Republicans

Axios reports: Eleven Republican-led states are suing the Biden administration over its latest efforts to provide student debt relief for millions of borrowers. The Kansas-led lawsuit is seeking to have the SAVE plan immediately halted. The attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, Texas and Utah joined the suit. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach (R) …

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports: An organizer of a recall effort against Wisconsin’s Assembly speaker has launched a second recall effort now that the first one is on pace to fail without enough signatures and allegations of widespread fraud. Matthew Snorek of Burlington filed paperwork with the Wisconsin Elections Commission on Wednesday indicating his intention to circulate a new recall petition …

The Associated Press reports: Georgia lawmakers on Thursday approved new rules for challenging voters and qualifying for the state’s presidential ballot that could impact the 2024 presidential race in the battleground state. Republicans in Georgia have repeatedly floated election changes in the wake of false claims by former President Donald Trump and other Republicans that he lost Georgia’s 16 electoral …

The Dallas Morning News reports: Senator Ted Cruz is one step closer to his dream law to force law enforcement officers to give top national officials a private escort past airport security. Cruz introduced language into the Federal Aviation Administration’s funding bill. Yet despite some derision against him, the language remains in the bill. During the ice storm of 2021, …

The Louisville Courier-Journal reports: Lawmakers approved a bill that would require age verification to access pornography websites in Kentucky. The purpose of the measure is to prevent minors from viewing porn, said bill sponsor Rep. Matt Lockett, R-Nicholasville. House Bill 278 would allow the parents of minors who access porn sites, or anyone else injured by the access, to sue …

The Associated Press reports: Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed two top Democratic legislative priorities on Thursday: bills that would have allowed the recreational retail sales of marijuana to begin next year and measures mandating a minimum wage increase. In 2021, Virginia became the first Southern state to legalize marijuana, adopting a policy change that allowed adults age 21 and …

Via press release from Rep. James Comer: The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) today is offering President Joe Biden the opportunity to testify at a hearing in furtherance of the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry and is calling on President Biden to answer questions about his participation in his family’s pay-for-influence schemes. The Bidens received …

Politico reports: The Republican National Committee is weighing whether to restrict NBC’s access to this summer’s convention, following the network’s decision to drop former RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel as a contributor. Such a move would mark a dramatic escalation in the growing rift between Donald Trump-allies and the TV network — a rift that has stemmed from NBC’s decision to …

The Associated Press reports: Kentucky lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to a bill stripping the state’s Democratic governor of any role in picking someone to occupy a U.S. Senate seat if a vacancy occurred in the home state of 82-year-old Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. The legislation calls for a special election to fill any Senate vacancy from the Bluegrass …

The Washington Post reports: A federal court ruled Thursday that time had run out to draw a new congressional district in South Carolina and said the state could use its existing map this year even though it had earlier determined that map was unconstitutional. The panel of three judges last year concluded that South Carolina’s Republican-led legislature “exiled” 30,000 Black …

“In 2020, absentee ballot voting was at its highest. And so when President Trump got on the phone with our secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, and said, ‘can you find the votes? Where are they?’ “He was basically looking for ballots, and these ballots have been lost in the mail. And so there was nothing wrong with Trump, with what …

UPI reports: At least four states are considering legislation to follow North Dakota in mandating the showing of an animated fetal development video in elementary school classrooms. The particular video suggested, Meet Baby Olivia, developed by the anti-abortion organization Live Action, is factually incorrect and rife with misleading information. Following North Dakota’s passage of a similar bill last year, lawmakers …

The Hill reports: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Republican impeachment managers informed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in a letter Thursday that they will send two impeachment charges against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate on April 10. House Republicans are accusing Mayorkas of “high crimes and misdemeanors,” including “willful and systemic refusal to comply with …

Raw Story reports: Michigan State Rep. Matt Maddock last night drew derision when he falsely accused the Gonzaga men’s basketball team of being immigrant “invaders.” Writing on Twitter Wednesday night, Maddock posted a photo of a plane landing at the Detroit Metro Airport and then baselessly speculated it was filled with migrants who had been shipped from the southern border …

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: A judge ruled Wednesday that the Georgia Republican Party’s first vice chairman, Brian K. Pritchard, violated state election laws when he voted nine times while serving probation for a felony check forgery sentence. Pritchard, a conservative talk show host, must pay a $5,000 fine and receive a public reprimand from the State Election Board, according to …

The Washington Post reports: Richard Grenell, a former diplomat and intelligence official in Donald Trump’s administration, arrived in Guatemala in January, days before the new president was to be sworn in — and threw his support behind a right-wing campaign to undermine the election. Grenell met with a hard-line group that sued to block the inauguration, which thanked him for …

Mediaite reports: Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott accused his critics of not having “the courage to say the N-word” after he was branded the “DEI mayor” following the fatal Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse this week. After Scott was blamed by some social media users for the collapse, with one of Elon Musk’s favorite accounts calling him “Baltimore’s DEI mayor,” MSNBC …

The Hill reports: A growing chorus of Democrats say promising to protect Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) from a budding conservative coup could be their best chance to secure military aid for Kyiv, which has been stalled on Capitol Hill for months. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has already filed a motion to oust the Speaker if he bucks the conservatives’ …

Media Matters reports: Michele Morrow, the Republican nominee to head North Carolina’s schools, has spent years working for a group that’s spread extreme conspiracy theories. Those include claims that the “deep state” is behind school shootings; 9/11 was an inside job; former President Barack Obama has a “Hitler blood line” because “allegedly Hitler is Obama’s grandfather”; elites drink the blood …

Reuters reports: Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican, has decided against running as the No Labels candidate for president, delivering the latest blow to the centrist, third party’s bid for the White House. The two-time former presidential contender’s decision leaves the group with few remaining viable options for candidates as it seeks to seize on the unpopularity of …