AP US Politics News

By MARY CLARE JALONICK, LISA MASCARO and KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — To hear party leaders talk, the seventh day of the government shutdown sounded a lot like the first. Democrats are seeking negotiations on expiring health care subsidies while Republicans say they won’t discuss it, or any other policy, until the government

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, ERIC TUCKER and STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Pam Bondi repeatedly deflected questions as she sought during a combative congressional hearing on Tuesday to defend herself against growing criticism that she’s turning the law enforcement agency into a weapon to seek vengeance against President Donald Trump’s political

By JONATHAN MATTISE Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Matt Van Epps, a former commissioner in Gov. Bill Lee’s administration who was endorsed by President Donald Trump, and Democratic state Rep. Aftyn Behn won their crowded primary races Tuesday and will face off in December in a special election to replace a GOP congressman who

By ROB GILLIES Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump predicted that Canadians will travel to the United States once again after a trade deal is reached. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office while meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday that he understands why many Canadians are refusing to visit. Trump’s

By ERIC TUCKER and STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI in 2023 analyzed phone records of more than a half dozen Republican lawmakers as part of an investigation into efforts by President Donald Trump to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to information released Monday by GOP senators. The records

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah’s Republican-led Legislature approved a revised congressional map Monday that could give Democrats an improved chance at flipping a seat as they fight to topple the GOP’s slim majority in the U.S. House. But in a state dominated by Republicans, it remains a long-shot that

By DAVID A. LIEB Associated Press A mid-decade battle over congressional redistricting is playing out in state capitals, in courtrooms and on the ballot. The efforts to redraw U.S. House districts for partisan advantage got jump-started when President Donald Trump called upon Republican-led Texas to reshape districts so that the GOP could win more seats

By PATRICK WHITTLE Associated Press AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Authorities in Maine are investigating an allegation that dozens of unmarked ballots that were to be used in this November’s election arrived inside a woman’s Amazon order. The town of Ellsworth reported to the state last week that it was missing a shipment of 250 absentee

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Department of Justice on Monday asked a judge to immediately put on hold his order that would require elections officials to verify the citizenship of all 3.6 million registered Wisconsin voters before the next statewide election in February. The state justice department, which represents

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer The Associated Press is objecting to Donald Trump’s false claims about its ongoing legal dispute over access after the president incorrectly characterized the case in a public forum — a situation that goes back to the news service’s decision last winter not to follow the president’s executive order to

By STEVE PEOPLES and OLIVIA DIAZ Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Republicans are seizing on recently unearthed violent rhetoric from Virginia’s Democratic candidate for attorney general in a push to re-shape the state’s governor’s race — and tarnish the Democratic Party nationally — less than a month before Election Day. President Donald Trump, like

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano was named to the newly created position of CEO of the IRS on Monday, making him the latest member of the Trump administration to be put in charge of multiple federal agencies. As IRS CEO, Bisignano will report to Treasury Secretary

By PATRICK WHITTLE Associated Press AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine’s state auditor and former secretary of state said Monday he will challenge four-term Democratic Rep. Jared Golden in a primary in advance of one of the most closely watched congressional races in the upcoming midterms. Golden is a moderate Democrat who represents Maine’s 2nd Congressional

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — U.S. government lawyers say that detainees at the immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz” likely include people who have never been in removal proceedings, which is a direct contradiction to what Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been saying since it opened

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press Here’s a question about the shutdown submitted by an Associated Press reader, G: Is it legal to fire furloughed federal workers during a shutdown? This question has prompted a fierce conversation, and it ultimately might be up to the courts to decide. Before the shutdown went into effect, a group

By BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Democrat Amy McGrath, a retired Marine aviator, on Monday entered the Senate campaign in Kentucky, vowing to be a “bulwark against authoritarianism” in launching a comeback bid after being trounced by Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell in 2020. McGrath joins a growing field of Republicans and Democrats

By KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — The head of a nonpartisan agency tasked with finding a prosecutor to take over the Georgia election interference case against President Donald Trump and others is asking for more time after a judge set a two-week deadline for that appointment to be made. Fulton County Superior Court

By The Associated Press It’s now Day 6 of the shutdown, and the Democratic minority leader has challenged the Republican House speaker to a televised debate on the impasse over reopening the federal government. Mike Johnson dismissed Hakeem Jeffries’ challenge as “theatrics.” Mutual trust between President Donald Trump and the Democrats is elusive as leaders

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The economic boom promised by President Donald Trump centers on a single number: $17 trillion. That’s the sum of new investments that Trump claims to have generated with his tariffs, income tax cuts and aggressive salesmanship of CEOs, financiers, tech titans, prime ministers, presidents and other rulers.

By THOMAS BEAUMONT Associated Press Republican Rep. Wesley Hunt is running for the U.S. Senate in Texas, defying Senate GOP leadership and adding a new element to an already contentious primary campaign. The two-term Houston-area congressman said he’s running because he doesn’t believe Republican incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, who’s had a cool relationship with President

By MARC LEVY Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — There are no $1 million giveaways to voters, cheesehead hats or even candidate debates. Elon Musk is nowhere to be found. Yet the stakes in the Pennsylvania election this fall are very much the same as they were in Wisconsin last spring: partisan control of the

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Two Georgia Republicans seeking to unseat Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff in 2026 each said they raised nearly $2 million in the weeks after entering the race this summer. U.S. Rep. Mike Collins on Monday said he raised $1.9 million through Sept. 30, while former football coach Derek

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD AP Political Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — The midterm elections might be a year away, but the fight for control of the U.S. House is underway in California. Voting opened statewide Monday on whether to dramatically reshape California’s congressional districts to add as many as five Democrat-held seats in Congress —

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press Here’s a question about the shutdown submitted by an Associated Press reader, John P.: Who gets paid during a federal shutdown? When it comes to federal employees, everybody is supposed to get paid eventually, but only a few get their paychecks while the government shutdown is still happening. The president

By JOSH BOAK and BEN FINLEY Associated Press NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — President Donald Trump did not let the government shutdown interfere with a stop in Norfolk, Virginia, on Sunday to salute the Navy as it celebrates its 250th anniversary — using his speech to praise both the Navy and himself. Trump delivered remarks that

By CALVIN WOODWARD Associated Press HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. (AP) — By the roiling rapids of converging rivers, President Donald Trump’s campaign to have the government tell a happier story of American history confronts its toughest challenge. There is no positive spin to be put on slavery. At frozen-in-time Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, people in

By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Political leaders in Washington are spending considerable energy blaming the other party for what could be an extended government shutdown, and that effort includes shaping the narrative for next year’s elections. The Democratic campaign arm for House members has taken out digital ads in 35 districts it

By BRUCE SCHREINER and OLIVIA DIAZ Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia’s Democratic candidate for attorney general has apologized for widely condemned text messages from 2022 that revealed him suggesting that a prominent Republican get “two bullets to the head.” The texts put the Democratic challenger, Jay Jones, on the defensive in what has