Political developments with market and economic implications.
Coverage of political events, elections, legislation, and regulatory changes that influence markets and economic policy. Focuses on political risk, fiscal decisions, and policy uncertainty relevant to investors.
712 total articles
Ken Paxton’s decisive win over Senator John Cornyn in the Texas Republican runoff gives President Trump a prominent victory but creates several strategic and financial challenges for the GOP. Paxton’s limited cash reserves, the shift of the Texas race to a more competitive rating, potential defections from departing Republican leaders and the low-t…
Alabama officials filed an emergency request with the U.S. Supreme Court on May 27 seeking permission to use a Republican-drawn congressional map that would eliminate one of the two districts where Black voters form a majority or near-majority. The petition follows a federal three-judge panel's decision to block the map as intentionally discriminat…
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, defeating four-term incumbent John Cornyn in a runoff. Paxton’s victory, aided by former President Donald Trump’s endorsement, hands Republicans a controversial nominee and creates a competitive general election matchup with Democratic state Representative James Talari…
Former President Joe Biden has sued the U.S. Department of Justice in federal court in Washington D.C., seeking to stop the planned public release of audio recordings and transcripts of private conversations with his biographer from 2016 and 2017. The materials, recorded in his home during work on his 2017 memoir, are scheduled to be provided to th…
Efforts to redraw congressional boundaries encouraged by President Donald Trump encountered obstacles in two Southern states on Tuesday. In South Carolina, a coalition of Republican state senators joined Democrats to reject a proposed map that would have dismantled the long-held district of Representative James Clyburn. In Alabama, three federal ju…
Republican initiatives to redraw U.S. House districts in advance of the November midterms encountered two significant reversals when state-level maneuvering in South Carolina and a federal court decision in Alabama prevented maps designed to benefit the GOP from being implemented. In South Carolina, a group of Republican state senators joined Democ…
On May 26, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from the National Football League and three teams seeking to send Brian Flores' racial-discrimination claims into arbitration controlled by the league. The decision leaves intact lower-court rulings that parts of Flores' 2022 lawsuit must proceed in federal court rather than before an arb…
A three-judge federal panel has barred Alabama from implementing a congressional map that would have eliminated one of the state's two majority-Black U.S. House districts. The judges concluded the Republican-backed plan intentionally discriminated against Black voters and ruled it unusable for the 2026 elections. State officials are expected to app…
On May 26 the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration by reversing a lower-court decision that had ordered fact-finding into whether removals of independent agency heads deprived immigration judges of meaningful relief before agencies. The court’s unsigned opinion remanded the case to the appeals court for further proceedings and did…
Two-term dynamics converge in Texas as incumbent Republican John Cornyn faces a competitive runoff against Attorney General Ken Paxton, who recently received former President Donald Trump’s endorsement. Paxton leads in several polls despite legal controversies, setting up a potentially costly general election matchup with Democrat James Talarico an…
President Donald Trump has restated his false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen from him at least 107 times over the past six months, keeping the allegation prominent across speeches, meetings and social media. The repetition appears aimed at building support for new voting restrictions, solidifying Republican loyalty and mobilizing his b…
The U.S. Justice Department asked a federal court to remove an injunction blocking work on a planned White House ballroom and to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the project, citing a shooting at a White House checkpoint as evidence of an urgent need for upgraded security measures. The filing, described as five pages and submitted on Sunday, frames th…
A municipal audit ordered by Mayor Zohran Mamdani reports a 71% increase in federal immigration arrests in the New York City area after President Donald Trump resumed office. The review, covering Jan. 20, 2025 through March 10, 2026, records 5,567 arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, more than half at the 26 Federal Plaza immigratio…
Two senior House Democrats have asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to explain whether his deputy intervened to speed a U.S. visa for former Polish justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, who is wanted in Poland on dozens of charges. The lawmakers say the visa may have enabled Ziobro to avoid extradition and warned the move could provoke a diplomatic cr…
President Donald Trump announced via Truth Social that he will not travel to attend his eldest son Donald Trump Jr.'s wedding to Bettina Anderson, saying government responsibilities require him to stay at the White House. The ceremony is planned this weekend on a small island in the Bahamas, according to people familiar with the arrangements. The a…
President Donald Trump will travel to New York's Hudson Valley to appear with Representative Mike Lawler at an event focused on the economy and tax policy, including the expanded SALT deduction. The visit tests the president's appeal in a competitive suburban district where inflation, higher gasoline prices and recent political controversies compli…
Senior White House adviser Kurt Olsen last year proposed asking the Commerce Department to treat components of certain voting machines as national security threats, a move that would have effectively excluded those systems from U.S. elections. The effort, aimed at Dominion Voting Systems equipment, was part of broader administration attempts to cen…
Republican leaders in the U.S. House abruptly withdrew a scheduled Thursday vote on a war powers resolution that would have required President Donald Trump to secure congressional authorization for continued military action against Iran. The postponement came just before lawmakers departed for the Memorial Day recess and follows a narrow Senate pro…
The Democratic National Committee released a 192-page post‑election review of Kamala Harris’ loss to Donald Trump in 2024 after internal pressure, but quickly distanced itself from the document. The report faults party weaknesses including underfunded state organizations and a failure to reach certain voter groups, while the DNC chair criticized th…
Aimee Bock, who ran the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, received a 500-month prison term after being convicted of orchestrating a $250 million scheme to defraud a federally funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic. Federal prosecutors had sought 50 years. The case has figured in national political rhetoric about enforcement actions…
Senate Republicans met with Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche to demand details about a newly disclosed $1.8 billion fund tied to President Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS. Senate GOP leaders want explanations of how the Anti-Weaponization Fund would operate, who it would benefit and whether it would limit audits of Trump’s taxes, while Dem…
Vice President JD Vance used a recent stint at the White House briefing room podium to defend the administration on several contentious issues, from its handling of the Iran war to a newly created $1.8 billion fund to aid allies who claim political prosecution. The appearance, which came two weeks after Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke at the s…
Donald Trump’s recent push to remove Republicans he views as disloyal has succeeded in multiple primary fights, consolidating his control over the party’s activist base. But strategists warn that prioritizing loyalty over broader electability could cost the GOP in competitive November races, strain campaign resources and complicate governance with …
Legal specialists say opponents face steep obstacles to overturning President Trump's $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund and the provision that bars audits of his past taxes, with key challenges tied to standing, the dismissal of related litigation and limits on court review. Critics from across the political spectrum have raised alarms about t…
A former attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida has been indicted on charges that she emailed herself an unreleased portion of Special Counsel Jack Smith's report related to the dismissed classified documents case involving former President Trump. The accused, Carmen Lineberger, pleaded not guilty at a federal h…
