Dems fear "vicious" primary
"They are going to be vicious," one senior House Democrat told Axios, speaking on the condition of anonymity to offer candid thoughts on a sensitive internal battle.
Why it matters: It would pit a 36-year-old rising progressive star against a well-liked, 78-year-old stalwart of the left at a time when age is already one of Democrats' biggest headaches.
"Most of us are TRYING to stay out," a senior House progressive wrote in a text to Axios.
Zoom in: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is unlikely to pick sides in this member vs. member race, sources told Axios.
A Democratic leadership aide said there's a zero percent chance Jeffries weighs in.
State of play: Casar and Doggett would share a single Austin-based district under the new congressional map that Republican state legislators are proposing.
Doggett, who has been repeatedly targeted by Republicans in redistricting during his more than 30 years in Congress, currently represents much of Austin and its suburbs.
Casar, a former Austin city councilman first elected to Congress in 2022, represents parts of southern and eastern Austin in a district that snakes down to San Antonio.
Under the new map, the Austin portions of Casar's district would be merged with Doggett's.
Both lawmakers are angling to run in the new 37th district, which would be heavily Democratic and centered in Austin.
Doggett wrote Sunday that "over 2/3 of my current constituents will remain in the Trump configured CD37" and that his "seniority is an asset, not a liability."
He urged Casar to "not abandon his reconfigured CD35, in which he is the only incumbent," noting it would be majority Hispanic and arguing that Casar could "use his organizing skills and populist message to win over the disaffected, particularly disaffected Hispanic voters."
Casar's chief of staff Stephanie Trinh wrote yesterday that Doggett sent out his email "without discussing it with Greg or his team" and said it contained "incorrect information."
The bottom line: Casar is ruling out a run in the new 35th district, a San Antonio-area seat that voted for Trump by 10 percentage points and contains just a tenth of his current constituency.
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USA Today
42 minutes ago
- USA Today
Oklahoma will require teachers from NY, California to prove they back 'America First'
Oklahoma's new "America First" teacher certification test will require educators from California and New York to agree with conservative curriculum. Teachers from California and New York who want to work in Oklahoma public schools will be required to pass a certification test to prove they share the state's conservative political values. Regardless of the subject or grade they teach, they'll have to show they know "the biological differences between females and males" and that they agree with the state's American history standards, which includes teachings of a disproved conspiracy theory that the Democratic Party stole the 2020 presidential election from President Donald Trump. The state department of education will implement the new certification test for teachers from the two largest Democrat-led states "who are teaching things that are antithetical to our standards" to ensure newcomers "are not coming into our classrooms and indoctrinating kids," Oklahoma schools Superintendent Ryan Walters, said in an interview with USA TODAY. Walters has dubbed the new requirement an "America First" certification, in reference to one of Trump's political slogans. Oklahoma's Republican Governor Kevin Stitt appointed Walters, a Republican, to the helm of the state's education department in Sept. 2020 and voters then elected him for a second term in November 2022. Oklahoma is offering teaching bonuses that go up to $50,000 to attract teachers from across the nation and has seen "a dramatic increase in teachers wanting to come to Oklahoma," Walters said. The new test is meant to ensure they weed out teachers with opposing views from the state's standards. The state, like many others, has a persisting teacher shortage. He said the test will only apply to teachers from California and New York, for now, because those states specifically teach lessons that are antithetical to those taught in Oklahoma. "A lot of the credit goes to Gavin Newsom," Walters said. He alleged California under the governor has implemented lessons on "gender theory," and that won't be allowed in Oklahoma schools. (The California Healthy Youth Act, passed in 2016, requires that public school lessons across the state "must be inclusive of LGBTQ students" and same-sex relationships and teach students about "gender, gender expression, gender identity, and explore the harm of negative gender stereotypes" and "about all sexual orientations and what being LGBTQ means.") Oklahoma's 'America First' Test Nonprofit conservative media company Prager U is helping Oklahoma's state department of education develop the test. The company previously helped develop the state's new high school history curriculum standards, which includes lessons on how to dissect the results of the 2020 election, including learning about alleged mail-in voter fraud, "an unforeseen record number of voters" and "security risks of mail-in balloting." The new curriculum also teaches the contested theory that COVID-19 emerged from a lab leak and removed a prior proposal for lessons about George Floyd's murder and Black Lives Matter. "These reforms will reset our classrooms back to educating our children without liberal indoctrination," Walters wrote in a post on X on April 29. "We're proud to defend these standards, and we will continue to stand up for honest, pro-America education in every classroom." The state superintendent said some of the history questions will about American government, how the nation came to be and its founding documents. Walters' office shared five sample questions with USA TODAY: Walters said the test will be finished by Aug. 15 and it will be available to prospective teachers the week of Aug. 18. "We're very close," he said. Oklahoma schools have become more has conservative under Walters' took the helm of the state's education department in Sept. 2020, and voters elected him for a second term in November 2022. Along with the changes to the state's history curriculum standards, Walters has ordered public schools to teach the Bible in June 2024. Bible lessons will not be on the new teacher certification exam, he said. Teachers' union leaders: Test will be 'a huge turn off' to teachers amid 'serious teacher shortage crisis' Teachers' union leaders decried the new certification test in interviews with USA TODAY. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said Walters' new test is going to be a "huge turn off" to teachers and that it's not "going to solve a problem." "Teachers in this country are patriotic, and suggesting they're not is insulting," she said. Weingarten went on to criticize Walters for several of his conservative pushes for education in Oklahoma, including bible lessons, and support for a religious charter school, which was blocked by a split Supreme Court vote this May. She called those moves and the implementation of the new test "a major distraction." "Ryan Walters appears to be trying out for MAGA in chief, not educator in chief, because everything that he's doing is about the culture wars, not about the reading, writing and arithmetic," she said. "If he wants to be MAGA in chief then go be MAGA in chief. But let someone else be educator in chief and focus on other things people deserve, which is reading, literacy and wraparound services – and actual teachers who want to be in Oklahoma." Oklahoma and California teachers union leaders agreed. "This is a political stunt to grab attention," said Cari Elledge, president of the Oklahoma Education Association. "All of the mandates coming out of the Department of Education are baseless and are distractions from real issues in Oklahoma." One of those pressing issues is "the serious teacher shortage crisis," she said. "When political ideology plays into whether or not you can teach in any place, that might be a deterrent to quality educators attempting to get a job ... We think it's intentional to make educators fearful and confused." The political climate in Oklahoma has contributed to the teacher shortage, she said, noting there are about 30,000 teachers in Oklahoma who hold state teaching certifications but are not working in classrooms. "We believe the political morale is making it scarier to teach," she said. "We know our jobs are so much more important and at the end of the day it's about the future of our students." The state teachers union told its members in a July 11 letter, which Elledge provided to USA TODAY, that Walters "has no legal authority to vet certified teachers based on political ideology." They say that's because "licensing and certification are governed by state statute, not personal opinion or partisan preferences" and state law "requires us to recognize out-of-state teaching credentials." The letter references part of the state education code that says it "must issue certificates to qualified teachers from other U.S. states and territories if they meet basic requirements, including a criminal background check." The union is also concerned about the state education department's partnership with PragerU "because it's not an educational authority and it's partisan," Elledge said. "OEA is actively monitoring this and other overreaches," the letter reads. "We remain vigilant in protecting the rights of Oklahoma's educators and students." Teachers in Oklahoma don't teach newly implemented conservative ideologies in classrooms, which are expected to be on the 'America First' certification test, Elledge said. "They're not here to give opinions in class; they're here to teach facts," she said. There are not many teachers in Oklahoma who come from California or New York, anyway, because of political differences. "People in Oklahoma have more conservative values," she said. "It's not a destination state for people from California and New York, which is sad because it's a really good place and students here deserve the best they could possibly have." David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers' Association, said he also hasn't heard of an influx of teachers who want to move from California to teach in Oklahoma. But at a time when states are trying to solve teacher shortages, the Oklahoma test is trying to "scare them away," he said. "This almost seems like satire and so far removed from my research around what Oklahoma educators need and deserve," he said. "I can't see how this isn't some kind of hyper-political grandstanding that doesn't serve any of those needs." Goldberg rejects that what teachers need in California – "respect" and a livable wage – is different than what Oklahoma teachers need to thrive. Teachers have a responsibility to take care of kids in both places despite their different education systems, he said. Contact Kayla Jimenez at kjimenez@ Follow her on X at @kaylajjimenez.
New York Times
43 minutes ago
- New York Times
Redistricting Push Would Further Divide a Polarized Congress
President Trump's drive to secure Republican advantage in the House through mid-decade redistricting — and Democrats' move to retaliate with their own efforts to redraw political lines to their advantage — could supercharge the partisan shift in Congress. Should the efforts succeed, they would amplify the trend of one party gaining a stranglehold on state congressional delegations, intensifying the deep polarization that has helped to paralyze Congress in recent years. Even before multiple state legislatures, goaded by Mr. Trump, began to consider redrawing their maps, the number of House delegations represented by a single party was at a 60-year high. Number of states whose House and Senate were controlled by one party Democrats Republicans Source: Smart Politics Notes: Data includes states that had a single-party delegation at some point during the Congress term. The years indicate the beginning of each Congress term. By Lazaro Gamio and Zach Levitt A sudden new round of redistricting would continue a remarkable shift of one party gaining congressional supremacy in a state through gerrymandering and ideological shifts, leaving the opposition barely represented or shut out entirely. The result would have profound implications for Congress. 'The number has been on the rise basically since 2010, when Republicans roared back after Obama's victory,' said Eric Ostermeier, a researcher at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, who tracks the political makeup of congressional delegations. 'Red states are getting redder, blue states are getting bluer. All this data points to this getting worse.' States whose House and Senate were controlled by one party Democrats Republicans AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY Sources: Smart Politics Notes: Data includes states that had a single-party delegation at some point during the Congress term. The years indicate the beginning of each Congress term. By Lazaro Gamio and Zach Levitt Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Sherrod Brown gives Democrats jolt of enthusiasm in Ohio
Democrats are making a play for Ohio in next year's Senate race as former Sen. Sherrod Brown prepares an expected comeback attempt. The Buckeye State was once firmly purple but has become increasingly red in the Trump era. President Trump won the state in 2024 with 55 percent of the vote, and Brown lost his bid for reelection to Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), winning 46.5 percent of the vote. Those totals show Brown was much more popular with Ohio voters than former President Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, and Democrats think a lower-turnout midterm election could carry him to victory. 'When Trump is on the ballot, as Sherrod painfully found out, it's hard to win, because his turnout is high, and he ends up spiking turnout in red parts of the state,' said David Pepper, a former state Democratic Party chair who led the party during Brown's last successful run in 2018. But Pepper noted Trump won't be on the ballot next year, and he said a hidden trend has been conservative-leaning counties not being quite as solidly Republican in some elections more recently. 'If that continues to be a trend in '26, all of a sudden Ohio is a winnable state for good Democratic candidates,' he said. Still, Republicans say the state is increasingly out of reach for any Democrat, given the national party's image. 'This is a place where [President] Trump's endorsement still matters a lot,' Ohio Republican strategist Jordan Ohler said. 'Our side is as excited as they've ever been, maybe short of President Trump running himself.' While Ohio has lost its status as the quintessential swing state representing the median of the country, it was key in the 2024 Senate elections, as Brown's loss to Moreno, along with losses by Democratic incumbents in Montana and Pennsylvania, helped flip the chamber to Republican control. The state stands to be just as critical next year. As Democrats try to chart a path back to the majority in 2026, they need to look past the obvious battlegrounds to make up their 53-47 deficit. Maine and North Carolina are the top pickup opportunities for the party, but they would need two more, and Brown's likely candidacy makes Ohio top on that list. The state had a decades-long streak of voting for the winning presidential candidate that ended in 2020, but no Democrat has won statewide since Brown's last reelection win in 2018. Heading into the current cycle, Brown was an obvious choice for Democrats, whose eyes have been on the longtime former senator for months to oppose Sen. Jon Husted (R). The former GOP lieutenant governor was chosen by Gov. Mike DeWine (R) to fill Vice President Vance's Senate seat. Husted must run in a special election next year to fill the remainder of the term before the seat goes up for election again in 2028. Presuming Brown enters, he's likely to clear the field for the Democratic primary and quickly coalesce party support around his comeback bid. Democrats pointed to Brown's narrow defeat last year as evidence of his continued viability. In what party members agree was a brutal cycle for them, Brown still came within a few points of winning. The country as a whole experienced a rightward shift, and while Trump improved his margin in Ohio compared to 2016 and 2020, the state's shift was only a couple of points. That's much less dramatic than many other states experienced. Pepper argued that former President Obama's two victories in Ohio in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections made the state look easier to win than it is, but it's always been difficult for Democrats. He said Trump's name being on the ballot spiked turnout in conservative areas, as it did in other states last year, the first time Brown and Trump ran at the same time. At least for now, Republicans aren't sounding alarms at Brown's possible candidacy, expressing confidence that they can still hold onto the seat. Tyson Shepard, Husted's campaign spokesperson, said Brown would be starting out in the 'biggest hole of his political career' if he runs, as he hasn't faced a candidate like Husted before. 'Brown's slogans will ring hollow as his coalition walks away, tired of the radical policies he's forced to support to appease his coastal bosses in California and New York,' Shepard said in a statement. Republicans previously have attacked Brown as voting overwhelmingly with his party while he has touted his credentials as a champion for the working class and the state. Senate Republicans' campaign arm released a memo highlighting Husted's strengths as a candidate following reports Brown was running. The memo called Husted a 'proven conservative who reflects the Ohio of today.' It noted Husted hasn't lost a statewide race and raised nearly $3 million in the second quarter of 2025, arguing Brown will face a more difficult task against Husted, who is better known than Moreno was last year. The memo also pointed to a poll from April that showed Husted leading Brown by 3 points in a hypothetical general election and by 6 points among independents. 'Ohio has experienced an electoral transformation thanks to President Trump, as evidenced by Sherrod Brown's failed reelection in 2024,' the memo states. 'We will defeat him by an even wider margin the second time around with a proven winner in Senator Husted.' Ohler said Brown is Democrats' best option, but turning to him over a new candidate shows 'desperation' and a lack of a bench to succeed him. 'They got to bring back this guy who thinks he's the people's champ, but like Mike Tyson learns you got to know when to hang up the gloves,' he said. Democrats have also expressed optimism about their prospects in the state's gubernatorial race next year. DeWine, a popular two-term governor, is term-limited, and Republicans appear set to turn to former presidential candidate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. With Brown looking at the Senate, former Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) indicated he's more seriously looking at the governor's mansion. 'Sherrod Brown's decision to run for the US Senate has renewed and heightened Tim Ryan's interest in running for governor to further serve the people of Ohio,' Ryan spokesperson Dennis Willard said One major Democrat is already in the race, and the party is hopeful that her popularity could be an asset if she is their gubernatorial nominee. Amy Acton, who led Ohio's health department at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, entered the race at the start of the year. Polls have shown a plurality of voters approve of her time leading the department, as she was a face of the state's pandemic response. Polling has also shown her ahead of Ryan in a hypothetical primary and about even with Ramaswamy in a hypothetical general election. 'Whether it's record-setting fundraising, standing room only crowds at events, or numerous polls showing a toss-up race, it's clear Ohio voters are fired up about Amy Acton and ready to move on from corporate billionaires like Vivek Ramaswamy, who will continue the same failed policies that have left so many Ohioans struggling,' Acton campaign manager Philip Stein said. Pepper said one strength of Brown and Acton running is they have significantly different backgrounds and appeal to different coalitions, improving Democrats' chances overall. 'They are complementary to one another, as opposed to redundant,' he wrote in a Substack post. 'Together, their joint coalition spans far wider than what they each bring individually.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
