Month: July 2023

NY Times: “It has been decades since there was any real uncertainty at the top of the Republican Party in the Senate. But Senator Mitch McConnell’s alarming freeze-up at a news conference on Wednesday at the Capitol, as well as new disclosures about other recent falls, have shaken his colleagues and intensified quiet discussion about…

Politico: “Florida Democrats see a possible path to winning America’s once-foremost battleground state: Abortion and marijuana. National Democrats had all but written off Florida as a lost cause — a former purple state turned solid red by the MAGA movement and Gov. Ron DeSantis. But key party leaders in the state, desperate to turn things…

Reuters: “Democratic U.S. Representative Greg Casar of Texas held a thirst strike at Congress on Tuesday to protest a new law signed by Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott blocking local ordinances that mandate water breaks for workers. Casar, whose district includes parts of Austin and San Antonio, Texas, said would not drink water for eight…

AP: “Former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant is suing a local news organization, claiming it defamed him in public comments on the misspending of $77 million of federal welfare funds intended to help some of the poorest people in the U.S. The lawsuit comes just over two months after Mississippi Today and one of its reporters, Anna Wolfe, won…

AP: “Mississippi’s political divide was on full display Thursday in the blazing heat as Republican Gov. Tate Reeves and Democratic challenger Brandon Presley spoke to a rowdy outdoor crowd at the largest political event of this election year, less than two weeks before party primaries. Spectators cheered their own candidate — “Tate! Tate! Tate!” “Bran-don! Bran-don!” — and heckled…

NY Times: “Three months after Ms. Cotham took office in January, she delivered a mortal shock to Democrats and to abortion rights supporters: She switched parties, and then cast a decisive vote on May 3 to override a veto by the state’s Democratic governor and enact a 12-week limit on most abortions — North Carolina’s most restrictive abortion…

Political Wire: “Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a centrist Democrat from Virginia who sits in a must-win seat for her party in 2024, has told multiple people she will run for governor in 2025,” Politico reports. “Spanberger, a powerhouse fundraiser who recently earned a spot at House Democrats’ leadership table, has been laying the groundwork for a statewide run…

Political Wire: “Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) criticized Gov. Ron DeSantis on Florida’s new teaching standards around slavery — “and effectively guaranteed that the Florida governor would see it figure into his coverage for several more days,” Politico reports. Said Scott: “There’s no silver lining in slavery. Slavery was really about separating families, about mutilating humans and even raping their…

MS Today: “The list of McDaniel’s legally questionable maneuvers with campaign money is lengthy. But here are a couple of big points for starters: A state PAC McDaniel created received $475,000 from a secretive Virginia dark-money nonprofit corporation. His PAC then funneled $465,000 of it to his campaign. State law limits such corporate donations to $1,000…

WaPo: “Mississippi Today stunned the journalism world in May when it won a Pulitzer Prize for uncovering a $77 million state welfare scandal — a major accomplishment for a news organization founded just seven years ago. Now staffers at the small nonprofit and its New Orleans-based sister site, Verite, will get another mark of an established newsroom:…