Politics Election category, Page 252
Bill would allow firing of striking West Virginia teachers
CHARLESTON — A West Virginia lawmaker has renewed an attempt to punish teachers for striking in a state where work stoppages have occurred in two of the past three years. Senate Education Committee chairwoman Patricia Rucker, a Jefferson County Republican, introduced a bill Wednesday on the first day of the...
Top Michigan Republican stands by Capitol ‘hoax’ comments
LANSING, Mich. — One of Michigan’s highest-ranking Republicans on Wednesday stood by his false claims that it is a “hoax” to blame supporters of then-President Donald Trump for the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol. Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, in a private conversation with Democratic Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist...
Police beg for help, senators flee in Trump trial video
WASHINGTON — Prosecutors unveiled chilling new security video in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial Wednesday, showing the mob of rioters breaking into the Capitol, smashing windows and doors and searching menacingly for Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as overwhelmed police begged on their radios for help. In...
Trump fumes, GOP senators baffled by legal team’s debutVideo
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump fumed that his attorneys’ performance on the opening day of his second impeachment trial was a disaster, as allies and Republican senators questioned the strategy and some called for yet another shakeup to his legal team. Trump, who was watching the proceedings in Washington...
Michigan GOP Leader Mike Shirkey calls Capitol riot a ‘hoax from day one’Video
LANSING, Mich. — A Republican legislative leader in Michigan apologized Tuesday after falsely claiming supporters of President Donald Trump were not involved in the deadly attack at the U.S. Capitol, having called it a “hoax.” Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, of Clarklake, made the remarks last Wednesday while meeting with...
Senate agrees to hear Trump case, rejecting GOP argumentsVideo
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s historic second impeachment trial opened Tuesday with graphic video showing the former president whipping up a rally crowd to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell” against his reelection defeat, followed by images of the deadly attack on Congress that came soon after. In an...
Black farmers unconvinced by Tom Vilsack’s ‘root out’ racism vow
BELLE PLAINE, Kan. — President Joe Biden’s nomination of Tom Vilsack to lead the Agriculture Department received a chilly reaction from many Black farmers who contend he didn’t do enough to help them the last time he had the job. Vilsack, a former Iowa governor who served eight years as...
Justice Department seeks resignations of Trump-era U.S. attorneys
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department will ask U.S. attorneys who were appointed by former President Donald Trump to resign from their posts, as the Biden administration moves to transition to its own nominees, a senior Justice Department official said Monday. But the U.S. attorney overseeing the federal tax probe involving...
What’s ahead as Trump impeachment trial beginsVideo
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump’s historic second impeachment trial begins Tuesday, forcing the Senate to decide whether to convict him of incitement of insurrection after a violent mob of his supporters laid siege to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. While Trump’s acquittal is expected, Democrats hope to gain...
Senate confirms McDonough as Veterans Affairs secretary
WASHINGTON — The Senate voted 87-7 Monday to confirm Denis McDonough to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, making him the second nonveteran in history to helm the massive federal agency that oversees health care and other benefits for the nation’s veterans. McDonough, 51, received a muted reception from veterans...
Georgia election officials investigate Trump telephone call
ATLANTA — Georgia’s secretary of state’s office on Monday opened an investigation into a phone call between Donald Trump and the state’s top elections official in which the then-president said he wanted to “find” enough votes to overturn his loss in the state, an official said. Walter Jones, a spokesman...
House Democrats reveal first draft of stimulus-bill measuresVideo
WASHINGTON — House Democrats on Monday released the first draft text for key pieces of legislation that will constitute President Joe Biden’s covid-19 relief bill. The legislative language released by the Education and Labor Committee and Committee on Financial Services shows Democrats are forging ahead with plans to increase the...
Alabama U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby announces he won’t seek a 7th termVideo
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — U.S. Sen. Richard C. Shelby, the Senate’s fourth most senior member and a force in Alabama politics for more than four decades, announced Monday that he will not seek a seventh term in office in 2022. The 86-year-old Republican has spent more than 40 years in Washington,...
Arizona Democrats move to expel lawmaker who attended Jan. 6 rally
PHOENIX — Democrats in the Arizona House moved Monday to expel a Republican lawmaker who attended the Jan. 6 rally that turned violent when demonstrators stormed the U.S. Capitol. Republican Rep. Mark Finchem of Tucson violated his oath of office and undermined democracy through actions that include his attendance at...
How some Pa. lawmakers score a ‘golden parachute’ to pad their pensions
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. A version of this story originally appeared in our free weekly newsletter. HARRISBURG — Members of Pennsylvania’s Gaming Control Board, whose responsibilities include meeting once or twice...
Arizona Senate planning to hold board in contempt in election fight
PHOENIX — Republicans who control the Arizona Senate were poised to hold the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in contempt Monday for failing to turn over voting machines and ballots from the November election that lawmakers want to examine as they continue to question President Joe Biden’s win in the...
Republican Tenney’s narrow win certified in U.S. House race
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York state elections officials certified Republican Claudia Tenney’s razor-thin victory over U.S. Rep. Anthony Brindisi on Monday, more than three months after Election Day. The certification came after a state judge ruled that Tenney won the race for central New York’s 22nd Congressional District by 109...
Trump lawyers blast impeachment trial as ‘political theater’
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for Donald Trump on Monday blasted the impeachment case against him as an act of “political theater” as they accused House Democrats of exploiting the chaos and trauma of last month’s riot at the U.S. Capitol for their party’s gain. In a brief filed on the eve...
Poll: Few in U.S. say democracy is working very well
Only a fragment of Americans believe democracy is thriving in the U.S., even as broad majorities agree that representative government is one of the country’s bedrock principles, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Just 16% of Americans say democracy is working well...
Pa. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman makes U.S. Senate run official
Pennsylvania Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman officially launched his campaign for U.S. Senate on Monday. “Now, it’s my turn,” Fetterman said on Twitter early Monday morning. “Let’s get to work.” “This will be the most important Senate race in 2022, so we need to build as much early momentum as...
West Virginia lawmaker faces fresh criticism for discrimination stance
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Republican lawmaker in West Virginia who resigned after posting an anti-gay slur but then was re-elected is drawing fresh criticism for an extended online diatribe opposing protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. House Delegate John Mandt said in a now-deleted Facebook post...
Senate Republicans back Trump as impeachment trial nearsVideo
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s defenders in the Senate on Sunday rallied around the former president before his impeachment trial, dismissing it as a waste of time and arguing that the former president’s fiery speech before the U.S. Capitol insurrection does not make him responsible for the violence of Jan. 6....
False narratives seeped in through multiple channels to fuel violence at the Capitol
Disinformation, misinformation and social media proved a potent brew in the days leading up to the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Experts say it is important to understand the role each played in inciting protesters to sack the Capitol. But no one was surprised events...
Wyoming GOP censures Rep. Liz Cheney over impeachment vote
RAWLINS, Wyo. — The Wyoming Republican Party voted overwhelmingly Saturday to censure U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney for voting to impeach President Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Only eight of the 74-member state GOP’s central committee stood to oppose censure in a...
Biden gives Calif. woman pep talk in weekly address revival
WILMINGTON, Del. — President Joe Biden gave a pep talk to a California woman who was laid off because of the coronavirus pandemic, during a conversation the White House said is part of an effort to help him engage more consistently with regular Americans. The White House on Saturday released...
