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Tecumseh Democrat George Hanna announced Monday that he had filed to run for the Kansas House of Representatives in a district that covers part of Shawnee County.

Hanna, 47, a veteran and activist, is running in the Democratic primary for the seat currently held by Republican Rep. Ronald Ellis, of Meriden. Ellis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to the announcement, Hanna worked to unionize Topeka city employees after getting his start in activism by working against the anti-LGBTQ Westboro Baptist Church. Hanna became homeless as an adolescent, according to the press release.

It is because of the things I have been through that I fight for tolerance and acceptance today, Hanna said.

Hanna said veterans issues and Medicaid expansion would be pillars of his campaign. He said he serves as the chair of Kansas Democratic Caucus for Veterans and Veterans Families and is a student at Kansas State University.

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Democrat announces bid for Kansas House seat covering part of Shawnee County - Topeka Capital Journal

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - An educator and activist announced Monday shes running for a U.S. House seat in central Arkansas, becoming the second Democrat to launch a bid to unseat the districts incumbent Republican congressman.

Gwendolynn Combs filed paperwork last week with the Federal Election Commission to run for the 2nd Congressional District. Combs is a gifted and talented specialist at Stephens Elementary in Little Rock and was also the organizer of a womens march at the state Capitol in January that coincided with others nationwide. Republican U.S. Rep. French Hill is seeking a third term next year after first being elected to the seat in 2014.

Combs criticized Hill and the states other Republican House members for backing legislation that would have repealed and replaced major portions of the federal health overhaul. The repeal efforts collapsed in the U.S. Senate last week. Combs said she would have voted for the health care law when it was enacted in 2010.

We need to consider that health care is a human right, and its not something that should hinge on a persons economic status, Combs said. Those people who work hard shouldnt be bearing the burden of tax breaks for the wealthy.

A spokesman for Hills campaign did not immediately respond to a message Monday afternoon. Hill has more than $816,000 on hand for his re-election bid, according to his latest campaign fundraising report.

Combs said she supports abortion rights and opposes efforts backed by Hill and other Republicans to cut off federal funding to Planned Parenthood. She also said she supports raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour and would probably support linking the wage to inflation. She said she opposed President Donald Trumps decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord and criticized his plan to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.

Combs, 42, has never run for office before and is among several political newcomers who are running as Democrats try to rebound from recent losses in the state. Another Little Rock teacher and activist, Paul Spencer, announced earlier in July he was seeking the Democratic nomination for the 2nd District seat. Republicans hold all Arkansas four U.S. House and two Senate seats, as well as all of the constitutional offices and a majority of both chambers of the state Legislature.

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Follow Andrew DeMillo on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ademillo

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Democrat launches bid for US House seat in central Arkansas - Washington Times

Congressional sexism is becoming cliche and Rep. Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., is just the latest to cry misogyny.

During a committee hearing to discuss morale at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (of all things), the New York Democrat asked the witnesses overly broad questions, ran over her time by more than a minute, and then complained when Chairman Ron Estes, R-Kan., interrupted what was sure to be an anti-Trump tirade.

"Day in the life," Rice tweeted after the exchange. "Worth noting there are men from both parties who don't act like this. So we've got that going for us, which is nice." Because you know, Republicans are chauvinists by default.

Except no, no they're not.

Attacks against old man Republicans from old woman Democrats, like this fake sexist-Estes narrative, aren't just baseless. They're boring. Watching the entire exchange, not the edited version blasted out by Rice's office, shows the laziness of the charge.

First, Estes didn't cut Rice off. He reminded her that her time had expired. Estes didn't censor Rice's rant. He cut her off to recognize Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, who is also a woman and who is just as critical of the current administration as Rice.

That wasn't some sort of power move designed to silence women. It was regular order.

"I value following the committee rules," Estes told me after the exchange went down and hysteria was blowing up. A good natured Kansan who's been in Washington for less than four months, he says he just wanted to be sure "that everyone has an opportunity to speak."

Rice wanted an opportunity for a viral moment, much like that of Sen. Elizabeth Warren. That Massachusetts Democrat was made a martyr when she was ruled out of order on the Senate floor by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. And ever since then, every lady lawmaker now seems to need a viral clip chronicling her struggle with the man.

Most notably, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., increased her stock by claiming that she was silenced first by a GOP colleague and later by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. Oddly enough though, as my colleague Emily Jahinsky noted, sexism isn't bipartisan.

No one cries patriarchy, for instance, when screaming male protestors shut down Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Apparently, it's okay to tell a woman to sit down and shut up in Trump's America so long as she's a Republican.

And that's why Rice's martyr-mongering is so obnoxious. There was no real offense, just another attempt to cry foul and win points. But if Rice plans on shattering glass ceilings by playing victim she should at least find a more convincing villain than Estes.

Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.

Originally posted here:
New York Democrat Rep. Kathleen Rice tries (and fails) to cry sexism in committee - Washington Examiner

President Trump's new White House chief of staff has "got to protect" the Russia investigation from "continued assault" by the president, said former Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta, who also served as chief of staff to President Bill Clinton at the end of his second term.

Podesta told "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz on Sunday that Trump's new chief of staff, Ret. Gen. John Kelly, is responsible for safeguarding the Justice Department and special counsel Robert Mueller, who heads the Russia probe, from interference by the White House.

"Maybe the most difficult thing he needs to do is ... protect the Justice Department, and he's got to protect Bob Mueller and the investigation that's going on there from the continued assault by the president and by the White House," Podesta said on "This Week."

"It's going to be his job to provide a bulwark against interference by the White House, which in the end of the day, [would] get them in more trouble rather than less, Podesta said.

The president has repeatedly publicly slammed Attorney General Jeff Sessions over his recusing himself from the federal investigation of Russia's interference in the 2016 election and possible ties to Trump associates. The attorney generals recusing himself ultimately led to the appointment of Mueller as special counsel.

At a press conference Tuesday, the president said he is "disappointed" in Sessions and that he wants the attorney general "to be much tougher on the leaks from intelligence agencies, which are leaking like rarely have they ever leaked before, at a very important level."

"We will see what happens. Time will tell. Time will tell," Trump added.

The president's public criticism has led some observers to question whether Trump might try to replace Sessions with an attorney general who could oversee the Russia probe and potentially remove Mueller.

That possibility has prompted warnings from some Republicans as well as Democrats.

Any effort to go after Mueller could be the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency, GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Thursday.

Beyond the Russia probe, Podesta said one question about Kelly's appointment as the new White House chief of staff is whether Trump will give the former general the authority fully do his job.

I have no doubt that the president has told him that he has full authority, Podesta said of Kelly. The real question is will he allow him to exercise it.

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Trump's new chief of staff needs to 'protect' Russia investigation, Democrat says - ABC News

An outspoken Democratic critic of President Donald Trump's is leading the call for Vice President Mike Pence to become the next commander-in-chief. California Representative Maxine Waters, who has become an internet sensation among the left for her frank criticism of the president in recent months, tweeted Saturday: "Mike Pence is somewhere planning an inauguration. Priebus and Spicer will lead the transition."

Her tweet comes after former chief of staff Reince Priebus resigned from office Friday, a week after Sean Spicer left his post as press secretary. The men, both longtime insiders among the top ranks of the national Republican party, had apparently quarreled with the White House over the direction it was taking.

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Waters is no ordinary critic of the president. Herjabs at the president often go beyond any criticisms lobbied by other members of Congress, including her insistence that anunverified Russian blackmail dossier that claims Trump once encouraged prostitutes in Russia to engage in torid sex acts wasabsolutely true.

Waters also has urged members of Congress to start proceedings for Trump'simpeachment, an unlikely turn of events given that the Senate and House are controlled by Republicans and Trump has not been found guilty of any crimes.

Hes someone that Im committed to getting impeached! Waters said in May.Hes a liar! Hes a cheat! Hes a con man! Weve got to stop his ass.

Pence has remained loyal to the president as the White House has increasingly been accused of colluding with Russia to get Trump elected and of sabotaging policy efforts in Congress, including the failed campaign to overturn the Affordable Care Act passed by President Barack Obama. Most recently, Pence defended this week Trump's public waron Attorney General Jeff Sessions, telling Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonightthat voters supportedthe president's "candor" when it comes to Sessions.

"I know the Washington way is to talk behind people's backs. But that's not President Donald Trump's approach," Pence said. "One of the great things about this president is you always know where you stand.

"I think one of the president's virtues is his candor," he added. "There's no attempt to hide his feelings. His expressed disappointment here is very sincere and he's said 'well, we'll see what happens in the future.' But at least the American people know and every member of the Cabinet can know that you'll always know where you stand with President Trump."

Trump has called Sessions "weak" and "beleaguered" afterthe former Alabama senatorrecused himself earlier this year from theongoing investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 presidential election.

In between defending the president's Twitter tirades, Pence has also continued to perform his duties as one of Trump's closest advisers. He arrived in Estonia on Sunday to meet with Estonian Prime MinisterJri Ratas and showsupport for NATO allies against possible Russian meddling in the region.

Imaging a future where Pence is president has become a new standard for some onthe left. Data site Five Thirty Eight mapped out the possibilities in a June article: "We cant know the exact circumstances that would lead to a President Pence, but there are various paths that could deliver him to the White House. There are the paths of human folly: Trump might resign after a scandal roars out of control, or be impeached, which could lead to his removal from office. (Unlikely if Republicans maintain their dominance in Congress.) Or forces of nature could wreak havoc on the Trump presidency: Trump could become mentally or physically incapacitated, leading to a transfer of power under the25th Amendment. Or he might die before completing his term."

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Mike Pence Will Soon Be President With Help From Spicer, Priebus, Democrat Maxine Waters Tweets - Newsweek