Texas House Democrats flee the state in bid to block GOP’s proposed congressional map “Texas Democratic lawmakers fled the state Sunday in a bid to block passage of a new congressional map designed to give the GOP five additional seats in the U.S. House next year, raising the stakes in what’s poised to be a…

Political Wire: College football coach Derek Dooley (R) officially launched his Senate campaign in Georgia. Playbook: “The college football coaching scion will seek to replicate the path of Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), and Dooley’s launch video presents him as a Trump-aligned political outsider seeking to unseat Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff.” Axios: “The Georgia race will be Republicans’…

NY Times: “The emergency management coordinator of Kerr County, which bore the brunt of the deadly July 4 floods in the Texas Hill Country, testified on Thursday that he was sick and asleep when the floodwaters rose in the middle of the night, eventually killing 108 people in the county. The admission by the official,…

NY Times: “And so he found himself among thousands of foreign nationals flown to Alexandria, La., after being taken into federal custody as part of the Trump administration’s sprawling immigration crackdown. No airport has become more crucial to carrying out President Trump’s pledge to deport millions of immigrants. “You won’t even believe something like that…

Politico: “Gov. Ron DeSantis, maintaining that the last U.S. Census was “flawed,” said Wednesday that the Trump administration was considering whether to approve a new census before the end of the decade — a move that the Republican governor predicted could help Florida gain extra congressional seats. DeSantis said he is already “seriously” looking at…

RVA Magazine: “Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is facing scrutiny, both locally and internationally, after withholding the diploma of psychology graduate Sereen Haddad, a 20-year-old Palestinian-American student who completed her degree in three years with highest honors. The university says the decision is tied to an ongoing student conduct review related to her participation in a memorial gathering on…

Politico: “Rep. Nancy Mace, the outspoken South Carolina Republican whose political rise has defied easy categorization and made her one of the GOP’s most unpredictable figures, is entering the state’s 2026 governor’s race,” the Charleston Post & Courier reports. The Downballot: Nancy Mace’s favorite person in the world launches bid for governor.”

Politico: “The Supreme Court said Friday that it will weigh the constitutionality of a common form of redistricting used to protect the voting power of Black and Hispanic voters: the drawing of congressional districts where racial minorities make up at least half the population. Experts in election law said the move signals that the court…

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “My journey to becoming a Democrat started well before Donald Trump tried to steal the2020 election in Georgia. There’s no date on a calendar or line in the sand that points tothe exact moment in time my political heart changed, but it has.My decision was centered around my daily struggle to love my…

Political Wire: “As early as today, Texas Republicans will release their proposed new congressional map for the Lone Star State,” Punchbowl News reports. “This proposal could change some as it winds its way through the Texas House and Senate. But here’s what we expect it to look like, according to multiple sources with detailed knowledge of the…