Politics Election category, Page 225
W.Va. Sen. Joe Manchin favors trimming Biden budget plan by more than halfVideo
WASHINGTON — A Democratic senator vital to the fate of President Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion plan for social and environmental spending said Sunday he won’t support even half that amount or the ambitious timetable envisioned for passing it. The stand by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., was described as unacceptable by...
Vulnerable Democrats push for local priorities in budget
DES MOINES, Iowa — U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne of Iowa was slow to get behind a $1 trillion infrastructure bill after the Senate passed it last month. It wasn’t the price tag that tripped up the Democrat from a swing House district. It was that none of the money was...
Pa. school mask lawsuit backed by group that challenged 2020 election results
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 — Just before the start of the holiday weekend, the top Republican in the state Senate sued Democratic Gov. Tom...
Biden’s vaccine rules ignite instant, hot GOP opposition
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s aggressive push to require millions of U.S. workers to get vaccinated against the coronavirus is running into a wall of resistance from Republican leaders threatening everything from lawsuits to civil disobedience, plunging the country deeper into culture wars that have festered since the onset of...
Justice Department sues Texas over state’s new abortion lawVideo
AUSTIN, Texas — The Justice Department on Thursday sued Texas over a new state law that bans most abortions, arguing that it was enacted “in open defiance of the Constitution.” The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Texas, asks a federal judge to declare that the law is invalid, “to...
Republicans start election ‘investigation’ in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — Republicans in Pennsylvania’s state Senate held their first hearing Thursday in what they call a “forensic investigation” into last year’s presidential election, an underwhelming affair that Democrats nevertheless say is an extension of a national campaign to attack voting rights following former President Donald Trump’s loss. Republicans maintain...
AP source: White House planning to withdraw ATF nomination
WASHINGTON — The White House will withdraw the nomination of a gun-control advocate to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives after David Chipman ran into bipartisan opposition in the Senate, a person familiar with the decision said Thursday. Chipman is a former federal agent and adviser at...
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar says she had breast cancer, doing well
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar announced Thursday that she has been treated for breast cancer and the treatment “went well.” Klobuchar, 61, tweeted that the cancer was found in February during a routine mammogram, and eventually she had a lumpectomy to remove the cancer. She said she completed radiation...
‘Magical thinking’: Gov. Abbott says he will ‘eliminate all rapists,’ defends Texas abortion lawVideo
AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott, responding to a question about how Texas’ new abortion law would impact victims of rape and incest, said the state would employ aggressive tactics to “eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas.” The law, which took effect last week, bans most abortions after about...
Biden moves to oust Trump military academy board appointees
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration moved Wednesday to oust 18 allies of Donald Trump who were named to U.S. military academy boards in the final months of the Republican president’s term in office. Cathy Russell, director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, sent letters to 18 people named to...
Judge: Florida can’t enforce ban on school mask mandates
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A Florida judge ruled Wednesday that the state cannot enforce a ban on public schools mandating the use of masks to guard against the coronavirus, while an appeals court sorts out whether the ban is ultimately legal. Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper lifted an...
Arizona attorney general: Tucson employee vaccine mandate is illegal
PHOENIX — Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said Tuesday that Tucson’s vaccine mandate for its employees is illegal, giving the city 30 days to repeal it or risk losing millions of dollars in state funding. Democratic-led Tucson has repeatedly clashed with the state’s Republican leadership over the city’s aggressive efforts...
After unrelenting summer, Biden looks to get agenda on track
WASHINGTON — The collapse of the Afghan government, a surge of covid-19 cases caused by the delta variant, devastating weather events, a disappointing jobs report. What next? After a torrent of crises, President Joe Biden is hoping to turn the page on an unrelenting summer and refocus his presidency this...
Arizona man who wore horns in Capitol riot pleads guilty to felony
PHOENIX — An Arizona man who sported face paint, no shirt and a furry hat with horns when he joined the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 pleaded guilty Friday to a felony charge and wants to be released from jail while he awaits sentencing. Jacob Chansley,...
Sen. Toomey says it’s ‘completely unacceptable’ for GOP to pick Trump in 2024
Don’t make the same mistake twice, GOP. U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania conservative who is retiring next year, said that Republicans must not back Donald Trump as the Republican presidential nominee in 2024 because of his “completely unacceptable” effort to overturn his loss to President Joe Biden. “After what...
Democrats promote Liz Cheney to vice chairwoman of Jan. 6 panel
WASHINGTON — House Democrats have promoted Republican Rep. Liz Cheney to vice chairwoman of a committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, placing her in a leadership spot on the panel as some members of the GOP caucus are threatening to oust her for participating. Cheney, a fierce critic of...
Pennsylvania GOP lawmakers go to court to challenge mail-in voting law
HARRISBURG — Fourteen Republican lawmakers have filed a new lawsuit challenging Pennsylvania’s mail-in voting law, calling it unconstitutional and asking for it to be thrown out. The legal challenge was filed just before midnight Tuesday in the state Commonwealth Court. It is the latest attempt by Republicans to invalidate the...
Texas Legislature sends broad GOP elections bill to governor
AUSTIN — The GOP-controlled Texas Legislature passed a broad overhaul of the state’s election laws Tuesday, tightening already strict voting rules and dealing a bruising defeat to Democrats after a monthslong, bitter fight over voting rights. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said he will sign the bill, the latest in a...
Ex-lawmaker Rick Saccone to run for lieutenant governor in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — A former state lawmaker and two-time congressional candidate from the Pittsburgh area who appeared to support efforts to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory said Monday that he will run for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor next year. Rick Saccone, 63, will make a formal announcement on Sept....
Mask, vaccine mandates have broad support, polls show. But some Pa. Republicans are campaigning against them
Bill McSwain, the former prosecutor turned potential gubernatorial candidate, went after the “radical left” for “ignoring science by forcing kids to wear masks at school.” Facebook ads paid for by Jeff Bartos’ Senate campaign feature an image meant to mock President Joe Biden’s call for a grassroots vaccine education campaign...
Experts warn of dangers from breach of voter system software
Republican efforts questioning the outcome of the 2020 presidential race have led to voting system breaches that election security experts say pose a heightened risk to future elections. Copies of the Dominion Voting Systems software used to manage elections — from designing ballots to configuring voting machines and tallying results...
Pa.’s legislative leaders wield extraordinary power, and the election audit fight proves it
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 — It’s a throwback to the hardball politics of the Capitol’s past: a powerful legislative leader stripping one of his...
House passes voting rights bill, restoring critical provision of landmark lawVideo
WASHINGTON — House Democrats passed legislation Tuesday that would strengthen a landmark civil rights-era voting law weakened by the Supreme Court over the past decade, a step party leaders tout as progress in their quest to fight back against voting restrictions advanced in Republican-led states. The bill, which is part...
Kentucky lawmaker charged in domestic dispute case resignsVideo
FRANKFORT, Ky. — A Kentucky lawmaker who won reelection despite facing criminal charges for allegedly choking a woman and trying to “hog tie” her during a domestic dispute resigned on Tuesday. State Republican Rep. Robert Goforth, a former gubernatorial candidate, submitted a letter to the governor’s office and the House...
Trump-backed Herschel Walker seeks Georgia Senate seat
ATLANTA — Herschel Walker on Tuesday filed paperwork to enter the U.S. Senate race in Georgia after months of speculation, joining other Republicans seeking to unseat Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in 2022. The 59-year-old Walker joins the race with high name recognition, known for winning a Heisman Trophy in 1982...
