Free Republic

There are now 23 Democrats who won't seek reelection in the 2022 midterms as Representative Albio Sires from New Jersey plans to retire and party leadership desperately grips their slim majority in the House.... ...With a series of upcoming retirements, Democrats' majority in the House looks increasingly vulnerable, and Pelosi can only afford to lose three seats in order to keep her party in power.... [list of the 23 at link]

On the surface, Joe Biden seems to be doing pretty well. But underneath, there are signs of problems, areas where partisan overstretch threatens the underpinnings of what some are hailing as the new order of things. Joe Biden enjoys a 54% average job approval rating, a good mark for a president midterm or facing reelection but below the 100-day numbers of every post-World War II president except Donald Trump. Biden's 42% disapproval is higher than theirs and about equal to Trump's. That may understate things if, as The Cook Political Report's Amy Walter suggests, polls are undersampling Republican voters. The...

Republicans in Illinois and Washington, D.C., closed the week on a happy note, as Democratic Rep. Cheri Bustos announced late Friday her retirement in Illinois' 17th District (Quad Cities). All political eyes were immediately on Republican Esther Joy King, U.S. Army officer and tax attorney, who came close (52 to 48 percent) to denying Bustos a fifth term. Many Prairie State political observers believe that Bustos’ position as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) left her vulnerable to King’s spirited attacks that the congresswoman was out of touch with the 17th District. But obervers also agree that the...

Nancy Pelosi has been reelected speaker of the House by her caucus for the next session of Congress, marking what will be her fourth term with the gavel. The caucus vote was conducted virtually, but Pelosi was approved with a voice vote. Pelosi, 80, did not not face any challenge for her post, but she will also need to secure a simple majority — 218 Democratic votes — by the full House of Representatives in January to be sworn in again as speaker. In 2019, several Democrats voted for someone other than her on the floor, but with a slimmer...

Congressional Democrats are ditching House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s ardent opposition to any barrier or wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, as the partial government shutdown continues and President Donald Trump takes his case directly to the border itself. ““If we have a partial wall, if we have fencing, if we have technology used to keep our border safe, all of that is fine,” Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL), the chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), said on CNN. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) also backed a barrier along the U.S. border with Mexico....

.@RepCheri Bustos says the border wall has become “nothing more than a symbol,” but notes that “in the end, we might have to give or take a little bit. It’s just the way the world works. Who’s Cheri Bustos? An interesting character, if you’re unfamiliar. Fun facts about her: — She’s the new chair of the DCCC, the committee charged with helping to elect Democratic candidates to the House in 2020. The DCCC chair is also the fifth-highest-ranking member of the caucus. This isn’t some rando floating compromise with Trump on CNN. This is the leadership. — She’s a Pelosi...

With radicals preparing drum head trials for Trump, his supporters, the rich, and just about anyone who disagrees with them, Rep. Ryan might want to rethink his desire to be "rich." These moderates appear to be the only Democrats who realize the danger the party is in: But some elected officials in relatively conservative areas say progressives are clueless about what their agenda would mean for Democrats outside major cities and the coasts. "We will be a permanent minority party in this country," said Iowa state Sen. Jeff Danielson, a firefighter who represents an area that saw one of the...

Texas Democratic Congressman Al Green sent an out-of-the-blue press release Monday acknowledging the existence of a previous sexual assault allegation against him, but denying it ever happened. Green sent an unprompted joint statement to Washington Post reporter Mike DeBonis signed by himself and Green's former district director, Lucinda Daniels, denying anything untoward happened between the two. "In the present climate, we wish to jointly quiet any curious minds about our former and present relationship with one another. We are friends, and have long been friends," they wrote. Mike DeBonis ✔ @mikedebonis A new, out-of-nowhere statement from @RepAlGreen. Spox: "The attached...

Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green had sex with a staffer who he said was a drug addict and then sued her when she threatened to go public with claims she suffered a hostile work environment, saying he “will not be extorted or blackmailed.”Lucinda Daniels, his onetime district director, claimed she suffered a hostile work environment, claimed sexual harassment and demanded $1.8 million. Green sued her, saying she was using their sexual relationship to shake him down at the behest of other unnamed conspirators.“Daniels has threatened to go public with her complaints if the Congressman does not per her money. Green...

After the Women's March, the Tax March, and the March for Science, progressives will march again this weekend for "truth," calling for an independent commission to investigate alleged ties between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russia. Marches are planned in Washington, D.C., and a 135 other cities Saturday, according to organizers, which include many of same groups that organized the previous anti-Trump rallies. Saturday's "March for Truth" will include speeches from Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks and Javier Muñoz, the star of Hamilton, among other actors and musicians. Members of Congress will address several rallies, including Texas Rep. Al Green, who...

RUSH: Julie in Temecula, California. Great to have you. How are you? CALLER: Hi, Rush. I’m great. Oh, I’m so happy to talk with you. I’ve been a listener since, let’s see, Clinton was holding us hostage on TV. Okay. That’s a while back. Anyway, I apologize because I only heard this once, so I can’t tell you where I heard it, but when Green from Texas began the impeachment process — RUSH: Yes, Al Green. CALLER: Al Green, yeah, the Democrats were furious because the impeachment proceedings — I heard this but I don’t know where — the impeachment...

The House is about to vote on impeachment articles against President Trump. Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas said he will force a vote on impeaching Trump as early as Wednesday. Republicans will easily table the symbolic vote, but it will put lawmakers on the record. “Three prominent Democrats have asked to meet with me to discuss impeachment,” Green said on the floor Tuesday. Green appeared to be referring to members within his party’s leadership who have urged him to stop his campaign to force an impeachment vote. “I will tell them I refuse to sit on the sidelines while...

While Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) has been peddling odd conspiracy theories, rehashing the unfounded allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians, and calling for President Trump’s impeachment, one of her colleagues, Rep. Al Green (D-TX), is actually working on such articles to be filed against the president (via Circa): .@RepAlGreen: “We will move forward, and as a matter of fact, I am currently crafting, drafting if you will, articles of impeachment.” pic.twitter.com/941FTmoyrD— CSPAN (@cspan) May 23, 2017 Green did not say whether he would file a privileged resolution for impeachment. Such a resolution would have to be considered...

Perhaps Democrats should take Han Solo’s advice from Episode IV after last night’s big electoral win: Nice shooting, kid, don’t get cocky. Instead, Rep. Al Green appears to be channeling Solo’s other advice: Never tell me the odds. In a floor speech, the Texas Democrat pledged to force a vote on his articles of impeachment for Donald Trump in time to drop the lump of coal in the president’s Christmas stocking (via The Hill):

Several House Democrats introduced articles of impeachment targeting President Trump on Wednesday, asserting that Trump has violated the Constitution. Democratic Reps. Steve Cohen (Tenn.), Luis Gutiérrez (Ill.), Al Green (Texas), Adriano Espaillat (N.Y.), Marcia Fudge (Ohio) and John Yarmuth (Ky.) said the five articles of impeachment come out of concern for the country's national security. "We believe that President Trump has violated the Constitution, and we've introduced five articles of impeachment," Cohen said at a press conference.

House lawmakers will take their first vote on whether to impeach President Trump this week if a Texas Democrat follows through on plans he announced to colleagues Tuesday. Rep. Al Green (D-Tex.) said in a memo to fellow lawmakers that he planned to bring articles of impeachment to the House floor Wednesday as a “privileged resolution,” one that would be entitled to a vote within two days under House rules. Green has discussed impeaching Trump since the spring and previously filed impeachment articles in October, nearly forcing a vote at that time before House Democratic leaders persuaded him to temporarily...

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly rejected an attempt to impeach President Trump after a liberal Texas congressman forced a vote on his effort. Democratic Rep. Al Green, who has repeatedly called for the president's removal, introduced two articles of impeachment against Trump on Wednesday. But lawmakers immediately voted to effectively kill his resolution, with 364 voting to table it and 58 Democrats voting to move ahead. In a dramatic speech on the floor ahead of the vote, Green called Trump “unfit” for office and accused him of "high misdemeanors." The symbolic vote had been expected to fail in the Republican-controlled...

Two House Democrats are launching a long shot bid to impeach President Donald Trump, a step that illustrates the deep political divide engulfing Washington and much of the country. The effort by Reps. Al Green of Texas and Brad Sherman of California has little chance of success in the Republican-led House. They don’t even have the backing of many fellow Democrats. Nevertheless, the lawmakers said Wednesday they are drafting articles of impeachment. They say Trump obstructed justice when he fired FBI Director James Comey, who was investigating possible Russian ties to the Trump campaign. Federal authorities say they have definitive...

There are really two ways to look at this effort. One is that this attempt to impeach President Trump got slapped down hard today. The other is that there are now 58 Democrats willing to attach their names to this desperate action which their own leadership is officially against, at least for the moment. In either case, Rep. Al Green promised yesterday he would bring this to a vote and today he made good on that promise. The result was a bust. From the Texas Tribune: U.S. Rep. Al Green’s effort to push the U.S. House to vote to impeach...

To many Democrats, ObamaCare is a four-letter word. Most Democrats in competitive elections are seeking to avoid the topic, opting not to tout the controversial law on their campaign websites. In a review of battleground races, The Hill found that out of 50 Democratic candidates with active campaign websites, only 11 mention the healthcare law by name, either as "ObamaCare," "Affordable Care Act," or "ACA." Fourteen more mention the law, but not its name, and half the candidates omit it entirely from their websites. President Obama has trumpeted that more than 8 million people have enrolled in ACA-related plans. Meanwhile,...