Politics Election category, Page 220
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey supports effort to host national political convention, regardless of party
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said he supports efforts to bring either the Republican National Convention or Democratic National Convention to the city. Pittsburgh is on a shortlist of cities being considered to host the Republican National Convention in 2024, according to a Politico.com report. Other finalists include Milwaukee, Nashville and...
Pa. House expected to vote on proposed congressional map as redistricting lawsuit looms
This article is part of a yearlong reporting project focused on redistricting and gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. It is made possible by the support of Spotlight PA members and Votebeat, a project focused on election integrity and voting access. HARRISBURG — The state House is expected to vote on a proposed...
Date set for special election to fill Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey’s former legislative seat
Pennsylvania Speaker of the House Bryan Cutler announced Monday that a special election will be held April 5 to fill the state House seat vacated by now-Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey. Cutler is also expected to call for a special election to fill the seat vacated by Jake Wheatley, who will...
‘American Idol’ star Clay Aiken will run for N.C. seat in Congress
Clay Aiken, the “American Idol” star and a Raleigh native, wants to represent North Carolina in Congress. Aiken, a Democrat who previously ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014, announced Monday that he’s planning to run this year in the Durham-centric House district that’s now open. The 6th...
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson announces bid for another term
WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Ron Johnson said he’ll seek a third term in 2022, counting on Wisconsin voters to reward his continued and staunch support of former President Donald Trump. “In order for my campaign to succeed, I will need the support of every Wisconsinite who values the truth and...
Watershed moment in NYC: New law allows noncitizens to vote
NEW YORK — More than 800,000 noncitizens and “Dreamers” in New York City will have access to the ballot box — and could vote in municipal elections as early as next year — after Mayor Eric Adams allowed legislation to automatically become law Sunday. Opponents have vowed to challenge the...
Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson will seek reelection
MADISON, Wis. — Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, one of former President Donald Trump’s most vocal supporters, said Sunday that he will seek reelection, avoiding a wide open GOP primary in the narrowly divided swing state. Johnson had pledged in 2016 not to run for a third time,...
Obama, Biden honor Sen. Reid as man ‘who got things done’
LAS VEGAS — Former President Barack Obama commemorated late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Saturday as a man “who got things done,” as Democratic leaders gathered to recall Reid — often laughingly — as a man whose impatience for pleasantries was part of a drive to improve the lives...
Conservative firebrand Doug Mastriano enters Pennsylvania’s governor’s race
Doug Mastriano, the state senator from Franklin County who parlayed anger over coronavirus pandemic rules and no-holds-barred support for former President Donald J. Trump into an extended political moment, opened his candidacy for governor Pennsylvania Saturday. Mastriano, who practices his politics with a messianic zeal that has helped him develop...
Sen. Ted Cruz apologizes for describing Jan. 6 attack as terrorism
NEW YORK — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz had desperation written on his face. The conservative ideologue and potential 2024 presidential contender appeared on Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight” show Thursday to apologize for describing the Jan. 6 insurrection as “a violent terrorist attack on the Capitol” a day earlier,...
Analysis: Taking on Trump is Biden’s reluctant calling
WASHINGTON — It may not be the fight he sought, but taking on Donald Trump is President Joe Biden’s calling. Biden offered himself as a guardian of American democracy in a visceral speech Thursday discussing the horrors of the Jan. 6 insurrection that sought to overthrow his 2020 election victory....
Biden decries Trump backers as ‘trying to rewrite history’ on anniversary of Capitol breach
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden accused Donald Trump and his supporters of holding a “dagger at the throat of democracy” in a forceful speech Thursday marking the anniversary of the deadly breach of the U.S. Capitol. He warned that though it didn’t succeed, the insurrection remains a serious threat to...
Trump maintains grip on GOP despite violent insurrection
WASHINGTON — As a raging band of his supporters scaled walls, smashed windows, used flagpoles to beat police and breached the U.S. Capitol in a bid to overturn a free and fair election, Donald Trump’s excommunication from the Republican Party seemed a near certainty, his name tarnished beyond repair. Some...
Big Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial field crowds onto stage together
HARRISBURG — More than a dozen Republican candidates for governor appeared on stage together for the first time, in a question-and-answer session Wednesday sponsored by conservative groups and a statewide business association that inspired agreement and not debate. The questions — such as how would you to reverse brain drain...
17 from Western Pa. charged so far in connection with Capitol riot
The federal government has filed criminal charges against more than 725 people in connection with its ongoing, sprawling investigation into rioting at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Of those charged so far, 59 were from Pennsylvania and 17 came from Western Pennsylvania. Eight of the Western Pennsylvania defendants...
Former Congresswoman Melissa Hart announces bid for governorVideo
Former Congresswoman Melissa Hart outlined her campaign priorities Wednesday as she formally launched her bid to become Pennsylvania’s first female governor. Hart, 59, of Bradford Woods, is entering a crowded field of more than a dozen GOP candidates who so far have declared their candidacies for the state’s highest office....
GOP gubernatorial candidates to square off in first debate
A crowded field of GOP candidates for Pennsylvania governor is set to square off Wednesday in the first debate of the 2022 election season. During the 90-minute debate, which will be broadcast live and live-streamed on PCN, 12 candidates will tackle questions on economic competitiveness, the workforce and jobs, energy,...
Ted Cruz sees ‘multiple grounds’ to impeach Biden if GOP retakes House, border policy at top of list
WASHINGTON — Sen. Ted Cruz called it likely that Republicans will impeach President Joe Biden if they win control of the House in November’s elections, citing lax border policies as the most likely of “multiple” justifications. “The Democrats weaponized impeachment. They used it for partisan purposes to go after Trump...
Trump cancels Florida press conference scheduled for Jan. 6
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump has canceled a press conference he had planned to hold in Florida on the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by his supporters. Trump said in a statement Tuesday evening that he would instead be discussing his grievances at a...
Josh Shapiro backs Pittsburgh-area lawmaker to be running mateVideo
HARRISBURG — Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the Democratic Party’s presumed nominee for governor this year, endorsed a Pittsburgh-area state lawmaker, Austin Davis, to be his running mate and lieutenant governor Tuesday. Davis announced his candidacy alongside Shapiro and top Democrats from the area at a park in McKeesport next to...
Joe Manchin wary of changing Senate rules to advance voting billVideo
WASHINGTON — Sen. Joe Manchin sounded a skeptical note Tuesday about the prospects of easing the Senate’s filibuster rules, raising doubts about whether he will provide crucial support to the Democrats’ renewed push to advance stalled voting legislation they say is needed to protect democracy. Manchin told reporters it was...
GOP state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe won’t seek reelection
State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe announced Tuesday he will not seek reelection this year. The Republican from Cranberry is in his 12th term representing a district that encompasses part of Butler County, including Adams, Clinton, Cranberry, Forward, Middlesex and Penn townships and Callery, Mars, Seven Fields and Valencia boroughs. “After family...
Biden pushed to speak out more as U.S. democracy concerns grow
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has gotten the same troubling questions from worried world leaders, ones that he never thought he would hear. “Is America going to be all right?” they ask. “What about democracy in America?” While Biden has tried to offer America’s allies assurances, he has only occasionally...
Conspiracy theories paint fraudulent reality of Jan. 6 riot
Millions of Americans watched the events in Washington last Jan. 6 unfold on live television. Police officers testified to the violence and mayhem. Criminal proceedings in open court detailed what happened. Yet the hoaxes, conspiracy theories and attempts to rewrite history persist, muddying the public’s understanding of what actually occurred...
Children coming from border get attention in Pennsylvania governor’s race
HARRISBURG — Lou Barletta, an illegal-immigration hawk and former congressman running for governor, said Wednesday he would take a harder line against the federal government’s yearslong practice of bringing unaccompanied minors found by the Border Patrol to various facilities in Pennsylvania and other states. Some Republican governors have protested the...
