'DESTRUCTIVE To The Country': GOP Rep. Lawler SLAMS TX Mid-Cycle Redistricting Effort
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San Francisco Chronicle
24 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Independent candidate for Michigan governor is betting on partisan fatigue in the midterms
DETROIT (AP) — Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan spent his political career as a Democrat, leading Michigan's largest Democratic stronghold. But now, he's become a target of his former party, whose leaders are furious about his decision to run for Michigan governor next year as an independent. Detroit is a power base for Democrats in the battleground state, and some fear Duggan will draw support from their nominee and potentially help the Republican candidate. Democrats have launched attacks against Duggan, accusing him of being bankrolled by allies of President Donald Trump. But Duggan — who is soon leaving the office he has held since 2014 — says voters of all leanings are tired of partisan fighting. 'It doesn't actually matter where I go in the state,' Duggan said. 'People are angry that their problems are not getting solved because the two parties are so consumed with fighting with each other.' Duggan had been a major Democratic figure in Michigan with a close working relationship with former President Joe Biden. While there is precedent for independent governors in the U.S., none are currently in office and there has never been one in Michigan. Why run as an independent? He announced his bid a month after Democrats suffered heavy losses in the 2024 election. But, midterm elections tend to favor the party not in power. Democrats have now seized on cuts to Medicaid and SNAP benefits as winning issues in races across the country. Duggan doesn't see it that way. 'I mean, it would have been easier to win as a Democrat, but then I'd have just been part of the partisan problem,' Duggan said. As an example, Duggan pointed to Michigan's split Legislature, with Republicans in control of the state House and Democrats controlling the state Senate. Only six proposals have become law this year, and the state operating budget is still hung up. Duggan's campaign has focused on his independency from both parties and education in the state. Duggan derided Michigan House Democrats who voted against a measure to restrict cellphone usage in schools. 'I don't really intend to get involved in the national Republican versus Democratic talking points,' he said. Tariffs in Detroit, and abroad Several companies in Michigan's auto industry, centered in Detroit, have reported major losses and expressed worry about tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. Auto parts often move across the border between the U.S. and Canada multiple times during manufacturing. Duggan said tariffs on China and Mexico could push manufacturing to Michigan. However, tariffs on Canada are 'devastating,' he said. 'When you put a tariff on Canada, you put a tariff on Michigan,' he said. He also critiqued the ever-changing nature of Trump's tariff policies, saying they prevent companies from making educated, long-term investments. President Trump Duggan praised current Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for her work with the Trump administration, opposing the tariffs on Canada and working with him to get new fighter jets for an air force base. Some Democrats have criticized Whitmer for appearing with Trump multiple times this year. 'I think it's exactly the right kind of approach,' he said. Elon Musk Democrats in Michigan have frequently tied Duggan to Elon Musk; an attempt to undercut Duggan by association with the divisive public figure. Musk, a former Trump ally, said in July that he would create a third political party. When Duggan responded to Musk on X saying 'Now you've got my attention,' the Michigan Democratic Party said the mayor was 'cozying' up to the richest man in the world. When asked about exchange, Duggan said his bid is 'exactly the opposite' of a third party and said he wants no part of one. As an independent, he would not be responsible for any party majority, he said. 'I'm going to work with whoever wins to build bridges,' he said. Arab American voters Michigan is home to one of the largest populations of Arab American voters in the U.S., many of whom are disillusioned with both political parties over Israel's military offensive in Gaza which has resulted in a devastating humanitarian crisis. 'The governor doesn't make policy 6,000 miles away,' Duggan said. 'The governor has a great deal to say about the tone of hate speech and threats to individuals — whether it's the Jewish community, the Arab community — in the state of Michigan.' Who else is in the race? Whitmer is term-limited and cannot run for reelection. The crowded field vying to replace her includes three Democrats — Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson — and four Republicans — U.S. Rep. John James, state Senate Leader Aric Nesbitt, former state Attorney General Mike Cox and former Speaker of the state House Tom Leonard. Running as an independent allowed Duggan to avoid the Democratic primary, but he gave up access to the party's resources. He's well-known in Detroit and the surrounding areas but largely lacks statewide name recognition. Recent fundraising numbers showed Duggan was competitive with Benson, James and Nesbitt. Only Benson's campaign raised more than Duggan's, thanks to $1.1 million she transferred from her Secretary of State campaign account. National Democratic groups, though, are certain to prioritize the Michigan race and pour money in if needed. 'A lot of people in the state are fed up with a two party system,' Duggan said. 'And it's not going to change by electing another Republican or Democrat.'
Los Angeles Times
24 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Millions of Californians may lose health coverage because of new Medicaid work requirements
The nation's first mandated work requirement for Medicaid recepients, approved by the Republican-led Congress and signed by President Trump, is expected to have a seismic effect in California. One estimate from state health officials suggests that as many as 3.4 million people could lose their insurance through what Gov. Gavin Newsom calls the 'labyrinth of manual verification,' which involves Medi-Cal recipients proving every six months that they are working, going to school or volunteering at least 80 hours per month. 'It's going to be much harder to stay insured,' said Martha Santana-Chin, the head of L.A. Care Health Plan, a publicly operated health plan that serves about 2.3 million Medi-Cal patients in Los Angeles County. She said that as many as 1 million people, or about 20% to 40% of its members, could lose their coverage. The work requirement will be the first imposed nationwide in the six-decade history of Medicaid, the program that provides free and subsidized health insurance to disabled and low-income Americans. It's relatively uncharted territory, and it's not yet clear how the rules will shake out for the 5.1 million people in California who will be required to prove that they are working in order to qualify for Medi-Cal, the state's version of Medicaid. After the 2026 midterm elections, millions of healthy adults will be required to prove every six months that they meet the work requirement in order to qualify for Medicaid. The new mandate spells out some exceptions, including for people who are pregnant, in addiction treatment or caring for children under age 14. Democrats have long argued that work requirements generally lead to eligible people l osing their health insurance due to bureaucratic hurdles. Republicans say that a work requirement will encourage healthy people to get jobs and preserve Medicaid for those who truly need it. 'If you clean that up and shore it up, you save a lot of money,' said House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana. 'And you return the dignity of work to young men who need to be out working instead of playing video games all day.' Only three U.S. states have tried to implement work requirements for Medicaid recipients: New Hampshire, Arkansas and Georgia. One study found that in the first three months of the Arkansas program, more than 18,000 people lost health coverage. People can lose coverage a variety of ways, said Joan Alker, a Georgetown University professor who studies Medicaid. Some people hear that the rules have changed and assume they are no longer eligible. Others struggle to prove their eligibility because their income fluctuates, they are paid in cash or their jobs don't keep good payroll records. Some have problems with the technology or forms, she said, and others don't appeal their rejections. Of the 15 million people on Medi-Cal in California, about one-third will be required to prove they are working, the state said. Those people earn very little: less than $21,000 for a single person and less than $43,000 for a household of four. The state's estimate of 3.4 million people losing coverage is a projection based on what happened in Arkansas and New Hampshire. But those programs were brief, overturned by the courts and weren't 'a coordinated effort among the states to figure out what the best practices are,' said Ryan Long, the director of congressional relations at the Paragon Health Institute, a conservative think tank that has become influential among congressional Republicans. Long said advancements in technology and a national emphasis on work requirements should make work verification less of a barrier. The budget bill includes $200 million in grants for states to update their systems to prepare, he said. Arguments from liberal groups that people will lose healthcare are a 'straw man argument,' Long said: 'They know that the public supports work requirements for these benefits, so they can't come out and say, 'We don't support them.'' A poll by the health research group KFF found this year that 62% of American adults support tying Medicaid eligibility to work requirements. The poll also found that support for the policy drops to less than 1 in 3 people when respondents hear 'that most people on Medicaid are already working and many would risk losing coverage because of the burden of proving eligibility through paperwork.' In June, Newsom warned that some Californians could be forced to fill out 36 pages of paperwork to keep their insurance, showing reporters an image of a stack of forms with teal and gold accents that he described as 'an actual PDF example of the paperwork that people will have to submit to for their eligibility checks.' Many Californians already are required to fill out that 36-page form or its online equivalent to enroll in Medi-Cal and Covered California, the state's health insurance marketplace. Experts say it's too soon to say what system will be used for people to prove their work eligibility, because federal guidance won't be finalized for months. Newsom's office directed questions to the Department of Health Care Services, which runs Medi-Cal. A spokesperson there said officials are 'still reviewing the full operational impacts' of the work requirements. 'The idea that you are going to get a paper submission every six months, I'm not sure people have to do that,' Long said. Georgia is the only state that has implemented a lasting work requirement for Medicaid. Two years ago, the state made healthcare available to people who were working at least 80 hours per month and earned less than the federal poverty limit (about $15,000 for one person or $31,200 for a household of four). More than 100,000 people have applied for coverage since the program's launch in July of 2023. As of June of this year, more than 8,000 people were enrolled, according to the state's most recent data. The Medicaid program has cost more than $100 million so far, and of that, $26 million was spent on health benefits and more than $20 million was allocated to marketing contracts, KFF Health News reported. Democrats in Georgia have sought an investigation into the program. The Inland Empire agency that provides Medi-Cal coverage for about 1.5 million people in San Bernardino and Riverside counties estimated that 150,000 members could lose their insurance as a result of work requirements. Jarrod McNaughton, the chief executive of the Inland Empire Health Plan, said that California's 58 counties, which administer Medi-Cal, 'will be the ones at the precipice of piecing this together' but haven't yet received guidance on how the eligibility process will be set up or what information people will have to provide. Will it be done online? Will recipients be required to fill out a piece of paper that needs to be mailed in or dropped off? 'We don't really know the process yet, because all of this is so new,' Naughton said. In the meantime, he said, the health plan's foundation is working to make this 'as least burdensome as possible,' working to improve community outreach and connect people who receive Medi-Cal insurance to volunteer opportunities.
The Hill
24 minutes ago
- The Hill
DeSantis inches closer to joining redistricting fight
MIAMI — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) knows what it's like to have a redistricting fight on his hands. DeSantis redrew congressional lines after the 2020 census — when his state gained one congressional seat — weathering claims that the map disempowered minority voters and defeating opponents in a court case contesting the map. Now, as a redistricting battle plays out in Texas and is capturing the nation's attention, Florida could once again redraw its congressional lines to try to bolster efforts by President Trump and the GOP to keep its House majority in Washington. 'We were the laboratory here in Florida,' said Democratic strategist Fernand Amandi, who is based in Miami. '[DeSantis] was able to do it, and not only got away with it but showed the bottom-line success of the approach.' Assessing the situation, Amandi wasn't optimistic for his party. 'I think we can expect the worst,' he said. DeSantis last week inched closer to a repeat of his earlier fight, expressing support for a recent Florida Supreme Court decision that upheld his map after the 2020 census. The Florida governor also made the case for further redistricting efforts in his state. 'I think if you look at that Florida Supreme Court analysis, there may be more defects that need to be remedied apart from what we've already done,' DeSantis told reporters at a press conference last week. 'I also think the way the population has shifted around Florida just since the census was done in 2020, I think the state was malapportioned.' 'So I do think it would be appropriate to do a redistricting here in the mid-decade,' he concluded. As the political debate heats up around redistricting, Republicans say DeSantis is simply trying to showcase strength. 'You don't have to win, you don't have to land a punch, you just need to show a willingness to fight,' Republican strategist Doug Heye said of DeSantis's latest assertions. Gregory Koger, a professor of political science at the University of Miami, said it would be harder for DeSantis to once again execute a redistricting effort because of the state's Fair District amendments. But the provisions — which are aimed at preventing partisan and racial gerrymandering — would not be enough to stop the governor if he does choose to move forward, Koger added. 'I think he still tries. Although he has a law degree from Harvard, he has not been inclined to refrain from actions that were legally dubious in a wide variety of ways,' Koger said. 'Governor DeSantis's political strategy seems to be to keep up with or keep ahead of what's going on in other Republican states,' he said. 'If Texas goes forward, I think that increases his interest in matching Texas's actions on behalf of the Republican Party.' But Democrats say that off-cycle redistricting does not come without its risks for DeSantis, which they say the 2028 hopeful should weigh. 'When you redistrict too aggressively, it makes the odds of losing smaller, but it makes the odds of a wave in a loss substantially higher. And so if DeSantis becomes the guy responsible for Florida Republicans getting washed away in 2026, he doesn't look very smart,' said David Litt, a former speechwriter for former President Obama and the author of 'It's Only Drowning,' a new book about searching for common ground during a politically divisive moment for the nation. 'As somebody with an eye on 2028, people are going to look at that and say, 'Wait a second. Are you really the person we want to entrust our political future to because your biggest decision backfires spectacularly for the party,'' Litt said. DeSantis's renewed efforts come as Democratic governors in California, Illinois, and New York have responded to redistricting efforts in Texas by threatening to redraw congressional lines in their states to favor Democrats. Some political observers have concerns about the implications of off-cycle redistricting, whether in Republican or Democratic states. 'Redrawing districts in between the decennial censuses will just lead to a redistricting arms race,' said Grant Reeher, the director of Syracuse University's Campbell Public Affairs Institute. 'What both parties are doing is bad for the political system generally, the state legislatures and the Congress, and the citizens. … And it's also not a smart look for either party politically.' 'The American political system is already the most complicated and fragmented in the Western world — by a mile,' Reeher added. 'All this does is make that problem worse than it already is.' But political observers say the redistricting play has been far from a problem for Republicans, with DeSantis originating the latest iterations of the strategy in Florida. 'A lot of people credit the Republican majority … certainly in 2022 and then again in 2024 to what DeSantis was able to do,' said Amandi. 'I mean, it was DeSantis who overruled his own legislature and came up with his own set of lines that he thought were better and indeed managed to squeeze out a few extra seats that otherwise might not have been there.' Amandi said that DeSantis has opened the door to 'a brave new world for what representative democracy means in the United States.' 'No one knows where this is ultimately headed because it's so unprecedented,' he added.
