Texas state Rep. Bryan Slaton resigns over sexual misconduct allegations

Brady Knox

May 08, 04:12 PM May 08, 04:12 PM

Texas state Rep. Bryan Slaton resigned after an investigative committee recommended dismissing him over sexual misconduct findings involving a 19-year-old intern.

A House investigative committee unanimously recommended expelling Slaton, 45, for an inappropriate sexual relationship with his female aide, whom he reportedly gave alcohol and had sexual relations with while she was under the influence, the Texas Tribune reported. Slaton tried to get ahead of a Texas House vote to expel him by resigning on Monday. He faced the prospect of becoming the first representative expelled from the legislative body since 1927.

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"This is to inform the people of my legislative district, The Governor of the State of Texas, and the House of Representatives, that I hereby resign my position as a member of the legislature effective immediately," Slaton wrote in his resignation letter.

"It has been an honor to represent my friends, neighbors and the great people and communities of House District 2. They voted overwhelmingly to send me to the Capitol as their representative in two elections, and I worked daily to meet their expectations. My decision today is to ensure that their expectations will continue to be met by a new representative who will also work hard on their behalf," he said.

Slaton went on to thank his colleagues for their work, and the former representative said he now looks forward to "spending more time with my young family."

The Texas Republican was alleged by the investigative committee to have given staffers under the age of 21 alcohol and invited a 19-year-old to his condominium on the night of March 31 into the morning of April 1. After her friends had left, the girl was heavily intoxicated and, in that state, had sexual intercourse with Slaton, according to a report. Neither Slaton nor the girl denied having sex when questioned.

In the aftermath, Slaton was accused of intimidating the girl and her friends in an attempt to prevent word from getting out. Other representatives and staffers learned of the liaison within a couple of weeks after the incident, and the investigation commenced by mid-April. It was concluded on Saturday, and it presented the unanimous recommendation that Slaton should be expelled.

"The expulsion of a fellow member is a level of punishment we don’t take lightly. It is not meant to punish the member. Rather, it is intended to protect the integrity and dignity of this legislative body and to provide accountability to everyone that works and serves in this building," Rep. Andrew Murr, the investigative committee chairman, said.

The Texas House Freedom Caucus, a conservative group typically aligned with Slaton, released a statement on Sunday calling for him to resign.

"The factual report from the House General Investigations Committee regarding Rep. Bryan Slaton is appalling. The abhorrent behavior described in the report requires clear and strong action. He should resign. If he does not, we will vote to expel him Tuesday," it tweeted.

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Slaton has denied the charges. The representative and his attorney, Patrick Short, called the allegations “outrageous” and “false” and said they were peddled by "second-tier media."

With his allies in the House turning against him, Slaton looked likely to be expelled by the required two-thirds vote. The vote was to be held sometime this week.

Nancy Mace blasts GOP for 'not offering any type of solution to reduce gun violence'

Ryan King

April 16, 12:02 PM April 16, 12:02 PM

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) took on her own party for failing to propose solutions for curtailing the epidemic of gun violence occurring throughout the nation.

"We've not learned anything from the midterm elections if we're going to sit here on our hands silently, not offering any type of solution to reduce gun violence in our country. And it's not about gun control," Mace said on WHD News Sunday.

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Over recent weeks, there have been multiple mass shootings, including one that left five dead at a Louisville bank, the Covenant school shooting, which left three children and three adults dead, and most recently, a shooting in which four people were killed at a birthday party in Alabama.

The congresswoman argued that there are plenty of solutions "besides offering prayers and silence." She cited efforts to bolster background checks as an example.

"We have all these databases at the federal and state level that are all over the place. There's not one piece of software where you can merge all that information together to know in 60 seconds whether or not this is a bad guy trying to buy a gun," Mace suggested. "It doesn't have to be complicated, but we need to show leadership."

Mace also recalled how she and her children were a "mile away down the road" from a mass shooting in South Carolina that transpired on Good Friday.

"I'm a constitutional conservative, but I'll tell you, Shannon, about a week ago, my kids and I were a mile away from a mass shooting in South Carolina where six people were shot. We saw the immediate aftermath," Mace recalled. "They said, 'Hey, Mommy, where is the Amber Alert to let us know that we're near a mass shooting and maybe we should have taken cover.'"

Mace is no stranger to bucking her party, particularly on hot-button social matters. She recently joined some progressives in urging the Biden administration to ignore a Texas court ruling freezing approval for a pill used to induce abortions.

During the interview, Mace described herself as a "pro-life legislator" who favors "15 to 20 weeks" of gestational restrictions on abortion.

"Republicans haven't won the majority — the popular vote — in years when it comes to the presidency, and that's something we need to work on and do better. And this is an issue that we can win on," Mace added, referring to firearms.

Trump says alliance with DeSantis 'very unlikely': Report

Misty Severi

March 24, 09:31 PM March 24, 09:34 PM

Former President Donald Trump said an alliance with likely primary challenger Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is "very unlikely."

Trump, who credits himself as the person who put DeSantis on the map politically, said he had never considered DeSantis a potential running mate for the 2024 election.

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"No, I think that would be a very unlikely alliance," Trump told Newsmax on Friday.

"We have a lot of great people in the Republican Party. I've never thought of it, but, you know, some people every once in a while mention it, but that's about it," Trump said.

DeSantis has also dismissed the idea of being Trump's running mate. He called himself an "executive guy."

Trump again took credit for DeSantis's success. He cited his role in getting him elected over former Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum.

"I appointed him," Trump said. "He was failing badly in the polls. He was out of politics. He was going to be out of politics, and I endorsed him, and he went from a very small number to a very high number. I had rallies for Ron, and we got him in. Then a couple of years later, they said, 'Would you run against the president for president?' He said, 'I have no comment.' I said, 'That's not supposed to happen.'"

Although Trump did help DeSantis get elected in 2018, DeSantis won reelection in November by nearly 20 percentage points without Trump's approval.

Trump then claimed that even if DeSantis decided to run, he would not get elected on the national level because of his alleged voting record while he was in the House of Representatives. For example, DeSantis voted to raise the retirement age to 70 in 2013.

"If you look at his record, he can't win because he voted against Social Security; he voted against everything," Trump said. "He voted against things that are so important. Medicare. He voted against Medicare. He wanted to raise the age substantially of people getting Social Security."

DeSantis recently told WHD News that despite voting for nonbinding budget resolutions that called for raising the retirement age, he does not support touching the entitlement programs of Social Security and Medicare now.

DeSantis has not publicly announced a bid for the White House but is expected to announce a final decision in the summer. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are the only candidates aside from Trump to announce a run to be the Republican nominee.

Hockey coach experience helps House Majority Whip Tom Emmer in new leadership role

Juliegrace Brufke

March 05, 07:32 AM March 05, 07:32 AM

Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) played a key role in building the new House Republican majority. Now, as House majority whip, he's helping to coach it, a familiar position going back to his ice hockey days.

Emmer, first elected in 2014 to Minnesota's 6th Congressional District in the northern and western Minneapolis exurbs, was twice chairman of the House Republicans' campaign arm, where he had a strong run. Heading the National Republican Congressional Committee in 2020, Emmer oversaw the effort that shaved down the House majority that the Democrats won two years earlier, boosting House Republicans' ranks by 14 seats. And in 2022, with Emmer again chairing the NRCC, Republicans nabbed the House majority halfway through President Joe Biden's White House term — although they only have a narrow 222-213 edge over the Democrats.

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Emmer's House Republican colleagues rewarded him by backing him for majority whip in a contest where he beat out rival Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-GA) on the first ballot and Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) on the second, by a 115-106 vote. That made Emmer the third-highest House Republican leader behind Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA).

The majority whip's job is officially to whip House votes for the party's position on leadership, but the role is as much about being the eyes and ears of the conference and knowing how to make members succeed. That's all hard-earned experience from Emmer's eight years in the House, on top of six years as a state representative, his work as a city councilman, and his work as an attorney and establishing a youth hockey team in the 1990s, where the father of seven and onetime collegiate hockey player himself learned how to get people to work together.

Emmer immediately drew on those skills in the opening days of the closely divided House. He helped McCarthy rally the support needed to secure the speaker's gavel amid a group of conservatives threatening to derail the California Republican’s bid. The effort took 15 ballots, and three-and-a-half days, before McCarthy finally won in the wee hours of Jan. 7.

“It's like problem-solving, right? People are entitled to their opinions," Emmer told the Washington Examiner about trying to overcome dissension in the House GOP ranks. "We're entitled to our emotions. We're entitled — all of that is just human stuff, right?"

Emmer recalled working in his office with House Chief Deputy Whip Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) to figure out a way to victory for McCarthy.

"We did the [speaker] first vote that Tuesday — I can't remember how many we did before we went to adjourn. And then we ended up in here, Guy and I ended up in here with just a few members," Emmer said. "I won't get into which ones, but having a discussion — and by the way, they were on the opposite side of Kevin. So the discussion was, 'Is there a path?' How do we get there? And at that point, they weren't too inclined to talk that way.”

It helped grease the ultimate agreement that led to McCarthy's eventual win. The rules package that will govern the operations and priorities of the 118th Congress passed the House after McCarthy used it to barter a deal with conservatives in exchange for the speaker's gavel. The 55-page package includes an end to proxy voting as well as a return to the traditional "motion to vacate," which allows any member to bring forward a motion to oust the speaker.

Additionally, instead of an omnibus bill, all 12 appropriations bills will be considered and passed separately. Two new committees also were created: one to investigate China and the other to investigate the "weaponization" of federal agencies under the Biden administration. The rules package further calls for lawmakers to have 72 hours to review bills before voting on them. Moreover, the House side of the Capitol would be reopened to the public.

"It's like, 'You guys can make some significant changes — and significant changes, by the way, that the entire conference agrees with,” Emmer said about GOP House holdouts against McCarthy.

Emmer, who was the 2010 Minnesota Republican gubernatorial nominee, noted that he doesn’t expect his job to be easy over the course of the next two years. But the speaker’s race was a good “practice run” for what’s ahead, noting that hearing out members about their concerns and maintaining strong communication on where members of the conference stand will be a key part of his strategy.

“It was a great practice run for us. I mean, we literally set up our whip team on the fly, the whip counters, we couldn't rely on others to do things on the floor. So we literally stepped it up, put that together. I called it practice," Emmer said. "Imagine this is what we're going to be doing as a whip operation, so just we're going to use it, we're going to do some test things right and see how it works like a fire drill.”

The Minnesota Republican said he believes his background as a hockey coach has also provided him with a skill set that will be beneficial for his new leadership gig.

"A good coach celebrates the team when they're successful and, by the way, takes all the responsibility when they fail. I think that's the No. 1 rule," Emmer said. "And you also have to get your team to believe in the mission that you're setting out to — if they trust in the leadership, and if the leadership knows what they're doing, teams can achieve things that they really never should have been expected to achieve.”

Emmer offered a more specific hockey analogy.

“It's recognizing, like I did with every team I've coached, that every player has a role, and if that player is not performing, it affects everybody else," he said. "That comes from the top scorer on the team to the penalty kill guy that's out there for just a few minutes of every game, and you were only as strong as your weakest link. So everybody gets held to the same standard, everybody has the same consequences, and then they all start leaning on each other.”

With the razor-thin majority, Emmer acknowledged that there are likely to be significant hurdles during the course of the next two years, with factors like occasional absences potentially being a problem.

“I think the biggest challenge is going to be human issues," he said. "We've got members who have lives at home and, you know, making sure that people take care of themselves and stay healthy.”

But while Democrats utilized proxy voting during the 117th Congress, making it easier to pass legislation, Emmer said that he is glad that Republicans got rid of the pandemic-era practice. Proxy voting was being abused and shouldn’t have been extended for as long as it had, according to the congressman.

“If you don't want to come to work, then get a different job — proxy voting and Zoom hearings and all of this nonsense should never have happened," Emmer said.

House Republican Tony Gonzales to face censure vote after recent vote split from party

Misty Severi

March 03, 07:14 PM March 03, 07:14 PM

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) remained defiant ahead of a censure vote on Saturday after he recently split from the Republican Party on several issues, including protections for gay marriage and a bipartisan gun law.

Gonzales stood by his votes on the gun law, the rejection of a border security proposal from Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), and the bill that codifies same-sex marriage on Thursday.

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“If the vote was today, I would vote twice on it if I could,” Gonzales said in response to the gun safety law, which includes expanded background checks and was passed after the school massacre in Uvalde, Texas. Gonzales was the only conservative Texas lawmaker to support the legislation.

The censure resolution was introduced and passed by Medina County last month, which requested the state party also vote on the legislation. Gonzales said he does not plan to attend the vote on Saturday, citing his leadership of a congressional delegation to the Mexican border in Eagle Pass and Uvalde on Monday, according to the Texas Tribune. Other counties have also passed legislation to censure Gonzales.

The resolution alleges Gonzales violated the party's principles by voting for the gun law and opposing Roy’s border legislation. For the resolution to pass, it would need three-fifths of the party's votes during the meeting. The resolution would allow the Texas Republican Party to use its own funds to inform primary voters of the censure.

Gonzales dismissed criticism of his votes on Thursday, arguing that his voting record in Congress has often aligned with the party.

“The reality is I’ve taken almost 1,400 votes, and the bulk of those have been with the Republican Party,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2020. He was reelected by double digits in 2022 after redistricting maps made his constituency more conservative.

The Washington Examiner has reached out to Gonzales's office for comment.

Four reasons the new Republican-controlled House is already in disarray

W. James Antle III

January 04, 06:50 AM January 04, 07:53 AM

What transpired in Pennsylvania’s race for House speaker hasn’t happened on Pennsylvania Avenue — yet.

Nevertheless, intraparty divisions are putting the new Republican House majority’s ability to elect a speaker in doubt.

Conservative defections did lead to Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), the expected minority leader, receiving more votes for speaker in the early going than Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). The House adjourned with no one getting the required majority for the speakership.

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Jeb Bush warned that Donald Trump was a “chaos candidate” before the businessman and reality TV star became the Republican nominee and president. This GOP House majority may be the chaos Congress. A few factors are in play as the chamber gets ready to start all over again Wednesday afternoon.

Kevin McCarthy has a conservatives problem

McCarthy has bested former House Speakers John Boehner (R-OH) and Paul Ryan (R-WI) in one regard: He is facing a conservative revolt even earlier than either of them did. Nor is this McCarthy’s first time facing this predicament.

In 2015, McCarthy was poised to succeed Boehner after conservatives pushed the Ohio Republican out of the big chair. But these conservatives weren’t done, threatening to withhold their support from McCarthy. Enter Paul Ryan, who took up the gavel. The Californian stayed on as majority leader, then ascended to the top spot as minority leader when Democrats took the House and Ryan departed for greener pastures.

A subset of conservatives hasn’t warmed to McCarthy in the years since, denying him the votes to become speaker on multiple ballots on Tuesday. Some want reforms to how the House does business, some want a different speaker, and still others just want someone in leadership to pay a price for Republicans underperforming in the midterm elections. It won’t be Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), so McCarthy becomes the logical sacrifice bunt.

The GOP is in transition

Republicans are in the process of a messy breakup with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the party’s business wing. But the transformation into a populist workers’ party isn’t complete.

In the midterm elections, the GOP gained ground with Hispanic and black voters but still lost both blocs, while Democrats largely sustained their momentum with white suburbanites Republicans shed under Trump. This became a problem in a number of key races, with Republicans failing to win majorities in some contests and requiring considerable resources to get over the finish line in others that should have been easily winnable. Republicans ended up losing a Senate seat and having a much smaller House majority as a result.

This has also complicated McCarthy’s pitch to the whole caucus and given populists like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) renewed incentives to oppose him.

Freedom Caucus support isn’t free

The Freedom Caucus was founded when some House Republicans felt the Republican Study Committee had gotten too big to be an effective conservative pressure group within the GOP conference. They were willing to withhold support from legislation as a way of pushing House Republicans to the right on various issues, especially federal spending.

Sometimes, however, that meant legislation would end up passing with Democratic votes even when Republicans were in charge of the House. Other times, it led to resentment among a majority of Republicans who felt they were being run by a minority of the caucus.

Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), the Freedom Caucus’s current chairman, and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), a past one, are applying this tactic to the speaker’s vote. Perry now says McCarthy has missed his window to become speaker. Only five defections are sufficient to defeat the California Republican since the new House majority is so narrow.

Freedom Caucus members overwhelmingly hail from safe red districts, so they are unlikely to be harmed by national perceptions that GOP ideological infighting renders the party incapable of governing.

It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing vs. All about the base

Republicans also have a fundamental split over what went wrong in the midterm elections. Some want to pursue a base mobilization strategy, arguing that Senate GOP compromises demoralized conservatives and opposition to things like ballot harvesting handcuffed get-out-the-vote efforts. How important is candidate quality really when Democrats can consistently win the nominees like President Joe Biden and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA)?

Other Republicans say the votes were there but that the nominees in too many swing states and districts alienated the people who could have put the party over the top. In Georgia, for example, no other Republican statewide candidate lost besides Trump-backed Senate contender Herschel Walker.

Why does this matter for the speaker’s race? Because which problem Republicans consider most important helps determine what kind of leadership they need for the next two years. It will be the 2024 election before you know it, and every single member of the House will be up.

The House is the first place where these battles will be fought this year as voters look for signs Republicans can coalesce and govern.

Just as the last two Democratic administrations did after losing control of the House, Biden’s team will shine a spotlight on anything showing otherwise.

WATCH: Byron York claims Trump’s influence is still there, but ‘losing altitude’

Steff Thomas

December 10, 07:00 AM December 10, 07:00 AM

The Washington Examiner's Byron York says former President Donald Trump is still influential with the Republican base, but that influence is slipping.

“I think it’s clear that we shouldn’t overstate this … [but] Trump remains very influential with a really substantial part of the Republican base, maybe as much as half of it,” York said on Fox Business's Cavuto: Coast to Coast.

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“That’s the big deal. But there’s no doubt that he’s losing altitude both in the party and in the general electorate,” he told host Neil Cavuto.

The former president has received a surge in criticism following remarks early this month that some widely interpreted as a call from Trump to scrap parts of the Constitution.

"A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social.

When asked what he thought about remarks from GOP Sens. Mitch McConnell (KY), Mitt Romney (UT), and John Thune (SD), York said that his sentiments likely further isolated Trump from the party.

“I think that was just too much even for some of his supporters — and is pushing him further and further into a situation where he has a real hard core of support, but everybody else is kind of ready to move on,” he added.

York pointed out that the bigger factor for Republicans, however, is the fact that he hasn’t been helpful in winning elections.

“If you look at the Senate races, where Trump thought it was important enough to travel to the state and do a rally for an individual candidate, for the candidates who were newcomers, first-time Senate candidates that Trump endorsed and pushed hard, there were 7 of them, and he lost 5,” he explained.

Trump won in Ohio and North Carolina but then lost in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Alaska, and most recently, Georgia.

“So Republicans are saying, ‘This is a losing path,’ and I think that has more influence on Republican feelings about Trump than anything,” York quipped, adding that this could also have an influence on his 2024 run.

“There was a belief in some of the early states like Iowa a while back that if Trump were to declare his candidacy, it would clear the field. And that just seems not to have happened now,” he added.

Referencing recent Marquette University polls, York said Trump’s numbers have been weak compared to President Joe Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has been floated as a potential Republican candidate to challenge the former president.

“They did a head-to-head matchup between Trump and Joe Biden, and Joe Biden won by 10 points, 44-to-34. They also did a head-to-head matchup between Joe Biden and Ron DeSantis, and it was tied 42-42,” he said.

“So that’s an indication I think of other candidates, other figures, growing in influence in the Republican Party, even as Trump struggles to stay on top,” York added.

Murkowski takes the lead over conservative foe in Alaska Senate race

Ryan King

November 19, 10:18 AM November 19, 10:18 AM

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has taken a slim lead over her Republican challenger Kelly Tshibaka, boding well for her prospects of overcoming a conservative insurgency.

The third-full-term senator holds a slight lead over over Tshibaka, 43.3% to 42.68%, with about 95% of the vote accounted for, displaying considerable gains after the tabulation of absentee and early ballots. With no candidate appearing likely to clinch a majority outright, the race appears likely to be determined by the counting of second-choice votes slated for Wednesday.

LISA MURKOWSKI CLOSES GAP IN SENATE RACE AGAINST TRUMP-ENDORSED KELLY TSHIBAKA

"And just like that ... Kelly's claim she only lost because of ranked-choice voting was gone," a GIF Murkowski tweeted read after she solidified a lead.

Under Alaska's recently retooled election system, the top four candidates advance to a general election and voters number their choices in the ranked-choice voting system. Some conservatives have blamed the system for former Gov. Sarah Palin's defeat to Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) for the state's congressional seat.

Murkowski had topped Tshibaka in the primary. She was the only one of seven GOP senators who voted to convict former President Donald Trump during his second impeachment trial following the Capitol riot. Two others opted not to run again, and the rest were up for reelection.

Trump had raged against the centrist Republican and backed Tshibaka in the open primary. She was also censured by the Alaska Republican Party for that vote, who declared she should not vie for reelection — something she ignored.

It wasn't the first time Murkowski had weathered a conservative revolt. In 2010, she lost her Republican primary to a Tea Party challenger, but then staged a comeback write-in campaign in the general election in a stunning victory that marked the first time a sitting senator won reelection via write-in in over half a century.

She has long supported abortion rights and occasionally defected from her party on guns, infrastructure, healthcare, and more during her time in the upper chamber. Murkowski was famously the only Republican senator to vote against Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court.

In order to win, both sides have to emerge with a majority rather than a plurality during the ranked-choice runoff. Murkowski is regarded as one of the most centrist members of the Senate GOP caucus.

Either way, a Republican is projected to win the Senate seat, given Murkowski's and Tshibaka's strong showing. Democrats have already clinched the Senate, obtaining 50 seats and having Vice President Kamala Harris's tiebreaker vote. Both parties are also waiting on the Georgia Senate runoff on Dec. 6 to see the final margins of the Senate.

DeSantis 'vibes' could pull Florida Latinos away from Trump, GOP operatives say

Christian Datoc

November 17, 05:00 AM November 17, 05:00 AM

MIAMI — There's a significant chance that Florida Latinos will back Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) over former President Donald Trump in a possible 2024 presidential primary, multiple Latino Republican operatives tell the Washington Examiner.

The Latino vote was critical to Trump's victories in Florida in both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. Meanwhile, Latinos were by far the fastest-growing voter bloc over the last two years.

THIRD EDITION: TRUMP ANNOUNCES 2024 PRESIDENTIAL BID

According to the Pew Research Center, roughly 34.5 million Hispanic Americans were eligible to vote in 2022, up more than 4.7 million compared to the prior election, and accounted for 62% of all new eligible voters heading into the November midterm elections.

Republicans invested heavily in Latino outreach throughout the 2022 cycle, and though the party failed to secure a Latino-fueled national red wave, DeSantis actually won heavily Latino counties, including Miami-Dade.

One Latino GOP operative based in South Florida attributed Miami turning red to the "vibes" DeSantis exuded in his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

The operative explained to the Washington Examiner on Wednesday that the governor's stock skyrocketed among Miami's young Latino professionals after he "took a stand" and refused to shut down businesses due to COVID-19.

"As a Latino and as a Floridian, it's clear that the amount of support that has come towards the DeSantis has made it where now, if you're not supporting him, you're in the minority," that person stated. "Part of the shift has been that during the pandemic, a lot of the influencers, a lot of folks who were just kind of industry people in Miami, were very happy with the fact that DeSantis did not close the state. They were very happy that gyms opened back up, that restaurants opened back up, clubs opened back up, just everyday life down here in Miami, which is heavy on tourism, which is heavy on entertainment, was open."

"These individuals felt that that was a representation of what they wanted. It was a representation of what they thought was best for their lives. So I would go as far as saying that when the media was attacking Ron DeSantis for his decision to reopen or to keep Florida open, those individuals felt that that was a moment of pride for them in the sense that they felt that the media was not just against Ron but against them," the operative concluded flatly. "DeSantis made it cool to be conservative in Miami."

Three other Latino GOP operatives said DeSantis and Trump have nearly identical platforms and that Latino voters could swing to DeSantis amid Trump's ongoing legal problems.

"He's Trump but younger and without the baggage," one operative suggested.

Polling does show that Florida Latinos do lean significantly more conservative than Latinos in other states. Data published by BPS Research the week before the 2022 elections showed just 44% of Florida Latinos being open to voting Democrat, compared to 67% of respondents in the 10 other states with the largest Latino populations.

"Florida is the outlier," BPS Vice President Gabe Sanchez said in a statement. "At the end of the day, despite the narrative that we were going to see a huge red wave somewhat fueled by Latino movement towards the Republican Party, that simply did not materialize in this election."

Trump debuted his 2024 White House bid at his South Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, on Tuesday night. The former president was the first top-tier Republican to announce his candidacy, but he had already marked DeSantis as his chief rival ahead of the midterm elections.

DeSantis himself has largely avoided criticizing Trump, even as the former president attacks him at political rallies and in interviews. But DeSantis offered a thinly veiled slight at a press conference Tuesday afternoon.

DeSantis, asked by reporters about Trump's attacks, claimed that one of the things he has learned as governor is to expect "incoming fire" alongside success.

"I think what you learn is all of that is just noise, and really what matters is are you leading, are you getting in front of issues, are you delivering results for people, and are you standing up for folks?" he continued. "At the end of the day, I would just tell people to go check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night."

Ex-defense secretary for Trump says former president is 'unfit for office'

Rachel Schilke

November 16, 12:58 PM November 16, 12:59 PM

Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper thinks former President Donald Trump is "unfit for office" and that the GOP should look elsewhere for a primary candidate.

Esper said of Trump he "wishes he wouldn't" run for office after the former president announced his 2024 candidacy on Tuesday night in Mar-a-Lago.

"I think he's unfit for office," he said in an interview with CNN. "I thought his remarks were very subdued and uninspiring."

He added that he hopes the Republican Party will turn its attention to a different candidate rather than backing Trump again.

"I think that its time for the Republican Party, and frankly, both parties, to move on to a next generation of leaders, and particularly leaders that can unify our country and get us back to a more normal governance where we treat each other with dignity and respect, and we work on policy issues and not personal attacks," Esper said.

WATCH: CROWD AT TRUMP 2024 ANNOUNCEMENT STOPPED FROM LEAVING

Esper joins a growing list of GOP members who blame Trump for the substantial losses the party suffered in the 2022 midterm elections. Republicans, expecting a "red wave" to take over the nation, did not strike as hard as projected as the Democrats secured their majority in the Senate and gained more seats in the House than predicted.

In swing states, many Trump-endorsed candidates lost their races, including Blake Masters (R-AZ) and Don Bolduc (R-NH) for the Senate and Kari Lake (R-AZ) and Tudor Dixon (R-MI) for governor. Esper said the poor track record should be a wake-up call for Republicans, as there was "no reason" why the GOP shouldn't have had a bigger margin in the House and taken the Senate in the midterm contests.

"The election last week is an example that Donald Trump is incapable of winning elections," Esper said. "He's done more to help the Democrats than the Republicans."

The former defense secretary said the party should look at Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) as a primary candidate, calling him the "front-runner" for the Republican nomination.

"[He] is at the top of the list right now," Esper said, per the Daily Mail. "He did a great job in Florida."

DeSantis experienced several personal and state victories in last week's elections, securing reelection after beating Charlie Crist in a 20-percentage-point landslide. Florida Republicans' wins in the House, though expected due to redistricting that favored Republican candidates, were heavily celebrated. The GOP will hold 20 of Florida's 28 seats in the House.

Esper said Trump is unfit for office because he continuously puts himself before the country.

"To me, that's shortcoming number one, and then I believe he has integrity and character issues as well," he said. "I don't think he's an honest person. We saw the falsehoods that came out of his remarks last night. ... Americans need a leader they can trust."

GOP candidate Majewski says McLeadership 'left the campaign to die'

Brady Knox

November 11, 06:53 PM November 11, 06:53 PM

Defeated Republican Ohio House candidate J.R. Majewski blamed his party's national leadership for the failure of his campaign, saying they "left the campaign to die."

Majewski's campaign became mired in controversy over reports disputing his military service claims, which eventually led to the National Republican Congressional Committee, which assists GOP House campaigns, cutting off support for his campaign in September.

In an article for the National Pulse, Majewski criticized the NRCC, claiming they hindered his campaign in several ways and are to blame for his defeat. He also took the opportunity to cast a wider net, laying the blame on the Republican Party's disappointing midterm results on the "McLeadership" in Washington rather than on former President Donald Trump.

"The corporate media is working overtime to hide the Republican establishment’s failures in the 2022 midterm elections – perpetuating a myth that Donald J. Trump dragged his endorsed candidates down," he wrote. "This is a complete lie, told in order to embolden GOP leaders in Washington D.C., and ignores the fact that in so many instances, this same 'McLeadership' set MAGA candidates up for failure."

MIDTERM RESULTS: LONGTIME REP. MARCY KAPTUR FENDS OFF CHALLENGE FROM JR MAJEWSKI IN OHIO HOUSE RACE

At various points in the op-ed, Majewski claims that the NRCC sabotaged his campaign in several ways, including not just cutting off financing but strictly controlling his messaging and at times secretly colluding with the Democrats. Perhaps most notably, he struck back at the elephant in the room — the controversy over his military service — saying he "disproved" the claims and that it didn't have any impact locally, claiming instead that the only effect was the Republican Party abandoning him.

"Here’s the kicker: I disproved that hit piece on me, and the made multiple corrections. The story didn’t have much impact locally, but it did nationally. What made the most impact was the fact that the NRCC left the campaign to die. Tom Emmer’s team gave my Democrat opponent the chance to tell constituents that the Republican Party had abandoned me. With limited funding, I could not effectively fight back. Meanwhile, my opponent capitalized," he said.

In September, an investigation by the found that there is no record of Majewski's combat tour in Afghanistan, as he claims, but that he was loading planes in Qatar at the time. Majewski disputes this, saying his deployments to Afghanistan were classified.

Another investigation by the outlet found that the reason he was barred from reenlisting in the Air Force was because of a DUI he received at an air base in Japan during a 2001 deployment, not an Air Force dormitory brawl as he had previously claimed. These two bombshells were the catalyst for the Republican Party cutting funding for the campaign, helping to hand his Democratic opponent, Marcy Kaptur, a victory in the midterm elections.

The NRCC did not respond when reached for comment.

House GOP promises energy policy change if party wins majority in midterm elections

Jeremy Beaman

October 28, 03:15 AM October 28, 03:15 AM

House Republicans, equipped with the political battering ram of high fuel prices, are hoping to win voters over on Nov. 8 by promising to command an energy policy turnabout in Washington if voters award the party control of the chamber.

The Democrats scored a major legislative victory in August with the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act, including provisions to make alternative energy sources cheaper and more abundant and to help displace demand for fossil fuels. At the same time, President Joe Biden's tenure to date has been marked by historically high prices for oil, natural gas, and retail gasoline (energy sources that, according to estimates, are not going to be out of demand any time soon) and mutual acrimony between his administration and the oil and gas sector.

FUTURE OF NUCLEAR POWER AT RISK WITH WAR NEAR UKRAINIAN PLANTS, UN OFFICIAL WARNS

Republicans have sought to present a clear contrast with Biden's green policies that have disfavored new oil and gas infrastructure and the expansion of leasing on federal lands in favor of renewable energy sources. A big component of the strategy House Republicans are pitching to voters is promising to support more domestic production of oil and gas, which they maintain can serve global greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals and the security of U.S. energy supplies.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has overseen the establishment of multiple caucuswide "taskforces" over the last year. That includes an Energy, Climate, and Conservation Taskforce to shape the conference's agenda and set it up for victory in the midterm elections.

The energy task force has promoted legislation to invest in clean energy infrastructure and land conservation. Republican lawmakers also have argued that the nation's economic and energy security needs require Washington to balance the continued need for fossil fuels alongside measures to mitigate climate change.

Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA), a member of the Conservative Climate Caucus, said the United States needs an "all-of-the-above" energy strategy. That's a common refrain Republicans use to mean a strategy that values all kinds of resources, from wind to nuclear and natural gas.

"I'm all for renewables, but I believe in an all-of-the-above-type energy strategy, and I don't believe that we can destroy our economy, trying to achieve [more] renewables," Carter told the Washington Examiner in an interview.

Carter brought up a summer trip to Europe, where countries have, in recent years, moved more aggressively into renewable energy and restricted new fossil fuel development. Those countries now face a grave energy supply crisis due to a steep drop in Russian gas imports.

Now, a number of countries are resurrecting coal-fired power plants to deal with the crisis in the short term.

"I went to Europe earlier this year and witnessed what has happened over there, where they have let their policies get ahead of their technology," Carter said. "They're in a mess, and we can learn important lessons from that right here in the United States. If we don't, shame on us."

The Biden administration, in response to the war in Ukraine and the associated disruption to global energy markets, has somewhat tempered its approach to oil and gas production compared to the president's early days in office. It has promised to help facilitate more U.S. liquefied natural gas shipments to allies in Europe and approved additional exports while also urging domestic producers to increase oil production to bring down fuel prices.

Environmental groups have been sharply critical of the administration for not being more aggressive in restricting new oil and gas development. Some have accused them of capitulating to the oil industry by carrying out new oil and gas leasing and encouraging more production.

"You can increase oil and gas production now while still moving full-speed ahead to accelerate our transition to clean energy," Biden said in rebuke to that line of thinking.

Biden and the Democrats have also persistently leveled price-gouging charges at big-name oil producers and refiners, as well as retailers, accusing them of unduly raising prices. For producers, in particular, the White House has criticized them for not increasing output more quickly in response to high prices.

Oil and gas sector players, meanwhile, have insisted their conservative spending approach to additional production is driven, in large part, due to market "signals" sent by policymakers in Washington, who want to oversee a phaseout of oil and gas sooner rather than later.

House Republicans intend to counteract that.

"We do play a role. And even acknowledging that we will have an adversarial White House, the market signals from Congress, and showing that real regulatory reform is our priority, matters," a senior House Republican policy adviser told the Washington Examiner.

On regulatory reform, the conference wants to pursue changes to some environmental laws like the Endangered Species Act "out of the gate," the person said.

The ESA, like the National Environmental Policy Act, was signed into law by President Richard Nixon in the 1970s, ringing in a new era of environmental stewardship to govern federal decision-making for approving pipelines, electricity transmission, and mineral leasing on federal lands, among other things.

Environmental groups have frequently and successfully invoked both laws in court to inhibit, and in some cases reverse, federal decisions authorizing projects and drilling permits.

An infrastructure permitting reform proposal drawn up by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and endorsed by Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi included language to limit the ability of interest groups to use environmental laws to stop projects, although it lacked the votes needed to pass. A large number of House and Senate Democrats said the bill would undermine environmental stewardship, while some Republicans who spoke out against the bill thought it didn't go far enough.

Reforming authorities delegated to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is also on the table, the House Republican aide said.

The Democratic-led FERC angered many Republicans earlier this year when it approved new policy statements to add new hurdles to applicants seeking approval of pipeline projects.

Under the revised policy statements, which FERC later pulled back for further consideration, the commission would more strictly consider the effect of climate change on a given project.

Democratic FERC Chairman Richard Glick said the new policies would enable the commission to avoid lengthy and costly litigation. He pointed to court decisions that have vacated FERC certificates for inadequately considering the greenhouse gas footprints of some projects. Republicans and other critics said FERC's policy statements exceeded its mandate.

Forecasts of ever-growing energy demand in the U.S. and around the globe mean Congress and regulators must make production and transport easier for energy producers, the Republican aide said.

"We cannot afford to be taking energy sources off the table, barring some magical, affordable technology innovation," the person said, "which, you know, can always happen."

Cryptocurrency magnate, new GOP megadonor, sunk hundreds of thousands into primaries

David M. Drucker

September 18, 06:30 AM September 18, 06:31 AM

Budding Republican megadonor Ryan Salame quietly shelled out $13.4 million of his particular fortune to enhance 15 GOP congressional candidates in the just-concluded 2022 primaries.

Salame, a 29-year-old cryptocurrency mogul, life in the Bahamas, which is the headquarters of FTX Electronic Markets, the agency he oversees as chief executive officer. But he’s a indigenous of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, and as a self-described “libertarian”-leaning Republican, he resolved to get concerned in politics this yr since he thinks the federal authorities is gravely unprepared for the upcoming pandemic. So, Salame released a tremendous PAC to boost like-minded candidates in GOP primaries.

“I’ve experienced a ton of achievements on the personal facet, in the small business sector, and I imagine coming out of that, [I was] making an attempt to consider of techniques that we could definitely advantage The us and United States citizens — place a little something forward for potential generations,” Salame advised the Washington Examiner on Thursday in his initial job interview to examine his super PAC, American Desire Federal Motion.

“Living by way of and likely as a result of COVID, it turned abundantly obvious that we’re not prepared for pandemics and not prepared for … long run viral outbreaks,” Salame said. “It’s truly crucial — and it’s one particular of the best issues that we can do for potential generations to make certain that we are organized for them.”

With American Dream Federal Action, Salame is element of the escalating checklist of younger finance and technological innovation business owners and executives immersing themselves in politics, using their prosperity to back again Democratic and Republican candidates, respectively. Notable amid them is Salame's colleague, Sam Bankman-Fried, who has emerged as a big Democratic donor. Bankman-Fried is the founder of FTX Electronic Marketplaces, a cryptocurrency exchange registered in the Bahamas, and is the CEO of its guardian corporation, FTX Investing Ltd.

GOP FINDS Itself Shed IN THE WILDERNESS ON ABORTION

Regardless of Salame’s libertarian bent, he concluded successful preparation for the future coronavirus-form pandemic should be led by the federal governing administration. That, he determined, will only happen if customers of Congress prioritize the challenge and move the requisite legislation. To start the system, he, along with the political team he assembled at his super PAC, screened Republicans managing for the Residence and Senate, eventually backing 15 who supported his enthusiasm for pandemic preparedness.

On average, Salame invested virtually $900,000 in each and every candidate’s principal. Thirteen won their respective nominations, including: Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) Rep. Brad Finstad (R-MN) Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC), the GOP Senate nominee in North Carolina and Katie Britt, the GOP Senate nominee in Alabama.

Also backed by Salame’s super PAC have been Erin Houchin, the GOP nominee in Indiana’s 9th Congressional District Bo Hines, the GOP nominee in North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District Dale Potent, the GOP nominee in Alabama’s 5th Congressional District Eli Crane, the GOP nominee in Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District Mark Alford, the GOP nominee in Missouri’s 4th Congressional District and Aaron Beane, the GOP nominee in Florida’s 4th Congressional District.

Just two of the Republicans backed by American Desire Federal Action fell small in their primaries: Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) and Matt Mowers, the operating-up for the nomination in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District. Salame indicated his foray into politics is a extensive-phrase proposition, indicating he realized a great deal about the process with this preliminary effort.

“Being rather new to this, I was not really positive the amount of money it would consider to have a real influence. At the onset, I preferred to continue to keep it beneath $25 million,” Salame explained. “There’s not an specific science. We seem at candidates holistically, glimpse at what they’ve explained earlier about pandemics, see if there’s any heritage, and then shift ahead with candidates in that manner.”

As much as what’s up coming in the midterm elections, Salame was obscure.

Having said that, Salame indicated American Dream Federal Motion is not possible to plow approximately as much revenue into the drop campaign as the team did in Republican primaries to enhance the 13 candidates he backed that are on the November ballot.

“We will participate in in the general [election],” he reported, “but to a scaled-down degree than we have in the most important.”

When Salame, who is solitary with no children, isn’t in the Bahamas jogging FTX Digital Markets, he’s in Washington, D.C., in which he also maintains a residence. Prior to devoting his electricity to politics, Salame, who grew up doing work menial employment in dining establishments in Berkshire County, applied his prosperity to open up a number of dining places in and around his hometown.

His strategy for American Dream Federal Motion in the coming elections is to carry on supporting Republican candidates who believe in improving the capacity of the federal governing administration to react to pandemics. Regardless of the country’s the latest practical experience with COVID-19, Salame believes Washington is wholly unprepared to offer with the issues that would probable accompany a potential crisis.

“I would go as considerably as declaring, ‘Not organized at all,’” Salame reported.

The GOP's governing class

W. James Antle III

September 15, 11:00 PM September 15, 11:00 PM

Washington is the focus of the political competition this year, with both parties vying for control of a narrowly divided Congress two years ahead of the next race for the White House. But it is the governors’ mansions where much of the action is, including the Republicans’ most compelling attempts to provide a rival model of governance to that offered by the administration of President Joe Biden.

In the 50 states, there are 28 Republican governors and 22 Democratic chief executives. Thirty-six of these governorships are up for election in November, with a partisan breakdown of 20 Republican-held seats to 16 occupied by Democrats. Many in the former group are consciously trying to provide a contrast with Biden and a handful of them could wind up seeking the presidency themselves. The number of Democrats positioning themselves as emergency understudies for Biden should he not seek reelection is much smaller.

As Biden celebrated “historic progress pulling our economy out of the worst crisis in 100 years” over the summer, the Republican Governors Association was quick to shoot back that 16 of the 20 states with the lowest unemployment rates were led by GOP governors, while eight of the 10 states with the highest unemployment had Democratic governors, including Biden’s Delaware. Three times as many Republican-led states had unemployment rates below the national average as states holding that distinction with Democratic governors.

"Sky-high prices and still high inflation are crippling American families. While Republican governors work to provide relief, Joe Biden and Washington Democrats push through reckless tax and spend policies and continue with their lies and empty promises," RGA communications director Jesse Hunt said in a statement. "As Democrat governors double down on these failed policies, it comes as no surprise that red states have stronger economies."

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds led 21 other Republican governors in opposition to Biden’s student loan debt forgiveness plan. “As governors, we support making higher education more affordable and accessible for students in our states, but we fundamentally oppose your plan to force American taxpayers to pay off the student loan debt of an elite few — a plan that is estimated to cost the American taxpayer more than $2,000 each or $600 billion total, a price the people of our states cannot afford,” they wrote in an RGA-distributed letter. “Only 16-17 percent of Americans have federal student loan debt, and yet, your plan will require their debts be redistributed and paid by the vast majority of taxpayers.”

When the Biden White House sought to position itself as the lead defender of school reopening as the pandemic wound down — press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre described it as “the work of this president and that was the work of Democrats in spite of Republicans not voting for the American Rescue Plan,” the nearly $2 trillion spending bill that helped fuel record inflation — GOP governors made the case that they were on the cutting edge.

“By and large, Republican states really managed the pandemic better than some of these Democrat-led states because we listened to the individuals, we listened to businesses, we listened to families and kids and parents that were struggling through school and some of that remote learning and stuff,” New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said at an RGA education presentation. “It was a quick stopgap to be sure, but we knew we had to get those schools open.”

“We've focused during the entire pandemic on making sure we balance lives and livelihoods,” Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said at the event. “The key with COVID recovery was about transparency, being very upfront with what the situation was,” Sununu concurred. Oklahoma Gov. Kenny Sitt agreed, saying, “ COVID really shined a spotlight on parents’ rights and what was being taught in our school system.”

That’s what led to the victory of one of the most recently elected Republican governors, Glenn Youngkin of Virginia. Running in a state with two Democratic senators that Biden carried by 10 points, where a Republican governor hadn’t been elected since 2009, down in the polls as the early voting commenced, Youngkin ran successfully on the idea of parental control of education as his opponent embraced the teachers unions and bureaucracy.

Subsequent research indicated that while critical race theory and other liberal educational fads generated enthusiasm among the Republican base, it was parental involvement in the curriculum more broadly that moved independents’ votes. “At the end of the day, parents became the leaders of this movement,” Youngkin said at the RGA discussion. “We listened to parents, and we're going to include parents in our decision-making on a go-forward basis and give them a voice.”

"Much of the 2022 midterm attention has been directed at the balance of power in Congress, but one could argue that the battles for the various governors' mansions around the country are just as vital,” Republican strategist Ford O’Connell said. “Election watchers are rightly focused on the gubernatorial battles in Nevada, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Georgia.”

Tax and budget policy expert Chris Edwards authors the Cato Institute's biennial fiscal report card for the nation’s governors. “There is a deep bench of GOP governors who appear to be solid fiscal conservatives, such as the governors of Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, South Dakota, Florida, Texas, Idaho, Nebraska, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, etc.,” he said. Edwards wouldn’t say who won in the newest (as yet unreleased) edition, but he noted New Hampshire’s Sununu, the last top performer, “has continued to perform very well — cutting taxes and restraining spending. And he's popular in public polling.”

Republican governors have their commonalities. “Democrats spend more, Republicans don’t,” said a GOP campaign operative involved in multiple gubernatorial races. “Democrats tax more, Republicans don’t.”

But the incumbent Republican governors can be broken down into three broad groups.

The Combatants

These are the governors who not only are the more combative with Democrats and left-wing power centers inside their own states, though in many cases their homes are conservative enough that there isn’t meaningful opposition. They have also been the first to push back against the Biden administration on economics, the environment, energy policy, healthcare, and on various fronts of the culture war.

The willingness of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, Arizona’s Ducey, Iowa’s Reynolds, and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to mix it up with Biden and Democrats nationally puts them in presidential or vice presidential consideration. They will at a minimum be on vice presidential short lists in about a year’s time. Perhaps one or more will find themselves in the position to compile such a list.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis leads this group. Many Republican insiders the Washington Examiner spoke to put him in a category by himself. The 44-year-old would vault to early front-runner status for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination if former President Donald Trump retired tomorrow.

Either way, DeSantis is widely seen as marrying Trump’s pugilism and political instincts — “Crooked Hillary,” “Low Energy Jeb,” and belatedly “Sleepy Joe” sum up an opponent’s signature weakness as well as reams of professionally gathered opposition research — with the kind of sharp message discipline that persistently eluded the 45th president. And conservatives tend to group DeSantis with Trump in terms of understanding the stakes.

“The Left is playing for keeps,” DeSantis told the latest National Conservatism Conference in Miami. “This is not an easy fight because they have so much support across the commanding heights of society. It requires that, yes, we use common sense and, yes, we understand the issues and [are] correct on those.”

“But more and more, it requires that you do so by demonstrating courage under fire because if you stand up for what’s right, you are going to get attacked by the corporate press,” he continued. “You may get censored by Big Tech. You will get smeared by the opposition. If you’re not willing to take the arrows, you’re not going to get anything done. You’ve got to be willing to stand, and you’ve got to be willing to fight.”

DeSantis has taken on Walt Disney, the abortion rights lobby, LGBT activists, and the public health bureaucracy. He has done so not from the safest red state but in a traditional battleground where his 2018 margin of victory — yes, he was first elected statewide in a Democratic wave election year — was 0.4 percentage points.

In a lengthy presentation on DeSantis’s record, a spokesman tied together low 2.7% unemployment, sizable immigration to Florida in addition to high visitation, high educational attainment at a time when experts are lamenting a year or more of lost learning, and economic growth under the banner of the state’s COVID-19 response.

“When others locked people down, Florida lifted people up,” he said. “Florida followed data and science but refused to make policy decisions based on fear. Florida protected jobs, businesses, families and education, and freedom.”

Unaffiliated Republicans told the Washington Examiner much the same thing. “The governor's race in Florida may be the most important midterm race in the country because of its long-term implications,” O’Connell said. “Should Gov. DeSantis prevail, it sends a message to everyone that freedom, choice, and safety are what most Americans crave regardless of party."

Abbott in Texas has found himself at ground zero of the border crisis largely of Biden’s making. He has responded by constructing a state-funded border wall, a continuation of Trump’s signature campaign pledge at the federal level. His busing of immigrants to blue cities and to Vice President Kamala Harris’s doorstep has been denounced by the White House — Jean-Pierre has accused him of using the undocumented as political “pawns” — but has sent the message as these would-be sanctuary jurisdictions swiftly declare a state of emergency.

DeSantis for his part has sent the Florida National Guard to the southwestern border to help and has dispatched immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, an affluent liberal playground. Ducey has sent busloads to Washington, D.C.

The Texas governor has also signed some of the strongest antiabortion measures in the country, even before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. He approved a “trigger law” if Roe fell. Abbott also signed the “heartbeat bill” banning abortions after six weeks, enforced civilly to evade the court’s pre-Dobbs strictures.

Kemp, as with Abbott and DeSantis, led the way on reopening after COVID-19 lockdowns. Despite standing up to Trump in the aftermath of the 2020 election, refusing to attribute Biden’s narrow win to massive voter fraud, his support for voter integrity laws made him a national Democratic target. Kemp’s voting laws were likened to Jim Crow by the president.

That has become illustrative of Kemp’s unique position. He has been attacked for voter suppression since his first election in 2018, when he was the incumbent secretary of state. He has been maligned for not signing up for “stop the steal.”

“He’s beaten Trump,” said a GOP operative, referring to Kemp’s easy primary win over Trump-endorsed former Sen. David Perdue (R-GA). “This will be the second time he’s beaten Stacey Abrams. Brian Kemp is someone who’s navigated the political environment extremely well.”

All of them have benefited from a climate of tax-cutting. “The dollar value of recent state tax cuts is the largest in at least four decades, prompted by large, often huge, budget surpluses in most states,” Edwards said. “More than 20 states have cut individual or corporate income tax rates the past few years.”

The Blue State Bulwarks

Some of the nation’s bluest states have repeatedly elected Republican governors. Five of the six Massachusetts governors since Michael Dukakis left office in 1991 have been Republicans. Every New England state has had at least one GOP chief executive since the turn of the century.

These governors tend not to be very conservative by national standards. They usually support legal abortion. They frequently flinch from culture war issues and are at best lukewarm supporters of Republican presidents and presidential candidates — if at all under Trump.

But they are some of the best-loved governors in the country. When Morning Consult last did its top 10 most popular governors feature, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, and New Hampshire’s Sununu rounded out the top five. In April, Baker, Scott, and Hogan were the three most popular governors, in that order, all with job approval ratings among registered voters in excess of 70%. Sununu was sixth, with 63% approval. The Granite State isn't blue, but the others are reliably so.

For reference, that’s above Biden’s job approval rating nationally even after a modest rebound. Their numbers exceed Biden’s approval in all of those states, even after the president regained his popularity in them.

Competent technocrats all, these Republican governors hold the line on taxes, spending, and crime in highly liberal jurisdictions. They are often major obstacles to the corruption that can occur in one-party states and are more conservative than some of their predecessors. Hogan, for example, wrote in Ronald Reagan for president rather than Nelson Rockefeller.

It is nevertheless difficult to imagine any of them seriously running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 or beyond, though Hogan would like to try. The Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision will likely further complicate this by making it even more challenging for an anti-abortion Republican — think former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is also contemplating another presidential bid — to get elected governor of a blue state.

These Republican governors play an important role, but their national leadership potential inside the party is limited. They often decline even to mount home-state Senate campaigns, as Sununu did earlier this year.

The Institutionalists

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb — these leaders are considered, fairly or not, successful establishment Republicans. Those who define these ranks more exclusively by a GOP governor’s relationship with Trump may consider Ducey or Kemp miscategorized.

Then again, Trump endorsed DeWine, whose margin could help Senate candidate J.D. Vance across the finish line in November, for reelection by calling him an “outstanding person” who “quietly, but professionally and patriotically, goes about doing his job, and really well.”

The Atlantic described DeWine as “the ultimate Republican pragmatist, going as far right as necessary — but no further — to win and stay in office.” Most of them are centrists only in the sense that they are more conservative than the blue-staters and less so than the fighters. And any combatant could find themselves dropped into this category by picking too few fights for the base, as Noem risked with her veto of the transgender athletics bill in her state.

“There are two things that I think about when it comes to GOP governors,” Republican strategist John Feehery said. “First, how did they handle COVID? DeSantis, Kemp, Reynolds, Noem, and to a lesser extent Abbott all did a great job on COVID-19. Others, like Hogan, Baker, DeWine, the guy from Indiana? Not so much.”

“Second, how are they dealing with Trump? Are they slavishly devoted to him, relatively neutral, or openly antagonistic?” Feehery continued. “I think the politically strongest place is relatively neutral. I would put DeSantis and Reynolds in that camp.”

Federalism and fiscal conservatism help. “Data from the IRS clearly show that Americans are moving from high-tax to low-tax states,” Cato’s Edwards said. “For example, as widely known, they are moving out of New York and California and into Florida and Texas. But people are also moving into colder places that have very low taxes, including New Hampshire and South Dakota.”

“Interstate tax competition has been strengthened by the remote work trend, which has created more locational flexibility,” he added. “Furthermore, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act magnified tax differences between the states by capping the federal deduction for state and local taxes.”

For years, gubernatorial experience was seen as a boon to presidential aspirations in both parties. But no governor has been president since George W. Bush left office after two terms in 2009. After his brother Jeb dropped out of the race following a poor performance in the South Carolina primary, none of the top-tier 2016 Republicans were current or former governors.

Trump was able to use his executive experience in business as a proxy for that kind of leadership when arguing he was more qualified than the senators who were his leading primary opponents.

Now Republicans could be looking for a different kind of executive leadership and have a deep roster from which to find it.

“Ultimately, somebody is going to have to beat Trump if they want to win the nomination,” Feehery said. “Trump mismanaged COVID. That’s his Achilles' heel.”

W. James Antle III is the Washington Examiner’s politics editor.