Arizona Democrats Have Just About Had It Up To Here With Sinema

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things.

The Breaking Point

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (D-AZ) bold mavericking with the filibuster and voting rights legislation this week has landed her in hot water back home: Arizona Democratic Party Chair Raquel Terán announced on Thursday that the committee’s executive board will be meeting on Saturday to “address previously passed resolutions concerning” the senator.

• Sinema has “fallen short” on voting rights, Terán said.
• Terán highlighted the contrast between Sinema with her fellow Arizona senator, Mark Kelly, who “courageously voted to defend the voting rights of millions of Arizonans.”
• Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) told CNN on Thursday that several unnamed senators have privately urged him to primary Sinema in recent days – and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who’s already said he could support a primary challenger against her, wasn’t one of them.
  • It’s been far more than just senators who’ve lobbied Gallego for a primary challenge, he said. Everyone “you can imagine under the sun,” including unions and big donors, have reached out to him.

Giuliani’s Fake Elector Scheme

The Washington Post and CNN have new details of how then-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani spearheaded the Trump campaign’s scheme to gather fake Trump electors in seven states that Biden won in 2020. The plan was central to the bigger scheme to get then-Vice President Mike Pence to swap Biden electors in those states for Trump ones.

• The states in the fake elector plot were: Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada and New Mexico.
• One of the fake electors even bragged about her participation in the plot as recently as last week, CNN found.
• Some Republican electors refused to go along with it, so Giuliani and his team had to find replacements, according to the Washington Post.
• OAN Trump propagandist Christina Bobb, who is a lawyer, was reportedly involved in the plan.

Dem Rep. Arrested At Voting Rights Protest

During the non-violent protest, which was held near the Capitol on Thursday, U.S. Capitol Police arrested Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) with at least 20 other participants, according to the lawmaker’s spokesperson.

• The police said 27 protesters were arrested for “crowding, obstructing or incommoding,” plus one for breaking a “crowd control” law. The department didn’t say whether Bowman was one of the arrestees.
• Some of the people arrested with the Democrat included faith leaders and people on hunger strikes, Bowman’s spokesperson said.

A Grim Gohmert Tale

On Nov. 9 2021, Gohmert declared that if he could raise $1 million in 10 days, he’d run for Texas attorney general. On Nov. 23, Gohmert had a happy announcement: He was able to raise that amount of money in that time frame and would therefore be throwing his hat in the race as promised. On Thursday, the Texas Tribune reported that the Republican didn’t get anywhere near $1 million in those 10 days, according to new campaign finance filings.

• It was only about $27,000, according to the Tribune.
• Gohmert didn’t reach $1 million until Dec. 31, in fact.
• The GOP lawmaker insisted on Thursday that he definitely did raise $1 million in 10 days, during which he got “both contributions and commitments” from donors. Also, “getting all of the money in-house took more time,” he claimed.

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GOP Rep. Needs Instructions On How To Wear Mask

Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI) tried to make some kind of point about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) sending masks to House offices and gifted us a nice lil self-own instead:

Boebert Asks Jewish Capitol Visitors If They Were On Reconnaissance Mission

Upon seeing Capitol visitors who were wearing yarmulkes at an elevator on Thursday, far-right Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) asked if they were doing “reconnaissance,” Buzzfeed News reported. The Colorado Republican claimed later that she was just making a joke in reference to some Democrats’ allegation that she had given a tour to a big group of people in a tunnel connected to the Capitol several days before the Jan. 6 insurrection.

(Maybe it’d be best if Boebert just stay away from the elevators.)

Suggestions For New Name For BBB

On Thursday, Pelosi said Democrats might have to “rename” the Build Back Better plan that’s been essentially torpedoed by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV). Let’s see what ideas are out there:

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