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Minnesota 1st House District special election result

Minnesota 1st House District special election result

House Republicans added one new member to their number Tuesday as former Agriculture Department official Brad Finstad won a special election to serve out the term of the late GOP Rep. Jim Hagedorn, who died of cancer this past February.

Finstad, who emerged from a primary field of eight for the special election in Minnesota’s First Congressional district, led Democrat Jeff Ettinger by 4,920 votes with all precincts reporting.

In a victory statement released by his campaign, Finstad said the election was about the “direction of the country,” and he promised to fight the “extreme” agenda of President Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Congress.

“I will work to slash inflation, get control of the border, restore American energy independence, and put our families first. You have my commitment that I will bring our Southern Minnesota values ​​to Washington, DC and work hard for you every single day,” he said.

Agriculture Department official Brad Finstad said he would focus on issues like inflation and supply chain shortages.
Agriculture Department official Brad Finstad said he would focus on issues like inflation and supply chain shortages.
Mark Zdechlik/Minnesota Public Radio via AP, File

While Finstad won the special election, the results of a separate primary election ensured he’ll face Ettinger again in November to decide who will represent the redrawn First District for a full two-year term.

Ettinger, the former CEO of Hormel Foods and a first-time candidate, expressed optimism that he would pull off a surprise win next time.

“We both knew going into this that there was going to be a rematch in November,” he said, according to the Star Tribune. “A November race typically gets four times the turnout of an August race in Minnesota.”

Former Hormel CEO Jeff Ettinger accused his opponents of focusing on President Biden and not the race.
Former Hormel CEO Jeff Ettinger accused his opponents of focusing on President Biden and not the race.
Mark Zdechlik/Minnesota Public Radio via AP

In the Republican primary, Finstad defeated state Rep. Jeremy Munson, while Ettinger beat financial CEO George Kalberer and attorney James Rainwater on the Democratic side. In the days before the special election, Finstad told Minnesota Public Radio that he will concentrate on issues close to regular Americans whom he says have been ignored by the Biden administration.

“Everywhere I go in southern Minnesota, I’m hearing the exact same thing,” said Finstad, who spent six years in the Minnesota legislature before working in the Trump USDA.

“It’s family pocketbook issues. It’s gas prices. It’s food prices. It’s grocery store shelves being half full. It’s disruption in supply chain things like baby formula and other necessities that we’re just not normal to have shortages with. And people are just frustrated with it,” he said to MPR.

Rep. Jim Hagedorn passed away from cancer in February.
Rep. Jim Hagedorn passed away from cancer in February.
Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call

Ettinger defended the Biden White House as it struggles with high prices caused by the global supply chain backlog, and wondered why Finstad is focusing on the national political environment instead of him.

“I feel like he’s apparently running against Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, and not me,” Ettinger told MPR.

He said voters he talked with are worried about the logjam in Congress.

“I’m receiving great feedback from Democrats, independents and moderate Republicans who are sick of the gridlock and hostility in Washington and recognize that I have a long track record of getting things done,” Ettinger said. “And that’s what they’re looking for.”

Finstad’s win means the House now has 220 Democrats and 211 Republicans, with four vacancies. Three of the vacancies will be filled by special elections later this month.

Voters in Indiana’s Second District will choose the replacement for Rep. Jackie Walorski, who died in a car crash last week, on Election Day.

With Post Wires

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Pro-SALT House Dems say they’ll back spending plan

Pro-SALT House Dems say they'll back spending plan

They’re not SALT-y.

A trio of House Democrats from New York and New Jersey have said that they’ll support the massive spending plan their party forced through the Senate over the weekend — despite their earlier insistence that any such bill lift the cap on state and local tax (SALT ) deductions.

Rep. Tom Suozzi, Mikie Sherrill and Josh Gottheimer insisted that the $740 billion so-called Inflation Reduction Act would not raise taxes on individuals, despite a recent analysis by the Joint Committee on Taxation that found levies would jump by $16.7 billion on American taxpayers making less than $200,000 in 2023, while those who make between $200,000 and $500,000 would have to pay $14.1 billion more.

SALT deductions were limited to $10,000 as part of former President Donald Trump’s tax reform plan in 2017, hurting residents of high-tax states like New York and New Jersey.

Late last year, all three lawmakers insisted that President Biden’s multi-trillion-dollar Build Back Better package increase the SALT caps, with Suozzi embracing the mantra: “No SALT, no deal.

”The Long Island rep told The Post Monday that he would support the package “because it is good for my constituents, good for America, and great for the environment.”

SALT Caucus.
The lawmakers previously insisted that any spending plan lift the cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Rep. Josh Gottheimer.
“If someone tries to change the tax rates on families in my District, I will insist that we restore the State and Local Tax Deduction,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer vowed.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

“Regarding SALT, the Inflation Reduction Act does not increase personal income taxes and ‘No SALT, no deal’ does not apply,” Suozzi added. “If any change is proposed in the personal income tax rate, I will insist that we restore the State and Local Tax Deduction.”

“The bill is fully paid for, in part, with provisions that go after tax cheats. It will also help pay down the debt — a fiscally-responsible way to get inflation down,” Gottheimer said Sunday after Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate.

“As for SALT, my line in the sand remains the same. If someone tries to change the tax rates on families in my District, I will insist that we restore the State and Local Tax Deduction,” he continued. “This legislation doesn’t raise taxes on families in my District — it reduces the financial burden on them. For that reason, and for its strong support of the climate, lower prescription drug prices, and job creation, I’ll be voting for it.”

Rep. Mikie Sherrill.
Rep. Mikie Sherrill said she would vote for the legislation because it “does not raise taxes on families in my district.”
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Sherrill also expressed her commitment to reforming SALT, but noted that “[b]Because this legislation does not raise taxes on families in my district, but in fact significantly lowers their costs, I will be voting for it.”

The measure passed by the Senate does out $369 billion on environmental programs, including tax credits for buyers of electric vehicles and rebates for low-income Americans to install renewable energy sources in their homes.

The legislation also includes provisions allowing Medicare to directly negotiate the prices of certain drugs and capping out-of-pocket costs at $2,000 annually. The bill also extends expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies through 2025, allowing people earning up to 150% of the federal poverty level to get health insurance for free.

Tom Suozzi.
Rep. Tom Suozzi previously embraced the “No SALT, no deal” mantra.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

A $35-per-month cap on what private insurers can charge out-of-pocket for insulin failed to survive the hours-long vote-a-rama that preceded the final vote, falling three “ayes” short of the 60 needed to make the legislation.

The House is expected to reconvene to debate and vote on the measure on Friday. It is expected to pass and be sent to Biden’s desk with all 210 of the chamber’s Republicans voting “nay.”

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Alex Jones’ texts have been turned over to the January 6 committee, source says

Alex Jones' texts have been turned over to the January 6 committee, source says



CNN
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Approximately two years’ worth of text messages sent and received by right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones have been turned over to the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, a person familiar with the matter told CNN on Monday.

The messages were handed over to the committee by Mark Bankston, the attorney who represented two Sandy Hook parents who successfully sued Jones in Texas and won nearly $50 million in a civil trial that concluded last week.

Bankston would only tell CNN that he is “cooperating with the committee.” The select committee declined to comment.

During the trial, Bankston revealed that one of Jones’ lawyers had “messed up” and inadvertently sent him the two years of text messages. Bankston also said during the trial that the January 6 committee had expressed interest in the material.

Jones’ attorney Federico Andino Reynal asked the judge in the case to order Bankston to destroy the material and not transmit it to the House committee, but the judge declined.

“I’m not standing between you and Congress,” Judge Maya Guerra Gamble told Bankston when asked about sending Jones’ texts to the committee. “That is not my job. I’m not going to do that.”

The source wouldn’t provide details of the exact timeframe of when Jones sent and received the texts in question.

Jones was a central player on January 6. He was on restricted US Capitol grounds that day, riling up protesters, though he did not enter the building itself. He has rejected any suggestion that he was involved in the planning of violence, and claims he tried to prevent people at the Capitol from breaking the law.

Jones testified before the January 6 committee earlier this year, but he later said on his show that he repeatedly asserted his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent during the closed-door deposition.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat who sits on the committee, said Sunday on CNN that the committee was still waiting to see the texts and was interested to learn more about Jones’ role in the events at the Capitol.

“Well, we know that his behavior did incentivize some of the January 6 conduct and we want to know more about that,” Lofgren said. “We don’t know what we’ll find in the texts because we haven’t seen them. But we’ll look at it and learn more, I’m sure.”

It is unclear if the Justice Department has received the texts as of Monday afternoon. A Justice Department spokesman did not comment to CNN about Jones’ texts.

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Dan Newhouse, Republican congressman who voted to impeach Trump, wins primary, CNN projects

Dan Newhouse, Republican congressman who voted to impeach Trump, wins primary, CNN projects


Washington
CNN
—

Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse and Democrat Doug White will advance to the general election out of the top-two primary in Washington’s 4th Congressional District, CNN projects.

Newhouse is one of the 10 Republican House members who voted for then-President Donald Trump’s impeachment in January 2021 following the attack on the US Capitol. Trump had endorsed Republican challenger Loren Culp in the district.

Washington holds open primaries in which all candidates, regardless of party, appear on the same ballot, with the top two finishers advancing to the November general election.

Despite facing anger from his own party over his impeachment vote, Newhouse had a number of factors going his way this week: The incumbent handily outspent his challengers, the field was large and fractured, and Washington state’s open primary system allowed people to vote for any candidate, regardless of affiliation.

Newhouse’s victory is a loss for Trump, who made defeating the 10 House Republicans who joined Democrats to impeach him a central goal to his post-presidency. By moving on from the primary, Newhouse is likely to keep his congressional seat from him. His district of him, which stretches from Washington’s borders with Oregon and Canada, overwhelmingly leans toward Republicans.

Aside from White and Culp, the field also included former NASCAR driver Jerrod Sessler and state Rep. Brad Klippert.

Local Republican operatives, many of whom censored and criticized Newhouse after his impeachment vote, worried that many people had moved on from impeachment and caused Republicans to focus on other issues as they went to the polls on Tuesday. Newhouse also seized on his agriculture expertise, using it to appeal in the largely rural district and draw some of the focus away from impeachment.

This story has been updated with additional background information.

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Car carrying Rep. Jackie Walorski caused Indiana crash: cops

Car carrying Rep. Jackie Walorski caused Indiana crash: cops

The SUV carrying US Rep Jackie Walorski crossed the centerline of an Indiana highway on Wednesday, sparking the head-on collision that killed the representative and three others, according to new information from the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office.

The law enforcement agency had initially told reporters that the second vehicle, driven by Edith Schmucker, 56, of Nappanee, Indiana, had crossed the centerline and caused the collision.

“The information from the preliminary investigation at the scene, as to the direction of travel of the vehicles, was not correct,” the Sheriff’s office said in a statement Thursday.

Walorski, 58, was riding in a Toyota Rav 4 driven by St. Joseph County Republican Party chairman Zachery Potts, 27, when the SUV “crossed the centerline for reasons that are unknown,” the Sheriff’s office said.

House Rep. Jackie Walorski during a subcommittee meeting.
House Rep. Jackie Walorski was one of four people who died on the Indiana highway collision.
J. Scott Applewhite – Pool via C
The head-on collision involving two cars killed everyone involved, including US House Rep. Jackie Walorski.
The head-on collision involving two cars killed everyone involved, including US House Rep. Jackie Walorski.
WSBT-TV
Walorski's press secretary Emma Thomson, on the left, and St. Joseph County Republican Party chairman Zachery Potts were also in the car with Walorski when it crashed.
Walorski’s press secretary Emma Thomson, on the left, and St. Joseph County Republican Party chairman Zachery Potts were also in the car with Walorski when it crashed.
Emma Thomson/Linkedin; ZacheryPo

The representative’s press secretary, Emma Thomson, 28, was also a passenger in the SUV.

The Toyota hit Schmucker’s Buick LeSabre head-on.

Walorski, Schmucker, Potts and Thomson all died as a result of the crash.

All four were wearing their seatbelts, and airbags deployed in both vehicles, police said.

The incident remains under investigation.

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Carolyn Maloney stands by ‘Biden won’t run’ in 2024 remark

Carolyn Maloney stands by 'Biden won't run' in 2024 remark

Manhattan Rep. Carolyn Maloney doubled down Wednesday on her view that President Biden won’t seek re-election — even as she said she would back him if he did.

“I don’t believe he’s running for re-election,” Maloney declared Tuesday night during the NY1 three-way Democratic primary debate for New York’s 12th congressional district against Rep. Jerry Nadler and lawyer Suraj Patel.

Maloney’s surprise statement became national news and has become a talking point for Republicans that proof that Biden is washed up.

But it wasn’t just Maloney.

Nadler, who — because of court-ordered redistricting mandated after illegal gerrymandering by state Democrats — chose to fight it out with his one-time ally Maloney, also showed a lack of confidence in the commander in chief.

And he would not commit to supporting Biden’s re-election.

“Too early to say. Doesn’t serve the purpose of the Democratic Party to, to deal with that until after the midterms,” Nadler said in the debate.

By comparison, Patel simply said “yes” that he supports Biden’s re-election.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney
Rep. Carolyn Maloney speaks during New York’s 12th Congressional District Democratic primary debate.
Mary Altaffer/AP

Maloney, during an interview with The Post Wednesday, stood by her surprise remark that Biden, 79, won’t seek re-election. Biden’s approval ratings are at record lows in recent polls.

“That’s my personal opinion,” she said.

But a day later, Maloney sought to soften the blow, saying she would support Biden if he does run for a second term.

“If President Biden runs again, I will support him,” said Maloney, who has served in Congress since 1993.

“I’m glad Biden ran for president and defeated President Trump. He’s a great president.”

Political analysts said Maloney stated the obvious about what many Democrats are thinking privately about Biden, 79.

“It tells you that Democrats are very worried about a Joe Biden campaign in 2024 and what it could do to their chances of keeping the House,” said consultant Hank Sheinkopf.

“If we judge by today his poll numbers today, they’re atrocious and the sense that things are out of control and mismanaged is clear. It seems it would take an act of god to bring inflation down and lower gas prices in order to make Biden look like he’s in charge again – whether it’s his fault or not – and it looks like he’s not.

Sheinkopf said the video of Maloney and Nadler’s lack of enthusiasm for Biden is a “very good anti-Biden ad” for Republicans.

“Republicans will be able to use the video from that debate in races around the country by saying: `even if these people don’t want him!.’”

President Joe Biden
Rep. Maloney backtracked her statement, saying that she would support Biden if he chooses to run again.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Stu Loeser, who served as press secretary for former Mayor Mike Bloomberg, tweeted Tuesday night, “If lifelong professional liberal Dems in one of the deepest blue districts in the US can’t support the Democratic agenda, then….”

“Right on cue, the not-even-that-good oppo team at the RNC weaponizes this against Biden. That’s the downside.”

Perhaps sensing the political damage her remarks inflicted on Biden, Maloney also issued a statement on twitter.

“I will absolutely support President Biden, if he decides to run for re-election,” she said. “Biden’s leadership securing historic investments for healthcare, climate & economic justice prove once again why he is the strong and effective leader we need right now.”

“I urge all Democrats to stay united & focused on working towards winning the midterms,” she added.

Nadler also expounded on his non-endorsement of a second Biden term Wednesday, saying it was not intended as a snub.

“Anyone watching last night’s debate would have heard my extremely effusive comments about President Biden’s performance during historically trying times. As I have said many times, I strongly support the president,” Nadler said told The Post.

“My point in response to a yes or no question about the 2024 election was simply that a discussion about anything else then the historic midterm election this year is a distraction from our important work of keeping our House and Senate majorities and protecting our democracy.”

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Rep. Jerry Nadler and attorney Suraj Patel debate during New York's 12th Congressional District Democratic primary debate.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Rep. Jerry Nadler and attorney Suraj Patel debate during New York’s 12th Congressional District Democratic primary debate.
Mary Altaffer/AP

But Patel, during an MSNBC interview Wednesday, accused Maloney and Nadler of throwing the president “under the bus.”

“What the heck are you thinking, giving Republicans talking points ammo and making an ageist argument against your own president,” Patel said.

“Fact of the matter is, Joseph Robinette Biden was the only one capable of beating Donald Trump… He will after this climate bill, be the most accomplished President since Lyndon Baines Johnson. And as commander in chief, he has put Putin in a box.”

Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-Bronx-Queens) previously said she “will cross that bridge when we get to it” when asked about Biden’s re-election, saying she would first focus on helping Democrats preserve their House majority in the mid -term elections.

Other House Democratic members from New York had no immediate comment.

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Jerrold Nadler stumbles through debate opening against Suraj Patel

Jerrold Nadler stumbles through debate opening against Suraj Patel

Longshot challenger Suraj Patel came out swinging in the Democratic primary debate for the race to represent Manhattan’s Upper West and Upper East sides, saying it’s time to retire septuagenarian Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Carolyn Maloney.

The call for new blood from the 38-year-old came right after Nadler stumbled badly through his own opening statement.

“It’s 2022. It’s time to turn the page on 1992,” Patel, 38, said in a swipe at Nadler, 75, and Maloney, 76, during his introductory statement in the debate co-sponsored by NY1 and WNYC.

Nadler’s delivery was halting during his initial presentation and he missedpoke and often seemed unable to come up with the right words.

And then Nadler, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, uttered a real whopper, proclaiming, “I’ve impeached Bush twice.”

He was referring to his oversight of the politically divisive impeachments of former President Donald Trump, who he confused with either the 41st or 43rd presidents.

Nadler’s bumbling seemed to prove Patel’s point.

Rep. Jerry Nadler speaks during New York's 12th Congressional District Democratic primary debate hosted by Spectrum News NY1 and WNYC at the CUNY Graduate Center, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022, in New York.
Nadler stumbled several times, and even said he impeached “Bush” twice.
AP/Mary Altaffer, Pool

“Nineteen-nineties Democrats have lost about every major battle to Mitch McConnell and the Republicans,” said Patel, referring to the Senate Republican leader from Kentucky.

Meanwhile, Nadler sat down during the entire 90 minute session while Maloney and Patel stood at their lectures.

Nadler had many other verbal stumbles throughout the debate and at one point when the moderators offered him a chance to respond since his name had been brought up by an opponent, he seemed stunned and had nothing to say.

At one point, WNYC moderator Brigid Bergin asked Nadler about the importance of seniority and how he and Maloney differed on policies, two related but different questions.

Nadler answered that seniority is important if used effectively, but forget about the Maloney comparison.

“The second one, the second question, what was the second one?” Nadler asked.

Maloney made waves for a different reason during the debate: She predicted that President Biden, 79, would not run for re-election.

“I don’t believe he’s running for re-election,” Maloney said.

Nadler, meanwhile, would not commit to supporting Biden’s reelection and would only answer, “It’s too early to say,” when asked.

Patel, who had made a point of noting that his opponents are too old to be reelected to the House, nevertheless said “yes” to supporting the 79-year-old Biden’s re-election.

On foreign affairs, all three candidates supported House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan and said the Biden administration should not give in to China’s bullying it.

Maloney claimed she was more effective in office than Nadler, saying she delivered the Second Avenue subway for her district while Nadler’s proposed rail freight tunnel hasn’t gotten off the ground. Nadler claimed he helped secure funding for the Second Avenue subway.

Maloney was on the defensive about her prior concerns over whether vaccines contributed to autism, a position she has since abandoned.

Maloney and Nadler each were elected and have served together in Congress for 30 years, first elected in the early 1990s.

Nadler was a former state assemblyman before his election to the House. Maloney chairs the House Oversight Committee and formerly served in the City Council.

Suraj Patel
Suraj Patel is a 38-year-old Democrat calling for Nadler and Maloney’s retirements.
SpectrumNews NY

Patel, a self-described “Obama Democrat” and lawyer whose family runs a hotel business, is making his third run in the 12th congressional district.

The Democrats’ gerrymandering debacle ended up pitting Maloney and Nadler — longtime allies — against each other.

Judges knocked out the Democrat-drawn maps — which Republicans derided as the “Hochulmander” because Gov. Kathy Hochul approved them — finding them unconstitutional.

As a result, a court-ordered special master merged Maloney’s East Side turf with Nadler’s West Side base, and Nadler wasted no time, immediately declaring he’d run in Maloney’s district, guaranteeing at least one of the aged incumbents will be out of a job next year.

Nadler decided to run in the 12th CD against Maloney instead of the 10th District, which he currently represents, because the reconfigured 10th cut out his Upper West Side turf and took in communities in brownstone and southern Brooklyn, a swath of the city he has never .

The primary will be held on Aug. 23 with early voting beginning on August 13.

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