Republicans

The Bulwark reports: As progressives start in earnest on their midterm elections playbook, it appears that Elon Musk, not Donald Trump, will be the primary target. VoteVets, a progressive political action committee, is launching a new ad campaign zeroing in on several vulnerable Republican members of Congress with a six-figure ad buy in their home districts. The ads all feature …

Politico reports: Scandal-ridden former Rep. Matt Gaetz is gone from Congress, but the wounds he inflicted on the House Ethics Committee that investigated him remain fresh. After the longest delay in recent history, the panel finally recruited enough members to perform its grim mandate of governing fellow lawmakers’ conduct in the 119th Congress. And they’ll have their work cut out …

Florida Politics reports: Municipal diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are one step closer to elimination after the Senate Community Affairs committee moved Sen. Clay Yarborough’s legislation (SB 420) forward along party lines. The Jacksonville Republican’s bill would block local governments from passing DEI initiatives and make ones already in law illegal. It would also create a cause of action for …

The Associated Press reports: Kentucky’s Republican lawmakers have passed a measure to protect conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ youths as part of a bill that also would outlaw the use of Medicaid funds to pay for gender-affirming health care for transgender Kentucky residents. Conversion therapy is the scientifically discredited practice of using therapy to “convert” LGBTQ+ people to heterosexuality or traditional …

Via press release from House Republicans: The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) announced a target list of 26 Democrat-held seats representing prime pick-up opportunities for Republicans to grow the House majority. “House Republicans are in the majority and on offense,” said NRCC Chairman Richard Hudson. “Meanwhile, vulnerable House Democrats have been hard at work demonstrating they are painfully out of …

The Hill reports: Republican Rep. Brandon Gill (Texas) said he would be pushing to impeach the federal judge who ordered the Trump administration to halt deportations of Venezuelan gang members over the weekend. “I’ll be filing Articles of Impeachment against activist judge James Boasberg this week,” Gill wrote in a post on X. On Saturday, President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies …

Florida Politics reports: On Monday afternoon, the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee will hold a hearing to discuss Senate Bill 1438, introduced by Sen. Erin Grall [photo]. This bill requires app stores and operating systems to obtain parental consent before minors can download apps on their devices. Utah became the first state to pass such legislation in February. The Utah …

“We’ve asked for information regarding the 26 confidential human sources! To me, this is huge. Twenty-six confidential human sources there on January 6th, 2021. Seventeen entered restricted space. Four went inside the Capitol. They weren’t authorized to do that. Two of the four who went inside the Capitol were actually asked to be there that day by our FBI at …

Mint reports: A controversial bill introduced in the Minnesota Senate seeks to modify the state’s definition of mental illness by including a new condition labeled Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). The bill, if enacted, would amend Minnesota Statutes 2024 to formally recognize TDS as a mental health disorder. The proposed legislation, introduced during Minnesota’s Ninety-Fourth Legislative Session, aims to redefine mental …

Chapel Hill’s NPR affiliate reports: The State Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services received a letter from the United States Department of Agriculture earlier this month stating it will no longer receive funding for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program. The nonprofit Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina is one of seven food banks that receives funding through …

The Hill reports: The Senate voted mostly along party lines Friday afternoon to pass the House Republican-drafted bill to fund government through September, avoiding a government shutdown only hours before funding was due to lapse. President Trump is expected to sign the bill into law. The final vote was 54-46. Two members of the Democratic caucus voted for the bill, …

Columbia, South Carolina’s CW affiliate reports: U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace is facing a lawsuit after her speech on the U.S. House floor last month from one of the four men she labeled as “predators.” The Bland Richter Law Firm is representing Brian Musgrave, one of the four men Mace accused of drug and sex crimes in a lawsuit alleging defamation …

Florida Politics reports: Florida’s Senators are putting their muscle behind a Gov. Ron DeSantis priority regarding the future of NASA. U.S. Sens. Ashley Moody and Rick Scott are introducing the Consolidating Aerospace Programs Efficiently (CAPE) at Canaveral Act to move the headquarters of the space agency on the Space Coast. “Establishing NASA’s headquarters within the Space Coast will bridge the …

The New York Times reports: State senators in North Dakota voted down a measure on Thursday calling for the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its decision that established a national right to same-sex marriage, an issue that has divided the Republicans who control that legislative chamber. State Representative Bill Tveit, a Republican who sponsored the North Dakota resolution, cited the …

The Associated Press reports: Before answering an attendee’s question about President Donald Trump’s “destructive and disastrous trade war,” U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards made a plea to the rowdy crowd at his Thursday town hall in Asheville, North Carolina. “Let me answer and then if you don’t like it, you can boo or hiss or whatever you’d like to do,” Edwards …

The Washington Post reports: When Vice President JD Vance took his seat Thursday night at the Kennedy Center in Washington, he was met with a chorus of boos from the packed concert hall. Vance and the second lady, Usha Vance, were attending a performance by the National Symphony Orchestra, which was already seated onstage when the crowd spotted the pair …

Courthouse News reports: A coalition of farmers sued the Trump administration Thursday to lift an indefinite freeze of billions of dollars in funding for programs created under the Inflation Reduction Act. In the suit, brought in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the farmers challenge President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order “Unleashing American Energy,” which placed …

The Texas Tribune reports: With unanimous Republican support, the Texas Senate appears poised to pass a priority bill requiring Texans to prove their citizenship before they could vote in state, local, and presidential elections. Senate Bill 16, which would apply to new registrants as well as existing registered voters who did not provide proof of citizenship when they registered. That …

Florida Politics reports: Rep. Juan Porras’ proposal to begin mandating the phrase “Gulf of America” in K-12 instructional materials is finally moving. The House Education and Employment Subcommittee is advancing legislation (HB 549) that would compel School Boards to “adopt and acquire” materials using the Gulf of America name and to “update geographical materials for Floridians.” “We would be the …

“When it comes to protesters, we gotta make sure we treat all of them the same. Send them to jail. Free speech is great, but hateful, hate, free speech is not what we need in these universities. And they don’t need to be doing things that they’re preaching from Hamas about anti-Semitism.” – GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who celebrated the …