Tag: Troy Balderson

Watch Live at 11:45 am ET: Vice President Mike Pence delivers remarks at a Get Out The Vote event for Rep. Troy Balderson and Mike DeWine for Governor in Mansfield, Ohio. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news…

Political strategist and pollster Frank Luntz says that the “only way” that Republicans maintain their congressional majority in the midterms is if they cater to two types of voters: the pro-Trump wing of the party, as well as independents and swing voters. “The problem for the GOP is that they have to win both of these groups if they are to keep the majority,” Luntz told Powerhouse Politics podcast hosts Jonathan Karl and Rick Klein. “Frankly, at this point in August, I don't think it's likely.” Luntz's comments came mere hours after President Donald Trump credited himself for Republican Troy Balderson's "great victory" in the OH-12 special election. With less than 1 percent separating Balderson from his Democratic opponent, Danny O'Connor, the race is still too close to call. According to the political consultant, because there are these “two different constituencies with ... two different attitudes towards Donald Trump," the president's campaigning efforts aren’t always helpful for GOP candidates. In states like Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia, Luntz believes Trump can “make a difference.” “Those are the places I would send him to,” he said. But in other places like Philadelphia and Cleveland, Luntz claims that Trump may even harm Republican candidates’ chances by campaigning for them. “There are places where Donald Trump is still insanely popular but that does not do anything for the independent. That does not do anything for the swing voter,” he said. “I question whether ... there's enough time to push that narrative to avoid a debacle for the Republicans in November.” Luntz called the future prospect of “Speaker Nancy Pelosi” attempting to negotiate with President Donald Trump “unimaginable.” And yet, the political strategist says it's “possible that that's exactly what voters will do.” “There will be some Trump voters who are going to do that out of protest, not understanding that the consequence of that vote will be things like impeachment, attempts to roll back tax cuts,” he stated.

Tuesday was another Election Day in the United States, and the marquee showdown was a special election in Ohio’s 12th congressional district. It went decisively for President Trump in 2016. “Republicans will need to find a way to win back suburbanites or better galvanize rural voters,” wrote the New York Times. The push for Brexit and the electoral gains of the far right in France and Germany all required the mobilization of voters living outside major urban centers. Town and country divisions — and the cultural enmities they foster — stretch back to antiquity. In rural areas, about 40 percent of both college whites and non-whites saw a positive impact, compared to only about one-fourth of non-college whites.” In European parliamentary democracies, the segment of the population animated chiefly by anti-immigrant fears usually gets relegated to a junior seat at the table. But in America’s antiquated system of gerrymandered districts and the electoral college, less-densely populated parts of the country are favored over denser ones — a political reality crucial to Trump’s victory. “Democrats have become the party of the multicultural city, Republicans the party of the monocultural country — the party of urbanization-resistant white people.” It’s a dynamic, Wilkinson argues, that is toxic for American democracy in the long run. And it masks the extent to which the collective story of America — of both its glories and its inequities — is an increasingly urban one. The vast urban, middle-class support behind India’s right-wing nationalist prime minister, Narendra Modi, shows that cities aren’t always crucibles of liberalism.

The ‘blue wave’ is not a tsunami, yet A Democratic win in Tuesday’s special election in Ohio’s traditionally Republican 12th congressional district would have provided yet another ill omen for GOP prospects of holding on to their House majority in the November midterms. Ohio special election: Republican scrapes ahead in tight race that tests Trump's clout Read more Balderson saw visits from both Donald Trump and Mike Pence in the final days of his campaign, and benefited from an investment of over $3m from the Paul Ryan-affiliated Super Pac the Congressional Leadership Fund. However, Republicans hold roughly 70 seats that are more Democratic-leaning and they will not be able to put in the same resources for every race in November. It continues the dramatic collapse in the Republican vote in suburban areas in the Trump era. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, a doctor backed by both Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez and benefiting from national media hype, lost by over 20 points to the former state senate leader Gretchen Whitmer. Bush lost by 20 points as well. Female candidates are making history Two more Democratic women earned gubernatorial nominations in Tuesday, with Whitmer winning in Michigan and the state senator Laura Kelly earning her party’s nomination in Kansas. Trump’s endorsement is not always a gift After a spree of endorsements via Twitter in which he instantly changed the trajectory of Republican primaries, Trump did not seem to maintain his Midas touch on Tuesday. Gains for women in US primaries set record, while 'right to work' is defeated Read more Although all of the candidates he endorsed or campaigned for were ahead, his support didn’t have the same impact as it did in other recent races, such as Brian Kemp’s successful bid for the Republican nomination for governor in Georgia, which ended in a landslide victory. While Democrats credited Trump’s campaign appearance for the Republican Rick Saccone in March’s special election in Pennsylvania for keeping the race close and juicing up rural turnout in that district, they had not seen the same impact in initial returns in Ohio, where the result hinged on O’Connor falling just short with prosperous suburban voters.

Written by Elaine Godfrey (@elainejgodfrey) Today in 5 Lines After reimposing sanctions against Iran, President Trump warned in a tweet that “anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States.” On the sixth day of Paul Manafort’s trial, his former deputy, Rick Gates, described how Manafort skirted taxes and used offshore companies to accept millions of dollars from Ukrainian businessmen. The Trump administration is expected to unveil a proposal that would make it harder for legal immigrants to become citizens, according to NBC News. Forbes reported that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross stole millions of dollars throughout his career as an investment banker. Missourians are voting on an amendment that would outlaw mandatory union fees. The Races We’re Watching Keep an eye on the special election in Ohio’s 12th district, where President Trump won comfortably in 2016. The race has come down to Trump-backed Troy Balderson and Democrat Danny O’Connor, and recent polling shows it as a tossup. If O’Connor wins, it’ll be a good sign of things to come for Democrats in November. In Kansas, the Republican gubernatorial primary is one to watch. Against the recommendations of senior party officials, Trump endorsed Kris Kobach over current Republican Governor Jeff Colyer in a tweet on Monday. (Mark Leibovich, The New York Times Magazine) ‘Our Politics Is Fashion’: Welcome to House of Bijan, the luxury men’s clothing store where former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort spent more than $500,000 in five years—using wire transfers from a foreign bank.

Danny O’Connor, the Democratic candidate in Ohio’s 12th congressional district special election, doesn’t think his Republican opponent Troy Balderson’s support from President Trump “makes too much of a difference.”

A traditionally Republican district of Ohio that has only elected a Democrat once since the Roosevelt Administration is seen as a tossup in Tuesday’s special election – the latest in a series of once-safe seats the party has been forced to defend ahead of November’s midterms. The race for Ohio’s Twelfth Congressional District, which is a dead heat in public polling, pits Republican Troy Balderson, a state senator from the rural eastern edge of the district, against Democrat Danny O’Connor, who is an elected official in Franklin County, which is the largest county in the state. The event was not advertised to the national media, which was deliberate. In contrast, at an event in a crowded campaign office on Monday afternoon, O’Connor hailed the grassroots volunteers who would be knocking on doors from him. Despite O’Connor’s insistence that he would not support Pelosi, Republicans have long used the unpopular Democratic leader as an attack line. CLF has spent over $2.7m on television advertising alone in the race and has knocked over 500,000 doors in the district In a statement, Courtney Alexander, the group’s press secretary, said: “Danny O’Connor has spent the entire campaign lying about his support for Nancy Pelosi and her extreme, liberal agenda. Ohio families deserve a leader like Troy Balderson who will put Ohio families first, not Nancy Pelosi.” ‘It’s pretty lonely out here’: why John Kasich is willing to criticize Trump Read more While Pelosi has proved a flashpoint in the district, so has President Donald Trump. The statement caused the traditionally conservative Columbus Dispatch to endorse O’Connor and kept Kasich, the popular never-Trump governor, on the sidelines. Republicans are clinging to a 23-seat majority and the fact that they are on the defense in such a traditionally conservative seat is an bad omen, even if Balderson pulls out a victory. As Kasich said in his interview Sunday, the tight race “really doesn’t bode well for the Republican Party because this should be -- shouldn’t even be contested.”

Donald Trump won Ohio's 12th Congressional District by a 53/42 margin at the 2016 election and a defeat for his party could signal grave implications for his presidency. Again, our markets are currently calling it a roughly even split. In the absence of more numbers, bettors must decide whether that poll was an outlier or if the Democrat campaign is really cutting through. That said, this historically Republican district is not ideal Trump territory. A very different brand of moderate, inclusive conservatism, exemplified by popular governor and long-term Trump critic John Kasich, has been the key to winning those suburban voters. Latest polls for that once ultra-red district show Lamb double-digits ahead. Turnout is pivotal in these lesser elections and Democrats were predictably well ahead in terms of motivation according to that latest poll. I expect they will outperform the polls again here, aided by another suburban backlash against Trumpism, and that will be enough to at least get O'Connor very close to the winning line. I must reiterate that the better bet lies in the more popular House market. Back then, victory relied upon 'Blue Dog Democrats' just like Lamb and O'Connor taking traditionally red seats.

Washington, D.C., will also see a different kind of political activity at the end of the week; white nationalist protesters and counterprotesters will head to the District of Columbia this weekend to mark the one-year anniversary of the deadly Charlottesville, Virginia, “Unite the Right” rally. Elections: Voters in Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington will head to the polls for primary elections Tuesday ahead of the November midterms, while Hawaiians will vote Saturday. Trump has weighed in on the Michigan Republican election for U.S. Senate, calling candidate John James “SPECTACULAR!” in a tweet endorsing the Iraq War veteran. More recently, Kobach’s claims of voter fraud were disproven when a federal judge struck down Kansas’ “proof of citizenship” voting law — and ordered Kobach to undergo legal education based on his conduct as the lawyer defending the law. In addition to this week’s primary elections, voters in Ohio will head to the polls Tuesday for a special U.S. House of Representatives election for Ohio’s 12th Congressional District. The matchup between Democrat Danny O’Connor and Republican state Sen. Trump campaigned for Balderson at a rally in Ohio Saturday, where he praised the candidate as “really smart” and a “really hard worker.” Manafort trial: Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s trial will continue this week in Virginia. The former campaign manager’s legal team has alleged that Gates was the true perpetrator of the financial crimes and Manafort was simply a “victim” — a strategy that former federal prosecutor Patrick Cotter told Mic has a “very low likelihood of success.” Rand Paul heads to Russia: Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul will spend his recess in Russia, where he’s expected to meet with Russian officials during a trip aimed at “supporting President Donald Trump engaging around the world.” Paul has been a supporter of Trump’s controversial relationship with Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin, describing those critical of Trump’s dealings with Putin as simply “people who hate the president.” “In just a few weeks, I will take my own trip to Russia in an attempt to discuss common ground with their leaders and help prevent further, unnecessary escalation of tensions,” Paul wrote in an op-ed for Politico praising Trump’s Putin meeting July 16. Far-left counterprotesters, including anti-fascist groups and Black Lives Matter, are planning to hold a separate protest Sunday as part of a broader weekend of events dubbed “Shut it Down D.C.” The protest will take place in Freedom Plaza, blocks away from the white nationalist rally. Students and activists at the University of Virginia are also planning to mark the anniversary with a Rally for Justice on Saturday night at the campus’ Rotunda, where last year’s white nationalist rally took place.

President Trump will speak at a campaign rally days before the August 7th special election for Ohio's 12th district. The congressional election is a tense race between Republican state senator Troy Balderson and Democrat Danny O'Connor. FOX News Channel (FNC)…