President-elect Donald Trump has offered Nikki Haley the role of United State ambassador to the United Nations. The two-term Republican governor of South Carolina has reportedly accepted:
Cory Gardner stunned Coloradans in February by announcing he would give up a safe seat in the House to challenge Democratic senator Mark Udall, a well-liked incumbent with no obvious weaknesses. It was a huge risk, despite a strong Republican tailwind. The energetic young congressman from the…
The 2014 midterm elections were a referendum on Barack Obama’s performance as president. He has done a bad job, and most Americans know it. Accordingly, the American people used the only means they had of making good their disapproval: They elected Republicans.
At the end of his opening statement at the traditional postelection presidential press conference, Barack Obama offered this assurance: “I continue to believe we are simply more than just a collection of red and blue states,” he said. “We are the United States.”
Something has gotten into Ted Cruz. The Republican senator is known as a conservative firebrand willing to take on his own party, but in a Thursday meeting with reporters in his Capitol Hill office, Cruz was sounding almost ecumenical. Maybe it was the presence of Pope Francis.
In one final ignominious act of parliamentary genius, outgoing Senate majority leader Harry Reid rolled Republican troublemaker Ted Cruz of Texas over the weekend, robbing the GOP of a chance to stop Democrats in the lame-duck session. That’s the consensus in most Washington political circles, and…
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York said Tuesday that he and his fellow Democrats made a mistake in pursuing health care legislation that eventually became Obamacare. Bloomberg Politics's Kathleen Hunter has the story:
New York senator Chuck Schumer will head to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. to tell Democrats to "embrace government."
The United State Senate voted down the Save Mary Landrieu Act of 2014 by one vote last night. Senator Landrieu had hoped to persuade her constituents in Louisiana that she could bring home the pork owing to her seniority and her savvy in the ways of Washington. She would get a pipeline bill…
No secret that the Republicans did well in the recent elections. Though pace Josh Earnest, not all that many people voted. Still … it has to be disturbing to him and his boss that, as David Wasserman of 538 reports:
Back before incoming senators Tom Cotton and Cory Gardner and Joni Ernst and Dan Sullivan were born, before new House members Elise Stefanik and Lee Zeldin and Mia Love were a gleam in their parents’ eyes, the Beach Boys said it best: “Catch a wave and you’re sitting on top of the world.”
Tuesday’s elections reinforced constitutional checks and balances against the Obama administration’s excesses, but not just in the most obvious way. For all the attention rightly paid to the new Senate majority, there’s another important set of newly elected officials who may soon push back against…
CNN morning host Alisyn Camerota wanted to know: Where had Chris Christie been the night before, when it became clear Republicans would take control of the Senate? The New Jersey governor’s voice was hoarse, his eyes drooping. “I was in 19 states in the last five days,” Christie replied, cracking a…
With Republicans in control of the Senate for the first time since Barack Obama took office, the president may find it harder to appoint left-wing lawyers to judgeships. Whether he compromises on some of his nominees, including any to the Supreme Court, may depend on the willingness of the new…
From time to time there comes a moment when a president is expected to say something meaningful about an event that has just occurred. President Obama faced such a moment last week after Republicans swept the midterm elections and captured the Senate. He had nothing interesting, much less…
Scott Walker has won every round of his long fight with Big Labor in Wisconsin, but it wasn’t until November 4 that he delivered the knockout punch. In his third gubernatorial election in four years, Walker defeated Democratic challenger Mary Burke by 6 points. It was the same margin of victory he…
Exit polls from last week’s midterm elections challenged the conventional “it’s the economy, stupid” wisdom, as the number of voters who said the economy was the most important issue fell to just four in 10. The dark horse issue of the 2014 election was foreign policy.
Following the 2014 elections, Congressman John Kline remains the major and senior elected figure in the Minnesota Republican party. The powerful chairman of the House education committee, he will be a central figure in the reform measures ahead to improve the nation’s faltering public school…
Republican Dan Sullivan of Alaska has defeated incumbent Democrat Mark Begich in one of the country's last outstanding Senate races. According to the New York Times, Sullivan has a nearly 8,000-vote lead, winning 49 percent of the vote to Begich's 46 percent.
The search for the meaning of last week’s election returns has yielded many theories to account for why people voted for the party out of power and against incumbents. Sure is a mystery, there. What could possibly be behind such random voter behavior? There must be clues, somewhere, carved into…
The latest edition of Conversations With Bill Kristol, featuring Spence Abraham and Jay Cost:
Paul Miller, writing in the New York Observer:
After the 2012 presidential election, Republican donors were left scratching their heads, thinking: how could we spend all that money and fall so short?
Most of us at The Weekly Standard are baseball fans. Like all human institutions we are imperfect, so we have a few colleagues who superciliously disdain sports, and a few others who vulgarly prefer football or basketball. But we ignore the naysayers and carpers in our midst. We’re proud to endorse…
Given the time and money that went into the recent elections, it seems there ought to be a final word. A summing up. A few words to put a period on the whole business. Something, somewhere. From somebody. There was plenty of analysis – not quite “instant,” but close enough. The television people…
A Republican aide says the House of Representatives will continue to move forward on passing a long-term omnibus spending bill in the upcoming lame duck session of Congress. While some conservatives in both the House and Senate have suggested the House pass a short-term continuing resoution to fund…
Matthew Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon, suggests Hillary Clinton was the 2014 midterm elections' biggest loser:
Nancy Pelosi is staying right where she is -- minority leader of the House of Representatives. And she emailed supporters last night to let them know she wasn't "going anywhere."
THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior writer Stephen F. Hayes and why President Obama's rambling post-election press conference reveals that he has no idea what just happened.
Adam Kredo reports:
It is often claimed that conservative religious voters, especially white evangelicals, are going the way of the dinosaur, consigned to demographic irrelevance. But they were a key component of the Republicans’ 2014 midterm victories. According to exit polls, Conservative religious voters made up as…
From the Washington Post this morning:
President Obama has always wanted to be a historic president. In an election that was driven by Obamacare, he took another big step toward that end on Tuesday — just not in the way he intended.
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Steve Israel is stepping down.
President Obama labeled the U.S. government "the most important organization on earth" and said that he'd "squeeze every last little bit of opportunity" from his position as president of the United State over the next two years. Watch here:
President Obama said he'd "enjoy having some Kentucky bourbon with Mitch McConnell:"
The Connecticut gubernatorial race is too close to call officially, but Democrat Governor Dan Malloy has declared victory.
Even before President Obama declared that all his "policies are on the ballot" in Tuesday's midterm elections, he told Chuck Todd in September's Meet the Press appearance that "if democrats hold the Senate," Republicans should get the message that "their strategy of just obstructing and saying…
Senator Jeff Sessions, who run reelection last night in an uncontested race, says last night's Republican victory is a "mandate" to block President Obama's planned executive amnesty.
President Obama will face the press: He'll host a press conference later today, following his party's terrible election yesterday.
Republicans won 7 Democratic seats (so far!), lost none, and took control of the Senate. Harry Reid is history. Democrats thought for sure they’d add some governorships. Nope. They won one but lost 4, including the governor’s race in the bluest of blue states, Maryland. In the House, they lost at…
THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with executive editor Fred Barnes on the results of the 2014 elections.
How sweeping was the Republican wave of 2014? Yes, the GOP has held the House of Representatives (with gains) and taken control of the Senate. But the party is also likely to come out ahead for the year in governor’s races—something few thought possible at the beginning of the cycle. And here’s a…
Fox News projects Republican Charlie Baker will win the Massachusetts governorship, defeating Democrat Martha Coakley in an upset.
Larry Hogan, a Republican businessman, has won his race for governor in Maryland against Democratic lieutenant governor Anthony Brown. The Associated Press projects:
It's been one of the evening's closest races, but Republican Charlie Baker is projected to be the next Governor of Massachussetts by both Fox News and ABC. The Democratic candidate Martha Coakley, who acquired the nickname "Chokely" after she lost to Scott Brown in the 2010 Massachussetts special…
Despite tonight's election results, President Obama "doesn’t feel repudiated." At least, that's what a nameless aide is telling the New York Times.
Republican Thom Tillis is projected to win his close race for the U.S. Senate in North Carolina, beating incumbent Democrat Kay Hagan. The Associated Press reports:
Joni Ernst, a Republican state senator, has won her race for the U.S. Senate in Iowa against three-term Democratic congressman Bruce Braley, Fox News projects.
Republican Bruce Rauner has defeated sitting Democratic governor Pat Quinn in Illinois, NBC News projects.
Republican David Perdue has won his race for the U.S. Senate in Georgia against Democrat Michelle Nunn, CNN projects. Perdue is expected to win more than 50 percent of the vote, meaning the race will not have to proceed to a runoff.
CBS projects Pat Roberts will hold his Senate seat in Kansas. "PROJECTION: Republican incumbent Pat Roberts is re-elected in the Kansas Senate race," CBS tweets.
Charlie Crist has lost his race for governor in Florida, falling short to Republican incumbent Rick Scott, the Associated Press projects.
Republican Cory Gardner is projected to beat incumbent Democrat Mark Udall in Colorado's U.S. Senate race.
Democrat Mary Landrieu and Republican Bill Cassidy will continue their race for the U.S. Senate seat in Louisiana in a December runoff, NBC News projects. Cassidy, a congressman from Baton Rouge, leads the incumbent Landrieu, but neither candidate will earn 50 percent of the vote. Under Louisiana's…
Ben Sasse is projected to be the next Senator from Nebraska. This does not come as a surprise, as he appears to have won handily. However, THE WEEKLY STANDARD published the first major political profile of Sasse last summer, when he was a virtual unknown in the state.
Barbara Comstock of Virginia has won her race for the U.S. House, beating Democrat John Foust.
President Obama is inviting "bipartisan, bicameral congressional leaders," an unnamed White House official tells the pool reporter.
Republicans have now picked up a third Senate seat. This one is in South Dakota.
Jeanne Shaheen, the incumbent Democratic senator from New Hampshire, has won her race against Republican Scott Brown, ABC News projects.
Republican Tom Cotton has beaten incumbent Democrat Mark Pryor in Arkansas's U.S. Senate race, Fox News projects.
Shelley Moore Capito is projected to win the Senate race in West Virginia. This marks the first Republican Senate pick-up of the 2014 election.
Despite the quick victory, it's obviously too early to tell whether this is a good omen for Mitch McConnell's chances of becoming Senate Majority Leader. Looking at the map, a few key things jump out. It looks like McConnell overperformed in coal country compared to his 2008 victory in the state,…
South Carolina has elected the first black senator from the South since Reconstruction, with Republican Tim Scott winning his race to complete a term to the Senate after having been appointed to the seat in 2013. Scott is the first African American popularly elected to the Senate in the old…
Vice President Joe Biden blew Kansas independent Greg Orman's cover in a radio interview today. Orman hasn't stated which party he'll caucus with in the Senate--actively avoiding announcing whether he'll be with Republicans or Democrats--but Biden stated definitively that Orman "will be with us" if…
The Virginia Republican party says there are problems with some touchscreen voting machines in Virginia Beach and other communities. The party sent out a video of one voter attempting to vote for Republican House member Scott Rigell. As the voter's finger touches Rigell's box, the vote is…
North Carolina senator Kay Hagan has a minute-long radio ad running Tuesday featuring her fellow Democrat, President Barack Obama.
Election Day has just begun, but MSNBC is already saying it's a "fact" that minority voters are being disenfranchised in Texas:
This election is "most pivotal," Fred Barnes writes in the Wall Street Journal.
Anti-Obamacare ads are dominating the airwaves in the election’s stretch run. According to Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group, Republicans ran nearly 13,000 anti-Obamacare ads in Senate races during the week of October 20-26. That’s after they ran nearly 12,000 anti-Obamacare ads during…
The state of North Carolina is investigating a potential conflict of interest involving Democratic senator Kay Hagan. Fox 46 in Charlotte reports:
President Obama will be busy tomorrow -- but he won't be actively trying to influence voters as they head to the polls on Election Day. Instead, he's got a full day of meetings at the White House.
Whether or not Jeff Bell comes from behind to win the New Jersey Senate race, he deserves credit for having run a classy, ideas-focused race. That's epitomized by his "closing argument," reproduced below. If a majority of New Jersey voters actually read this email, I do think Bell would win. The…
Early voting in North Carolina is now over, and the results are interesting. One might be tempted to compare early voting in 2014 to 2010, as both were midterms. But the latter was an easy win for Richard Burr, and this year’s battle in the Senate is shaping up to be a close race, much like 2012.
Attorney General Eric Holder is dispatching "federal election monitors" to polls tomorrow for Election Day.
Senate candidate Michelle Nunn of Georgia refused to say how she would have voted on the Affordable Care Act. While the Democrat was campaigning in Macon Monday, a local TV news reporter asked Nunn about her position on the law.
Bill Kristol, with Matthew Dowd, Donna Brazile, Cokie Roberts, and Jonathan Karl, yesterday on ABC:
How unconfident are Democrats in their own candidate for U.S. Senate in Iowa? On the day before the election, the Democratic Sentorial Campaign Committee has a full-page ad on the homepage of the Des Moines Register, Iowa's largest and most influential newspaper. But there's no sign or mention of…
The New Hampshire Senate race could go either way, with Democratic incumbent Jeanne Shaheen locked in a dead heat with Republican challenger Scott Brown. A pair of polls show both candidates with their own one-point lead, and the Real Clear Politics average of polls has Shaheen with less than a…
Quinnipiac's final poll of the Iowa Senate race finds Democrat Bruce Braley and Republican Joni Ernst tied at 47 percent. The poll shows Braley closing the gap from Quinnipiac's previous poll in late October that showed him trailing Ernst by four points, 49 percent to 45 percent.
It is becoming increasingly clear how important it is to liberals to try to insulate Obamacare from what is shaping up as another “shellacking.” Sure, a few months after House Democrats passed Obamacare (over unanimous Republican opposition), they lost more House seats (63) while also losing…
Colorado Senator Mark Udall's press secretary had unexpectedly complimentary things to say about Udall's Republican challenger, before attempting to backtrack on their praise:
Nancy Pelosi is warning of "Catastrophe." At least, that's what she is saying in her latest appeal for cash before Tuesday's election.
A new Des Moines Register poll shows Republican Joni Ernst capturing a majority of Iowa voters and besting her Democratic rival Rep. Bruce Braley by a significant margin:
The WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with editor William Kristol on the 2014 elections and the GOP's chances to take back the Senate.
In the final days of a close Senate race, the New Hampshire Republican party is running Facebook ads tying Democrat Jeanne Shaheen to amnesty for illegal immigrants. The party has four ads that calls out the "Obama-Shaheen immigration plan" and claims Republican challenger Scott Brown will "fight…
This election might determine whether the "climate crisis" is solved, former Vice President Al Gore claims. The former politician makes the statement in a fundraising email from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Ed Gillespie continues to close the gap on Mark Warner in the Virginia Senate race, causing Real Clear Politics to move the race from “Likely Dem” to “Leans Dem.” Virginia is currently the only Senate race in that category, which suggests it’s the GOP’s best chance to stage a substantial upset on…
On Tuesday those of us who have not already availed ourselves of postal ballots or early voting will troop to the polls to elect all 435 members of the House of Representatives, 36 of the 100 senators, 36 governors, and a host of politicians vying for local office. These old-fashioned voters will…
Barbara Comstock, the Republican House candidate for Virginia’s diverse Tenth congressional district in the suburbs and exurbs of Washington, lost the first thing she ever ran for: a spot on her high school cheerleading team. “After that, I was like ‘I’m never doing anything again,’” she jokes.
Republican Scott Brown took issue with Democratic senator Jeanne Shaheen's characterization of the American military operations in the Middle East as an "occupying force" in the two candidates' final debate Thursday evening. The New Hampshire politicians were debating the use of U.S. troops against…
Bad news for Senator Udall. As reported in The Hill, a big-time, high-profile, hero to Colorado is backing his opponent, Rep. Gardner. It isn’t the money. Another five grand, more or less, won’t swing the election. What is ominous for the Udall operation is the identity of the donor.
Harry Reid is now "begging" for support. He made the comment in an email to supporters of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Two new polls show Republican Ed Gillespie closing in on Democratic incumbent Mark Warner in the Virginia Senate race. Christopher Newport University, which had Warner up 12 points earlier in the month in its survey, now has Warner's lead down to 7.
President Obama hasn't spent that much time on the campaign trail this election season. But that's not because he doesn't like it -- indeed, he does.
Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu told NBC's Chuck Todd that she has had to work harder for her reelection to the U.S. Senate because the South has "not always been the friendliest place for African Americans."
Chuck Todd of NBC News is traveling the country, talking to voters, and generally filing interesting reports. But in his report on Arkansas, he repeats a familiar, and false, trope:
Democrats up for reelection – especially in the much, much watched and analyzed Senate races – are keeping their distance from President Obama. Obviously and understandably. But this isn’t sitting well with the White House.
It looks like the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is bracing for a bad election next week. At least, that's what they're openly telling supporters.
Just five days out from Election Day and Vice President Joe Biden is again campaigning for Iowa's Democratic Senate candidate Bruce Braley -- but not in Iowa. Thursday afternoon, Biden heads to the 8th Floor in New York City according to the official White House schedule for a 6:00 p.m. event:
Republican gubernatorial candidate Larry Hogan has a 5-point lead over Democrat Anthony Brown in a surprisingly close race in Maryland, according to a poll conducted on behalf of the Hogan campaign and obtained by THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
A candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, after a debate with his opponent, said that:
Tom Cotton, the Republican candidate for Senate from Arkansas, is calling on President Obama to renounce the "vulgar" attack on Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu which was expressed by an anonymous administration official in a recent Atlantic article.
Two Illinois voters say their attempts to vote early for Republicans on an electronic voting machine were registered as votes for Democrats—and they say have the video evidence to prove it.
As President Obama spoke this evening in Wisconsin, the crowd began to file out. Here's video that captures some folks leaving, even as Obama's voice can be heard in the background:
The WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior writer Stephen F. Hayes on his editorial "An Election About Everything."
Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren praised her fellow Senate colleague Jeanne Shaheen on Tuesday's episode of The View, saying the New Hampshire Democrat is "working hard for the people of Vermont."
Republican Senate candidate Thom Tillis was called "Uncle Tom" at a recent Senator Kay Hagan rally in North Carolina. Hillary Clinton was also on hand to help rally Democrats in support of Hagan--and the possible presidential candidate specifically praised the speaker who made the questionable…
Without offering an alternate theory for President Obama’s 42 percent approval rating — which was about the same even before it became obvious his foreign policy had tanked — the mainstream media is insisting that Obamacare isn’t driving this election. But Republican ads in Senate races say…
Senator Mark Udall has been in the battle for his political life for months, as his Republican challenger Cory Gardner has gained and overtaken the Colorado Democrat in the polls. Gardner has led Udall in 11 of the past 12 polls, and has a 3.2-point lead in the Real Clear Politics average of…
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette endorses Tom Cotton for U.S. Senate:
The president insists that his programs have done great things for the economy and that, while he is not on the ballot in next week’s elections, his policies are. Well, as Mike Dorning of Bloomberg reports:
The grandson of former president Jimmy Carter wants to run for the White House himself, says Georgia governor Nathan Deal. Jason Carter, a young Democratic state senator from Decatur, is challenging the Republican Deal in a close race. Speaking at a rally in Dahlonega, the 72-year-old Deal told the…
Senator Kay Hagan was interrupted by immigration activists during a recent campaign speech who said the North Carolina Democrat was "anti-immigrant."
The Republican National Committee announced today a new ad campaign arguing "Obama's Foreign Policy Is on the Ballot" in next week's election.
In the latest wave of the New York Times/CBS/YouGov poll, Cory Booker leads Jeff Bell 51-39.
Democratic senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire couldn't hold back at her debate with Republican challenger Scott Brown. While Brown was giving his closing remarks at a forum in Manchester Sunday, Shaheen interrupted him, eliciting boos from GOP partisans in the crowd.
California senator Dianne Feinstein told CNN this morning that she'd be "flattered" if Michelle Obama is considering a run for her Senate in 2018:
A pair of polls on the Georgia Senate race continue to show a close race between Republican David Perdue and Democrat Michelle Nunn.
Democrat Vincent Sheheen of South Carolina referred to his Republican opponent, sitting governor Nikki Haley, as a "whore" in an apparent slip of the tongue during a recent campaign rally.
Senate candidate Greg Orman of Kansas has been accused by Republicans as a Democrat-in-Independent's clothing, which explains why Orman is surrounding himself with Republicans in the final days of his campaign against GOP incumbent Pat Roberts. Here's a report from the Lawrence Journal-World:
With less than two weeks to Election Day, the Democrats are bringing out Gloria Steinem to help rally their troops.
At long last, the conventional wisdom about the 2014 midterms is here: It’s an election about nothing.
A Georgia man confronted Georgia Democratic Senate candidate Michelle Nunn over the rising cost his health care plan because of Obamacare:
First Lady Michelle Obama incorrectly referred to Democratic senator Mark Udall as a "fifth-generation Coloradan" while at a campaign stop Thursday. Udall, who is running for reelection, was born in Tucson, Arizona, and is the son of the former Arizona congressman and presidential candidate Morris…
The WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with executive editor Fred Barnes on national security and the 2014 elections.
Barack Obama called into an Atlanta radio station to urge Georgia voters to elect Michelle Nunn to the U.S. Senate so that the president can "keep on doing some good work."
With a grim two-word subject line "dire situation," Connecticut Democrats are sounding the alarm. The email pleads:
A new poll of the U.S. Senate race in Colorado by USA Today and Suffolk University finds Republican Cory Gardner with a seven-point lead over first-term Democratic incumbent Mark Udall. The poll found 46 percent of likely Colorado voters say they prefer Gardner, while 39 percent say they prefer…
Entering the final fortnight of the Senate races, something of a pattern has started to develop. Republicans are leading in the Real Clear Politics average of recent polling in all states that were to the right of the national average in the 2012 election (which President Obama won by 4 points),…
Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz wouldn't "predict" a Democratic takover of the House:
Democratic Senate candidate Kay Hagan skipped tonight's debate in North Carolina. Here's video of the debate opening:
The WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with staff writer Jay Cost on the state of the polls, two weeks out from the midterm elections.
From last week, another example of PolitiFact's incredible bias:
Ron Klain, the Democratic political operative tapped by President Obama to run the federal government's response to the Ebola virus outbreak, recently worked as a political adviser to Michelle Nunn, the Georgia Democrat running for the U.S. Senate. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:
Tom Harkin, the longtime Democratic senator from Iowa who is retiring at the end of the term, spoke with the New York Times about the Hawkeye State's Senate race. Harkin seems to take it as a given that Republicans will gain control of the Senate, even as his fellow Iowa Democrat, Bruce Braley, is…
Given that the Democrats are in total disarray heading into November, it's not surprising liberal groups are making all sorts of dire warning about how it will rain brimstone when the GOP takes control of the Senate. However, this item from MoveOn.org really takes the cake:
President Obama discussed the election and how "all" the Democrats running away from him "have supported my agenda" in an interview with Al Sharpton earlier today:
A new poll of the New Hampshire Senate race from Suffolk University finds Republican challenger Scott Brown within three points of Democratic incumbent Jeanne Shaheen. According to the poll of likely voters, Shaheen has 49 percent support to Brown's 46 percent support. Shaheen's job…
Democrat Mark Udall may be trying to have it both ways on the issue of Common Core standards in education. In an interview with ABC-7 News in Denver, the senator from Colorado was asked a series of questions designed to elicit simple, one-word answers. Reporter Marc Stewart asked this: "Is Common…
Matthew Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon, explains why Republicans look poised to take over the Senate this year:
Democratic senator Kay Hagan of North Carolina was emphatic earlier this week that instituting a travel ban on those attempting to enter the United States from West African nations ravaged by the Ebola virus was "not going to help solve the problem." Hagan's Republican opponent, Thom Tillis, had…
Orange County, N.Y.
A new ad from Republican Senate candidate Thom Tillis of North Carolina targets his Democratic opponent, Kay Hagan, for voting for the federal stimulus bill that awarded a grant to a company owned by Hagan's husband. Watch the video below:
Republican Cory Gardner leads incumbent Democrat Mark Udall in the fourth straight poll of the U.S. Senate race in Colorado. The new Quinnipiac poll of likely Colorado voters finds Gardner ahead of Udall by 6 points, 47 percent to 41 percent, while 8 percent support an independent candidate. With…
In speeches designed to fire up Democrats to vote in midterm elections, President Obama has at times described voters in his party as having a "congenital defect." Wednesday, First Lady Michelle Obama suggested the problem might just be that they're sleepy.
North Carolina senator Kay Hagan said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is "giving us great guidance" on how to deal with Ebola virus infections here in the United States. The Democrat, who is up for reelection, praised the CDC and the World Health Organization in a Wednesday press…
A video tracker for the opposition research firm America Rising asked Democratic Senate candidate Michelle Nunn whether she voted for President Obama in the 2008 and 2012 elections. Nunn, who is in a close race to fill the open Georgia Senate seat, refused to answer the direct question.
Republican Joni Ernst of Iowa leads her Democratic opponent Bruce Braley in their race for the U.S. Senate, according to a new poll from USA Today and Suffolk University. Ernst, a state senator, has 47 percent support while three-term congressman Braley earns 43 percent.
Every election year, it seems, there’s a race that catches the political set in Washington by surprise. It’s possible that we’ve already seen the 2014 version of this with the defeat of House majority leader Eric Cantor, a result few anticipated and fewer still predicted.
A new poll of the Colorado Senate race from CNN has Republican challenger Cory Gardner leading sitting Democrat Mark Udall by 4 points. Gardner is earning 50 percent support from Colorado likely voters, his highest rating yet, with Udall earning 46 percent support.
Democrat Fred DuVal of Arizona has made his business experience and knowledge a centerpiece of his campaign for governor. But it appears that either DuVal or a company he co-owns—or both—is in violation of Arizona corporate law.
Democrat Michelle Nunn leads her Republican opponent David Perdue in a new poll of the U.S. Senate race in Georgia. The 11Alive poll, conducted by SurveyUSA, found Nunn with 48 percent support to Perdue's 45 percent.
The latest poll of the New Hampshire Senate race shows Republican Scott Brown with a one-point lead over Democratic incumbent Jeanne Shaheen. The New England College poll found Brown with 48 percent support to Shaheen's 46.9 percent.
Jeff Bell used to email us to pitch articles for THE WEEKLY STANDARD. Now he emails asking for help for a TV buy in his New Jersey Senate race.
A company owned by the husband of Democratic senator Kay Hagan of North Carolina received taxpayer money for a green energy project through the federal stimulus of 2009, later revising down the project's estimated cost and keeping the difference.
For reasons known only to National Journal's Ron Fournier, he included this moment in a column on "wince-worthy" debate moments:
Virginia senator Mark Warner claimed he did not offer a federal judgeship to the daughter of a Democratic state senator who was about to resign, but he did admit that they "brainstormed" about the idea.
Federal authorities are investigating possible corruption in a Newark government agency that was chaired by Democratic senator Cory Booker of New Jersey. The New York Post has the story:
A new set of polls from High Point University and SurveyUSA have good news Republican candidates for Senate in Colorado, North Carolina, and New Hampshire. The polls of likely voters in all three swing states found Republicans in good positions against incumbent Democrats with just weeks to go…
The National Republican Senatorial Committee is putting between $6 and 6.5 million into TV ads in North Carolina, Politico reports. The close race between Democratic incumbent Kay Hagan and GOP challenger Thom Tillis has come down to an air duel between the campaigns and their allied independent…
New Jersey senator Cory Booker, a Democrat, leads his Republican challenger Jeff Bell by just nine points in a new poll from the Stockton Polling Institute. The survey of likely voters found 48 percent supporting Booker and 39 percent supporting Bell. The results show the race tightening from the…
There are signs that the U.S. Senate race in Virginia, previously considered a long-shot for Republicans and a safe seat for Democrats, could get interesting in the final weeks of the campaign. The incumbent, Democrat Mark Warner, has had a large lead in the polls over his Republican opponent Ed…
Democrat Bruce Braley of Iowa says today's young entrepreneurs differ from his generation's because they "[sit] around in a large space with white boards." The U.S. Senate candidate said these "Millennial" start-up companies in Iowa sometimes think of ideas that go "nowhere."
First Lady Michelle Obama got the name of the Iowa Democratic Senate candidate wrong multiple times at a campaign event today:
A new poll of the Arizona governor's race commissioned by a conservative group called American Encore has found Republican Doug Ducey leading Democrat Fred DuVal in what remains a tight race for the open seat. Forty-six percent of likely voters said they support Ducey, compared to 37 percent for…
At the North Carolina Senate debate earlier this week, Democratic senator Kay Hagan admitted she missed an Armed Services committee hearing in February on the emerging threat of ISIS. Conservative organization Crossroads GPS has a new TV ad running in North Carolina that uses Hagan's explanation…
A new ad from the conservative American Principles Fund targets New Jersey senator Cory Booker, saying the Democrat is a crooked pol who uses his power to "enrich himself."
In a few minutes, Democratic Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes of Kentucky will meet with the editorial board of the Courier-Journal in Louisville. Campaign memos recently obtained by THE WEEKLY STANDARD show how Grimes and her staff prepare for these meetings, requiring the red-state…
Republican Elise Stefanik was attacked in a debate last night by her Democratic opponent, Aaron Woolf, for never having worked a manual labor job. Woolf is a multimillionaire documentary filmmaker and a health food store owner.
At Tuesday night's debate, Republican Senate candidate Thom Tillis of North Carolina asked his opponent, sitting Democrat Kay Hagan, which of President Obama's policies she regrets supporting. Hagan stumbled over her words for a few seconds before saying Tillis did not "understand her record" or…
Democratic senator Kay Hagan of North Carolina told reporters Tuesday evening that she did, in fact, not attend one hearing of the Senate Armed Services committee because she had participated in a Democratic fundraiser the same day. The Democrat was speaking to reporters following her debate with…
If James Carville is still remotely right that “It’s the economy, stupid,” then it’s no wonder that it has been tough sledding for Senate incumbents this fall. Members of the Senate class that’s up for reelection this year were, of course, elected (or reelected) in November 2008 and began their…
Don Carrington of Carolina Journal reports:
Arkansas Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor ran for re-election unopposed in 2008. At that time, as far as the Senate was concerned, Arkansas was a one-party Democratic state; there had been exactly one Republican in the U.S. Senate from Arkansas since Reconstruction. Pryor, son of Arkansas senator and…
President Obama may not be, in his words, "on the ballot" this November, but that doesn't mean he's not on the campaign trail. Between the president and Vice President Joe Biden today, the two will be attending no fewer than six Democratic campaign events per the official White House schedule, and…
Senator Mark Pryor, a Democrat from Arkansas facing a tough reelection, can't give a straight answer when asked about President Obama's response to Ebola:
Yesterday, Politico’s Manu Raju filed a report on the independent candidacy of Greg Orman, who is challenging Kansas Republican Pat Roberts for a Senate seat. If you follow the race closely, it does not provide much new information: Orman is cagey about where he stands but clearly goes left; he has…
Elise Stefanik delivered this week's Republican address:
George Will's column on New Jersey Senate candidate Jeff Bell:
One of the most interesting aspects of the 2013 Virginia gubernatorial race between Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Ken Cuccinelli was an ad sponsored by the Conservative War Chest tagging McAuliffe as part of the “Gang of Five.” According to the ad, this group -- Democratic party leaders,…
President Barack Obama acknowledged that, while people aren't specifically voting for or against him this November, his "policies are on the ballot."
The new Quinnipiac poll of the New Jersey Senate contest shows Jeff Bell only 11 points down to Cory Booker, 51 to 40 percent, among likely voters. It goes without saying that a race can move a dozen points in the final five weeks of a campaign—especially when a little known challenger (but one…
Iowa Democrat Bruce Braley opposed funding any American military operations in Iraq this year—before he supported them. The three-term House member, who is running for Iowa's open Senate seat in one of the year's hottest races, touted his support for military action against ISIS in Iraq and Syria…
The headline on a Cameron Joseph piece in The Hill reads
Fred Barnes, writing in the Wall Street Journal:
A new poll finds that three-fifths of likely voters support the repeal of Obamacare. A large plurality — 44 percent — wants to see Obamacare repealed and replaced with a conservative alternative. A much smaller group —16 percent — wants to see it repealed but not replaced. Less than one in three…
Republican Elbert Guillory, a state senator in Louisiana, has released a new web video through his Free At Last PAC that criticizes Democratic senator Mary Landrieu's record.
In recent days, Republicans appear to have opened up leads in several key Senate battles, including Alaska,Colorado, and Iowa. Add those to their already established edges in Arkansas, Louisiana, Montana, South Dakota, and West Virginia -- and the GOP right now has the lead in about eight…
Arizona Republicans are in a tough fight to keep the governor's mansion. Their candidate, state treasurer Doug Ducey, is effectively tied with Democrat Fred DuVal. Since voters in the state generally lean toward the GOP, DuVal has cast himself as a moderate outsider, a businessman who seeks…
In this week's newsletter, the boss looks at the 2014 midterm election:
Democrat Bruce Braley says those who want to know his commitment to our nation's veterans need only look at the website of his Senate campaign.
Democrats continue to sound the alarm. The latest fundraising email from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has this subject line: "kiss any hope goodbye."
At Real Clear Politics, Sean Trende offers a theory about why so many Senate races are close and yet Republicans seem poised to do well anyway. Looking at polling trends from past election cycles, Trende sees a situation where Democratic candidates are unlikely to improve much on their current…
America is “at a dangerous moment for our country and our friends,” said Scott Brown, the Republican candidate for Senate in New Hampshire, on Wednesday afternoon. In a speech at St. Anselm College near Manchester, Brown described the chaos that’s broken out across the world over the last year or…
A TV ad from a new super PAC targets Democratic congressman and U.S. Senate candidate Gary Peters of Michigan. The 30-second ad's voiceover says that "for the last six years, we've had a president and a Senate who's divided us and fumbled foreign policy, leading from behind." The ad shows images of…
A new ad from New Hampshire Senate candidate Scott Brown highlights the Republican's message of "restoring America's leadership in the world." The ad criticizes Democratic senator Jeanne Shaheen and President Barack Obama for being "confused about the nature of the threat" from radical Islamist…
Democratic congressman Gerry Connolly of Virginia may be vulnerable for reelection, according to details from an internal poll conducted on behalf of his Republican challenger. Connolly, the three-term Democrat who respresents a chunk of Washington's Northern Virginia suburbs, is reportedly below…
A new poll from Public Opinion Strategies, commissioned by Independent Women’s Voice, finds that people who care about the issue of Obamacare really don’t like Obamacare. On the flip side, people who like Obamacare really don’t care about it very much. That’s a bad combination for pro-Obamacare…
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