In our latest edition, we have an interview with Dan Conston, an exclusive on the latest Democrat to inflate his military records, a scoop on a Congressional probe into the Naval Academy, op-eds from Reps. Brett Guthrie, Morgan Griffith, and Tim Walberg, and much more!
By: Matthew Foldi
Despite a “tumultuous” 2024 cycle, the president of the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) Dan Conston is aiming for a triple crown in November — his third consecutive cycle of growing the ranks of House Republicans, which he’s done cycle after cycle, despite at-times lackluster Republican results elsewhere.
As the longtime head of the House GOP leadership super PAC, Conston hopes to leverage his historically-successful fundraising efforts, alongside those of well-funded House candidates, to win as large a majority as possible for Republicans, even though he predicts that November will yield a “small majority or minority either way.”
“We did just have our biggest quarter ever, which I don’t think many people thought we would do, and we are still at an advantage over House Majority PAC with our 9/30 filings, so we feel like we’ve got the resources necessary to be really impactful,” Conston told the Washington Reporter. “I think the best asset we had all cycle was that the people in the toughest districts, in these Biden districts, are impressive, meritorious, rising stars in the Republican Party. That is plainly evident to voters and donors alike. People want to invest in them.”
Who among House Republicans has been able to take their race off the map for Democrats because of what they’ve been able to do on the candidate side of raising money?
Matthew Foldi
Editor in Chief of the Washington Reporter
Look at John James in Michigan, who’s raised a tremendous amount of money, and House Majority PAC has put in $7 million against him. Now, their candidate Carl Marlinga has no money to speak of, and they’re trying to make a race in one of the most cluttered markets in the country. And Rep. James, to his credit, has been able to put up close to 10,000 GRPs on Detroit broadcast this fall, because he established a really commanding financial position. You look at a candidate like that, and that’s someone doing what they need to do. I look at freshmen in New York. Mike Lawler, for example, continues to post $1.5 million quarters. Same with Michelle Steel, Young Kim, and Juan Ciscomani raises very well. These are people who have established really impressive cash positions, and they’re all in tough races, because they’re always going to be in tough races. Then look at how Democrats aren’t even trying to beat incumbents like Brian Fitzpatrick or Young Kim.
Dan Conston
Congressional Leadership Fund President
Is there any district that if you knew the outcome on Election Night, that you could say, ‘all right, it’s going to be a long night’ or ‘it’s going to be a short night’?
Matthew Foldi
Editor in Chief of the Washington Reporter
Well, you’re not going to know a lot of these results on Election Night. Some races that will be good tells are the New York seats, the open seats in Michigan, and Virginia. Virginia reports quickly. If we’re winning both Virginia races, then it’s going to be a great night. If we’re losing both Virginia races, then it’s going to be a very bad night, and I think that’ll tell you one way or the other.
Dan Conston
Congressional Leadership Fund President
By: Washington Reporter
By: Matthew Foldi
A vulnerable Democratic House incumbent miscategorized his military distinction in a political advertisement, a fib Republicans are criticizing him for.
Rep. Don Davis (D., N.C.) claims in ads to be a “retired” member of the U.S. Air Force — a term that is “bestowed upon service members who have served a minimum time period, usually 20 years or more,” according to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Davis, however, served eight years on active duty, entering the political arena “immediately after his discharge from the Air Force,” according to local reporting. Davis’s 2022 ads correctly describe him as a “former” member of the Air Force.
In response to the Reporter’s questions about the discrepancy, Davis’s campaign asked for clarification about where Davis’s ads use the term “retired.” Upon being sent the information, it stopped responding.
By: Matthew Foldi
Lawmakers are probing the U.S. Naval Academy’s decision to invite historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat to deliver a now-postponed lecture, which they said in a letter first obtained by the Washington Reporter could go against a Department of Defense directive that “bans active members of the military, including administrators and teachers at the academy, from engaging in ‘partisan political activities.’”
“Prior to the cancellation of her appearance, Dr. Ben-Ghiat stated that she was planning to ‘speak about what happens to militaries under authoritarian rule,’” the lawmakers wrote. “While on the surface this lecture would seem to be academically significant for our naval midshipmen, Dr. Ben-Ghiat’s own statements provided clear concern that she would have used this highly-respected platform to make unsubstantiated politicized claims against one of the presidential nominees just 25 days before the 2024 election.”
Ben-Ghiat’s planned to touch on “Fascist Italy, Pinochet’s Chile and the Russian military during the war on Ukraine,” she wrote on her blog. In the same blog post, she said that President Donald Trump has an “authoritarian character, desire to destroy democratic values and ideals, and loyalty to autocrats who see the powerful U.S. military as an obstacle to their geopolitical aims.”
Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) is running district-based and national advertisements, first obtained by the Washington Reporter, highlighting Republicans’ opposition to corporate tax rate hikes proposed by Democrats.
The campaign, first shared with the Reporter, spotlights many Republicans, but also has four ads specifically thanking Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R., Iowa), Bryan Steil (R., Wis.), Young Kim (R., Calif.), and Mike Lawler (R., N.Y.) for opposing Democrats’ push to “raise the corporate tax rate higher than [that of] communist China.”
By: Matthew Foldi
Democrat Angela Alsobrooks, who is competing in a closely-watched Maryland Senate race, raised eyebrows for aligning more with hardline Republicans than with her fellow Maryland Democrats, signaling that one of her tax policies is more in line with the tax cuts of President Donald Trump than with most of Maryland’s congressional delegation.
In a survey for the National Education Association (NEA) since removed from its website, Alsobrooks checked off a series of changes she’d like to see to the U.S. tax code. She did not check “repealing the cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions,” putting her at odds with her Republican opponent, the popular former governor Larry Hogan, as well as at odds with most Maryland Democrats.
By: Matthew Foldi
Harvard University had a rough year on the Hill. In 2024, the school was subject to a high-profile hearing in which its president Claudine Gay failed to condemn calls for the genocide of Jews, for example, and subsequent revelations of her plagiarism forced her to resign in disgrace.
Recently, one GOP office flagged for the Washington Reporter that the university sent a mailer advertising its “Crisis Leadership in Higher Education” program, which a staffer said “essentially credentializes university protest response.”
According to Harvard’s materials, Hill staffers aren’t among the targeted audience for this program, which focuses on “campus protests[,] natural disasters, public health crises, and faculty misconduct.”
“Given the verbiage of the letter and the accompanying pamphlet, which advertises the recommended applicants as university personnel, I don’t think that they meant to send this to a Congressional office,” a staffer told the Reporter.
By: Rep. Brett Guthrie and Rep. Morgan Griffith
President Ronald Reagan once said: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.’” Nowhere is this truer than with the Biden-Harris administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
From the time you wake up to the time you go to bed, the Biden-Harris administration’s EPA has been “here to help” by providing solutions in search of a problem. The EPA’s command and control regime in the name of “climate justice” is being used to tax American households and fulfill a far-left Green New Deal agenda.
When you drive to work in the morning and drop your kids off at school, the EPA wants to make sure it can choose which vehicle you’re using. Its electric vehicle (EV) mandates, which are attempting to make two thirds of all American car sales by 2032 electric vehicles, are completely unrealistic and ignore the factors that make EVs untenable for many families across the country.
EV use is limited in mountainous regions where traversing the mountains drains batteries at a faster rate. EVs cost on average $17,000 more than their gas-powered counterparts, and some EVs are susceptible to severe weather, with battery range cut by up to 40 percent in cold conditions. This is further evidenced by the high percentage of auto-dealers’ lots filled with unsold EVs because of the continued popularity of gas-powered cars.
By: Rep. Tim Walberg
In my home state of Michigan, the average household has spent nearly $28,000 more due to inflation since January 2021.
Inflation is crushing families nationwide, and the Biden-Harris administration is the number one culprit. When we look at the bad policies that have brought up costs, most initially point their fingers at the American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act, which Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to pass. However, a network of regulatory burdens has also put a stranglehold on American job creators, targeted workers’ benefits, and driven up prices.
The Department of Labor has pushed its Independent Contractor Rule, which seeks to strip many workers of their autonomy and force them into an often outdated, inflexible employment relationship. In the modern economy, millions of workers enjoy the ability to earn how they want and when they want. 77 percent of app-based workers across the country support maintaining their current classification as independent contractors.
These arrangements bolster economic growth and allow personal freedom not typically available through traditional work relationships. If these workers overwhelmingly enjoy the flexible arrangements that allow them to pursue other commitments and interests life has to offer, they should have that freedom.
By: Brad Todd
Kamala Harris gave away the election on September 29 — you can write it down.
Since her palace coup ousted Joe Biden following his addled debate debacle, Harris has brazenly positioned herself as a change agent in a change election. But what’s holding her back is a sense that she has neither the strength nor the political quick-twitch muscle to be a dexterous Commander in Chief — traits even President Donald Trump’s detractors, at least the sane ones, readily attribute to the Orange One.
The inundation of the Appalachian Mountains by Hurricane Helene in the last week of September provided Harris with a golden opportunity to disprove both those deficiencies, and shift the key question of the race fully onto friendlier territory. Had she demonstrated strength and dexterity in a real-time crisis, the voters’ attention would have more likely slid to focus on Trump’s shortcomings.
This would have been simple for a sitting Vice President to do, and the template is well-established by hurricane-state governors in both parties. As soon as the storm passes, smart governors set up command posts and do daily briefings with reporters, taking questions until there are none. They are fully transparent about minute daily remediation activities and pound the media with statistics. They provide detailed accounts of both rescue outcomes and ongoing challenges, and project future recovery objectives. They’re candid about what they know and don’t, what they can do, and can’t. They instill confidence in the competence of government’s ability to meet challenges of crises that are insurmountable for individuals.
By: Tom Barrett
As I travel across mid-Michigan, I constantly hear from voters about how important crime is in the 2024 election. However, Democrats in Washington and Lansing are trying to convince us that things are much better than they actually are.
People are shocked to learn that Lansing, Michigan — the center of the 7th District — ranks as one of the top twenty most violent cities in America. It was also reported this past June that Michigan was the second most violent state in the nation. So why are Democratic Party politicians like liberal Lansing Mayor Andy Schor and many others in D.C. singing a different tune? Maybe because the real numbers tell a much different story.
The FBI says murder rates have dropped. But, if you look at reports from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), violent crime is actually up. While the FBI relies on self-reporting from police departments, often excluding some of the largest, most violent cities in the country (Chicago, Detroit, New York, Los Angeles), the CDC relies on the cause of death as reported by coroners from across the nation, a far more accurate accounting.
