Categories Uncategorized

Five ways to prepare for an uncertain 2023 economy

For the U.S. economy, 2022 was a wild and somewhat painful year. And 2023 could be even more intense.

A year of stubbornly high inflation, rapid interest rate hikes and war-driven energy shock have weakened the U.S. economy. While the job market remains remarkably strong, many economists say the U.S. is likely to slip into a recession at some point next year.

And even if the nation avoids a recession, Americans will still contend with higher prices, high interest rates and the unknown impacts of the Fed’s fight against inflation. Political standoffs over government funding, entitlement programs and the federal debt limit also risk tipping the economy into more pain.

Plan for high inflation

Inflation has slowed significantly after peaking this summer at four-decade highs, bringing some minor relief to cash-strapped shoppers. Easing supply chain issues, slower consumer spending and lower fuel costs should help make some goods more affordable next year than last, all while the strong US dollar helps make imports cheaper.

Even so, prices still rose 7.1 percent annually as of November, according to the consumer price index (CPI), an inflation rate well above pre-pandemic norms.

Economists at Goldman Sachs expect prices for goods to fall from current levels next year enough to achieve a negative inflation rate, thanks largely to “more moderate commodity price inflation, falling transportation costs, and downward pressure on import prices,” they wrote in a Monday analysis.

But prices for many services — especially housing and health care — are likely to keep rising after skyrocketing through much of last year, they said.

“We expect a more limited decline on the services side, with core services [inflation] from 5 percent to a still high 4.5 percent  by December 2023,” the Goldman Sachs economists wrote.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has also warned that the U.S. is far off from price stability and even slower inflation in 2023 will still be hard for many households to stomach.

“There’s an expectation that the services inflation will not move down so quickly, so that we’ll have to stay at it,” Powell said during a press conference earlier this month.

“We may have to raise rates higher to get to where we want to go.”

Brace for higher interest rates

Even if inflation keeps falling, the Fed has made clear it won’t stop hiking interest rates in the beginning of next year and plans to keep them high for the foreseeable future.

Fed officials expect to hike their baseline interest rate range up to a span of 5 to 5.25 percent by the end of 2023, up from the current range of 4.25 to 4.5 set earlier this month, according to their latest projections. They also don’t expect to cut rates until 2024, though a steep recession could force the Fed to change plans.

“We are doubtful that the goods-driven decline in inflation that we expect in 2023 would be sufficient to give the [Fed] confidence that inflation is moving down in a sustained way, which Powell has said is the criterion for cutting,” economists at Goldman Sachs explained.

“But more than that, we remain skeptical that the [Fed] will cut just for the sake of returning to neutral,” they wrote. 

Job security can be valuable in a recession

A historically strong job market has helped the U.S. economy power through high inflation and defy previous predictions of a slowdown. It has also allowed millions of employed Americans to find new jobs, often with better pay or career opportunities, thanks to a glut of job openings and much smaller workforce. 

Economists are increasingly fearful a recession could force thousands — if not millions — of Americans out of their jobs next year. The Fed has projected the jobless rate to rise to 4.6 percent by the end of 2023 as the economy slows under higher interest rates intended to make it weaker.

“Though the economy has not yet suffered a recession, growth has sharply slowed and is weaker than the third-quarter data suggest,” Scott Hoyt, Moody’s Analytics senior director, wrote in an analysis last week.

If the U.S. hits a recession in 2023, recent hires without seniority could find themselves among the first to be laid off. Firms in industries that are hit hard by high interest rates may also face financial pressure, which could threaten jobs in sectors such as technology and real estate. 

“I don’t think anyone knows whether we’re going to have a recession or not and, if we do, whether it’s going to be a deep one or not. It’s just, it’s not knowable,” Powell said.

Don’t expect the stock market to roar back

Stocks are set to close 2022 with steep losses after setting new record highs toward the end of last year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down roughly 9 percent since the start of 2022, while the Nasdaq composite and S&P 500 index have plunged 35 percent lower and 20 percent lower, respectively, over the past 12 months.

The persistence of high inflation, the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and the upward climb of interest rates sapped confidence from the market and momentum from stocks after posting double-digit percentage gains throughout the pandemic.

While 2023 may be calmer, many investment experts see the market bouncing somewhere in between the record highs set in 2021 and the nadir of the past year’s selloff.

“Even in relatively calm years, the market still experiences some ups and downs. For 2023, hopefully the market’s inevitable waves will prove to be manageable. But I believe we need to brace for the possibility that they will be more treacherous,” Jurrien Timmer, director of global macro for Fidelity Management and Research.

Wall Street will be fixated on when the Fed plans to stop hiking rates and whether the economy will weaken enough to force them to the Fed to curtail its strategy. Fights over government funding and the debt ceiling will also shake confidence among investors, particularly if the U.S. gets close to a potentially catastrophic default on the national debt.

Source: TEST FEED1

GOP governor: Jan. 6 should disqualify Trump from holding office

Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.) reiterated on Sunday that he preferred a different GOP presidential candidate in 2024 who was not former President Trump, telling ABC’s “This Week” that Jan. 6 should disqualify Trump from holding office again.

“I do not believe that Donald Trump should be the next president of the United States,” Hutchinson said. “I think he’s had his opportunity there. I think Jan. 6 really disqualifies him for the future.”

Hutchinson went further, saying he’d do everything in his power to make sure that there is an alternative GOP nominee for the 2024 presidential race.

“I want to see everything I can do to make sure there is the alternative, and that Donald Trump is not the not the nominee of the party. That’s the first thing. And let’s figure out how to do that,” Hutchinson said.

But Hutchinson also acknowledged that Trump is polling well and still considered to be the front-runner for the party’s nomination.

“I think you have to start him out as the front-runner simply because he’s polling that well. He’s the former president,” Hutchinson said.

The Arkansas governor, who won’t confirm if he is running for president in 2024 himself, also said Trump’s campaign so far has been relatively quiet despite “chaos” that has surrounded Trump in the past, which could give other candidates a chance.

“It’s an opportunity for other voices to rise, that are going to be problem-solving, common sense conservatives,” Hutchinson said.

“You need to simply have a message that’s authentic to yourself, a message that is problem solving, and say, ‘this is what we need to do as a country.’ And that, to me, is the right contrast.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Kinzinger blames McCarthy for Trump 'factor,' 'crazy elements' in Congress

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said on Sunday that he blamed House Minority Leader (R-Calif.) for what he called the “crazy elements” in Congress and for the reason former President Trump is “still a factor” in politics.

Kinzinger said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that if he had a one-on-one conversation with McCarthy, he would tell his fellow Republican that he was “disappointed” in his leadership.

Kinzinger said McCarthy had an opportunity to tell “the truth” to the American people as a leader in Congress, but he instead went to Mar-a-Lago a few weeks after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and “resurrected” Trump’s relevance in politics.

“He is the reason Donald Trump is still a factor,” Kinzinger said. “He is the reason that some of the crazy elements of the House still exist.” 

McCarthy reportedly begged Trump to call off the rioters during the Capitol attack, and audio from a phone call McCarthy made revealed that he criticized Trump in the aftermath the insurrection. But he soon after increased his ties to the former president, as did much of the Republican Party. 

Kinzinger said he believes Trump would have been pushed out as leader of the GOP if McCarthy did not travel to Mar-a-Lago, adding that Congress removing Trump from office following his impeachment over his role in the riot would have been “huge.” He said Trump not being removed from office is on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other Senate Republicans who failed to convict Trump following the House’s second impeachment of him.

But Kinzinger said the “second” that McCarthy went to Mar-a-Lago, the GOP went from not knowing what it was going to do about Trump to “begrudgingly” defending him. 

“Donald Trump should consider Kevin McCarthy his best friend because Donald Trump is alive today politically because of Kevin McCarthy,” he said. 

Kinzinger said the GOP will not be the future of the country unless changes are made. He said a successful country in 20 years from now will not be based on what “radicals” like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) want. 

“The only way this country can succeed is if we learn to work together,” he said.

Source: TEST FEED1

The left's 5 biggest unknowns for 2023

Progressives are leaving 2022 riding high. This year, liberals pushed President Biden to the left, passed legislation in line with their philosophy and expanded their united bargaining power in Congress.

In Washington’s ever-changing expectations game, however, 2023 is sure to bring a fair amount of uncertainty to the Democratic Party’s left flank.

While Biden has shown a desire to embrace much of what drives liberals, the new year will test how far he is willing to depart from his moderate tendencies from the Oval Office.

On Capitol Hill, progressives will have to adjust to a new GOP House, notably without a natural standard-bearer leading their own side’s movement.

And in the judiciary, they’re preparing for court challenges to some of their biggest agenda items.

All that is set to play out as speculation mounts over whether Biden, 80, will run for a second term as president. 

Here are the left’s 5 biggest unknowns for 2023:

1. Biden’s 2024 plans

Nothing will have a bigger impact on progressives’ plans for the future than the president’s decision on whether or not to seek reelection.

If there were doubts over Biden’s general fly-under-the-radar strategy, November quieted the naysayers. For months, while Democrats bemoaned the president and his administration’s approach to the midterms, the White House stuck to its course, keeping with the same game plan that Biden had seen work successfully in the past, such as when he was down in the 2020 Democratic primary before sweeping to victory.

Even as Biden’s approval ratings dipped lower and lower, Biden officials warned that issues such as protecting democracy and abortion access were equally important, and that they could offer a message that resonated in swing areas and even build on reach states such as Georgia if they could convince voters that they can deliver results. 

The party’s relative success during the elections — better than many anticipated and other past cycles — is a convincing reason to believe that Biden, who has repeatedly said he intends to run again in 2024, will go through with it.

But things can change. If an unforeseeable event causes Biden to rethink a second term, an ensuing Democratic presidential primary would shine a bright light on progressive policies.

And to be sure, possible Democratic hopefuls are expected to keep up with the preliminary planning they started this year, while working with the administration as an ally —  for now. 

2. Biden’s appetite for shifting further left

Progressives have a degree of skepticism around Biden’s ability to adapt to the changing tides of his party. Things didn’t look so good for the left when Build Back Better, the expansive social safety net package, was being fought over by moderates and progressives in both chambers of Congress, with Biden often siding with key centrists. 

But if 2021 was rife with doubt about where Biden stands, 2022 was the year of answers. The self-proclaimed moderate proved capable of gliding left on issues including student loan debt and climate change and ultimately signed the massive Inflation Reduction Act, with voters rewarding the party in power more than expected at the ballot box. 

Liberals in Congress are now hopeful they can get more out of the president through executive orders in 2023, particularly as they are about to learn what it means to govern in the minority in the House. They want to see him go bolder on the climate, immigration and tax reform, and to take on new fights around antitrust and prescription drug pricing, where the Congressional Progressive Caucus is expected to make their case with fervor. 

3. New dynamics in the House

Speaking of the House, there’s a new Democratic leader in the lower chamber who comes with a question mark.

Minority leader-in-waiting Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) has big shoes to fill from former longtime Speaker and caucus coraller Nancy Pelosi (Calif.).

Pelosi, a progressive, enjoyed a productive relationship with her party’s left wing, even when they butted heads over tactics and the practical limits of governance. 

Jeffries is, for now, more of an unknown.

Progressives are optimistic that he’ll work with them in a similar fashion, but there’s less of a personal history and kinship to go off of. They’ve been pleased that he seems willing to get off on the right foot, including talking with “squad” members early on, but some of his own past work and political leanings open up questions about which way he’ll ultimately side in the year’s inevitable intraparty squabbles. 

As a member of the progressive caucus, he’s often voted with their interests and hasn’t gone out of his way to antagonize the left like some House moderates. But his standing may be determined by his willingness to take on the bigger fights of the new year, when progressives have even more seats at the table and plan to use their expanded bench to push for issues where the two sides of the party don’t agree.

The new slate of members also comes with its own uncertainties. For now, it’s unknown how staunch left-wing incoming Democratic lawmakers, such as Reps.-elect Greg Cesar (Texas), Summer Lee (Pa.), and Maxwell Frost (Fla.) — who are diverse in age, gender, demographics and geography —will use their newfound power and influence in a minority position. 

4. Lack of progressive standard-bearer

Biden’s position at the top of the party has added new elements to the ongoing debate about the direction Democrats are heading in 2023 — and who might be poised to lead from the left. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), progressives’ iconoclastic leader, is still a profound voice for their flank. But, like Biden, he’s part of a caucus that’s becoming younger and more diverse, and the same questions that haunt the president over longevity and bandwidth also plague the 81-year-old Sanders. 

With that in mind, it’s anyone’s guess who may adopt an elevated role as the unofficial leader for liberals in 2023.

Practically speaking, Sanders isn’t going anywhere. He’s set to take on a new assignment as chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, transitioning from his role overseeing the Budget Committee, and is expected to continue to push for his marquee positions such as Medicare for All. 

But other progressives are also sharing the spotlight. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) has put himself at the center of relevant debates around economics and what a more populist-progressive future could look like in the future. And newer members-elect, including Lee, Cesar, Frost, Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), and Becca Balint (D-Vt.), among others, are already planning to make noise. 

5. The courts

This year, the courts have had a massive impact on American politics, with the biggest earthquake being the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe v. Wade and undo decades of precedent protecting reproductive rights. 

One of the left’s signature accomplishments under Biden, an executive order to cancel large sums of federal student loan debt for thousands of people, is heading to the Supreme Court in late February. Justices will hear arguments about the president’s plan, which came after months of lobbying from advocates and progressive lawmakers who urged Biden to eliminate billions of dollars for struggling student borrowers. 

The conservative-majority court is also expected to hear arguments on immigration relating to Title 42, a policy held over from former President Trump’s administration that progressives insist must be reversed.  

And there’s always the possibility of a hypothetical Supreme Court opening, which could lead to a crazy free-for-all for both parties. 

Beyond that, Democrats had also pressured the Senate to confirm a host of judges that Biden nominated during his first term, worried that if the upper chamber went to Republican control during the midterms there would be effectively no shot at getting those seats filled. 

When Democrats increased their Senate majority by one, there was a sense of relief that there’s still time. But it’s an open question how many of those nominees will be secured and how strongly conservatives will push back.

Source: TEST FEED1

GOP Rankings: The Republicans most likely to be the party’s 2024 presidential nominee

Former President Trump is already in the race. Other major contenders are openly contemplating bids. And speculation is swirling around big names who have so far kept their intentions quiet, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The battle for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination is guaranteed to be fierce. President Biden may have had a better midterms than many people expected, but his approval ratings remain tepid. 

Biden is vulnerable if he runs for a second term. If he doesn’t, there would be no runaway favorite to be the Democratic nominee. 

Either way, the GOP nominee in 2024 looks sure to have a solid chance of winning the White House.

Here are the people most likely to top the GOP ticket.

1. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis 

DeSantis had by far the best midterms of any serious 2024 contender, winning reelection by almost 20 points in Florida, which had been considered a battleground state, at least until recently. 

His victory made a formidable argument that his embrace of culture war issues and his opposition to COVID-19–related lockdowns has paid off electorally.

DeSantis has continued in that vein since his victory, calling on the Florida Supreme Court to impanel a grand jury to investigate “any and all wrongdoing” with respect to COVID-19 vaccinations.

The move was derided by critics as a blatant play to the anti-vax element of the GOP base. But that won’t bother DeSantis at all.

The Florida governor came off his election campaign with about $90 million still in the bank across his accounts, and he has also drawn some GOP mega-donors to his side.

DeSantis has not provided many clues as to his 2024 intentions; it is simply assumed that he is contemplating a run.

If he gets in, he will have many assets — and some favorable tailwinds created by his main rival’s missteps.

2. Former President Trump

Trump would have been the runaway favorite had these rankings been drawn up the day before the midterm elections.

Since then, virtually everything the president has touched has turned bad.

Some of his most prominent endorsees lost in the midterms. He committed a major unforced blunder when he had dinner with two antisemites, Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and Nick Fuentes.

Trump’s campaign launch was lackluster and was not followed up by any of the big rallies from which the former president seems to draw energy. 

Trump got into yet another seemingly pointless controversy in early December when he called for the “termination” of parts of the Constitution — apparently to allow him to either be reinstated or to rerun the 2020 election.

While Trump is diminished, he can’t be at all counted out.

Republican voters retain a strongly positive impression of him, he can raise all the money he needs with ease and he could be a big beneficiary of a multicandidate field given the loyalty of his hardcore followers.

Trump’s allies point out that he is in a better position now than he was at the outset of his 2016 campaign. 

That’s true enough so far as it goes. But the former president looks more vulnerable, even in a Republican primary, than would have been predicted even a short time ago.

3. Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas)

Cruz was Trump’s most serious rival in 2016, and he would be a significant player if he entered the race this time. 

He has been careful to keep the door open to that possibility, even though a White House bid would be complicated because he is also up for reelection to the Senate in 2024.

Cruz told reporters at a November news conference, following an appearance before the Republican Jewish Coalition, that he was running for reelection to the upper chamber. But, he added, “there will be plenty of time to discuss 2024 presidential … there will be plenty of time for that.”

Cruz’s appeal would be essentially unchanged from what it was in 2016: a fervent conservative, willing to mix it up with the media and attack Democrats in fiery terms.

DeSantis’s new prominence complicates the calculus significantly for Cruz, since he would have to both maneuver around Trump and prove himself a better alternative than DeSantis.

4. Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley

Haley has been among the most candid of the major contenders about her intentions. 

She is mulling a presidential bid, saying at an event at Clemson University at the end of November, “We are taking the holidays to kind of look at what the situation is.”

She added: “If we decide to get into it, we’ll put 1,000 percent in, and we’ll finish it.”

Haley served Trump as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and was previously the first female governor of South Carolina. 

Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, would bring a very different sensibility to the top of the GOP ticket than was the case with Trump.

Whether she can win the trust of the party’s base, however, might be another matter.

5. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

Pompeo, like Haley, has made no secret at all of the fact that he is contemplating a 2024 campaign.

In December, he told “Fox News Sunday” that he and his family were “thinking our way through this,” adding that “we have to get this right for America.” He suggested he would make a decision by spring.

Pompeo has foreign policy gravitas thanks to his time as the nation’s chief diplomat and, before that, as director of the CIA.

As a Fox News contributor, he also has an enviable platform from which to reach the Republican grassroots.

Bu the question for Pompeo has always been whether there is really a constituency for him, even among the Republican primary electorate. 

It’s seriously questionable whether there are passionate Pompeo backers in any significant number.

6. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin

Youngkin came from relative political obscurity to win the governorship of Virginia in 2021.

The achievement won him instant fans among Republicans, not least because Biden had carried the state by around 10 points just a year before.

Youngkin’s strategy was also seen as offering an appealing template for Republicans nationwide — he neither tethered himself to Trump nor directly repudiated him. Instead, he reaped political dividends from making issues like education and “wokeness” central to his campaign.

A Youngkin presidential bid would be an intriguing one, though his relative lack of political experience would be an issue.

7. Former Vice President Mike Pence

The belief Pence will run for president is so strong that, in late December, reports gained steam that he had filed the necessary paperwork to launch — until a spokesman clarified that the paperwork appeared to be a hoax.

The spokesman, Devin O’Malley, emphasized in a series of tweets that Pence had “been saying that if there was an announcement to be made, it would [be] made in 2023!”

Pence had been putting more distance than before between himself and Trump, especially in a series of interviews he gave to promote his recent memoir. At the same time, he refers with pride to the achievements of the “Trump-Pence administration.”

It seems debatable, at best, whether Pence can thread that needle successfully in a GOP primary.

Several polls show him meeting sizable resistance among Republican voters — presumably from Trump loyalists who blame him for not joining the clearly unconstitutional effort to overturn the 2020 election.

8. Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.)

Scott coasted to election in South Carolina this fall and ended the campaign with more than $20 million still left over, according to OpenSecrets.

The only Black Republican senator, Scott is seen by his backers as one of the best options to unite the pro-Trump and Trump-skeptical wings of the GOP.  

He has criticized the former president on occasion, but never intemperately, and Trump supported his bid for reelection. At the same time, Scott is unimpeachably conservative in his record on everything from gun rights to health care.

Scott has also sought to reach across the aisle on occasion, working with Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) to try to enact some level of policing reform. The effort ultimately failed.

Scott keeps a close inner circle, and no one outside it seems quite sure if he hankers for the Oval Office. 

Skeptics don’t think the fire burns within him, but intriguing trips to the key states of Iowa and New Hampshire tell a different story.

9. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem 

Noem, plainly on the MAGA wing of the party, could be an appealing choice for some pro-Trump voters, especially if the former president were to falter badly.

Noem has a compelling personal story, outlined in a recent memoir; a record of vigorous opposition to COVID-19–related restrictions; and a taste for the provocative — her staff gifted her a flamethrower as a Christmas present this year.

Noem was also ahead of every other major contender in banning TikTok from state-owned government devices, amid security concerns, recently. Numerous other governors have followed her lead on that issue.

Noem is a gifted communicator, though she would have to get past several bigger names if she were to make a serious run at the nomination.

10. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu

Sununu is one of the leading lights of the more moderate or pro-establishment wing of the GOP. 

He won reelection handily in November, while a more extreme, Trump-endorsed Senate candidate, Don Bolduc, went down to defeat in his state.

Sununu is cut from somewhat similar cloth as other Trump critics who appear to be contemplating bids, including Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

But the bottom line is, it’s doubtful that any of those candidates can win the nomination in a party that has come to be dominated by its more fiery, populist wing.

Source: TEST FEED1

GOP sounds alarm over struggles with Gen Z voters

Republicans are urging the party to do a better job engaging with young voters after the GOP saw Generation Z voters cast ballots by large margins for Democrats in the November midterms, making the difference in key congressional and gubernatorial races.

While the party has long struggled with attracting younger voters, the 2022 midterm election underscored the extent to which those struggles are a liability for it. Now, Republicans are calling on the party to step up its outreach, including by finding more Gen Z surrogates, engaging with young voters on social media platforms and speaking to issues those voters care about.

“When you ignore people’s bread-and-butter concerns and their more cultural concerns, you can’t expect to win their votes. And we’re having a series of close elections and the Republicans are just throwing away an entire demographic, and it’s costing them elections,” said veteran GOP strategist Keith Naughton.

An analysis by Tufts University’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) using day-after estimates suggests that voter turnout among 18- to 29-year-olds in 2022 was at the second highest of the last 30 years for a midterm election. In House races alone, the demographic favored Democratic candidates to Republicans 63 percent to 35 percent, remaining mostly consistent since 2020 but a slight drop from 2018 when the margin was 67 percent to 32 percent. 

Overall, more than a quarter of voters between the ages of 18 and 29 are estimated to have cast a ballot during the November midterms, according to an analysis of Edison Research’s National Election Poll Survey by CIRCLE, often playing a critical role in battleground races.

David Morgan, a senior at Pennsylvania State University and the political director of Penn State College Republicans, believes the GOP is facing challenges with young voters because they’re not speaking to social policies and issues.

“Better health care, LGBTQ rights, reproductive rights, stuff like that, … climate change, those issues are huge for Gen Z. And because the party kind of is a little bit slow on the uptake initially with kind of some of these issues, so I think it kind of automatically slanted our generation to go more towards Democrat,” he noted.

Other Republicans say the problem lies not only with the substance of their messaging, but also with the method of communication.

“We have a tendency to do a lot of things wrong talking to younger voters. One is we don’t go to where they are,” said veteran GOP strategist John Brabender, noting how young voters are increasingly on TikTok.

“Yet, and our party says we can’t be on TikTok for privacy and security reasons,” he added. “Well, that’s great, but you better come up with an alternative really quickly then because we have a whole generation growing up with that being their number one news source yet we’re not talking to them there.”

But CIRCLE’s analysis of AP VoteCast data and election results from other news outlets suggests that Gen Z voters and millennials were pivotal in deciding the most competitive elections. In the Arizona gubernatorial race, CIRCLE found 18-to-29-year-olds offered Democrat Katie Hobbs a net of 60,000 votes at a time when Hobbs was projected to win her race by just a third of that.

And in the Georgia Senate race, CIRCLE’s analysis found that Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) received a net of 116,000 votes from that demographic in the general election. Warnock placed first over Republican Herschel Walker during the November election by about 37,000 votes. The race later went to a runoff, which Warnock won.

“It’s a very secular cohort and it’s a very progressive cohort on social issues. Very tolerant, firmly believe in LGBTQ rights, firmly believe that gender is not binary, very concerned about climate change … very concerned about gun violence, [which] they see as their generations’ issue, so the issues have really favored the Democrats,” said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, who worked on President Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign.

Lake suggested that voters between the ages of 18 and 29 years old are at odds with former President Trump and his ideology while noting that “they’re not necessarily that happy with the Democrats. They think the Democrats are often not producing, but two-thirds strongly believe in a role for government.”

Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), who serves as president for Young America’s Foundation (YAF), argues that “liberal indoctrination” — the idea that young voters are not often introduced to multiple schools of thought on issues, including views considered right of center — is at least partly responsible for the party’s challenges.

“Any of the consultant class in Washington who thinks just more clever digital ads or some sort of student coalition is going to make the difference, I think don’t realize what they’re up against,” Walker said.

Some Republicans see an opportunity in the latest election results. Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for the conservative Turning Point Action, noted in exit polling published by CNN that 61 percent of those aged 18 to 24 years old voted for Democrats, slightly fewer than the 65 percent of 25-to-29-year-olds who voted for the party. 

Meanwhile, 63 percent of voters aged 18 to 29 voted Democrat in 2022, compared to 35 percent who voted for the GOP. That suggests a slight dip for both those demographics compared to 2018, when 67 percent of that same demographic voted Democratic compared to 32 percent voting for the GOP. 

Of course, those figures still underscore the difficulties the GOP faces with young people. And while members see this as an issue that stretches back some time, Republicans say it’s one that requires devoted infrastructure toward tackling that age gap.

“Not trying to throw the RNC under the bus here, but there’s so much focus on fundraising I think within the Republican Party because we do not effectively raise and we do not effectively spend that there is an unhealthy imbalance on one specific type of voter, and that those are the people who meet that cross-section of the ones that we need to turn out and also the ones that have money to do it,” said Tyler Bowyer, the COO of Turning Point Action who also serves as RNC National Committeeman in Arizona.

He explained that the GOP has a “wide ocean gap” between Baby Boomers and the millennial/Gen Z camp. 

“You have the old guard trying to raise money for Baby Boomers, and you have millennial/Gen Z, which is like this massive bucket, now the biggest part of the electorate that we have to focus on and we don’t have enough people, we don’t have enough money in that group to make it worth it to the old guard. And we don’t have enough know-how and experience in how to message those people,” Bowyer, who is a millennial, continued.

“So it’s an opportunity for us moving forward, but it’s gonna take some real innovative leadership to look at this and say, ‘Hey, we need to do more work in the influencer space and we need to do more work in the social media space. We need to do more work in how we message and who’s delivering the message.’”

Source: TEST FEED1

What Biden's political evolution means for progressives in 2023

Earlier this month, a president who voted for the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 as a senator signed the bill to officially repeal it and enshrine marriage equality into law.  

President Biden has always fashioned himself as a centrist, even when seeking the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, which makes his evolution on particular issues a fascinating weather vane.  

After finally hearing progressives’ calls on everything from climate change and student debt to a filibuster carve-out this year, where might Biden advance next in 2023? 

“What’s been interesting is to watch his evolution,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) in a wide-ranging interview with The Hill this week. It’s been “really good to see him absorb information, take information in, and move.”   

Immigration, climate, judicial nominees, overtime pay: the list is lengthy. And wondering what Biden will tackle next has progressives on the edge of their seats. 

Many who preferred other candidates in the 2020 presidential primary were skeptical that lifelong-moderate Biden would push for their priorities, having seen him spend decades as a centrist Senate homebody. They saw more liberal contenders such as Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) advocate on behalf of progressive causes, and some were pessimistic about Biden’s desire to work with their flank. 

But as he ticked off major successes, from the American Rescue Plan to the Inflation Reduction Act, many warmed to the idea that Biden could indeed become something akin to the FDR-style leader he now aspires to be. The more he accomplished, the more the left wing offered their trust. And progressives started drafting longer wish lists to try their luck in the new year.  

“We were very careful in putting together our executive action list to work very closely with the administration,” Jayapal said. “I would say 90 percent of what was on our list was stuff that they also were very interested in.” 

Jayapal, who was just elected to another term as chairwoman of the House Progressive Caucus, was pleased about the White House’s receptiveness to progressives’ agenda. When legislation stalled, frequently by moderate Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and now-Independent Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) and a small group of members in the House, she said administration officials were often enthusiastic to work on executive actions as workarounds to the narrow congressional majority. 

That executive approach is expected to continue and, many hope, even amplify in 2023, with Republicans soon to have a slight advantage in the lower chamber, and as Democrats find ways to get more through the Senate. 

If recent history is a guide, that collaboration — anchored by Biden’s desire to be fluid and flexible on issues he resisted in the past — has been successful. 

The midterms went better than many Democrats anticipated, with the left claiming credit for pushing Biden leftward. One of progressives’ biggest achievements has been an executive order to cancel tens of millions in loan debt for students. While that action is now halted and expected to be heard by the Supreme Court amid opposition from GOP state legislatures, progressives see it as proof of what’s possible. 

They also saw Biden move in a positive direction when he announced support of a carve-out to protect voting and abortion rights without the 60-vote threshold, evolving on his prior firmness around the Senate’s legislative filibuster and satisfying many in the party who had begged him to take that stance.  

“The president has had a pretty damn good ending for 2022,” said Douglas Wilson, a Democratic strategist based in North Carolina. “He really has.” 

“If the White House can be strategic about it, that’s the key, it gives the president the opportunity to put legislation out there that will entice these moderate Republicans to vote with him,” he said. “And progressives, I know they’re not going to want to hear this, are going to have to give him a slight bit of wiggle room. He deserves it.” 

Heading into January, progressives aren’t naive about the challenges — from the GOP-controlled House, courts, and even Biden’s own moderate leanings that creep up from time to time — that may halt their more ambitious plans. But they aren’t completely jaded either.  

They want to see traction on overtime pay and sick leave for rail workers, a debate that was tabled relatively quickly after Biden signed a Senate-passed bill that averted a massive strike by the nation’s transportation workers. Many are hopeful that the president’s commitment to unions will inspire him to address the issue in more detail in the coming year, beyond what was already passed with bipartisan support. 

Progressives also see room for executive antitrust action that would help prevent monopolies and boost consumer protections, an area where liberals like Warren and Jayapal have spent considerable focus working with Biden allies. “That’s been an area that I still hope we can get some work done,” said Jayapal. “The administration hasn’t been the holdup here.”  

Some progressives see certain moderates with outsized influence as creating additional delays for the White House to take actions into their own hands in the executive branch. Biden’s willingness to appease Manchin in particular for much of his first term created a point of tension among liberals who wanted him to be more forceful in bypassing Manchin’s demands.  

“There’s a backlog of bold executive actions that were on pause as Joe Manchin obstructed the Democratic economic agenda,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “The White House went out of their way not to spook him.” 

But some are hopeful that new opportunities may emerge from Manchin’s diluted influence within a new 51-seat majority, and with a slate of viable executive actions ready to be reconsidered.

Another issue where Biden has evolved is criminal justice. The man who authored the early mid-90s crime bill has undoubtedly moved to the left on the topic, adopting stances that are more in line with Americans’ current views while still maintaining some distance from the small faction of activists who want him to be more extreme. 

Biden never wanted to “defund” the police, but many progressives also concede that that slogan is not practical. Instead, he lurched to the left by pledging to decriminalize marijuana and promised to “eliminate” the country’s use of a federal death penalty — an area where advocates believe there is more work to be done. 

With an eye towards the new year, progressives want him to take actions that can reiterate his commitment to a fairer criminal justice system.  

“He could come up with a package that addresses crime again. Calling Republicans’ bluff on that,” said Wilson, the Democratic operative. “But also addressing the issues that were in the George Floyd Policing Act. The administration did what they could with the executive order … but I think now that he has a few more votes in the Senate, he could try to add a component that deals with rising crime. As long as it does not negatively affect people of color.” 

“The key is not to say police reform, but improving police relationships with the community,” Wilson said. 

On climate, another big focus, many in the party would like to see Biden go farther than what he has already delivered, pointing to the electoral impact that a progressive policy push can have at the polls.  

“There’s no such thing as doing too much on climate,” said Deirdre Shelly, campaigns director for the Sunrise Movement. “He still has a lot of work to do to secure his legacy.” 

Climate activists and progressive lawmakers want to see Biden declare a national climate emergency and use the Defense Production Act to move in the direction of renewable energy sources — an area that has the potential to transition away from the Manchin-style coal politics that have dominated the Democratic Party for decades.  

While there’s an appetite for it in some corners of the party, some wonder if Biden has the desire to change so drastically, particularly ahead of what’s likely to be another brutal presidential cycle in 2024. 

Nonetheless, they plan to make the case loudly that it’s worth trying.  

“Look at Biden’s poll numbers from the spring to now,” said Shelly. “Young people were not excited to vote months ago, and after he passed a climate bill, a gun bill and canceled student loans, they improved significantly — and led to nearly record-breaking turnout,” she said. “That’s no coincidence.” 

Source: TEST FEED1

Pope Benedict, conservative whose resignation shattered tradition, dies at 95

Former pope Benedict XVI, who roughly a decade ago became the first pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church to resign in nearly 600 years, died Saturday at his home in Vatican City. He was 95.

The Holy See said Benedict’s health had worsened because of old age. He was being closely monitored by doctors at his home, a former monastery in Vatican City.

Benedict leaves behind a complicated legacy. His papacy was hounded by child abuse scandals in the church, and he himself faced accusations that he failed to address those allegations while he was an archbishop.

Yet he was credited for making way for his successor, the more liberally minded Pope Francis, to transition the Catholic Church into a more progressive era.

Benedict was also regarded as a great scholar of the Catholic faith, known for his powerful encyclicals, or papal writings, addressing spiritual and social issues.

He oversaw a commission that created the “Catechism of the Catholic Church,” a text approved in 1992 containing the fundamental beliefs of the church. And his first book as pope, “Jesus of Nazareth,” was hailed as a compelling biography of Jesus Christ.

Throughout his theological life, Benedict was known as a more conservative member of the faith. He worked to uphold traditions and preserve the Vatican’s image.

In an interview with an Italian newspaper last year, Benedict said he often thinks about the day he resigned from the papacy.

“It was a difficult decision. But I took it in full awareness, and I think I did well. Some of my somewhat fanatical friends are still angry, they didn’t want to accept my choice,” he said. “They don’t want to believe in a conscious choice. But my conscience is clear.”

Pope Benedict was born Joseph Ratzinger on April 16,1927, in Marktl am Inn, Germany, a small village in the southeastern state of Bavaria.

He spent much of his youth in the town of Traunstein near the border with Austria, where he attended a seminary school. At age 14 he was forced to join the “Hitler Youth,” and at 16, when Adolf Hitler rose to power, he was drafted into the Nazi army and served in an anti-aircraft auxiliary unit.

Benedict deserted the military in 1945, along with his brother, and was taken prisoner by U.S. forces for several months. When the war ended, he was just 18 years old.

His time in the Nazi army caused some concerns as he rose in the Catholic Church, but while working under Pope John Paul II in the ’90s, Benedict helped clear up Catholic-Jewish divisions, including by recognizing the state of Israel.

After the war, Benedict studied philosophy and theology at the University of Munich, eventually earning a doctorate. He was ordained as a priest in 1951 and taught theology for years at several universities while also publishing numerous works in advanced theology.

In 1977, Pope Paul VI appointed Benedict as archbishop of Munich and Freising.

In that position, Benedict failed to take action against clerics in four reported abuse cases, an independent commission found earlier this year. 

After the commission’s report, Benedict admitted he was in a 1980 meeting to discuss the transfer of Father Peter Hullerman, who is accused of abusing 23 boys during his priesthood. 

Hullerman was not suspended from duties with the church until 2010.

Benedict also said it was a “mistake” that he failed to acknowledge he was in the meeting in a previous statement, attributing it to an editing error.

In 1981, Benedict became the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a watchdog agency for the Vatican charged with investigating serious crimes. He assumed the position at a time when allegations of sexual abuse against the Catholic Church were beginning to surface, especially in the U.S.

Pope John Paul II appointed Benedict as Dean of the College of Cardinals in 2002. After John Paul’s death in 2005, Benedict was elected to become the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

That came a year after a report commissioned by the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops found 10,000 allegations of sexual abuse between 1950 and 2002, with the dioceses later confirming accusations against more than 4,000 priests, or 4 percent of the clergy at the time, setting off a yearslong scandal in the U.S.

During his papacy, Benedict struggled to contain the fallout from the scandal, including internal divisions in the Vatican cited as one of the largest institutional crises for the Holy See.

Benedict, who said he was “deeply ashamed” by the sexual abuse accusations and that credibly accused priests had no place in the church, was repeatedly accused of covering up sex abuse crimes.

When he resigned in 2013, Pope Benedict cited bad health and old age.

“After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry,” he said in an announcement at the time.

Years later, in a 2019 essay, Benedict attributed the lengthy history of child abuse in the clergy to degrading religious morality in the church and a sexual culture that arose in the 1960s, saying more faithful and traditional books like his were “hidden away, like bad literature, and only read under the desk.”

He also noted that priests had strong legal protections before 2001, when he helped rewrite policies to make it easier to hold them accountable.

The essay was criticized by more liberally minded Catholics and embraced by more conservative followers. Critics said it was thin and ignored the fact of documented accusations against priests stretching back centuries.

At his last general audience in 2013, Benedict said he would not retreat to privacy and would  devote the rest of his life to the Catholic faith.

“I have taken this step with full awareness of its gravity and even its novelty, but with profound interior serenity,” he said. “Loving the church means also having the courage to make difficult, painful decisions, always looking to the good of the church and not of oneself.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Black Americans shaping a new America

Black political power was on full display over the last year as a record number of Black candidates ran up and down the ballot for both parties in the midterm elections.

Several of those candidates became the first Black Americans elected to their offices.

Here’s a look at a few of the Black Americans who made history this year.

Karine Jean-Pierre

Karine Jean-Pierre broke two glass ceilings with her appointment as the White House press secretary in May. Not only did she become the first Black woman to hold the position, she also became the first openly LGBTQ person to have the title. 

“You can’t understate how huge this is, how important it’s going to be to so many people of color who have and are working so hard in the communications field to see a Black LGBTQ woman representing the president of the United States at the podium,” Democratic strategist Rodell Mollineau told The Hill in May. 

Jean-Pierre previously worked on President Biden’s campaign and served as chief of staff for then-vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris. She was also a spokesperson for MoveOn, a progressive social justice organization, and an MSNBC commentator.

As press secretary, Jean-Pierre has faced questions about the Biden administration’s COVID-19 pandemic response, supply chain issues, the Russian-Ukrainian war and record inflation, among other topics.

Ketanji Brown Jackson

Biden fulfilled a campaign promise to appoint a Black woman to the Supreme Court when he nominated Jackson to succeed Justice Stephen Breyer.

Jackson, a former public defender and former vice chair and commissioner on the United States Sentencing Commission, was confirmed in April in a 53-47 Senate vote. Harris, the first female and first Black vice president, presided over the vote. 

Jackson was sworn in as the nation’s first Black female Supreme Court Justice on June 30 in what was a monumental moment, especially for Black women.

Since taking her oath, Jackson has been vocal in the court’s cases — with Insider reporting the new justice has spoken just over 11,000 words in the first eight oral arguments, more than any other justice. She cast her first vote as a justice in July and issued her first written opinion, a dissent, in November.

Wes Moore 

Democrat Wes Moore won Maryland’s gubernatorial election on Nov. 8 and will become the state’s first Black governor when he is sworn in. He will also become only the third Black governor ever elected in U.S. history. 

An Army veteran, best-selling author and former CEO of one of the nation’s largest anti-poverty organizations, Moore beat out 10 other candidates in the Democratic primary in July.  

“It’s humbling because I know the history of this state and I understand how completely improbable this journey is,” Moore told The Grio’s April Ryan after his election.

Moore, a husband and father of two, will be inaugurated on Jan. 18 with Aruna Miller as his lieutenant governor. Miller is the first Asian American and the first immigrant elected lieutenant governor of Maryland. 

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) was elected in November to lead House Democrats, becoming the first Black politician to lead either party in Congress. 

Jeffries succeeds Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), 82, as the leader of House Democrats. It’s not just a cultural shift but a generational shift for House Democrats, as Jeffries is 52 years old.

“Together, this new generation of leaders reflects the vibrancy and diversity of our great nation — and they will reinvigorate our caucus with their new energy, ideas and perspective,” Pelosi said after Jeffries’s election. 

His election has also been praised by members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who endorsed Jeffries in late November in a tweet that highlighted his accomplishments over the past five congressional terms.

Jeffries has a history of supporting social and economic justice legislation, including tackling policing and racial injustice. 

Rep.-elect Maxwell Frost

Rep.-elect Maxwell Frost in November became the first Generation Z candidate to win election to the House.

Just 25 years old, Frost, an Afro Latino progressive, won the Florida district vacated by Rep. Val Demings (D) in her run for Senate. 

While not officially sworn in yet, Frost has already made headlines. Not only is he now the first member of Gen Z in the House, but he is also the first Afro Cuban member of Congress. 

He recently shared that he was denied an apartment in Washington, D.C., because of “really bad” credit. He’s a self-described organizer and musician and a member of what he calls the “mass shooting generation.”

These issues have become the backbone of his political platform. He spent the summer after the murder of George Floyd protesting police brutality, uses his social media to speak out on housing inequities and consistently promotes universal health care. 

“Our generation has been through some of the modern challenges our country is going through, yet we don’t have representation in Congress, and we deserve to be at the table,” Frost told CNN before the election.

“I’m not here saying I represent the values and thoughts of every single member of Gen Z,” he added. “We’re like any other generation … many different ideologies and everything like that. But I think I do holistically represent our lived experience as young people.”

Claudine Gay

Since its founding 386 years ago, Harvard University had never had a Black president. That changed this year when Claudine Gay was selected as the Ivy League school’s 30th president. 

Gay, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, received her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University in 1992 and her Ph.D. from Harvard in 1998. 

She has been a professor of government and of African and African American studies at Harvard since 2006. Since 2018, Gay has served as the Edgerley Family Dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. 

Now 52, Gay will take office in July. She will become only the second woman in the school’s history to hold the title. 

“Today, we are in a moment of remarkable and accelerating change — socially, politically, economically, and technologically,” Gay said after her selection as Harvard’s president was announced. “So many fundamental assumptions about how the world works and how we should relate to one another are being tested.” 

“There is an urgency for Harvard to be engaged with the world and to bring bold, brave, pioneering thinking to our greatest challenges,” she added.

Brittney Griner

WNBA star Brittney Griner made history this year, though not for breaking through a glass ceiling.

Instead, the Phoenix Mercury center was arrested and held prisoner in Russia for 10 months. Her detainment ignited complicated discussions surrounding race, sexuality and equal pay.

Griner was detained in Russia for traveling with vape cartridges that allegedly included less than a gram of cannabis oil. She was seen as a political prisoner and was only released after the Biden administration agreed to free a notorious arms dealer.

Questions about whether Griner would be treated poorly because of her gender, race and sexuality were a constant fear as her advocates lobbied the Biden administration to secure her freedom.

The saga also raised questions about equality, as Griner was in Russia to earn additional income as a pro basketball player. WNBA salaries max out at $500,000 — much less than NBA salaries. The league average salary is much less — a little more than $100,000, per NBC News.

Many Black women felt a sense of kinship to Griner, and across the country they banded together to secure Griner’s freedom. Groups of Black women sent letters demanding Biden negotiate the freedom of an American who voted for him in 2020 — and to show he truly prioritized the concerns of a demographic that helped win him the White House. 

Since her return, Griner and her wife, Cherelle Griner, have become advocates for others wrongfully detained by Moscow and have encouraged their own fans and supporters to join them in this advocacy. Both have stated support for securing the freedom of Americans like Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine still detained in Russia.

“There remain too many families with loved ones wrongfully detained,” Brittney Griner wrote in a letter posted to her Instagram. “Those families stood alongside you and all who supported the WeAreBG Campaign to bring me home and it’s our turn to support them. I hope you’ll join me in writing to Paul Whelan and continuing to advocate for other Americans to be rescued and returned to their families.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Scrutiny turns to George Santos's campaign funding

As new revelations about the falsehoods Rep.-elect George Santos (R-N.Y.) has told about his background continue to emerge, several peculiarities in the incoming congressman’s finances are facing heavy scrutiny — and could prove to be his greatest liability.

Santos’s finances and financial disclosures are the subject of a federal investigation, reports revealed this week.

“Given that much of Santos’s biography has apparently been fabricated, it’s possible the most troubling components of that fabrication — from a campaign finance perspective, anyway — have not yet been fully revealed,” said Saurav Ghosh, the director of federal campaign finance reform for the Campaign Legal Center.

Santos admitted on Monday to making several false claims about his educational and professional background in his campaign for Congress, after a New York Times report called into question the veracity of much of his résumé.

Despite previous claims that he graduated from Baruch College and worked for both Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, Santos told the New York Post that he “didn’t graduate from any institution of higher learning” and “never worked directly” with either firm.

“A lot of people overstate in their résumés, or twist a little bit,” Santos said in an interview with local radio station WABC-AM. “I’m not saying I’m not guilty of that, I’m just saying, I’ve done so much good work in my career. I’m not a criminal who defrauded the entire country.”

However, the discrepancies in what Santos has said about his background go beyond his résumé, according to recent reports.

After previously claiming to be a “proud American Jew” whose maternal grandparents fled anti-Jewish persecution in Europe during World War II, for instance, Santos told the New York Post on Monday that he identifies religiously as Catholic and that he “never claimed to be Jewish.”

The Nassau County, N.Y., district attorney on Wednesday announced an investigation into Santos over the false claims.

And as questions continue to emerge about all aspects of Santos’s background, his finances and financial disclosure filings are also reportedly being investigated by the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of New York.

One of most noticeable peculiarities in Santos’s finances is his rapid accumulation of wealth before his run for Congress in 2022, said Jordan Libowitz, the communications director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Santos provided his own campaign with a loan of $700,000, apparently from the $750,000 salary that he reported earning from his company, the Devolder Organization, in his most recent financial disclosure. Santos also reported more than $1 million in dividends from Devolder.

However, during his unsuccessful campaign for Congress just two years earlier, Santos reported having no assets and a salary of $55,000.

“He went from essentially no money in 2020 to millions in 2022,” Libowitz noted.

Santos’s financial situation becomes murkier upon closer examination of his company. The incoming congressman created the Devolder Organization in May 2021, just weeks after his prior employer, Harbor City Capitol, was accused of running a Ponzi scheme by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Santos was not implicated in and has denied any knowledge of the scheme.

It remains unclear what exactly Devolder is, as little information exists online about the company and Santos has given several different explanations as to its function. On his campaign website in 2021, Santos described the company as his “family’s firm” and claimed to oversee assets worth $80 million there.

However, in an April interview with the Daily Beast, Santos suggested that he created the Devolder Organization to help former Harbor City employees “who were left adrift.”

On his 2022 financial disclosure form and in a recent interview with Semafor, Santos described Devolder as a capital introduction business that included “deal building” and “specialty consulting” for “high net worth individuals.”

Santos also suggested to Semafor that the Devolder Organization explained his rapid accumulation of wealth, saying he “landed a couple of million-dollar contracts” within the company’s first six months.

The Devolder Organization was dissolved in September of this year for failing to file an annual report. However, after the Times’s Dec. 19 report about Santos, the company was reinstated on Dec. 20, according to the Florida Department of State.

“We don’t know very much about this business that he said he created, made millions off of, then folded,” Libowitz noted. “It doesn’t seem to have had any footprints anywhere.”

Libowitz and Ghosh both suggested there is a possibility the company was not legitimate and was used to get around campaign finance limits.

While corporations and individual donors face strict limitations on how much they can contribute to campaigns, candidates can give an unlimited amount to themselves.

“If that income wasn’t bona fide and was actually part of a scheme to funnel money into and bankroll his campaign (which is possible though we do not know for certain just yet), that would constitute a brazen violation of federal campaign finance laws,” Ghosh said.

Despite the backlash over the false claims about his background, several calls for his resignation and the multiple investigations he’s facing, Santos appears unlikely to step aside before he joins the ranks of Congress next week.

“It was an honor to tour the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point today,” Santos said in a tweet on Wednesday. “In Congress, I look forward to working alongside them to fully utilize this amazing resource we have in our own backyard in #NY03.”

Source: TEST FEED1