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The city of Milwaukee, often called Wisconsins economic engine and for certain the states most populous city, continues to draw suspicion from Republicans who raised questions about voting practices there in 2020, when Donald Trump falsely claimed voter fraud deprived him of victory in the presidential election. In November, voters across the state go to the polls to cast ballots in key races, including for governor and U.S. Senate. Recently, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Republican Party of Wisconsin filed an open records lawsuit against the city, including the mayors office and election commission.

The lawsuit seeks communications between city employees about a privately funded get-out-the-vote effort. On Sept. 12, Mayor Cavalier Johnson announced support for the privately funded campaign Milwaukee Votes 2022, which aims to boost voter turnout through door-to-door canvassing. While the city wouldnt directly lead the effort, it would assist by adding a website widget to some milwaukee.gov pages.

Johnson stressed that the effort is non-partisan. Im not asking anybody to cast their ballots for one party or another or one candidate or another, he said during a Sept.12 press conference. What Im asking is for people to participate in our process and to make sure that their voice is heard at the ballot box. Republican groups, however, cast shade on the effort as a potentially illegal and inappropriate ploy to help Democrats win in November.

On Sept. 28 Empower Wisconsin, a conservative advocacy group, tweeted a quote from Wisconsin GOP executive director Mark Jefferson. The Republican Party of Wisconsin is deeply concerned that cities like Milwaukee are working with Democrat operatives and partisan third party groups to get out the vote in a manner designed to tip the scales for Democrats.

The open records lawsuit also spreads doubt about election integrity in Milwaukee. It states that on Sept. 15 an assistant to Johnson acknowledged the request for records regarding Milwaukee Votes 2022, but didnt provide an estimate as to when the records could be provided. The office stated that 19 requests had been made about the campaign, and that at least some of the records would be ready for release by between Set. 23 and Sept. 26.

The Republican groups moved to sue for the records. Among other things the lawsuit states, As a result of foregoing, and significant concerns as to whether the city of Milwaukee is or will be administering the upcoming Nov. 8 2022 election in accordance with Wisconsin law, Plaintiffs submitted separate open records requests to Defendants related to Milwaukee Votes 2022 and Milwaukee Votes.

Raising alarms about election integrity has become common

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Republicans sue Milwaukee over effort to get out the vote - Wisconsin Examiner

In the final push to Election Day, Democrats and Republicans are battling for the parent vote and the range of issues American parents face have left both sides thinking they hold the advantage.

Republicans remain concentrated on parental rights in helping dictate school curriculums and policies, as it proved a winning strategy in the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election. Facing a Republican sweep in the midterms, progressives decided they had to devote resources to winning over parents, but have opted to focus on financial assistance to stymie the costs of skyrocketing inflation.

"Parents are a really powerful voting bloc," Ailen Arreaza, North Carolina program director at ParentsTogether, a nonprofit advocating for progressive policies, told Newsweek. "Your identity as a parent really defines so many of the decisions that you make, from what you buy, where you live, and who you vote for."

Democrats and Republicans have predominately focused the final stretch of the midterm cycle on inflation, crime, abortion rights and the situation at the southern border. Yet, a new poll released by ABC News/Washington Post on Sunday found that "education and schools" is the second most important issue for voters, with 77 percent calling it "highly important."

GOP Governor Glenn Youngkin's win in Virginia in 2021 suggested that Republicans were likely to sail into Congress on a massive red wave this year. Youngkin's "parents matter" campaign successfully clinched him the governorship in a state that has historically favored Democrats. In the months that followed, leading Republican figures like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dominated headlines as they passed school-focused legislation, most notably the so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill, which they argued would give parents control over their children's education.

In response to a growing list of concerns, advocacy groups like Moms for Liberty, which has more than 100,000 members, were founded. In the 1 1/2 years since the Florida-based group launched, Moms for Liberty has cemented its position as a leading opponent of critical race theory and gender theory in public education and remote learning.

"All parents want to see their children be successful and live in a free country and be proud to be American," Tiffany Justice, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, told Newsweek. "2022 is the year of the parent. You have an increase in an extremely informed voting bloc of parents and I think it's going to be a change-maker in the midterms."

GOP campaigns in battleground states have picked up on this sentiment. Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor of Pennsylvania, has promised to restrict what teachers can teach "on day one," while J.D. Vance, the GOP Senate candidate in Ohio, wrote that "we must give parents resources to control their kids' education," on his website.

While Republicans have been successful in building a broader coalition of support by advocating for parental rights, Democratic strategist Carly Cooperman said, "Democrats in some places were slow to catch up to these sentiments."

Democrats have closed the gap of the "red wave" many predicted coming in the midterms, according to new polls, and control of the Senate could come down to a handful of races. In tight races, voter turnout is critical and Arreaza stressed the need for Democrats to market their policies to parents.

"It's important for Democrats to really tap into the parent identity, to speak specifically and directly to parents in the same way that Republicans and conservatives have been doing, with real solutions about what families need," Arreaza said.

While Republicans are focused on parental control in classrooms, Arreaza argued the control parents are really looking for is financial control. As groceries and consumer prices rise amid high inflation, the cost of raising a family has also increased and that financial burden is precisely what Arreaza believes Democrats need to target.

"What parents really need are solutions that will support families and those solutions exist. Democrats have brought them forward," she said.

This month, Senate Democrats made one last push to enshrine a version of President Joe Biden's child tax credit, which provided families with up to $3,600 per child, before Republicans are likely to take one or both chambers of Congress.

Wisconsin Democratic Senate candidate Mandela Barnes also called for an expansion of the child tax credit and increased access to affordable child care, tweeting that his GOP opponent, incumbent Senator Ron Johnson, "thinks working to make sure that Wisconsinites have access to high-quality, affordable child care is not his responsibility."

The top voting issue remains the economy, and polls repeatedly indicate that voters are looking for solutions to the rising cost of living. A poll released by the National Parents Union this year found that 74 percent of parents are extremely or very concerned about rising costs for gas and food, making inflation the top issue concerning parents.

"The weight of the world is on parents' shoulders right now and it's unsustainable," Keri Rodrigues, co-founder and president of the National Parents Union, said in a press release for the survey. "American families are being squeezed and are rightfully frustrated by what is going on in the economy and in schools when all we ever wanted was to provide a better quality of life than what we had growing up for our children.

"It is critical that elected and school leaders find ways to actively listen to and engage parents to find solutions that will ease the strain on American families," Rodrigues said.

As a central part of their agenda, Democrats are also pushing for universal prekindergarten and paid family leave, but neither policy, nor the child tax credit, made it into the Inflation Reduction Act signed by Biden this summer. Pennsylvania Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman argued that Americans would have paid family leave "if we had one more Democratic vote in the Senate."

"Pennsylvania is Democrats' best chance to pick up a seat. I would be that vote," he tweeted last October.

Cooperman said polls show there is wide support among parents across party lines for a child tax credit and paid family leave, but that despite the popularity of those policies, "the Republican Party has shown little interest in expanding social programs in a permanent way."

While the GOP's apathy toward those policies should offer Democrats an edge on the parent vote, Republican strategist Jay Townsend told Newsweek that under the current political climate, oftentimes "anger trumps satisfaction." So, parents who are unhappy with today's schools or feel as though their rights as parents have been undermined may still be more inclined to vote for Republican candidates who have addressed those specific concerns.

But Cooperman stressed that the vote of parents is still up for grabs because the voting bloc cares about both having a say over their children's education and financial support for families.

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Democrats, Republicans Battle Over How to Win the Parent Vote - Newsweek

House Republicans have launched their legislative agenda for the next Congress. The Commitment to America is fairly brief, pretty unspecific, and filled with standard Republican platitudes around tax cuts and curbing wasteful spending. Kevin McCarthy, who will probably be Speaker if his party wins, calls it a new direction for America. What would Republicans do with control of the House?

We dissect whats in the Commitment to America, and look at its famous predecessor. Representative James Comer, who will likely chair the House Oversight Committee if Republicans win, explains what he plans to do in the role.

John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard and Idrees Kahloon.

Runtime: 41 min

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What would Republicans do with a majority in the House of Representatives? - The Economist

September 30, 2022

National Journal reports [i]n 2020, Republicans depended on candidates of color, women, and veterans to claw back House seats. The party is looking to them to deliver again this cycle.

NJ: In fact, candidates and operatives credit the shift towards diversity largely to two white men: McCarthy and NRCC Chair Tom Emmer. McCarthy and Emmer have made it a priority to recruit candidates that look like their districts. Theyve relied on House members to help them figure out who would be a good fit..

In case you missed it

Republicans count on candidates of color to expand the House map

National Journal

By Mini Racker

September 30, 2022

https://www.nationaljournal.com/s/718981/republicans-count-on-candidates-of-color-to-expand-the-house-map/?unlock=T3JRIAC8ANTTLO6K

On Wednesday, as Hurricane Ian bore down on the Florida district Anna Paulina Luna is likely to represent next year, she remained down the street from one of the last few open gas stations in the county.

A lot of my constituents could not leave, she said. And so I stayed.

Luna sees herself as a normal person trying to represent other normal people in Congress. Part of that has to do with her identity as a mixed-race Hispanic American. Growing up, she didnt consider it unusual that her dad spoke Spanish or that the elote man sold street corn alongside the local ice cream man.

But running for office, she began to realize how unique her perspective was. She was raised by a single mother. As a child, she had firsthand experience with the crime that disproportionately affects low-income minority communities; she recalled once seeing a man slumped over his steering wheel at an intersection and later overhearing her dad saying the man had been shot.

[My Hispanic identity] makes me a lot more passionate in regards to fighting to really correct this stereotype thats been put on to Hispanicsthat all Hispanics are quote-unquote illegal, she said. I actually get ticked off when I see that, because its not true. But then I also feel that immigrants are being used. If youre gonna come here, come here the correct way, cause youre gonna get hurt in the process.

In 2020, Republicans depended on candidates of color, women, and veterans to claw back House seats. The party is looking to them to deliver again this cycle.

Republicans doubling down on recruiting diverse, unique, interesting candidates was the biggest single game-changer in 2020, said Targeted Victory Vice President Sam Oh, who works with several nonwhite members of Congress. It shows candidates matter and every seat can be up for grabs. Their ability to raise money compared to what you would think is the kind of more prototypical or classic, traditional Republican candidate is a game-changer.

Now, the list of GOP congressional nominees of color is even longer. It includes at least 32 Latinos, 23 Black Americans, 12 Asian Americans, and three Native Americans.

Nineteen of them are running in districts The Cook Political Report deems competitive. Half a dozen of those are freshmen seeking reelection. One newcomer, John Gibbs, ousted a more moderate Republican in Michigans 3rd District. The other dozen represent GOP pick-up opportunities, positioning House Republicans to increase diversity in their ranks.

If you look at Juan Ciscomani in Arizona, Allan Fung in Rhode Island, George Logan in ConnecticutI mean, those candidates are putting those seats on the map for Republicans, Oh said. If you called me about Rhode Island or Connecticut five months ago, I wouldnt have thought those were serious deals. But were spending money there. That just shows the field is pretty expansive.

Party leaders are pouring some of the biggest sums into districts where people of color have become the partys nominees. A recent tally found that the Kevin McCarthy-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund has spent the most in general-election independent expenditures in Indianas 1st District, where Republicans see promise in Air Force veteran Jennifer-Ruth Green. Green, like other nonwhite Republicans, wants to be judged by her accomplishments rather than the color of her skin. But when it comes to deflecting Democratic attacks, her identity as an African American and Asian American woman doesnt hurt.

Part of this is [that] its not about what people campaign on, its what the voters perceive, said Greens general consultant, Tim Edson. Theres a lot of voters used to only white men running for office. And [Green] has a white man running against her in a very diverse district. Theres something to be said when voters look around and see hes trying to attack her as against this group or against that group. Shes a very accomplished minority woman.

I just think it makes it a little harder for people like [her Democratic opponent] Frank Mrvan to run that playbook, Edson continued. People are like, No, this is actually somebody that I can vote for and its a vote I can feel good about.

Democrats have encountered minefields when theyve tried to paint other Republicans of color negatively. In the competitive race in Californias 45th District, Democrat Jay Chen was forced on defense after he suggested Rep. Michelle Steel needs an interpreter. Despite the fact that Chen, like Steel, is Asian American, he received heavy criticism after her campaign labeled the comment as racist.

Luna said that she has faced ignorant comments on the campaign trail, with one journalist suggesting she looked too white to be Hispanic.

Theres certain things that we understand culturally, but Im not going to go around with a sombrero on my head and say Arriba! she said, noting that many Americans still have a lot to learn when it comes to talking about mixed-race candidates.

She also mentioned how, on the night of the Republican primary, her Democratic opponent said Luna wants to support supreme extreme ideas.

I thought about that, and was like, This is kind of interesting branding that theyre using, because when youre talking about fast food, its kind of a joke. You have the extreme chipotle taco at Taco Bell and all that, she said. And then I looked it up, and [Extreme Supreme] was actually a brand of guacamole. And this came shortly after Jill Biden made the comment about Hispanics being unique as breakfast tacos.

In addition to their ability to defang criticisms from Democrats and the media, Republicans of color can reach voters that other Republicans cant.

[Green has] been working hard at that outreach, whether its visiting small businesses, going to churches, just going out to community events where often you might not have Republicans, Edson said. Where they feel out of place and dont think they can go in and be effective advocates for themselves, shes at ease. This is her community and its a place where shes comfortable campaigning.

Other Black Republicans also suggested that they can help stretch the partys tent.

My journey in the political realm is an example of what our country offers, said Gibbs, echoing the American-Dream messaging diverse new members rode to Congress in 2020. My grandparents were sharecroppers in the South, and my parents didnt go to college. But both my sisters and myself all have masters degrees.

Voters will come up and ask me, How do we get more Black folks in the Republican Party? he added.

What I can add to our party is basically the eyes of a Black Republican, said Army veteran Wesley Hunt. Because thats just inherently different from a white persons perspective; it just is.

Unlike Green and Gibbs, Hunt doesnt face a competitive race in November. Instead, he faced most of the competition in a crowded GOP primary in Texass 38th, a deep-red majority-white district near Houston.

Nine white guys and me running in our Republican primary, he said.

At one campaign event, a young man approached Hunt and asked if hed speak to his grandfather on the phone. When Hunt agreed, the older man sounded teary.

Wesley, Im 82 years old, Hunt recalled him saying. I used to be a very racist person and bigoted person against Black people. And youre the first Black person Ive ever voted for, because you share my same values. And Im sorry, about maybe the way Ive treated Black people in the past, but not only have you given the world hope, you have given me hope in myself that I can overcome my racism.

That kind of story is what I hear more often than not, Hunt added.

Hunt won his 10-way primary with 55 percent of the vote. If all goes as expected, hell head to Congress next year. He said he does not plan to try to join the Congressional Black Caucus due to the expectation that he would back certain legislation.

Given where the Democrats are right now, I just dont see that as a possibility, he said.

Congressional Republicans, on the other hand, have welcomed him.

When Im on the Hill, I hear every single time, Im really glad youre running. We absolutely need more people of color in our partywe both need it and we want it, because we want to look like America.

Who tells him that?

White men, Hunt said. I dont want to say any names because I dont want to make them feel uncomfortable. But Im glad that they felt comfortable with telling me that. Thats a good thing.

In fact, candidates and operatives credit the shift towards diversity largely to two white men: McCarthy and NRCC Chair Tom Emmer. McCarthy and Emmer have made it a priority to recruit candidates that look like their districts. Theyve relied on House members to help them figure out who would be a good fit, instead of just depending on consultants as some Republicans did in the past.

They do a good job, Gibbs said. Theyre starting with a small pool, so its a little bit tricky. Theres not a whole lot of Black Republicans out there to begin with.

Originally posted here:
National Journal: Republicans count on candidates of color to expand the House map - National Republican Congressional Committee

The midterms are only six weeks away, and Republicans keep trying to find a midterm issue to run on. Since the fall of Roe v. Wade in June, anti-abortion messaging has become an election liability; South Carolinas Republican senator, Lindsey Graham, tried to regain control of the narrative by introducing a 15-week abortion ban, but few of his Republican colleagues would (or could) get on board. Same-sex marriage, which recently hit a new approval rating of 71 percent, is another culture-war talking point off the table. And then theres the absolute third rail that Republican Senate candidates like (most recently) Blake Masters and Don Bolduc cant stop talking aboutprivatizing Social Security and Medicareeven though that, too, is wildly unpopular. Republicans seem to be in disarray.

The platforms of this Republican Party arent just unpopularoften, they seem nonexistent. This shouldnt come as a surprise. Policy wasnt a focus of Donald Trumps presidency; tweeting was. In 2020, Republicans didnt write a new policy platform at all. But now, two policy-less years later, Republicans find themselves in an unenviable position: They need to figure out how to win a midterm with little in the way of an agenda, and not much Trump. Can the party of Trump win without Trump?

What does the GOP stand for? Even Tucker Carlson cant answer that. In a segment praising the newly elected, far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (or Girlbossolini), the Fox News juggernaut told his viewers on Monday, House Republicans just spelled out what theyre running onits a document called the Commitment to America Have you heard of it? No, you probably havent. You probably havent read it. Nobody really cares. Why? Because there is nothing real in it. Congratulations House Republicans: Youve lost Tucker Carlson.

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Republicans Keep Trying to Change the Subject - The Atlantic