Walker aims to pivot focus back to Dems in tight Ga. race
ALTO, Georgia (AP) — Republican U.S. Senate nominee Herschel Walker commiserated as north Georgia farmers bemoaned environmental regulations and rising costs of doing business. Minutes before, the former football star and political newcomer volleyed with journalists on issues ranging from gas prices to abortion. In both audiences, Walker tried every way he could to steer the conversation back to Sen. Raphael Warnock and a Democratic administration whose popularity lags in this battleground state that President Joe Biden won by the narrowest of margins. © Provided by Associated Press Republican U.S.
© Tom Williams/Pool via AP, File Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia. Tom Williams/Pool via AP, File - Warnock has a 48%-39% lead over Walker in the Georgia Senate race, per a new SurveyUSA poll.
- Warnock is seeking a full six-year term after winning a Senate runoff election in January 2021.
- Walker, an ex-NFL player, is a first-time political candidate backed by former President Trump.
Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia has a nine-point lead over Republican challenger Herschel Walker in the state's high-profile Senate contest, according to a new poll conducted by SurveyUSA for 11Alive News.
The survey showed Warnock with 48% support among likely voters in the Peach State, while Walker received 39% support; eight percent of respondents were undecided.
Gov. Larry Hogan said if Trump announces a 2024 run before the midterms GOP governors worry it will 'cost us seats'
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said "it's going to cost us seats" if Trump announces a run, adding: "After all, he lost to Joe Biden, which is hard to do.""We had discussions about that at the Republican Governors Association last week," Hogan said during an interview with ABC's "This Week" on Sunday.
In the poll, nine-in-ten Democrats (90%) were lined up behind Warnock, while Walker earned the support of 77% of Republicans; 10% of Republican respondents crossed over to support Warnock over Walker in the survey.
Critically, Warnock has strong leads among respondents in both urban and suburban areas, whose firm support of Democratic candidates in recent cycles have turned Georgia from a Republican stronghold to a swing state highly coveted by both political parties.
Walker — a former University of Georgia football standout who was born in Augusta and grew up in rural Wrightsville — had a 28-point led among rural voters. However, while Republicans have performed strongly with rural voters for years, Democratic gains in the fast-growing Atlanta metropolitan area have started to cut deeply into GOP margins in recent statewide races.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp favored over Democrat Stacey Abrams, handicapper says
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp got a big boost from the Cook Political Report on Friday after the influential political handicapper updated its rating of the governor's race from a "toss-up" to "lean Republican."Kemp had "looked like the most vulnerable Republican incumbent on the map" at the beginning of the year. But that's been mitigated by Kemp's landslide victory over Donald Trump-endorsed candidate David Perdue in the Republican primary election, wrote Jessica Taylor, a Cooke editor.
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These 9 Senate races hold the key to who will control Joe Biden's agenda after the midterm elections in November
- Democrats and Republicans will battle over Senate seats in nine key states in November.
- The outcomes will determine who controls the Senate next year.
- Polling shows Republican congressional candidates have an edge against Democrats.
There will be 34 US Senate elections this year, but control of the US Senate will hinge on just nine contests.
Both Democrats and Republicans have their eyes on the key swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin. All are considered competitive by the Cook Political Report, which tracks congressional and presidential races, as well as operatives and pollsters from both parties.
Democrats are playing defense in four of those states, while Republicans are seeking to keep five more. At stake for both parties is control of the US Senate, and whoever holds power come January 2023 will determine what, if anything, President Joe Biden can accomplish in the final two years of his first term.
Ron DeSantis can count on the vote of one powerful Florida Man: Donald Trump
Trump says of DeSantis, "I get along with Ron very well." But the former president hasn't formally endorsed the governor's 2022 reelection bid yet.Former President Donald Trump plans to vote for DeSantis for reelection in November, he told the Wall Street Journal in a Monday interview.
Democrats barely hold the Senate. The chamber is divided 50-50 between the two parties, with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as a tie-breaker (the chamber's two independents, Vermont's Bernie Sanders and Maine's Angus King, caucus with Democrats).
Republicans are eager to capitalize on voters' concerns about inflation and frustration with the lingering pandemic in order to oust at least one incumbent Democrat.
Political winds may be on their side. Recent polling shows voters are frustrated with Democrats, mostly due to economic concerns. And an ABC News poll from February found that Republican congressional candidates have a seven-point edge over Democratic ones among registered voters. The gap is even starker among voters who are registered and also certain to vote, with Republican candidates leading Democratic ones 54-41%.
While home-state factors will weigh in on each of those senate races, national forces, such as Trump's continued sway over Republican voters, economic anxiety, and frustration over the coronavirus pandemic will also likely play a role in deciding the balance of power in Washington.
Kemp assails national economy while touting Georgia record
MCDONOUGH, Ga. (AP) — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday took aim at the “Biden recession" and tacked the blame on Democrat Stacey Abrams, becoming one of many Republicans to seek to weigh down their rivals with voters' worries about the economy. How voters see the economy will be key in November's elections nationwide. Currently, Democratic President Joe Biden has rock-bottom approval ratings, and the looming possibility of a recession is compounding political woes brought on by high inflation. But while the argument against Democrats and the economy is straightforward for Republicans including Georgia’s Herschel Walker, who is challenging Democratic Sen.
Read the original article on Business Insider
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Arizona
Incumbent: Mark Kelly, a Democrat
Primary date: August 2, 2022
Retired astronaut Mark Kelly will run for his first full Senate term this November after winning a special election in 2020. While the political landscape is challenging for Kelly, he's raking in lots of cash. He ended 2021 with more than $18 million in his campaign's coffers.
So far, nine Republicans are in the primary to take on Kelly this fall. The most serious candidates are Blake Masters, a chairman of the Thiel Foundation, which was created by billionaire investor Peter Theil; businessman Jim Lamon; and Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich.
While both of Arizona's US Senators are currently Democrats, the two seats were held for decades by Republicans. The current governor, Doug Ducey, is a Republican.
Arizona was one of the most hotly contested states in the 2020 presidential election. Joe Biden, a Democrat, won the state, but Donald Trump refused to accept the result, sowing widespread conspiracy theories among his supporters that unseen forces had somehow tampered with the vote. The disinformation campaign eventually resulted in a GOP-commissioned and highly criticized recount of Maricopa County's ballots, which reaffirmed Biden's win there. The episode has spurred Arizona Republicans to introduce dozens of bills in the state legislature aimed at protecting "election integrity."
Trump is angry that Fox News is ignoring him and focusing on other potential 2024 candidates, report says
Former president Donald Trump hasn't appeared on Fox News in 100 days, and, per NYT sources, he would rather have negative coverage than be overlooked.His political team is even getting ready for a spring reelection announcement, according to the Washington Post.
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Georgia
Incumbent: Raphael Warnock, a Democrat
Primary date: May 24, 2022
Like Arizona, Georgia will be one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country due to its vulnerable incumbent, Raphael Warnock, and its significance for voting rights advocates.
Warnock, who is also a pastor of a church in Atlanta, won an upset victory against Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler in a special election on January 5, 2021. Jon Ossoff, a second Democrat, also unseated Republican David Perdue in a runoff election that day. The dual victories handed Democrats narrow control of the Senate and gave the party a governing trifecta. It also changed Georgia politics forever.
Republicans would like one of their old seats back. As of early March, seven candidates have jumped into the Republican primary, but none have gained as much traction so far as Herschel Walker, a former NFL star turned Senate candidate who has won Trump's coveted endorsement.
But Walker, who has acknowledged past mental health struggles, has also faced allegations of domestic violence from at least two women, including his ex-wife, Cindy Grossman. The Georgia Senate race will test just how far a Trump endorsement will go, and whether it's powerful enough to overcome accusations like the ones facing Walker.
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Florida
Incumbent: Marco Rubio, a Republican
Primary date: August 23, 2022
Thanks to Trump, Florida has become a political haven for Republicans, as the former president welcomes party members at his Mar-A-Lago resort in Palm Beach. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has also cast himself as a national opponent of coronavirus-related mask mandates, lockdowns, and social distancing requirements.
Manchin declines to say if he'll support Biden in 2024: 'I'm not getting involved in that'
"I'm not getting into 2022 or 2024. Whoever is my president, that's my president. And Joe Biden is my president right now," Manchin said on Sunday.During an interview on ABC's "This Week," the West Virginia Democrat told Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl that he didn't want to entertain questions regarding whether he'd back Biden if the incumbent president was renominated and stood for reelection.
And yet Democrats are making a concerted effort to pick off one of Florida's two senate seats this year.
Republican Marco Rubio is running for his third term in the Senate, but he faces a challenge from several Democrats, most notably Rep. Val Demings, an Orlando-area congresswoman who was once floated as a potential vice presidential pick for Biden. Former Rep. Alan Grayson has also jumped into the Democratic primary.
A February poll released by the public opinion firm Mason-Dixon found that Rubio was leading Demings 49-42%, with 9% of voters undecided.
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Nevada
Incumbent: Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat
Primary date: June 14, 2022
Democrats are playing defense in Nevada, where Cortez Masto is running for her second Senate term. The former state attorney general is considered one of the four most vulnerable Democrats in the Senate, and Republicans are eager for the chance to regain ground in the Silver State.
Four Republicans have so far entered the race, but former Nevada attorney general Adam Laxalt has bolted to the front of the pack thanks to an endorsement from Trump. Laxalt, who is the grandson of former Nevada governor and senator Paul Laxalt, has cast himself in a Trumpian mold for the primary. However, he's not a guaranteed lock for the Republican nomination. Sam Brown, an Army veteran who was injured while deployed in Afghanistan, raised $2 million in 2021 and is gaining prominence in conservative media circles.
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New Hampshire
Incumbent: Maggie Hassan, a Democrat
Primary date: September 13, 2022
Republicans are eyeing the Granite State as one potential place where they could expand their Senate majority. But in late 2021, two of the GOP's most promising potential candidates decided not to run, leaving the party scrambling for a new candidate to unseat Hassan, a Democrat.
Walker's Chances of Beating Warnock With 100 Days to Midterm: Polls
The Trump-backed Republican hopes to help the GOP regain control of the Senate.Walker has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a race that could also determine which party controls the Senate. Meanwhile, Walker hopes to maintain Democrats' momentum in Georgia.
Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, reportedly considered a Senate run but decided not to enter the race, citing dysfunction in Congress. Former Sen. Kelly Ayotte, who Hassan narrowly defeated in 2016, quickly announced that she would not run, either.
With the Republican field devoid of a sure pick, other state officials are jumping into the race. So far, state Senate President Chuck Morse has declared his candidacy, as has former gubernatorial candidate Kevin Smith. Both lag significantly behind Hassan in terms of fundraising, but would likely get a boost from the national GOP apparatus should either win the primary.
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North Carolina
Open seat
Primary date: May 17, 2022
With incumbent Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican, retiring, North Carolina provides an opening for both parties. Republicans are hoping to keep the seat in their hands, while Democrats see an opportunity to make gains in a state that Trump narrowly won in 2020.
On the Democratic side, Cheri Beasley, a former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, is seen as a frontrunner. Beasley made history in 2019 when Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, appointed her chief justice. But she lost re-election to the post in 2021 to a Republican, Paul Newby.
Republicans, meanwhile, are assembling their own slate of candidates, but the race appears to be narrowing to a showdown between former Gov. Pat McCrory and current Rep. Ted Budd, who represents parts of Charlotte and Greensboro. Budd, who as a congressman supported objections to certifying the 2020 election results, won Trump's endorsement almost instantaneously.
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Pennsylvania
Open seat
Primary date: May 17, 2022
Pennsylvania is gearing up to one of the most expensive showdowns of the 2022 primary season so far. Republican Sen. Pat Toomey's retirement has opened the door for a free-for-all primary season that's drawing in stars of both politics and popular culture.
On the Democratic side, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman currently leads the pack. However, he faces a serious challenge from Rep. Conor Lamb, who represents parts of suburban Pittsburgh and made national headlines for flipping a Trump-won district in 2018. State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, who would be Pennsylvania's first Black and openly gay senator if elected, has won endorsements from progressive entities like the Working Families Party, and the backing of numerous celebrities like director Lee Daniels, comedian Wanda Sykes, and feminist activist Gloria Steinem.
The Republican primary features a cast of characters that include none other than Mehmet Oz, the celebrity TV doctor who technically lives in New Jersey but has thrown his scrubs into the Pennsylvania Senate race.
The Republican field, which is about a dozen candidates strong, features notable supporters of Trump's bid to overturn and undermine the results of the 2022 Rep. Lou Barletta, who supported Trump as a so-called "alternate elector", has momentum in the race. State Sen. Doug Mastriano, who was outside the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was recently subpoenaed by a House committee investigating the insurrection but is running for Senate regardless.
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Ohio
Open seat
Primary date: May 3, 2022
Ohio will have an open Senate seat this year thanks to the retirement of Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican. So far, much of the oxygen is being sucked up by the Republican primary, which features several candidates who appear to be running to win over Trump as much as they are Ohio voters. The former president has not made an endorsement yet, but candidates are hopeful that a blessing from Trump could give them the edge in a chaotic field.
JD Vance, the author of "Hillbilly Elegy," has recast himself in a Trumpian mold, though he's struggled at times to convince voters of his loyalty to the former president. Instead, former Ohio state treasurer Josh Mandel seems to be winning the MAGA lane. Former Ohio Republican Party Chairwoman Jane Timken, state Sen. Matt Dolan, and investment banker Mike Gibbon are also running for the seat.
On the Democratic side, which is getting considerably less attention, Rep. Tim Ryan, who briefly ran for president in 2020, is the most nationally-known candidate. But also putting up a strong fight for the nomination are attorney Morgan Harper, a progressive who challenged Rep. Joyce Beatty to represent the Columbus area in 2020; and Traci Johnson, a longtime state employee who is now a tech executive.
Whoever wins the Democratic nomination will face off against one of the most conservative candidates of the 2022 cycle, and the race will likely become a referendum on how much power Trump still has to sway national politics to his liking.
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Wisconsin
Incumbent: Ron Johnson, a Republican
Primary date: August 9, 2022
Democrats are warily optimistic about Wisconsin, where Republican Sen. Ron Johnson will seek another term. Johnson has spread misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines by questioning their safety, despite the fact that the various vaccines available are deemed safe for nearly everyone to take. Johnson has also downplayed the violence perpetrated at the Capitol on January 6 by Trump's supporters, despite the fact that he was in the Senate that day and was evacuated by Capitol Police to protect him and his colleagues from the mob.
Democrats have reason for hope in a statewide election; Biden narrowly won Wisconsin in the 2020 election. And the state currently has a Democratic governor, Tony Evers, but Republicans control both houses of the state legislature. Regardless, several Democrats have jumped into the race.
The highest-profile Democratic Senate candidate so far is Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who has raised about $2.3 million so far. Barnes has won endorsements from prominent Democrats like Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Cory Booker of New Jersey, along with House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina. Sarah Godlewski, the Wisconsin state treasurer, is yet another high-profile politician running for the Democratic nomination
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Republicans feel that Walker's near-universal name recognition in the state and early endorsement from former President Donald Trump will be key in what is poised to a GOP-friendly midterm electorate.
But in addition to Warnock making some inroads with GOP voters, he also led Walker with independents (44%-35%), a group that has backed fewer Republicans in statewide races in recent cycles. (In the 2020 election, now-President Joe Biden won Georgia independents by a 53%-44% margin over then-President Donald Trump, per CNN exit polling.)
© AP Photo/Brynn Anderson Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker. AP Photo/Brynn Anderson And Walker has had to face myriad of questions regarding his campaign, from public revelations about the number of children that he has fathered to remarks that he made regarding climate policy and China's air.
Meanwhile, Warnock has sought to make the case that he has been laser-focused on the economy in the face of Biden's lackluster approval ratings.
The senator, who was first elected in a 2021 runoff election against Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, is seeking his first full six-year term in office this fall.
In the gubernatorial contest, incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp led Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams by a razor-thin 45%-44% margin; four percent of respondents indicated that they'll back another candidate while seven percent were undecided.
In the poll, Abrams held 92% of Democrats, while Kemp had the backing of 87% of Republicans.
However, unlike the matchup between Warnock and Walker, independents supported Kemp by a 20% margin (48%-28%), a clear edge that buoys the Republican despite Abrams so far having done a better job of consolidating intraparty support.
While Abrams ran unopposed for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, Kemp had to beat back a challenge from ex-Sen. David Perdue, who had been endorsed by Trump as a result of the governor's refusal to help the former president overturn the 2020 election results in the state.
Biden won Georgia in the 2020 presidential race, but Trump has continued to insist — without any evidence — that there was widespread election malfeasance.
The race between Abrams and Kemp is a rematch of the 2018 gubernatorial election, when the now-governor defeated the former Democratic state lawmaker and prominent voting-rights activist 50.2%-48.8%, narrowly winning the contest and avoiding a separate runoff election by exceeding the 50% threshold.
SurveyUSA polled 604 likely voters from July 21 through July 24; the survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 5.3 percentage points.
Read the original article on Business Insider
Walker's Chances of Beating Warnock With 100 Days to Midterm: Polls .
The Trump-backed Republican hopes to help the GOP regain control of the Senate.Walker has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a race that could also determine which party controls the Senate. Meanwhile, Walker hopes to maintain Democrats' momentum in Georgia.
ALTO, Georgia (AP) — Republican U.S. Senate nominee Herschel Walker commiserated as north Georgia farmers bemoaned environmental regulations and rising costs of doing business. Minutes before, the former football star and political newcomer volleyed with journalists on issues ranging from gas prices to abortion. In both audiences, Walker tried every way he could to steer the conversation back to Sen. Raphael Warnock and a Democratic administration whose popularity lags in this battleground state that President Joe Biden won by the narrowest of margins. © Provided by Associated Press Republican U.S. 
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said "it's going to cost us seats" if Trump announces a run, adding: "After all, he lost to Joe Biden, which is hard to do.""We had discussions about that at the Republican Governors Association last week," Hogan said during an interview with ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. 
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp got a big boost from the Cook Political Report on Friday after the influential political handicapper updated its rating of the governor's race from a "toss-up" to "lean Republican."Kemp had "looked like the most vulnerable Republican incumbent on the map" at the beginning of the year. But that's been mitigated by Kemp's landslide victory over Donald Trump-endorsed candidate David Perdue in the Republican primary election, wrote Jessica Taylor, a Cooke editor. 
Trump says of DeSantis, "I get along with Ron very well." But the former president hasn't formally endorsed the governor's 2022 reelection bid yet.Former President Donald Trump plans to vote for DeSantis for reelection in November, he told the Wall Street Journal in a Monday interview. 
MCDONOUGH, Ga. (AP) — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday took aim at the “Biden recession" and tacked the blame on Democrat Stacey Abrams, becoming one of many Republicans to seek to weigh down their rivals with voters' worries about the economy. How voters see the economy will be key in November's elections nationwide. Currently, Democratic President Joe Biden has rock-bottom approval ratings, and the looming possibility of a recession is compounding political woes brought on by high inflation. But while the argument against Democrats and the economy is straightforward for Republicans including Georgia’s Herschel Walker, who is challenging Democratic Sen. 
Former president Donald Trump hasn't appeared on Fox News in 100 days, and, per NYT sources, he would rather have negative coverage than be overlooked.His political team is even getting ready for a spring reelection announcement, according to the Washington Post. 
"I'm not getting into 2022 or 2024. Whoever is my president, that's my president. And Joe Biden is my president right now," Manchin said on Sunday.During an interview on ABC's "This Week," the West Virginia Democrat told Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl that he didn't want to entertain questions regarding whether he'd back Biden if the incumbent president was renominated and stood for reelection. 
The Trump-backed Republican hopes to help the GOP regain control of the Senate.Walker has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a race that could also determine which party controls the Senate. Meanwhile, Walker hopes to maintain Democrats' momentum in Georgia. 
