Monthly Archives: August 2021

Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox, right, responds to a question during a debate with challengers Assemblymember Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin, center, and former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer. | AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli

SACRAMENTO Republicans running to replace California Gov. Gavin Newsom attacked absent frontrunner Larry Elder in a Tuesday night debate that exposed cracks in a crowded GOP field.

Two Republican rivals in particular, businessman John Cox and former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, aimed some of their most pointed shots yet at Elder since the Sept. 14 recall election was certified last month. Cox repeatedly criticized the longtime talk show host, saying we dont need more media personalities who dont show up to meet the press.

"I sure wish Larry were here to defend this position, and he should be, Cox said in response to a question about Elders call to abolish a minimum wage. Assemblymember Kevin Kiley said he disagreed with Elders position.

Faulconer went farther, decrying Elders indefensible opposition to a minimum wage. Faulconer also brought up a 2000 Capitalism Magazine essay in which Elder wrote that "women know less than men about political issues, economics, and current events." Elder had pointed to a University of Pennsylvania survey that he said "confirmed women's lack of knowledge of the issues."

That's bulls---, Faulconer said Tuesday.

Despite leading in the polls, Elder has declined to participate in debates unless Newsom joins in, depriving voters of a chance to hear from the GOP frontrunner and preventing Republicans from engaging with a prominent rival. Earlier Tuesday, former Rep. Doug Ose stunned the field by announcing he had a heart attack and was dropping out of the race hours before he was scheduled to debate.

The nearly hourlong event was organized by the Sacramento Press Club and held at the historic Guild Theater in Sacramento's Oak Park neighborhood.

Likely voters are poised to narrowly reject the recall, based on recent polls, but much depends on unpredictable turnout. The California recall ballot has two questions: should Newsom be recalled, and who should replace him if he's removed from office. Elder is leading among replacement candidates on the second question, but that would become moot if a majority of voters decide to keep Newsom in office.

Before Tuesday, California Republicans had largely refrained from attacking one another and instead focused their fire on Newsom. That reflected a larger consensus among California Republicans that securing a pro-recall majority should be the paramount focus. The California Republican Party followed that logic in declining this month to endorse a possible successor.

But the candidates on stage Tuesday night trained their fire on Elder, underscoring his rapid rise to the top of a crowded GOP field. Faulconers fierce attack in particular highlighted the former San Diego mayors need to make up ground or make inroads with centrist voters as Elder claims a more conservative swath of the electorate.

Faulconer seemed determined Tuesday to introduce Elder's 2000 essay into the campaign discussion.

Im going to call out when I think something is wrong when I saw those comments directed about women, directed about pregnancy discrimination, thats not right," he said afterward. "Thats not right for anybody of any political party or background. Thats not what you want to have your governor doing or talking about.

Elder's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Faulconer, Kiley and Cox otherwise treaded common ground during the hourlong event in Sacramento. All three said they would do away with Newsoms statewide mandates around masking and vaccinations, arguing local governments and school districts are better positioned to respond. They similarly backed offering parents more choice over schools.

Its not about mandating and taking a one-size-fits-all approach, Faulconer said. Its about letting the local public health officials make those decisions for themselves. were not going to mandate our way out of Covid-19.

The candidates also assailed Newsom for his wildfire prevention efforts, saying mismanagement of Californias forest has played as significant a role as climate change in fueling ever-larger blazes. They argued California must pursue a larger mix of energy sources beyond those pushed by renewable electricity mandates.

The debate began on an unusual note. Cox was interrupted during his opening remarks by a man who walked up to the stage and served Cox with legal documents seeking repayment of some $100,000 in outstanding debt from his 2018 campaign.

Soaring Republican enthusiasm has Newsom facing a tight contest despite Democrats having a nearly 2-to-1 voter registration advantage. Republican voters are more motivated to turn out than their liberal counterparts, putting the onus on Newsom and Democratic allies to convince their voters to fill out the millions of mail ballots that have begun arriving at homes around the state.

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Republican rivals attack recall frontrunner Larry Elder in California debate - POLITICO

FRANKFORT, KY Tuesday, state lawmakers on a special subcommittee met in Frankfort, Kentucky, voted against the Kentucky Board of Education's mask mandate for schools.

The state school board recently voted that most students and adults must wear masks inside school buildings for the next 270 days.

During the panel's meeting Tuesday, lawmakers who represent communities in the Local 6 area spoke out against the mandates and voiced their frustration at the state not allowing local school districts to make their own decisions on masks.

Republican District 3 Rep. Randy Bridges argued a statewide board should not make a decision on masks, sayinglocal superintendents, teachers and parents know what's best for their kids.

"More so than appointed members of a board in other places that are not directly working day in and day out directly with these students, with these teachers in these districts and in these counties," Bridges said."I really have to question whether some of these actions are the true intent of the board or if they're just another extension of a governor's sweeping out arm of overstepping his boundaries," Bridges said.

The board's emergency mask requirement is a separate mandate from the executive order Gov. Andy Beshear issued earlier the same week requiring masks in schools, preschools and day care facilities.

Bridges went on to suggest the KBE put in place stipulations and other markers of when schools statewide could remove the mask mandate if certain low positivity levels are met.

Republican state Sen. Danny Carroll also spoke at the meeting. He was there in his role asexecutive director of Easterseals West Kentucky not in his role as a legislator.

he said it's difficult for children who are two and three years old to wear a mask all day.

"It is a little better with the 4 and 5 year olds, but we still don'tto obtain uniformity, and our entire days would be spent putting masks back on and washing hands," Carroll said."It's unfortunate that the administration has chosen not to work with legislators and not to work as a group, as a team, to navigate through this pandemic in all areas."

At the end of the day, the committee voted 5 to 2 to repudiate the KBE regulation, determining the mask policies lacked focus. Republican lawmakers made up the majority of the committee.

The vote will ultimately do very little. The vote sent the regulation to Beshear's desk for his review. The Democratic governor reviewed the policy and responded on Tuesday that the regulation will remain in effect, the Associated Press reports.

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KBE mask regulation will stay in place after republican lawmakers sent the policy to Beshear's desk for review - WPSD Local 6

Biden stands by decision to pull troops from Afghanistan

In his first speech since the Taliban's return to Afghanistan's capital, President Biden defended his decision to remove U.S. troops from the country.

STAFF VIDEO, USA TODAY

Some of the Republican House members who this week excoriated President Joe Biden's strategy to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan and evacuate Afghan civilians voted last month against legislation tospeed up the visa application process for Afghan citizens.

The House overwhelmingly passed a bill to make it easier for Afghans who assisted the American military to relocate to the U.S.TheAverting Loss of Life and Injury by Expediting SIVs Act (ALLIES)Act was approved by a 407-16 vote on July 22. The 16 "no" votes were all from Republicans.

The ALLIES Act removes some applicationrequirements for Afghan special immigrant visas that ledto long backlogs and wait times. It also boosts the number of visasfor Afghans by an additional 8,000 to 19,000. Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., introduced the bill in June, with 24 bipartisan cosponsors.

We have a moral obligation to make sure the American handshake matters, that we are keeping our promises, Crow told Colorado Public Radio.We have to show to the world that our word is our bond.

Biden has faced withering bipartisan criticisms for his handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which has led to the Taliban's return to power.

More: U.S. evacuations flights restart from Kabul as Taliban declares 'amnesty' for government officials

Stunning photo: More than 600 people pack a US Air Force plane leaving Afghanistan amid siege, reports say

These Republican Housemembers voted against the bill:

The U.S. military on Tuesday continuedto evacuate American citizens and Afghan civilians who helped American troops after reports ofchaos atHamid Karzai International Airport Monday. Afghans rushed the tarmac and clung to already loaded airplanes,desperate to escape. At least seven people died in the melee.

As reports of Afghanpeople fleeing the Taliban spread across social media, many of these lawmakers attacked Biden.

More: 'I am begging you guys:' Florida veteran fights to bring his Afghan interpreter to the U.S.

Learn: They will slaughter us: Afghans who worked with US beg for visas as troop withdrawal looms

Talibans return in Afghanistan and what it means for US involvement

The Taliban has taken control of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Heres what a Taliban regime means for the country and rest of the world.

Just the FAQs, USA TODAY

In a tweet Monday, Biggs wrote, "Lets set the record straight before Biden & co. starts blaming Trump for the Afghanistan disaster. Biden abandoned Trumps peace plan & exit strategy & haphazardly created his own. Biden is FULLY responsible for this absolute wreck."

After Biden's address to the nation Monday, Boebert tweeted, "The American people are not arguing that we should have stayed in Afghanistan. Were furious that you abandoned Americans on the ground and are the most incompetent President in American history."

Crow, the lead sponsor of the ALLIES Act, responded toanother one of Boebert's tweetsSunday in which she wrote, "Joe has a 48 year history of making bad decisions. Add this weekends foreign policy decisions to the list."

"Wait a minute,"Crow quote-tweeted Boebert. "A few weeks ago you were 1 of only 16 members of Congress who voted against my bill to expand and speed up the visa program to evacuate and save our Afghan partners."

DesJarliasslammed Bidenin a statement:A hasty withdrawal that was given zero thought left our citizens in danger and threatened the security of classified information falling into the hands of terrorists," he said.

"President Biden and his administration were reckless and deserve to be held accountable for the disastrous mistakes they made in our departure from this country.

More: 'They already looking for me': An Afghan interpreter on the last 24 hours

Related: Afghanistan mayor worries the Taliban may 'kill' her: Will women be oppressed again?

Massie singled out American arrogancein a tweet, "The hubris that led the US to spend 20 years in Afghanistan is the same hubris that caused the withdrawal to become an emergency evacuation."

Duncan agreed with Biden's decision to pull troops out of Afghanistan but objected to how Biden went about the withdrawal.

"I don't disagree with @JoeBiden's comments on stopping endless wars,"Duncan tweeted."I agree with him, I've said I agree with him, and I disagree with many in my party on this issue. But THE WAY he's implemented this withdrawal is a completely separate and deeply troubling issue."

In a statement, Hern laid the blame for the havoc in Afghanistan on Biden's shoulders.

The truth is, Biden owns this. This is a tragedy of his own making. Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, and Defense Secretary Austin either lied to the American people, or they are spectacularly incompetent," Hern said in a statement."They reassured us that Afghanistan would not fall, that the Taliban would not take Kabul, and that Americans would not be put in harms way. Not only were they wrong, they were proven wrong almost immediately."

Moore called the American retreat "a painful betrayal of our Afghan allies" and "an unforgivable insult to the thousands of American who spilled their blood on Afghan soil" in a statement.

Rosendaleagreed with Biden's decision to leave but said in a tweet, "the chaos we're seeing is not an excuse to flood our country with refugees from Afghanistan."

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These 16 Republicans voted against speeding up visas for Afghans fleeing the Taliban - USA TODAY

MADISONVILLE, La. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and 22 other Republican senators today urged President Biden to reverse his decision to call upon the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies to increase oil production in response to rising gas prices.

We are surprised by your recent actions in calling on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies to increase oil production in response to rising gasoline prices. Since your first day in office, your Administration has pursued policies that have restricted and threatened American oil and gas development, which has had devastating consequences for American workers and consumers. It is astonishing that your Administration is now seeking assistance from an international oil cartel when America has sufficient domestic supply and reserves to increase output which would reduce gasoline prices, the senators wrote.

Last month, gasoline prices reached a seven year high and are forty-percent higher than they were on January 1, 2021. It is no surprise how we got here. Your Administrations domestic oil and gas development policies are hurting American consumers and workers, are contrary to an America First energy agenda, and reinforce a reliance on foreign oil, they continued.

We agree with your intent to reduce the cost of gas for hardworking Americans, but your domestic policy agenda has proven to have the opposite effect and continues to threaten American jobs and family budgets. We urge your Administration to revise its regulatory agenda and legislative priorities as it relates to domestic oil and gas development. The best and most effective way to reduce the cost of gasoline at the pump is to unleash clean, affordable and reliable American energy, concluded the senators.

Sens. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) also signed the letter.

The letter is available here.

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Kennedy, Republican senators urge Biden to reverse call on OPEC to increase oil production - Kennedy.Senate.gov

Over the weekend, it became clear that the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan had become an unmitigated disaster as images of Afghan civilians clinging to a military plane in the hopes of escaping the Taliban emerged. As the disaster continues to unfold, theres obviously been a considerable amount of criticism of Joe Biden and his administration. Some of it is entirely reasonablethey clearly should have figured out, among other things, a way to evacuate more people before the country completely collapsedand some of it is typical hysteria from the right, which has conveniently forgotten that Donald Trump and the GOP have been cheerleading a full pullout from Afghanistan until very recently, and that it was actually the last president who negotiated a deal with the Taliban to pull out U.S. troops, which many believe cost the U.S. leverage it could have applied to force the Taliban to adhere to the peace deal and a cessation of hostilities, according to Insider. And some of these Republicans are so shameless in their denunciation of Biden that theyre calling for him to be removed from office via 25th Amendment, despite standing by Trump as he engaged in behavior worthy of invoking the 25th on a near-daily basis during his time in office.

One of those people is Senator Rick Scott, the chairman of the Senate GOPs campaign arm, who on Monday tweeted, We must confront a serious question: Is Joe Biden capable of discharging the duties of his office or has time come to exercise the provisions of the 25th Amendment? To be clear, at no time during Trumps first term did Scott suggest that the 45th president was no longer fit to hold office, not when he was trying to extort Ukraine and not when he incited a violent mob to attack the Capitol. To also be clear, Scott is a partisan hack who was one of just eight GOP senators who tried to overturn a free and fair election even after MAGA rioters tried to stop Congress from certifying Bidens win, and he gave Trump a Champion of Freedom Award in April. Oh, and before he got into politics, he was CEO of a company that committed historic medicare fraud, in case you were wondering if you should trust literally anything he ever says. And he asked for Bidens assistance in Florida on the same day he claimed the guy might not be capable of discharging the duties of his office.

Speaking of people whose calls for Biden to be removed from office should be taken with several thousand grains of salt, former White House physician Ronny Jackson would like people to know that hes been calling for Biden to be taken out via the 25th since way before the Afghanistan situation, retweeting a TV appearance from July in which he claimed, Theres something serious going on with this man right now and you know I think hes either going to resigntheyre going to convince him to resign from office at some point in the near future for medical issuesor theyre going to have to use the 25th Amendment to get rid of this man right now. Theres some serious stuff going on right now and if they do that itll be the presidents cabinet that initiates that.

Claiming Biden is somehow mentally incapacitated has been a go-to for the right since the campaign trail, when their claims that he was a socialist who would destroy the suburbs didnt stick, which was and remains an odd argument given that Trump can barely string a sentence together without stumbling on his words, among other things. As for Ronny, he once claimed Trump could live to be 200 years old, so he might not be entirely unbiased.

And if you needed any more evidence these 25th calls are only coming from the most hysterical, shameless Republican hacks, Trumps rent-a-lawyer also supports it too.

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Republicans Who Stood by a Presidential Lunatic Are Now Demanding Biden Be Removed via 25th Amendment - Vanity Fair

In early August, President Biden took aim at Republican governors like Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas for not taking enough precautions to counter the surge in COVID-19 cases in their states.

But DeSantis was quick to pin the blame on Biden instead, writing the following in a fundraising email to supporters: Joe Biden has the nerve to tell me to get out of the way on COVID while he lets COVID-infected migrants pour over our southern border by the hundreds of thousands. No elected official is doing more to enable the transmission of COVID in America than Joe Biden with his open borders policies.

Only what DeSantis is claiming isnt borne out by data. Rather, according to public health experts, the far more likely culprit for the surge in Floridas cases is the states low vaccination rates.

DeSantiss decision to scapegoat immigrants for the record number of coronavirus cases is important, though, as it speaks to a larger strategy within the GOP: attack Bidens immigration policies at every conceivable turn. Prominent Republicans, including former President Donald Trump and Sens. Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham, not to mention dozens of other GOP lawmakers, have been vocal in their criticism of how the Biden administration has handled immigration. Conservative cable news channel Fox News has also doubled down on its immigration coverage since Bidens inauguration, mentioning immigration, immigrant or the border more than 39,000 times compared with fewer than 7,000 and 9,000 mentions on CNN and MSNBC, respectively.

This strategy reflects just how much immigration has become a key issue for Republicans. Whats more, with a Democrat in the White House, Republicans are now more likely to be motivated by immigration, marking a shift in how much issues of race and ethnicity can motivate voters when their party is out of office.

Take how strongly Trump supporters currently disapprove of Bidens performance on immigration. Two Economist/YouGov polls conducted in July found that 84 percent of Trump voters strongly disapproved of how the president was handling immigration. Thats the highest level of disapproval of any of the 15 issues The Economist/YouGov asked about in its four weekly surveys in July.

Republicans dont just disapprove of the job Biden is doing on immigration, though. Data from Civiqss daily tracking polls shows that Republicans and to a lesser extent independents have grown less willing to support a path to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. Since Election Day 2020, Republicans support for deporting unauthorized immigrants has increased by 12 percentage points while independents support has ticked up 8 points. Its because of these increases that overall support for deportations is the highest it's been since Civiqs first asked the question in December 2016.

Civiqs isnt the only pollster to document this trend either. Polling from the Pew Research Center has also found that the share of Republicans who oppose finding a legal way for unauthorized immigrants to stay in the U.S. increased by 9 points between June 2020 and April 2021. And Reuters/Ipsos pointed to an even sharper uptick an 18-point increase in the share of Republicans who opposed a path to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants from 2018 to February 2021. Overall, Republicans are just a lot more likely to say illegal immigration poses a very serious problem, up from 43 percent in 2020 to 72 percent in April.

On the one hand, this trend fits within a familiar pattern in political science research arguing that public opinion often operates as a thermostat, whereby the public shifts against the current presidents positions to prevent policy-making from becoming too liberal or too conservative. On immigration, for instance, Americans opinions moved sharply to the left in response to Trumps restrictive rhetoric and policies this was the case especially among Democrats. Just as with a thermostat, though, public opinion is now reacting to the warmer environment on immigration under Biden by growing cooler toward it.

These recent pendulum swings on immigration, however, mark a potentially noteworthy departure. Thermostatic trends in Americans views about race and ethnicity have historically been weaker than Americans reactions to presidents economic policies. But that was before immigration became such a deep dividing line between Democrats and Republicans. Now, with the two parties pushing harder in opposite directions on immigration than they have in the recent past, immigration has emerged as an important political issue with significant policy consequences.

Indeed, the Trump administration was frequently criticized for its strict immigration policies, like separating children from their migrant parents, banning travel from predominantly Muslim countries and limiting protections for unauthorized immigrants brought to the country as children, which pushed Democrats further to the left on immigration. Likewise, the criticism that the Biden administration is not doing enough to secure the U.S.-Mexico border with the number of migrants crossing the border at a two-decade high is pushing Republicans further to the right on immigration. That growing hostility is likely to be a motivating factor in Republican politics throughout Bidens presidency. From the earliest days of Trumps presidential campaign, anti-immigrant sentiments fueled his rise to the top of the Republican Party. They also helped move some of then-President Barack Obamas 2012 supporters to vote for Trump in the 2016 general election. Republicans rising concerns about Trumps signature policy issue of immigration should, therefore, only solidify his stranglehold on the GOP in the Biden era.

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Republican Views On Immigration Are Shifting Even Further To The Right Under Biden - FiveThirtyEight

Ethan Demme was a lifelong Republican and onetime local party chairman in Pennsylvanias reliably conservative Lancaster County. He opposed Donald Trump from the outset of his 2016 presidential campaign and, after 20 years in GOP politics, left the party following the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

Denial of the 2020 election results has damaged our system of government and has fomented the seeds of sedition, resulting in violence in our nations capital, Demme and two fellow Republicans wrote in a letter to the chairman of the Lancaster GOP on Jan. 7, saying they were changing their registrations to independent.

Now Demme, the CEO of an education publishing company, is heading up the Pennsylvania chapter of a centrist third party. Serve America Movement, or SAM, says it aims to fix a system that has been corrupted by the mainstream parties and the people who prop them up.

Its platform focuses on governance and elections issues like term limits and supporting independent redistricting commissions to draw political maps.

Founded in 2017 by former staffers in George W. Bushs administration, SAM now has chapters in Connecticut, New York, Iowa, and Texas, with plans to expand elsewhere. Much of its funding has come from Wall Street donors and an ex-tobacco executive.

Demme, 39, registered the party with the Pennsylvania Department of State in June.

Too much of politics is nationalized now, he said. How does a State House candidate in Adams County differentiate from one in Delaware County? The issues are actually different for both communities, but too often the campaigns are run on these national issues. So thats what were really hoping to do is really drive that conversation.

READ MORE: A Pa. towns election integrity law shows how Trumps lies can hijack local politics and government

We caught up with Demme and talked about SAM, the challenges it faces, and why campaign mailers for local races feature scary warnings about Trump and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.).

Answers have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

There are a couple things. Sixty-two percent of folks think that its time for a new political party. So theres clearly a rise in appetite among folks for a third party. The rise in unaffiliated voters has been a trend in Pennsylvania, as well as nationally.

It seems that the time is right. Were at that polarization tipping point, I like to call it, where people are really frustrated with both major parties. And they want something else, but they dont know what that is.

Other third parties that have been around tend to have more of a sharp or narrower ideological focus. And thats where the SAM Party comes in. Were more process- and principle-focused. Were leaving sort of our policy platform up to each individual candidate.

When you look at Pennsylvania specifically, a couple of changes in the last couple of years allowed third parties a little more latitude, if you will. We have the elimination of straight ticket voting. Then there was a lawsuit with a settlement with the Green Party.

So its much easier for independent or third-party candidates to get on the ballot.

Ive actually spent a lot of time trying to reform the way the system works but from within a major party.

The big change was with Donald Trump in 2016 and then more recently with the denial of the election results after November. Thats when I sort of made the decision and looked at it and talked to friends and other folks and we concluded that reforming within the party was not going to be a viable option.

Ive talked to at least a dozen folks who are looking at a State House race run or congressional run in Pennsylvania this cycle as an independent.

So Ive actually been surprised at the number of people who have come out of the woodwork saying, Im interested in maybe running for State House, State Senate, or for Congress. And we are talking to a few potential candidates who are looking at a statewide bid, either for [retiring Sen. Pat] Toomeys old seat or for governor. So theres a lot of interest.

READ MORE: Bidens infrastructure bill gave us a preview of a key clash in Pa.s 2022 Senate race. Heres what we learned.

I think the biggest thing over the last couple years is, the differences between national and state and local politics has shifted to, its all national. [Former House Speaker] Tip ONeill said, All politics is local. Now all politics is national.

Even in local races, we had a local municipal race where, on the mailers for the Republican primary, it was all national issues. It was, Hey, were going to stop Democrats from defunding the police, when no Democrat running in that area is actually advocating for that position at all. Youre seeing mail pieces for local municipal races that mention AOC.

This has nothing to do with how your sewer bill gets sent out, and how trash is picked up. The elected officials pretty much have to cater to that loudest, vocal 20% of their base in order to get elected.

Once you start to gain some traction, the two major parties will work together and sort of push back. So it is a long slog of you have that immediate, theres a lot of folks who like the idea but then once you start challenging the status quo, there will be push back. So were expecting that.

Well be hosting some sort of candidate training sessions. Theyre open so you dont have to necessarily be a SAM candidate, its just encouraging non-major party candidates to run.

The redistricting process were watching very closely. That is an opening for alternative candidates to run when its a fresh map. So thats why 2022 is sort of a key cycle for us.

Its gonna take a few years to get up and running. Were not optimistic that were going to change the world overnight, but were planning to be part of that process to make things better in Pennsylvania.

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He left the GOP after Jan. 6. Now hes starting a third party in Pennsylvania. - The Philadelphia Inquirer

But outside the building, those 265 characters prompted immediate backlash. Not just from Democrats, who accused her of disingenuousness, but from social conservatives too who furiously dialed up McDaniel with complaints. Tony Perkins, leader of the Family Research Council, lambasted her in a scathing blog post and even encouraged people not to donate to the RNC. But the attacks, particularly from the evangelical right, were met with a shrug by the party.

McDaniels willingness to brush aside complaints would have been unthinkable not too long ago, Republicans say. The evangelical right remains the most committed part of the party, and the Family Research Council leader is among its most powerful figures. But the GOP has, in recent years, undergone a quiet but consequential evolution: Party leaders still exhibit strong opposition to transgender rights and the top legislative priorities of the LGBTQ community. But on the most prominent battlefield of the past few decades, same-sex marriage, theyve all but conceded defeat.

In interviews with Republican operatives, former Trump administration officials, and conservative leaders, there is a widespread acceptance that debate over marriage equality is settled. There is no serious discussion about trying to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark Supreme Court case that ruled states are required by law to recognize the marriage of same-sex couples. There were openly gay officials working at the highest levels of the Trump administration. And in Congress, the gay rights movement has found allies in up and coming Republican stars like Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), and Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.).

In this image from video, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) speaks from Houston, during the third night of the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020. | Courtesy of the Committee on Arrangements for the 2020 Republican National Committee via AP

There is Republican support for LGBTQ issues. There is more energy in the GOP for help for gay and transgender issues than a lot of issues Biden cares about, said Tyler Deaton, a Republican consultant and senior adviser to the American Unity Fund, which works to advance LGBTQ rights.

The Republican Party was a late arrival to this point. While much of the country grew to accept same-sex marriage well in advance of the Supreme Court recognizing it in 2013, GOP voters didnt. A Gallup poll from 2014 showed only 30 percent of Republican voters in support.

There have been moments over the past 20 years, however, when prominent conservatives warned Republican party leaders they were dramatically out of step with the public as a whole on the issue. Ken Mehlman, who managed George W. Bushs 2004 presidential run, apologized for the anti-same-sex marriage rhetoric of that campaign and for his role in fighting marriage equality, while announcing that he was gay. One of the founding members of the Federalist Society, conservative attorney Ted Olson, joined forces with David Boies, a Democratic attorney, to overturn Proposition 8, Californias ban on same-sex marriage. Hedge fund billionaire and Republican donor Paul Singer quietly donated to pro-gay rights causes and formed the American Unity PAC and American Unity Fund, which fights for LGBTQ and religious freedom. And former Vice President Dick Cheney was famously at odds with President Bush over same-sex marriage and became a supporter of the movement. His daughter, Mary Cheney, has been married to her wife since 2012.

The real breakthrough, gay Republican operatives say, came with the nomination of Donald Trump. Though evangelicals flocked to his candidacy, conservative gay rights activists also saw an opportunity. A cosmopolitan minded business person, Trump did not prioritize LGBTQ issues during his campaign and, in fact, made overt appeals to gay voters, though not by pledging support for laws to protect them.

For the first time we got to walk into the race with a candidate we didnt have to apologize for or explain away his reluctance to embrace the gay community. Probably Reagan was the last candidate where we were like this candidate has gay friends, said Charles Moran, spokesperson for Log Cabin Republicans, a LGBTQ GOP group. He worked closely with the Trump campaign on increasing LGBTQ engagement, and Log Cabin Republicans plans to hold their annual event this year at Mar-a-Lago, with a member of the Trump family (perhaps the former president himself) likely to be the headliner.

At the GOP convention in 2016, Trump became the first Republican to mention protecting the rights of LGBTQ citizens, and in a post-election interview with 60 Minutes echoed what was becoming the mainstream view on same-sex marriage. Its law. It was settled in the Supreme Court. I mean, its done, Trump said.

A Gallup poll released earlier this year showed that by June 2021, 55 percent of Republicans supported same-sex marriage.

Gay rights activists and Republicans acknowledge there is still much work to be done within the GOP. For now, the official Republican party platform, unchanged since 2016, includes language defining marriage as being between a man and a woman, and gives what some say is a nod to the controversial practice of conversion therapy. Gay rights advocates in the party said Republicans missed an opportunity to change the platforms text in 2020. Had the platform committee convened, a group of Republicans planned to ensure specific changes related to LGBTQ rights were amended.

There is an appetite to change it but people actually have to get on the platform committee to do it and not enough people know how the process works, said one Republican official. Otherwise, the far right people get on and people are like, Well why does the platform say that? There will be a concerted effort next time in 2024. A more vamped up effort of what was going to happen in 2020.

Deaton said his group, the American Unity Fund, will continue to advocate for changes to the GOP platform.

We brought a lot of attention to the weaknesses of the platform, the mean-spirited language of the platform and it doesnt reflect the party. It reflects a few dozen people who show up at the convention and try to run the platform committee. And were not going to let them do that forever, Deaton said.

While Trump may have ushered in a wave of acceptance among conservatives for the cause of same-sex marriage, his actual record on LGBTQ issues was mixed at best, experts say. His administration committed to ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic within 10 years and pushed to decriminalize homosexuality abroad. Trump mentioned his position in a speech to the United Nations (something President Barack Obama had done before).

Former U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a drive-in campaign rally for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden at Northwestern High School on Oct. 31, 2020 in Flint, Mich. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Donald Trump's embrace of people who are LGBT truly did help make it OK to be an out, gay Republican, said former White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere. As president, he hired and promoted LGBT Americans to the highest levels of government, including positions at the White House, of which I was honored to be one of those people, Cabinet agencies, including the first openly gay Cabinet member, and ambassadorships.

But Trump also opposed the Equality Act which would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit anti-LGBTQ and sex discrimination in public accommodations and federal programs appointed judges deemed hostile to LGBTQ issues, rolled back protections in the workplace for non-binary workers, and pushed for the removal of protections for LGBTQ people in healthcare programs.

Kasey Suffredini, the CEO and National Campaign Director for Freedom For All Americans, a bipartisan campaign for LGBTQ nondiscriminiation protections, said his organization sees the potential for Republican senators to support the Equality Act and has been encouraged by LGBTQ protections in the Republican-backed Fairness For All Act, which works to protect religious freedoms and LGBTQ rights.

Its clear where the country is on this issue and where it is headed on this issue, Suffredini said.

But on transgender rights issues in particular, fierce opposition within GOP ranks persists. The Trump-era Education Department eliminated guidance that sought to extend protections around the treatment of transgender students. And Trump himself issued an executive order, via tweet, prohibiting transgender individuals from serving in the military a move later overturned by President Joe Biden.

Potential 2024 candidates like Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have backed laws that would ban transgender athletes from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity. And while McDaniel has hailed Pride Month, shes also slammed the Biden administrations use of the term birthing person instead of mother. According to the Human Rights Campaign, the nations largest LGBTQ advocacy group, 2021 was a record year for anti-transgender legislation with dozens of laws introduced in Republican legislatures across the country placing restrictions on transgender people.

Nikki Haley speaks. | John Lamparski/Getty Images

Perhaps the best illustration of the GOPs evolution on LGBTQ issues and the crossroads at which it now finds itself has come in the form of Caitlyn Jenners run for California governor as part of the recall election of Gavin Newsom. Jenner, who came out as transgender six years ago, said she opposes biological boys who are trans competing in girls' sports in school, even as she has tried to be a kind of ambassador for transgender people and the Republican Party. One Trump adviser, former campaign manager Brad Parscale, is working for her. Another, Trumps former election lawyer Jenna Ellis, has publicly criticized her for being transgender.

I think even with Christians the gay [marriage] issue, that ship has sailed. But the trans issue is different, said one Trump adviser.

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The GOP waves white flag in the same-sex marriage wars - POLITICO