Poli Alert Political & Civics

Henry Redman, Wisconsin Examiner The Republican Party of Wisconsin has invited Mayra Flores, a former Republican member of Congress from Texas who shared conspiracy theories on her Twitter account, to speak at the party’s state convention in La Crosse next month. Flores, the first Mexican-born member of the House of …

Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams As congressional leaders prepare for a Tuesday meeting at the White House, Congressman Jamie Raskin, a constitutional scholar, affirmed Sunday that if GOP lawmakers won’t raise the debt ceiling without major spending cuts, President Joe Biden can invoke the 14th Amendment to keep borrowing and avert …

James Barragán, The Texas Tribune   Rep. Bryan Slaton resigned from the Texas House on Monday after an investigation determined that he had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 19-year-old woman on his staff, providing her with enough alcohol before their encounter that she felt dizzy and had double vision. …

Mel Leonoe Barclay Originally published by The 19th A coalition of abortion rights advocates in Florida is set to push a ballot measure that would enshrine abortion protections into the state’s constitution, with the launch of a public campaign to get the issue on the Florida 2024 ballot expected next …

Sneha Dey and Joshua Fechter, The Texas Tribune   After a mass shooting on Saturday at an Allen outlet mall ended with eight people dead, Texas Republicans are doubling down on their resistance to gun control legislation. A gunman used an AR-15-style weapon to open fire on shoppers on Saturday …

Sofia Resnick, Michigan Advance Anti-abortion leaders could not stop paraphrasing Winston Churchill last June after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a victory that took 50 years to realize. “While we celebrate the momentous ruling in Dobbs, we must remember that overturning Roe was not the beginning of …

By Matthew Choi, The Texas Tribune A gunman killed eight people Saturday afternoon and wounded at least seven more after he opened fire at an outlet mall in Allen, creating a scene of panic and bloodshed in the latest mass shooting in Texas. The massacre ended when a police officer …

By Zach Despart and Renzo Downey, The Texas Tribune A House committee has recommended the expulsion of Republican state Rep. Bryan Slaton after finding he had engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with an aide, then acted to thwart an investigation into the matter. A scathing report by the House General …

Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix Wasting no time in firing back at The Walt Disney Co. in their continuing feud, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation Friday purporting to void the entertainment giant’s development agreement with the Reedy Creek Improvement District when that special district was still under Disney’s control. The original …

Ariana Figueroa, Iowa Capital Dispatch U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday announced Democrats’ plans to mark up legislation to increase the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour, pointing to an increase in the cost of living. Outside the U.S. Capitol, Sanders, a Vermont independent and chairman of the Health, …

Julia Conley, Common Dreams Along with passing forced pregnancy laws and measures to punish parents for supporting their transgender children, the Republican Party is pushing numerous bills to loosen child labor regulations—and on Thursday Gov. Kim Reynolds confirmed she plans to make Iowa the second GOP-controlled state to enact such …

Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner announced her resignation Thursday afternoon effective June 1, after brokering a deal to kill a bill that would allow a state takeover of the city prosecutor’s office. “An elected prosecutor is our city’s sole opportunity to have a say in …

Documents obtained by ProPublica and published Thursday reveal that billionaire real estate tycoon Harlan Crow paid tens of thousands of dollars for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ grandnephew to attend a pair of elite private schools. It’s the latest in a string of recent revelations about how the Republican …

Ashley Murray, Missouri Independent Unless Congress can strike a deal, the U.S. Treasury will likely default on the nation’s bills starting June 8, triggering major consequences for the economy, according to Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics. The risk assessment organization’s chief economist testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on the …

Wesley Muller, Louisiana Illuminator Republican lawmakers on a state House panel killed a measure that would have established a $10 per hour minimum wage in Louisiana and increased to $14 by 2028. House Bill 374, sponsored by Rep. Ed Larvadain, D-Alexandria, failed to pass the House Committee on Labor and …