South Carolina governor calls for a special session on redistricting
By Jane C. Timm South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster called a special session Thursday for state lawmakers to tackle redistricting ahead of the midterm elections. A new map is expected to eliminate the state’s only majority-minority district, which is held by Rep. James Clyburn, a key Democratic power broker. “I have issued an Executive Order calling the General Assembly back for an extra legislative session to address the state budget and congressional districts,” McMaster said Thursday evening on X. He said the special session would begin Friday morning. McMaster initially chose not to set a special session, but he changed course after the Republican-led state
Jason Collins, the first openly gay NBA player, dies at 47 from brain cancer
By Andrew Greif Jason Collins, a longtime NBA center who became the first man to come out as openly gay while playing in any of America’s four leading professional sports leagues, died Tuesday following months of treatment for glioblastoma, his family said. He was 47. The NBA announced Collins’s death in a statement issued on behalf of his family. “Jason changed lives in unexpected ways and was an inspiration to all who knew him and to those who admired him from afar,” the statement said. “We are grateful for the outpouring of love and prayers over the past eight months and
Democrats turn to state legislative races to catch up in the redistricting battle
By Adam Edelman After a series of court rulings gave Republicans a decisive advantage in the national redistricting fight, Democrats’ options for a counterpunch before this year’s midterms are limited. So they are shifting their attention to battles for control of legislatures in key states this fall to help lay the groundwork for new congressional maps for the 2028 election cycle. A U.S. Supreme Court decision last month has paved the way for a raft of GOP-controlled states with majority-minority districts represented by Democrats to redraw their district lines, adding to the list of favorable new maps for Republicans that were enacted over the
Democrats warn a third of the Congressional Black Caucus could be wiped out by redistricting wars
By Scott Wong and Melanie Zanona WASHINGTON — The Congressional Black Caucus, a power center in the Democratic Party for decades, saw its membership rise this Congress to an all-time high of 58 House members. Now, thanks to a Supreme Court redistricting ruling that’s expected to dramatically diminish Black representation on Capitol Hill, the CBC is fighting a five-alarm fire that could devastate its membership. CBC Chair Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., said as many as 19 of the caucus’ members could be affected by the redistricting wars in a worst-case scenario, though she noted it’s still fluid given that states are still drawing new maps in
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says Democrats shouldn’t trust Marjorie Taylor Greene
By Natasha Korecki and Jonathan Allen When Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez singled out former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as an “antisemite” and a “bigot” in public remarks Friday, she rattled more than a few cages. One of those was Greene herself, who charged Monday that Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was “very hypocritical” to attack her. “I’m not a bigot. I’m not an antisemite,” Greene, a Republican from Georgia, said in an interview. “I just think the U.S. should not fund Israel.” In a conversation Friday at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics moderated by David Axelrod, the onetime political strategist to President Barack Obama, a student asked
Tennessee Republicans pass map dividing up state’s lone majority-Black district
By Jane C. Timm Tennessee’s Republican-led Legislature passed a new congressional map dividing up the state’s lone majority-Black district, swiftly responding to the U.S. Supreme Court’s major redistricting ruling last week. The redrawn district lines, which Gov. Bill Lee signed into law, put Republicans in position to gain a seat in this fall’s midterm elections and secure full control over Tennessee’s congressional delegation. The new map carves up a Memphis-based seat held by longtime Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., into three districts, spreading the Democratic voters into more rural, Republican districts that stretch hundreds of miles east. It further divides the Nashville metropolitan area,
Federal court rules against new global tariffs Trump imposed after loss at the Supreme Court
By The Associated Press WASHINGTON — A federal court ruled Thursday against the new global tariffs that President Donald Trump imposed after a stinging loss at the Supreme Court. A split three-judge panel of the Court of International Trade in New York found the 10% global tariffs were illegal after small businesses sued. The court ruled 2-1 that Trump overstepped the tariff power that Congress had allowed the president under the law. The tariffs are “invalid″ and ”unauthorized by law,” the majority wrote. The third judge on the panel found the law allows the president more leeway on tariffs. If the administration appeals Thursday’s
Judge says Justice Department can keep the 2020 election ballots the FBI seized from Fulton County, Ga.
By Gary Grumbach and Raquel Coronell Uribe A federal judge Wednesday blocked the return of more than 600 boxes of 2020 general election ballots the FBI seized this year from an election hub in Fulton County, Georgia. U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee wrote in a 68-page order that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove the rights of county officials were “callously disregarded” — a legal standard in the case. He ruled that the county hadn’t demonstrated a need for the ballots or that it would be irreparably harmed without them. At the same time, Boulee criticized how the FBI obtained the ballots in a state President Donald
Kamala Harris wants the DNC to release its autopsy report of the 2024 campaign
By Jonathan Allen and Natasha Korecki As former Vice President Kamala Harris considers another run for president, she is also signaling that she has no problem with a public airing of what went wrong last time — telling donors she believes the Democratic National Committee should release its buried autopsy of her failed 2024 campaign, according to a person who has heard the conversations. While she indicated to donors that she had no issue with releasing it, Harris has not discussed the postmortem with DNC Chairman Ken Martin and did not know about his decision to keep it under wraps until it happened, this
California governor candidates tangle over immigration, homelessness in tense debate
By Adam Edelman The seven top candidates in California’s race for governor sparred at a tense debate Wednesday, throwing criticisms at one another over a litany of issues, like affordability, sanctuary policies and experience, along with as a healthy dose of personal insults. The crowded race still lacks a clear front-runner. And with less than a month before the June 2 all-party primary (and with ballots for early voting already sent), Wednesday’s debate, the second in as many nights, featured no shortage of punches thrown among candidates onstage vying for attention and support. Participants included Democrats Xavier Becerra, Tom Steyer and
