Latest news with #GovernorRace
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘If you want Medicaid, get a f***ing job!' Republicans take hard line in support of Trump bill despite constituent worries
Nancy Mace grabbed her team, hopped in a van and raced back to Washington in her pajamas Wednesday to vote on President Donald Trump's 'One Big, Beautiful Bill' — driving through stormy weather after scores of flights into D.C. were canceled. Mace, who is currently weighing a run for governor of South Carolina, knows that she needs the president's endorsement to win in a state that overwhelmingly supported him in 2024. So the mad dash, and the show she put on social media about it all, makes sense politically. But while the audience of one in the White House will appreciate the effort, many constituents back home may be far less pleased. That's because the Trump megabill forces states to carry part of the cost of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, if they have high rates of overpaying or underpaying recipients. And Mace sounds ready to throw some pain in the direction of her home state in the name of fighting 'waste, fraud and abuse.' 'So under some of the provisions, our state may have to pay fines of upwards of $300 million if we don't get the fraudulent payments for SNAP under control,' she told The Independent. The same goes for Medicaid. 'But if you're talking about able-bodied workers,' she continued, 'my policy is, if you're an able-bodied person and you want Medicaid? Get a f***ing job.' The Trump bill also puts rural hospitals at risk due to changes in how states can raise money for Medicaid. In Fiscal Year 2024, South Carolina had a 9.25 percent error rate for SNAP, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, 64.7 percent of families in South Carolina on Medicaid have a full-time worker in their family. 'We're gonna be fined $300 million a year if our government doesn't get its s*** together,' Mace said. 'If I run for governor, you can be damn sure that's No. 1 on my list.' Many Americans continue to feel ambivalent of the bill. Quinnipiac University released a poll last week showing that 55 percent of Americans oppose the bill based on what they have heard. Americans are about evenly split on the work requirements, with 47 percent supporting work requirements and 46 percent opposing them. That could complicate the prospects for ambitious Republicans. New York Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who represents a district that Democratic former Vice President Kamala Harris won in last year's presidential election, echoed the sentiment. Like Mace, he is considering a run for governor and has long complained about the cap that the 2017 Trump tax cuts put on the State and Local Tax Deduction, commonly known as SALT But Lawler said that the goal of the Trump legislation is to get states to run their programs properly. 'That's the objective, to get the program fixed so they should be working towards it,' he told The Independent. New York has a 14.09 percent error rate for SNAP. Republicans have long called for work requirements for social safety net programs, with some policy successes. But the current bill's work and cost-sharing provisions became a sticking point during the Senate debate. In the Senate, Republicans cut a deal with Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, whose state has an inordinately high error rate partially because of its rural population, to exempt it state from the cost-sharing part of the bill, which Democrats excoriated. But Rep. Buddy Carter, who is running for the Republican nomination to challenge Sen. Jon Ossoff in Georgia, defended the change in policy. 'We improved the program,' he told The Independent. 'We made sure that people who are on there should be on there, they're going to be off of that. Now we're going to make it better for those who truly need it.' Carter is running to represent a state with a large error rate of 15.65 percent. But Democrats say this will hurt states' ability to provide SNAP benefits. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic nominee for governor in New Jersey, specifically said it was unfair, 'especially from a state that sends $70 billion more to the federal government than we get back. 'If they're not going to run their programs, why are we paying taxes?' Sherrill told The Independent.
The Independent
02-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
‘If you want Medicaid, get a f***ing job!' Republicans take hard line in support of Trump bill despite constituent worries
Nancy Mace grabbed her team, hopped in a van and raced back to Washington in her pajamas Wednesday to vote on President Donald Trump's 'One Big, Beautiful Bill' — driving through stormy weather after scores of flights into D.C. were canceled. Mace, who is currently weighing a run for governor of South Carolina, knows that she needs the president's endorsement to win in a state that overwhelmingly supported him in 2024. So the mad dash, and the show she put on social media about it all, makes sense politically. But while the audience of one in the White House will appreciate the effort, many constituents back home may be far less pleased. That's because the Trump megabill forces states to carry part of the cost of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, if they have high rates of overpaying or underpaying recipients. And Mace sounds ready to throw some pain in the direction of her home state in the name of fighting 'waste, fraud and abuse.' 'So under some of the provisions, our state may have to pay fines of upwards of $300 million if we don't get the fraudulent payments for SNAP under control,' she told The Independent. The same goes for Medicaid. 'But if you're talking about able-bodied workers,' she continued, 'my policy is, if you're an able-bodied person and you want Medicaid? Get a f***ing job.' The Trump bill also puts rural hospitals at risk due to changes in how states can raise money for Medicaid. In Fiscal Year 2024, South Carolina had a 9.25 percent error rate for SNAP, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, 64.7 percent of families in South Carolina on Medicaid have a full-time worker in their family. 'We're gonna be fined $300 million a year if our government doesn't get its s*** together,' Mace said. 'If I run for governor, you can be damn sure that's No. 1 on my list.' New York Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who represents a district that Democratic former Vice President Kamala Harris won in last year's presidential election, echoed the sentiment. Like Mace, he is considering a run for governor and has long complained about the cap that the 2017 Trump tax cuts put on the State and Local Tax Deduction, commonly known as SALT But Lawler said that the goal of the Trump legislation is to get states to run their programs properly. 'That's the objective, to get the program fixed so they should be working towards it,' he told The Independent. New York has a 14.09 percent error rate for SNAP. Republicans have long called for work requirements for social safety net programs, with some policy successes. But the current bill's work- and cost-sharing provisions became a sticking point during the Senate debate. In the Senate, Republicans cut a deal with Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, whose state has an inordinately high error rate partially because of its rural population, to exempt it state from the cost-sharing part of the bill, which Democrats excoriated. But Rep. Buddy Carter, who is running for the Republican nomination to challenge Sen. Jon Ossoff in Georgia, defended the change in policy. 'We improved the program,' he told The Independent. 'We made sure that people who are on there should be on there, they're going to be off of that. Now we're going to make it better for those who truly need it.' Carter is running to represent a state with a large error rate of 15.65 percent. But Democrats say this will hurt states' ability to provide SNAP benefits. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic nominee for governor in New Jersey, specifically said it was unfair, 'especially from a state that sends $70 billion more to the federal government than we get back. 'If they're not going to run their programs, why are we paying taxes?' Sherrill told The Independent.
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Harrison: Hyde-Smith hopes ‘26 will be first easy Senate campaign in Mississippi
The recent announcement that state Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Andy Gipson plans to run for governor has fueled speculation about who will be running for what office in a wide open 2027 Mississippi election cycle. Will all or any of the combination of Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, Auditor Shad White, Attorney General Lynn Fitch enter the gubernatorial donnybrook? Who will be the Democratic Party standard bearer, and will Democrats field competitive candidates for any of the other down-ticket statewide offices that could be vacant based on who is running for governor? Perhaps, most importantly, will billionaire businessman Thomas Duff of Hattiesburg enter the gubernatorial race after showing numerous signals that he intends to? But before the 2027 elections roll around there will be another consequential statewide race in Mississippi: for the U.S. Senate in 2026. Incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith will be running in her third U.S. Senate race, and she surely hopes it will be her first easy one. Her first race, a special election in 2018 after longtime Sen. Thad Cochran retired, was the closest non-party primary U.S. Senate race in modern Mississippi history. Hyde-Smith, running then as the interim appointment of former Gov. Phil Bryant, captured 53.6% of the vote compared to 46.4% for Espy in the special election held to fill out Cochran's term. Trent Lott's first race for the U.S. Senate was almost as close in 1988, when he won 53.9% to 46.1% against 4th District U.S. Rep. Wayne Dowdy. And in a 2008 special election, Republican Roger Wicker, appointed by Gov. Haley Barbour to fill a vacancy left when Lott retired, garnered 55% to 45% by former Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove. But after those relatively close elections, both Lott in 1994 and Wicker in 2012 had easier second elections. Lott captured 69% of the vote against former state Sen. Ken Harper of Vicksburg. Wicker, on the other hand, had a little tougher race against Albert Gore, winning 57% to 40.6%. Gore was little known and underfunded, but was in many ways an attractive candidate with a noteworthy resume. Interestingly, Gore, like Wicker, was a Pontotoc County native. In Hyde-Smith's second race, she again faced Espy in a rare Mississippi campaign when the Democrat raised more money than the Republican. It is practically unheard of in the South — and assuredly in Mississippi — for a Democrat to raise more campaign funds than an incumbent Republican senator. Espy did. Still, Hyde-Smith, who remains Mississippi's only woman elected to a federal office, won 54.1% to 44.1%, but the campaign was far from easy for her. The trend for decades has been that once a U.S. Senate seat is won in Mississippi, the incumbent holds the post for a long time with minimal opposition. Hyde-Smith is still looking for that minimal opposition race. Will 2026 be when Hyde-Smith finally has an easy path to victory like other incumbent Mississippi senators normally have in their reelection efforts? Perhaps hoping to ensure that easier path, President Donald Trump already has endorsed Hyde-Smith for her 2026 campaign. But Trump also endorsed her in 2018 and 2020. Those endorsements did not result in easy campaigns for Hyde-Smith. In both of those campaigns, Hyde-Smith underperformed Trump's Mississippi results. Democrats Ty Pinkins and Albert Littell, both of whom have military backgrounds, already have announced their candidacy for 2026. Speculation is that District Attorney Scott Colom of Columbus also will challenge Hyde-Smith. And on the Republican side, author Sarah Adlakha, a Gulf Coast resident who works in health care, also has announced her campaign. Whether other candidates emerge remains to be seen. And whether Hyde-Smith can experience a less stressful 2026 also remains to be seen. So far the campaigns have not been as easy for her as for other incumbent U.S. senators from Mississippi. This column was produced by Mississippi Today, a nonprofit news organization that covers state government, public policy, politics and culture. Bobby Harrison is the editor of Mississippi Today Ideas.
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NJ governor election: Sherrill, Ciattarelli share their visions on South Jersey issues
Voters in the June 10 primary have decided that the major party nominees for governor of New Jersey will be former Republican Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli and Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, D-NJ. The two nominees were asked this week about offshore wind power development, light-rail expansion and the agriculture industry. These are topics that may come up between now and the general election in November and are of special interest to South Jersey residents. More: Has South Jersey made this blue state more of a purple? Governor race may test the notion. The development of offshore wind turbine farms to produce 'renewable' electricity is in a state of suspension as of January, and its future is uncertain in the face of regulatory and court appeals from opponents and supporters. According to Ciattarelli's campaign, he opposes offshore wind projects and supports efforts to cancel them. Offshore wind: NJ's next governor will have offshore wind farms — and their opponents — to consider Sherrill has taken an opposing stance. She said that she wants the state to invest clean energy to lower prices for consumers. She added that U.S. President Donald Trump has made it difficult to pursue wind projects. 'As we move forward with our energy planning, we need to combat these federal attacks with improved state-level planning for projects to ensure that state permitting processes work quickly and efficiently," Sherrill said. 'We need to expand into other clean energy sources, and as governor, I am going to boost our state's solar capacity by using state properties to host solar projects, expanding access to community solar, and pressuring PJM, our regional grid operator, to plug clean energy into the grid. Solar is clean, cheap, and the key to lowering New Jerseyans' rising utility costs while protecting our environment.' Gov. Phil Murphy and members of his administration want to see some action this year on the Glassboro-Camden Line. The proposal for this line, which would be approximately 18 miles of passenger light rail service between the Glassboro and Camden communities, has been defeated repeatedly by voters in the communities along the route. 'South Jersey deserves more infrastructure investment. Period," Ciattarelli said. "The fact that South Jersey businesses today are forced to pay a tax that funds NJ Transit, yet have limited to zero access to NJ Transit, is just plain wrong. 'That said, many communities that the proposed line would run through have strongly opposed the line. As governor, I would not force these communities to accept a rail line they do not support.' NJ Transit: How GCL rail, other South Jersey public transit initiatives may hinge on governor's race Sherrill, meanwhile, said she's in full support of completing the Glassboro-Camden Line. "As I have traveled across South Jersey, I've heard from far too many residents that NJ TRANSIT means 'North Jersey Transit.' That must change," Sherrill said. "As governor, I will make sure that South Jersey always has a seat at the table as we work to build the Glassboro-Camden light rail and expand bus routes.' More: Winners declared in NJ primary for governor Agriculture in New Jersey is a $1-billion-plus per year industry. Funding for research and promotion programs is a regular concern for its proponents. Industry leaders have also said they're leery of new environmental regulations, such as the proposed NJ REAL regulation regarding flood mitigation. 'This (NJ REAL) proposal is regulatory overkill and is DOA if I am governor," Ciattarelli said. "The idea that residents along the shore should be forced into 'managed retreat' is a non-starter for me. I will pause enforcement of these rules and reopen discussions with affected communities, business leaders, and other stakeholders.' Ag issues: New Jersey farmers want to see these concerns tackled by a new governor Sherrill noted that New Jersey is known as the Garden State for a reason, pointing to its production of corn, tomatoes and blueberries and its nearly 10,000 farms. 'As governor, I will support farmers and farmland preservation to strengthen our agricultural industry. I'll do so by creating a new focus at the NJ Economic Development Authority on incentives and economic assistance to support farming," Sherrill said. Her response didn't touch on NJ REAL regulations, but focused on the need to increasing investments in agriculture. 'New Jersey needs to innovate to ensure that when farms are sold, the state has programs to incentivize new owners to maintain operations. I will also create new loan programs for new farmers, including those at urban farms," Sherrill said. 'With the federal rollbacks in research, development, and education funding, it's more important than ever that we support agriculture extension and research operations at Rutgers University. Each year in Congress, I have fought for federal funding to support Rutgers' programming in a range of different areas, and I will continue to strongly support the world-class programs run by Rutgers that are going to bolster our agricultural industry and our overall economy.' Joe Smith is a N.E. Philly native transplanted to South Jersey 36 years ago, keeping an eye now on government in South Jersey. He is a former editor and current senior staff writer for The Daily Journal in Vineland, Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, and the Burlington County Times. Have a tip? Support local journalism with a subscription. This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Sherrill, Ciattarelli differ on offshore wind, light rail projects
Associated Press
20-06-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Democrats in Virginia have a hefty fundraising advantage heading into November general election
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democrats in Virginia have built up a hefty fundraising advantage for their effort to reclaim the governor's mansion in a November election that is seen as a bellwether for the party in power in Washington ahead of the 2026 midterms. Democrat Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA spy turned congresswoman, has a more than 2-to-1 fundraising advantage over her GOP opponent for governor, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who has struggled to draw support from her fellow Republicans. Both were unopposed for their party's nominations and were able to focus on the fall general election without having to overcome a challenge in this week's primaries. The match-up means Virginia is all but certain to elect the state's first female governor. Spanberger has amassed $6.5 million toward her campaign for governor over the last two months after raising $6.7 million between January and March, according to the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project. Combined with the money Spanberger raised in 2024, she has gathered $22.8 million and still has $14.3 million in her coffers. Earle-Sears, meanwhile, spent more than she earned between April and June, bringing in $3.5 million and spending $4.6 million. Between January and March, she also raised a little over $3.1 million. In total, she has raked in nearly $9.2 million since launching her campaign last September. Now, she has a little under $3 million in the bank, according to Virginia Public Access Project data. In a statement, Earle-Sears' campaign said the candidate is putting forward a message for Virginians that money can't buy. 'Clearly the Spanberger campaign needs a lot of help attempting to erase Abigail's bad voting record on issues that actually matter to Virginians,' press secretary Peyton Vogel said in an email. 'This race isn't being bought — it's being built on a message that matters.' Virginia is one of two states, along with New Jersey, that host statewide elections this year. The contests will be closely watched as a measure of whether voters in the shadow of Washington will embrace President Donald Trump's aggressive effort to overhaul the federal government, or be repelled by it. Democrats' outsized fundraising lead ahead of the primaries may reflect local Democratic enthusiasm and the party's ability to push people to the polls in light of Trump being in office. Mark J. Rozell, dean of George Mason University's Schar School of Policy and Government, also referenced the noticeable frostiness among leading state Republicans. The party's statewide nominees have yet to campaign together, despite securing their nominations at the end of April. 'Enthusiasm drives fundraising and in Virginia right now the Democrats' voting base has much greater enthusiasm' than Republicans, Rozell said. 'It is reminiscent of Trump's first term in office when Democratic fundraising and ultimately voting overwhelmed the Republicans in Virginia.' Money does not guarantee success, however. In the last Virginia governor's race, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe outspent Republican Glenn Youngkin, who had invested $20 million of his own money in the race. Youngkin still clinched the election by nearly two points. Youngkin, who is term-limited from seeking reelection, has offered more than $21,000 in support to Earle-Sears through his political action committee. When asked whether he would donate more, his PAC responded, 'Governor Youngkin is working to elect the entire GOP ticket and is urging all Virginians to support the commonsense team this November to keep Virginia winning.' The Democrats' fundraising advantage isn't confined to the governor's race. State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, who eked out a primary win in a close three-way contest for lieutenant governor, raised nearly $1.8 million in her primary race and has $462,000 remaining. The Republican nominee, conservative talk-radio host John Reid, raised nearly $312,000 since launching his campaign and has $116,000 remaining. The only statewide GOP candidate with a fundraising lead, incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares, has $2.3 million in the bank after raising a total of $4.6 million. His Democratic opponent, Jay Jones, has raised $2.7 million. He had about $493,000 left at the beginning of June, reports show. This year, all three Democratic statewide candidates are backed by Clean Virginia, a political group that pushes for clean energy and often takes on legislative challenges against Dominion Energy, Virginia's largest utility. The two groups are some of the most influential entities lobbying on state politics and policy. With energy demand likely to be a key issue in November, their influence could be significant. According to the nonpartisan public-access group, Spanberger has taken in $465,000 from the environmental organization. On Tuesday, Clean Virginia endorsed Hashmi's candidacy for lieutenant governor, following its previous donations to her state Senate campaign committee. During his campaign, Jones also received $1.5 million from Clean Virginia, while his primary opponent, Democrat Shannon Taylor, accepted $800,000 from Dominion Energy between 2024 and 2025. Clean Virginia released attack ads targeting Taylor for accepting Dominion money. The energy utility has become entangled in other statewide battles. On the Republican ticket, Earle-Sears accepted $50,000 from Dominion in March. Miyares also gained $450,000 from the utility so far this year. Clean Virginia has donated to both Democrats and Republicans, including to candidates running for the House of Delegates, where all 100 members are up for reelection in November. Democrats who control the legislature are hoping to keep or expand their thin majority and amend the state's Constitution to protect rights to voting, marriage equality and abortion. Democratic candidates have raised about $16.9 million in those races, with $3.2 million stemming from House Speaker Don Scott. Meanwhile, Republicans have raised $8.8 million, with former Minority Leader Todd Gilbert earning over $643,000, and newly tapped Minority Leader Terry Kilgore raising nearly $470,000. ——— Olivia Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
