With Election Day underway, mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt spent his final campaign hours shaking hands at an iconic chicken and waffles house before stopping to pray at one of Los Angeles' oldest churches.
Spencer Pratt spent Election Day at Roscoe's House of Chicken 'N Waffles, contrasting his visit with Mayor Karen Bass and pushing his campaign.
Voters in the Hawkeye State are heading to the polls Tuesday to decide who will be on the ballot to succeed outgoing Gov. Kim Reynolds (R). Rep. Randy Feestra (R) is facing off against a handful of opponents in GOP primary, including state Rep. Eddie Andrews, farmer Zach Lahn, former state Rep. Brad Sherman and…
Texas saw a potential shakeup in government on Tuesday, as Secretary of State Jane Nelson announced her resignation, effective July 17."It has been an honor to serve the people of Texas in this role," said Nelson in her announcement. "My time as Secretary came at an important moment for Texas, and I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish as an agency in under four years."For many Texas conservatives, though, this was a moment to celebrate — since Nelson has been one of the biggest critics of a Texas GOP crusade to adopt "closed primaries," or a system where eligibility to vote in primaries is restricted based on party affiliation of the voter. Many states already use such a system, though in recent years the trend has been more toward adopting open primaries, where all registered voters can choose which primary to vote in each time. The GOP wants to close Texas primaries partly out of suspicion that Democrats can exert undue influence on the process."Texas is going to close the primaries This is a big deal," wrote talk radio host Kenny Webster on X."Embatttled Texas S.O.S. Jane Nelson, the one using Texas taxpayer dollars to keep leftists voting in GOP primaries is reportedly resigning," wrote right-wing commentator Chris Salcedo. "Who wishes she had resigned before wasting our tax dollars to service socialists?""Glad to hear this. Long overdue," wrote right-wing influencer Cary Cheshire. "Nelson opposed the party on closed primaries, allowed local governments to ignore election law, and oversaw elections at mosques and Islamic centers."Other commenters, however, were fearful of what might be coming next, seeing the GOP as increasingly radicalized and that radicalization likely to spill into election administration."There are unsettling things on the horizon for election integrity in Texas, y’all…." wrote state house candidate Sara McGee.
Nick Anderson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist.
Graham Platner has survived a string of scandals in his run for Maine’s Democratic U.S. Senate nomination. But his latest one “looks different,” says CNN analyst Harry Enten.Platner seemed to have survived his controversial tattoo scandal, his “angry and offensive” Reddit comments scandal, and the scandal surrounding him “amplifying a post by a notorious anti-semite on social media and appearing on a podcast with a different antisemitic conspiracy theorist,” as TIME reported last month.Platner’s latest scandal involved his alleged sexually explicit texts to women who were not his wife, texts his wife reportedly told his campaign about last year. Campaign aides “ultimately decided the texts were a private matter that was being handled by the couple in marriage counseling, a campaign official said,” according to the Wall Street Journal.But now, Enten says, Google searches for “Graham Platner” and “Maine” have been up “significantly” over the past few days.“We’re talking about up 275 percent over the last three days versus the three-month average, and more than that, more people searched for him on Sunday in Maine than at any point that I could find, even given the past revelations, about the tattoos, as well,” says Enten. “So it seems to me that this time may, in fact, be different where Mainers’ focus on Graham Platner is higher.”Enten found that “one of our first glimpses into how this might affect Platner’s electoral fortunes is from the prediction market, so you can see that’s right here in the Kalshi prediction market, chance to win the Maine Senate race.”“About 10 days ago, Democrats had a 70 percent chance — that’s essentially Platner — had a 70 percent chance of winning the general election. Now, that number has fallen. It’s fallen rather significantly.” Platner has dropped from 70 percent to 59 percent against incumbent GOP Senator Susan Collins. Enten says that is now “well within the margin of error.”“I dare say too close to call, although Platner is still favored, but his chances have gone down significantly and Collins’ have gone up significantly.”Polls have consistently underestimated Collins, Enten noted.Meanwhile, Puck News reports that Democrats are “fretting that their best chance in decades to unseat” Collins is being “jeopardized” by the latest Platner scandal.Puck notes that “multiple Democrats have described a sense of resignation” that Platner “is the only candidate they’ve got.”But Maine’s Democratic incumbent Governor Janet Mills, “who suspended her state’s Senate primary, has reminded voters her name is still on the ballot.”
The lone House seat in South Dakota is up for grabs this cycle, with voters heading to the polls for Tuesday primary elections. Outgoing Rep. Dusty Johnson opted to run for governor, leaving his solid red seat open. State Attorney General Marty Jackley is the favorite in the Republican primary, and Democrat Nikki Gronli, the…
Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt has something that professional politicians can’t manufacture: authenticity.And BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler explains this powerful trait has left his opponents terrified.“If we had a video camera on the faces of the Democrat political strategists and on Spencer Pratt’s opponents, you can bet your bottom dollar that they are just shell-shocked by this. They don’t know how to deal with this. They are so scared,” Wheeler says.The reason why the Democrats are “scared,” she explains, is because while Pratt is all about no-nonsense policy, they have no policy to run on at all.“They can't run on Karen Bass’ record. They can’t run on Nithya Raman’s ideology. So what they do instead as their sort of final move — this is one week before the election; people are already casting early votes — is they try to use famous people to invoke groupthink among voters,” she continues.And unlike past elections, this strategy isn’t working — as Pratt’s “X factor,” which Wheeler explains as “political savvy that can’t be taught” — is winning over voters left and right.“It allows him or it enables him to speak in a way to voters that is not only relatable, but completely without the fear of offending the politically correct police,” she says, before playing a clip of Pratt demonstrating this “political savvy.”“What are your plans for the over 40,000 homeless in Los Angeles?” a reporter asked Pratt.“Well, they’re not homeless. They’re drug addicts. Most of these people are addicted to fentanyl and meth. This isn’t Spencer making it up,” Pratt responded.“No matter what anybody tells you, we have housing and shelter for everyone that’s living on the street. They are choosing to be on the street because they want to do drugs. They don’t want rules. They don’t want to listen. They want to have animals to abuse. This idea that they are forced on the street right now is a lie that our city is perpetuating,” he continued.“We’ve paid $24 billion to house these 40,000 people. There’s spots for all of these people. They are choosing, because they’re an addict, and you can do fentanyl and sewer meth on the sidewalk with no repercussions,” he added.When the reporter pressed him on how he plans to address the “homeless” issue, Pratt explained that he plans to use federal land to build facilities for them in just 90 days — but only for the true Los Angeles homeless who want to change their lives for the better.“These 40,000 people, 60% of them, City Watch just announced this week, are not from Los Angeles. They’re not from California. These people have been bussed in by scam rehabs, scam NGOs, scam homeless nonprofits. These people, when I unplug them and say, ‘You're not taking our tax money any more,’” they’re all going to go to Seattle, where the mayor will welcome them,” Pratt said.“So the people that want to keep doing drugs and live on the sidewalk — a lot of these people are going to leave. The other ones, there’s a lot of criminals, there’s people that are getting naked in front of kids. They’re going to jail,” he continued.“Not everyone goes in the same box. So we have the money, we have the resources, and we have the facility,” he added.“The reason that this is so effective,” Wheeler says, “the reason that the political savvy, the X factor that Spencer Pratt possesses, is so effective is because voters recognize authenticity when they see it.”“Spencer Pratt is giving it to them straight,” she adds.Want more from Liz Wheeler?To enjoy more of Liz’s based commentary, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Bloomberg's Jeff Mason on the latest from Washington the president names Bill Pulte acting Director of National Intelligence. Then, Robert Tipp, PGIM Fixed Income managing director, chief investment strategist, and PGIM Credit's head of global bonds discusses what the volatile macro environment means for the bond market and how the market is reacting to record AI spend. Plus, Mandeep Singh, Bloomberg Intelligence global head of technology research, breaks down the latest tech headlines including the latest on SpaceX and Anthropic IPOs and Alphabet's plan to raise $80 billion in equity to put toward the company's AI spending. Finally, Wendy Stewart, president of Global Commercial Banking at Bank of America, talks how middle market businesses are navigating an uncertain economic landscape. (Source: Bloomberg)