by Elizabeth Troutman | Jan 8, 2024 | News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
A Republican ballot chasing effort is hiring 10 full-time ballot chase managers in Arizona to turn the state red in the 2024 election.
Turning Point Action’s Chase the Vote initiative, which launched on July 17, 2023, contacts voters who have received mail-in ballots to urge them to fill them out and make a voting plan, according to Chase the Vote’s website.
Chase the Vote will send outdoor knockers to encourage voters in “battleground states” including Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, Nevada, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Florida to vote Republican in response to left-wing battle-chasing initiatives.
The initiative will identify Republican voters, help them register to vote, inspire them through rallies and events, and mobilize voters to the polls on election day, according to the website.
Applications are open for ballot chase managers in the cities of Anthem, Glendale, Buckeye, Goodyear, Peoria, Surprise, North Phoenix, Queen Creek, Gilbert, and Mesa.
“The Radical Left is beating us in the ballot game,” Chase the Vote’s website says. “They have strategically concentrated their efforts on key states, massively expanding their ballot-chasing operations in critical battlegrounds.”
In 2020, President Joe Biden won the vote in Maricopa County, Arizona’s largest county. Chase the Vote aims to turn Maricopa County red in the 2024 election.
“In 2024, Turning Point Action will launch the first and most robust conservative ballot-chasing operation,” the website continues. “With a strong national grassroots network and a track record of empowering conservative leaders, we are committed to ensuring every American makes a voting plan for victory.”
Responsibilities of ballot chase manager positions include “daily communication, training and guiding ballot chasers across the state of Arizona, and volunteers;” and “hiring and building a community of the nation’s most aggressive and highly skilled ballot chasers in recent American history,” according to the job description.
Chase the Vote hopes to mobilize more than 1,000 field organizers to track and chase target ballots in battleground states.
Turning Point Action is partnering with Early Vote Action, Tea Party Patriotic Action, and America First Works to build the ballot chasing operation.
“Whether we like it or not, it’s time for conservatives to accept that our elections have been fundamentally transformed from traditional same-day voting to an early vote mobilization game. It’s time for our side of the aisle to adapt and respond,” Tyler Bowyer, Turning Point Action chief operating officer, said in a news release. “Our new coalition will build and execute an early vote juggernaut, giving us the upper hand in this logistical battle. From now on, we will play by the Left’s rules and chase every vote before Election Day even begins.”
Turning Point Action did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AZ Free News.
Executive director of Turning Point’s partner, America First Works, said conservatives need to mobilize early for the America First movement to succeed.
“In partnership with Turning Point Action, we will outmatch the Left’s early vote and ballot harvesting machine and, finally, even the election playing field,” Ashley Hayek said. “Our side has the winning message and the winning policies. And through this coalition, we will no longer wake up after an election wondering what went wrong.”
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Nov 15, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizonans may be ready to do an about-face on a candidate for President of the United States if recent polls are any indication of next year’s results in the November 2024 General Election.
On Tuesday, Noble Predictive Insights released a poll, showing that former President Donald J. Trump has an eight-point lead over current President Joe Biden in the Grand Canyon State.
The snapshot of the still-distant race has many encouraging signs for the 45th President, although sixteen percent of Arizona voters may still be undecided. Trump holds an eighty-point advantage within the Republican Party for the General Election, while Biden appears to only command a net sixty-seven points inside his own party. Independents, who are Arizona’s largest voting bloc, are split between the two candidates (37-34 Trump), and there are still a significant portion of those voters who are unsure about who they will vote for – if at all – in November’s crucial contest.
Noble Predictive Insights also released a poll of the Republican primary field, showing Trump with a commanding lead over any other competitors. Trump’s numbers in the November survey grew to 53% of the Republican electorate (up from 50% in July), while Governor Ron DeSantis lost three points (19% from 16%). Ambassador Nikki Haley doubled her standing from the July report, acquiring eight percent of the Arizona GOP field (from four percent in July). Vivek Ramaswamy remained at nine percent. This poll was fielded at the end of October, when former Republican contenders Mike Pence and Tim Scott were in the race; Pence pulled in three percent, and Scott, one percent.
In the press release announcing the results of this latest poll, David Byler, the Chief of Research for Noble Predictive Insights said, “An eight-point lead for Trump is striking, but not surprising. Poll averages have Trump ahead of Biden by about a point nationally – that’s a five point swing from the 2020 results. If Arizona – one of the most closely contested states of 2020 – also swung that much, we’d expect individual polls to give Trump a mid-to-high single-digit lead. That’s exactly what our poll – and other recent surveys – have shown.”
The Noble Predictive Insights poll tracks what other recent surveys have telegraphed about the state of the General Election in Arizona: Trump does appear to have a lead over Biden in the state. The latest New York Times / Siena College poll has Trump up by five in Arizona in a head-to-head match-up (49-49 with 603 Registered Voters). Emerson College has the former President leading by two points with a set of polls of both “Likely” and “Registered” voters. And Morning Consult has Trump up four points (46-42 with 800 Registered Voters).
The poll from Noble Predictive Insights computed from 1,010 registered Arizona voters and took placed between October 25-31.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Dr. Thomas Patterson | Sep 29, 2023 | Opinion
By Dr. Thomas Patterson |
At the end of the Cold War in 1989, the common understanding was that, with the emergence of the United States as the world’s single superpower, an era of order and peace would ensue. The perpetual struggle between nations vying for hegemonic dominance was over.
America had won, and the world was better for it. Compared to Nazis, Communists, Islamists, and others seeking control, America, as the world’s leading democracy, was clearly the least self-seeking and most committed to the common welfare.
It hasn’t worked out that way. Unfortunately, over the ensuing decades, Americans have elected a series of manifestly unqualified leaders. Two undistinguished leaders of small southern states, two scions of a well-respected family with limited leadership instincts, and a leftist “community organizer” who had been an inconsequential member of a state legislature, but who orated well and wore great suits.
We most recently elected a lifelong politician with a reputation as an incompetent plagiarizer and a weakness for outrageous lying and corruption. At this writing, he seems set for a rematch in the next election against another incumbent who must be one of the most incurious, entitled, and self-absorbed people to ever achieve high office.
Elections have consequences. America’s record of electing mediocre-at-best leaders has created a world very different from 1989. America’s standing in the world has sharply declined. Competition and chaos once again dominate international affairs.
America’s leaders no longer understand the critical importance of peace through strength. Instead, they seem to believe that successful statecraft is based on accommodation and concession. In a nuclear world, acting forcefully with enemies is just too risky. Better to make nice with autocrats and hope not to rile them up.
So, we get the contrivances of “leading from behind” and “red lines” which disappear when needed to obscure the lack of resolve. Autocrats just read the concessions as weakness. Allies learn to not depend on us.
For example, by 2010, the U.S. was on the verge of a lasting victory in the Iraq war, which had been brokered by the Bush administration. But Obama, in his eagerness to respond to America’s war-weariness, botched the job.
He needlessly interfered in an Iraqi election, destroying the fragile coalition that had contained the terrorists. Then he mishandled the withdrawal of U.S. troops, ignoring the agreements that had been forged with the Iraqis. The result was the collapse of American goals in Iraq and the resurgence of Islamist terrorism. A new organization called ISIS was inflicted on the world
In August 2021, President Biden ordered the immediate evacuation of troops and personnel from Kabul to end the Afghanistan War, based, he said, on the advice of senior U.S. military officers and information that a collapse of the Afghan government was highly unlikely. But no such advice was actually given.
Instead, Biden’s haste to end the war without proper preparation squandered 20 years of American blood and sacrifice. Thirteen U.S. service members were killed in a terrorist attack, hundreds of Americans were abandoned, and our trusted interpreters and local advisers were left in the lurch.
Military weaponry worth billions was simply abandoned as the Taliban once again assumed de facto control of the country. Sharia law and Islamist oppression of women resumed. Biden to this day insists he did nothing wrong.
America also regularly folds like an accordion in hostage negotiations. The deserter Bowe Bergdahl and basketball star Brittney Griner were both exchanged for pennies on the dollar in strategic value.
Recently, our negotiating geniuses agreed to swap five higher-value Iranian military personnel for five American civilians—and we even sweetened the pot by releasing $6 billion to the Iranians, which could only be used for humanitarian efforts.
Whoops! The Iranians immediately announced they would use the funds for whatever they pleased, including enriching uranium ore to near weapons-grade levels. State Department spokesman John Kirby explained that the deal was “the best we could achieve.” The impotent superpower was humbled once again.
In a democracy, voters get what they deserve. Our leaders’ obvious mistakes are ours for electing them.
America needs to elect leaders who are principled, competent, and decisive. Our next chance is coming up in 2024. It could be our last.
Dr. Thomas Patterson, former Chairman of the Goldwater Institute, is a retired emergency physician. He served as an Arizona State senator for 10 years in the 1990s, and as Majority Leader from 93-96. He is the author of Arizona’s original charter schools bill.
by Brian Anderson | Jun 16, 2023 | Opinion
By Brian Anderson |
A third Florida man has his eyes on the White House.
On Wednesday, after weeks of teasing an announcement, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez officially became the latest entry into the crowded Republican primary for president.
His speech at the Reagan Foundation the following day hit all the right notes—citing Miami’s “economic explosion” and “disciplined approach to spending” amid budget bloat in Washington—and there is little doubt that the mayor of Florida’s second-largest city will tout his role in the state’s booming economy.
Florida continues to stand out as a national model for conservative governance, with a low unemployment rate and record influx of new residents to prove it. But, before Suarez takes too much credit, voters would be wise to familiarize themselves with the mayor’s record, including how vehemently he fought against the very policies that have made Florida ‘Florida.’
After all, there would be no ‘Governor’ Ron DeSantis today if Suarez had had his way, only a ‘former Congressman.’ The mayor’s choice in the 2018 Florida gubernatorial race was Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, the progressive up-and-comer endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders and backed by Democratic mega-donor Tom Steyer.
Gillum’s radical campaign platform called for ‘Medicare for All,’ a 40 percent increase in the state’s corporate income tax, and other progressive priorities that would have slammed the brakes on the Sunshine State’s forward momentum. Yet Suarez campaigned for him ahead of Election Day and ultimately cast his ballot the same. (Two months later, he attended a special inaugural ball celebrating the victory of Agriculture Commissioner-elect Nikki Fried, the Democrat who would run for the state’s highest office in 2022.)
Thankfully, DeSantis ended up in the Governor’s Mansion, while Gillum’s 15 minutes of fame ended on the floor of a hotel room under less-than-ideal circumstances. Floridians rejected Suarez’s advice and have been better off for doing so ever since.
Case in point: COVID-19.
Perhaps no issue has defined DeSantis’ reputation more than his handling of the pandemic. The governor remained unwavering in his commitment to freedom and personal responsibility, even as opponents smeared him as “Ron DeathSantis,” as lockdown lobbyists in Grim Reaper costumes stalked families at his re-opened beaches, and as media properties like “60 Minutes” devolved into baseless fever dreams aimed at undermining his vision.
Miami’s mayor was not on the side you might think.
In April 2020, Suarez opposed the governor’s plan to “soon” resume in-person learning, insisting that “it would be particularly dangerous” to re-open schools considering the “incredible amount of children who could be at risk.”
He criticized DeSantis in September 2020 for his “acceleration” toward re-opening Florida’s economy “a lot faster … than what we had planned.”
Suarez also complained in January 2021 that “we’ve been restricted from being able to put in mitigation measures,” such as public mask mandates, by the governor, despite having “tried to reach him on multiple occasions” to lobby for the power to do so. The mayor called for a national mask mandate as well, strictly enforced with “the threat of fines” and “even arrest.”
This is not the record of a small-government conservative.
His recent hasty characterization minimizing DeSantis’ subsidy fight with Disney as a “personal vendetta”—all while lobbing personal insults at the governor (he “struggle[s] with relationships” and won’t “look at people in the eye”)—makes one wonder if Suarez doesn’t have a vendetta himself, with a campaign to dilute Florida’s primary vote as its main vehicle.
In short, the 2024 presidential race’s newest candidate may sing the right tune on the campaign trail, but the Sunshine State is the beacon of freedom it is today not because of Miami’s mayor, but despite him.
Suarez told “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan last month, “I’m someone who needs to be better known by this country,” and I agree, particularly by Republican primary voters—lest his happenstance proximity to Florida’s achievements be confused for actual contributions to them.
Brian Anderson is the president of the Saguaro Group, an Arizona-based research firm.
