Latest news with #stateLawmakers
Wall Street Journal
05-08-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Trump-Backed Texas Redistricting Plan Ignites National Fight
Texas's redistricting fight has escalated, with Democrats nationwide threatening to retaliate and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordering Democratic state lawmakers be arrested. Photo: H. Rick Bamman/Zuma Press
Washington Post
04-08-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Why dozens of Democrats left Texas and how Republicans want to punish them
AUSTIN, Texas — Dozens of Democratic state lawmakers in Texas have scattered to points across the country in a last-ditch effort to prevent Republicans from adopting U.S. House maps that President Donald Trump wants in place before the 2026 midterm elections . The Republican-controlled state House scheduled a vote on a district map for Monday afternoon. By leaving the state, Democrats are beyond the reach of Texas law enforcement, and they can effectively shut down the vote by ensuring the 150-member House does not have the quorum required to do business.
Washington Post
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Young lawmakers fear for their safety
Politics Young lawmakers fear for their safety July 1, 2025 | 5:20 PM GMT Facing threats and online abuse, Gen Z and millennial state lawmakers are wondering whether a career in politics is just too dangerous.
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Breaking down rumor Walz deleted posts praising Minnesota shooting suspect
A rumor that circulated online in June 2025 claimed Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz deleted posts praising Vance Luther Boelter, 57, who faced charges in a pair of shootings involving Democratic state lawmakers and their spouses. The shootings, which killed two people, occurred early June 14. For example, on June 16, the X account The Patriot Oasis (@ThePatriotOasis) posted (archived), "BREAKING: Governor Tim Walz has DELETED every post he made praising Minnesota a*sassin Vance Boelter." The post received more than 7.6 million views. (@ThePatriotOasis/X) Other users also shared posts promoting this rumor on Bluesky (archived), Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), LinkedIn (archived), Threads (archived), Truth Social (archived) and X (archived). Some commenters under these posts remarked that Walz's alleged deletion of posts praising Boelter wouldn't amount to much, sharing sentiments similar to "the internet is forever" — a popular phrase claiming no one can completely remove incriminating content users share online. For example, some users claimed (archived) screenshots existed of Walz's posts, while others made light of those promoting the rumor. (@cgwood62/Threads) However, users who alleged Walz deleted posts praising Boelter did not share any credible evidence to support their claim, as of this writing. Had Walz deleted any such messages following the shootings, remnants of the posts, and their former links, might still exist in results pages of popular search engines. Searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo found no records of Walz's posts mentioning Boelter on his @GovTimWalz gubernatorial account, or on his @Tim_Walz personal feed. Further searches found no other records of posts praising Boelter on other social media platforms, either. Snopes emailed Walz's office to ask about the rumor, and also messaged X user @ThePatriotOasis inquiring if they could share any evidence to support their claim. We will update this story if we receive more information. On June 16, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Boelter, of Green Isle, Minnesota, with stalking and murdering Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, in addition to stalking and shooting Minnesota State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman. The Hennepin County Attorney's Office in Minnesota announced Boelter also faces state charges on two counts of second-degree intentional murder and two counts of second-degree attempted intentional murder. The state said it intended to seek first-degree murder charges, and that the reason authorities filed second-degree charges was "to secure a warrant as quickly as possible." Users shared the unsubstantiated rumor about Walz deleting posts in relation to Boelter's former role on a Minnesota board. In 2019, Walz reappointed Boelter as a member of the governor's workforce development board, after then-Gov. Mark Dayton first appointed him in 2016. A news release (archived) from Walz's office listed Boelter's reappointment end date as Jan. 2, 2023. Another release (archived) from March 2023 said another person had replaced Boelter. The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that Walz, who was then-Vice President Kamala Harris' vice-presidential running mate in the 2024 presidential election, did not know Boelter, citing an unnamed source in the governor's office. Snopes did not yet independently verify this claim. The newspaper also reported that the board consists of around 60 members and that at least hundreds of people apply each year to serve on the state boards, task forces, advisory councils and commissions. In a separate article, the Star Tribune (archived) published information about Boelter's purported political affiliation: Friends and associates say Boelter, 57, was mild-mannered. His social media footprint is small. He appears to have leaned toward conservative views, at least once registering to vote as a Republican and identifying as an evangelical Christian. One of his closest friends said Boelter voted for President Donald Trump last fall. The friend, David Carlson, also said Boelter did not strike him as a zealot fixated on politics. And he never talked about violence. […] Boelter was a devout Christian who opposed abortion and went to church "every Sunday" — first at an Assembly of God church and later at non-denominational churches, Carlson said. For further reading, a previous fact check reported additional details of Boelter's involvement with the board. "After Two-Day Manhunt, Suspect Charged with Shooting Two Minnesota Lawmakers and Their Spouses." United States Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, 16 June 2025, DuckDuckGo. Faircloth, Ryan. "Suspect Showed Few Signs of Political Extremism before Lawmaker Shootings." The Minnesota Star Tribune, 16 June 2025, Google. "Hennepin County Attorney's Office Confirms Multiple Charges against Vance Luther Boelter, Will Seek First-Degree Murder Charges." Hennepin County, Minnesota, 16 June 2025, Microsoft Bing. Orenstein, Walker. "Fact Check: Was Suspected Assassin Boelter Close with MN Gov. Walz? No." The Minnesota Star Tribune, 16 June 2025, Rascouët-Paz, Anna. "Walz Once Appointed Minnesota Shooting Suspect to Advisory Board. Here's Context." Snopes, 16 June 2025, "Walz, Flanagan Announce Appointments." Officer of Governor Tim Walz & Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan, 17 Mar. 2023, "Walz, Flanagan Announce Appointments to the Governor's Workforce Development Board." Officer of Governor Tim Walz & Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan, 9 Dec. 2019, Yahoo.
