National
The 2024 Presidential election is officially underway as eight Republican candidates convened in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, last Wednesday night for the first debate of the season.
The night was markedly different than what some expected as former President Donald Trump (R-FL), the frontrunner in the polls, was absent from the stage for his refusal to sign a loyalty pledge, a requirement for participation. Candidates who have signed the pledge agree to support the nominee of the party, regardless of who it is. The candidates were ordered from highest to lowest in polling from the center of the stage towards the ends.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis shared the center of the state with Ohio businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. Flanking the two in the center, in order of polling, were former Vice President and former Indiana Governor Mike Pence, former South Carolina Governor and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, U.S. Senator from South Carolina Tim Scott, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum.
Opening statements were made against the backdrop of Oliver Anthony’s surprise hit “Rich Men North of Richmond,” as the Republican contenders assert that “Bidenomics” does not work.
“We cannot succeed as a country if you are working hard and you can’t afford groceries, a car, or a new home, while Hunter Biden can make hundreds of thousands of dollars on lousy paintings. That is wrong,” said Governor DeSantis. “We also cannot succeed when the Congress spends trillions and trillions of dollars. Those ‘rich men north of Richmond’ have put us in this situation.”
Governor Christie said that everyone on the stage would “predominantly agree” with DeSantis’ points. Christie touted his experience as the governor of New Jersey, a blue state with a Democratic legislature who worked with him during his tenure.
Senator Scott prided himself on his consecutive votes against spending packages in the Senate.
“We can rein in inflation by turning the spigot off in Washington and sending the money back to the states and allowing the decisions to be made within peoples’ own houses,” said Scott.
Scott also touted his support of Trump policies by stating they delivered a “70-year low in unemployment for women, record-low unemployment for blacks, Hispanics, and Asians, with 2% inflation.”
Ramaswamy answered not only the question of his youth, but the “blank slate” he presents to a debate stage of credentialed, experienced politicians:
“Let me address a question that is on everybody’s mind at home tonight: ‘Who the heck is this skinny guy with a funny last name and what is he doing at the center of this debate stage?’”
Ramaswamy then outlined his status as a political outsider and first-generation American, as well as his ability to found multi-billion dollar companies while raising two sons with his wife. These facets, along with “following his faith in God,” is what he described as “the American Dream.”
Ramaswamy also called the anti-carbon agenda the “wet blanket on our economy.”
Governor and Ambassador Haley used her opening statements to open fire on her opponents:
“The truth is, Biden didn’t do this to us, our Republicans did this to us too,” said Haley. “When they passed that $2.2 trillion COVID stimulus bill, they left 90 million people on Medicaid, 42 million on food stamps. No one has told you how to fix it, I’ll tell you how to fix it: they need to stop the spending and the borrowing and eliminate the earmarks the Republicans brought back in. You have Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, Mike Pence, they all voted to raise the debt, and Donald Trump added $8 trillion to our debt. Our kids are never going to forgive us for this debt.”
Former Vice President Pence rebutted: “I’m incredibly proud of the Trump-Pence Administration. We rebuilt our military, revived our economy, and unleashed American energy.”
Pence asserted himself as the most-qualified candidate due to his experience as a governor and Vice President. Pence said to Ramaswamy that “now is not the time for on-the-job training, we don’t need a rookie.”
Governor Doug Burgum said: “We’ve got $1.2 trillion of Green New Deal spending in the Inflation Reduction Act, which is just subsidizing China. If you buy a battery or a solar panel right now, it’s produced in a plant in China powered by coal, or it’s being powered by oil and gas at 20% off [due to sanctions against Russia that benefit China].”
Burgum is the first major party candidate from North Dakota to run for President. His state is one of the top oil-producers in the country and home to some of the largest tracts of farmland nationally.
Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson has registered the lowest in the polls. He touts his time as governor, as head of the DEA, and his time at Homeland Security as his merits for taking on the administrative state: “I pledge to reduce by 10% our federal non-defense workforce, which would attack the administrative state,” said Hutchinson.
One of the most notable blows of the debate came early in the night as Governor Christie compared Ramaswamy’s statements to those of ChatGPT, an Artificial Intelligence program that can create humanlike conversational dialogue.
Haley jumped in on the early scrap by quoting Margaret Thatcher: “‘If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.”
In order to qualify for the debates, each candidate was required to attain 40,000 donations from at least 200 unique donors in at least 20 different states. Additionally, they were required to register at least 1% in four polls, two national polls and two state polls.
Michigan businessman and author Perry Johnson insists he qualified, but it was not confirmed by the debate commission in time for the event.
Notable candidates who did not qualify include California radio broadcaster and 2021 gubernatorial recall candidate Larry Elder, Miami mayor Francis Suarez, Texas pastor Ryan Binkley, and former Texas Congressman Will Hurd.
The race also suffered its first suspension on August 29: Miami Mayor Suarez suspended his campaign after failing to qualify for the debate stage.
Other declared candidates who have not met regular national criteria also did not participate. They are Texas tax consultant John Anthony Castro, Virginia pastor and perennial candidate E. W. Jackson, former Cranton, Rhode Island, mayor Steve Laffey,and former Montana Secretary of State Corey Stapleton.
Read Page 12 for additional commentary on the debate.
State
The drama surrounding New York’s migrant crisis continues as New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) now returns Governor Kathy Hochul’s (D) barbs from last week:
“I think the governor is wrong,” said Adams. “She’s the governor of the state of New York. New York City is in that state. Every county in this state should be part of this.”
Hochul has rejected Adams’ premise that this should be a statewide issue, saying that other counties should not have to bear the fiscal and logistical burden that New York City took upon itself.
“This is an agreement that does not apply to the state’s other 57 counties, which is one of the reasons we cannot and will not force other parts of our state to shelter migrants, nor are we going to be asking these migrants to move to other parts of the state against their will.”
Local
Congressman Nick LaLota (R) of the First District visited fishermen in Montauk to discuss his efforts to preserve Long Island’s coastal habitats and aquaculture economy:
“Great to visit local fishermen while I was in Montauk. We discussed issues impacting them such as inflation and regulations. I was happy to tell them about my amendment that would ban offshore drilling in Long Island water to protect their way of life and our ecosystem,” LaLota wrote on Twitter
