(A)Political Newsletter- Volume 19

(A)political Newsletter - U.S. Political News & Election Updates

November 24, 2023

Good morning everyone,

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate! It’s been an interesting week in Republican politics as DeSantis tries to gain momentum for his campaign with major evangelical endorsements while also losing the head of his “Never Back Down” PAC. In more somber news, former humanitarian and First Lady Rosalynn Carter passed away at the age of 95.

  • Stock Watching

  • Ron DeSantis PAC Leader Resigns

  • Rosalynn Carter Passes Away

  • Iowa Evangelicals Back DeSantis

CONGRESSIONAL STOCK WATCHER

  • Former Rep. Madison Cawthorn has been buying and selling meme coins at a 93% return in just 10 days.

    • He is no longer under the House’s jurisdiction.

    • He was previously fined by the House Ethics Committee for “pump and dump” trading of “LGB Coin” during his time as a Representative. 

  • $TCMD has now risen over 30% since Senator Smith's trade two weeks ago.

    • She has made up to $75,000 off of this trade.

    • That is approximately equal to what the average US household makes in a year.

  • Representative Michael Guest just disclosed new stock trades.

    • It is now estimated that he has traded over $500K in stock and options this year.

    • He has violated the STOCK Act twice.

    • He is the chairman of the House Ethics Committee, which is in charge of enforcing the STOCK Act

  • The STOCK Act was intended to combat insider trading by politicians.

    • The House Ethics Committee is in charge of enforcing the STOCK Act.

    • Here are members of the ethics committee who we have caught violating the STOCK Act:

      John Rutherford: 152 violations

      David Joyce: 136 violations

      Michael Guest: 2 violations

      Deborah Ross: 1 violation

  • U.S. Senator Tina Smith sits on the Senate Committee on Health.

    • Her husband is an investor with a focus on medical industry stocks.

    • Two weeks ago, he bought over $100K of stock in a tiny medical device company called Tactile Systems, $TCMD.

    • The stock has risen over 20% since.

  • Representative Chris Collins was convicted of insider trading in 2020.

    • He traded a pharma stock right after receiving inside information on its drug trials.

    • He was pardoned in 2020…

    • He has announced that he will run for Congress again in 2024

  • Representative Jonathan Jackson just disclosed another sale of NextEra Energy stock, $NEE.

    • He started selling his position in $NEE back in May.

    • $NEE has fallen over 20% since.

    • Jackson sits on the House Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, which oversees energy.

Be on the Lookout:

More members of Congress are signaling for there to be harsher consequences for insider trading. However, many of those who investigate insider trading are potentially guilty of it themselves. There are many congressional leaders who are in charge of different committees who have been caught trading stock closely related to the theme of their committee.

Ron DeSantis PAC Leader Resigns

PC: Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press

November 24, 2023: Florida Gov. Ron Desantis faced another challenge in his presidential bid to unseat former President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination. This time, Chris Jankowski, the chief executive of Never Back Down, has resigned from the post. Never Back Down amassed over $130 million over the summer to support DeSantis's efforts and has spent extensively on ads to both attack Trump and also attack surging candidate Nikki Haley.

Both DeSantis and his wife are complaining about the ads attacking Haley, according to the NYT. His PAC funds much of the campaign's functions, while direct coordination, which is illegal under federal law, happens frequently in campaigns. A key reason why was a verbal argument breaking out between members of the PAC over the development of a new PAC, which some within Never Back Down view as undermining its efforts.

DeSantis in general has been struggling to gain momentum since the summer. Other than being endorsed by the most powerful evangelical leader in Iowa and Gov. Kim Reynolds, which could help move some Iowa voters to him, he has had to undergo many personnel cuts and the forced resignation of his former campaign manager. He has slid in the polls instead of rising in them and is losing support to Nikki Haley, who is gaining both voter and anti-Trump megadonor support.

Remembering Rosaylnn Carter

PC: Adam Carlson/ABC

November 19, 2023: Rosalynn Carter, humanitarian and wife of former President, has passed away in hospice care at 96. Carter supported her husband for 77 years of marriage and stated her intention of not being a traditional first lady. She sat in on cabinet meetings and was a leading advocate for mental health policy, serving as the honorary chair of the President's Commission on Mental Health in 1977. She pushed for systemic changes in how all levels of government handle mental health. After her husband left office, she was a leader of the Carter Center, which is a humanitarian center pushing in multiple areas of human rights. Her memorial service next week will be attended by both President Biden and his wife, along with former First Ladies.

Iowa Evangelicals Back DeSantis

PC: Paul Sancya/AP

November 24, 2023: Bob Vander Platts is an influential Iowa Republican who endorsed Ron DeSantis earlier in the year, becoming the second major endorsement for DeSantis in Iowa. Evangelicals are a major voting bloc for the Iowa caucus, which may help DeSantis’s campaign, which has fallen far behind Trump.

Vander Platts believes that they may nominate Trump but that he is unlikely to win the election. Trump’s response claimed that he is endorsed by over 150 religious leaders and that DeSatis had to buy the endorsement. His campaign also went after Kim Reynolds, who had endorsed him earlier in the race.

DeSantis’s campaign has involved much religious rhetoric and consistent outreach to evangelical communities. However, it is still not likely to help him gain much momentum against the Trump campaign.

One of the larger struggles for Republican candidates has been the ban on abortions, which came down after Trump appointed three conservative justices. Some polls suggest a majority of American’s are in favor of early-term abortions, but many of the candidates are struggling to find where exactly their voters fall.

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