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Ohio Gov. John Kasich hinted again Sunday at a possible 2020 presidential run by ripping the Republican Party and declaring “I can bring that party back.” The Republican governor accused the GOP of being “anti-immigrant, anti-trade, in favor of debt,” and implored party members to “come home.” “We should care about people from top to bottom, not just at those at the top but everybody,” Mr. Kasich told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I can bring that party back, that’s what I’m going to do, in one way or another.”

President Donald Trump is not shy about expressing his frustrations with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whose strict rule-of-law approach at the Department of Justice (DOJ) contrasts with the political role that President Barack Obama’s appointees played — and Trump expected. But after November 6, Trump may have to thank Sessions for helping save Congress by mobilizing dormant conservatives in California around the “sanctuary state” fight. California is, in many ways, the central political battlefield of the 2018 midterm elections. Democrats need to flip 24 Republican-held seats to regain the majority — and to put House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)...

Something happened very recently that may have launched a political disruption that completely upsets the traditional calculation for political elections. And that’s not an overstatement, because the margins are so close in so many states that a small shift in the current alignment could have a major impact. What happened? Grammy Award-winning rapper and producer and publicity hound Kanye West tweeted. His initial tweet was simply “I like the way Candace Owens thinks.” Candace Owens is a black, conservative woman who believes in personal responsibility, opposes blacks blaming whites for all of their problems and thinks blacks should not be...

California’s “jungle” primary system has Democrats worried that Republicans could win some of the Golden State’s congressional seats in midterm elections, a top House Democrat said Friday. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., speaking to USA Today, said Democrats have a shot at winning in more than 50 congressional districts nationwide — enough to take control of the House from the GOP. Democrats need to win 24 seats to flip the House, according to the New York Times, while maintaining the 194 seats they currently hold. But California’s primary system, in which the top two vote-getters face off in the...

Texas Republican leaders have decided once again not to allow the party’s biggest LGBT group — the Log Cabin Republicans — to operate a booth at the state convention. It’s not the first time that’s happened, and it’s in line with the party platform on LGBT issues. But it also pits the party’s social conservatives against its live-and-let-live conservatives and its older voters against its younger ones.

A columnist for the Hill published a piece today outlining what she calls the “great exodus” out of America’s bluest cities. This is a well-established trend, one which our own Jazz Shaw has written about as recently as January. The author of the Hill piece argues that the GOP tax cut is about to put this trend into overdrive: The recently passed tax bill, which repeals the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, will only speed up the exodus. Thanks to the bill’s passage, many New York taxpayers will save little or nothing despite a cut in the federal...

Democrats' path to take over the House in November took a sharp right turn last night as a Republican won a special congressional election in Arizona's 8th Congressional District. Debbie Lesko, a former state senator, bested Democrat Hiral Tipirneni, a physician, by about 10,000 votes.  Donald Trump won Arizona by 21 points in 2016. Lesko will serve out the term of Rep. Trent Franks, who resigned in disgrace. CNN: Lesko will fill the seat through the end of this congressional term in January and must run for re-election in November to continue serving. Even though Republicans avoided another stinging loss...

In a Tuesday night special election race on Long Island, Democrats flipped a long-Republican State Assembly district to mark their 40th Trump-era takeover of a GOP-held seat. The seat had been held by a Republican since 1978. The New York State Assembly is firmly in Democratic hands, and control of the New York state Senate is caught up in intra-caucus weirdness, so the flip has no particular concrete result. But it does serve as a further sign of the strong wind at Democrats’ backs downballot in the Trump era, with their candidate Steve Stern running 11 points ahead of Hillary...

Mitt Romney did not win the Utah Republican Party's nomination on Saturday, meaning he must compete in a June primary election as he seeks to replace retiring US Sen. Orrin Hatch. After a wild and raucous day of voting at the Utah GOP convention, the former Massachusetts governor and 2012 Republican presidential nominee was unable to win the 60% that he needed to head to the November ballot unopposed. When none of the 12 candidates were able to cross that threshold, the party continued with successive rounds of caucus voting until one candidate reached 40%. On the second round of...

On March 9, 2010, Democratic Party speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said, "We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it." Pelosi's infamous words referred to the 2,300-page Affordable Care Act, now more commonly known as "Obamacare." Democratic leadership, anticipating voter backlash, rushed to cram their controversial health care bill through Congress before the 2010 midterm election. Democrats were in such a hurry to send the bill to President Barack Obama, they didn't have time to read it. Obama signed his "legacy bill" on March 23, 2010. Eight months later, Democrats paid...

Two of President Trump’s top allies in Congress turned up the heat on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein this week — warning him that he could be impeached if he doesn’t hand over documents about Hillary Clinton. GOP Reps. Mark Meadows of North Carolina and Jim Jordan of Ohio — leading members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus — put the squeeze on the man overseeing the investigation into Russian election sabotage during a meeting at the Justice Department on Monday, the Washington Post reported. The pair want to revive the investigation into the former secretary of state’s email server,...

Republican Sen. Ron Johnson (Ohio) said Thursday that “it’s way too early” to discuss supporting President Trump in 2020. “Chris, you know it’s way too early to be talking about the 2020 - ” Johnson told CNN’s “New Day” when asked if he will support Trump in a 2020 re-election bid. “No, it isn’t not to say that you support the guy who’s president, who’s the head of your party,” CNN anchor Chris Cuomo pushed back. Johnson argued that 2020 could be a different landscape and pointed to the November’s upcoming midterm elections. “It could be a completely different world...

Nearly a dozen Republican members of Congress on Wednesday sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department and FBI seeking an investigation of former bureau boss James Comey, his deputy Andrew McCabe, ex-Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Hillary Clinton in connection with 2016 campaign controversies. Attorney General Jeff Sessions already announced last month he had assigned a federal prosecutor to review some of those broader issues, while resisting calls for a second special counsel. But the referral represents an escalation of Republican pressure to probe top Democrats and Trump critics. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., and 10 other House lawmakers want...

Rep. Charlie Dent (Pa.), a frequent critic of President Trump and a leader of the GOP’s moderate bloc in the House, said Tuesday that he will resign from Congress within weeks. His decision could set up a costly special election if the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania orders one. Dent had already announced his retirement from Congress in September, citing personal reasons for the decision while also lamenting the marginalization of the “governing wing” of the Republican Party as the GOP has moved further to the right. He said in a statement released Tuesday morning that he will leave “in the...

(CNN) - Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, who has has been undergoing treatment for a brain cancer diagnosis in his home state since late last year, is hospitalized in stable condition after undergoing surgery for an intestinal infection, his office said Monday. In a statement, his office said, "On Sunday, Senator McCain was admitted to Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona, and underwent surgery to treat an intestinal infection related to diverticulitis."

There's an odd dichotomy playing out in our politics in which the conventional wisdom -- prodded by wild current events, history, developments like this and a pattern of off-year and special election results -- is sliding in one direction (a blue wave), whereas public polling has been moving in the opposite direction. Last week, we brought you Quinnipiac's latest national survey, which confirmed a downward trend for Democrats. Their 'generic ballot' lead over the GOP had tightened from ten points to six...to just three. That outcome wasn't too much of an outlier, we argued, and now a few brand new...

The retiring of 43 representatives assists the conservative goal of replenishing, refurbishing and renewing this nation The RNC response to Paul Ryan deciding to leave the House and return to Wisconsin is upside-down. RNC Spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany, appearing on Fox Business April 12, 2018, noted that with Ryan’s departure another aisle straddler should take the speakership if republicans retain the majority in the House. She got it wrong.

On the last day of 2016, I sent the editing team at The Federalist a draft article that predicted events in the coming Congress. If those events came to pass, then it could publish, along with a notation indicating that I had written it months (or years) previously.The piece described a scenario in which cross-pressures over repealing-and-replacing Obamacare led Paul Ryan to resign his speakership. Even then, before the 115th Congress officially convened, I envisioned conflicts between the “repeal” wing of the Republican Party and the “replace” wing, making success on health care unlikely and Ryan the likeliest “fall...

Wednesday on ABC’s “The View,” co-host Meghan McCain got visibly upset and raised her voice in anger while debating the retirement of House Speaker Paul Ryan. After the studio audience loudly cheered the news, McCain said, “Cheering kind of surprises me a little bit because Paul Ryan is a politician of an era gone by. He was one of the most powerful congressmen between 2009 and 2016, before Trumpism sort of completely took over. He is a really classic conservative, and this party is the party of Trump now. People like me who are old-school conservatives, we’re really on our...

Report: Anti-Trump GOP House Members ‘Happy to Take Out President’ Over Mueller, Looming Loss of CongressNever-Trump leader Erick Erickson reported Tuesday night via Instagram and Twitter an alleged conversation he had with an unnamed Republican Congressman over his and many of his fellow GOP Congressmen’s hatred of President Donald Trump and their willingness to “take out the President” through impeachment if he fires Special Counsel Robert Mueller. This would be their punishment for what they fear to be the loss of their Congressional majorities in the House and Senate come the November elections. Erickson said the Congressman is afraid to...