2022 U.S. Congressional (and Other) Elections

[N.E. Brigand]

Matt Schlapp.

Matt Schlapp.

Matt Schlapp.

[narya]

Is the proper response a Matt slap?

[N.E. Brigand]

Suppressing the Vote and Bragging About It: "A member of Wisconsin's 'election integrity' panel wrote an email saying Republicans 'can be especially proud' of Milwaukee 'casting 37,000 less votes' in 2022 than in 2018, 'with the major reduction' in 'Black and Hispanic areas.'"

Fewer.

[N.E. Brigand]

In December, someone fired multiple rounds at the homes of at least four elected officials, all Democrats, in and near Albuquerque, New Mexico. In one case, three bullets passed through a bedroom where the ten-year daughter of one of these officials slept.

Albuquerque police have arrested a suspect: Richard Pena, a Trump-supporting Republican ("MAGA nation 4ever!") who ran for and lost a race (76%-24%) for state legislature this past fall. A week after the election, on Nov. 15, Pena tweeted that he wasn't conceding what he called a "rigged" race and would pursue other "options." I guess we now know what he meant. This is not Pena's first run-in with the law. He had served five years in prison after being convicted in 2008 of "leading a burglary ring targeting dozens of Albuquerque businesses," but he claimed to have "turned his life around" in the years since, and a judge even ruled in September against a challenge attempting to remove Pena's name from the ballot for that reason. I'm sure the judge made the lawful decision, but I wonder if the judge now feels like a sap anyway.

Specifically, Pena is now "accused of conspiring with, and paying four other men to shoot at the homes of two county commissioners and two state legislators." Interestingly, less than a week ago, Pena tweeted that state legislators should block a modest gun control bill. Is that why Republicans hate gun control legislation: because such laws make it harder for them to kill Democrats?

[Frelga]

Amy Klobuchar:

“George Santos has business ties with Russian oligarch's cousin, Stormy Daniels hush-money deal fixer” (Fox News headline)

Ah…and this is in the end where the trail of lies lead us….

Here's WaPo.
New details link George Santos to cousin of sanctioned Russian oligarch

Update: Santo may get a seat on the Science, Space and Technology committee

[N.E. Brigand]

Matt Schlapp.

Matt Schlapp.

Matt Schlapp.

Don't make me tap the sign.

[N.E. Brigand]

Amy Klobuchar:

“George Santos has business ties with Russian oligarch's cousin, Stormy Daniels hush-money deal fixer” (Fox News headline)

Ah…and this is in the end where the trail of lies lead us….

Here's WaPo.
New details link George Santos to cousin of sanctioned Russian oligarch

Update: Santos may get a seat on the Science, Space and Technology committee

These Santos stories grow ever wilder. I kind of hope this one turns out not to be true:

"Disabled Veteran: George Santos Took $3K From Dying Dog's GoFundMe."

This was in 2016. The article says that for lack of funds, the dog was unable to get the necessary surgery and died.

[Frelga]

My disbelief filter broke in 2016. These 83% of the time when I see some political "news" and think that it can't possibly be real, it is.

[N.E. Brigand]

Santos's campaign biography said that his mother was working in the World Trade Center on 9/11 but survived the attack, only to die of other causes "a few years later." Several people have pointed out that she died in 2016, i.e., fifteen years later. Has anyone confirmed whether she was actually at the WTC that day?

Uh, in July 2021, Santos tweeted, "9/11 claimed my mother's life." Then five months later he tweeted, "December 23rd this year marks 5 years" since her death. At this point, can we even be certain she's actually dead?

While it does appear that George Santos's mother really died in 2016, my bolded question above has been answered. Per a new article in the Forward, not only was she not in the World Trade Center on 9/11, she wan't even in New York on that day.

This is based on her having indicated on a form submitted to the U.S. consulate in Rio in 2003 that she hadn't been in the U.S. since 1999, so I suppose it's possible that she had been at the World Trade Center but was lying on this form about her immigration status.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Like mother like son?

[N.E. Brigand]

Something not scandalous about George Santos: his stage name in Brazilian drag shows reportedly was "Kitara." Blurry photo at link.

Or I guess it wouldn't be scandalous for someone who doesn't hold Santos's political views.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

My disbelief filter broke in 2016. These 83% of the time when I see some political "news" and think that it can't possibly be real, it is.

I appreciate Josh Marshall's take on the story about Santos stealing money meant to save a sick dog: "I'm not doubting [the article] ... But I'm wondering: how many awful deeds can one man do in a single life. And he's only 34! It's like Santos had been stocking mean, gross, awful, criminal things so there'd just be a shitload to find when he finally got to Congress. WHAT IS GOING ON???? ... He's like the Einstein of con men, achieving greatness at such a young age."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
As I was typing that, more Santos news, this time in the Independent:

"George Santos used different last name on GoFundMe scam to get more money from Jewish donors, former friend claims."

[Frelga]

New York Post

Rep. George Santos allegedly drag queen named ‘Kitara’ in Brazil

Sure. Why not.

Video shows drag-denier George Santos dressed in drag, boasting about drag shows

[N.E. Brigand]

New York Post

Rep. George Santos allegedly drag queen named ‘Kitara’ in Brazil

Sure. Why not.

Video shows drag-denier George Santos dressed in drag, boasting about drag shows

After denying that he had ever performed in drag, Rep. George Santos today admitted that he had done so but only because he was "young and had fun at a festival." As I said before, there's nothing scandalous about Santos having performed in drag, but the hypocrisy and lies about it are a problem.

[Frelga]

As I said before, there's nothing scandalous about Santos having performed in drag, but the hypocrisy and lies about it are a problem.

Yes, exactly.

[N.E. Brigand]

In campaign expenditure filings, George Santos had previously reported to the Federal Election Commission that he personally loaned his campaign hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many people want to know how he got rich enough to do that.

Today Santos submitted a new FEC filing in which he says he didn't loan his campaign that money after all.

- - - - - - - - - -
Edited to add: In other Santos news, yesterday we learned that last month in an interview in Brazil, Santos claimed that someone had tried to assassinate him in New York. At this time, there is no independent evidence of that.

[RoseMorninStar]

I wonder what Santos' constituents think. I'd be livid.

[N.E. Brigand]

Matt Schlapp.

Matt Schlapp.

Don't make me tap the sign.

Say the line!

[N.E. Brigand]

Matt Schlapp.

Don't make me tap the sign.

Say the line!

I'd never heard of Caroline Wren prior to reading some of her January 6th testimony a few weeks ago, in which she comes across as a fairly normal Republican who didn't understand how the day's events got so out of hand, but now I've seen her name in other recent stories that call that view into question. At a Republican National Committee event last week, Wren advocated for Harmeet Dhillon to be elected RNC Chair, saying that if elected chair, "the first thing [Dhillon would] do is bring Mike Lindell in to find out what’s going on with these machines." Wren also likened the incumbent RNC CHair, Ronna (Romney) McDaniel, to Democratic Arizona governor Katie Hobbs. So Wren is more extremist than I realized, as further shown by something else I didn't know: she ran the failed campaign of Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.

As it worked out, Ronna McDaniel for once had counted votes correctly: she had said weeks earlier that she would easily, and she did: she got 111 of the 167 votes cast. (A lot of Trump supporters are not happy about that.) So Wren lost two elections in the space of less than three months.

And today there's more news about Wren. She's being sued for defamation for comments she made about the man who has alleged that he was groped by ...

Matt Schlapp.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I moved the recent George Santos posts from this thread to the Chaos in the House thread so that they would all be in the same place.

[N.E. Brigand]

Meanwhile in Pennsylvania, where Republicans had controlled the state's legislative house:

1) Democrats win 102-101 majority in the House
2) A Democrat in a safe seat dies
3) Two other Democrats in safe seats were elected to Lieutentant Governor and U.S. Congress, respectively, and resign
4) Democrats set special elections
5) Republicans challenge that move because Democrats won't have a majority in January
6) A Republican is running to be Speaker of a 101-99 Republican-controlled House

I believe she'd only be the speaker for two to six months: Democrats want the special elections set for February; Republicans want them set for May.

Yesterday Democrats won all three Pennsylvania special elections as expected:

32nd District: Democrat Joe McAndrew defeated Republican Clay Walker. The seat was left vacant after the death in October of Anthony DeLuca, a Democrat who had been in office nearly four decades.

34th District: Democrat Abigail Salisbury defeated Republican Robert Pagane. The previous seat holder, Democrat Summer Lee, resigned after she won election to Congress in November.

35th District: Democrat Matthew Gergely defeated Republican Don Nevills. Democrat Austin Davis resigned after he was elected lieutenant governor in November.

All three districts encompass suburbs of Pittsburgh and other areas of Allegheny County, in the southwestern part of the state. President Joe Biden carried all three districts in the 2020 election by at least 16 percentage points.

I believe U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, mentioned above, is on the House committee whose hearing about Twitter aired today.