The First Amendment needs all the help it can get these days. Many progressives want restrictions on “hate speech,” while Democrats weren’t shy about pushing private companies to censor “misinformation” during the pandemic. Meanwhile the FCC under a Republican president has threatened to use its licensing authority to punish ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- The lunar calendar may say it's the Year of the Horse, but for Los Angeles politics it's been more like the Year of the Dog.

Spencer Pratt made animal welfare a key platform in his unsuccessful campaign for mayor, taking out billboard space around town showing himself surrounded by dogs and railing against animal abuse in social ...Read more

U.S. Rep. Mark Alford was at home Sunday when he learned from his staff about a fatal plane crash in Butler that killed 12 people.

Alford, a Missouri Republican, said he rushed to the city, situated in Bates County about 50 miles south of Kansas City, to provide as much support as he could.

“I’ve been around a lot of tragedies,” Alford ...Read more

President Donald Trump said he is opposed to having Congress renew now-expired spy powers for U.S. intelligence agencies unless lawmakers also pass a controversial voter identification bill.

Trump’s fresh demand adds another barrier to efforts to renew powers under the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act, which grants U.S. intelligence ...Read more

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Trump administration officials have been clear that they don’t want to trigger a vote in Congress by changing the “fundamental architecture” of the North American free trade deal.

Carney said the three countries in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement are currently holding separate, bilateral ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Nevada’s November electoral matchups are set after this week’s primaries.

Nevada raised its voter participation rate during the state’s primary elections by about 5 percentage points compared with June 2024. But the turnout of 21.5% remained relatively low despite the ballots having key local, state and federal positions in ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump tapped an experienced white-collar lawyer who helped defend him in a hush money case to be U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, the federal prosecutor whose office handles many high-profile Wall Street cases.

James McDonald would replace Jay Clayton, whom Trump nominated as U.S. director of ...Read more

President Donald Trump will meet with U.S. partners in the Middle East at the Group of Seven leaders’ summit in France next week, underscoring the outsized role the war in Iran continues to play as European allies grapple with the global economic fallout.

The president will hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of France, Qatar, United ...Read more

President Donald Trump is trying to project brute strength as he turns 80, but mounting political problems at home and abroad are tarnishing his self-styled image as an all-powerful leader.

Trump will celebrate becoming an octogenarian as he hosts an extravagant, $60 million Ultimate Fighting Championship showcase on the White House South Lawn...Read more

For those of us struggling to understand today’s Republican Party, this past week’s primary elections in South Carolina offered a useful case study.

The key developments were these: Rep. Nancy Mace — a former conservative rising star who seems tailor-made for the Trump-era attention economy — finished fifth in her state’s Republican ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Old habits die hard for Republican Rep. Harold Rogers — at least when it comes to earmarks.

Known by his critics as the “Prince of Pork,” the longtime appropriator over the years earned a reputation for bringing largesse to his Kentucky district, catching criticism for funneling tens of millions in earmark money to entities...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Until the June primary for California’s 22nd Congressional District, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee seemed to place little faith in Randy Villegas’ ability to mobilize voters.

The DCCC is the U.S. House Democrats’ fundraising arm.

But by Wednesday morning, following Villegas’ victory over the ...Read more

NEW YORK — Sen. Bernie Sanders plans to headline a Brooklyn rally with Mayor Zohran Mamdani next week to boost his slate of progressive NYC congressional candidates during early voting in the Democratic primaries.

The progressive Vermont senator, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, will join Mamdani at the rally to support candidates Brad ...Read more

NEW YORK — Dan Goldman never imagined running for Congress, until he saw the threat posed by President Donald Trump’s powerful comeback from political oblivion.

The Democratic lawyer and former federal prosecutor said someone like him was needed on Capitol Hill to push back against Trump’s meteoric return to political power after he ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to see a debate among the Republican candidates vying to replace him.

But the race’s front-runner, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, has already refused to do so. On Thursday, a campaign spokesperson said it wasn’t Donalds’ job to “legitimize campaigns that have failed to gain meaningful support.” ...Read more

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A Planned Parenthood affiliate is challenging Alaska’s ban on providing medication abortion via telehealth.

Alaska’s state constitution has been interpreted to provide sweeping protections for abortion access under its privacy clause. But a longstanding Alaska statute has been interpreted by the administration of Gov. ...Read more

WASHINGTON — As U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick’s fiercest reelection battle in years got underway in the last two months, the moderate Bucks County Republican has called to restrict President Donald Trump’s war in Iran and for prohibiting a so-called “anti-weaponization fund” that could reward the president’s allies.

He’s talked up ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Senate Armed Services Committee Republicans, in a reversal, voted this week to oppose an NDAA provision that would broaden health care coverage for military families’ fertility treatments, a Democratic senator said Thursday.

“After everything our troops sacrifice for our nation, they should never have to sacrifice their ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A bill that would stop large online platforms from discriminating against outside services has been revived in the Senate after versions in recent years died amid strong opposition from the technology industry.

Judiciary Chair Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., introduced the legislation on Wednesday in...Read more