Politics Election category, Page 205
Feds will appeal mask ruling only if mandate still needed
The Justice Department said Tuesday it will not appeal a federal district judge’s ruling that ended the nation’s federal mask mandate on public transit unless the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes the requirement is still necessary. In a statement released a day after a Florida judge ended the...
Biden administration moves to ease student loan debt burden
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is taking further steps to ease the burden of student loans, but new actions announced Tuesday were well short of what many Democrats want to see. The Education Department is estimating that the action will provide “immediate debt cancellation for at least 40,000 borrowers” who...
Federal judge allows effort to disqualify Marjorie Greene from ballot to proceed
ATLANTA — A federal judge has denied U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s request to block a challenge of her eligibility to run for a second term in office. That challenge, filed by five voters in Greene’s 14th Congressional District, is slated for a hearing in a Georgia administrative court on...
Trib Total Media co-sponsoring debate in Pa.’s hotly contested GOP primary race for governor
Spotlight PA and its founding members, including Trib Total Media, are sponsoring a debate Tuesday featuring five candidates seeking the Republican nomination in Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial race. The 90-minute debate at Gettysburg College will be broadcast on the nonprofit cable television network PCN, airing at 7 p.m., and livestreamed by the...
Pa. Senate candidate Dave McCormick earned $22M as hedge fund CEO
Dave McCormick earned more than $22 million last year as CEO of the world’s largest hedge fund, a job he quit to run for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, according to a financial disclosure form that offered the public its first detailed look at the candidate’s finances. McCormick and his wife...
Florida education agency rejects math books it claims contain Critical Race Theory
Florida rejected 42 math textbooks publishers wanted to sell to the state’s public schools, claiming the books contained “critical race theory” or other “prohibited topics” and “unsolicited strategies,” the Department of Education said. A news release announcing the move did not say which textbooks — many meant for elementary schools...
Nebraska GOP governor hopeful accused of groping women
LINCOLN, Neb. — A top Republican candidate for Nebraska governor faced an onslaught of criticism Thursday after several women, including a GOP state lawmaker, alleged that he groped them at public events and forcibly kissed one woman. The accusations drew widespread condemnation from Charles W. Herbster’s primary opponents, Republican Gov....
Republicans pull out of presidential debate commission
The Republican National Committee pulled out of the bipartisan presidential debate commission on Thursday, putting in doubt the future of closely watched clashes between major party candidates in 2024 and beyond. The GOP group unanimously voted to withdraw from the Commission on Presidential Debates, the impartial nonprofit group that has...
Pa. primary election 2022: See how much money the GOP candidates for governor have raised
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 — With just over a month to go until the May primary election of 2022, the nine candidates vying for...
Pennsylvania Senate votes to end drop boxes, outside money for elections
HARRISBURG — Drop boxes for depositing mail-in and absentee ballots would be banned and donations to run elections would no longer be permitted from groups outside government under bills approved Wednesday by the Pennsylvania Senate. Senators voted 37-12, a potentially veto-proof margin, to prohibit the types of grants issued during...
Trump weighs in on Pa. governor’s race, naming candidate he’s not endorsing
Former President Donald Trump weighed in on Pennsylvania’s governor’s race Tuesday indicating which of the nine Republican candidates he will not be endorsing. “One person in Pennsylvania who I will not be endorsing is Bill McSwain for governor,” Trump said in a statement. “He was the U.S. attorney who did...
Potential far-right victory in France seen as threat to EU
MULHOUSE, France — The thought of an extreme-right leader standing at the helm of the European Union would be abhorrent to most in the 27-nation bloc. But if Emmanuel Macron falters in the April 24 French presidential elections, it might be two weeks away. Experts say a win for far-right...
Biden aims at ‘ghost gun’ violence with new federal ruleVideo
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday took fresh aim at ghost guns, the privately made firearms without serial numbers that are increasingly cropping up in violent crimes, as he struggles to break past gun-control opposition to address firearm deaths. Speaking at the White House, Biden highlighted the Justice Department’s...
What Trump’s Mehmet Oz endorsement means for the Pennsylvania Senate race
Just how much power does Donald Trump’s endorsement have in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race? The former president, who backed celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz late Saturday in the Republican primary, is undoubtedly the most popular figure in GOP politics. But there’s debate about how much his word sways Republican voters, and...
Virginia GOP official accused of racist online post resigns
RICHMOND, Va. — A Republican local elections official in Virginia has resigned, according to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office, after being accused of posting a racist tirade on Facebook. Youngkin and other officials called over the weekend for the resignation of David Dietrich, a member of the electoral board in the...
Kenyatta criticizes Fetterman over 2013 Black jogger incident in virtual Senate forum
State representative and U.S. Senate candidate Malcolm Kenyatta called out challenger Lt. Gov. John Fetterman this past weekend over a 2013 incident in which Fetterman, shotgun in hand, confronted a Black jogger he suspected of being involved in nearby gunfire. Kenyatta’s criticism occurred during a virtual forum held by statewide...
U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb brings his Pennsylvania Senate campaign to the midstate
U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Mt. Lebanon, may have made his political reputation as being a centrist Democrat who could deliver his party election wins in Trump-leaning districts they weren’t expected to get. But Lamb spent some time promising Harrisburg area Democrats on Saturday that, if he wins this tough open-seat...
Trump endorses Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania’s Senate primary race
HARRISBURG — Former President Donald Trump endorsed Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania’s crowded Republican Senate primary, ending months of jockeying for his support. In a statement Saturday evening, Trump said his decision was “all about winning elections” as he formally backed the celebrity heart surgeon best known as the host of...
CNN: Trump Jr. text shows ideas to overturn 2020 election
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump Jr. texted White House chief of staff Mark Meadows two days after the 2020 presidential election with strategies for overturning the result if Trump’s father lost, CNN reported Friday. The text was sent two days before Joe Biden was declared the winner, according to CNN. It...
Republican state House candidate Tony Moreno kicked off primary ballot in 20th District
Former Pittsburgh mayoral candidate Tony Moreno is on his third attempt at elected office in less than a year, and his path just got more difficult. Moreno, a former Pittsburgh police officer who ran unsuccessfully for mayor as a Democrat and then as a Republican in 2021, has now been...
Appeals court OKs Biden federal employee vaccine mandate
NEW ORLEANS — President Joe Biden’s requirement that all federal employees be vaccinated against covid-19 was upheld Thursday by a federal appeals court. In a 2-1 ruling, a panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court and ordered dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the mandate. The...
Congress votes to suspend Russia trade status, enact oil banVideo
WASHINGTON — Congress voted overwhelmingly Thursday to suspend normal trade relations with Russia and ban the importation of its oil, ratcheting up the U.S. response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine amid reports of atrocities. House action came after the Senate approved the two bills with 100-0 votes. The measures now...
Arizona AG Mark Brnovich’s letter offers no proof of 2020 election fraud
PHOENIX — Arizona’s Republican attorney general issued an interim report Wednesday on his review of the 2020 election in Maricopa County that outlined his concerns with some election procedures but did not provide proof of any major issues despite six months of investigation. Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who is in...
Trib Total Media to co-host political debates ahead of Pa. primary election
Trib Total Media, in partnership with Spotlight PA and its founding members, will co-host debates this month featuring candidates for Pennsylvania governor and the state’s open U.S. Senate seat ahead of the spring primary. The gubernatorial debate features Republican candidates Joe Gale, Charlie Gerow, Melissa Hart and Nche Zama. It...
Oklahoma state House approves bill to make abortion illegal
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma House gave final legislative approval on Tuesday to a bill that would make performing an abortion a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. With little discussion and no debate, the Republican-controlled House voted 70-14 to send the bill to Republican Gov. Kevin...
