Georgia voters are casting ballots to choose a successor in Congress to Marjorie Taylor Greene. Tuesday's special election comes after the Republican Greene resigned her seat in January after a falling-out with President Donald Trump. Top candidates include Republicans Clay Fuller and Colton Moore and Democrat Shawn Harris. Trump has endorsed Fuller, a district attorney. But with nine Republicans, three Democrats, a Libertarian and an independent running, a majority for one candidate may be elusive. The winner will serve out the remaining months of Greene’s term and will have to run again later this year to secure a full two-year term.
President Donald Trump says he won’t sign any other legislation into law until Congress passes a strict proof-of-citizenship voting bill that he says also must end Americans’ ability to vote by mail. It's a startling demand months before the midterm elections. Trump told House Republicans during their annual retreat at his golf club in Florida that he doesn’t think they will win elections without it. He says voting laws need to be toughened up to prevent fraud — even though mail ballots are popular in many states and federal law already requires that voters in national elections be U.S. citizens, with scant evidence that noncitizens ever try to vote.
Strict citizen voting requirements sought by President Donald Trump have stalled in the U.S. Senate. But Republicans in some states are pressing ahead with similar measures. Bills requiring people to show proof of citizenship to register to vote won final approval this week in South Dakota and Utah. A similar measure has passed the Florida House. And supporters in Michigan turned in 750,000 petition signatures this week to try to get a proof-of-citizenship measure on the November ballot. Federal law already requires people registering to vote to affirm they are U.S. citizens. But Trump contends more proof should be required.
A bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security is stalling out again in Congress. Republicans invoked the war in Iran and the prospect of retaliatory terrorist attacks as they tried Thursday to pass a bill funding the department. But Democrats blocked the legislation as they insist on changes to immigration enforcement operations. While the House will also take up the bill later Thursday, the vote will be more about putting lawmakers on the record again about where they stand. In the end, a bipartisan compromise will have to be reached to end a DHS shutdown that began Feb. 14.
Virginia’s top court allows a voter referendum on Democrat-led redistricting that aims to flip 4 US House seats.
Longtime Sen. John Cornyn and MAGA favorite Ken Paxton are heading to a May runoff in Texas’ Republican Senate primary, while Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett and state Rep. James Talarico are in a close race for the Democratic nomination. It was unclear how many eligible ballots remained to be counted in Dallas County, Crockett’s home base, after confusion about polling places and a flurry of court filings. Voters across North Carolina, Arkansas and Texas took to the polls in primary elections Tuesday that marked the official beginning of the midterm elections.
A rule change for primary voting in two Texas counties led to mass voter confusion that eventually led to a state supreme court ruling, threats of more legal action and the potential that an untold number of voters could find themselves disenfranchised. An unknown number of voters in the counties were turned away Tuesday and directed to different precincts after the recent change in how the primary is conducted. Voters had been allowed to cast their ballot anywhere in their county since 2019. But for Tuesday's primary, the Republican parties in Dallas and Williamson counties opted against countywide voting. That meant voters could cast ballots only at their assigned precinct, but many weren't aware of the change.
Key members of Congress are demanding a swift vote on a war powers resolution that would restrain President Donald Trump’s military attack on Iran. Democrats and some Republicans argue the president must seek approval from Congress for what they warn is a potentially illegal campaign that risks pulling the United States into a deeper Middle East conflict. Both the House and Senate had already drafted war powers resolutions long before the strikes Saturday against Iran. The GOP leadership largely backs Trump's decision. Any war powers vote would largely be symbolic because Trump could veto such a resolution. The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war.
Democrats are banking on Tejano music star Bobby Pulido to help them win back Hispanic voters in a South Texas congressional district that favors Republicans. In Tuesday's party primary, Pulido faces Ada Cuellar, a doctor and law student who's running to the left of the singer. Pulido campaigns like a hometown celebrity, greeting voters in English and Spanish and saying fame gets attention but not votes. He runs as a moderate on issues such as abortion. He also faces scrutiny over old, crude social media posts. The winner takes on Republican Monica De La Cruz in a district favorably redrawn for the congresswoman.
DHS official promises that federal immigration agents won't be at polling places during the midterms
A DHS official is promising top state election administrators that immigration agents will not be at polling places during November's midterm election. Heather Honey, an election conspiracy theorist who is deputy assistant secretary for election integrity for the Trump administration, pledged Wednesday on a call with secretaries of state from around the country to discuss the midterms, according to several officials on the call. Democrats and some election officials have increasingly worried the Trump administration would try to interfere in November's elections, in part by posting immigration agents at the polls. Those fears rose after last month's immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.