U.S. Politics

[Rick Plant]

John Fetterman, Josh Shapiro favored to win Pennsylvania Senate, Governor races: FiveThirtyEight



(WHTM) – Democrats Josh Shapiro and John Fetterman are both now considered favored to win their respective races, according to election analysts FiveThirtyEight’s forecast model.

Both candidates were recently considered to be slightly favored prior to the recent projections.

Shapiro, the commonwealth’s attorney general and Democrat nominee for Governor, is projected to have an 86% chance of beating Republican Doug Mastriano, according to the forecast model.

The model showed Shapiro with a 75% chance to win starting on June 1, but recent polls have significantly increased his projected chance of victory. FiveThirtyEight projects Shapiro to win the November election with 52% of the popular vote over Mastriano.

The most recent poll, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, showed Shapiro with 50% support, a 15% lead over Mastriano.

Fetterman, the commonwealth’s Lieutenant Governor, was given a 73% chance to beat Republican Mehmet Oz in the Senate race. With Fetterman recovering from a stroke, the model showed Oz as the favorite back in June with a 65% chance to win the race.

In mid-June Oz’s chances in the model dropped to 53% and the race flipped a few days later to slightly favor Fetterman.

The model’s projected popular vote has Fetterman with 50.7% to Oz’s projected 46.1% and 3.2% going for a third party candidate.

Public Opinion Strategies‘ poll has Fetterman with an 18 point lead, the largest among the general election polls released this season.

The Deluxe version of the FiveThirtyEight model simulates each election 40,000 times to see who wins most often.

https://www.abc27.com/pennsylvania-senate-race/john-fetterman-josh-shapiro-favored-to-win-pennsylvania-senate-governor-races-fivethirtyeight/

[Rick Plant]

Wisconsin poll: Mandela Barnes leads GOP Sen. Ron Johnson by 7 points

The latest Marquette Law School poll showed Barnes with 51% support among registered voters in the Badger State, while Johnson received 44%.

https://www.businessinsider.com/mandela-barnes-leads-ron-johnson-wisconsin-senate-poll-evers-michels-2022-8

[Rick Plant]

Republicans want to end Medicare and Social Security as we know it. Ron Johnson and other MAGAs are openly talking about it.

Johnson steps on political land mine with Social Security, Medicare comments



Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), a stalwart Senate ally of former President Trump, is facing fresh uncertainty in his race for reelection after telling a podcast last week that Social Security and Medicare should be classified as discretionary spending, with Congress authorized to set their budgets every year.

Johnson is on the defensive as Democrats have political ammo to claim that he wants to cut the two popular entitlement programs, a strategy they used effectively against Republicans in the past.

Johnson has landed in hot water before for making provocative comments on conservative media, most notably when he said he didn’t feel threatened by protesters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, because he believed “those were people who love this country” while adding that he would have been “concerned” if they were Black Lives Matter protesters instead.

Now Johnson is being asked to defend his comments to “The Regular Joe Show” podcast calling for Congress to review and approve the annual budgets of Medicare and Social Security, instead of letting them rise automatically, which they do as mandatory spending programs.

And he says he’s been calling for making Medicare and Social Security discretionary programs subject to an annual budget for years.

“I’ve been saying for as long as I’ve been here that we should transfer everything, put everything on budget so we have to consider it if every year", he said.

Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D) said Johnson has stepped on a political land mine.

“These are the programs that have taken several generations of seniors out of poverty,” she said.

Baldwin noted that Johnson told Breitbart News Daily in an interview earlier this year that he viewed a 12-point plan unveiled by fellow Republican Sen. Rick Scott (Fla.) calling for all federal legislation to sunset after five years as “a positive thing.”

Johnson said he agreed with “most of it.”

"Not only has he made those references,” Baldwin said, referring to “The Regular Joe Show” podcast. “But back when Rick Scott put out his Republican agenda, which sort of abolished both of them and start over, Sen. Johnson had voiced support for that.”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) tried to tie Johnson’s comments to House Republican candidates.

“Putting Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block every year is no way to help working families — it is a way to devastate them. Unfortunately, most House Republicans agree with Sen. Johnson,” Pelosi’s office said on its blog.

Former longtime Fox News anchor Chris Wallace called Johnson’s remarks “suicidal politics.”

Ben Nuckels, a Wisconsin-based Democratic strategist, said Johnson had grabbed the “third rail” of American politics by calling for annual congressional review of Social Security and Medicare spending.

“Ron Johnson never misses an opportunity to stick his foot in his mouth. Johnson opened up this big new line of attack on his radical, extreme positions on Social Security that voters 55 and over are going to be acutely aware of,” he said.

"When you have 60 to 65 percent of the electorate above the age of 50, that’s going to be a big problem for him,” he said. “Johnson grabbed the third rail with both hands on that one.”

A Senate Republican strategist said Johnson’s latest comments on Social Security and Medicare are “not good from a campaign perspective.”

AFP

[Rick Plant]

MAGA Republicans in Florida are training teachers to teach alternative history—infusing public schools with curriculum focused on Christian nationalism.

Teachers are concerned, for good reason.

Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1561484862611243010

[Rick Plant]

Mayors In Red States Say GOP Legislatures Block Efforts To Curb Gun Violence

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego joins MSNBC’s Alicia Menendez to discuss the roadblocks faced by mayors in Republican-led states to stem gun violence, the responsibility to protect those worried about rising gun deaths, and breaks down the progress of her initiative Operation Gun Crime Crackdown. 

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Dr. Oz should be worried – voters punish ‘carpetbaggers,’ and new research shows why[/]



https://www.rawstory.com/dr-oz-should-be-worried-voters-punish-carpetbaggers-and-new-research-shows-why/

[Rick Plant]

President Biden DELIVERED again! 30 Million Americans will benefit from lowering the cost of hearing aids. This is LONG overdue. Such wonderful news.