AP US Politics News

By PATRICK WHITTLE Associated Press PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A Maine congressman and several commercial fishing groups are getting behind a push to delay rules designed to protect a vanishing species of whale for 10 years. The North Atlantic right whale numbers only about 370 and has declined over the last 15 years. They have

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s Democratic Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski doesn’t plan to run for governor or for a full term in her current position, but she is considering running for lieutenant governor next year, an adviser said Monday. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers announced Thursday that he won’t seek

By The Associated Press President Donald Trump on Monday used his luxury golf course on Scotland’s southeastern coast to host British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, mixing critical discussions on the deepening food crisis in Gaza, Russia’s war in Ukraine and tariff rates with boasts about the property’s opulence. Trump suggested a major recalibration of U.S.

By LISA MASCARO and MEG KINNARD Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A chief architect of Project 2025, Paul Dans, is launching a Republican primary challenge to Sen. Lindsey Graham in South Carolina, joining a crowded field that will test the loyalties of President Donald Trump and his MAGA movement in next year’s midterm election. Dans

By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper will run for the U.S. Senate in North Carolina, giving Democrats a proven statewide winner in an open-seat race that is expected to be one of the most competitive 2026 contests. Cooper made the announcement Monday with a video released

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Republican Mike Collins on Monday joined the field challenging Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in the state the GOP has named as their top target to add a Senate seat in 2026. A second-term member of Congress from a district east of Atlanta, Collins became the

By JULIE CARR SMYTH and SEUNG MIN KIM Associated Press CANTON, Ohio (AP) — Vice President JD Vance promoted Republicans’ new sweeping tax and spending law at a steel plant in his home state on Monday, telling factory workers that the new law would allow them to keep more of their paycheck in their pockets.

By FERNANDA FIGUEROA Associated Press In 2023, amid a national reckoning on issues of race in America, seven Army bases’ names were changed because they honored Confederate leaders. Now, those same bases are reverting back to their original names, this time with different namesakes who share Confederate surnames — the Army found other service members

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A naked man with apparent mental health issues was found in the Minnesota State Capitol late at night, officials said Saturday, raising questions about security after the top Democrat in the state House was killed in what authorities have called a political assassination. The discovery just six

By GARY FIELDS and JILL COLVIN Associated Press A senior State Department official who was fired as a speechwriter during President Donald Trump ‘s first term and has a history of incendiary statements has been appointed to lead the embattled U.S. Institute of Peace. The move to install Darren Beattie as the institute’s new acting

By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A key House committee is looking into the investigation of the late Jeffrey Epstein for sex trafficking crimes, working to subpoena President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice for files in the case as well as hold a deposition of Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell. The Republican-led House

By LEAH ASKARINAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Redistricting usually happens after the once-a-decade population count by the U.S. Census Bureau or in response to a court ruling. Now, Texas Republicans want to break that tradition — and other states could follow suit. Democrats in Texas’ House have left the state to prevent the vote

By GRAHAM LEE BREWER Associated Press Since the 1980s, the Lumbee Tribe has lobbied Congress to acknowledge it as a sovereign nation. There was renewed hope last year when both major party candidates in the presidential election promised to intervene on behalf of the Lumbee. In his first week in office, President Donald Trump appeared

By COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is pursuing heavy fines from Harvard and other universities as part of potential settlements to end investigations into campus antisemitism, using the deal it struck with Columbia University as a template, according to an administration official familiar with the matter. Fines have become

By COLLIN BINKLEY and ANNIE MA AP Education Writers WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is releasing billions of dollars in withheld grants for schools, the Education Department said Friday, ending weeks of uncertainty for educators around the country who rely on the money for English language instruction, adult literacy, and other programs. President Donald

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) — President Donald Trump has thrust the military into a central role in deterring illegal crossings into the U.S. at its southern border. The strategy is playing out in Arizona’s border community of Nogales, where an Army scout used an optical scope this week to find a

BY MELISSA GOLDIN Associated Press As his administration faces mounting pressure to release Justice Department files related the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case, President Donald Trump is highlighting a different criminal justice issue — cashless bail. He suggested in a Truth Social post this week that eliminating cash bail as a condition of pretrial release

By SEJAL GOVINDARAO Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Throughout two decades marked by drought, climate change and growing demand for water, Arizona’s leaders have fiercely debated an increasingly urgent problem: how to manage dwindling water supplies in an arid state. At the crossroads sits Rep. Gail Griffin, a savvy and quietly assertive lawmaker who has

By The Associated Press Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned former girlfriend of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, finished 1 1/2 days of interviews Friday with U.S. Justice Department officials, answering questions “about 100 different people,” her attorney said. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence at a low-security federal prison in Tallahassee after being convicted three years

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Democratic Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez entered the battleground state’s open race for governor Friday by calling President Donald Trump a “maniac,” as she attempts to differentiate herself in what is expected to be a crowded primary. A second Democrat, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, said

By JAE C. HONG Associated Press NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) — U.S. troops from all branches of the military are sharing command stations and vehicles with civilian immigration authorities at the U.S. border with Mexico under an emergency declaration from President Donald Trump. Army Maj. Gen. Scott Naumann, who is leading 7,600 troops and an assortment

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press CHAPIN, S.C. (AP) — Rep. Ralph Norman, among the most conservative Republicans in the U.S. House, is entering South Carolina’s 2026 governor’s race. The wealthy real estate developer and longtime ally of former Gov. Nikki Haley is expected to file his candidacy paperwork with state officials on Friday, his campaign

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) — Inside an armored vehicle, an Army scout uses a joystick to direct a long-range optical scope toward a man perched atop the U.S.-Mexico border wall cutting across the hills of this Arizona frontier community. The man lowers himself toward U.S. soil between coils of concertina wire.

By PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Disgraced former U.S. Rep. George Santos reported to a federal prison in New Jersey on Friday to begin serving a seven-year sentence for the fraud charges that got him ousted from Congress. The federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed that the New York Republican was in custody

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Typically I wear a suit and tie when visiting the Federal Reserve, one of the most powerful financial institutions in the world. But on Thursday, it was jeans, boots and a hard hat. I was not at the Fed for the usual discussions of interest rates,

By MIKE SCHNEIDER and DAVID FISCHER Associated Press FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — A man charged with attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump in South Florida last year was back in court this week, asking a federal judge to let him represent himself, as prosecutors tried to block him from introducing irrelevant evidence during trial.

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press Michael Gordon prosecuted some of the most notorious members of the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His latest case to make is proving that the Justice Department fired him because he was good at his job. Gordon sued the federal government Thursday, claiming his June