Exclusives with RNC Chairman Michael Whatley, RNC Co-Chair Lara Trump, Rep. Mike Collins, and GOP challenger Derrick Anderson – 10/24/24 Edition

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — Rep. Mike Collins (R., Ga.) is spending the final days of the 2024 campaign meeting voters where they are: online, at home, at community barbecues, and more. The first-term lawmaker is no stranger to grassroots campaigning; Collins gave his first political speech in 4th grade, when he asked his classmates to tell their parents to elect his father, a former Congressman, to local office.

The Washington Reporter caught up with Collins in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he was campaigning for Republican Derrick Anderson in one of the cycle’s most competitive House races. After liberal podcaster Rachel Vindman mocked a failed assassination attempt against Donald Trump, Collins tweeted that he would soon “be in #VA07 knocking doors for @DerrickforVA to ensure this lady’s brother-in-law does not make it to Congress.”

Collins added Anderson’s race to a group of districts where he planned to deploy his retail politicking skills to help expand the GOP’s slim majority. Anderson, a homegrown candidate running against Eugene Vindman, an MSNBC staple who carpetbagged to the district, is what Collins looks for in a potential colleague: “I wanted to somebody I could work with, somebody who’s very conservative, who has Judeo-Christian values…[and somebody who] is America First, period.”

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — Derrick Anderson, the Republican nominee for Congress in one of the most expensive elections in America, grew up “about 15 minutes, depending on traffic,” from his campaign headquarters. His opponent, Democrat Eugene Vindman, grew up “many thousands of miles” away, Anderson told the Washington Reporter.

Both men are military veterans, but their similarities end there. Vindman is an MSNBC regular who is misspelling counties in Virginia’s 7th District with days until the election; and “he lied about his military record. He said that he was a colonel when he’s not,” Anderson said. Anderson, a combat veteran, is a former Green Beret who helped pass legislation “just by beating down the doors of members of Congress” following a catastrophic friendly fire incident that killed five soldiers in Afghanistan in 2014.

Democrats have canceled ad buys worth more than seven figures in Wisconsin, Montana, and Pennsylvania, as polls show the party’s dwindling shot at winning House races in those states. Reps. Bryan Steil (R., Wis.), Ryan Zinke (R., Mont.), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Penn.) are all leading in polls, causing Democratic groups like House Majority PAC (HMP) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) to pull previously-commissioned ad buys.

Some of those funds were redirected to an ad buy worth up to $4 million in New Jersey, where polling consistently shows Rep. Tom Kean (R., N.J.) leading his opponent, former defund the police activist Sue Altman. “Two big wins for Democratic Election Twitter today in their prolonged effort to try to bully Chuck Schumer’s WinSenate to start spending in the #TXSen race and House Majority PAC to start spending in #NJ07,” election analyst Rob Pyers wrote of the buy.

For generations, North Carolina farmers have farmed tobacco. But a little-known candidate running for a statewide office in the Tar Heel State could devastate North Carolina’s tobacco and corn, industry experts caution.

Sarah Taber, who is running to be North Carolina’s Commissioner of Agriculture, “wants to push her state away from tobacco production,” according to Investigate Midwest. “We have a state where tobacco doesn’t make money anymore and no one’s thought of anything else because that’s been the focus of our leadership,” Taber said.

The state’s farming community cautions that if Taber wins, America will quickly suffer the consequences. Peter Daniel, the NC Ag Partnership Chairman, told the Washington Reporter that “Dr. Sarah Taber’s views are far outside the mainstream and out of touch with North Carolina farms.” Daniel’s organization is a non-profit that focuses on strengthening the economic viability of farmers, businesses, and their communities.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) defended Elon Musk and the billionaire’s America PAC against the Department of Justice (DOJ) this week, in a letter obtained exclusively by the Washington Reporter. Cotton asked the DOJ to retract the “ill-considered handiwork of partisan killjoys.”

“I write regarding reports that the Department of Justice has warned Elon Musk’s America PAC that its sweepstakes may violate federal law,” Cotton wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland. “I’m not convinced that America PAC has run afoul of the law, but I’m very concerned that the Biden-Harris administration has once again singled out center-right Americans like Mr. Musk for political retribution while turning a blind eye to liberal-leaning groups engaged in similar behavior.”

Click HERE to read Tom Cotton’s letter to Merrick Garland.

In this election, Vice President Kamala Harris is pulling out all the stops to win over Black Americans. But let’s be clear: her Opportunity Agenda for Black Men is not just patronizing; it’s also an insult to our intelligence.

This last-minute sales pitch is the same worn-out script the Democratic Party has used on the Black community for decades. It offers promises like reparations, knowing that these empty and demeaning policies have no connection to reality.

Here’s the reality: Over the last four years, the Biden-Harris administration has repeatedly failed to deliver on its promises to the Black community, instead turning to misery as a political strategy. Look no further than their inflationary spending policies, open borders, and defund the police agenda.

When Benjamin Franklin was asked what kind of government the Constitutional Convention had created, his response became legend: “A republic, if you can keep it.” His words, spoken over two centuries ago, still ring true today. The survival of our system of government rests on the trust in, and integrity of, our elections.

Throughout our nation’s history, there have been fateful moments when the security and integrity of our elections were called into question — defining moments that shifted the course of America. In 1876, our country was thrown into chaos due to a dispute over electoral votes in one of our closest presidential races ever. It took a special electoral commission and a compromise on post-Civil War era Reconstruction to resolve the crisis, but public confidence in the election process was deeply shaken.

More recently, in the election of 2000, an incredibly tight race in Florida between George W. Bush and Al Gore — along with disputes over the ever-remembered “hanging chads” — delayed election results for weeks.

Since I started my campaign to serve Michigan in the United States Senate, I’ve talked to thousands and thousands of Michiganders from every corner of our state. The messages I’ve received are heartbreaking.  

I met a mother in West Michigan who told me that even though she works part time and her husband works full time, she has been forced to go to a food bank for the last few days of the month to feed her family, due to rising grocery prices caused by wasteful spending by Kamala Harris and Elissa Slotkin. 

I talked to a deputy sheriff whose daughter died when she was exposed to fentanyl after smoking marijuana, all because of the wide open southern border. Harris and Slotkin have been in power, yet have done little to make our streets secure or to keep our children safe.

General John Pershing famously said that “infantry wins battles, logistics wins wars.” Our superior logistics — the ability to plan, produce, and deliver military supplies — helped us win the Civil War, both World Wars, and ultimately established America as the leading world power. 

However, decades of neglect have transformed defense logistics into a glaring weakness, putting our national security at risk. The current state of our defense industrial base and supply chains projects vulnerabilities to both our allies and adversaries. 

As the CEO of a company that delivers wartime and emergency products to our allies who need them the most, I have seen these challenges firsthand. Here is what went wrong — and how we can get back on track.

What we’re hearing from people we trust on and around the Hill – please send us more tips!

• The rumors are true: Our editor-in-chief, Matthew Foldi, is the person featured in a Politico article on “How Trump Has Converted Male Frustration Into a Movement.” Read the full piece here.
• Maryland Matters: Lara Trump, the co-chair of the RNC, will be headlining a fundraiser in deep-blue Montgomery County, Maryland, next week.
• Seeing red: Donald Trump is leading Kamala Harris by 2 points in Arizona. The former president leads the current vice president 49 to 47, according to a McLaughlin poll conducted for the NRSC, which was shared with the Washington Reporter. Check out our interview with Arizona GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake here.
• Waltz on duty: Rep. Mike Waltz (R., Fla.) is out with a new book, Hard Truths: Think and Lead Like a Green Beret. He spoke about it at an event hosted by our friends at Veterans on Duty this week, where he discussed the importance of electing veterans of both parties, his vision of foreign policy, and more. You can buy Waltz’s book here.
• Quick read: Jason Dudash, the West Coast Director of the Freedom Foundation, was also in town this week for a book signing of his latest work, The Achievements of Kamala Harris. The book is completely blank. You can buy it here.

Rebecca Cooke, a Democratic candidate for Congress, “pocketed almost 200 grand electing Democrat extremists,” a new ad from the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) super PAC says, criticizing the candidate’s history of raising millions of dollars for far-left Democrats across the country.  

Cooke’s company, Cooke Strategy, was paid for work on Democratic campaigns for years — and Republicans are now attacking her previous support for radical Democrats, even though her current bid for Congress is backed by more moderate party members.

“Liberal Rebecca Cooke [has] cooked up quite a story about herself,” the CLF ad says. “The truth: Cooke is a slick political operative who pocketed almost 200 grand electing Democrat extremists. Cooke supported radicals pushing open borders, defunding police, and ending cash bail. No wonder New York radical AOC is spending big money electing radicals like Cooke.”

West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore has donated almost $400,000 to Republican candidates up and down the ballot.

Moore, who is poised to claim an open House seat in West Virginia, first shared his fundraising outlays with the Washington Reporter. They include $125,000 in donations directly to the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), $166,800 in direct contributions across 72 candidates and committees, $53,400 bundled specifically for Reps. Tom Cole (R., Okla.) and Tom Emmer (R., Minn.), and $41,740.50 in WinRed conduit fundraising to 27 candidates and committees.

Moore has also sent money to incumbents Reps. Don Bacon (R., Neb.), Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R., Ore.), and Derrick Van Orden (R., Wis.), and to challengers George Logan in Connecticut and Neil Parrott in Maryland.