Republicans

Politico reports: Florida GOP Sen. Rick Scott launched a bid Wednesday afternoon to succeed Mitch McConnell as the next Republican leader, telling colleagues he wants to make “dramatic change” in the way the conference operates. The first-term senator will face an uphill battle against Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a former whip himself. Scott …

USA Today reports: Nikki Haley said on Wednesday that she will vote for former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential contest during her first public appearance since dropping out of the GOP primary. “I put my priorities on a president who’s going to have the backs of our allies and hold our enemies to account who would secure the …

“We have a presumptive nominee for president facing 88 felony counts, and we are being prevented from even acknowledging it. These are not alternative facts. These are real facts. A candidate for president of the United States is on trial for sending a hush money payment to a porn star to avoid a sex scandal during his 2016 campaign, and …

The Texas Tribune reports: Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and members of the Biden Administration to contest LGBTQ+ workforce protections. The guidance, released last month, states that denying an employee accommodations for their gender identity, such as prohibiting an employee to use the bathroom of their gender identity, is unlawful workplace harassment. The guidance …

Denver’s NBC affiliate reports: The Colorado Republican Party is issuing a call to its members to pull their children from public school, saying Democrats are using schools to “turn more kids trans.” The message was delivered in an email blast to Republicans statewide Tuesday. “All Colorado parents should be aiming to remove their kids from public education,” read the directive …

CNN reporter Manu Raju: “You’ve been very the clear about your disdain for the hush money case, but what about the underlying alleged conduct of paying off a porn star to keep this extramarital affair quiet? You’re a deeply religious man, a moral man. Does that alleged conduct cause any concern about the former president?” Mike Johnson, flustered: “Look, I’m …

The Ohio Capital Journal reports: Ohio lawmakers are confident President Joe Biden will be on the November ballot, but how exactly that will happen remains the question. The fix won’t happen through the legislature, said Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens, R-Kitts Hill. “There’s just not the will to do that from the legislature,” Stephens said. Ohio law requires political parties …

The Washington Post reports: The Congressional Leadership Fund, an independent group affiliated with Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson (La.), plans to reserve $141 million in fall advertising this week, with spending planned for about 30 races that it has identified as likely to decide the balance of Congress. The initial spending plans are nearly $20 million larger than similar reservations …

Newsweek reports: Some Republicans charged in the Arizona fake electors plot have been unable to afford lawyers, ahead of their scheduled court appearances. Brahm Resnik of KPNX news in Arizona on Tuesday shared a thread of posts on X, formerly Twitter, discussing the arraignment of many defendants charged in a scheme to overturn the 2020 election results. In another post, …

Axios reports: Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) communications director Raj Shah is gearing up to leave his position, with the former Trump deputy press secretary expected to leave before the end of the summer, Axios has learned. Shah’s planned exit comes on the heels on multiple policy staffers for Johnson — who also worked for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — …

The Washington Post reports: The Louisiana House on Tuesday passed a bill that classifies the two drugs used to induce an abortion as “controlled dangerous substances.” Abortion opponents hope the measure, now on its way to Gov. Jeff Landry, will be a template for conservative states trying to end the procedure. If S.B. 276 is signed into law as expected …

CBS News reports: State Assembly member Vince Fong, a California legislator backed by former President Donald Trump, has captured a special election to complete the remainder of the term of deposed former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, which runs through January. Fong — a McCarthy protege who also had the former speaker’s endorsement — defeated fellow Republican and Tulare County Sheriff …

The Huffington Post reports: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told critics to lay off the Supreme Court following the revelation that an upside-down flag flew at the home of Justice Samuel Alito shortly after the Jan. 6 insurrection. The upside-down flag ― a symbol of the “Stop the Steal” movement protesting Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory ― was …

CNN reports: GOP Rep. Greg Murphy announced on Tuesday that he has a likely benign tumor in the base of his skull and will be absent from Congress as he undergoes surgery. His absence further narrows House Speaker Mike Johnson’s historically thin majority to 216 Republicans and 213 Democrats in the chamber — though impending special elections should help extend …

The Hill reports: GOP Maryland Senate candidate and former Gov. Larry Hogan (R-Md.) has launched a new advertisement in which he says he will codify Roe v. Wade, “so every woman can make her own choice.” “As governor, I promised to uphold Maryland law on abortion, while providing over-the-counter birth control covered by insurance,” Hogan says in the ad. “And …

Mediaite reports: Sebastian Gorka stopped a press conference briefly outside Donald Trump’s hush money trial in Manhattan to tell a reporter it was “pathetic” to suggest the former president is part of the “ruling class” or “elite.” Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick at one point accused the “ruling class” of targeting Trump for political purposes, and the lieutenant governor snapped …

“Donald Trump is being targeted because of who he is. If he was not running for president again, I don’t think you’d see any of this barrage of prosecutions, these local district attorneys and state attorneys who are after him. They have targeted him because he is soon to be officially the nominee of the Republican Party for president, and …

The Reload reports: The National Rifle Association has decided on a new direction. On Monday, the NRA board voted to install reform candidates across three of its top four leadership positions. That includes the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice President position filled by Wayne LaPierre until his resignation during the group’s corruption trial. Doug Hamlin, who ran the NRA’s …

“I don’t think it’s an outrageous request at all. People across this country have a lot of questions about what is going on with Joe Biden. Why do you seem to see two very different versions of him in very rapid succession from time to time? “We have a lot of questions that need to be answered, and you think …

The Huffington Post reports: Republican senators criticized Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito over the flying of an upside-down American flag at his house following the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building. “Emotions are apparently high in that neighborhood but no, it’s not good judgment to do that,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary …