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Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) is eyeing a Senate bid, according to a new report, in a move that would give Democrats a top recruit in the race to unseat Republican Sen. Jeff FlakeJeff FlakeEXCLUSIVE: Trump allies rally around Sen. Flake's primary challenger GOP senators rally to McConnell's defense amid Trump attacks Flake voices support for McConnell amid Trump attacks MORE.

Phoenix's KPNX-TV reports that sources familiar with Sinema's plans have confirmed that she will run against Flake, but the congresswoman has not officially announced any decision.

Sinema confirmed in a statement shared with The Hill that she's "seriously considering" a bid.

"When I make any decisions, Arizonans will be the first to know."

She's been the subject of rumors surrounding a possible bid throughout the year. Reporters had taken her declaration that she is "running for reelection" to mean that she would seek to remain in the House. But Sinema later clarified that she had been referring to her current status instead of swearing off a jump toward the Senate.

If Sinema ultimately goes through with a bid, she instantly becomes the Democratic favorite in what's likely to be one of the toughest Senate races in the country. Both Sinema and Flake are strong fundraisers she has more than $3.2 million in her campaign account as of July, while Flake has just under $3 million.

Democrats believe they can topple Flake thanks to both the trends in the state as well as Flake's issues with the GOP base.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary ClintonHillary Rodham ClintonJudge orders new search for Hillary Clinton's Benghazi emails Chance the Rapper: 'I have a bigger voice than Donald Trump' Bill and Hillary Clinton to take questions at joint Dallas appearance MORE narrowly lost Arizonain November and Flake has roiled his relationship with the party's base after he released a book that blasted President Trump and questioned the direction the president is taking the Republican Party.

And Democrats have been hammering Flake for his decision to vote for the GOP "skinny" plan to repeal ObamaCare, a bill Arizona's senior senator, John McCainJohn McCainSenate primaries: How far will Trump go for revenge? Gingrich: Trump deserves some blame for ObamaCare repeal failure McCain knocks Trump while unveiling Afghanistan strategy MORE (R), voted against.

Flake's willingness to criticize Trump has driven a wedge between the senator and those close to Trump. This week, GOP mega-donor and Trump ally Robert Mercer gave a super PAC supporting Flake's primary challenger, former state Sen. Kelli Ward, a $300,000 check. And The Hill reported that campaign hands from a pro-Trump super PAC are joining Ward's effort.

But while the White House considers backing a primary challenger, it has not done so yet. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnellMitch McConnellEXCLUSIVE: Trump allies rally around Sen. Flake's primary challenger GOP senators rally to McConnell's defense amid Trump attacks Flake voices support for McConnell amid Trump attacks MORE (R-Ky.) and his allies have always mounted strong defenses of their incumbents, so it's unclear how wide the rift could grow.

Sinema would have to vacate her House seat to run for Senate, and the KPNX report says that sources close to Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton (D) say he is gearing up to run for Sinema's seat if she jumps into the Senate race.

The National Republican Congressional Committee needled Sinema in a statement announcing that the House GOP campaign arm believes the seat is a "prime" opportunity for the party.

Sinema won reelection by a 22-point margin in 2016, but in her first election in 2012 won by a razor-thin margin, giving Republicans hope they can make an open seat more competitive. However, Hillary Clinton won Sinema's district by more than 16 points last year over Trump.

Yet another House Democrat has vacated a competitive seat and the NRCC is ready to take advantage, NRCC communications director Matt Gorman said in a statement.

After Kyrsten Sinemas shady campaign contributors were exposed earlier this year, its clear she lost touch with Arizonas 9th District. The NRCC not only believes this seat is in play, but is a prime pickup opportunity in 2018.

This report was updated at 10:46 a.m.

See more here:
Arizona Democrat eyeing a bid for Senate - The Hill

A Democratic lawmaker is calling on Speaker Paul RyanPaul RyanTrump sparks debate over war resolution for North Korea Senator: Brain tumor, late night may have influenced McCain's health vote Dems slam GOP lawmakers for not holding town halls MORE (R-Wis.) to "immediately" reconvene the House in the face of escalating tension between the U.S. and North Korea.

Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) told Ryan in a letter on Fridaythat the House must act immediately to prohibit President Trump from ordering a preemptive nuclear strike without congressional authorization.

"In light of the ongoing standoff between the United States and North Korea, as well as President Trump's reckless words," Cicilline wrote, "I ask that you immediately call the House of Representatives back into session to debate legislation prohibiting the U.S. from conducting a preemptive nuclear strike without prior congressional authorization."

"It is critical that the Trump administration exhaust all diplomatic options before resorting to military force. Instead, President Trump has made a dangerous situation even worse," he said.

"The president's words matter. And in this case, his words have been harmful," he continued.

Trump toughened his rhetoric against North Korea on Thursday, warning that his promise of "fire and fury" might not have been "tough enough."

Frankly, the people who were questioning that statement, was it too tough? Maybe it wasnt tough enough, he told reporters Thursday. Members of both parties have questioned Trump's tone.

Cicilline told Ryan in his letter that Congress has an obligation to de-escalate the situation before nuclear war erupts.

"Millions of Americans live within range of North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missiles," Cicilline wrote. "If the president will not diffuse this situation, then Congress must."

Continued here:
Democrat wants House to 'immediately' return to diffuse North Korea threat - The Hill

November 2018 is fast approaching. There's 33 Senators who are up for reelection, and of those, 23 are Democrats. While some are in safe seats, CNN has weighed in on who they think is the most vulnerable and likely to lose their position. Their pick for the Democrats? Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO).

McCaskill was elected in 2006, and won a close election over Republican Jim Talent. She failed to garner over 50 percent of the vote, and initially appeared to be vulnerable in 2012--until Republican challenger Todd Aiken said some rather unfortunate things about a woman's chances of pregnancy resulting from a rape. Needless to say, McCaskill easily won that election.

Now she's up once again for reelection, and CNN is projecting that this could be the easiest seat for Republicans to flip in the coming year. While he hasn't declared candidacy just yet, Missouri's Attorney General Josh Hawley is considered to be a likely challenger for McCaskill, and, provided he doesn't make any absurdly stupid remarks about rape and/or sexual assault survivors, could very easily win the seat. Romney and Trump both won the state by sizeable margins, and the state is pretty reliably GOP, having reelected Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) last year despite an impressive challenge from Democrat Jason Kander.

Further, Missourians just don't seem to like her all that much. In the most recent Morning Consult rankings, McCaskill is one of the least-popular senators in the entire country, with just six of her colleagues scoring lower approval ratings than she did. That doesn't seem like a recipe for success.

It's interesting to note that of CNN's top-10 most vulnerable seats, the majority of those listed are Democrats--and the two Republicans may go down in primaries. If the Republicans play their hands right, Election Day 2018 could be a very productive day for the Senate.

Excerpt from:
Is This the Most Vulnerable Senate Democrat? - Townhall

ILLINOIS NEWS NETWORK

A Democrat running for Illinois governor is distancing himself from his own partys leader.

State Rep. Scott Drury, D-Highwood, blames House Speaker Michael Madigan for creating the environment that allowed Gov. Bruce Rauner to win in 2014.

"When we had control, we allowed our pensions to spiral out of control, we didn't do things that our base wanted us to do, Drury said. Rauner became the candidate of 'anything but Democrats'. In that way, Speaker Madigan was the Dr. Frankenstein who created the monster he could no longer control."

Madigan has served as Illinois House Speaker for 32 of the past 34 years. He recently became the longest-serving House speaker in U.S. history.

Drury was the sole Democrat in Springfield who did not vote for Madigan to retain the title of Speaker earlier this year. He argues hes the only one in the race with a track record of standing up to the Chicago Democrat.

"I believe that Speaker Madigan has hedged his bets with various candidates in this race, Drury said. Certainly the one who's resonating the most right now is J.B. Pritzker. But when you look at the facts and other candidates, certainly Madigan has his claws into [Chris] Kennedy and Daniel Biss as well."

Drury has unveiled a reform proposal that in part takes aim at what he calls the Madigan Problem.

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"First of all, we need to have term limits on legislative leaders, Drury said. We absolutely need an influx of fresh ideas and I think term limits on legislative leaders would get us there."

The proposal also offers Drurys solution to the states pension problem and would prohibit legislative leaders from holding outside employment. Drury says his plan does not rely on any further increase in income taxes.

"By looking toward generating savings, rather than finding new sources of revenue or tapping into revenue, we can immediately invest that money into bipartisan issues that people want, such as public education or health care," Drury said.

Drury says he doesn't believe Gov. Rauner is doing a very good job and actually has made the state worse during his tenure. Hes interested in attracting support from across the political spectrum, including among dissatisfied Republicans.

"I'm looking for anyone who is sick and tired of Illinois, Drury said. Illinois is a bipartisan mess and the only way we're going to fix that is by looking for candidates who have solutions to the problems and go past the partisan bickering and want to make honest changes. Not just changes that are politically beneficial.

Read this article:
Madigan to blame for Rauner's election win, Democrat governor candidate says - Illinois News Network

A Republican state House candidate filed a motion to make sure the GOP primary isnt invalidated if the only Democrat in the race should be disqualified.

The motion, filed Thursday in Tallahassee by John Newstreet, president of the Kissimmee/Osceola Chamber of Commerce, and his attorney Wade Vose, seeks to make sure no substantive action is taken before Tuesdays Republican primary on a lawsuit claiming Democrat Paul Chandler cant legally run for office.

Newstreet is one of four Republican candidates, including Usha Jain, Bobby Olszewski and Bruno Portigliatti, facing off in a closed Republican primary for state House District 44. More than 3,000 people have already voted through early voting and vote by mail.

Only Republican voters can vote in the primary due to the presence of Chandler as a Democratic candidate. If there was no Democratic candidate, the Republican primary would have been open to all voters, Democratic, Republican and and independent.

But a lawsuit filed Tuesday by Charles Hart claims Chandler voted in Missouri in 2016 and does not fulfill the two-year residency requirement to run for office in Florida.

Wes Hodge, the Orange County Democratic chair, said he believed Chandler has been a resident since 2015 and would win the lawsuit. He also cited a state statute that would allow Democrats to replace Chandler on the ballot if there was a vacancy.

Newstreet, however, cited another section of the statute that states there is no vacancy and no way of naming a new candidate if a court finds a nominee did not properly qualify or did not meet the necessary qualifications to hold the office for which he or she sought to qualify.

He wrote he had concerns a sore loser in the GOP primary may try to argue that if Chandler is disqualified, and Democrats are not able to name a replacement, the closed primary results should be thrown out and an open primary held in its place.

Newstreet stated he welcomes confirmation by Hart, a longtime and well-recognized Republican activist, that he does not support, and affirmatively opposes any future attempts to retroactively invalidate the validly conducted Republican primary election scheduled to be concluded in only 5 days.

He also asked the court not to disenfranchise thousands of Central Florida Republican voters.

slemongello@orlandosentinel.com, 407-418-5920 or @stevelemongello

Lawsuit seeks to disqualify Democrat candidate in House race

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State House candidate: Don't invalidate GOP primary if Democrat is disqualified - Orlando Sentinel