Politics Election category, Page 158
Democrats keep Pennsylvania House majority, positioning party to prevent limits on abortion rights
HARRISBURG — Democrats maintained their narrow Pennsylvania House majority Tuesday by winning a special election and along with it continued control over how the chamber will handle abortion, gun rights and election law legislation. Heather Boyd won a seat in the Philadelphia suburbs, beating Republican Katie Ford for a vacancy...
North Carolina GOP overrides veto of 12-week abortion limit, allowing it to become lawVideo
RALEIGH, N.C. — Legislation banning most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy will become law in North Carolina after the state’s Republican-controlled General Assembly successfully overrode the Democratic governor’s veto late Tuesday. The House completed the second and final part of the override vote after a similar three-fifths majority —...
Democrat Cherelle Parker wins primary for Philadelphia mayor
Cherelle Parker, a Democrat with a long political history in Pennsylvania, won Philadelphia’s mayoral primary on Tuesday, likely setting her up as the city’s 100th mayor and the first woman to serve in the role. Parker, 50, who served for 10 years as a state representative for northwest Philadelphia before...
Trump-backed Daniel Cameron to face Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear in November
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Daniel Cameron won the Republican primary for Kentucky governor on Tuesday, becoming the first major-party Black nominee for governor in the state’s history and setting up a November showdown with Democratic incumbent Andy Beshear. Cameron, the state’s attorney general who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump,...
2023 Western Pa. primary election results
Here’s what we know about the results Tuesday night: Allegheny County executive: State Rep. Sara Innamorato declared victory Tuesday night in the crowded Democratic primary race for county executive, unofficial tallies showed. With more than 169,000 votes tallied and 98% of precincts reporting results, Innamorato had collected 37.6% of the...
‘I never wanted to be a career politician’: Gina Cerilli Thrasher reflects on 2 terms as Westmoreland commissioner
Gina Cerilli Thrasher is looking forward to a break from politics. That means trading the public spotlight and sometimes odd hours as Westmoreland County commissioner for dinners at home with her family and more downtime. Her February announcement that she would not be hitting the campaign trail for a third...
DeSantis curtails diversity, equity and inclusion programs in Florida state colleges
TALLAHASSEE — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a bill that blocks public colleges from using federal or state funding on diversity programs, addressing a concern of conservatives ahead of the Republican governor’s expected presidential candidacy. The law, which DeSantis proposed earlier this year, comes as Republicans across the...
Trump tells former adviser Michael Flynn: ‘We’re going to bring you back’
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump called into an event hosted by his former national security adviser Michael Flynn over the weekend, telling his ex-adviser, “We’re going to bring you back.” After scrubbing a rally in Iowa on Saturday night because of bad weather, Trump spoke via telephone at...
Lawmakers push for earlier presidential primary
The date of next year’s primary conflicts with a major religious holiday, and some state lawmakers have taken notice. The 2024 Pennsylvania primary is set for April 23. It conflicts with the Jewish holiday of Passover and takes place after many states already would have voted for a presidential nominee...
John Durham ends probe of FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation with harsh criticism, but no new charges
WASHINGTON — A special prosecutor found that the FBI rushed into its investigation of ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and relied too much on raw and unconfirmed intelligence as he concluded a four-year probe that fell far short of the former president’s prediction that the “crime of...
Supreme Court to review Democratic lawmakers’ suit over Trump hotel lease
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a Biden administration appeal to limit lawsuits filed by members of Congress against the federal government, in a case that stems from disputes over what was the Trump International Hotel in Washington. The justices said they will review a federal...
Minneapolis city council nomination brawlers could be expelled from Minnesota Democratic Party
The Minnesota Democratic Party will consider expelling anyone involved in a brawl that broke out over nominations for a Minneapolis City Council seat. At least two people were injured in Saturday’s confrontation. The head of the state Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, Chair Ken Martin, said on Twitter that he plans to call...
Trump changed GOP rules to make winning the nomination even easier — for Trump
Republicans seeking to keep Donald Trump from becoming their party’s nominee will have to overcome rules even more favorable to the former president than the ones that helped him clinch the 2016 nomination. In 2024, more states will award delegates through winner-take-all primaries — a system that helped Trump when...
Biden’s reelection pitch that he can govern well faces daunting challenges
WASHINGTON — A showdown with Congress that has the nation’s creditworthiness at stake; a frenzied scene at the border as pandemic restrictions ease; a pivotal foreign trip meant to sustain support for Ukraine and contain a more assertive China in the Indo-Pacific. Three weeks since launching his reelection campaign, President...
AI presents political peril for 2024 with threat to mislead voters
WASHINGTON — Computer engineers and tech-inclined political scientists have warned for years that cheap, powerful artificial intelligence tools would soon allow anyone to create fake images, video and audio that was realistic enough to fool voters and perhaps sway an election. The synthetic images that emerged were often crude, unconvincing...
School board races serve as culture war battlegrounds
Darlene Ciocca had served nearly a dozen years as a member of the Norwin School Board and, in February, faced a decision that on the surface seemed completely out of place — one that involved a political calculation to determine whether to seek another term in office. The divisive political...
Allegheny, Westmoreland, Alle-Kiski Valley races to watch in Tuesday’s primary
Voters will go to the polls Tuesday with a slew of political races on the ballot. Allegheny County will be picking a Democratic nominee in a six-candidate race for county executive, while the county’s longtime district attorney is facing possibly his toughest primary challenge in more than two decades. There...
The debt ceiling crisis may look like a rerun, but it could end differently this timeVideo
The last time the U.S. government went to the brink of defaulting on its debt — in 2011 — the stock market tumbled and there was something close to a panic across the economy before Washington came to its senses and cut a deal. Much the same scenario is unfolding...
EPA: New pollution limits proposed for coal, gas power plants reflect ‘urgency’ of climate crisisVideo
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration proposed new limits Thursday on greenhouse gas emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants, its most ambitious effort yet to roll back planet-warming pollution from the nation’s second-largest contributor to climate change. A rule announced by the Environmental Protection Agency could force power plants to...
Ready-to-drink cocktails could be coming to any place beer and wine are sold in Pa.
A state senator is once again trying to modernize Pennsylvania’s liquor system by expanding access to pre-packaged cocktails. The legislation would allow restaurants, bars, taverns, beer distributors, grocery and convenience stores that sell beer and wine to add these popular canned cocktails such as rum punch, pina coladas and margaritas...
House Republicans pass new asylum restrictions as Title 42 ends; Biden promises vetoVideo
WASHINGTON — House Republicans passed a sweeping bill Thursday to build more U.S.-Mexico border wall and impose new restrictions on asylum seekers, creating a hard-line counter to President Joe Biden’s policies just as migrants are amassing along the border with the end of coronavirus pandemic restrictions. The bill has virtually...
CNN faces backlash over chaotic Trump town hall eventVideo
NEW YORK — CNN is facing a backlash over its town hall featuring former President Donald Trump, an event that swiftly turned chaotic in a stark display of the tightrope facing journalists covering a leading 2024 Republican candidate who refuses to play by the rules. The town hall Wednesday was...
Sen. Tuberville criticized for remarks on white nationalists: ‘I call them Americans’
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville is facing backlash for remarks he made about white nationalists in the armed forces in an interview about his blocking of military nominees. He said that while Democrats may consider such people to be racists, “I call them Americans.” Tuberville’s office later said...
Republicans continue push to restrict teachings on race in South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Republicans are one step closer to restricting how teachers discuss race in K-12 classrooms. As conservatives nationwide push bans on so-called “critical race theory,” the state Senate passed a likeminded effort Wednesday in a late-night 27-10 vote after nearly six hours of debate. Parents could...
Rape, incest exceptions to Louisiana abortion ban rejected by GOP lawmakers
BATON ROUGE — Republican lawmakers in Louisiana rejected legislation Wednesday that would add exceptions in cases of rape and incest to one of the strictest abortion bans in the country. This legislative session, there is a package of bills aimed at loosening Louisiana’s near-total abortion ban by adding exceptions, clarifying...
