Mediaboss Marketing

To a degree surpassing any other contest in the 2022 midterms so far, Donald Trump has poured his personal prestige into Pennsylvanias Republican Senate primary race, which is going through a final spasm of uncertainty as Kathy Barnette, an insurgent candidate with a sparse rsum, gives a last-minute scare to Trumps pick, Dr. Mehmet Oz.

The outcome of that election, as well as the G.O.P. contest for governor, is threatening to implode the states Republican Party with a blast radius that might be felt in states as far away as Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina over the coming weeks and months.

The turbulence also has major implications for Trumps hold on the party, which is growing more alarmed that the former presidents involvement in primaries could scupper Republicans chances of reclaiming the Senate despite President Bidens unpopularity.

Trump endorsed Oz, a celebrity physician, over the advice of many Republicans inside and outside Pennsylvania. The bill is coming due, those Republicans now say.

Many of Trumps own voters have expressed skepticism of Oz, who has fended off millions of dollars in negative advertising highlighting his past Republican heterodoxies on issues as varied as abortion and gun rights. As of Monday, Oz is leading by nearly three percentage points in the RealClearPolitics average of polls in the primary, which roughly matches the Oz campaigns latest daily tracking poll, Im told.

Its not clear how late-deciding Republicans will ultimately vote, although a new poll by Susquehanna University found that 45 percent of respondents who had made up their minds in the last few days were backing Barnette.

On Saturday, Trump finally endorsed Doug Mastriano, a conspiracy-theory-minded retired military officer who leads polls in the governors race, in an apparent attempt to hedge his bets.

Hes clearly upset that its not going his way, said David Urban, a political operative and early Trump backer who led the former presidents efforts to win Pennsylvania in the 2016 election.

Urban is supporting Dave McCormick, a fellow West Point graduate, in the Senate race, and said he had not spoken to Trump recently about the primary.

The McCormick camp is hoping the fireworks between Barnette and Oz will earn him a second look from voters, who seem to be wavering between the three leading contenders.

Not everyones buying it.

One veteran Republican operative in Pennsylvania who is not aligned with any Senate campaign likened McCormick to Hans Gruber, the villain in the movie Die Hard, who tries to fire upward at Bruce Williss character even as he is falling from the top of Nakatomi Plaza.

Barnette has endorsed Mastriano and vice versa, and the two have held events together almost as if they are running together as a kind of super-MAGA ticket. She has fended off questions about her background in recent days, including about her military service and her past Islamophobic comments.

Oz, who if elected would become Americas first Muslim senator, called those comments disqualifying and reprehensible in an interview on Saturday with The Associated Press.

In the governors race, Republicans aligned with the party establishment are desperate to stop Mastriano from winning the nomination, and have urged other candidates to unite around former Representative Lou Barletta, who is running for governor with the help of several former top Trump campaign aides.

One of the first members of Congress to embrace Trump, former Representative Tom Marino of Pennsylvania, blasted the former president at a news conference this weekend for what he said was a lack of loyalty to Barletta.

In a follow-up interview, Marino said he hadnt been planning to endorse anyone in the race, but decided to back Barletta because he felt that Barletta had earned Trumps support by risking his career to throw his lot in with Trump early in the 2016 campaign.

I did what I did because I was just so outraged over Trumps endorsement of Mastriano, Marino said. Loyalty is important to me.

Watching the events in Pennsylvania, which included the leading candidate in the Democratic race for Senate, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, suffering a stroke on Friday, plugged-in observers in both parties used words like gobsmacked and stunned.

Its just bang-bang crazy here, said Christopher Nicholas, a Republican consultant based in Harrisburg.

Recriminations are flying over why the Pennsylvania Republican Party failed to appreciate the rise of Barnette and Mastriano until it was too late to arrest their momentum. Ballots have already been printed, fueling despair among party insiders that the efforts to unify the party against one or both outsider candidates might ultimately prove futile.

The press paid very little attention to Barnette until the last two weeks, said G. Terry Madonna, an expert on Pennsylvania politics who ran polling at Franklin and Marshall College for many years.

National Democrats are watching the events in Pennsylvania closely, and many predicted that the results of Tuesdays contests would affect other Republican primaries for Senate in the weeks to come.

And while the publics anger over inflation and supply-chain disruptions is weighing in the G.O.P.s favor, Democrats hope to compete in the fall against candidates they perceive as easier to defeat, like Barnette.

The greatest impact of Trumps meddling might be felt in Arizona, where he has yet to issue an endorsement. Trump has slammed the establishment candidate, Attorney General Mark Brnovich, for failing to overturn Bidens victory there in 2020, but has not yet chosen an alternative.

David Bergstein, the communications director at the Democratic Senate campaign committee, said that Trumps meddling in G.O.P. primaries was having an even greater effect on the Republican Party than many Democrats had anticipated. Chaos begets chaos, he said.

how they run

When Gov. Pat McCrory of North Carolina signed legislation that critics called the bathroom bill in 2016, it set off a firestorm.

Why are these midterms so important? This years races could tip the balance of power in Congress to Republicans, hobbling President Bidens agenda for the second half of his term. They will also test former President Donald J. Trumps role as a G.O.P. kingmaker. Heres what to know:

What are the midterm elections? Midterms take place two years after a presidential election, at the midpoint of a presidential term hence the name. This year, a lot of seats are up for grabs, including all 435 House seats, 35 of the 100 Senate seats and 36 of 50 governorships.

What do the midterms mean for Biden? With slim majorities in Congress, Democrats have struggled to pass Mr. Bidens agenda. Republican control of the House or Senate would make the presidents legislative goals a near-impossibility.

What are the races to watch? Only a handful of seats will determine if Democrats maintain control of the House over Republicans, and a single state could shift power in the 50-50 Senate. Here are 10 races to watch in the Houseand Senate, as well as several key governors contests.

When are the key races taking place? The primary gauntletis already underway. Closely watched racesin Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia will be held in May, with more taking place through the summer. Primaries run until September before the general election on Nov. 8.

Go deeper. What is redistrictingand how does it affect the midterm elections? How does polling work? How do you register to vote? Weve got more answers to your pressing midterm questions here.

The law, which required transgender people to use public restrooms that matched their birth gender, drew protests from major businesses and athletic powerhouses including the N.B.A. and the N.C.A.A., which withdrew their All-Star Game and March Madness basketball tournament games from the state.

A few months later, McCrory lost re-election.

Fast-forward six years, and Republicans are pushing anti-transgender legislation across the country and punishing companies that dare to object. But McCrory, running for Senate in North Carolina, is floundering in his attempted return to electoral politics, trailing heavily in polls to a rival backed by Donald Trump.

McCrory also isnt talking on the campaign trail about the hot-button issue of L.G.B.T.Q. rights that brought him to national prominence back in 2016.

Its not an issue that drives me, never was, McCrory said in a telephone interview on Monday. But its an issue, if asked, Ill state where I am.

McCrorys bid to replace Senator Richard Burr, who is retiring, has been complicated by the strength of Representative Ted Budd, who has support from both Trump and the conservative Club for Growth and seems to be leading the race.

McCrory supports the recently enacted Florida law that restricts discussion of sexual orientation in schools. He said that he had been told before that he was the Ron DeSantis before Ron DeSantis.

But as he seeks the Senate nomination in Tuesdays primary, hes more interested in talking about inflation. He describes himself as a Ronald Reagan Republican whos interested in national defense, fighting crime, cutting taxes and balancing budgets.

He also described himself as the Jason Bourne of the Republican Party. Ive got these outside special interest groups trying to give me a false identity, he said, taking particular issue with the Club for Growths attacks. Who in the hell are they to determine what type of conservative I am?

Carter Wrenn, a longtime Republican strategist in North Carolina, said the Club for Growths spending might be the biggest factor in the Senate race, and he agreed with McCrory that the top issue for voters was inflation.

Wrenn said he didnt think transgender rights were a major issue in the primary because the top candidates most likely agree with McCrorys actions in 2016.

Obviously none of his opponents are attacking him for it in the primary, Wrenn said, because if you attack Pat for what he did in the past, it would probably help him.

Blake & Leah

Is there anything you think were missing? Anything you want to see more of? Wed love to hear from you. Email us at onpolitics@nytimes.com.

See the rest here:
Republican Chaos in Pennsylvania Threatens to Upend the Midterms - The New York Times

Republicans have frequently claimed that social media censors them unfairly. However, a recent study on the subject indicated the reality is much more complicated. The study illustrated that Republicans are correct that they are censored substantially more on social media platforms. In fact, the study showed that Republicans get suspended from Twitter at almost four times the rate of Democrats. It is then easy to see why cries of social media bias ring so strongly in Republican circles.

Even so, that same study looked deeper into the issue and concluded that the reason for Republicans being suspended more often isn't a function of their ideology but is instead linked to their greater propensity to share misinformation. The GOP, the party of alternative facts, is steeped in lies and conspiracy theories. From Q-Anon, pizza-gate, ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine as COVID-19 treatment, microchips in COVID vaccines and dozens of more examples all make clear that the Republican Party is practically committed at a fundamental level to spreading outrageous falsehoods.

Social media companies targeting those who spread falsehoods with suspension is perfectly within their right as a private company, just as it is their right to suspend accounts sharing pornography, hate speech, or any other content they disagree with or believe will harm their brand by hosting it. The law on this is rather clear, making laws like HB 20 out of Texas doomed to fail absent a rather significant reworking of First Amendment precedent.

The Supreme Court in Citizens United, a case championed by Republicans who were looking to dramatically increase the level of corporate cash in elections, rested on the notion that private companies have a right to free speech. Relatedly, the Court has held since a landmark case in 1943 that the government cannot compel speech, that is to say it cannot force someone to say or sponsor a message they disagree with. One or both of these cases would have to be directly overruled for Republicans to have any hope of truly regulating who or what social media companies have to host on their platforms.

This is what makes it so curious that a Fifth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals panel has recently allowed HB 20 in Texas to go into effect. This law gives both the state of Texas and its citizens the right to sue social media companies that discriminate in any way based on "the viewpoint of the user or another person." This overly broad law seeks to fundamentally alter the way social media companies operate by turning them into an anarchic free for all where anything goes. HB 20 not only strips social media companies of their First Amendment rights, but it also prevents them from exercising their judgment in a host of ways that they believe would improve a user's experience.

Another issue this law is likely to run into is what lawyers term the "dormant commerce clause." The U.S. Constitution explicitly empowers Congress with regulating interstate commerce, which in effect means states cannot pass laws that interfere interstate commerce. Given that social media inherently operates across state borders, HB 20 would inevitably interfere with the user experience citizens of other states enjoy when using these services outside of Texas' borders. The state of Texas simply cannot control these commercial entities as they operate outside the state, Congress would need to do so using its power under the commerce clause.

When Republicans retake the House and Senate, whether it be after the 2022 midterms or any time thereafter, we can expect them to try for just that. The First Amendment considerations that so plainly give social media companies the right to be free of government regulation when it comes to hosting speech they do not want on their platforms will ultimately result in Republicans losing this battle and their leaders know it. Regardless, that will not stop them as their party's identity is built on victimhood and multi-billion dollar social media companies make for excellent fodder in their never ending culture wars.

Nicholas Creel is an assistant professor of business law at Georgia College and State University. His Twitter is @Prof_Peacock.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.

More here:
Republican Attacks on Social Media Are Doomed to Fail. That Won't Stop Them | Opinion - Newsweek

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Former White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove joined "Jesse Watters Primetime" to break down what the primary numbers in Pennsylvania and North Carolina mean for the U.S. midterms in 2022.

KARL ROVE: Take a look at Pennsylvania. Four years ago, 737,000 people voted in the Republican primary. This year, 1,338,000. Seven-hundred, seventy-six thousand people voted four years ago in the Democratic primary, outnumbered the Republicans, this year they had a 1,252,000 79% increase in the Republican vote. Sixty-one percent of the Democrat and the Republicans outnumber them. Worse in North Carolina. North Carolina, four years ago, 294,000 Republicans. This year, 759. That's a 158% increase. Democrats went from 432 to 613. So again, the Republicans outnumber the Democrats in North Carolina as well as in Pennsylvania, an exact reversal of four years ago.

I'm happy with the idea that Republican turnout is larger than Democratic turnout. Not necessarily happy with all the outcomes because quality of candidates and quality of message matters in the general election.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE:

Go here to see the original:
Karl Rove: PA and NC primaries are showing Republican turnout is larger than Democratic turnout - Fox News

Four candidates are on the Republican ballot for Crawford County sheriff. Watch video above for more information!Daniel Perry, Wayne Sandusky, James Mirus and Shannon Gregory are all hoping to be the next Crawford County sheriff.Each candidate has law enforcement experience and each candidate told 40/29 News that getting better pay and benefits for county deputies would be their top priority if elected to office.Daniel Perry is currently a captain with the Van Buren Police Department. He is also a justice of the peace."We want to make it a place where a deputy wants to stay and make his career there," Perry said. "I think the training of the deputies, the retention of deputies, is probably the most important. That should be the most important part. The deputy who is out there on the road, that they have the best training available to protect them and be able to go home with their families at night."Wayne Sandusky works part-time as a Cedarville police officer and works full-time as a construction manager."I'm definitely not doing it for the money and I'm not doing it for the retirement. I'm doing it for the citizens of Crawford County and to make the sheriff's office a better agency," he said. They're very short-handed. It's hard to keep deputies with the pay these guys have. It's not a good environment, easy environment to work in. And at times when I work at Cedarville, I see where there's only one deputy working. This not only threatens the deputies, it threatens the citizens."James Mirus is the chief deputy for the sheriffs department."I'm going to make sure that we get more deputies on the street, which provides better protection for the citizens. If you give back to your employees, they're going to provide a better service to our county, he said. In 2022 we took money from our own budget to give our employees a raise. The county came back and gave us another dollar raise on top of that, so the county deputies alone have gotten over a $4,000 raise in the last six months. I have the know-how from the inside with the visions of criminal investigations, with patrol, with the jail, which is one of the most important things a sheriff can do is control the jail."Shannon Gregory is currently the police chief for the town of Mulberry."It starts at the top. I'm not going to ask my people to do anything that I'm not willing to do or I have not done, he said. We want to be completely transparent. If the people want to talk to the sheriff, they can come in and talk to the sheriff. I believe that with the proper teamwork we can get the benefits up or we can keep people. With retention comes more people on the street, a safer community and more effective patrols."All of the candidates also told 40/29 News that equipping deputies with police body cameras would be something they would enact if elected as sheriff. The Crawford County Sheriffs Department is one of the few agencies in the River Valley that does not have body cameras or dash cameras inside patrol vehicles.Current Sheriff Jim Damante can not seek election since he was appointed to fulfill the remaining term of former Sheriff Ron Brown, who retired from office.Since there are no Democrat candidates seeking the sheriffs position, the race could be decided during the Republican primary election on Tuesday. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the votes, a runoff election will be held in June.

Four candidates are on the Republican ballot for Crawford County sheriff. Watch video above for more information!

Daniel Perry, Wayne Sandusky, James Mirus and Shannon Gregory are all hoping to be the next Crawford County sheriff.

Each candidate has law enforcement experience and each candidate told 40/29 News that getting better pay and benefits for county deputies would be their top priority if elected to office.

Daniel Perry is currently a captain with the Van Buren Police Department. He is also a justice of the peace.

"We want to make it a place where a deputy wants to stay and make his career there," Perry said. "I think the training of the deputies, the retention of deputies, is probably the most important. That should be the most important part. The deputy who is out there on the road, that they have the best training available to protect them and be able to go home with their families at night."

Wayne Sandusky works part-time as a Cedarville police officer and works full-time as a construction manager.

"I'm definitely not doing it for the money and I'm not doing it for the retirement. I'm doing it for the citizens of Crawford County and to make the sheriff's office a better agency," he said. They're very short-handed. It's hard to keep deputies with the pay these guys have. It's not a good environment, easy environment to work in. And at times when I work at Cedarville, I see where there's only one deputy working. This not only threatens the deputies, it threatens the citizens."

James Mirus is the chief deputy for the sheriffs department.

"I'm going to make sure that we get more deputies on the street, which provides better protection for the citizens. If you give back to your employees, they're going to provide a better service to our county, he said. In 2022 we took money from our own budget to give our employees a raise. The county came back and gave us another dollar raise on top of that, so the county deputies alone have gotten over a $4,000 raise in the last six months. I have the know-how from the inside with the visions of criminal investigations, with patrol, with the jail, which is one of the most important things a sheriff can do is control the jail."

Shannon Gregory is currently the police chief for the town of Mulberry.

"It starts at the top. I'm not going to ask my people to do anything that I'm not willing to do or I have not done, he said. We want to be completely transparent. If the people want to talk to the sheriff, they can come in and talk to the sheriff. I believe that with the proper teamwork we can get the benefits up or we can keep people. With retention comes more people on the street, a safer community and more effective patrols."

All of the candidates also told 40/29 News that equipping deputies with police body cameras would be something they would enact if elected as sheriff. The Crawford County Sheriffs Department is one of the few agencies in the River Valley that does not have body cameras or dash cameras inside patrol vehicles.

Current Sheriff Jim Damante can not seek election since he was appointed to fulfill the remaining term of former Sheriff Ron Brown, who retired from office.

Since there are no Democrat candidates seeking the sheriffs position, the race could be decided during the Republican primary election on Tuesday. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the votes, a runoff election will be held in June.

Read the original post:
Four candidates are on the Republican ballot for Crawford County sheriff - 4029tv

At an April event in Rochester, Jeremy Munson said Republican primary voters in southern Minnesotas 1st Congressional District should reject candidates who say they are conservative, but who turn into squish in Washington, D.C.

The GOP is favored to win the August special election to replace Jim Hagedorn, who died in February. So much so that Munson said Republicans can comfortably pick him, a right-wing fighter, a fiscal hawk, someone in the mold of U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky or U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.

We dont need another Mitt Romney or Liz Cheney to go to Washington and grow government, Munson told a crowd at the local Eagles Club, flanked by several other candidates. Its not just the Democrats who are at fault.

Munson is one of nine GOP candidates running in the May 24 primary. And the controversial state representative from Lake Crystal who broke from House Republicans to form a small caucus at the Legislature and is known for frustrating GOP leadership might just be the favorite.

Article continues after advertisement

But theres one thing standing in his way: much of the Republican establishment.

Brad Finstad

Hes a huge disappointment, said state Sen. Julie Rosen, an influential six-term Republican who chairs the Senates Finance Committee and shares a district with Munson. He hasnt supported any issue that was relevant to the communities that he was supposed to take care of.

Munson says he was driven to politics by the cost of health insurance while self-employed after the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, was signed into law in 2010. He also wanted more price transparency in health care, which he eventually helped pass a law to address.

In 2017, he was elected 1st District party chair, and then won a House seat in 2018 representing a rural district south of Mankato. At the Capitol in St. Paul, Munson and three other Republicans quickly made waves by splitting from House Republicans, led by Minority Leader Kurt Daudt of Crown, to form a separate caucus.

The New House Republicans, arent a bloc within the larger 59-member House GOP caucus. The group stands alone and apart from traditional Republicans. While individual legislators can work together, House Republicans dont coordinate on votes or strategy with New House GOPers or share resources.

The fissure was caused by distaste for Republican leadership as much as ideological differences. Munson said Republican brass limited what staff they could hire before the separation, and he and fellow New Republican Rep. Tim Miller ran unsuccessfully for leadership positions in the House GOP caucus. Miller called the partys leaders hostile to him.

Since the break, the impact of the New House Republicans has been minimal, though thats largely because the House has a DFL majority. The new caucus often votes the same as House Republicans, though not always: Munson opposes reinsurance, a program meant to stabilize the individual and small-group health insurance market favored by most Republicans. He and his cohort also often publicly criticize GOP leadership in the House and Senate for other positions or actions they view as unethical or not conservative enough.

Article continues after advertisement

Last year, the New House Republicans pushed through the Legislature a bill to ban sitting legislators from working as lobbyists. It was directed at Daudt, who works for a public affairs based in Virginia but who contends his work doesnt involve lobbying.

Munson is also known for voting against most spending, especially when it comes in the form of an omnibus bill, which rolls many pieces of legislation into one packaged deal. He believes the practice is unconstitutional and even hosts a podcast called The Omnibus.

The New Republican Caucus, shown in 2019, from left: Rep. Tim Miller, Rep. Steve Drazkowski, Rep. Jeremy Munson and Rep. Cal Bahr.

But Munson has also led the charge on some quixotic bills, such as one that would allow parts of Minnesota to secede and join other states. And in one instance that exasperated Republican leaders, Munson and one New GOP colleague opposed 2019 legislation to ban state funding for art that promotes terrorism, violence, hate crimes and white nationalism because white nationalism was undefined in law, he said, and the state shouldnt be determining motives of artists.

Munson describes himself as acting on principle, not beholden to special interests that sway Republican and Democratic leadership. We dont have to deal with the pressures from the establishment, Munson said of New House Republicans. If we were in the majority wed be able to direct and change where things are going.

If elected to Congress, Munson said he would join the House Freedom Caucus, which is known for agitating against its own Republican leadership to push its priorities.

Munson has been backed by the leaders of that caucus: Jordan and Rep. Scott Perry. Political bedfellows Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz have endorsed Munson, as well as former U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, conservative activist Morton Blackwell and former state GOP chairman Keith Downey.

Jeremy has a proven record of standing up to establishment pressure and doing whats right for the People of southern Minnesota, Perry said in endorsing Munson. Paul said Munson has a record as a proven liberty warrior.

Article continues after advertisement

Munson has attracted almost no support from elected officials in Minnesota, however. Most legislators in southern Minnesota, including Rosen, have endorsed Finstad, who was state director for rural development under Trumps USDA. U.S. Reps. Michelle Fischbach and Pete Stauber of Minnesota are also backing Finstad.

State Sen. Julie Rosen

And Rosen said Munsons hard line against spending and omnibus bills including voting against measures to fund basic infrastructure or services has gone too far, placing his principles over the needs of people. He talks about the money; as a conservative you still have to spend money and take care of the needs of the state, Rosen said. And for me those are children, the disabled and the aging. You cant constantly vote no no no no, just to make a statement.

Rosen said she has even turned to other House lawmakers to carry bills important to the district, which she and Munson share, to ensure the legislation is passed. Because Jeremy Munsons principles would perhaps be in the way of the Vernon Center wastewater treatment plant, or the Waldorf wastewater treatment plant, or the road improvements in St. James, Rosen said.

Munsons frequent accusations that Republicans arent conservative enough grates on Rosen and others. Theyre trying to accomplish things, Rosen said, while Munsons ultimate goal is to shut the state down just to prove hes right.

In 2020, the Legislature passed a $1.9 billion package of publicly financed construction projects, known as a bonding bill, with the help of 25 Republican votes in the House, and the measure passed 64-3 in the Republican-led Senate. Munson voted no, though so did many traditional Republicans.

Munson has carried bills for individual infrastructure projects, and he said his advocacy has helped them become law as part of the bonding bill. But he also said wont vote for a bonding bill with pork projects such as museums and convention centers or topics that make it, in his view, an unconstitutional multi-subject omnibus bill.

A television ad from the Super PAC Defending Mainstreet, a group that supports centrist Republicans and backs Finstad, slams Munson for being one of only four lawmakers to vote against a $330 million COVID-19 relief bill in March 2020 that included money for struggling businesses. We never faced anything like this before, but Munson still said no, the ad says.

At the time, Munson argued lawmakers and the public didnt have enough time to scrutinize the bill. He also didnt like that it handed some spending decisions to the governor and a smaller group of lawmakers.

Article continues after advertisement

Rep. Paul Torkelson, a seven-term Republican from Hanska, said if Munson goes to D.C. and acts the same way as he has in Minnesota, hell be part of a small caucus that cant represent the district well. If we were in the majority and had this situation with a slim majority, it would be impossible to govern, Torkelson said of the Minnesota House.

State Rep. Paul Torkelson

People didnt like transparency because a lot of the Republicans will campaign as conservatives and then they go to St. Paul and vote like Democrats, Munson said. Its a team sport but Im not there to build relationships and build a career. Im there to enact change.

Rosen and Torkelson are among those supporting Finstad, a former lawmaker from New Ulm who served three terms in the Minnesota House from 2003 to 2008.

Finstad has pitched himself as a problem solver able to legislate well and achieve conservative goals under a politically divided government. After leaving the Legislature, he farmed and later led the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association and the nonprofit Center for Rural Policy and Development. He was appointed to the USDA by Trump in 2017.

Finstad said his endorsements are evidence he can make more friends than enemies and deliver results. He questioned whether Munson would vote for something like the farm bill, an often massive piece of legislation Congress takes up roughly every five years, and he criticized Munson for not supporting government funding to help subsidize high-speed internet infrastructure. The two have disagreed on other issues, too: Finstad says he would have voted to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election while Munson says he would have objected.

For me its not just screaming as loud as you can and getting as much media attention as you can, Finstad said. When I served in the Legislature I was in the Republican caucus. I was part of the team that helped run the Republican caucus and helped pass a lot of our conservative value legislation into law.

Munson may be unpopular among elected officials, but there are signs that he may be the favorite among Republican voters in the district. Jennifer Carnahan, former state GOP chair who resigned after a scandal-plagued tenure, has touted internal polling showing her in front.

But Munson led every round of delegating voting at the district GOP convention. Finstad came in second and Carnahan, who has no endorsements of note, came in third. No one had enough votes to secure an endorsement.

Republican state Rep. Eric Lucero who often aligns ideologically with Munson but hasnt endorsed him said Munson is a phenomenal communicator with one of the largest social media followings in the Legislature.

State Rep. Eric Lucero

Munson recently has drawn fire for his ties to operative Cliff Maloney, who was recently charged with raping a woman in 2013. A reporter for Inside Elections said Maloney was assisting Munson in the 1st District campaign, and the Minnesota Reformer reported Munson paid Maloneys consulting firm.

Munson said he knew Maloney because he led Young Americans for Liberty, which supported Munsons 2020 state House campaign. We made phone calls to him when I first started because I dont know people in Washington, D.C, Munson said, in the run-up to his congressional campaign.

Munson also said Maloney is part of the firm he hired, but hes working with another person for the purposes of door knocking and other services. He called the charges disturbing news and said Maloney wont be part of his campaign.

Munsons top issue of the campaign cycle is a bread and butter topic: inflation. He blames tax cuts and spending approved by Republicans and Democrats, and he has opposed a federal aid package for Ukraine supported by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The Federal Reserves monetary policy has driven our economy off a cliff, and we must audit the Fed and take corrective action, Munson said, answering a recent MinnPost questionnaire. We must also significantly reduce spending in advance of rising interest rates.

Munson also promotes what might be the most right-wing platform of any major candidate. He said he will never vote to raise the debt ceiling, and he calls the 2020 election results including his own state House race illegitimate because of changes to election procedure done without legislative approval. He unsuccessfully sued to stop the Minnesota results from being certified.

He said abortion should be illegal except for when a mothers life is at risk, and he would not exempt cases of rape or incest.

Susan Walsh/Pool via REUTERS

Dr. Anthony Fauci

He said farm bills are usually good and important to the district, but wants to separate food benefit programs from agriculture programs. He wouldnt commit to voting for specific bills yet.

Munson has pushed back against Finstad for being supported by the GOP establishment and by a PAC tied to the Koch brothers that doesnt endorse candidates who run on election integrity issues. A PAC connected to Rand Paul has also critiqued Finstad for a legislative record they view as too liberal.

One key political friend Munson does have in Minnesota outside of the New House GOP is the endorsed Republican candidate for governor, Scott Jensen. The former state senator and family doctor donated to Munson, and Munson appeared on stage with Jensen at the GOP convention in Rochester on Saturday to bolster Jensens conservative bona fides.

In an interview, Jensen called Munson effective at the Legislature. Jensen sponsored the health care price transparency bill with Munson and the two have also found common ground in supporting Fauci foe Rand Paul. Jensen stopped short of an endorsement citing his campaign for governor, but said Paul supporting Munson was pretty darned impactful.

That endorsement, however, wont sway Rosen, who said splitting from the Republican caucus put Munson and his three colleagues into a box.

They became irrelevant, Rosen said. Which meant (Munson) was irrelevant to the district he serves instead of trying to make something happen.

MinnPost's in-depth, independent news is free for all to access no paywall or subscriptions. Will you help us keep it this way by supporting our nonprofit newsroom with a tax-deductible donation today?

More:
Jeremy Munson could be the next Republican congressman from Minnesota's 1st District. Why are so many Republicans trying to stop that from happening?...