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A Trump-Endorsed Attorney General in Kentucky Hopes to Unite Republicans in Campaign for Governor

Matt OHern

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January 4, 2023

A Trump-Endorsed Attorney General in Kentucky Hopes to Unite Republicans in Campaign for Governor

In a race that is sure to draw national attention in 2023, Kentucky’s Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced his campaign to become the state’s next governor. Should Cameron win the Republican Primary for Governor, he will face incumbent Democratic Governor Andy Beshear.

““We’ve been in the arena, and we’ve taken the slings and arrow,” Cameron said after he signed the papers to formalize his candidacy. “We’ve stood up for strong, conservative values and principles. We’ve never wavered. We’ve done our job without fear of failing. And I think you need somebody, particularly in today’s environment, again, that can do this job with a smile on their face, but will stand for principle.”

Cameron has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump and is considered a rising young star in the GOP. As an African American attorney general in a southern state, Cameron will likely enjoy an influx of additional campaign funds from out of the state, which could pose a major challenge for Beshear. In 2019, Beshear narrowly defeated Republican incumbent Matt Bevin by less than one percentage point. A Morning Consult poll showed Beshear’s approval rating at around 59 percent, which is high mark heading into re-election, but with so many months until 2023 Election Day, there is still plenty of time for challengers to pull even.

Other Republican candidates vying to become the party’s nominee include former Trump United Nations Ambassador Kelly Craft, state Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles and state Auditor Mike Harmon.

Kentucky’s voting population is difficult to gauge. Despite the Democratic Party control of the governor’s mansion, Kentucky voters have supported two Republican U.S. Senators, including minority leader Mitch McConnell, who relied on Cameron for legal counsel.

Cameron touted his positive relationship with both McConnel and Trump as an example of his ability to rally Republicans to unite for a common cause.

“They [Trump and McConnell] have their differences,” Cameron said. “I think what our candidacy means is that we’re able to transcend a lot of different factions within the Republican Party and bring people together. And I think that is what ultimately this candidacy represents.”

Immigration Remains a Top Issue of Concern for Voters at the Start of 2023

News

Matt OHern

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January 3, 2023

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Immigration Remains a Top Issue of Concern for Voters at the Start of 2023

With the Supreme Court voting to uphold Title 42 on immigration and Congress passing the most recent Omnibus Bill, fierce debates are expected to reignite regarding the best plans and methods to address America’s border crisis and immigration emergency at the southern border.

A recent poll by Harris / Harvard and other organizations show immigration maintaining its grip as a top concern among voters, regardless of party affiliation. The number of known undocumented immigrant crossings at the southern border in fiscal 2022 topped 2.76 million, and the unknown unofficial total includes drug traffickers. With the opioid overdose crisis killing thousands of Americans, attorney generals and governors in different states have demanded enhanced border protection and immigration enforcement efforts from the federal government.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody sued the Biden administration for failing to secure the border, demanding that the administration at a minimum issue the required charging documents to arriving aliens and initiate removal proceedings. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty told Biden to stop a scheduled release of immigrant detainees planned by Immigration Control Enforcement.

“In the last year, nearly three million migrants have illegally entered the country—a population larger than the largest four cities of Tennessee combined—Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga,” Hagerty said. “This does not even include the number of “gotaway” migrants who illegally crossed into our country undetected.”

Georgia political talk show host Ben Burnett highlighted legal immigration’s capacity to lower the cost of many of the goods and services that have become glaringly more expensive during the recent inflation surge since President Joe Biden took office. Burnett also covered the devastating consequences of illegal immigration, including illegally-imported drugs such as fentanyl and other life-threatening drugs.

“Even countries to the left of us have largely figured it out. If you want to move to Great Britain or Australia, you have to be under the age of 25 and work in an area of industry that they deem need-based,” Burnett said. “Service workers, tech workers, people that work in agriculture, fields, mining or machinery. Skill-based work. If you look at the state of affairs in Central America between Nicaragua, and Guatemala, these are war-torn countries. The Chinese government has set up chemical distribution and manufacturing facilities in order to get Fentanyl into the U.S. and other narcotics so that they can wage war on America, using people under the guise of customs and immigration. There are all kinds of horrible things that come across that wall.”

South Florida Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar is expected to make another effort to pass her legislation known as “The Dignity Act”, which combines efforts to enhance border security, while also providing a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who are willing to pay fines and take other steps toward earning full citizenship. Salazar’s first attempt to pass the bill was met with staunch resistance from many conservatives in congress as well as the media, including Fox News talk show host, Tucker Carlson, who got into a heated debate with Salazar on his program.

Following the Republicans’ closer-than-expected retaking of the U.S. House and leadership battles among conservatives, forecasting the success of any immigration bill presented in the near term is essentially impossible.

Two Southern Governors May Be Dark Horse 2024 Presidential Candidates

Matt OHern

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December 30, 2022

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Two Southern Governors May Be Dark Horse 2024 Presidential Candidates

While political pundits throughout national media speculate about a potential 2024 campaign by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, two other governors in the south have quietly built impressive resumes against the odds in swing states where the respective US Senators are in the opposing party.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper (D) have proven that they can go against statewide voting trends. Cooper won two terms in office in a state that went red for Trump both elections, re- elected Republican Senator Richard Burr the same year Cooper was first elected in 2017. Tar Heel State voters went on to split the ticket in 2021, when they re-elected Cooper but also re-elected Republican Thom Tillis. In Georgia, Kemp easily won re-election in 2022 despite Democratic incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock defeating Republican Herschel Walker.

Georgia political talk show host Ben Burnett is a believer in Kemp.

“Brian Kemp knows how to build a ground game and win in the trenches. Kemp stood up to Donald Trump and defied him often and only became more popular. While I have respect for Gov. Desantis. He’s great at running up the score over social issues, but when we talk about policies and accomplishments. It is clear that Brian Kemp would rather do something, than be somebody. If I were Governor Kemp and considering a Presidential run… that’s the message against Desantis. He’s the greatest showman, but underneath the costume, he’s a tin man.”

While many Republican’s may disagree with Burnett’s tin man analogy for DeSantis, nobody doubts Kemp’s remarkable success in a state that continues to become more purple with each election.

North Carolina Governor Cooper Demands Answers from Duke Energy After Blackouts

Matt OHern

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December 28, 2022

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North Carolina Governor Cooper Demands Answers from Duke Energy After Blackouts

RALEIGH, NC – In the wake of rolling blackouts that resulted in power outages for more than 200,000 residents, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper is demanding detailed answers from Duke Energy.

Yesterday, Cooper Tweeted:

“Duke Energy assures me NC is in the clear now. But I’m deeply concerned about people who lost power and who didn’t get notice about rotating outages. Grateful for those who conserved energy. I’ve asked Duke for a complete report on what went wrong for changes to be made.”

Heavy demand across the nation due to freezing temperatures impacted Duke Energy’s ability to import power from neighboring regions, which typically serve as a backup source for energy. Duke did tap into solar energy during the initial wave of blackouts, but it wasn’t sufficient to cover the exceptionally-high demand.

Duke Energy spokesperson Jeff Brooks explained “When we made the difficult decision to take these temporary outages, they were done in a fairly fast order. So that work happened at a pace that didn’t allow us to be as proactive in our communications as we’d typically be on other types of planned outages. This was sort of an emergent event. So I would say we did not get to communicate as well as we would like to with customers on the front end, but we did try to provide information when we could during the event. And I think there’s opportunities for us there to go back and look at that and see are there other things that we can do going forward to help improve that process, just as will look at this entire event to figure out what things can be added to our plans and our processes to help either avoid this in the future or to improve that process.”

Florida Attracts Most New Residents of All States in 2022

Matt OHern

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December 26, 2022

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Florida Attracts Most New Residents of All States in 2022

A vibrant economy and an influx of news residents and news businesses have helped Florida become the top state for new residents in 2022, according to the latest report from the U.S. Census. Florida’s population increased by 1.9% to 22.2 million between 2021 and 2022, the data show, surpassing Idaho, which led last year. Florida had the second-largest numeric gains, behind Texas.

“For the third most-populous state to also be the fastest growing is notable because it requires significant population gains,” the US Census bureau’s Marc Perry, Luke Rogers and Kristie Wilder said in a press release.

In addition to the influx of new residents, the Sunshine State also touts one of the top states for company relocations, and Florida led the country in new business formations from January 2021 to January 2022, accounting for almost 12% of all new business starts nationwide. Florida also ranked as the top states for foreign business, with Miami and Orlando ranking first and second, respectively, in Financial Times-Nikkei ranking of best US cities for foreign businesses. Florida also touts one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, with the latest statewide report showing an unemployment rate of only 2.6 percent.

Ron DeSantis announced that Florida’s unemployment rate dropped to 2.6 percent in November, down from 2.7 percent in October. The national unemployment rate stood at 3.7 percent.

“Florida’s private sector employment increased by 28,100 jobs over the month in November 2022, an increase of 0.3 percent. Florida’s total private sector employment increased by 5.2 percent (+420,700 jobs) over the year in November 2022, faster than the national private sector job growth rate of 3.6 percent over the same time period. Florida employers have added jobs for 31 consecutive months in November 2022,” the governor’s office noted.“Florida’s continued success over the past two years is no accident. No matter the challenges, we have stayed on offense,” said DeSantis. “Florida’s economy is outpacing the nation for the second consecutive year because we have invested in our workforce and prioritized keeping Floridians at work and businesses open. As the new year approaches, we will continue investing in our workforce and infrastructure to create jobs and keep our economy moving forward.”

“While D.C. liberals and blue states are still exacerbating their self-inflicted inflation and supply chain woes, Governor DeSantis has continued his charge for Freedom First policies, and as a result Florida is literally hedging against a recession, growing its workforce, supporting new businesses and innovation, and leading the nation’s economic recovery,” said outgoing Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) Sec. Dane Eagle. “People vote with their feet, and folks are running to the free state of Florida as fast as they can.”

Colony Capital relocated its corporate headquarters from Los Angeles to Boca Raton, and despite Disney’s public disagreements with Governor DeSantis on state education reforms, Disney is expected to finalize the transfer of its entire Disney Parks, Experiences and Products division from California to Orlando’s Lake Nona region.

Tennessee Governor, Senators Tell Biden to Stop Planned Release of Immigrant Detainees

News

Matt OHern

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December 21, 2022

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Tennessee Governor, Senators Tell Biden to Stop Planned Release of Immigrant Detainees

According to an official release from the office of Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, the Immigration Control Enforcement Department under President Biden’s administration is planning to release immigrant detainees into Tennessee.

Below are statements from Gov. Lee, Senator Marsha Blackburn, and Senator Bill Hagerty.

On Monday afternoon, Gov. Lee’s office was notified of the Biden administration’s intent to transport multiple busloads of single adult detainees from ICE facilities in New Orleans into Tennessee, beginning as soon as this week. Federal officials have not shared any further details. The Governor’s office continues to push back on the plan.

Gov. Lee: “We’ve been informed by ICE that they plan to release single adult detainees into Tennessee while they await court proceedings. This is irresponsible and a threat to the safety of Tennesseans. Furthermore, we already have a national security crisis at our border, and the Biden administration’s attempt to revoke Title 42 will only incentivize more illegal crossings. It’s not compassionate to perpetuate a problem that leads to more exploitation and trafficking. 7,000 people unlawfully enter our country every day. This crisis is too big to ignore, and the only way to stop it is to secure the border. Placing the burden on states is not a solution, and we should not bear the brunt of the federal government’s failures. We are demanding the Biden administration reverse their plan for detainee relocation. In the meantime, we’re also discussing options with the Tennessee Attorney General and our federal delegation.”

Sen. Blackburn: “Joe Biden’s border crisis has made one thing abundantly clear — every town is a border town and every state is a border state. The Biden Administration is trafficking illegal immigrants into communities across the country, including here in Tennessee. Governor Lee, Senator Hagerty, Attorney General Skrmetti, and I will be utilizing all possible options to stop President Biden from trafficking them into our state. Biden created this crisis by terminating successful Trump-era immigration policies, including Remain in Mexico and safe third country agreements. Tennesseans will not stand for this flagrant disregard for law and order.”

Sen. Hagerty: “When I traveled to the border in April, Border Patrol agents told me that ‘the people don’t stay here and the drugs don’t either.’ Today’s news underscores what I’ve heard from Tennessee law enforcement time and again, which is that our open border has turned every town into a border town. This has brought heartbreaking consequences to communities throughout America in the form of increased drug overdoses. It has strained resources for hospitals, schools, and local communities. It has also jeopardized our national security—with border crossers arriving from more than 160 different nations, a number of whom are on terrorist watch lists. In the last year, nearly three million migrants have illegally entered the country—a population larger than the largest four cities of Tennessee combined—Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga. This does not even include the number of “gotaway” migrants who illegally crossed into our country undetected. Congress must take action to secure the border. It’s unfair to place the burden on Tennessee citizens and local officials to deal with this Administration’s self-inflicted failures. Yet shockingly, in spite of this ongoing humanitarian disaster, President Biden and Democrats in Congress have put forward a government funding bill that will only serve to exacerbate the crisis by increasing funding for resettlement operations while simultaneously ignoring that Title 42—Border Patrol agents’ last enforcement tool—is on the cusp of expiring. This is unacceptable. A nation without a border is not a sovereign nation. President Biden cannot ignore this crisis any longer.”

Earlier this year, other governors drew national attention for relocating immigrants from Texas and Florida to Martha’s Vineyard, Connecticut and Washington D.C. While many pundits and political analysts predicted the actions of those governors would draw fierce backlash, both Governors were re-elected by large margins, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis winning by 19 points, and Greg Abbott won by 12 points.