The Senate 🌻🌻🌻

More Teflon:  Labor Day is behind us and Election Day is only two months away so my plan was to focus on the upcoming Senate races today but I’d be remiss if I didn’t first mention that the Former Guy via  Judge Aileen Cannon, one of the woefully unqualified Federalist Society/Mitch McConnell ones that was appointed after the results of the 2020 election were already in was granted a bigly gift over the weekend.  That gift came in the form of an opinion that misstated facts and, according to many legal pundits even some on the right side of the aisle, engaged in significant misinterpretation of precedent and overreach in order to grant the Teflon FG some rights he isn’t entitled to while stalling the review of the voluminous amount of documents including all those “empty” folders with ominous super-secret labels taken during the search of Mar a Lago.  Judge Cannon did that by ruling that a special master should be appointed to review the “seized property” for "potentially privileged” material subject to claims of attorney-client and/or executive privilege and that in the meantime, the government would have to “temporarily" stop reviewing and using the materials for investigative purposes pending completion of the special master's review or a further court order.  Basically, she granted the FG executive privilege that he is no longer entitled to because he, despite his delusional claims, is no longer President and by calling for the appointment of a special master, one that in addition to having to be agreed to by both the DOJ and the FG team must have, due to the nature of the so-called “seized” materials,  security clearance.  And of course the FG, who was in Philadelphia over the weekend rallying for Republican Governor candidate Doug Mastriano and Senate candidate Dr Oz, while bashing the current President for calling MAGA lunatics neo-fascists, the Democratic Party, and every “RINO” who doesn’t agree with him, has got to be thrilled that he’s once again pulled a red rabbit out of his hat. Worth noting Mastriano really is an extremist, one who in addition to being Hitler friendly and supported by the Q set, marched on the Capitol on January 6.  Mastriano is also an election denier and those are his good points while Dr Oz who once tried to portray himself as a middle of the road guy who just liked to hawk faux medical cures on the side has gone completely to the dark side and has been caught on tape saying that all abortions should be banned from inception and of course, he’s also taken to making fun of his opponent, John Fetterman’s stroke because that’s what heart surgeon’s do?

The Senate:  Now getting to the upcoming midterms, polling seems to indicate that, while hardly a given,  Democrats stand a decent chance of holding on to the Senate, and maybe, just maybe of gaining a seat or two. The Wall Street Journal notes that the Democrats ability to hold the Senate may be largely due to the overturning of Roe but it’s also probably helped by Biden’s recent legislative wins, Republicans squandering campaign money, the FG effect and Republican threats to cut health care and Social Security.   Unfortunately it remains likely, though not a done deal, that aided by gerrymandering the Republicans will win over the House. If the Republicans take over the House it will probably be via a squeaker rather than a huge red wave but that squeaker would leave politicians like Jim Jordan heading key committees and loons like Margie Q, Lauren Boebert and Matthew Gaetz wielding lots of disruptive power as they seek to do things like impeach Biden and Attorney General Garland, interrogate soon to be retired virus guru Fauci and hang Hunter Biden while also refusing to do key things like raising the debt limit and funding the government.  That makes holding the Senate even more important to if you are so inclined and think that protecting Reproductive Rights and democracy s essential here are the folks to support.  

Democratic incumbents deemed vulnerable and targeted by Republican Party:

State                                 Democratic Incumbent               Republican Challenger

Arizona                             Mark Kelly                                    Blake Masters  

Georgia                             Raphael Warnock                         Herschel Walker

Nevada                              Catherine Cortez-Masto              Adam Laxalt

New Hampshire               Maggie Hassan                             (TBD primary Sept 13)

Colorado                          Michael Bennet                             Joe O’Dea

Democrats challenging Incumbent Republicans:

State                   Challenger                                      Republican Incumbent 

Florida                Val Demings                                    Marco Rubio  

Iowa                   Mike Franken                                 Chuck Grassley

Kentucky            Charles Booker                              Rand Paul

Wisconsin           Mandela Barnes                             Ron Johnson        

Open Seats:

State                   Democrat                                       Republican       

North Carolina   Cheri Beasley                                 Ted Budd (seat vacated by Richard Burr)  

Ohio                   Tim Ryan                                        JD Vance (seat vacated by Rob Portman)

Pennsylvania     John Fetterman                               Mehmet Oz (seat vacated by Pat Toomey)

Also, in Utah Independent Evan McMullin is challenging Mike Lee, a key FG supporter who tried to overturn the 2020 election.  Let me know if you think I’ve missed anyone.