Author: FOX24 US

FOX 24 US State Rep. James Talarico (D) will be Democrats’ standard-bearer in November, as they try to take advantage of President Trump’s unpopularity and a potentially deeply flawed Republican opponent to do the impossible — finally, finally flip Texas blue. Talarico beat Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D), a primary battle that quickly became overlaid with some of Democrats’ most pressing questions in the Trump age: Is it better to double down on your base, or appeal to the squishy middle? Who is actually electable? Is social media king? The Associated Press made the call early Wednesday morning. Little daylight separated…

FOX 24 US Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) has three more months to extend his Senate career beyond the two decades he’s already served, fighting to represent his longtime constituents who may have already left him behind. Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) will battle on to a late May runoff, as neither topped 50 percent in Tuesday’s election. The runoff was expected after Rep. Wesley Hunt (R) jumped into the race late, forcing a three-way split. The Associated Press made the call just before 11 p.m. ET. Cornyn’s sins are more aesthetic than policy-based — he touts in his…

FOX 24 US Congressional Democrats who have been in classified briefings have been denouncing the lack of detail they have received from the Trump administration regarding military actions against Iran. They have specifically pointed to what Democrats describe as a lack of evidence that Iran posed an imminent threat to the continental U.S. that would necessitate military action. The so-called Gang of Eight — which includes House Speaker Mike Johnon (R-LA), Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chair Tom Cotton (R-AR) and ranking member Mark Warner (D-VA), House Minority…

FOX 24 US Taking a cue from the Trump administration amid its ongoing efforts to suppress the vote and perpetuate the myth of non-citizen voting, red state lawmakers are introducing restrictive proof of citizenship bills in their state legislatures.  Experts tell TPM it is no coincidence that these various state-level bills have advanced just as the Trump administration struggles to get Congress to pass both the SAVE America Act and the Make Elections Great Again Act, which both seek to mandate documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration in federal elections. “You’re seeing states sort of take that policy agenda…

FOX 24 US For court watchers waiting for the Supreme Court decision that could doom the Voting Rights Act, Monday’s emergency docket ruling out of New York was ominous.  The Court, in a flailing overreach, stepped in to block a state court order that New York re-map to give minority voters in one district a better opportunity to choose their preferred candidate. A map approved in 2024 during the state’s chaotic last round of redistricting diluted minority voters, advocates argued, in violation of the state constitution. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), who represents the district, intervened in the case, Malliotakis v.…

FOX 24 US Back in 2024, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) complained about his colleague, then-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL). Gaetz was embroiled in a lurid scandal involving a Florida tax collector, an associate of the congressman who was charged with sex trafficking; federal investigators were reportedly also looking into allegations Gaetz had moved underage women across state lines for sex. The DOJ declined to prosecute Gaetz, who maintains his innocence, but in 2024, Gonzales reminded everyone of it, remarking, “I serve with some real scumbags like Matt Gaetz. He paid minors to have sex with them at drunk parties.” That Gonzales…

FOX 24 US Congress’ hemorrhaging of power was stark Saturday morning, as many Americans woke up to the news that President Trump had initiated war with Iran without bothering to preemptively justify the violence, much less seek congressional authorization.  Any hope that lawmakers would ride to the rescue, as Americans processed the news of Iranian children being killed at school, impending retaliatory strikes and the president’s promise of near-certain American casualties to come, was quickly dashed.  Trump had already begun a war — nominally, Congress’ job — without any consent from the legislature. Congress’ primary recourse in response is to vote…

FOX 24 US For over a decade, no enemy has loomed larger to the Roberts Court than voting protections, especially those for minority groups who have historically been kept away from the polls with laws and violence. The Court in recent years has raised tests for discrimination to unreachable heights, required voters to employ their own mapmakers, put the responsibility for fixes in the hands of a Congress it knows won’t act, claimed that racism has all but ended anyway.   The groups that fight voter suppression have, under duress, become agile and creative, digging up old statutes under which to…

FOX 24 US This article first appeared at ProPublica. Several high-ranking federal election officials attended a summit last week at which prominent figures who worked to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election pressed the president to declare a national emergency to take over this year’s midterms. According to videos, photos and social media posts reviewed by ProPublica, the meeting’s participants included Kurt Olsen, a White House lawyer charged with reinvestigating the 2020 election, and Heather Honey, the Department of Homeland Security official in charge of election integrity. The event was convened by Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security…

FOX 24 US On Thursday, the Washington Post reported that Trump-aligned activists are pitching the president on a draft executive order that would declare an “emergency,” relying on debunked claims of foreign interference in elections, to order a far-right wish list of changes to how elections are run in America. That list is far-reaching. It would attempt to revolutionize elections just as President Trump and his allies search for ways to reduce the ease of voting in the run-up to the midterms later this year. Voting by mail would be banned, as would electronic voting machines. The proposal is unlikely…