It’s a tough spot for the bishop. As you say, there are good reasons to keep a church having its own independent identity rather than be too identified with a particular pastor.
On the other hand, if Hamilton had gotten the church up to a size in the low-single-digit thousands by the time for him to have rotated out, there might well not have been another pastor in the conference who could have handled a church of that size, much less kept it growing. Most nonfounding megachurch pastors are promoted from within or come from being pastor of another megachurch, because the vision and temperament are very different from those of pastors with smaller congregations - it’s really not for just anyone with a seminary degree. I would hope that the bishop keeps track of the succession plans for the church with great interest.
That site has an interesting map, and yes it does show El-Sayed with a lead over Rogers. They currently estimate the Dems have a 57% chance of taking the Senate.
I wonder if Mark O’Rubio is rooting for a 50-50 split Senate, to keep likely primary opponent JD Vance in the Senate chambers and off the campaign trail?
Eh, he would only have to appear to cast a tie-breaking vote, which maybe would happen once a month*. And he could fly to DC from most anywhere to cast that vote and then be back to continue his campaign.
*Kamala Harris cast the most tiebreak votes in US history, which was 33 in the 48 months she was in office. Vance has cast 8 tiebreaking votes in 19 months.
With the midterm election less than 12 weeks away, the race for U.S. Senate in Texas is heating up, with Democrat James Talarico holding a narrow lead over Republican Ken Paxton in a new poll.
The poll, conducted by ReconMR, a Texas-based research institute, shows Talarico ahead of Paxton by 4 percentage points. It is the latest survey to show Talarico with a slight advantage in the race.
I think it is due to paxton being such a weak candidate.
Even in the Governors race, the Dem has a chance-
The Aug. 7 poll from Texas Pulse showed Republican Gov. Greg Abbott leading Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa by 1 percentage point — 46% to 45%. That is a 5-point shift from Texas Pulse’s June poll, which showed Abbott at 49% and Hinojosa at 43%.
I am not that optimistic, however. Talarico- sure, maybe, lets hope.
Of all the states in which I might expect election dirty tricks, Texas is really high on the list. And, given that their Republican Senate candidate is also their sitting Attorney General (and a reprehensible human being, who has been repeatedly investigated for illegal activities), that doesn’t do anything to decrease my suspicion.
Subverting an election is extremely, extremely difficult. That’s kind of what all the conspiracy theories around 2020 revealed. If it was something Republicans could just do, they would be a lot less scared right now.
It’s easier to suppress or disrupt an election than actually rig it. If this is enough of a wave election that may not matter but there are plenty of elections where a small number of votes can decide it.
ETA: Not to mention in 2020 there was no single election official who would’ve changed the presidential result by refusing to certify which is part of why it required a conspiracy.
I doubt if Mike Pence had just decided to override the vote that it would have changed the outcome of the election. Basically SCOTUS would have had to decide whether that’s too stupid to fly, or if Democracy (and the Republic) was over. As bad as the current 6-3 majority is, I doubt they’d have been willing to hit the “end America” button. Likewise if anyone tries to just overrule an election it will create a giant firestorm that would probably make things much much worse for Republicans than if they simply honored the outcome of the election.
Collins has long voiced support for abortion protections, but in 2018, her vote was crucial in confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, expanding a conservative majority that went on to ultimately eliminate the constitutional right to abortion in 2022.
That was typical of Collins, where it is not what she says, it is what she actually does.
“I am for Women reproductions rights!” Then votes in the hired gun to kill Roe.
and
PORTLAND, Maine (WGME) – In the race for Senate, another new poll finds Democrat Troy Jackson is holding the slight lead against Senator Susan Collins.
Worth noting, the Democrat-led “Senate Majority PAC” commissioned the poll by “Hart Research,” which found Jackson is ahead of Collins > 49 to 45 percent, with 6 percent undecided.
Around the same time in 2020, Hart Research says Collins and Democrat Sara Gideon were tied in their poll.
The poll also found President Trump is a drag on Collins.
Minnesota:
Peggy Flannagan gets 411,456 (59.02)% of the DFL vote despite all the negative ads. Angie Craig gets 274,582 (39.38%)
On the GOP side Michele Tafoya gets 211,631 (52.06%) with Adam Schwarze coming in second with 97,410 (23.96%) votes.
Slate had an article on that a couple months ago. It mentions she also brings home a lot of bacon for Maine as Senate Appropriations committee chair, a position that no challenger could hope to assume if she were defeated in an election.