by Corinne Murdock | Mar 10, 2024 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
The president of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC), Brandon Judd, says that President Joe Biden’s policies effectively forced their support of the border bill.
Judd told The Arizona Daily Independent that Biden’s State of the Union (SOTU) was a “slap in the face” that didn’t adequately acknowledge the border crisis. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) invited Judd as her guest to the SOTU, though Judd didn’t join her.
“The reason we support the border bill is because President Biden put us in a position where we have to accept anything,” said Judd.
The bill referenced by Judd was the $118 billion foreign aid bill — formed by Sinema alongside Sens. James Lankford (R-OK) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) — which contained marginal provisions for border security, with a majority set aside for Ukraine and other nations.
However, Judd commended Sinema’s advocacy for more border security in a press release issued by Sinema ahead of the SOTU.
“[Sinema] has advocated for border security in all forms whether it be at the Ports of Entry or between. She has listened to the voices of the people doing their best to protect this great nation,” said Judd.
Sinema announced earlier this week that she wouldn’t be seeking reelection. The development wasn’t all too surprising, given that she had failed to file her statement of interest to run.
Another representative of the border crisis, president of an NBPC local in New York and agent Brandon Budlong, was invited to the SOTU.
Budlong said in a House GOP video series critiquing the Biden administration that border agents are unable to do what “they’re meant to do,” turning away illegal immigrants, and instead “streamlining millions” of illegal immigrants into the country.
“Hearing the news about Laken Riley’s death was extremely frustrating for me,” said Budlong. “It makes you almost feel like you failed at your job, even though you did everything that you could with the policies in place. This administration created this crisis and they can fix it, but they refuse to do so.”
Riley was a 22-year-old nursing student murdered during her morning jog on the University of Georgia campus last month. The accused murderer, 26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra, came to the U.S. illegally from Venezuela in September 2022 near El Paso, Texas. Ibarra received parole due to ICE’s inability to lodge a detainer in a timely manner, effectively benefitting from the catch and release that many other illegal immigrants have enjoyed throughout the Biden administration.
In his short stint in the U.S., Ibarra was arrested in New York last September for acting in a manner to injure a minor and a driving license violation. Ibarra had been living in a taxpayer-funded shelter. Ibarra left the state shortly after his NYC arrest for Georgia.
The New York Post reported on Friday that Ibarra was permitted entry despite documented ties to Teen de Aragua (TdA), a Venezuelan gang operating in New York and Georgia, as well as Texas, Illinois, and Florida. The Post discovered that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) internal documents had Ibarra’s name listed as belonging to TdA.
In a motion filed earlier this week, federal authorities alleged that Ibarra’s brother, Diego, has ties to the same gang.
Diego was arrested shortly after his brother for possession of a fake green card; he had cut off an ankle monitor to evade authorities. Diego also had an arrest record. He was arrested three times by Athens, Georgia law enforcement for a DUI and driving without a license, shoplifting, and failure to appear in court.
The House passed the Laken Riley Act, an immigration bill requiring federal detention of migrants charged with burglary or theft, on Thursday.
Riley did receive a mention by Biden during his SOTU, though only after an outburst during his speech by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA-14) demanded that Biden “say her name.” Biden did say Riley’s name, though he mispronounced it as “Lincoln Riley.” The president then downplayed her death by contrasting it with the number of other deaths that occur every day under illegal immigrants.
“Lincoln — Lincoln Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal,” said Biden. “That’s right, but how many of the thousands of people [are] being killed by illegals?”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Feb 24, 2024 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) hasn’t filed a statement of interest to run yet, which means she hasn’t started gathering the tens of thousands of signatures she will need to appear on the ballot.
The lack of action on Sinema’s part raises further doubt that she plans to seek reelection, since the deadline for signature collections is April 1. That’s about five weeks away.
State law requires candidates to file their statement of interest prior to collecting signatures for ballot qualification. As an independent, Sinema would need a minimum of 42,300 signatures to qualify for the general election ballot.
Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) is seeking the Democratic nomination, while former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb seek the Republican nomination.
Sinema’s failure to file for reelection may relate to the House GOP’s recent rejection of her $118 billion foreign aid bill. Although Sinema and others described the legislation widely as a “border bill,” it allotted a mere 17 percent of funds for border security. $60 billion of the funds were allotted for relief for Ukraine, with the remainder set aside for Israel and other foreign countries.
The bill was a tripartisan effort between Sinema, Republican Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, and Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy.
In addition to border funding making up a minority of the $118 billion bill, GOP leadership contested the proposed border security provisions, such as enabling the president to override the bill’s automatic shutdown on migrant entry.
That automatic shutdown would occur should an average of 5,000 illegal crossings occur over a period of seven consecutive days. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could also implement the shutdown with an average of 4,000 illegal crossings over a period of seven consecutive days.
The shutdown would conclude after two weeks of border crossings falling below the 4,000-5,000 threshold. This authority would also be limited to 270 days in the first year, and even less days in the following two years. However, that closure could be reversed should the president declare a “national interest” in keeping the border open.
In the 2023 fiscal year, there were over 2.5 million illegal immigrant encounters. That’s an average of over 6,800 illegal immigrant encounters a day.
Sinema insisted that her foreign aid bill would have solved the border crisis.
“My border bill would have prevented these closures and solved the crisis – but partisans decided not to secure the border,” said Sinema.
Brian Anderson, founder of the political consultant firm Saguaro Group, said that it was the foreign aid bill’s failure that confirmed this to be the end of the line for Sinema.
“The recent border bill was going to be Sinema’s last ‘hurrah.’ It was her way of proving to voters that she’s a deal-maker and the platform from which she’d launch her reelect,” said Anderson. “But everyone saw the border bill for what it was: All surface, no substance, just like Sinema — and luckily it died on the vine just like her campaign should.”
Anderson added that the Democrats were “out of their mind” for alienating Sinema in favor of Gallego: a choice he says is favorable for the GOP in the race, should they play their cards right.
“She rubber-stamped virtually every agenda item on their docket while masquerading as a moderate with the best PR game on that side of the aisle, yet they decided to replace her with a four feet, two inches-high hothead with a history of unseemly behavior,” said Anderson. “If Republicans can’t manage to win a two-way race here, we have no one to blame but ourselves.”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Nov 25, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) is most favorable among voters for the 2024 Senate race according to a new poll, beating out incumbent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and challengers Kari Lake and Mark Lamb.
Gallego led with a 19-point net positive favorability. Lamb and Sinema both trailed at a 10-point net positive favorability, and Lake had an eight-point negative net favorability among voters.
Noble Predictive Insights (NPI) conducted the poll, their Arizona Public Opinion Pulse (AZPOP). NPI surveyed over 1,000 registered voters in late October, estimating a three percent margin of error. NPI said in a press release that a three-way race with Sinema in the mix as an independent was “anyone’s game.”
NPI Founder and CEO Mike Noble speculated that Gallego’s strength came from branding, while Sinema’s weaknesses came from her divisive voting record.
“It’s interesting to see that Gallego is still ahead even as Republicans lead in the presidential and generic House races (R+8),” said Noble. “Part of that may be the presence of Sinema scrambling things for voters. But part of it may be Gallego cultivating a strong personal brand.”
In a hypothetical matchup between Gallego, Sinema, and Lake, Gallego led by a single digit. Democratic respondents expressed the highest preference for Gallego over Sinema. Republican respondents expressed a similar, though slightly lower, preference for Lake. Sinema had a near-equal division across Republicans, Democrats, and Independents for favorability.
In a hypothetical matchup between Gallego, Sinema, and Lamb, Gallego captured more voters. NPI noted that Lamb had “more room to grow” since 44 percent of voters had no opinion or had never heard of him.
With Republican voters carved out from the pack to determine Senate primary frontrunners, Lake led with 40 percent favorability. 33 percent were undecided, 14 percent expressed preference for Lamb, 10 percent expressed preference for Blake Masters, and four percent expressed preference for Brian Wright.
Masters is running for Congress, not Senate; the poll was conducted prior to Masters’ announcement of his congressional run. Noble said that Lake would likely pull most of the voters that expressed a preference for Masters.
“With Blake Masters no longer in the mix for the Arizona Senate contest, Lake is likely to benefit the most as his 10% share of support gets distributed,” said Noble. “Lake is in the driver’s seat in the GOP primary contest, meanwhile, Mark Lamb needs to step up his fundraising if he wants to mount a serious challenge to Lake.”
Independents now lead the state in terms of registered voters: over 1.45 million voters (34.6 percent). Republicans are second with over 1.44 million voters (34.3 percent). Democrats are third, with over 1.25 million voters (29.7 percent).
Libertarians and the new No Labels Party each have less than one percent of voters: over 33,700 (0.8 percent) and nearly 18,800 (0.45 percent), respectively.
The full poll results may be accessed here.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Jul 11, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) is amping up his energy on fundraising efforts for his 2024 Senate campaign.
As part of his efforts, Gallego is leaning into memes to gin up support. Although embattled Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake hasn’t officially announced a run, Gallego cited Lake as a reason to support his campaign.
Gallego issued his tweet warning about “Senator Kari Lake” a day before Lake revealed to Breitbart that she was considering running to challenge incumbent Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ). However, Lake disclosed that she had a “lot of options” to choose from, though she didn’t offer details as to what those might be.
“I am contemplating running for office again,” said Lake. “I may run for Senate, I’m considering that.”
Lake convened with the U.S. Senate GOP’s campaign team in May to discuss a possible Senate run. The visit was a follow-up to a February meeting with the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Gallego again relied on a meme to issue an end-of-quarter plea for more funding several weeks ago.
Gallego also used former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in an attempt to boost donations.
According to the latest Federal Election Commission (FEC) data through March, Gallego has raised over $3.7 million since January. Only about 2,200 of his 11,818 contributions have come from Arizona, totaling about $500,000.
Top donors include Evan Goldberg, executive vice president for global technology giant Oracle Corporation; Andrew E. Beck III, managing director for global investment giant D.E. Shaw; and George Pla, CEO of construction engineering giant Cordoba Corporation.
Over $7,000, the single-highest donation, came from the Swallego Victory Fund: the joint committee between Gallego and fellow Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA-14).
Gallego also received thousands of dollars in early support from a number of national unions: United Food and Commercial Workers International Union; National Beer Wholesalers Association; National Association of Letter Carriers of U.S.A.; National Air Traffic Controllers Association; International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; International Association of Sheet, Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers; International Association of Firefighters Interested in Registration and Education; International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers; International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental, and Reinforcing Iron Workers; Communications Workers of America
Gallego also received some support from political action committees (PACs) associated with major corporations: Synchrony Financial, Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America, Northrop Grummanm, General Dynamics, and Salt River Valley Water Users’ Association.
Several PACs also issued thousands to Gallego: VoteVets, The Next 50 PAC, and Poet PAC.
Since their inception in 2006, VoteVets brought in over $102.6 million. The Next 50 PAC, registered in 2019 and based out of New York, has brought in over $730,000. Poet PAC, established in 2008 and based out of South Dakota, has brought in over $6.3 million.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Terri Jo Neff | Dec 10, 2022 | News
By Terri Jo Neff |
Within hours of U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s announcement on Friday that she is now a registered independent voter, posturing began for the 2024 election as the public learned just how deep the divide is within the Arizona Democratic Party.
Sinema took part in multiple media appearances to explain her decision, stressing her bipartisan efforts and focus on being an “independent voice” as Arizona’s senior senator despite being the Democratic nominee in 2018 against then-Sen. Martha McSally.
“Removing myself from the partisan structure — not only is it true to who I am and how I operate, I also think it’ll provide a place of belonging for many folks across the state and the country, who also are tired of the partisanship,” Sinema said.
In another statement Friday, Sinema noted her independent minded approach “is rare in Washington and has upset partisans in both parties,” but she believes it is “an approach that has delivered lasting results for Arizona.”
Sinema’s sentiment that she has well-served her constituents is not universally shared by Democrats back home, where her lack of enthusiastic support for many Democratic candidates in the 2022 election cycle, including Secretary of State Katie Hobbs’ run for governor, caused frustration for the Arizona Democratic Party.
Friday’s defection announcement was met by a good riddance style statement from state party leaders, who said everything except don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
“Senator Sinema may now be registered as an Independent, but she has shown she answers to corporations and billionaires, not Arizonans,” the statement read. “Senator Sinema’s party registration means nothing if she continues to not listen to her constituents.”
Some of Sinema’s votes in past years vexed key party leaders, but the discontent remained mostly under the surface until January. That is when the Arizona Democratic Party’s executive board censured Sinema for opposing changes to the Senate’s filibuster rules so that Democrats could push through voting rights legislation in advance of the 2022 election cycle.
Over the last two election cycles, the number of Arizona voters now registered as independents or no-party designated is almost equal to the number of registered Republicans, while independents outnumber registered Democrats by about 110,000 voters.
If Sinema seeks reelection in 2024, a run as an independent allows her to avoid a rough primary such as one U.S. Representative Ruben Gallego has been suggesting for months that he plans to put forth. Gallego issued a statement Friday that promoted his donation webpage while criticizing Sinema.
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton decried suggestions that Sinema’s decision was somehow connected to a “post-partisan epiphany.” Instead, the former Phoenix mayor said it was “about political preservation” in light of Sinema’s recent polling numbers.
However, Sinema’s move was applauded by many Conservatives, including Larry Elder, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and Twitter CEO Elon Musk.
Sinema’s voter registration switch ensures far-left Democrats will lose any foothold they expected to have after the recent Georgia runoff gave Democrats a slim 51 to 49 majority in the Senate. However, she is expected to retain all of her committee assignments from Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top-ranking Democrats.
Unlike fellow independents Sen. Angus King (Maine) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vermont) who formally caucus with Democrats, Sinema says she does not plan to caucus with any party.
Terri Jo Neff is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or send her news tips here.
