Elizabeth Warren gets the best of the racist-in-chief, who reneges on his bet (Update)

You may recall that that back in July “Dear Leader” Donald Trump at one of his Nuremberg-style campaign rallies in Great Falls, Montana Offered $1 Million For “Pocahontas” Elizabeth Warren To Take DNA Test To Prove Indian Ancestry. Here’s the video evidence (Trump has repeated this racist shtick with equal vigor as his racist Obama “birther” conspiracy theory).

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Steve Benen has the latest. DNA test results allow Elizabeth Warren to turn the tables on Trump:

It was just a few months ago when Donald Trump presented a new idea about how he’ll attack Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), whose Native American ancestry has long been a point of preoccupation for the president. Imagining a 2020 debate, Trump told an audience of supporters about his future plan.

“I’m going to get one of those little [DNA testing] kits and in the middle of the debate, when she proclaims she’s of Indian heritage…,” Trump said. “And we will say, ‘I will give you a million dollars, paid for by Trump, to your favorite charity, if you take the test and it shows you’re an Indian.’ And we’ll see what she does. I have a feeling she will say no, but we will hold it for the debates.”

The president may need to track down his checkbook. The Boston Globe  reported overnight:

Senator Elizabeth Warren has released a DNA test that provides “strong evidence” she had a Native American in her family tree dating back 6 to 10 generations, an unprecedented move by one of the top possible contenders for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president.

Warren, whose claims to Native American blood have been mocked by President Trump and other Republicans, provided the test results to the Globe on Sunday in an effort to defuse questions about her ancestry that have persisted for years. She planned an elaborate rollout Monday of the results as she aimed for widespread attention.

As the Globe  reported, the analysis was conducted by Stanford University’s Carlos Bustamante, a renowned scholar and expert in the field, who concluded that the results “strongly support the existence of an unadmixed Native American ancestor.”

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Steve Gaynor raises red flags in Secretary of State race

There has not been much good reporting on Steve Gaynor, the Republican candidate for Secretary of State who ousted Secretary of State Michele Reagan in the Arizona GOP primary, but what little I have seen reported raises red flags about this guy seeing his role as the chief elections officer in Arizona as classic GOP voter suppression in the tradition of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, both of whom are running for governor in November.

Earlier this year, Secretary of State Michelle Reagan settled a lawsuit over Arizona’s bifurcated dual voter registration system for those who use the federal voter registration form.

Gaynor focused his criticism on the aspect of the settlement that requires the state to register voters for federal elections even if they use the state form. He said Michelle Reagan should not have settled and fought the issue all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary.

I covered this at length in an earlier post. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach had his ass handed to him in federal court over this same issue. So much for this litigation criticism.  Michelle Reagan is terrible, but Steve Gaynor fancies himself the next Kris Kobach. (Kansas and Arizona were the only two states who maintained this practice).

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Arizona Daily Star endorses Congressmen Tom O’Halleran for CD 1, Raul Grijalva for CD 3

The Arizona Daily Star endorsed online Democrat Congressman Tom O’Halleran for CD 1:

https://tucson.com/opinion/local/star-opinion-tom-o-halleran-in-congressional-district/article_43e13d93-08e2-59e1-8ffc-5d8c9f6a9e2c.html

CD 1 Congressman Tom O’Halleran

And their Editorial Board also online endorsed Democrat Congressman Raul Grijalva for CD 3:

https://tucson.com/opinion/local/star-opinion-ra-l-grijalva-in-congressional-district/article_71a4a427-fb8e-5237-aa8b-2ba176898324.html

CD 3 Congressman Raul Grijalva

Will update with page references when they add these articles to their print edition.  Update: published  10/16/18, page A10.

Congressman O’Halleran is being challenged by Republican Wendy Rogers (who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2012 (CD 9), 2014 (CD 9), 2016 (CD 1).  Congressman Grijalva is facing opposition from Republican Nicolas Pierson, a political newcomer.

Voter registration totals in CD 1:

Democrats: 150,969; Republicans 128,404; Other 127,332

Voter registration totals in CD 3:

Democrats 142,379; Republicans 67,685; Other 115,564

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Kyrsten Sinema Vows to Fight for the Issues that Matter To Arizonans

Democratic Senate Nominee Ninth Congressional District Representative Kyrsten Sinema

The contest to gain control of the United States Senate may be decided in Arizona with Ninth Congressional District House Representative Kyrsten Sinema running against Second Congressional District House Representative Republican Martha McSally for the seat held by outgoing Senator Jeff Flake. Observers feel the outcome of this race may decide who controls the United States Senate. Representative Sinema is looking to become the first Democrat to win a United States Senate seat since 1988.

With Sinema leading throughout the summer, the race has drawn closer as the McSally campaign and her surrogates have launched a series of misleading, inaccurate and false negative ads against her Democratic opponent.

The Sinema team and her supporters have been very effective in rapidly replying to these attacks with accurate, factual ads on McSally, especially on the issue of protecting pre-existing health conditions where ads relay how the Republican nominee publicly distorted her voting record to hide that she actually moved to undermine these protections.

Sinema has done well in appealing to Democrats, Independents, and Republicans disenchanted with the direction Trump has taken their party.

The first debate (an event the McSally people have been “hesitant” to embrace) is scheduled for Monday, October 15.

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