Republican party

A prominent policy expert wrote an editorial in The New York Times this week predicting that the recently passed Republican tax plan could result in a Democratic wave in 2020, if not this November.

From The Texas Tribune:

A blast of retirements and a grim political climate for the GOP could dramatically reshape the future of the Texas Republican delegation.

WASHINGTON – For those closely watching the Texas delegation in Congress, Tuesday night provided lots to chew on.

Oklahoma Democrats had a couple of big wins this week, as they flipped two Republican seats blue.

As The Oklahoman reports, Democrats won two special elections for state congressional seats on Tuesday night. Both seats had been vacated after Republican lawmakers stepped down amid scandal. In Senate District 44, Democrat Michael Brooks defeated Republican Joe Griffin. And in House District 75, Democrat Karen Gaddis beat the GOP’s candidate, Tressa Nunley.

Republican voters in the Lone Star State remain staunch in their support of the President, despite the Russian fog that has descended over the White House.

As The Texas Tribune reports, while only five percent of Democrats believe Donald Trump has the right temperament to occupy the Oval Office, more than two out of three self-identified Republicans say Trump is the right kind of person for the job.

A surprising number of Republicans support legalization of marijuana.

A Quartz reports showed that 60 percent of Americans support legalization of marijuana, including 42 percent of Republicans, some of whom live in conservative states or even serve in their state’s legislature.

Texas is among five states with current marijuana reform bills that have been introduced for consideration in upcoming sessions.

A pastor recently wrote an editorial in The Lexington Herald Leader attempting to explain Hillary Clinton’s loss in the heartland.

According to Paul Prather, a pastor in rural Kentucky, Democrats brought the election of Donald Trump upon themselves by ignoring the needs of small-town Americans. Prather noted that many Americans without college degrees find it almost impossible to earn a living.

Texas is seeing a staggering turnout for early voting this year. In fact, no election in history has seen so many early voters in the Lone Star State.

As The Texas Observer reports, the heavy early turnout could be good news for Democrats. Strategists have said it appears that Republicans are simply “not as enthusiastic” this year. Historically, heavy early voting numbers have been good news for the Republican Party in Texas.

The Republican Party is drawing criticism in Kansas for sending out mailers that feature an ISIS fighter holding an automatic rifle. In the background, an ISIS flag waves beside a rural windmill. The mailer reads simply, “Have you met the new neighbors?”

Clay Barker is the executive director of the Kansas Republican Party. He confirmed to The Wichita Eagle that the mailers are being sent out across the Sunflower State. “It’s a positive issue for Republicans,” he said.

With the news this week that Texas may be entering swing state territory, you may be wondering how much more unpredictable this election will get. But, as NewsOK reports, Oklahoma won’t be turning blue anytime soon.

The state has long held a reputation as one of the nation’s most reliably conservative, and that fact seems as true as ever.

Texas, home to two of the country’s most recent Republican presidents, George Bush and his son, George W. Bush, and one of the most conservative states in the country, is a toss-up in this year’s presidential election.

As the deadline to register to vote in Oklahoma rapidly approaches, Republican numbers appear to be surging.

When it comes to Donald Trump, Texas Republican leaders are following the lead of many of their GOP counterparts in the rest of the country.

Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and US Sen. John Cornyn have gone on record as condemning Trump’s words. But none of these men has gone so far as to withdraw his support for the presidential candidate. Even Sen. Ted Cruz is holding fast. Cruz famously refused to endorse Trump at the Republican Convention in Cleveland but has since done so.

Donald Trump’s energy platform champions coal, promotes drilling, and supports the easing of regulations on fracking. If it sounds like the Trump energy platform was created with fossil fuel companies in mind, that’s because the GOP candidate’s policies were partly crafted by an Oklahoma oil billionaire.

In one influential county in Colorado, Donald Trump’s campaign is being run by a 12-year-old, CNN reports.

Weston Imer is coordinating volunteers and organizing the get-out-the-vote operation in Jefferson County. Imer says he hopes his experience would lead other young people to become engaged politically.

Now that the speeches have concluded and the balloons have dropped, what does all the hoopla of the political conventions mean for Oklahoma? Not much, says The Tulsa World. At least, not in terms of the November elections.

A political action committee called Main Street Kansas has been making questionable claims about moderate Kansas Republican candidates. It has now been discovered, as the Lawrence Journal-World reports, that the group’s radio ads are being funded by the Kansas Chamber of Commerce. The funding might possibly constitute a violation of Kansas ethics law, says the Journal-World.

Last week Senator Ted Cruz delivered a bombshell speech at the Republican National Convention, in which he refused to support Donald Trump, the party nominee. But, as ABC News reports, some of the harshest backlash came from members of Cruz’s own delegation in Texas. At the Texas delegation’s breakfast following his speech, Cruz was heckled by Texas delegates.

Rural voters have been flocking to the GOP in recent decades, reports governing.com.

This year, there are 15 states where rural residents make up more than half the population. Republicans are governors of 11 of them. And the GOP has a chance to pick up the other four in November.

Back in April The Denver Post called Colorado’s Republican primary race for US Senate the “equivalent of an algebra problem with plenty of variables and no simple answer.” Things haven’t gotten any less complicated two months later, with the Post referring to the race

Favorability ratings for the Republican Party continue to crater, and it remains to be seen how much that will affect the deeply conservative High Plains region in November’s elections.

According to a new Pew Research Center poll, the party is now the most unpopular it’s been in almost a quarter century. 62% of those surveyed now say they have an unfavorable view of the GOP. The favorability  number has dropped four points since October, reports GateHouse Media.

US House Speaker Paul Ryan recently announced that he raised $17 million in the first three months of this year. What he didn’t mention was that twenty percent of that money came from one state: Texas. The Texas Tribune notes that the money will go toward the re-election for Ryan’s fellow GOP incumbents in the House.

Readers who open Charles Koch’s second book hoping to find information about the CEO’s extensive political operation will be disappointed, reports The Wichita Eagle. Koch, along with his brother David, is one of the Republican party’s biggest donors and most powerful behind-the-scenes influencers. The Koch brothers’ efforts to impact elections nationwide have been the subject of much chatter among politicos and pundits.