Conservatives gather for CPAC with the right openly divided over the Iran war
GRAPEVINE, Texas — Conservatives are holding one of their largest annual gatherings at a perilous political moment for President Donald Trump and with open division on the right over the war he launched in Iran. While Trump maintains broad support among conservatives, the war in Iran is more than a...
Means’ surgeon general nomination is stalled as senators question her experience and vaccine stance
NEW YORK — Wellness influencer Dr. Casey Means’ nomination to be U.S. surgeon general is stalled a month after senators of both major political parties grilled her on vaccines and other health topics during a tense confirmation hearing, deepening doubts about her ability to secure the votes she needs for...
Trump showed off a classified map during a 2022 plane trip, letter from Democratic lawmaker alleges
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump showed off a classified map on a 2022 flight to his New Jersey golf club and held onto a record from his first term that was so sensitive only six people would have had access to it, according to a letter released Wednesday by a...
Democrat flips seat in special election for Florida district that includes Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort
WASHINGTON — Democrat Emily Gregory won a Florida special election on Tuesday, flipping a district that is home to Mar-a-Lago, the West Palm Beach estate that President Donald Trump counts as his residence. The Republican president had endorsed Gregory’s rival, Jon Maples. In a social media post Monday, he urged...
North Carolina Senate leader, conservative architect Phil Berger concedes primary loss
RALEIGH — North Carolina government’s most influential politician, Republican state Senate leader Phil Berger, conceded the primary race for his seat to Sam Page on Tuesday, shaking the power structure in the ninth-largest state and likely soon ending Berger’s preeminence as the state’s top conservative architect. Berger trailed Page, the...
Pa. House votes to boost state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2029
The state House voted Tuesday afternoon to boost Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2029. Pennsylvania’s minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since 2009. “If you work hard, you shouldn’t have to worry about your next meal or having a roof over your head. Pennsylvania needs a...
Thomas Massie thinks being hated by Trump is ‘worth it.’ Will voters agree?
CYNTHIANA, Ky. — Rep. Thomas Massie was wedged in the back of a pickup truck careening through the hills and hollers of his district back to his off-the-grid farm here in Kentucky, scrolling on his phone through the litany of memes his legion of online fans have created on his...
GOP state House candidate in North Hills ruled ineligible to appear on primary ballot
A McCandless Republican has been ruled ineligible to appear on the May 19 primary ballot as a candidate for state House because he doesn’t meet Pennsylvania’s residency requirement. Ehab Akkary was the lone Republican to file paperwork to seek the GOP nomination in the 30th state House District, which includes...
Trump casts Florida mail ballot as he pushes Congress to severely limit that voting option
President Donald Trump has cast another mail ballot in Florida as he continues to publicly bash the voting method as a source of fraud and push Congress to curtail the practice. Palm Beach County voter records show the president voted by mail in a Tuesday special election for state legislative...
Oklahoma’s governor picks energy executive Alan Armstrong to fill U.S. Senate seat through end of year
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s governor on Tuesday appointed energy executive Alan Armstrong to serve in the U.S. Senate through the end of the year and finish the term of Republican Markwayne Mullin, the new homeland security secretary. The choice by Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who had pledged to pick a...
Trump says U.S. and Iran are talking. His claim is eliciting market cheers and plenty of skepticism
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump started the fourth week of his war against Iran by offering the world some guarded optimism that the U.S. could soon be winding operations down, a claim that markets cheered but Iranian officials dismissed as a ploy to buy time for a conflict that is...
Airport disruptions abound as senators chase deal to end Homeland Security budget standoff
WASHINGTON — Travel disruptions deepened Tuesday as senators raced to clinch an emerging proposal to end the Homeland Security shutdown by funding much of the department, including airport workers going without pay, but excluding immigration enforcement and deportation operations that have been core to the dispute. The sudden sense of...
‘Don’t make any deal’: Trump tells Republicans to hold firm on shutdown talks
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — President Donald Trump said Monday that Republicans should stop negotiating with Democrats to end the partial government shutdown and instead focus on passing voting legislation, even as Transportation Security Administration agents work without paychecks and lines at some airports stretch for hours. “I’m suggesting strongly to the...
Supreme Court appears skeptical of late-arriving ballots, a Trump target
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ‘s conservative majority on Monday sounded skeptical of state laws that allow the counting of late-arriving mail ballots, a persistent target of President Donald Trump. A ruling, likely to come by late June, that bars counting ballots arriving after Election Day would send officials scrambling...
Kalshi and Polymarket rush to ban insider trading as senators move to curb prediction markets
NEW YORK — Kalshi and Polymarket, the two biggest prediction market platforms, rushed to institute new industry guardrails on Monday after two key senators announced legislation that could severely curtail the industry’s prospects. Kalshi said it would ban political candidates from trading on their own campaigns, and it would preemptively...
Shapiro parodies and chatbot phone banks — how AI is popping up in Pa. elections
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Candidates for office in Pennsylvania are using AI tools to generate parody images of their rivals, create...
How Obama’s strategist discouraged Biden from running in 2016
As the Democratic presidential contest heated up in 2015, it fell to President Barack Obama’s political strategist to tell Vice President Joe Biden what he did not want to hear: He should not run for president because he could not win. It could not have been an easy mission for...
How Democrats learned to stop worrying and love tax cuts
With voters’ concerns about affordability showing no sign of fading, some Democrats are rediscovering a traditionally Republican tactic for putting money back in people’s pockets — cutting taxes. Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland proposes effectively ending the federal income tax on individuals making $46,000 or less annually and reducing...
John Fetterman doubles down on ‘TDS’ claim in face of historically bad pollingVideo
Sen. John Fetterman did not back down in the face of historically bad polling numbers in his appearance this weekend on Fox News’ “My View” with Lara Trump. Fetterman entered the day fresh off a new Quinnipiac poll that showed him at -40 in favorability rating with Pennsylvania Democrats. That...
ICE to aid airport security amid partial shutdown, border czar saysVideo
Tom Homan, the White House border czar, confirmed Sunday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will be deployed to U.S. airports Monday, casting the operation largely as an effort to ease long lines that have caused frustration among travelers during one of the busiest travel seasons. President Donald Trump announced...
Democrats sharpen criticism of Vance as they look past Trump to the 2028 presidential campaign
FAIRFIELD, Ohio — Although President Donald Trump is the top Democratic nemesis, some of the party’s most ambitious leaders are increasingly looking past him and at Vice President JD Vance. In the latest example, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear traveled to Vance’s home county in Ohio, where on Saturday night he...
Congress is enacting less legislation than it has in at least a half-century, records show
Lawmakers in Washington are on pace to introduce more legislation this session than they have since the 1970s, but they’re also on pace to enact fewer bills and resolutions into law than they have in at least a half-century. A database maintained by the government transparency website GovTrack.us showed that,...
Trump’s mixed messages on Iran: ‘Winding down’ the war and easing sanctions but adding more troops
President Donald Trump frequently contradicts himself, sometimes in the same speech, social media post or even sentence. Within the space of a few hours Friday, he sent a torrent of mixed signals about the Iran war that raise more questions about the direction of the conflict and his administration’s strategy....
Senate blocks amendment on transgender athletes during weekend session on voting bill
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Saturday blocked an amendment that would ban transgender athletes from playing in women’s sports, rejecting one of President Donald Trump’s priorities as he pressures Congress to act on a broad voting bill. Senators were holding a rare weekend session to debate the voting legislation, which...
Fetterman hit with brutal 108-point polling swing among Pennsylvania Democrats
Sen. John Fetterman’s political future is not looking bright if he decides to stay in the Democratic Party. At least that’s what a recent Quinnipiac poll, which was highlighted by CNN data guru Harry Enten during his most recent segment, suggests. The polling showed that Fetterman was at +68 with...
