Latest news with #AbrahamGeorge
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Texas GOP chairman calls Illinois a winnable ‘purple state'
The chairman of the Texas Republican Party said Thursday that he thinks Illinois is winnable for the GOP in 2026, despite the party's lack of success in recent elections. Speaking to a joint meeting of the Illinois party's state central committee and county chairs, Abraham George pointed to the fact that Donald Trump won 43.5% of the vote in Illinois in the 2024 presidential election. That was three points more than he received in 2020, when he lost his first reelection bid to Democrat Joe Biden, and nearly five points more than he received in his first presidential run in 2016. The closer margins, however, were mostly due to fewer votes for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, as Trump improved his vote total by just over 2,000 from 2020 to 2024. 'That's not a blue state anymore. That's a purple state,' George said. 'This state can flip to a Republican pretty fast.' The meeting of party officials Thursday morning was a precursor to the annual Republican Day festivities at the Illinois State Fair, an event where the party showcases its major candidates for the next round of elections and tries to generate enthusiasm among its core base of voters. Gerrymandering battle George was invited to speak to the group largely because of the ongoing controversy in his home state over congressional redistricting, a controversy that has spilled over into Illinois politics. The Texas Legislature is currently meeting in a special session to consider several issues, including relief for victims of deadly floods that struck the state in July. In addition, at Trump's request, the Republican-controlled Legislature is also considering a mid-decade congressional redistricting plan that is designed to give the GOP at least five additional seats. That would raise their total to at least 30 out of the state's 38-seat delegation. To prevent the Texas House from voting on that plan, dozens of Democratic lawmakers fled the state on Aug. 3, with many of them lodging in Illinois. That has prevented the Texas House from mustering the two-thirds quorum required for it to do business. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, has openly welcomed the Texas lawmakers to stay here. He has also suggested that if Texas Republicans follow through with their redistricting plans, Democratic-led states like Illinois and California could retaliate by redrawing their own maps in favor of Democrats. But George criticized the outrage that Pritzker has shown over the efforts in Texas, given how heavily gerrymandered the Illinois maps already are. He noted that while Trump won 43% of the vote in 2024, Republicans hold only three, or 18%, of the state's 17 congressional seats. 'You know, Democrats, they don't hate gerrymandering. They hate losing,' George told the Illinois Republicans. 'Because if you haven't looked at your map, they love gerrymandering. I was looking at the map of Illinois and the congressional seats. I'm like, I don't think this is possible in a computer system.' Recruiting GOP candidates Despite the optimism expressed Thursday, Republicans have been slow to announce runs for some of the higher-level offices that will be up for election in 2026. Those include races for governor and all other state constitutional offices, all 17 congressional seats and a U.S. Senate seat being vacated this year by the state's senior senator, Dick Durbin. One Republican who has decided to run is former state party chairman Don Tracy, a Springfield attorney, who has announced he intends to run for Durbin's U.S. Senate seat. Speaking to reporters Thursday, he conceded it is a 'daunting task' for a Republican to run for any statewide office in Illinois, given the Democrats' significant fundraising advantage. 'They usually outspend us three-to-one, five-to-one, 10-to-one,' he said. 'I think I can beat them if it's only five-to-one. If it's 10-to-one or 20-to-one, it will be a bigger challenge.' But fundraising isn't the only challenge facing Republicans in a statewide race. They also face the reality that in recent statewide races, Democrats have consistently outpolled Republicans in Illinois by roughly a 55% to 45% margin. That means to be considered viable, any given Republican needs to attract about 6 percentage points more than GOP candidates have typically gotten in recent elections. Based on the last race for a U.S. Senate seat in 2022, that would amount to about 246,000 votes. Asked how he intends to attract those votes, Tracy said, 'by running a good campaign, by having a big team, by taking advantage of the Democrat Party's drift toward leftist socialism and crazy social things like boys and girls sports. They are opening the door for us. But I'm going to need help. I can't do this on my own.' Illinois Democrats, meanwhile, have made it clear that a big part of their message will be to focus on the Republican Party's drift toward the right under the Trump administration, which has pushed through a package of steep cuts in social spending and large tax breaks for upper-income taxpayers, as well as the deployment of military personnel on the streets of Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Fox News analyst Gianno Caldwell drew cheers from the crowd during his keynote State Fair speech when he told the crowd it 'took guts' for Trump to activate the National Guard and federalize policing in the nation's capital. Tracy also rejected the suggestion that Trump's political agenda has been extremist. 'The Trump agenda is peace, prosperity and law and order,' he said. 'I think most Americans, including most Illinoisans, support that agenda.'
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Randall County GOP chair charged with felony election fraud
The chair of the Randall County Republican Party was booked into jail Monday on a state felony election fraud charge. Kelly Kenten Giles, 64, is accused of providing false information on his application and petition to run for the Randall County Republican Party Chair seat in December 2023 for a spot on the 2024 primary ballot, according to the grand jury indictment signed late last month. It is unclear what about his application or petition was considered fraudulent. The offense is typically classified as a misdemeanor, but because Giles is accused of doing it while serving as an elected official, it becomes a felony. Giles did not respond to a request for comment, nor did anyone else with the Randall County Republican Party. The Texas Republican Party Chairman Abraham George said he learned of the allegations Tuesday. 'The Republican Party of Texas is steadfastly committed to upholding election integrity and the principles of the rule of law,' George said in an email. 'I am resolute in my duty to ensure that our commitment to securing Texas elections is upheld, which entails conducting elections with integrity by our elected party officials.' Giles' arrest comes after years of Texas Republicans cracking down on election integrity in the years that follow the 2020 election, despite no such evidence of widespread fraud. This crackdown escalated days ago when a former Democratic state House candidate was indicted alongside nine others for alleged vote harvesting in South Texas. The chairman was reelected to his seat as GOP chairman in the 2024 March primary election with 51% of the vote against two opponents, Brien Maxwell and Pat Bohlender. He was originally elected to his seat in May 2023 by the County Executive Committee, according to the Amarillo Tribune. Giles' indictment was handed down June 25 and the warrant was issued. He was booked into the Randall County jail and has since been released, according to the jail log. His case is being prosecuted by the Texas Attorney General's Office of the Election Integrity after the Randall County District Attorney recused his office. Shape the future of Texas at the 15th annual , happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin! We bring together Texas' most inspiring thinkers, leaders and innovators to discuss the issues that matter to you. Get tickets now and join us this November. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
CBS News
22-06-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
"We want real conservatives, real Republicans" says Texas GOP Chair in planned lawsuit against the state to close Republican primaries
Texas Republican Party Chairman Abraham George said the party intends to sue the state of Texas to close the Republican primaries. In an interview for Eye On Politics, George told CBS News Texas, "We wanted to have closed primaries for many, many years now. We've had this as a priority as part of the platform for many cycles. We expected our legislators to take care of this at the legislative session in the last convention that was held in San Antonio in the 2024 convention, about 10,000 people in the delegation came together and said we're going to change our rules to have the Republican primaries closed. We had about three bills in the last legislative session that we liked and we expected to pass, but unfortunately, that did not happen." George said this left the party with no other option than to file suit against the state. "The state law does not allow us to have a closed primary. So we're just trying to get the court to tell us that the Republican Party of Texas has the right to have closed primaries and we have the right to associate with the people that we believe are Republicans. We are expecting our statewide leaders to be on our side on this." He said this is crucial for the party to avoid interference from Democrats. "There is a reason why the party is frustrated with this process of any Democrat can come and choose the Republican nominee and find the weakest Republican or even a liberal and put them on our ballot under our name, and we had worked to get them elected. So we're kind of done with that. So we want real conservatives, real Republicans who will uphold the party's principles and our priorities." The plan to sue the state comes months before the state's March 2026 primary, which features an already contentious battle between U.S. Senator John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate. George said he didn't think closed primaries will have an impact on this race. "I don't know if there's going to be a huge difference. It's going to make any big difference in that election itself, but I don't know. I haven't looked at any of the numbers. This is not specific to any specific election, including the 2026 primaries. What we are trying to do is something we've been working on for close to a decade to close our primaries." Texas Democratic Party Chairman Kendall Scudder tells CBS News Texas the party has no plans to seek closed primaries. Full interview with the Texas GOP Chair below:
CBS News
29-05-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Bill cracking down on abortion pill distribution dies in Texas House
A bill that have cracked down on the distribution of abortion pills died in the Texas House this week after not getting scheduled for House review. Senate Bill 2880 would have enhanced criminal penalties for abortion crimes and provided more tools to target online sales of abortion drugs. SB 2880 passed in the Senate last month with no amendments. Abraham George, chairman of the Texas Republican Party, has said that SB 2880 is an important bill that will save the lives of unborn Texans. "As conservatives have pointed out, if this bill dies it will be the fault of Texas House Republicans," he said on social media. Other abortion bill considered during 89th legislative session On May 21, Texas lawmakers advanced a bill to clarify medical exceptions under one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the U.S., putting the GOP-backed proposal on the brink of reaching Gov. Greg Abbott's desk. The changes would not expand abortion access in Texas or list specific medical exceptions under the state's near-total ban, which took effect in 2022 and only allows for an abortion to save the life of the mother. It also would not include exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
BBC News
14-02-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Kent's population has increased by 18% in 20 years, says a report
The population of Kent has risen by almost a fifth in the last two decades while housing stock is insufficient to meet demand, according to a new are now 18% more residents than 20 years ago, with growth particularly high in areas such as Ashford, Maidstone and Swale, the 2025 Kent Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) report, presented to the Kent Health and Wellbeing Board which accepted its contents, raised concerns that housing stock had not increased in line with the growing population, with a rise of 9% in the last 10 report said there was also a "lack of affordable housing" in the county. The report found the county's population had grown by 7% over the last 10 years while average prices for housing increased by 15-30%, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. The most affordable area was Dover, where median house prices are eight times the median contrast, the most expensive area, Sevenoaks, saw the median house price at 14 times the median report also outlined housing challenges faced in Kent: Just under 20% of the households (145,566) lived in the private rented sector in are 3,597 children who are homeless and living in temporary accommodation in Kent and Medway as of March 2024. More than 26,000 households live in overcrowded accommodation, mostly the South East, over 10% of homes are non-decent according to the Survey of English Housing, which means not in a reasonable state of repair, hazardous or lacking in modern older population means it will result in an increased need for adapted housing especially for those with physical disabilities. Higher life expectancies Female life expectancy was 83.3 years, compared to 83.1 years across England, according to the latest men, it is 79.3 years in Kent - 0.2 years more than the English national average. However, these numbers are lower in deprived coastal areas including: Thanet, Folkestone and Hythe, Swale, Dartford, Gravesham, Dover, and highest life expectancies were found in more affluent Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Malling, Tunbridge Wells, Maidstone and Ashford. The report, compiled by authors Dr Abraham George and Davinia Springer, also shed light on demographics across the county:Kent is 10% whiter than other counties, with a white population of 83%Out of 98 languages spoken in Kent the top five languages are: English 89.8%, Polish 0.7%, Romanian 0.6%, Nepalese 0.5% and Punjabi 0.3%.In Kent, 48.5% are Christian, 40.9% declared no faith, 1.6% are Muslim and 1.2% diagnosis rates in the county are also on the rise but only Gravesham and Thanet are classed as "high prevalence" areas, defined by 2-5 people in 1,000 having the virus.
