Politics Election category, Page 169
West Virginia GOP Legislature passes transgender care ban
CHARLESTON — A bill that would ban evidence-based health care for transgender minors in West Virginia, the state estimated to have more transgender youth per capita than any other in the nation, is headed to the desk of Gov. Jim Justice. The Republican governor has not taken a public stance...
Anti-Trump GOP voters mostly loyal in 2022, but not entirely
WASHINGTON — Rep. Lauren Boebert’s grip on Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District didn’t seem in question heading into last year’s midterms. But in the end, the congresswoman who gained a national reputation as a combative member of the “Make America Great Again” movement won reelection by just 564 votes. “This was...
Pence says Trump ‘endangered my family’ on Jan. 6
WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday harshly criticized former President Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, widening the rift between the two men as they prepare to battle over the Republican nomination in next year’s election. “President Trump was...
Will it take market crash for Congress to raise debt limit?
WASHINGTON — There’s one way to force President Joe Biden and Congress to solve the looming crisis over the debt limit: a financial market crash. That’s a view held by several economists and a former White House official, mindful that Congress rarely acts unless an emergency forces lawmakers to. “For...
Allegheny County Democratic endorsements show leftward shift on committee
Two progressive candidates in high-profile, countywide races earned endorsements this month from the traditionally moderate Allegheny County Democratic Committee. In years past, the committee has been known to back moderate candidates and those with longstanding insider connections to local committee members. On March 5, progressive District Attorney candidate Matt Dugan...
Child marriage ban bill resurrected in West Virginia Senate
CHARLESTON — A bill to prohibit minors from getting married in West Virginia was resurrected in the state Senate on Thursday, a day after its defeat in a committee. The about-face didn’t necessarily give the bill a clear path to passage. Several senators gave impassioned speeches after the bill was...
Philadelphia state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta announces bid for auditor general
State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta announced on Thursday he will be vying for the Democratic nomination for state auditor general in 2024. Standing outside the Pennsylvania Capitol, the 32-year-old Philadelphia lawmaker said he is running to take back the office that had been in Democratic hands for 24 years until 2020...
Biden to seek more than $2.8B from Congress for cancer fight
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is asking Congress for more than $2.8 billion in the federal budget he’s sending to Capitol Hill on Thursday to help advance his cancer-fighting goals. More than half of the money, $1.7 billion, would go to the Department of Health and Human Services to support...
A hearing on covid’s origins spurs call for rules to curb risky virus researchVideo
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s top infectious disease official urged lawmakers during a hearing on the origins of the covid-19 pandemic to ban research that enhances a pathogen’s ability to spread or cause disease. Robert Redfield, who served as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at...
Erin McClelland drops out of Allegheny County executive race; Burgess not running for Pittsburgh council
Harrison resident and former congressional candidate Erin McClelland has ended her bid for Allegheny County executive. McClelland, a contractor in Allegheny County’s Human Services Division, didn’t submit signatures to the county election division even though she was the first candidate to announce for the executive race. She said her experience...
Tucker Carlson’s scorn for Trump revealed in court papersVideo
NEW YORK — A defamation lawsuit is revealing scornful behind-the-scenes opinions by Fox News figures about Donald Trump, including a Tucker Carlson text message declaring, “I hate him passionately.” Carlson’s private text comments were revealed in court papers at virtually the same time the former president was hailing the Fox...
Biden upends politics, precedent in pivot on D.C. crime law
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s support of a Republican resolution to block new District of Columbia crime laws has split members of his own party amid rising concerns about crime in the nation’s capital and other cities. The GOP-led disapproval resolution is expected to easily pass the Senate on Wednesday...
‘Boy Meets World’ star Ben Savage enters U.S. House race in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES — Actor Ben Savage, who starred as a child in the ABC teen sitcom “Boy Meets World,” is running for a U.S. House seat in California, marking his latest attempt to make the jump from Hollywood to politics. Savage, a Democrat, said in an Instagram post Monday that...
Gigi Sohn withdraws after Joe Manchin opposes her FCC confirmation
Gigi Sohn withdrew her nomination to become a member of the Federal Communications Commission after Sen. Joe Manchin on Tuesday said he would oppose her confirmation. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed Sohn’s withdrawal at a news conference. “She would have brought tremendous intellect and experience” to the FCC,...
State university scholarship initiative not included in Shapiro’s budget, nor is aid sought to freeze tuition
Leaders of Pennsylvania’s state-owned universities said boosting Commonwealth funding by 3.8% to $573.5 million would enable them to consider freezing tuition across the 85,000-student system for a fifth straight year this fall. But when Gov. Josh Shapiro on Tuesday unveiled his proposed state budget for 2023-24, he included about half...
Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch in filings says 2020 election ‘not stolen’
NEW YORK — Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch said under oath that he believes the 2020 presidential election was free, fair and not stolen, according to court filings released Tuesday in a voting machine company’s defamation lawsuit over Fox News’ coverage of former President Donald Trump’s false election fraud claims....
In reversal, Biden administration weighs detaining migrant families
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is considering detaining migrant families who cross into the U.S. illegally as it prepares to end covid-19 restrictions at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to U.S. officials familiar with the plans. That would be a major reversal after officials in late 2021 stopped holding families in...
Speaker Joanna McClinton sets vote during May primary to fill House vacancy
HARRISBURG — A special election to fill a state House vacancy in a Republican-leaning district was scheduled on Tuesday to take place during the May primary. Democratic Speaker Joanna McClinton of Philadelphia announced that the vote to succeed former Rep. Lynda Schlegel Culver will take place on May 16. Schlegel...
Tucker Carlson amplifies Jan. 6 lies with GOP-provided videoVideo
WASHINGTON — Handed some 41,000 hours of Jan. 6 security footage, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson has launched an impassioned new effort to explain away the deadly Capitol attack, linking the Republican Party ever more closely to pro-Trump conspiracy theories about the 2021 riot. The conservative commentator aired a first installment...
DeSantis to argue U.S. should be like Florida ahead of 2024 bid
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis is poised to position himself on Tuesday as a champion of conservative causes during a State of the State address that will likely be as much about his national ambitions as it is an assessment of Florida’s response to the pandemic and a series...
Biden says new taxes on the rich can help save Medicare
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Tuesday proposed new taxes on the rich to help fund Medicare, saying the plan would help to extend the insurance program’s solvency by 25 years and provide a degree of middle-class stability to millions of older adults. In his plan, Biden is overtly declaring...
16 Pa. GOP female lawmakers call on Democratic Rep. Mike Zabel accused of sexual harassment to resign
Pressure continues to mount on a Delaware County Democratic Rep. Mike Zabel to resign in the wake of the sexual harassment accusations leveled against him with the latest call for him to step down coming from a group of 16 House Republican lawmakers. In a letter sent on Monday to...
Fetterman ‘on his way to recovery,’ chief of staff says
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman’s staff said Monday that he is being briefed on activity and discussing updates on legislation and other priorities, several weeks after he checked himself into the hospital for treatment of clinical depression. Fetterman’s chief of staff Adam Jentleson said he had a productive morning with Fetterman...
Thousands of pro-Trump bots are attacking DeSantis, Haley
WASHINGTON — Over the past 11 months, someone created thousands of fake, automated Twitter accounts — perhaps hundreds of thousands of them — to offer a stream of praise for Donald Trump. Besides posting adoring words about the former president, the fake accounts ridiculed Trump’s critics from both parties and...
Biden reelection bid faces resistance from some Democrats
LACONIA, N.H. — Steve Shurtleff was at Joe Biden’s side in 2019 when he filed papers in the New Hampshire State House to run for president. He repeatedly trekked across the state with Biden to court primary voters. And when Biden ultimately won the presidency, it was Shurtleff, then the...
