Politics Election category, Page 8
Trump pardons Texas Democratic Rep. Cuellar in bribery and conspiracy case
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump pardoned Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife in a federal bribery and conspiracy case on Wednesday, citing what he called a “weaponized” justice system. Trump, who has argued that his own legal troubles were a partisan witch hunt, said on social media without...
Republican victory in Tennessee special election fails to dispel 2026 midterm concerns
Republicans held onto a reliably conservative U.S. House district in Tennessee’s special election, but only after a late burst of national spending and high-profile campaigning helped them secure a margin less than half of last year’s race. Even with that victory, the outcome contributed to a gloomy outlook for the...
Pete Hegseth faces deepening scrutiny from Congress over boat strikes
WASHINGTON — Pete Hegseth barely squeaked through a grueling Senate confirmation process to become secretary of defense earlier this year, facing lawmakers wary of the Fox News Channel host and skeptical of his capacity, temperament and fitness for the job. Just three months later, he quickly became embroiled in Signalgate...
Progressive group targets Senate Democrats for backing Trump’s judicial nominees
A progressive group is targeting two Senate Democrats and an independent senator who voted to confirm some of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees, promising to spend more than $1 million in hopes of pushing congressional Democrats to take a stronger stand against the Republican president. In a weeklong advertising campaign...
Trump-backed Republican Matt Van Epps wins U.S. House special election in Tennessee
NASHVILLE — Republican Matt Van Epps won a nationally watched special election in Tennessee for a seat in the U.S. House on Tuesday, maintaining his party’s grip on the district with help from President Donald Trump. A military veteran and former state general services commissioner from Nashville, Van Epps defeated...
Chances dwindling for renewal of health care subsidies, risking premium spikes for millions
WASHINGTON — Hopes for an extension of health care subsidies were diminishing in Congress this week as Republicans and Democrats largely abandoned the idea of bipartisan talks on the issue, increasing the odds that millions of Americans could see sharp premium spikes starting Jan. 1. Democrats who agreed earlier this...
Trump dismisses affordability concerns as Democratic ‘con job’
President Trump on Tuesday dismissed concerns about affordability as a Democratic “con job” in a remarkable shift after recently latching onto the buzzword encapsulating widespread consumer worries about the cost of living. Trump branded affordability as a “hoax” in a speech to his Cabinet in which he also downplayed the...
Legislation from Summer Lee, Democratic colleagues would combat discriminatory AI
Artificial intelligence is transforming the world, one algorithm at a time. U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, wants to make sure those algorithms don’t violate people’s civil rights. Lee and three of her Democratic colleagues in the House are introducing a bill that would aim to prevent companies from using discriminatory...
Trump administration says it will withhold SNAP from Democrat-led states if they don’t provide data
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration said Tuesday that it will move to withhold SNAP food aid from recipients in most Democratic-controlled states starting next week unless those states provide information about those receiving the assistance. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday that the action is...
Michael, Susan Dell donate $6.25 billion to encourage families to claim ‘Trump Accounts’
NEW YORK — Billionaires Michael and Susan Dell pledged $6.25 billion Tuesday to provide 25 million American children 10 and under an incentive to claim the new investment accounts for children created as part of President Donald Trump’s tax and spending legislation. The historic gift has little precedent, with few...
Trump says he doesn’t want Somalis in the U.S.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he did not want Somali immigrants in the U.S., saying residents of the war-ravaged eastern African country are too reliant on U.S. social safety net and add little to the United States. Trump’s contemptuous description of the entire immigrant community is the...
State budget was 135 days late, but Pa. lawmakers got their pay raise on time
Pennsylvania lawmakers just received a 3.25% pay increase on Dec. 1, raising their base salary to $113,575. Only New York and California’s legislators make more. The national average for state lawmakers was $47,904, less than half of what the commonwealth’s lawmakers made, per the National Conference of State Legislatures. The...
Poll shows Fetterman still tanking among Dems, while Republicans give him a thumbs up
Sen. John Fetterman remains more popular with Pennsylvania Republicans than fellow Democrats, according to a new poll. In the survey commissioned by RealClearPennsylvania and Emerson College, Fetterman has a 31% job approval rating from Democrats compared to 57% from Republicans and 30% from independents. The poll questioned 2,000 Pennsylvanians and...
Trump rallies Tennessee GOP by speakerphone on eve of U.S. House special election
FRANKLIN, Tenn. — President Donald Trump and top Republicans made a last-ditch push on Monday to prevent embarrassment in a hotly contested Tennessee special election for Congress, while Democrats enlisted former Vice President Al Gore and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to back their candidate. The crush of big-name politicians came...
Former Trump lawyer Alina Habba is disqualified as top New Jersey prosecutor, U.S. appeals court rules
PHILADELPHIA — President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Alina Habba is disqualified from serving as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor despite his administration’s maneuvers to keep her in the role, an appeals court said Monday. A panel of judges from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sitting in Philadelphia...
Trump says he has made his choice to lead the Federal Reserve
President Donald Trump said Sunday he has decided on his pick for the next Federal Reserve chair after making clear he expects his nominee to deliver interest-rate cuts. “I know who I am going to pick, yeah,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on his way back to Washington,...
Republican U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas says he will retire in 2026
Republican U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas announced he will retire from Congress after his term ends in 2026 to focus on family. Nehls, a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump who has sported his mug shot on a T-shirt, said he called Trump to inform him of his plans....
Experts doubt the Pentagon can punish Kelly over the ‘illegal orders’ video
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon’s investigation of Sen. Mark Kelly over a video that urges American troops to defy “illegal orders” has raised a slew of questions, and some criticism, from legal experts. Some say the Pentagon is misreading military law to go after Kelly as a retired Navy fighter...
Trump announces plan to terminate Biden’s autopen directives
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he is terminating every document former President Joe Biden signed with an autopen in his latest move to eradicate his predecessor’s legacy. In a Truth Social post Friday, Trump accused Biden of signing “approximately 92%” of documents through the use of an autopen. The...
Trump vows to ‘permanently pause’ migration from poor nations in anti-immigrant social media screed
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump vowed on Thanksgiving to “permanently pause migration” from poorer nations in a blistering late-night, anti-immigrant screed posted to social media. The extended rant came in the wake of the Wednesday shooting of two National Guard members who were deployed to patrol Washington,...
Skill games avoid regulation again in Pa. as gambling lobby war intensifies
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — This year’s state budget didn’t pull slot-like skill games out of their legal limbo in Pennsylvania, despite...
New prosecutor won’t pursue charges against Trump and others in Georgia election interference case
ATLANTA — A judge on Wednesday dismissed the Georgia election interference case against President Donald Trump and others after the prosecutor who recently took over the case said he would not pursue the charges. Pete Skandalakis, the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, took over the case...
Health care plan circulated by the White House runs into familiar GOP divisions
WASHINGTON — A health care proposal circulated by the White House in recent days is running into the reality of Republican divisions on the issue — a familiar struggle for a party that has been trying to scrap or overhaul the Affordable Care Act for the past 15 years. The...
FBI wants to question Deluzio, other lawmakers who made video on ignoring illegal orders
The FBI wants to question U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio and five other Democratic members of Congress who released a video last week telling service members and intelligence officials they have an obligation to refuse illegal orders. Deluzio, of Fox Chapel, said the FBI contacted the House and Senate sergeants at...
X’s new feature raises questions about the foreign origins of some popular U.S. political accounts
They go by names such as TRUMP—ARMY— or MAGANationX, and their verified accounts proudly display portraits of President Donald Trump, voter rallies and American flags. And they’re constantly posting about U.S. politics to their followers, sounding like diehard fans of the president. But after a weekend update to the social...
