Ousters, upsets halfway through 2022 primary election season
More than halfway through a tumultuous primary season, voters have rendered verdicts in a number of contests, many of which featured candidates arguing they best represented a continuation of policies favored by former President Donald Trump.
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GOP infighting in post-Trump era threatens California recall
(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)LOS ANGELES โ California Republicans eager to recall Democratic Gov. The head of the state Republican Party, Jessica Millan Patterson, is being challenged at a GOP convention this weekend by longtime conservative activist Steve Frank, who says the state party is attempting to silence conservative voices. AdโThis is Californiaโs version of the national battle for the soul and the future of the Republican Party,โ said Thad Kousser, a political science professor at the University of California, San Diego. But โjust when the Republican Party in California is showing signs of life, itโs deciding to cannibalize itself,โ Kousser added. For long-suffering California Republicans, party infighting could divide their ranks and make it more challenging to oust Newsom.
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Led by Cheney, 10 House Republicans back Trump impeachment
3 House GOP leader โ voted to impeach President Donald Trump over the deadly insurrection at the Capitol. The GOP votes were in sharp contrast to the unanimous support for Trump among House Republicans when he was impeached by Democrats in December 2019. Katko, a former federal prosecutor who represents the Syracuse area, was the first rank-and-file GOP lawmaker to support impeachment. But he said Trump's refusal to take responsibility for the riot left him no choice but to support impeachment. At least two GOP senators โ Alaskaโs Lisa Murkowski and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania โ have said they support impeachment or have called on Trump to resign.
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A new face to the GOP: Diverse candidates win in California
(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)LOS ANGELES โ It had been over two decades since a Republican captured a Democratic-held congressional district in California. The stunning victories have California GOP leaders talking about a comeback after years of teetering on the brink of irrelevance in the heavily Democratic state. Still, California Republicans all too familiar with Election Day misery now see a template to make further inroads. Young Kim defeated Democratic Rep. Gil Cisneros in a rematch in the Democratic-leaning 39th District, anchored in Orange County. In Orange County โvoters saw a different face to the Republican Party in Steel and Kim,โ she said.
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Former House Republican flips central California seat
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistribu)FRESNO, Calif. โ Republicans have picked up their 11th seat overall in the U.S. House and the third seat in California, as Republican David Valadao reclaimed the seat he lost in the farm belt two years ago. The former congressman defeated Democratic Rep. TJ Cox, who ousted Valadao in the 21st Congressional District two years ago by 862 votes. But Californiaโs agricultural centers have long been known for Republican residents who vote reliably and Democrats who often do not. That changed in 2018, when Democrats captured seven GOP-held House seats in California as voters rejected the Trump agenda. โThis Thanksgiving, as the coronavirus continues to spread and our community and nation struggle, we desperately need relief,โ Valadao said.
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Republican widens edge in tight U.S. House fight north of LA
An updated tally from Los Angeles and Ventura counties showed his edge had grown to 422 votes. The post was left vacant after former Democratic Rep. Katie Hill resigned in 2019 amid a House ethics probe. The district, anchored in Los Angeles County but paired with a slice of Ventura County that is home to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, has a Democratic registration edge. When Hill captured the district in 2018, it was the last Republican-held House seat anchored in Los Angeles County. Last week, Republican Young Kim defeated Democratic Rep. Gil Cisneros in a district anchored in the one-time GOP stronghold of Orange County, and Republican Michelle Steel earlier claimed the 48th District in Orange County from Democratic Rep. Harley Rouda.
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Drubbed in 2018, California GOP looks to regain House seats
And GOP candidates need to win back suburbanites who recoiled from the Trump agenda in 2018 and helped return the House to Democratic control. But Issaโs once strongly Republican district became increasingly friendly for Democrats and he nearly lost his seat in 2016 before deciding not to run in 2018. Democratic Rep. Harley Rouda captured the district in an upset of longtime Rep. Dana Rohrabacher in 2018, as suburban voters nationally rejected the Trump label. First-term Democratic Rep. Gil Cisneros is looking to hold off Young Kim, the Republican he narrowly defeated two years ago to snatch the seat long held by Republican Rep. Ed Royce. Kim, a former legislator who was born in South Korea and grew up in Guam, has depicted the congressman as subservient to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.
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California rejected 100K mail-in ballots because of mistakes
The California secretary of state's election data obtained by the AP showed 102,428 mail-in ballots were disqualified in the states 58 counties, about 1.5% of the nearly 7 million mail-in ballots returned. To count in the election, ballots must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received within three days afterward. California traditionally has offered mail-in voting only to those who request ballots. He called mail-in voting safe and secure, pointing to a series of studies that found no evidence of significant fraud. By contrast, in rural Plumas County northeast of Sacramento, all of the 8,207 mail-in ballots received were accepted.