Texas Democrats Return To State
'There's nothing like coming home under duress.' Randy McNally, Business Delegator
'And people say the Democratic party is ineffectual.' Kristen Sizemore, Culinary Novelist
'Barbecue'll do that.' John Gengler, Fingerprint Replicator
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Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
California Democrats, Gov. Gavin Newsom hit back after Texas passes Trump redistricting map
California Democrats were set Thursday to pass a redistricting map to add up to five blue congressional seats after Texas Republicans rubber-stamped President Donald Trump's mid-decade gerrymander plan that would give the GOP a similar edge in the Lone Star State. Gov. Gavin Newsom is championing the aggressive high-stakes Democratic effort to strike back at Trump's Texas power grab as the two parties jostle for a political advantage in next year's midterms and beyond. The likely Democratic 2028 White House contender tweeted 'Triggered?' at Trump after the president accused him of 'destroying the great state of California' in a post on his social media site. California Democrats were poised to use their legislative supermajority to approve the new congressional map, which Newsom could then sign ahead of a Friday deadline. Then would then schedule a special election in November to ask voters to approve the map, which is aimed at flipping five GOP-held seats. With angry Democrats itching to fight back against Trump's second-term agenda, polls show broad early support for the effort, even though blue states have traditionally championed independent non-partisan redistricting efforts as a fair way to divvy up seats in the House of Representatives. Trump hailed the Texas House for finally approving what he calls a 'big beautiful map' on Wednesday. It chops up three Democratic held House seats in blue-leaning Texas metropolitan areas and makes two more seats in the Rio Grande Valley much tougher for Democratic incumbents. He quickly took aim at other red states like Indiana, Florida and Missouri, urging them to take similar action to bolster already outsized Republican edges in their House delegations. 'We're going to win the midterms … bigger and better than ever before,' Trump proclaimed Thursday. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, who is in line to become Speaker of the House if Democrats retake the House in the midterms, vowed to fight the Texas plan, which he says is unconstitutional and violates the Voting Rights Act. 'This corrupt power grab by desperate Republican hacks will be fought in the legislature and in federal court,' Jeffries tweeted. The escalating redistricting arms race is unfolding as Trump aims to hold onto control of both the House and the Senate in the midterms so he can keep pushing his right-wing policy agenda past 2026. Democrats hope to retake the House so they keep Trump in check. Propr to Texas' redistricting, history says Democrats would have had a great chance of flipping the handful of House seats needed to win the House in the midterms, especially with polls showing widespread public disapproval of Trump's policies. That's why Trump wants to change the script by pulling off the unprecedented effort to redraw the congressional maps in the middle of the decade. Newsom, on the other hand, appears to prove his mettle to the Democratic base, perhaps ahead of a 2028 presidential bid that many pundits believe he is certain to pursue. He's using his press office to troll Trump by imitating his social media style with cheeky all-caps messages that insult Trump and some of his loyal Republican acolytes. The tactic has won wide attention, even though some liberal pundits dismiss it as juvenile. 'MAGA HAVE NEWSOM DERANGEMENT SYNDROME!!! THEY SHOULD CRY HARDER! SAD!!!' Newsom tweeted.
The Hill
25 minutes ago
- The Hill
Trump raises prospect of Ukraine attacks on Russia: ‘Impossible' to win without attacking invader country
President Trump on Thursday promised 'interesting times ahead' as he raised the prospect of Ukraine launching an offensive against Russia, amid signs that the Kremlin could be slow-walking progress on a peace deal. In a post on the Truth Social platform, the president seemed to justify a hypothetical offensive against Russia and criticized the Biden administration's longstanding policy against Ukraine using U.S. long-range missiles to attack inside Russia. 'It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invaders country. It's like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense, but is not allowed to play offense. There is no chance of winning! It is like that with Ukraine and Russia,' Trump wrote in his post. 'Crooked and grossly incompetent Joe Biden would not let Ukraine FIGHT BACK, only DEFEND. How did that work out? Regardless, this is a war that would have NEVER happened if I were President – ZERO CHANCE,' he continued. 'Interesting times ahead!!!' Two weeks after Trump's 2024 victory, former President Biden authorized a major shift in U.S. policy to allow Ukraine to use long-range U.S. missiles to attack sites in Russia. Trump, at the time, sharply criticized the decision, calling it 'stupid' and saying he 'might' consider reversing the decision, adding, 'I think it was a very stupid thing to do.' 'I don't think that should have been allowed, not when there's a possibility — certainly not just weeks before I take over,' Trump said at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort last December. 'Why would they do that without asking me what I thought? I wouldn't have had him do that. I think it was a big mistake.' Lawmakers in both parties generally offered support for the shift, with some Republicans saying the move was welcome but came too late. Other Republicans, including many of Trump's supporters, echoed the president's sentiment and called the move escalatory. Trump's latest public musing about a hypothetical Ukrainian offensive comes as Russian officials have expressed some doubt about early prospects of a peace deal, including on potential security guarantees for Kyiv and a bilateral meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Axios
25 minutes ago
- Axios
Sherrod Brown challenges crypto PACs to rematch in Senate bid
Political operatives working for the cryptocurrency industry will be on high alert now that Democrats appear to be all in on Sherrod Brown as the national party's candidate for Senate in Ohio. Why it matters: With Brown as their pick, Democrats — already facing steep odds of retaking the Senate in 2026 — are directly squaring off against Fairshake, the crypto PAC that helped unseat the industry critic just a year ago. At the SALT Wyoming Blockchain Summit Tuesday, Sen. Tim Scott (R.—SC) told the room, "Thank you to all y'all for getting rid of Sherrod Brown." Fairshake, the network of PACs that opposed Brown in 2024, has $140 million on hand already to support pro-crypto candidates and — crucially, for Brown — oppose those that are seen as impediments. Between the lines: The organization Stand With Crypto has ranked Brown as "strongly against crypto" based on his statements and actions in Congress. And his former position as chair of the Senate Banking Committee, from which he stonewalled industry-backed legislation, made him a target for Fairshake in the last election. What he's saying: "Cryptocurrency is a part of America's economy," Brown said in a statement Tuesday sent by the campaign to Axios, in response to a request for an interview. "My goal is to make sure that as more people use cryptocurrency, it expands opportunity and lifts up Ohioans and they are not put at risk." The campaign did not respond to multiple requests to answer follow up questions about whether his policy positions have shifted since his loss. In addition, neither the Ohio Democratic Party nor the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee replied to a request for comment from Axios. What they're saying: Brian Wright, a longtime Ohio-based political strategist serving as president of WrightPath Solutions, tells Axios that he can see why the party wants Brown. Over his 32 years in Congress, the last 18 spent in the Senate, Brown had been able to flip otherwise Republican counties with a pro-worker message, Wright explained, though it didn't work out as well in 2024. Still, even with millions spent against him, Brown only lost 46% to 50% a year ago. "Anything can really happen here, but is it a bad idea for him to run again? I don't think he was defeated soundly enough to say that," Wright says. Zoom out: A Democrat's odds of winning the Ohio Senate seat haven't risen above 33% on the Kalshi prediction market since the contract started in July, now with $2.7 million in volume. State of play: Party leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D.—NY) wants Brown. Schumer has been perplexing on crypto issues, both acting as if pro-crypto legislation could pass in 2024 but also voting against the recently enacted stablecoin legislation, GENIUS. The Cook Political report still favors Jon Husted in the Ohio race, the Republican incumbent appointed to fill J.D. Vance's vacated seat, and the larger map still favors Republicans going into 2026.
