Texas Weekly Online

Texas-trans-white
Menu
Menu

Author:

‘Record’ fundraising haul by GOP Senate candidate in blue-leaning southwest state

‘Record’ fundraising haul by GOP Senate candidate in blue-leaning southwest state

EXCLUSIVE — As she aims to become the first Republican in New Mexico to win a Senate election in more than two decades, Nella Domenici is shattering records. Domenici’s campaign reports that the candidate hauled in $2.9 million during the April-June second quarter of 2024 fundraising, which they said was “the largest fundraising quarter of any U.S. Senate candidate in New Mexico political history.” The money was raised by both Domenici’s Senate campaign and its associated joint fundraising committees. The figures were shared first with Fox News on Friday. It has been 22 years since a Republican has won in the one-time swing state that now leans blue. The last GOP politician to win was Sen. Pete Domenici, Nella’s father, who in 2002 was re-elected to a sixth six-year term. DAUGHTER OF NEW MEXICO’S LAST REPUBLICAN SENATOR RUNNING FOR FATHER’S OLD SEAT Fast-forward to the present day, and his daughter aims to end the losing streak. The momentum is growing, the movement is building, and our state is ready for new leadership,” the candidate said in a statement. “New Mexico is at a tipping point and I’m grateful to all of those who are rallying behind our campaign to demand more for our state and our nation.” The candidate’s haul is more than double the $1.25 she brought in during the first quarter of 2024 fundraising. Domenici’s campaign said they entered July with more than $2 million in cash on hand. Domenici is using her powerful political brand and ample name recognition in New Mexico as she challenges Democrat Sen. Martin Heinrich, who is running in November for a third six-year term.  Heinrich hauled in $1.5 million during the first three months of the year but has yet to announce his second-quarter fundraising. In her race against Heinrich, Domenici is also showcasing her resume. She has decades of experience in the finance industry at Bridgewater Associates, where she served as chief financial officer, Credit Suisse and Citadel Investment group. In recent cycles, New Mexico, which was once a general election battleground, has shifted to the left and is no longer considered a crucial swing state. Heinrich won re-election in 2018, which was a blue-wave cycle, by more than 30 points. President Biden carried the state by 10 points in 2020. But with the turmoil surrounding Biden in the wake of his disastrous performance in his debate last month with former President Trump, which has fueled calls from within his own party for the president to end his re-election bid, the GOP sees an opportunity to expand the map in New Mexico and a couple of other states. Internal Democrat polling conducted post-debate suggests a tightening political climate in New Mexico. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News.

GOP plans major crackdown on ‘nameless, faceless bureaucrats’ after blockbuster Supreme Court ruling

GOP plans major crackdown on ‘nameless, faceless bureaucrats’ after blockbuster Supreme Court ruling

FIRST ON FOX — In the wake of the Supreme Court decision that stripped authority from federal agencies in legal battles, Senate Republicans are launching a new “major” effort to curb even more the power of the “administrative state.”  Last month, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a group of East Coast fishermen who sued a federal agency that mandated they pay $700 for daily “at sea monitors,” arguing that the government’s rule is out of the bounds Congress set for the federal agency. In doing so, the high court overruled what is known as the Chevron doctrine, which is a legal theory established in the 1980s that says if a federal regulation is challenged, the courts should defer to the agency’s interpretation of whether Congress had granted it authority to issue the rule as long as the agency’s interpretation is reasonable and Congress had not addressed the question directly. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., called the Supreme Court’s decision “a critical blow to the disastrous Chevron deference standard and represents an opportunity for Congress to retake legislative power from agencies and dismantle the administrative state.” ‘BIG BLOW TO BIG GOVERNMENT’: MAJOR SCOTUS DECISION STRIPS POWER OF ‘FACELESS LEVIATHAN’ OF FEDERAL AGENCIES On Thursday, Schmitt and a group of 11 GOP lawmakers announced new legislation he says will “retake legislative authority away from administrative agencies” and give it back to Congress. Schmitt is also spearheading a working group of 18 of his colleagues to further assess ways Congress can peel back administrative authority.  That bill, the Separation of Powers Restoration Act (SOPRA), places what’s called a de novo standard of review within the Administrative Procedure Act, that would prohibit the judiciary from continuing any unconstitutional agency deference standards, which Schmitt says stacks the deck in court against private parties and in favor of big government. Under the new bill, courts will weigh the merits of the argument without a deference standard to either side, which Schmitt says would place U.S. citizens and businesses — either caught on the wrong side of a regulatory enforcement action or challenging the validity of agency action — on an equal footing in court with an administrative agency. A similar bill passed earlier this Congress along a party-line vote. The Senate’s version so far has 11 co-sponsors.  In addition, a wider group of GOP senators are sending letters to 101 executive agencies that have published over 50 final rules since the year 2000.  SUPREME COURT SIDES WITH FISHERMEN IN LANDMARK CASE DECIDING FATE OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE STATE In the letters, the senators intend for more information on ongoing rulemaking, civil enforcement actions, and adjudications by said agencies and how the Supreme Court’s decision impacts all of those actions moving forward, so that the lawmakers can better conduct oversight. “The Constitution is clear: decision-making powers lie with the democratically-elected members of Congress, not unelected bureaucrats,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wy.  “For far too long, the Chevron doctrine gave this administration carte blanche, empowering President Biden’s agencies to pander to its far-left base and drown the people of Wyoming in a sea of regulations. In light of the Supreme Court’s ruling, I am partnering with my colleagues to take the necessary steps to restore legislative powers to the people and finally put these runaway agencies back in their place,” she said.  HOW MAINE LOBSTERMEN TURNED A ‘SLAP IN THE FACE’ FROM THE WHITE HOUSE INTO A POLICY VICTORY Schmitt is also spearheading a working group of 17 of his colleagues that will meet regularly with the hopes they can assess how to best limit the “unlawful exercise of power by the administrative state, and how the Senate can more effectively legislate on matters that regularly would’ve been left up to agency deference.”  “For far too long, the deck has been stacked against citizens while these all-powerful alphabet soup agencies run roughshod. Congress has abdicated its duty to legislate to nameless and faceless bureaucrats at agencies dotted around D.C. – it’s time to take that power back and return to a truly representative government,” Schmitt said.  

FLASHBACK: Ex-Dem lawmaker supporting Biden invoked his dad’s age in 2019 attack on Biden’s stamina

FLASHBACK: Ex-Dem lawmaker supporting Biden invoked his dad’s age in 2019 attack on Biden’s stamina

A former Democrat lawmaker in South Carolina, who has donated thousands of dollars to President Biden’s re-election campaign, warned about Biden’s age in 2019 while supporting Vice President Kamala Harris’s failed presidential campaign. “Joe Biden has been running for president since before I was born,” Bakari Sellers told Politico in 2019 while serving as a surrogate for the Harris campaign. “Joe Biden is nearly 80 years old and he’s running to be president of the United States,” Sellers said. “My dad was president of an HBCU and will be 75 this year and his doctors told him he couldn’t do it anymore.” Sellers, a CNN political analyst who formerly served in South Carolina’s House of Representatives from 2006 to 2014, said his dad, who served for 7 years as the president of Voorhees College, a South Carolina historically black college, “didn’t have the energy and strength to lead that campus anymore.” He went on to say it “doesn’t mean he wasn’t a great man and a great leader and a great visionary.” “It is a justifiable conversation,” he continued. BIDEN’S AGE MUCH MORE OF A LIABILITY THAN TRUMP’S, POLL FINDS AHEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE Sellers also took aim at presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren over age concerns during the Democratic presidential primary in 2019. “The three front-runners are all older than Ronald Reagan was when he took over,” Sellers said. “Democrats are afraid of criticism, which is silly to me. But we are going to have a contentious primary on vigor and issues about fitness to be president.” AXIOS REPORTER SAYS WHITE HOUSE DID ‘NOT TELL THE TRUTH’ FOR YEARS TO MEDIA, THEMSELVES ABOUT BIDEN’S AGE Sellers, who donated $10,000 to the Biden Victory Fund and $6,600 to Biden’s re-election campaign last year, making him a maxed-out donor, has repeatedly defended Biden against criticisms about his age in recent weeks, including this week when he said it was “patently absurd” to be having a discussion about a Parkinsons specialist visiting the White House. On Thursday night, Sellers responded to Biden’s hour-long press conference by posting on X that Biden was “doing well” and reposted a post from NBC analyst Vin Gupta, a doctor, defending Biden’s press conference. “[Biden] demonstrated tonight that he continues to function at a high-level for his age,” Gupta said. “Yes, he had gaffes, which he’s been prone to throughout his career. Yet the substance was there after a series of tough questions, ably demonstrating breadth of experience. Strong performance.” “Biden would not only have to not run but he’d have to resign. Neither of which is happening,” Sellers said last week. “Any article about his age that is absent the fact he’s accomplished bipartisan, put black woman on Supreme Court, brought economy back from brink after COVID is an emotional play. Because it’s clear even in his age he can do the job of POTUS.” One of Sellers’ most notable defenses of Biden occurred less than an hour after the CNN debate between Biden and former President Trump. “Biden ain’t going nowhere. It’s June. Let go of your pearls and dry your bed. He lost a debate. Bad. But it’s June. You’re not replacing him,” Sellers posted on June 27 on X. “So leave your random combinations in your chats. You’re not nominating Gretch or Gavin or Wes over Kamala. Stop it. Organize. Vote. We are winning every swing state senate race and gubernatorial race (NC). Relax.” “Choice is Trump, Biden or couch. I choose Joe. Night. Night,” he continued. Fox News Digital reached out to Sellers for comment but did not receive a response..

Tester denies tight race, says internal polling has him beating Sheehy: ’Kicking his a–’

Tester denies tight race, says internal polling has him beating Sheehy: ’Kicking his a–’

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., claimed he was besting his Republican opponent in Montana in campaign data, pushing back on the widely held understanding that the state’s Senate race is particularly close.  “I’m kicking his a–,” the Montana Democrat told Fox News Digital Thursday in reference to his Republican Senate opponent, former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy.  Asked about how much he was defeating Sheehy, Tester said, “That’s not for you to know.” BLUMENTHAL SAYS SOME CONCERNS ‘DEEPENED’ AFTER MEETING WITH BIDEN CAMP ADVISERS “My race isn’t in a precarious place,” Tester pushed back when questioned about his decision to skip a critical meeting with President Biden’s top campaign advisers, given that the senator’s re-election is so competitive.  Tester was one of a few senators who did not attend a meeting with senior Biden advisers Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti and campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) Thursday as concerns about the president’s path to victory in November mount.  DEM SENATOR HELPS BLOCK BIDEN JUDICIAL NOMINEE AMID CONTROVERSY OVER TRANSGENDER INMATE His office told Fox News Digital he couldn’t attend due to a “scheduling conflict” but did not provide details.  When asked directly why he couldn’t attend Thursday, Tester said he had to miss the DSCC meeting because he needed to speak to aerospace and defense company Northrop Grumman about the “Sentinel project,” likely in reference to its work for the U.S. Air Force’s LGM-35A Sentinel weapon system.  BATTLEGROUND DEMS TESTER, KAINE SKIP BIDEN CAMPAIGN MEETING AS 2024 FEARS GROW The weapons system is “a critical modernization of the ground-leg of the U.S. nuclear triad, the bedrock of U.S. national security,” according to the company’s website.  The Montana senator responded to a question about his concern over his Senate race, due to its competitive nature, saying, “I’m worried about making sure that this nation is secured. Period. That’s what I’m worried about.” BATTLEGROUND DEM FEELS HEAT AFTER BIDEN’S DEBATE AS PARTY TURMOIL CONTINUES In response to Tester’s claim, a Sheehy spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “The only a—- getting kicked this week are Joe Biden’s and Jon Tester’s who continues to support the president and thinks he’s ‘100% with it.’” Nonpartisan political handicapper the Cook Political Report rates the Montana race as a “Toss Up,” along with Senate races in Nevada, Ohio and Michigan.