Politics Election category, Page 212
Court puts hold on GOP inspection of county voting machines
An inspection of voting machines in a heavily Republican county in Pennsylvania had been poised to go forward Friday until an 11th-hour appeal to the state Supreme Court by lawyers for Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf put it on hold. The high court decision came hours after a state judge rejected...
Bill would require Senate confirmation for U.S. prison chief
WASHINGTON — Days after the head of the troubled federal Bureau of Prisons said he was resigning amid increased scrutiny over his leadership, lawmakers have introduced a bill to require Senate confirmation for future bureau directors — the same process used to vet leaders of the FBI and other federal...
RNC threatens to boycott commission’s presidential debatesVideo
WASHINGTON — The Republican National Committee said Thursday it is planning a rules change that would force presidential candidates seeking the party’s nomination to sign a pledge saying they will not participate in any debates sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. If ultimately enacted and enforced, the move would...
Biden all but concedes defeat on voting, election billsVideo
WASHINGTON — All but acknowledging defeat, President Joe Biden said Thursday he’s “not sure” his elections and voting rights legislation can pass Congress this year. He spoke at the Capitol after a key fellow Democrat, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, dramatically announced her refusal to go along with changing Senate...
GOP leader McCarthy says he won’t cooperate with 1/6 panel
WASHINGTON — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is refusing a request by the House panel investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection to submit to an interview and turn over records pertaining to the deadly riot. The panel is seeking first-hand details from members of Congress on then-President Donald Trump’s actions on...
Martell Covington launches bid for Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey’s former state House seat
Martell Covington, a legislative aide to state Sen. Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills, announced Wednesday that he will run for a seat in the state House. Covington, of Homewood, is vying to fill the seat vacated by Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey. A special election on April 5 will determine who finishes...
Ohio Justices toss GOP Statehouse maps, order fix in 10 days
COLUMBUS — The Ohio Supreme Court declared newly drawn legislative maps invalid on Wednesday and ordered the GOP-created boundaries to be fixed within 10 days. The court’s rejection of maps that would have retained Republican supermajorities in both chambers is a victory for Democratic and voting rights groups who had...
South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds pushes GOP to get ‘louder’ on false Trump claimsVideo
PIERRE, S.D. — U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota has been telling people for the last year that the 2020 election was fair, but this week he did something few other Republicans have dared — tell a national audience that. Now he wishes more Republicans would join him. Rounds,...
Pa. House approves proposed congressional map as court challenges loom
This article is part of a yearlong reporting project focused on redistricting and gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. It is made possible by the support of Spotlight PA members and Votebeat, a project focused on election integrity and voting access. HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania House has advanced a new congressional map that...
Philadelphia attorney George Bochetto enters U.S. Senate race
Philadelphia attorney George Bochetto launched his campaign for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, joining a crowded field of candidates on both sides of the aisle. “I’m running because I’m very concerned about where this country is headed, and I’m very concerned that if we don’t bring some sensible conservative core values...
Biden on voting rights passage: ‘I’m tired of being quiet!’Video
WASHINGTON — Pounding his fist for emphasis, President Joe Biden challenged senators on Tuesday to “stand against voter suppression,” urging them to change Senate rules in order to pass voting rights legislation that Republicans are blocking from debate and votes. Biden told a crowd in Atlanta that he’d been having...
Jan. 6 committee: Jim Jordan is ‘material witness’ to investigation
WASHINGTON — The select House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol said Rep. Jim Jordan is a “material witness” to its investigation and is questioning whether former President Donald Trump’s team had a role in convincing the Ohio Republican to conceal what he knows about the...
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey supports effort to host national political convention, regardless of party
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said he supports efforts to bring either the Republican National Convention or Democratic National Convention to the city. Pittsburgh is on a shortlist of cities being considered to host the Republican National Convention in 2024, according to a Politico.com report. Other finalists include Milwaukee, Nashville and...
Pa. House expected to vote on proposed congressional map as redistricting lawsuit looms
This article is part of a yearlong reporting project focused on redistricting and gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. It is made possible by the support of Spotlight PA members and Votebeat, a project focused on election integrity and voting access. HARRISBURG — The state House is expected to vote on a proposed...
Date set for special election to fill Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey’s former legislative seat
Pennsylvania Speaker of the House Bryan Cutler announced Monday that a special election will be held April 5 to fill the state House seat vacated by now-Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey. Cutler is also expected to call for a special election to fill the seat vacated by Jake Wheatley, who will...
‘American Idol’ star Clay Aiken will run for N.C. seat in Congress
Clay Aiken, the “American Idol” star and a Raleigh native, wants to represent North Carolina in Congress. Aiken, a Democrat who previously ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014, announced Monday that he’s planning to run this year in the Durham-centric House district that’s now open. The 6th...
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson announces bid for another term
WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Ron Johnson said he’ll seek a third term in 2022, counting on Wisconsin voters to reward his continued and staunch support of former President Donald Trump. “In order for my campaign to succeed, I will need the support of every Wisconsinite who values the truth and...
Watershed moment in NYC: New law allows noncitizens to vote
NEW YORK — More than 800,000 noncitizens and “Dreamers” in New York City will have access to the ballot box — and could vote in municipal elections as early as next year — after Mayor Eric Adams allowed legislation to automatically become law Sunday. Opponents have vowed to challenge the...
Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson will seek reelection
MADISON, Wis. — Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, one of former President Donald Trump’s most vocal supporters, said Sunday that he will seek reelection, avoiding a wide open GOP primary in the narrowly divided swing state. Johnson had pledged in 2016 not to run for a third time,...
Obama, Biden honor Sen. Reid as man ‘who got things done’
LAS VEGAS — Former President Barack Obama commemorated late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Saturday as a man “who got things done,” as Democratic leaders gathered to recall Reid — often laughingly — as a man whose impatience for pleasantries was part of a drive to improve the lives...
Conservative firebrand Doug Mastriano enters Pennsylvania’s governor’s race
Doug Mastriano, the state senator from Franklin County who parlayed anger over coronavirus pandemic rules and no-holds-barred support for former President Donald J. Trump into an extended political moment, opened his candidacy for governor Pennsylvania Saturday. Mastriano, who practices his politics with a messianic zeal that has helped him develop...
Sen. Ted Cruz apologizes for describing Jan. 6 attack as terrorism
NEW YORK — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz had desperation written on his face. The conservative ideologue and potential 2024 presidential contender appeared on Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight” show Thursday to apologize for describing the Jan. 6 insurrection as “a violent terrorist attack on the Capitol” a day earlier,...
Analysis: Taking on Trump is Biden’s reluctant calling
WASHINGTON — It may not be the fight he sought, but taking on Donald Trump is President Joe Biden’s calling. Biden offered himself as a guardian of American democracy in a visceral speech Thursday discussing the horrors of the Jan. 6 insurrection that sought to overthrow his 2020 election victory....
Biden decries Trump backers as ‘trying to rewrite history’ on anniversary of Capitol breach
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden accused Donald Trump and his supporters of holding a “dagger at the throat of democracy” in a forceful speech Thursday marking the anniversary of the deadly breach of the U.S. Capitol. He warned that though it didn’t succeed, the insurrection remains a serious threat to...
Trump maintains grip on GOP despite violent insurrection
WASHINGTON — As a raging band of his supporters scaled walls, smashed windows, used flagpoles to beat police and breached the U.S. Capitol in a bid to overturn a free and fair election, Donald Trump’s excommunication from the Republican Party seemed a near certainty, his name tarnished beyond repair. Some...
