Politics Election category, Page 183
The Democratic takeover of the Pa. House will be a little messy to start. Here’s why.
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — The Democrats have won control of the Pennsylvania House, but the party will need to rely on Republican support...
Trump announcement sparks excitement among local Democrats
As local Democrats continue to celebrate their party’s success in last week’s elections, former President Donald Trump’s newest bid for the White House is providing some with even more confidence moving forward. Trump on Tuesday announced his third bid for the presidency, raising concerns among local Republicans about a fractured...
Judge blocks Florida Gov. DeSantis law on barring ‘woke’ education
TALLAHASSEE — A federal judge in Florida on Thursday blocked a law pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis that restricts certain race-based conversations and analysis in colleges. Tallahassee U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued a temporary injunction against the so-called “Stop Woke” act in a ruling that called the legislation “positively...
Biden administration to ask high court to take up student debt plan
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration plans to ask the Supreme Court to reinstate the president’s student debt cancellation plan, according to a Thursday legal filing warning that Americans will face financial strain if the plan remains stalled in court when loan payments are scheduled to restart in January. The Justice...
Ohio GOP aims to change voting laws during lameduck session
COLUMBUS — Ohio’s elections chief on Thursday championed a lameduck push to require a supermajority of voters in order to pass certain constitutional amendments, a move that came the same day further voter restrictions were added to a significant rewrite of Ohio’s election laws. Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose...
Pelosi won’t seek leadership role, plans to stay in Congress
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she will not seek a leadership position in the new Congress, making way for a new generation to steer the party after Democrats lost control of the House to Republicans in the midterm elections. Pelosi announced in a spirited speech on...
Summer Lee plans to keep breaking down barriers in Congress
Summer Lee made history last week, but it wasn’t easy. The Braddock native’s rise to become the first Black woman from Pennsylvania to sit in Congress has been met with regular pushback from forces trying to counter her progressive policies and bombastic attitude. At one point that pushback came from...
Same-sex marriage legislation clears key Senate hurdleVideo
WASHINGTON — Legislation to protect same-sex and interracial marriages crossed a major Senate hurdle Wednesday, putting Congress on track to take the historic step of ensuring that such unions are enshrined in federal law. Twelve Republicans voted with all Democrats to move forward on the legislation, meaning a final vote...
Fetterman turns heads with suit and tie at Senate orientation in D.C.
Senate-elect John Fetterman attended orientation in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday and, per usual, he garnered attention for his attire. But not for the regular hoodie and shorts combo. This time, social media was abuzz because Fetterman sported a suit and tie. Simple images of Fetterman in a dark suit with...
Mitch McConnell brushes aside Rick Scott in Senate GOP leadership challengeVideo
WASHINGTON — Mitch McConnell fended off a challenge to his leadership of Senate Republicans on Wednesday, beating back a long-shot provocation from Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who commanded the party’s campaign committee this cycle. McConnell was reelected Republican leader by a majority of his 49 colleagues after a failed...
Some Pennsylvania Republicans anxious after Trump’s campaign announcement
Less than a week from some crushing midterm defeats for the Republican Party, former president Donald Trump announced his 2024 bid for the White House to mixed reactions from local Republicans and political experts. Sam DeMarco, chair of the Republican Committee of Allegheny County, supports the former president, but wishes...
GOP Sen. Rick Scott mounts long-shot bid to unseat Mitch McConnellVideo
WASHINGTON — Florida Sen. Rick Scott is mounting a long-shot bid to unseat Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, a rare challenge for the longtime GOP stalwart after his party failed to win back the majority in the midterm elections. Scott, the leader of the GOP’s Senate campaign efforts who has...
McCarthy clears first step to House speaker, but grind ahead
WASHINGTON — Republican leader Kevin McCarthy cleared the first major step Tuesday toward becoming House speaker, winning majority support from colleagues on a secret ballot. He now faces a weeks-long slog to quell objections from his right flank before a final vote. McCarthy has led House Republicans this far, and...
Trump seeks White House again amid GOP losses, legal probesVideo
PALM BEACH, Fla. — Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will mount a third White House campaign, launching an early start to the 2024 contest. The announcement comes just a week after an underwhelming midterm showing for Republicans and will force the party to decide whether to embrace...
Shapiro to take office with mandate from Pennsylvania voters
HARRISBURG — Josh Shapiro, the Democratic governor-elect of Pennsylvania, will take office with a decisive mandate from voters, who overwhelmingly rejected a Republican drive to pare back abortion rights and voting laws in the premier battleground state. Shapiro, the state’s two-term attorney general, scored a massive 14 percentage point win...
High court rules against Arizona GOP leader in records fight
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has cleared the way for the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol to get phone records belonging to the leader of the Arizona Republican Party. The high court on Monday rejected GOP state chair Kelli Ward’s request to halt...
Biden: Still not enough votes to codify abortion rights
NUSA DUA, Indonesia — President Joe Biden said Monday that Democrats still lack the power to codify abortion rights into law despite his party’s stronger-than-expected performance in the midterm elections. “I don’t think there’s enough votes,” he said at a press conference during the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia....
The Pa. GOP’s no good, very bad, terrible election is forcing a reckoning in the state party
Republicans had a lousy night nationwide Tuesday. In Pennsylvania, it was an unmitigated disaster. Within the state Republican Party, some insiders are already maneuvering for change. Ted Christian, a former Trump adviser in the state, and Andy Reilly, the Pennsylvania GOP national committeeman, are both making moves toward potentially replacing...
Why Pa. Democrats being inches from controlling the state House is significant — win or lose
Pennsylvania Democrats are inches from taking control of the state House for the first time in 12 years and even if they fall short, strategists and officials say, the party defied political gravity. That’s because Harrisburg observers didn’t expect 2022 to be the year. With inflation at generational highs and...
Pat Toomey points to Trump for GOP losses in midtermsVideo
Outgoing U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey this week placed blame for the Republican Party’s midterm election failures squarely on the shoulders of former President Donald Trump. And despite Toomey and many other Republican leaders agreeing that Trump is to blame for the less-than-red wave last Tuesday, Trump apparently remains determined to...
In election, support for abortion rights was about much more
WASHINGTON — To Mona Cohen, a lifelong Philadelphia Democrat, democracy is under attack in the United States. In the midterm elections, she lists a woman’s right to abortion as one of many fleeting freedoms she voted to defend. Cohen, 68, feared the Supreme Court’s decision in June to eliminate women’s...
Election Day saw few major problems, despite new voting laws
WASHINGTON — Heading into this year’s midterms, voting rights groups were concerned that restrictions in Republican-leaning states triggered by false claims surrounding the 2020 election might jeopardize access to the ballot box for many voters. Those worries did not appear to come true. There have been no widespread reports of...
Abortion rights wins in Kentucky, elsewhere stoke supporters
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Lexie Overstreet logged plenty of miles on foot, knocking on doors to try to persuade Kentuckians not to take away one of the last legal paths to restoring abortion rights in the state. Now she’s hoping her side’s win at the ballot box Tuesday will convince the...
Some Republican leaders say GOP needs to embrace mail-in voting
Allegheny County’s GOP chairman and a North Hills Republican who came up short in his bid for Congress are placing at least some blame for the party’s poor midterm election performance on the party’s refusal to embrace mail-in voting. Sam DeMarco, the county’s GOP chairman, said Republicans applied for less...
Senate control may come down to Nevada as count nears end
LAS VEGAS — Control of the U.S. Senate may come down to Nevada, where a slow ballot count entered its final act Saturday in the nail-biter contest between Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Republican challenger Adam Laxalt. Saturday is the last day that mail ballots can arrive and be...
