I spoke with Gideon Resnick of The Daily Beast about the upcoming primaries and their implications for the GOP in the November midterm elections.

While political pros have mocked the ads, Blankenship’s incendiary approach has earned him more press attention, if much of it negative, than his opponents Rep. Evan Jenkins and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.

“Hard to expect the media to avert its eyes from the Blankenship circus, particularly in a click-driven environment, but I think there is a real tail risk,” Republican strategist Liam Donovan observed. “Dominating the conversation for negative reasons is still dominating the conversation, and with just days to go that really matters. It would be naive to think that wasn’t his goal in releasing this ridiculous ad.”

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I spoke to Daniel Dale of the Toronto Star about Paul Ryan’s departure and what it says about GOP fortunes in the upcoming midterm election:

“Typically you’d look to presidential approval and partisan advantage in the generic ballot question, and polls currently show Republicans still competitive, albeit in the danger zone. But beyond these traditional metrics, the sheer imbalance in enthusiasm remains the X-factor,” said Liam Donovan, a Republican strategist and lobbyist at Bracewell LLP. “Forty-plus per cent approval and a single-digit generic ballot margin wouldn’t normally yield double-digit swings in districts across the country, and yet that’s what we’ve seen repeatedly over the past year. Ultimately, the outcome will be a function of whether the current asymmetry persists.”

Read the full piece here.

I spoke with Laura Davison of Bloomberg Tax about the outlook–and wish list–for technical corrections in the wake of TCJA.

Lawmakers will likely have only a handful of opportunities this year to pass technical corrections, which tax practitioners say they need quickly, and definitely before the 2019 tax filing season. Lawmakers must pass legislation, which will include a tax title, reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration by Sept. 30. Another year-end vehicle for tax legislation could surface if Congress passes a short-term spending bill in the fall.

“At the end of the day, it’s still going to come down to the Democrats’ willingness to play ball, and specifically what their ask will be,” Liam Donovan, a tax lobbyist at Bracewell LLP in Washington, told Bloomberg Tax April 12.

Click here to read the entire piece.