Press

No topic has consumed or defined technology more in the past year than artificial intelligence, capturing the attention of Silicon Valley investors, Hollywood entertainers and Washington, D.C. lawmakers. 

So what lies ahead? That’s what was discussed at AI: Balancing Innovation & Regulation, a live journalism event hosted by The Messenger on Tuesday, December 5, 2023. They brought government, industry, and advocacy leaders together in Washington, D.C. to to cover advances in AI as well as legislative and regulatory priorities. 

ROKK Solutions attended this invite-only event in Washington, D.C. where government, industry, and advocacy leaders discussed advances in AI as well as legislative and regulatory priorities. Read the full article here.

The White House is stepping up its criticism of the impeachment inquiry into President Biden, placing more moderate Republican members worried about their seat in next year’s crucial election in a political dilemma. 

House Republicans are planning a vote for next week to formalize the inquiry after months of congressional investigations attempting to paint Biden as corrupt. The White House, meanwhile, has spent the last few days on a concerted effort to tie the conference to its more far-right members, including casting Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) as the sole lawmaker calling the shots. It’s also painted Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) as caving to certain lawmakers by calling for a vote on the matter.

ROKK Senior Vice President, John LaBombard, spoke with The Hill about how voters may view Republican house members who go through with the impeachment inquiry. Read more here.

GOP hopeful Nikki Haley faces a moment of truth in the next primary debate Wednesday in Alabama: Can she seize on her momentum and put in a top-level performance that will turn her into a real rival for the presidential nomination to former President Trump?

The former United Nations ambassador has seen boosts from her previous debate performances, and another standout showing could propel her ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who has long been considered Trump’s closest rival. 

ROKK Co-Founder and Partner, Ron Bonjean spoke with The Hill about the upcoming GOP debate. Read more here.

According to polls, the GOP race for 2024 continues to show former President Donald Trump as the consistent favorite. Now, with just under seven weeks until the first contest of the GOP primary season, billionaire Republican donor Charles Koch is looking to change that. Koch’s political network, Americans for Prosperity Action, is throwing its weight behind former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who’s been steadily rising in popularity among Republicans.

ROKK Co-Founder and Partner Ron Bonjean shared his insights with NPR Morning Edition host A Martinez. Listen to the full conversation here.

A group of self-styled political independents filed paperwork with the FEC this week to launch a new Super PAC aimed at swinging independent voters to support former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in her bid to secure the Republican presidential nomination.

Led by five entrepreneurs — including Jonathan Bush, the cousin of former President George W. Bush, and billionaire CEO Frank Laukien — the PAC, called Independents Moving the Needle, says it will focus its efforts on New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary. 

Jeff Grappone, EVP at ROKK Solutions and veteran Republican strategist in New Hampshire, shared his insights with ABC News on the importance of winning over independent voters during the New Hampshire primary. Read the full article here. 

The House this year has been mired in chaos, punctuated by a 15-round speakership vote, an eight-person regicide, flirtations with government shutdowns and policy stagnations. Next year’s elections could determine if the Senate follows suit.

Rabble-rousing Republicans are running for a handful of Senate seats, including Kari Lake in Arizona, Alex Mooney in West Virginia, Jim Marchant in Nevada, James Craig in Michigan and more. Meanwhile, dealmakers like Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Mitt Romney, R-Utah, are retiring.

That means the normally staid Senate could become more like the often chaotic House, injecting further drama into Congress, if several big-name Republicans win their elections next year. 

John LaBombard, SVP at ROKK Solutions and former top aide to Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., shared his insights with ABC News on whether the House’s lack of decorum will make its way into the Senate. Read the full article here. 

While Ramaswamy is packing his schedule with stops across Iowa, including multiple events on Tuesday and Wednesday, he has failed to move up in the 2024 Republican primary race and is increasingly at risk of becoming an afterthought. He is polling in the mid to high single digits and has left critics asking what his endgame is or if he is staying in the race only to boost former President Donald Trump.

After an earlier flurry of attention, the 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur and first-time political candidate is gaining more notice over his debate provocations than for signs that his campaign is resonating with voters.

ROKK Co-Founder and GOP strategist Ron Bonjean spoke to The Associated Press about Ramaswamy’s position in the Republican presidential candidate field. Read the full article here.

Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) planned exit from the Senate is delivering a blow to the eroding dealmaking sector of the upper chamber, as compromise becomes devalued and partisanship wins out at the ballot box. 

The West Virginia centrist has played among the most prominent roles in numerous bipartisan legislative efforts, including President Biden’s signature infrastructure law in 2021, negotiations on firearm background checks and on energy policy. 

John LaBombard, SVP at ROKK Solutions and former top aide to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), shared his insights with The Hill about what departures by senators like Manchin means for bipartisanship moving forward. Read the full article here. 

The dwindling number of 2024 GOP primary candidates is raising fresh questions about the race as the Iowa caucuses fast approach.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) announced Sunday he was suspending his campaign, marking the latest exit from the field as the race to beat former President Trump increasingly looks like a match-up between former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

ROKK Co-Founder and Partner, Ron Bonjean spoke to The Hill about why Scott wasn’t getting enough traction to stay in the race.

The DeSantis campaign recently posted a thread of more than two dozen clumsy or confusing remarks by former president Donald Trump, positing that “this is why his handlers won’t let him debate.”

As Trump’s Republican rivals face growing pressure to stop his momentum, while Democrats seek to neutralize concerns about Biden’s age, the two sides are converging on a common argument — that Trump’s cognition has declined too far for him to lead the country again.

ROKK Co-Founder and advisor for the pro-Biden super PAC Unite the Country, Rodell Mollineau spoke with The Washington Post on how those covering this election season should react to Trump’s improvisational speeches and rallies.