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“Nearly every single state in the nation has passed at least one significant gun safety law since Sandy Hook,” concluded the report, first obtained by NBC News. Gun violence has gone from being a political third rail to a kitchen table topic in just ten years. Nearly every American will know a victim of gun violence in their lifetime.”Former Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., hugs Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Ga., at the Giffords Gun Violence Memorial in front of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., on June 7. Still, gun safety advocates face tall hurdles to achieving other goals, like banning semi-automatic assault-style weapons and large-capacity ammunition. Republicans just won control of the House, almost certainly ending hopes for stricter gun laws for the foreseeable future.

☆ A Fast-Growing Network of Conservative Groups Is Fueling a Surge in Book Bans
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Elizabeth A. Harris | Alexandra Alter | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The alliance has a network of more than 250,000 people it can mobilize to flood politicians with letters. Referred to by Mr. Flaugh as “the back office,” this network sprang into action this year to support a bill that requires Florida districts to report all book objections to the state. Some librarians and parents are concerned it will have a chilling effect. The summit also drew other prominent political figures from the right, including Senator Rick Scott of Florida and the Trump administration cabinet members Ben Carson and Betsy DeVos. In her remarks, Ms. DeVos called for dismantling the Department of Education, which she used to run.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear a major case that could upend election law as the justices consider whether to reinstate Republican-drawn congressional districts in North Carolina. The case, which could have a broad impact on an array of election issues, is being closely watched for its potential impact on the 2024 presidential election. Republicans led by Tim Moore, the Republican speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, invoked the theory after the state Supreme Court in February struck down the congressional district map. Activists protest partisan gerrymandering at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on Mar. Moore and other Republicans immediately asked the Supreme Court to reinstate the maps, saying the state court had overstepped its authority.

☆ Trump's bad week is bad news for his comeback
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Zachary B. Wolf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —Former President Donald Trump’s bad week is bad news for his comeback. The House January 6 committee has decided to make criminal referrals to the Justice Department – possibly of him or his close associates. “We know the committee has really been ahead of the Justice Department,” CNN’s Jamie Gangel said Tuesday, noting the Justice Department has sought testimony and evidence gathered by the January 6 committee. Helping alleged riotersInstead of focusing on the next election, Trump continues to fixate on his 2020 loss. A split in the GOPMcCarthy’s mission impossible is to find 218 votes from 222 House Republicans to gain the speaker’s gavel when the full chamber votes in January.

☆ Georgia Supreme Court allows early voting in U.S. Senate runoff on Saturday
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Kanishka Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Nov 23 (Reuters) - The Georgia Supreme Court allowed counties to hold early voting this Saturday in the U.S. Senate runoff election between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker, denying a bid by state Republicans to block the early voting. For the second time in less than two years, a U.S. Senate race in Georgia will go to a runoff, this time between Warnock and Walker, who is backed by former President Donald Trump. A Walker win would give national Republicans a boost, having seen their standing in the state of Georgia erode toward Democrats over the last few years. A Warnock victory could indicate that Democrats are making inroads in places where they have had difficulties gaining traction in the past. Democrats held the narrowest possible majority for the past two years in the 50-50 Senate, where Vice President Kamala Harris gave them the tie-breaking vote.

The Georgia Supreme Court on Wednesday denied the state Republican Party's bid to block early voting in the state's hotly contested Senate runoff from moving forward this Saturday. Early voting is required to be available statewide Monday through Friday of next week. The state Republican Party appealed the decision, arguing it was allowing “illegal advance voting.”The dispute centered on a provision of Senate Bill 202, signed by Republican Gov. Raffensperger contended that meant there could be no early in-person voting on Nov. 26, the Saturday following Thanksgiving. In a court filing, Democrats said at least 19 counties with a total of over 4 million residents were planning on offering early voting on Saturday.

As Republicans across the country saw their predictions of commanding victories up and down the ballot fall short on election night, Democrats in Pennsylvania were celebrating signs of a blue wave. Spencer Platt / Getty Images fileMany state Republicans said it’s no surprise that the strategy worked. “I think Republicans are going to be very demoralized here,” one Republican who worked on a Pennsylvania campaign, said in an interview. But while Oz struggled to overcome questions about his residency, Democrats and Republicans both said the election was driven by the Shapiro-Mastriano dynamic. “To have a wave, you not only have to have the initial motion, but you have to have the driver.

Now Kent, a former Green Beret who criticized Beutler for her impeachment vote and who has shared conspiracy theories about voting, will lose to businesswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat. "If Beutler had been the Republican nominee, she'd have won with 60% of the vote by now," said Chris Vance, the former chairman of the Washington State Republican Party, in an interview before NBC News projected the race. GOP primaries, Vance said, are no longer electing the best candidates because the base is more interested in ties to Trump. "If you're a Republican elected official, you've got to keep your head down," said Vance, who left the party after Trump's election. Gluesenkamp Perez avoided talking about party politics while emphasizing her rural background and her family's long ties to Washington state.

☆ The Republican Wipeout in Michigan
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

If Florida is an example of a state Republican Party governing well and building a majority, Michigan is the opposite. Wolverine State Republicans suffered an election wipeout Tuesday that leaves them without any legislative power for the first time in decades. Gretchen Whitmer won re-election despite punishing schools closures, and state Democrats gained their first trifecta in about 40 years. Democrats picked up seats in the state Senate, flipping it to 20-18 Democrats from 22-16 Republicans. Republicans had a supermajority in the state Senate and a trifecta only four years ago.

☆ 'Start adding zeroes': Big money expected to pour into Georgia midterm runoff
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Nathan Layne | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"Just start adding zeroes and stop when you feel like it," said Chuck Clay, a former state Republican chair and former state senator. If the parties split those seats, the runoff in Georgia will determine control of the upper chamber. For a midterm, that ranks second to the $372 million spent on this year's Senate race in Pennsylvania. The most expensive race ever was the $515 million contest between Georgia Republican Senator David Perdue and Democrat Jon Ossoff, which Ossoff won in a runoff in January 2021. Some Republican voters said they hoped popular Republican Governor Brian Kemp, who had somewhat distanced himself from Walker during the general election, would provide support.

☆ Results: Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney loses his bid for reelection against Republican Michael Lawler in New York's 17th Congressional District election
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Hanna Kang | Dorothy Cucci | Nov | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney was defeated by Republican Michael Lawler in New York's 17th Congressional District. The 17th District is located in the lower Hudson Valley. Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney lost his bid for reelection against Republican Michael Lawler in New York's 17th Congressional District. 2022 General EmbedsNew York's 17th Congressional District candidatesMaloney, who was first elected to the US House in 2012 after defeating Republican incumbent Nan Hayworth, serves on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Voting history for New York's 17th Congressional DistrictNew York's 17th Congressional District is located in the lower Hudson Valley and includes Rockland and Putnam counties, parts of Westchester, and three towns in southeast Dutchess County.

☆ When do the polls close for the 2022 U.S. midterm elections?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

2022 U.S. midterm elections When the polls close and races to watchEarliest poll closing time by state (EST) 6:00 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 10:00 Past 11:00Map showing poll closing times for each state in the United StatesOn Tuesday, November 8, 34 out of 100 U.S. States close polls in staggered times across the nation and results will begin to trickle in shortly after. 7:00 p.m. Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Vermont and VirginiaMap showing 7:00 p.m. EST poll closing times for the United StatesPolls will close in six more states. And in Kansas’s third district, Democrat U.S. House Representative Sharice Davids faces a difficult race after Republicans redrew her suburban Kansas City district. She will face Amanda Adkins, a former chair of the state Republican Party.

Both have highlighted policies that limit health care access in Georgia, such as its new six-week abortion ban and a decision by Republican Gov. Georgians have witnessed health services dwindle before and during the pandemic, straining the state’s medical system even as regional health care costs rise. Nearly half of Georgia’s 159 counties have no OB-GYN, according to the Georgia Board of Health Care Workforce. Some see the shutdowns as exacerbating racial disparities in health care access in Atlanta, where a 2018 Trulia analysis found 25.3 health care providers per 10,000 residents in the city’s majority-white census tracts, compared with 9.8 in majority-Black tracts. “I’m looking at somebody that is going to be for the community,” she says, “that’s going to help us with the health care — bring it closer to us.”

Zeldin hopes to end a two-decade drought for Republicans seeking statewide office in New York. “New Yorkers are ready,” Zeldin said. Her support in a primary for an upstate congressional district of right-wing political activist Carl Paladino who lost to the state Republican chair drew the ire of some in the state party. While there are about 3 million unaffiliated voters in New York, a successful Republican candidate has to make inroads with registered Democrats. “When I got elected they were saying the same things about me that they’re saying about Zeldin,” Pataki said.

☆ Laxalt's fiery closing pitch illustrates Nevada GOP's pro-Trump transformation
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Natasha Korecki | Natasha Korecki Is A Senior National Political Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +10 min

“I have more steak knives in my back from Republicans that have turned on us and stepped on us for their own benefit,” Nevada GOP Party Chair Michael McDonald said at a recent event in Reno. In 2020, Biden carried Nevada by just more than 33,000 votes via a similar path of winning Clark and Washoe counties. "The Republican Party has lost its mind," Cashell said. “Here in Washoe County, we have made it abundantly clear that if you as a Republican damage the Republican brand, there are consequences,” Washoe County GOP Chair Bruce Parks said in an interview. The county, as well as other Republican county organizations in Nevada have formally censured Republicans, like former GOP party chair Amy Tarkanian, after she endorsed two Democrats in Tuesday’s election.

☆ Ohio Republicans focused on winning a battleground Senate race still find things to admire in Tim Ryan just days before the crucial midterm elections
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Senate hopefuls JD Vance and Tim Ryan are making their closing pitches to Ohio voters. Some Buckeye State Republicans give Democrat Ryan points for his fighting spirit. Ohio Senate hopeful JD Vance mingles with local Republicans during Ohio GOP's bus tour stop in Zanesville, Ohio. She can't say the same for Vance, who Drenan claims waffled about abortion in his final debate with Ryan. "That's how dissatisfied I am with Republicans right now."

☆ Amendment 2: Kentucky voters could establish that citizens don't have the right to abortion
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Kentucky's Amendment 3 will change the constitution to clarify that the right to abortion does not exist. Opponents argue that it will make it more difficult to pass future abortion rights legislation. Currently, there are three lawsuits challenging abortion law in Kentucky, all of which assert that the state's constitution provides a right to abortions. Those in support argue that the amendment is necessary to remove future legal challenges to the state's abortion law. Those opposed say the amendment will make it harder to pass abortion rights legislation in the state or argue that a person's right to abortion is protected.

☆ Prayers, the pledge of allegiance and culture wars: Inside a Doug Mastriano rally in the final days of his long-shot bid for governor of Pennsylvania
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

A Doug Mastriano rally in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, featured praying and wading into culture wars. National and state Republican donors and groups have offered little support to his candidacy. "He's just been there the whole time," a Mastriano voter in Bucks County who only identified himself as Jeremy, told Insider. "You can't get your message out one-on-one to voters," Josh Novotney, a Pennsylvania GOP strategist, told Insider. "It's a different tactic and I pray it works," Joe Vichot, chairman of Lehigh County's GOP, told Insider.

☆ Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney faces off against Republican Michael Lawler in New York's 17th Congressional District election
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Hanna Kang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney is running against Republican Michael Lawler in New York's 17th Congressional District. The 17th District is located in the lower Hudson Valley. New York's 17th Congressional District candidatesMaloney, who was first elected to the US House in 2012 after defeating Republican incumbent Nan Hayworth, serves on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Prior to his congressional career, Maloney served as senior advisor to former President Bill Clinton. Voting history for New York's 17th Congressional DistrictNew York's 17th Congressional District is located in the lower Hudson Valley and includes Rockland and Putnam counties, parts of Westchester, and three towns in southeast Dutchess County.

Here is a summary of significant cases filed ahead of the Nov. 8 election and where they stand. The case is now before the Nevada Supreme Court, which earlier this month blocked officials from livestreaming the count ahead of election day. And in North Carolina, Republicans lost a bid to shorten the deadline for election officials to receive mail ballots from Nov. 14 to Nov. 11. Another lawsuit in Illinois, challenging the counting of mail ballots up to two weeks after election day, is pending. In Texas, the Justice Department and civil-rights groups are challenging a wide-ranging 2021 state law that criminalizes many voter outreach efforts.

Here is a summary of significant cases filed ahead of the Nov. 8 election and where they stand. County election officials halted the hand count in response to a ruling by the Nevada Supreme Court late Thursday, the ACLU said. And in North Carolina, Republicans lost a bid to shorten the deadline for election officials to receive mail ballots from Nov. 14 to Nov. 11. Another lawsuit in Illinois, challenging the counting of mail ballots up to two weeks after election day, is pending. In Texas, the Justice Department and civil-rights groups are challenging a wide-ranging 2021 state law that criminalizes many voter outreach efforts.

☆ Warnock leads Walker, but Georgia Senate race is unchanged after abortion payment allegation, poll shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat from Georgia, speaks during a 'Working for Georgia' campaign rally in Macon, Georgia, on Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. Walker's rival, Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, still leads by seven percentage points, 52% to 45%, according to Quinnipiac University's latest poll of likely voters in Georgia. That spread is virtually unchanged from last month, when the pollster found Warnock led Walker 52% to 46%. "She's lying," Walker told ABC of the woman's abortion claims. Quinnipiac's latest poll surveyed 1,157 likely Georgia voters between last Friday and Monday, days after the abortion scandal broke.

☆ Lawmaker complaint forces Tennessee pride festival indoors
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-07 | by ( Jo Yurcaba | Jo Yurcaba Is A Reporter For Nbc Out. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

The drag show at a Tennessee pride festival will go on Saturday — but not in the way organizers had planned it. Darin Hollingsworth, a Jackson Pride Committee member, said organizers were “horribly disappointed,” because they know local LGBTQ youths would have felt supported at the drag performance. “But we will be in contempt if we even allow parents to bring in their child, so we won’t.”Hollingsworth said the pride event had been in the works for a year, and Jackson Pride had advertised it repeatedly. The event began to face backlash after a Sept. 17 Facebook post from Republican state Rep. Chris Todd. As a result, the Jackson Pride Committee decided to move the festival, including the drag show, into the Civic Center and to increase security measures by, among other things, having a metal detector.

☆ Factbox: Twelve U.S. House races to watch in the midterm election
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-04 | by ( Moira Warburton | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

CALIFORNIA'S 22ND DISTRICTRepublican Representative David Valadao was one of only 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in his second trial. He is now facing a tough challenge from Democratic state representative Rudy Salas in a Central Valley district that has been redrawn substantially since the last election. She will face Amanda Adkins, a former chair of the state Republican Party. McLeod-Skinner faces Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a former mayor of Happy Valley, a Portland suburb. Fung has heavily focused his campaign on inflation, while Magaziner argues that Fung would enable the far right House Republicans' agenda.

☆ Wisconsin Republican fights off Jan. 6 committee's weekend subpoena to avoid being part of 'a multimedia show': report
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Jan. 6 committee investigators subpoenaed Wisconsin speaker Robin Vos over the weekend. Vos fought off testifying in a countersuit denouncing "the Committee's public relations scheme." Investigators want to talk to Vos about an election-related call he had with Trump in July. January 6 committee staff didn't respond to requests for comment about the Vos subpoena. But two of its senior members said over the weekend that they believe Trump was responsible for the deadly siege at the US Capitol.

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