Republicans

Politico Playbook reports: Newly counted ballots last night put Democrat Adam Gray 182 votes ahead of GOP Rep. John Duarte in California’s 13th Congressional District, Gray’s first lead. It’s now the closest of three uncalled House races, with Democrat Derek Tran leading by 613 votes in California’s 45th and GOP Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks up by 800 in Iowa’s 1st. The …

The Ohio Capital Journal reports: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has signed a bill into law banning transgender students from using school bathrooms and locker rooms that match up with their gender identity. The law requires people at Ohio K-12 schools and universities use the restroom that aligns with their gender assigned at birth. It also bans students from sharing overnight …

The Washington Post reports: President-elect Donald Trump’s advisers are discussing how to unilaterally strip federal resources from Chicago and other Democratic-run cities if they refuse to participate in deportations of undocumented immigrants next year. Advisers to Trump have pushed for using federal pressure — such as withholding federal funds — against municipalities that don’t cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs …

Courthouse News reports: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to shut down an Austin, Texas, homeless center, calling the charity a public nuisance. The Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center says it’s the largest provider of homeless services in Travis County. According to its website, the center provides a number of services, including physical and mental health care, …

Mediaite reports: Florida state Sen. Randy Fine is running in Florida’s Sixth Congressional District, which is currently represented by Mike Waltz. Fine, who is Jewish, touted the endorsement of the Republican Jewish Coalition on Tuesday by referring to himself as the “Hebrew Hammer” while tagging Omar and Tlaib in a tweet. “The “Hebrew Hammer” is coming,” he wrote. “@RashidaTlaib and …

The Washington Post reports: The Texas committee that examines all pregnancy-related deaths in the state will not review cases from 2022 and 2023, the first two years after Texas’s near-total abortion ban took effect, leaving any potential deaths related to abortion bans during those years uninvestigated by the 23 doctors, medical professionals and other specialists who make up the group. …

The Des Moines Register reports: U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley predicted that President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China will be used as a “negotiating tool” to put pressure on the three largest U.S. trade partners. Grassley has previously warned Trump that his tariffs could be damaging. He several times has cited the Hawley Tariff Act signed by …

The Texas Tribune reports: Texas will continue to offer up more land to the incoming Trump administration to use for mass deportation facilities. Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham announced Tuesday that her office is identifying property to be ready for the Trump administration when they take office in January. “We have 13 million acres around the state, and if there’s …

Axios reports: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin made a pitch to incoming staffers for Trump’s administration: Move to Virginia, just across the Potomac from D.C. The Republican governor wants the blue suburbs of Northern Virginia to welcome MAGA world. “We offer a great quality of life,” Youngkin says in a video posted on X on Tuesday, touting “award-winning schools, where parents …

Yahoo News reports: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) became the first sitting member of Congress on Cameo over the weekend, following former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) onto the video-for-hire platform. But it didn’t last. By Monday evening, the Beetlejuice fan deactivated her account, which had been offering short video greetings for $250 a pop. Members of Congress are allowed to earn …

The Texas Tribune reports: A Louisiana law that reclassified abortion-inducing drugs as controlled substances has made it more difficult for doctors to treat a wide range of gynecological conditions, doctors say. Now, a similar proposal has been filed in Texas. Texas Rep. Pat Curry, a freshman Republican from Waco, said the intent of House Bill 1339 is to make it …

“You are absolutely breaking the law All he has to do is look at Arizona v. U.S. and he would see he’s breaking the law. But, look, me and the Denver mayor, we agree on one thing. He’s willing to go to jail, I’m willing to put him in jail. “It’s a felony if you knowingly harbor and conceal an …

The Tulsa World reports: The people behind the invocation before last week’s Tulsa’s City Council meeting would like Gov. Kevin Stitt, State Superintendent Ryan Walters and other state officials who are in a tizzy over the prayer to know that it had nothing to do with Satan. Amy Hardy-McAdams, a high priestess of the Artemisian Faerie Faith, said she is …

Mediaite reports: Kari Lake is in “active negotiations” to join Newsmax after losing her bid for the Senate in Arizona, Mediaite has learned. Lake, a local news broadcaster turned fierce Trump loyalist, is in talks with the conservative network for an on-camera position, sources said. Before emerging as a far-right political candidate, Lake spent more than two decades as an …

NOTUS reports: When then-Congressman Mike Pence first argued in 2007 that Planned Parenthood should be stripped of all federal funding, it was seen as a niche position held by only the most strident anti-abortion lawmakers. But heading into 2025 — almost two decades later — Republicans say defunding the organization is one of their earliest priorities of the 119th Congress. …

The Hill reports: Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) will resign from the House on Jan. 20, the day President-elect Trump takes office, to become the national security adviser for Trump’s second term, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to The Hill. His upcoming resignation means that House Republicans, who were already slated to have a razor-tight majority, will be at …

The Daily Beast reports: Dr. Mehmet Oz could hold millions of dollars in investments in companies regulated by the federal agency Donald Trump has tapped him to lead. During his failed Senate run in 2022, the former talk show host reported tens of millions of dollars in investments in health care, medical technology and food companies, according to the Los …

First, a bit of Kennedy’s drug addiction backstory: Passengers on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s flight to Rapid City saw that he was high. The flight crew radioed ahead to authorities, who let Kennedy go but obtained a search warrant and found heroin in his luggage. Kennedy was charged with felony drug possession, and the story made national news. In the …

The Washington Examiner reports: Trump ally and Fox News contributor Caitlyn Jenner dropped hints on what could be in store for the former Olympian, noting on X that Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) cannot seek reelection in 2026. The hint comes after Newsom survived a recall effort against him in 2021, when Jenner was one of the candidates to run as …

Posted today to Trump’s Truth Social account: Jimmy Patronis, Chief Financial Officer for the Great State of Florida, has done a tremendous job as CFO, where he also serves as the State’s Fire Marshall, and as an important member of the Florida Cabinet. I hear that Jimmy is now considering launching a Campaign for Congress in Florida’s 1st Congressional District! …