Sen. Rick Scott: I voted for Trump because the 2020 election is about my family and yours

Forget everything you’ve heard from the media about this election. Forget the hundreds of millions of dollars worth of TV ads. Forget what the candidates have said and forget what the pundits have predicted.

Think about your family.

I was governor of Florida for eight years. I spent every day thinking about what I could do to improve the lives of every family in my state.

I grew up poor. We lived in public housing when I was a kid. I remember when my dad’s car got repossessed. I remember my mom traveling four hours to get to a hospital to help treat my brother’s medical condition.

I thought about families like mine growing up and focused on getting results for them.

We supported our law enforcement and reached a 47-year low in our crime rate. We created nearly 1.7 million jobs over eight years.

We cut taxes nearly 100 times, putting more than $10 billion back in the pockets of hard-working Floridians.

We paid down one-third of state debt to reduce the burden on future generations. And our pro-growth policies allowed us to invest record funding in education, environmental protection and transportation.

Now think about the choice you have on Tuesday – a choice that will decide the future of our country.

Donald Trump supports our law enforcement and has made great progress to secure the border. He believes in the rule of law.

Donald Trump believes in capitalism which creates opportunity for every American to live their dream.

He believes in free-market solutions to address health care needs. More choice and more competition, not more government, is the solution to bring down health care costs in this country.

He supports our military and understands that creating and maintaining the most lethal fighting force in the history of the world is the best way to prevent the forever wars that have taken the lives of far too many Americans and burdened future generations with unnecessary debt.

Donald Trump stands up to dictators in Iran, Venezuela, Cuba and China, using his platform and his pulpit to make clear that there will be no safe harbor for those who kill and deny human rights to their own people, support terrorism, and foment hatred of the United States.

He believes in the greatness of America – a country that, while flawed, is the greatest country in the history of the world. A country that has created more opportunity for more people than any other place on earth.

Now think about former Vice President Joe Biden. He’s a nice enough guy, but after 47 years in politics, with few accomplishments to his name, why should we trust him to handle the challenges our country faces?

Whether or not he’s aware of it, he’s a vessel for the radical policies of the new Socialist Democrat Party.

They want to defund the police, making every family in this country less safe.

They want "Medicare-for-all," a massive government takeover of our country’s health care system that would eliminate the employer-sponsored health care of more than 150 million Americans.

They want the Green New Deal, a $93 trillion program that would end fossil fuels and destroy our economy.

They want to allow late term abortions and want taxpayers to pay for it.  They want open borders and free health care for illegal immigrants.

They want to pack the Supreme Court – some have even floated packing the District Courts – so they can chip away at our 2nd Amendment rights and our religious freedoms.

To me, this choice is simple.

For the sake of my children and grandchildren and yours, I voted for freedom and opportunity, for a strong military and a secure border, for supporting law enforcement and for the greatness of America. I voted for Donald Trump.

I hope you do, too.

 

Early voters cast record 92M ballots as Election Day nears

More than 92 million voters had already cast their ballots by Saturday, with just days three remaining before Election Day, according to reports.

The historic early-vote number was nearly 67% of the total votes cast in the 2016 presidential election, which totaled around 139 million, according to the nonpartisan U.S. Elections Project.  

More voters have submitted their ballots by mail or participated in early in-person voting this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Several states have amended laws to allow for expanded mail-in voting.

Around 58 million Americans have voted using mail-in ballots and another 33 million voters cast their ballots early in-person.

Texas voters have already surpassed their total number of votes from 2016, with 9.6 million ballots cast. In 2016, around 8.9 million people voted statewide. Most polls in the Lone Star State show President Trump leading a tight race against Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

In the 20 states that report party registration data, Democrats have an edge over Republicans in the early vote (20 million to 13 million), but polls show most Republicans plan to vote on Election Day.

Voters with no party affiliation make up 23% of the vote in those 20 states -- Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Maine, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania and South Dakota -- according to the Elections Project.

Nearly 28% of the early vote was cast by those who didn’t vote four years ago, and Black and voters under 30 have turned out in large numbers, according to The Washington Post.

The country is now on pace for the highest voter turnout in 100 years, the Post reported.

Still, experts are cautioning against determining who’s winning based on early-vote totals.

“Democrats are already expanding their electorate,” said Tom Bonier of the Democratic data firm TargetSmart. “That would certainly appear to be favorable for Biden — to be taken with the caveat we’ve heard a million times before, that we don’t know how many other voters will come out on Election Day.”

Hillary Clinton also had an early-vote edge in 2016 that Trump surpassed on Election Day.

Nick Trainer, the Trump campaign’s director of battleground strategy, posited Republicans “will bring our own new voters into the electorate ourselves, and it will all come out in the washing machine.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

Federal judge orders USPS to take 'extraordinary measures' to deliver mail-in ballots on time

A federal judge in Washington state on Friday ordered the U.S. Postal Service to take “extraordinary measures” to deliver mail-in ballots in Wisconsin and Michigan in time for Election Day.

Court rulings in both states say that mail-in ballots received after Election Day won’t be counted regardless of the postmark date. Other states allow ballots to be counted as long as they’re mailed on time.

Chief U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian in Yakima, Wash., ruled that starting Sunday through Nov. 10, the Postal Service must report to his court the prior day’s “all clear” status for each facility and processing center in the Detroit area and a district covering most of Wisconsin.

If any ballots are found during an “all clear” sweep, every effort must be made to get the ballot delivered by Election Day, including First Class and Priority Mail or any other “extraordinary measures” necessary.

Priority Mail Express is an overnight service that costs a minimum of $26.35 per envelope, according to the USPS.com website.

Delivery of ballots in the Postal Service's Detroit district, for example, has dipped as low as 57% over the past week while national on-time delivery is 93% or higher, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson's office said Saturday.

Both Michigan and Wisconsin are crucial battleground states for President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden. The president narrowly won both historically Democratic states in 2016.

Washington was among 14 states that brought an August lawsuit over changes that U.S. Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, a Trump donor, made when he took over last May. The other states bringing the suit are Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Earlier this month, the Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General reported that changes DeJoy made have “negatively impacted the quality and timeliness of mail delivery nationally,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

Following the ruling, Postal Service spokesman Dave Partenheimer said, “We take our legal obligations very seriously and (are) complying with all court orders. The Postal Service continues to implement extraordinary measures across the country to advance and expedite the delivery of the nation’s ballots."

He noted as of Friday, Postal Service employees were authorized to use the Express Mail network to fast-track completed ballots.

He added USPS will do extra pick-ups, extra deliveries, and collect mail on Sunday ahead of the election.

The lawsuit had challenged the Postal Service's so-called “leave behind” policy, in which trucks have been leaving postal facilities on time regardless of whether there is more mail to load. 

Bastian, an Obama appointee, noted after a previous hearing that Trump had repeatedly attacked mail-in voting by making unfounded claims that it is rife with fraud.

DeJoy insists mail-in ballots are the organization’s top priority and has consented to halt some controversial changes he implemented last summer like removing mailboxes and decommissioning mail sorting machines.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

Trump, Ernst take leads over Dem challengers in Iowa poll

Just days before Election Day, both President Trump and U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst have pulled ahead of their Democratic challengers in the assessment of Iowa voters, a new poll shows.

Trump now leads Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in the Hawkeye State by 7 percentage points, 48%-41%, according to the latest Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa poll, the newspaper reported Saturday.

In the previous poll in September, Trump and Biden were tied, each drawing support from 47% of voters, the report said.

The latest results followed a visit to Iowa by the president in mid-October, the Register reported, noting that Trump planned to return to the state Sunday with a campaign stop in Dubuque.

“Nobody’s going to do for Iowa what I did for Iowa,” the president told a rally crowd there last month, tailoring his message to the state’s corn growers, among others.

“I saved ethanol. Ethanol is safe,” Trump added, referring to the corn-based automotive fuel that helps drive the state’s economy.

Biden most recently appeared in Iowa on Friday, holding a drive-in rally in Des Moines.

“I'll work as hard for those who don't support me as those who do,” the former vice president told rally attendees. “In my administration, there will be no red states or blue states, just the United States of America.”

Trump supporters said his proposals on the U.S. economy and taxes were the key factor in their decision to support the president while Biden backers said they were drawn by what they viewed as the Democrat’s ability to restore what’s good about America, the Register reported.

In Iowa’s U.S. Senate race, the latest version of the poll showed incumbent Republican Ernst with a 46%-42% lead over Democratic challenger Theresa Greenfield – a  turnaround from the September poll, when Greenfield led by 3 percentage points, 45%-42%.

It was the first time Ernst has led in the poll in all of 2020, the Register reported.

Ernst has been showing increasing popularity among male voters, suggesting that her support for President Trump has been helping her, J. Ann Selzer, president of polling firm Selzer & Co., told the Register.

“This is certainly the Trump core that's coming to her,” Selzer said.

As with Trump, Ernst’s supporters cited the economy as their No. 1 issue, while Greenfield’s backers named health care as their top concern, the results said.

The latest Iowa Poll was conducted Oct. 26-29 among 814 Iowans age 18 or older who said they will definitely vote or have already voted.

 

Vote for Biden's Dark Winter ? Cartoons

 

Michigan bars, restaurants will require diners' names, phone numbers starting Monday

Have the Nazis took over the Michigan State Government?

 

Diners in Michigan will be required to give their name and phone number to restaurants and bars starting Monday in an effort to contain a recent coronavirus surge, according to reports.

The new rule was put in place by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday and also includes limiting indoor gatherings without fixed seating -- like in restaurants -- to 50 people and individual tables to six people, The Detroit News reported.

The state set a record for new cases Thursday with 3,675, according to FOX 17 of Grand Rapids.

Restaurants in the state currently operate at 50% capacity and servers are struggling with customers who don’t like the current restrictions, Scott Ellis, executive director of the Michigan Licensed Beverage Association, told FOX 17. He worked with the state on the restrictions but said his association doesn't agree with the contact tracing mandate.

“Our frontline servers have already had trouble dealing with masks and mandates and mandating masks,” he said. “We did de-escalation training and all kinds of other things to help with that and now we’re taking to the next level. We have to gather someone’s personal information?”

He added, “I think when you’re going to sit down at a restaurant you just don’t expect someone to take your name and number because you’re coming to have a drink or a burger.”

Justin Winslow, president and CEO of the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association, said in a statement the contact tracing mandate doesn’t match “existing science and data” that shows
"minimal transmission” from dining at restaurants: only about 2% of cases the state is investigating, according to Winslow, FOX 17 reported. 

Establishments could be fined $1,000 for not following the order, according to FOX 17.

Robert Gordon, director of the Department of Health and Human Services, said the state is taking “targeted action” to areas that are “particularly severe sources of spread.”

“We are issuing guidance that is a very clear road map for what we need to do bring cases down,” he added, according to The Detroit News.

The state said 12 outbreaks have been linked to bars and restaurants in Michigan. 

Democrat New Jersey's Gov. Murphy won't rule out another coronavirus lockdown as cases spike

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday that “all options are on the table,” including another lockdown, amid a spike in coronavirus cases in the state, according to reports.

“If we have to shut the whole place down we will,” Murphy told Yahoo Finance. “We were one of the first, if not the first state to do that in March. I just hope we can avoid it again this time.”

The governor had warned Thursday that a second wave of the virus has hit the state as cases and hospitalizations surged, according to NJ.com. 

Murphy said the state hadn’t seen daily cases numbers over 2,000 since May and urged residents to wear masks and social distance.

“We’re reporting 2,089 new positive cases, pushing our cumulative total to 236,523,” he tweeted Friday. “Everyone needs to take this seriously.”

He specifically mentioned the possibility of having to shut down indoor dining but said he was hopeful schools that have reopened won’t have to close again, NJ.com reported.  

Struggling restaurants in the state have opened up to 25% percent capacity, according to Yahoo, and another lockdown could be devastating for business.

“This is real. People are dying,” Murphy told Yahoo. “People are going to the hospital and we need everybody to band together and push back on that pandemic fatigue and push the numbers back down.”

 

Ivanka Trump says she is 'unapologetically' pro-life

Ivanka Trump this week said that she is “unapologetically” pro-life, adding that motherhood changed how she thinks about the abortion issue.

“I respect all sides of a very personal and sensitive discussion,” Trump, the president's daughter and White House senior adviser told Real Clear Politics just days ahead of the election, “but I am also a mother of three children, and parenthood affected me in a profound way in terms of how I think about these things. I am pro-life, and unapologetically so.”

A White House aide added while Ivanka Trump’s stance is personal it also reflects the liberal shift he said Democrats have made on the issue.

Trump, who turned 39 on Friday, previously stayed silent on where she personally stood on abortion and reports of a secret meeting with then-Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards in 2017 left some pro-lifers concerned at the time.

Ivanka Trump, daughter and adviser to President Donald Trump, removes her protective mask as she takes the stage before a campaign event Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020, in Sarasota, Fla. (Associated Press)

Trump also told Real Clear Politics she considers herself a pragmatist and a “Trump Republican.”

“I think a lot of these labels, to be quite honest, are really limiting in terms of what you call yourself or how you identify,” she said of Republicans and Democrats. 

President Trump has also evolved on abortion, coming out publicly as pro-life before the 2016 election after years of identifying as pro-choice.

Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court partially because of her pro-life background and his commitment to the pro-life movement has helped him keep the support of most Evangelicals.