Elections in 4 states Tuesday will offer test runs for 2020

Gubernatorial and legislative elections in four states Tuesday will test voter enthusiasm and party organization amid impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump and a fevered Democratic presidential primary scramble.

Results in Kentucky, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia won’t necessarily predict whether Trump will be reelected or which party will control Congress after the general election next fall. But partisans of all stripes invariably will use these odd-year elections for clues about how voters are reacting to the impeachment saga and whether the president is losing ground among suburban voters who rewarded Democrats in the 2018 midterms and will prove critical again next November.

Trump is eager to nationalize whatever happens, campaigning Monday evening in Kentucky for embattled Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, a first-term Trump ally, as he tries to withstand Democrat Andy Beshear, the attorney general whose father was the state’s last Democratic governor. The president campaigned in Mississippi on Friday, trying to boost Republican Tate Reeves in a tight governor’s race against Democrat Jim Hood. Reeves is lieutenant governor; Hood is attorney general.

Legislative seats are on the ballots in New Jersey and Virginia, with the latter presidential battleground state offering perhaps the best 2020 bellwether. Democrats had a big 2017 in the state, sweeping statewide offices by wide margins and gaining seats in the legislature largely on the strength of a strong suburban vote that previewed how Democrats would go on to flip the U.S. House a year later. This time, Virginia Democrats are looking to add to their momentum by flipping enough Republican seats to gain trifecta control of the statehouse: meaning the governor’s office and both legislative chambers.

In New Jersey, Democrats are looking to maintain their legislative supermajorities and ward off any concerns that Trump and Republicans could widen their reach into Democratic-controlled areas.

Both parties see reasons for confidence.

“With a Democratic Party engaged in a race to the left and promoting an increasingly radical impeachment agenda, the choice for voters is extremely clear,” said Amelia Chase of the Republican Governors Association, predicting victories for Kentucky’s Bevin and Mississippi’s Reeves.

Yet Democrats point to their expanded party infrastructure in states like Virginia and believe it positions them to capitalize on the GOP’s embrace of a president with job approval ratings below 40%.

“Republicans are sweating elections in traditionally conservative areas,” said Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez. “Democrats are making historic, early investments to lay the groundwork for our eventual nominee to win the White House in 2020 and for Democrats to win at every level.”

Indeed, Kentucky and Mississippi are expected to be closer than the states’ usual partisan leanings would suggest, though that has as much to do with local dynamics as with any national trends.

Bevin’s first term as Kentucky governor has been marked by pitched battles against state lawmakers — including Republicans — and teachers. Beshear, meanwhile, is well known as state attorney general and the son of Steve Beshear, who won two terms as governor even as the state trended more solidly Republican in federal elections.

Given Bevin’s weakness, Trump would claim a big victory if the governor manages a second term. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who easily defeated Bevin in a 2014 Senate primary, also has a vested interest in the outcome. McConnell is favored to win reelection next year in Kentucky, even as national Democrats harbor hopes of defeating him. And the powerful senator would quell some of those hopes with a Bevin victory.

As with the 2018 midterms nationally, Beshear is looking for wide margins in cities and an improved Democratic performance in the suburbs, particularly in formerly GOP territory south of Cincinnati.

In Mississippi, Republicans have controlled the governor’s office for two decades. But Phil Bryant is term-limited, leaving two other statewide officials to battle for a promotion. Reeves and Republicans have sought to capitalize on the state’s GOP leanings with the Democrat Hood acknowledging that he voted for Hillary Clinton over Trump in 2016. Hood would need a high turnout of the state’s African American voters and a better-than-usual share of the white vote to pull off the upset.

Virginia is where national Democrats are putting much of their attention.

For this cycle, the DNC has steered $200,000 to the state party for its statewide coordinated campaign effort that now has 108 field organizers and 16 other field staffers in what the party describes as its largest-ever legislative campaign effort. At the DNC, Perez and his aides bill it as a preview of what they’re trying to build to combat the fundraising and organizing juggernaut that the Republican National Committee and Trump’s reelection campaign are building in battleground states.

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AP National Political Writer Steve Peoples in New York contributed to this report.

Ilhan Omar 2019 Cartoons

Trump wants Republicans to release their own accounts from impeachment probe

President Trump on Sunday urged Republicans privy to last week's House Intelligence Committee hearings to come forward with their own transcripts from the closed-door meetings that Democrats claim bolstered their claim for impeachment.
Trump also appeared to suggest that he has information that a recent witness, Lt. Col.  Alexander Vindman, is a “Never-Trumper.” He was asked about any evidence he may have about Vindman and he responded,  “We’ll be showing that to you real soon.”
The president is under an impeachment investigation over allegedly withholding millions in defense funding from Ukraine in order for Kiev to investigate the Bidens’ business relationships in the country.
"If Shifty Adam Schiff, who is a corrupt politician who fraudulently made up what I said on the “call,” is allowed to release transcripts of the Never Trumpers & others that are & were interviewed, he will change the words that were said to suit the Dems purposes: Republicans should give their own transcripts of the interviews to contrast with Schiff’s manipulated propaganda," he tweeted.
Trump's tweet alluded to the July 25 phone call with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky that the whistleblower referred to as “frightening.” Trump also attacked Schiff over his inaccurate, exaggerated version of a transcript of the call. Trump has said in the past that Schiff may have had a "mental breakdown" and may have committed a crime. Schiff himself later apologetically acknowledged it was a "parody."
Trump has suggested that the impeachment investigation is simply another attempt by Democrats to damage his presidency after the Mueller report fell short.
Democrats point to recent closed-door testimony as evidence of unscrupulous dealings between the Trump administration and Ukraine.
Vindman, in prepared remarks, wrote: “I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the U.S. government’s support of Ukraine.”
He added, “Following the call, I... reported my concerns to NSC’s lead counsel,” a reference to top NSC lawyer John A. Eisenberg.
Both Trump and Zelensky deny any wrongdoing.
Vindman testified in a closed-door hearing about his concerns about the president’s phone call and a prior meeting with Ambassador Gordon Sondland about investigating Joe Biden and his son.
Gen. Joe Dunford, the recently retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave a full-throated endorsement of Vindman citing his honesty, patriotism and integrity. “He’s just a guy doing his job,” Dunford told Fox News.
He went on to say that Vindman was “professional, competent, patriotic and a loyal officer. He’s made an extraordinary contribution in peacetime and in combat.”
Fox News' Gregg Re and Adam Shaw contributed to this report

Ilhan Omar, at Bernie Sanders rally, calls for 'mass movement of the working class' amid 'Lock him up' chants

Amid repeated chants of "Lock him up!" and "Green New Deal," Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., issued a full-throated endorsement of Bernie Sanders at a spirited rally in Minneapolis' Williams Arena on Sunday night, saying a "mass movement of the working class" is needed to take down President Trump and end "Western imperialism," as she put it.
"I am excited for President Bernie Sanders!" Omar thundered at the conclusion of her remarks, as rock music blared throughout the University of Minnesota venue.
At no point did either Omar or Sanders attempt to stop attendees from shouting "Lock him up" whenever Trump was invoked. Last year, CNBC's John Harwood had predicted that "any serious Democratic candidate will make a point of shutting down" such chants directed at the president.
Omar's endorsement was a break from the rest of the state’s delegation of Democrats, which endorsed Sen. Amy Klobuchar's more moderate campaign. It also constituted a youthful shot in the arm for Sanders' left-wing presidential bid, which has remained competitive with Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren's campaigns.
"Here in Minnesota, we don't just welcome refugees -- we sent them to Congress," Omar said to applause. "Right now, achieving that universal dream feels more out of reach than it ever has in my lifetime."
Then, pointedly refusing to mention President Trump's name, Omar continued: "The current occupant of the White House likes to talk about making America great. But, every action, and virtually every word out of his mouth, is an attack on the very values and ideals that make this country a beacon of hope for me and the people around the world."
Later on, still without mentioning the president's name, Omar incorrectly claimed that Trump called neo-Nazis "very fine people" -- a suggestion that White House officials repeatedly stressed was taken out of context. And, in a nod to the "send her back" chant that erupted at a Trump rally earlier this year, Omar remarked, "None of us are going back. We're here to stay."
Even as she accused Trump of "coddling" white supremacy, Omar insisted that Sanders' proposals -- such as free college and government-sponsored health care for everyone, including illegal immigrants -- were not "radical."
"These are values that have been enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for decades," Omar claimed, referring to the United Nations document. "But, here is the cold truth: We can't achieve any of these goals if we don't build a movement that is representative of all of our aspirations, all of our pain, and all of our shared trauma."
Omar also appeared to defend her decision to vote "present" on a congressional resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide, saying it was an effort to combat using genocides selectively as a "political" football.
And Omar, who has been criticized by members of her own party for her past anti-Semitic statements, emphasized Sanders' Jewish faith in announcing her support.
"I am proud to stand with the son of a Jewish refugee who survived genocide," Omar said, referring to Sanders. "The acknowledgment of pain and suffering is personal for both of us. The fight for human rights is undeniable. And when we recognize injustices of the past and present, whether it is genocide against Jewish people, Armenians or Rwandans or Bosnians or Native Americans or more."
Sanders has been endorsed by other members of the so-called progressive "squad" of Democrats, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib. (The only member of the "squad" not to endorse Sanders is Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley.)

"I am proud to stand with the son of a Jewish refugee who survived genocide."
— Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar

Days before the endorsements were announced, the longtime Vermont senator suffered a heart attack on Oct. 1, prompting fears that his health issues could derail his presidential ambitions.
Sanders was introduced at the arena by a spirited University of Minnesota college student who complained that fellow students "are being put" into debt. The student acknowledged that he personally was not in much debt, but very much felt the pain of those who were.
Taking the microphone, Sanders praised Omar as an "extraordinary woman who 30 years ago was in a refugee camp in Kenya."
"Thank you, Ilhan Omar," Sanders said, his voice cracking.
Then, he unloaded a series of superlatives, punctuated by audible boos. "It gives me no pleasure to tell all of you what you already know: that today, tragically, we have a president of the United States who is a pathological liar -- who is running the most corrupt administration in history, who has obstructed justice, who has used his office for personal gain, who has threatened to withhold national security funds from an ally in order to improve his political chances."
Before calling Trump a racist, sexist, bigoted homophobe, Sanders remarked, "This is a president who deserves to be impeached, and will be impeached."
As the crowd erupted in a "Lock him up" chant -- in a reference to the "Lock her up" chants at Trump rallies, typically directed at Hillary Clinton -- Sanders stood by the microphone and didn't try to interrupt.
But, minutes later, Sanders appeared to call for an end to divisiveness while reading from his prepared remarks.
"We are going to do exactly the opposite of what Trump is doing," he said. "He is trying to divide us up. We are going to bring our people together... around an agenda that works for all of us, not just the one percent."
"People say that Ilhan and I make an odd political couple. But in fact, there is really nothing odd about it at all," Sanders continued. "Ilhan and I share a common link as the descendants of families who fled violence and poverty, and who came to this country as immigrants. But that is not just my story, or Ilhan's story -- that is the story of America."
He also said he and Omar both were working to eliminate "all student debt in America," and make all public colleges "tuition-free."
Fox News' Andrew Craft contributed to this report.

Castro lays into Buttigieg on ‘bad track record’ with African Americans

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Julián Castro, the former Obama administration official running for president, told reporters on Saturday that the idea the Democratic primary is now a two-person race is premature.
Castro, the former San Antonio mayor who served as President Obama’s Housing and Urban Development secretary, attended the Warren County Democratic Party’s fall dinner and pointed out what he sees as clear liabilities with Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s campaign, The Hill reported Sunday.
“Anyone who thinks this is a two-person race doesn’t know anything about the Black and Latino communities,” he said. Castro reportedly told a gaggle of reporters that the South Bend, Ind., mayor has a "bad track record with African Americans on the issues."
Buttigieg, in an interview with CNN, called Castro’s claim false. He even offered to walk Castro around his city to see the progress there.
Castro's reaction was in response to an interview where Buttigieg told journalist John Heilemann that he believed the primary is winnowing down to two people.
"It's early to say, I'm not saying that it is a two-way. A world where we're getting somewhere is where it's coming down to the two of us," he said.
Buttigieg was envisioning his survival along with Sen. Elizabeth Warren's. He has since walked back the comment.
Buttigieg’s appeal to African-Americans has been a topic of conversation throughout the campaign. Buttigieg said in May that he was continuing outreach to the voters.
Buttigieg also has offered a broad policy agenda for African Americans and has been outspoken on the issue of race. He has also met in New York with the Rev. Al Sharpton and said Sharpton encouraged him "to engage with people who may not find their way to me, who I need to go out and find my way in front of."
Buttigieg told CNN, "Look, our city has had a lot of challenges, but the black voters that know me best have returned me to office and supported me more the second time than the first."
An after-hours email from Fox News to Buttigieg's campaign was not immediately returned.

Rep. Jordan rejects whistleblower's offer to provide written answers to GOP questions

Responding to a torrent of complaints from Republicans that the impeachment inquiry against President Trump is secretive and one-sided, a lawyer for the anonymous whistleblower who raised alarms about the presidents' dealings with Ukraine said Sunday his client is willing to answer written questions submitted by House Republicans.
But, late Sunday, House Oversight Committee ranking member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, seemingly rejected the offer from whistleblower attorney Mark Zaid, saying "written answers will not provide a sufficient opportunity to probe all the relevant facts and cross examine the so-called whistleblower."
"You don't get to ignite an impeachment effort and never account for your actions and role in orchestrating it," Jordan said.
Zaid responded by calling Jordan's response a "deliberate deflection."
The whistleblower attorney's surprise offer, made to Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, would allow Republicans to ask questions of the whistleblower, who spurred the impeachment inquiry, without having to go through the committee's chairman, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
"Obviously, per House rules GOP is beholden to DEMs," Zaid tweeted. "We, however, are not."
Zaid, a longtime Trump critic, tweeted that the whistleblower would answer questions directly from Republican members "in writing, under oath & penalty of perjury," part of a bid to stem escalating efforts by Trump and his GOP allies to unmask the person's identity.
Queries seeking "identifying info" about the whistleblower won't be answered, he said.

"Obviously, per House rules GOP is beholden to DEMs. We, however, are not."
— Whistleblower attorney Mark Zaid

"We will ensure timely answers," Zaid wrote. "We stand ready to cooperate and ensure facts - rather than partisanship - dictates any process involving the #whistleblower."
Zaid, when asked by Fox News if Nunes' team had reached out, said there was "no substantive response."
Nunes' office did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment, and it was not clear if Jordan was speaking for Nunes.
This past September, Schiff, who long pushed unsubstantiated claims that the Trump team had conspired illegally with Russians, promised testimony from the whistleblower "very soon." But, in recent weeks, he's shifted course and suggested the testimony was unnecessary. In the meantime, it emerged that Schiff's panel spoke with the whistleblower before the whistleblower complaint was filed, contrary to Schiff's previous claims.
Trump repeatedly has demanded the release of the whistleblower's identity, tweeting Sunday that the person "must come forward." The whistleblower raised concerns about Trump's July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which he suggested Zelensky review Joe and Hunter Biden's dealings there. The younger Biden routinely secured lucrative roles both domestically and abroad, with little relevant expertise, while his father was a powerful senator and, later, vice president.
The whistleblower's secondhand account of the call has been providing a road map for House Democrats investigating whether the president and others in his orbit pressured Ukraine to probe political opponents, including former Vice President Joe Biden.
"Reveal the Whistleblower and end the Impeachment Hoax!" Trump tweeted.
Trump later Sunday pushed the news media to divulge the whistleblower's identity, asserting that the person's accounting of events was incorrect. The whistleblower's complaint has been corroborated in part by people with firsthand knowledge of the events who have appeared on Capitol Hill -- but key inconsistencies also have emerged.
For example, the complaint stated that Trump made a "specific request that the Ukrainian leader locate and turn over servers used by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and examined by the U.S. cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike" -- a request that did not appear in the declassified transcript of the call released by the Trump administration.
"They know who it is. You know who it is. You just don't want to report it," Trump told reporters at the White House. "You know you'd be doing the public a service if you did."
U.S. whistleblower laws have existed to protect the identity and careers of people bringing forward accusations of criminal wrongdoing by government officials, but many Republicans have argued -- citing career Justice Department officials -- that nothing criminal occurred during Trump's call.
Republicans are said to have eyed a political opportunity in unmasking the CIA official, who the intelligence community's inspector general said could have "arguable political bias."
Zaid acknowledged in a statement last month that his client "has come into contact with presidential candidates from both parties" -- but insisted that the contact involved the politicians' roles as "elected officials – not as candidates."
And, Fox News reported in October that the whistleblower told the Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG) that bias against the president might be alleged against him or her for a third, previously unreported reason. Fox News previously reported the whistleblower was a registered Democrat and had a prior work history with a senior Democrat, but the third potential indicator of bias remained unclear.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Sunday he had not yet discussed the whistleblower's offer with Nunes, but stressed that the person should answer questions in a public appearance before the committee.
"When you're talking about the removal of the president of the United States, undoing democracy, undoing what the American public had voted for, I think that individual should come before the committee," McCarthy told CBS News' "Face the Nation."
"We need an openness that people understand this," he added.
Zaid said his team had addressed the issue of alleged bias with Republican members of the committee and had stressed the need for anonymity to maintain the safety of the whistleblower and that person's family, "but with little effect in halting the attacks."
"Let me be absolutely clear: Our willingness to cooperate has not changed," tweeted Andrew P. Bakaj, another attorney representing the whistleblower. "What we object to and find offensive, however, is the effort to uncover the identity of the whistleblower."
Bakaj wrote Saturday that "their fixation on exposing the whistleblower's identity is simply because they're at a loss as to how to address the investigations the underlying disclosure prompted."
Fox News' Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Democratic Party Fall to Pieces Cartoons

Trump cheered at UFC match in New York City

When President Trump arrived Saturday night at an Ultimate Fighting Championship match in New York City, the crowd reaction was a bit more hospitable than the one he received at World Series Game 5 last Sunday in Washington.
Tara LaRosa, a mixed martial arts fighter from New Jersey, tweeted video of a section of the Madison Square Garden crowd where the response seemed mostly favorably for the president.
USA Today reported the president received "a mixed reaction" from the Garden crowd, and Newsday of Long Island's Mark La Monica tweeted the reception was "nothing like at Nats game."
Nevertheless, many users on Twitter were promoting a "Trump was booed" narrative, which Donald Trump Jr. disputed.
"Despite the bulls--- from blue checkmark Twitter," Trump Jr. wrote, "when we walked into the arena it was overwhelmingly positive. @danawhite said it was the most electrifying entrance he seen [sic] in 25 years of doing this." He was refering to Dana White, the UFC president.

"Despite the bulls--- from blue checkmark Twitter, when we walked into the arena it was overwhelmingly positive."
— Donald Trump Jr.

President Donald Trump and UFC president Dana White arrive at Madison Square Garden to attend the UFC 244 mixed martial arts fights, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019, in New York. (Associated Press)

President Trump was in midtown Manhattan for UFC 244, with the main event featuring two American mixed-martial arts fighters, No. 3-ranked Jorge Masvidal, with a record of 34-13, against No. 7-ranked Nate Diaz, at 21-11.
The match ended abruptly in favor of Masvidal on a technical knockout after the third round, when a doctor called it off over a gash that opened over Diaz's right eye.
Trump is a longtime fan of MMA and received support from White at the 2016 Republican National Convention.
"State athletic commissions didn't support us, arenas around the world refused to host our events," White said at the time. "Nobody took us seriously. Nobody ... except Donald Trump. Donald was the first guy that recognized the potential that we saw in the UFC and encouraged us to build our business."

"Nobody took us seriously. Nobody ... except Donald Trump."
— Dana White, president, UFC

President Trump -- accompanied by U.S. Reps. Mark Meadows and Kevin McCarthy, and sons Eric Trump and Donald trump Jr. -- ​waves at Madison Square Garden while attending the UFC 244 mixed martial arts fights, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019, in New York. (Associated Press)

Trump’s return to New York came during the same week he revealed he was changing his primary residency to Florida, claiming he’s received poor treatment from New York’s politicians and has tired of paying “millions of dollars” in taxes to the city and state.

President Donald Trump watches Derrick Lewis fight Blagoy Ivanov, right, at UFC 244 at Madison Square Garden, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019, in New York. (Associated Press)

Outside the Garden, protesters carried signs with messages including, "Headlock Him Up!," and “Trump/Pence out now!”
Last Sunday in Washington, the boos were clearly louder than cheers for the president at Nationals Park for Game 5 between the visiting Houston Astros and hometown Washington Nationals.
But after the Nationals won the World Series in Houston three nights later, Trump tweeted a message of congratulations to the champs, suggesting he harbored no hard feelings after the harsh welcome.
It was unclear if President Trump planned to attend Sunday morning's running of the New York City Marathon.
Fox News' Sam Dorman contributed to this story.