Free Republic

Democrats fresh off a triumph in the 2022 fight for the Senate now face an even more difficult battle: retaining their majority in the next election as they defend nearly two dozen seats. Of the 33 Senate seats contested in 2024, 23 are held by Democrats, including a number in states that former President Trump won or nearly won. Republicans have their sights on taking down the likes of Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and reversing the “candidate quality” issues that plagued them in 2022. Here are some issues to watch that could affect...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) support for the Electoral Count Act is renewing the schism between him and former President Trump, setting up a vote likely to divide the GOP caucus. Supporters are hopeful that McConnell’s backing will lead to a majority of the Senate GOP conference backing the legislation, drafted in response to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol that many blame on Trump. Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), a co-sponsor of the bill, said he believes 20 to 30 Senate Republicans could ultimately back the proposal, which is expected to be voted on during the lame-duck...

Inflation, inflation, inflation. That’s the message Republicans have been begging and pleading to talk about for months. But don’t tell that to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Graham stole the spotlight from the biggest news in GOP circles — that the consumer price index report showed that inflation rose 0.1 percent in August — by rolling out legislation that would ban abortion nationally after 15 weeks, creating headaches for a party that has been on its heels for much of the past month. The move effectively kneecapped messaging by Republicans, who have centered their midterm arguments on what they describe as...

BULVERDE, Texas — Texas Republicans remain bullish that President Trump will repeat his 2016 win here next week. But they warn the party nonetheless has a lot of work to do in the coming years as Democrats continue to make inroads across the state, especially in suburban areas. For two cycles now, Texas Republicans have watched as Democrats picked off long-held GOP House seats in the Dallas and Houston suburbs, with the minority party continuing to go on offense in a number of seats few saw as possible pick-up opportunities years ago. This has set off alarm bells for party...

[VIDEO at source] Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer praised Florida Sen Marco Rubio at the National Review Institute’s Ideas Summit Friday, saying he is “a very strong candidate.” Ahead of presumed 2016 announcements by Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina and Mike Huckabee, Krauthammer told National Review’s Rich Lowry that Rubio is “the perfect antithesis” to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. He said Rubio is the candidate Democrats “fear the most.” “Marco is a very strong candidate,” Krauthammer started. “You can see a route for him, and he’s the perfect antithesis to Hillary. If you ask Democrats who they fear the most, I...