republicans who have pushed false claims about the 2020 election results while running to become secretaries of state, according to a review of state campaign finance disclosures. Marchant is running to be Nevada's secretary of state, while Finchem and Karamo are aiming for the same position in Arizona and Michigan, respectively. The allegations led to dozens of failed lawsuits attempting to overturn state results and prompted the deadly Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Those business officials started financing the secretary of state candidates in Aug. 2021 and continued their donations through September, according to state records. Beckel noted in an email to CNBC that donors could be giving to secretary of state candidates for future help with issues more directly tied to their businesses.

Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who is retiring this cycle after voting to impeach former President Donald Trump, is endorsing a slate of high-profile Democrats (and a few Republicans) in key midterm races. Kinzinger is also backing Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski and independent Senate candidate Evan McMullin in Utah, House Republican hopeful Larry Lazor in Connecticut and a state House candidate in Minnesota. Shapiro, Hobbs, Fontes, Benson and Murkowski are all running against Republican nominees backed by the former president and who have all at least questioned the legitimacy of President Joe Biden’s election. While not backed by Trump, Nevada Republican secretary of state nominee Jim Marchant and Minnesota Republican secretary of state nominee Kim Crockett have also cast doubt on the 2020 election. While Lee subsequently voted to certify the 2020 election, opponents have used those texts to argue he lent a hand to those who sought to discredit the election.

LAS VEGAS — Jim Marchant, the election-denying Republican nominee for secretary of state in Nevada, has so far been outspent and out campaigned by his Democratic opponent. Davis, a Republican, said he “hadn’t thought much” about whether the 2020 election was stolen from Trump and remained undecided in the secretary of state race. The dynamics in Arizona’s secretary of state race are similar. He and Marchant, as well as Kristina Karamo, the Republican secretary of state nominee in Michigan, are all members of the pro-Trump America First Secretary of State Coalition, though polling shows Karamo’s race is far less competitive. “This could be the last free and fair election in Nevada,” West said.

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