Tarrant County resident Janet Jones fills out a mock mail-in ballot at the public test of the county’s elections on Sept. 16, 2024.
CODY COPELAND
ccopeland@star-telegram.com
More than a thousand Tarrant County voters who have requested a mail-in ballot may still need to submit a new application ahead of the March primaries.
A mail-in ballot application sent by the Texas Democratic Party was missing information related to the March 3 primary elections, Tarrant County Democratic Party chair Allison Campolo said in a Friday text message.
The forms are acceptable for every election this year, including Saturday’s runoff, except for the primaries, where voters must select which party’s primary they want to vote in, said Campolo and Tarrant County Election Administrator Clint Ludwig.
“The application had everything but a box for the primaries to select what party you wanted,” Ludwig said.
The state party said the mailers were specific to the runoff election, and that an additional mailer has been sent to voters with a primary ballot application.
Campolo called the issue “very serious” and said Tarrant County Elections is notifying voters out of courtesy, rather than not sending the voters a primary ballot, and allowing them to submit an application for the primary if desired. Ludwig said the affected voters are being sent a letter and new application from the county.
Campolo and Ludwig estimated that more than 1,000 voters in the county have been affected. The Texas Democratic Party said it sent out 30,000 mailers to elgible mail-in voters living in Senate District 9.
“Our Vote by Mail program in Tarrant County was specifically targeted at the SD9 special election runoff,” said Terri Burke, the executive director of the Texas Democratic Party in a Saturday statement. “Those voters received mail-in ballot applications for today’s runoff and all other elections this year except for the primary. An additional mailing has been sent to individuals who require primary ballot applications.”
Asked about the party’s statement, Campolo said in a Saturday text that she’s “grateful to the state party for sending these vote by mail applications to our voters.
“The barrage of elections this year combined with Texas election laws has made this inherently confusing for voters no matter what the applications looked like or included,” Campollo continued. “This will be a tremendous year of voter education and outreach to make sure that all voters have the information they need at every election.”
Eleanor (Elly) Dearman is a Texas politics and government reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She’s based in Austin, covering the Legislature and its impact on North Texas. She grew up in Denton and has been a reporter for more than six years. Support my work with a digital subscription
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Thursday launched her campaign to be Minnesota’s next governor, a surprise twist in the race for the top job in the state as it experiences an unprecedented immigration enforcement operation that’s ignited a national debate.
“We cannot sugarcoat how hard this is, but in these moments of enormous difficulty, we find strength in our Minnesota values of hard work, freedom, and simple decency and good will,” Klobuchar said. “These times call for leaders who can stand up and not be rubber stamps of this administration, but who are also willing to find common ground and fix things in our state.”
She enters the race as a formidable candidate at a time when Republicans are hopeful about their chances to win statewide for the first time since 2006 — the first year Klobuchar won her Senate seat.
Since that first election, she’s been the top vote-getter across both parties when she appears on the ballot. In 2024, she outperformed Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on the presidential ticket by more than 135,000 votes.
Her campaign came together quickly after Walz earlier this month abruptly ended his bid for a historic third consecutive, four-year term amid mounting scrutiny over his administration’s handling of fraud in state social services programs, which prosecutors said could reach as high as $9 billion.
Klobuchar vowed to “fix what’s wrong” with fraud and root out the problems by “changing how state government works.”
If she becomes the DFL nominee — and so far she faces no serious challenger from within her party — and is elected in November, she would be the first woman to be governor.
The formal announcement Thursday came while Klobuchar is in Washington for key votes on government funding — a potential partial shutdown looms Friday. She and other Democrats want more accountability measures for the Department of Homeland Security and its officers in wake of the two deadly shootings by immigration agents in Minneapolis this month.
“I like my job in the Senate. But I love our state more than any job. I love the people of Minnesota,” she said.
Klobuchar is serving her fourth term in the U.S. Senate and sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2020. She also spent eight years as Hennepin County attorney.
This story is developing and will be updated.
NOTE: The original airdate of the video attached to this article is Jan. 5, 2026.
Agents with the Federal Bureau of Information are executing a search at a warehouse that serves as Fulton County’s election hub.
The agency confirmed that its agents were “executing a court authorized law enforcement action” at 5600 Campbellton Fairburn Road, the site of the Fulton County Elections Hub & Operations Center. Agents wearing camouflage vests were seen going in and out of the warehouse.
An FBI spokesperson did not provide any details about what the search was concerning, other than saying their investigation was ongoing. A spokesperson for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation says that their agency is not involved in the operation.
Fulton County spokesperson Jessica Corbitt-Dominguez said that the search at the county’s main election facility in Union City focused on records related to the 2020 election, but declined to share specifics.
FBI officers are seen at the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center on Jan. 28, 2026, in Union City, Georgia.
Mike Stewart / AP
The center, which opened in 2023, serves as a storage space for election equipment and office space for multiple Fulton County agencies.
Democratic state Sen. Josh McLarin told reporters at the scene that an FBI evidence retrieval team was loading what he called “700 boxes of ballots” into parked trucks nearby. He expressed his concern about what would happen to the ballots after they are removed from the center.
“If they are able to modify the contents of these ballots. Then there is really no way to find out what happened in 2020,” McLarin said.
Fulton County’s elections operations in the national spotlight
President Trump has long made Georgia, one of the battleground states he lost in 2020, a central target for his complaints about the election and memorably pleaded with its then-secretary of state to “find” him enough votes to overturn the contest.
Last year, the U.S. Justice Department sued the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections and Clerk of Courts Che Alexander, arguing that they had failed to comply with a subpoena requesting all “used and void ballots, stubs of all ballots, signature envelopes, and corresponding envelope digital files from the 2020 General Election in Fulton County.” The county responded on Jan. 20, asking for the lawsuit be dismissed.
It is not clear if that lawsuit and request for information were connected with the search.
In May 2024, Georgia’s State Election Board heard a case that alleged documentation was missing for thousands of votes in the recount of the presidential contest in the 2020 election in 2020. After a presentation by a lawyer and an investigator for the secretary of state’s office, a response from the county and a lengthy discussion among the board members, the board voted to issue a letter of reprimand to Fulton County.
Shortly after that vote, there was a shift in power on the board, and the newly cemented conservative majority sought to reopen the case. The lone Democrat on the board and the chair have repeatedly objected, arguing the case is closed and citing multiple reviews that have found that while the county’s 2020 elections were sloppy and poorly managed there was no evidence of intentional wrongdoing.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated as soon as additional information is available. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Two special elections Tuesday for seats in the Minnesota House will determine the makeup of the chamber heading into next month’s legislative session.
Kaohly Her resigned from St. Paul’s House District 64A after winning the city’s mayoral election. DFL-er and labor lawyer Meg Luger-Nikolai will face the GOP’s Dan Walsh, a small business owner.
The district, which includes the Merriam Park and Summit Hill neighborhoods, is a heavily Democratic-leaning area.
The other vacancy is in House District 47A, which covers parts of Woodbury and Maplewood. Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger won the seat by 20 points in 2022 and represented the area before she was elected to the Minnesota Senate, replacing former DFL State Sen. Nicole Mitchell, who was convicted of burglary last year.
The DFL’s Shelley Buck, a leader of the Prairie Island Indian Community, is the lone candidate on the ballot. No Republicans filed in the race.
Should Democrats win both seats, the Minnesota House will return to a tied chamber, as it was during the 2025 session. In the Senate, state Democrats hold on to a one-seat majority.
Voting is the most elemental of democratic exercises, a virtuous act residing right up there alongside motherhood and apple pie. But Trump has treated it as a cudgel, something dark and sinister, fueling a partisan divide that has increasingly undermined faith in the accuracy and integrity of our elections.
One result is a batch of new laws making it harder to vote.
Since the 2020 presidential election — the most secure in American history, per the Trump administration’s own watchdogs — at least 30 states have enacted more than 100 restrictive laws, according to New York University’s Brennan Center and the Democracy Policy Lab at UC Berkeley, which keep a running tally.
In California, state Sen. Carl DeMaio and allies are working to qualify a November ballot measure that would require a government-issued ID to vote, a solution in desperate search of a problem.
“We have the lowest level of public trust and confidence in our elections that we have ever seen,” the San Diego Republican said in launching the effort, sounding the way someone would by lamenting the damage a fire has done while ignoring the arsonist spreading paint thinner all around.
Amid all the manufactured hysteria, there is a place that is unique in America, with no voter registration requirement whatsoever.
If you’re a U.S. citizen, 18 years or older and have lived in North Dakota for 30 days prior to election day, you’re eligible to vote. It’s been that way for more than 70 years, ever since voter registration was abolished in the state in 1951.
How’s it working?
Pretty darn well, according to those who’ve observed the system up close.
“It works excellent,” said Sandy McMerty, North Dakota’s deputy secretary of state.
“In general, I think most people are happy with this,” political scientist Mark Jendrysik agreed, “because it lowers the record-keeping burdens and saves money.”
Jendrysik, who teaches at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, said voter registration was abandoned at a time when the state — now redder than the side of a barn — had vigorous two-party competition and, with it, a bipartisan spirit of prairie populism.
“There was an idea we should make it easier to vote,” Jendrysik said. “We should open up things.”
What a concept.
Walk-up voting hasn’t made North Dakota a standout when it comes to casting ballots. In the last three elections, voter turnout has run close to the national average, which puts it in the middle of the pack among states.
But there also hasn’t been a high incidence of fraud. In 2022, a study by the state auditor’s office found it “exceptionally” unlikely an election in North Dakota could be fraudulently influenced. (Again, like the country as a whole.)
In fact, Jendrysik said he can’t recall a single case of election fraud being prosecuted in the 26 years he’s lived in North Dakota and followed its politics.
It’s not as though just anyone can show up and cast a ballot.
Voting in North Dakota requires a valid form of identification, such as a state-issued driver’s license, a tribal ID or a long-term care certificate. It must be presented each and every election.
By contrast, a California voter is not required to show identification at a polling place before casting their ballot — though they may be asked to do so if they are voting for the first time after registering to vote by mail and their application failed to include certain information. That includes a driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number.
Could North Dakota’s non-registration system be replicated elsewhere?
North Dakota is a sparsely populated state with hundreds of small communities where, seemingly, everyone knows everyone else. There are about 600,000 eligible voters, which is a lot more manageable number than, say, California’s 30 million adult-age residents. (California has more than a dozen counties with north of half a million registered voters.)
“It’s unique to this state,” Jendrysik said, “and I think if they hadn’t done it decades ago, it would have never happened.”
(Fun fact: North Dakota also has no parking meters on its public streets, owing to a state law passed in 1948, according to Jendrysik, who has published two academic papers on the subject.)
McMerty, of the secretary of state’s office, believes others could emulate North Dakota’s example.
It would require, she suggested, rigorous data-sharing and close coordination among various state agencies. “We’re updating our voter rolls daily — who’s obtained a driver’s license, births, deaths. That kind of thing,” McMerty said.
Again, that’s a much easier task in a state with the population the size of North Dakota’s. (About 800,000 at last count.)
And there’s no particular impetus for others to end their systems of voter registration — unless it could be proved to significantly boost turnout.
We should be doing all we can to get people to vote and invest in our beleaguered political system. Rather than wasting time chasing shadows and phantoms or indulging the delusions of a sore-loser president.
WASHINGTON — Former special counsel Jack Smith on Thursday defended his findings that President Trump “willfully broke the law” in his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, telling lawmakers that Republican efforts to discredit the probe are “false and misleading.”
“No one should be above the law in our country, and the law required that [Trump] be held to account. So that is what I did,” Smith said during a frequently heated five-hour hearing before the House Judiciary Committee.
Smith appeared at the request of Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who accused him of pursuing a politically driven investigation and “muzzling a candidate for a high office.”
“It was always about politics and to get President Trump, they were willing to do just about anything,” Jordan said.
Jordan called investigations into the Jan. 6 insurrection “staged and choreographed,” and said Smith would have “blown a hole in the 1st Amendment” if his charges against Trump had been allowed to proceed.
Trump has repeatedly called for Smith to face prosecution over the probe, demanding he be disbarred and suggesting that Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi look into his conduct.
“I believe they will do everything in their power to [indict me] because they have been ordered to do so by the president,” Smith said at the hearing.
Smith’s 2023 investigation found that following Joe Biden’s 2020 victory, Trump led a months-long disinformation campaign to discredit the results, evidenced by audio from a call in which he pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes.”
Trump’s attempt to sow election discord culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, Smith said. The president directed rioters to halt the certification of the election results, he added.
In closed-door testimony to the committee last month, Smith said the Department of Justice had built a strong base of evidence of Trump’s criminal schemes to overturn the election.
A separate case alleged that the president unlawfully kept classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club after the loss.
Trump was indicted in the documents case in June 2023, and later for the alleged election conspiracy and fraud claims. Both cases were abandoned after his victory in the 2024 election on the basis of presidential immunity.
In his opening remarks, Smith reiterated his findings.
“President Trump was charged because the evidence established that he willfully broke the law, the very laws he took an oath to uphold,” he said. “Rather than accept his defeat, President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results and prevent the lawful transfer of power.”
Republicans asserted that Justice Department subpoenas of phone records were an abuse of prosecutorial power and constituted surveillance of top government officials.
Smith replied that obtaining such data was “common” in conspiracy investigations and that the records showed call dates and times — not content — encompassing the days around Jan. 6, 2021.
Jordan questioned the special counsel’s judgment in personnel selections, which included Department of Justice investigators who probed the Trump campaign over alleged collusion with Russia in the 2016 presidential election.
“Democrats have been going after President Trump for 10 years — a decade — and we should never forget what they’ve done,” he said.
Smith, who has since left the Justice Department to open a private firm with his former deputies, was quick to defend the integrity of his team, adding that Trump has since sought to seek revenge against career prosecutors, FBI agents and support staff for their involvement in the cases.
“Those dedicated public servants are the best of us,” he said. “My fear is that we have seen the rule of law function in our country for so long that many of us have come to take it for granted.”
The hearing routinely devolved into disputes between party adversaries, with Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) lodging scathing accusations against Smith, butting heads with Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) over procedure and yielding his time “in disgust” of the witness.
GOP committee members attempted to poke holes in Smith’s findings about the events of Jan. 6. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) accused Republicans on the committee of trying to “rewrite the history” of Jan. 6.
Midway through the hearing, Trump called Smith a “deranged animal” in a Truth Social post where he once again suggested his Department of Justice investigate the former special counsel.
“I will not be intimidated,” Smith said. “We followed the facts and we followed the law. That process resulted in proof beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed serious crimes. I’m not going to pretend that didn’t happen because he threatened me.”
The hearing came as Trump continues to repeat false claims that he had won in 2020.
“It was a rigged election. Everybody knows that now. And by the way, numbers are coming out that show it even more plainly,” Trump said Tuesday at a White House news briefing.
In an address to a global audience in Davos, Switzerland, the following day, he said that “people will soon be prosecuted for what they did.”
Two new Tarrant Appraisal District board members, Eric Crile and Keziah Farrar, were sworn into their new roles Wednesday Jan. 14, 2026. Wendy Burgess, who has served on the board for six years was also sworn in after being reelected.
Rachel Royster
rroyster@star-telegram.com
The Tarrant Appraisal District board of directors gained two new members at the first meeting of the year. One is the previous president of the Mansfield school board, and the other is a fireman who serves on his homeowner association.
Keziah Farrar, who served four years on the Mansfield ISD board, fills the place of Alan Blaylock, who resigned in November after announcing his candidacy for Texas House District 93. Farrar lost a school board reelection bid last year. She had received the endorsements of the Keep Tarrant Red PAC, Patriot Mobile Action and True Texas Project.
Farrar was appointed by the TAD board of directors in what was criticized by a few meeting attendees as a rushed vote on Dec. 30. Her term will expire on Dec. 31, 2027.
Fireman Eric Crile is a familiar face at TAD board meetings, as he has attended almost every one in recent years. He is also the person who discovered the incongruity in the 2024 TAD election that was recently investigated after it was brought to the attention of the board by one of Crile’s opponents.
Crile will serve until Dec. 31, 2029.
As the TAD board has been wrought with politics in recent years, Crile said he is hoping to ensure the board’s discussions about pending decisions are made in public and that the chief appraiser, who is the in-house leader of the appraisal district, can operate without “undue interference” from the board.
“Some of the most consequential decisions in the last year and a half have been made without a whole bunch of discussion,” Crile said. “And so that’s why I listed transparency at the top of my list.”
Crile is also a proponent of annual appraisals, which would mean home values would change with the market each year. In 2024, the TAD board opted to change the frequency of property valuations from yearly to every other year. Without the guaranteed revenue increase from rising property values, cities and school districts have had to raise tax rates.
Farrar did not immediately respond to requests for comment .
Rachel Royster is a news and government reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, specifically focused on Tarrant County. She joined the newsroom after interning at the Austin American-Statesman, the Waco Tribune-Herald and Capital Community News in DC. A Houston native and Baylor grad, Rachel enjoys traveling, reading and being outside. She welcomes any and all news tips to her email.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Both Ohio gubernatorial candidates announced their running mates, providing insight into each campaign’s political strategy and priorities ahead of the 2026 election.
What You Need To Know
Ohio gubernatorial candidates announced their running mates, providing early insight into their campaign strategies
Democrat Amy Acton selected former state senator David Pepper and Republican Vivek Ramaswamy chose Ohio Senate President Rob McColley as their running mates
Political experts said lieutenant governor selections rarely determine election outcomes but indicate how candidates intend to govern
Democrat Amy Acton picked David Pepper, and Republican Vivek Ramaswamy picked Rob McColley, signaling the qualities they value in potential governing partners.
Political science professor David Niven of the University of Cincinnati said the choice of a lieutenant governor typically has little effect on the outcome of a statewide race.
“It really doesn’t matter who you put on the ticket as lieutenant governor. People are paying attention to the name on the top of the ticket, and the lieutenant governor is almost like the assistant candidate,” Niven said.
Niven added that while lieutenant governor selections may not sway many voters, they are carefully chosen to complement the candidate’s message and experience.
“The very first rule of lieutenant governor choice is, do no harm, you know, the very first rule. Pick folks who aren’t going to cause scandals and stories that distract from the ticket,” he said.
Former state senator Lou Gentile said Acton’s selection of Pepper brings statewide connections and experience navigating difficult periods, a combination he said could help Democrats make their case for change.
“He also brings to the ticket, I think, the ability to raise money, to reach out to voters across Ohio. He’s been traveling across the state, and I think it’s really important when you’re selecting somebody, the two candidates really have to be comfortable with each other,” Gentile said.
Republican strategist Amy Natoce said Ramaswamy’s selection of McColley strengthens his campaign by combining private-sector and government experience.
“He’s really bringing in somebody who has extensive experience working with the legislature, passing a state budget, working with the governor’s office. So he really brings in that knowledge of how to navigate government relationships,” Natoce said.
Gentile said Acton’s decision reflects her focus on leadership and governing experience.
“You have somebody who has local government experience, particularly in a really difficult time during the 2008 financial crisis. David was in public office in Hamilton County and helped steer them out of that. He’s done a lot as it relates to property tax reform, affordability, public safety as a public official,” Gentile said.
Natoce said the combination appeals to voters concerned with everyday issues.
“He’s really appealing to the Republican base and also swing voters who are looking for some new leadership and people who have done the hard work of passing a budget, passing tax cuts, those things that really matter to Ohio families,” she said.
Political experts said a candidate’s choice of lieutenant governor reflects their priorities, their goals for office, and what voters can expect if they are elected. In Ohio, they said selecting the right balance helps candidates connect with a wide range of voters.
With proposals of large-scale data centers spreading across Michigan, U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed on Thursday released what he called “terms of engagement” aimed at protecting communities from higher utility bills, grid strain, and environmental harm.
El-Sayed, a progressive Democrat running in the 2026 Senate primary, said at least 15 data center projects have been proposed across the state in the past year, including a planned 1.4-gigawatt facility tied to Oracle and OpenAI. His campaign said a project of that size would consume more electricity than the entire city of Detroit.
“We’ve watched as data center projects have proliferated up and down our state, raising alarm and concern about the impacts on water resources, electric bills, and safety,” Abdul said in a statement. “That’s because our local utilities have bought off the politicians who are supposed to regulate them–and because there simply hasn’t been the leadership to take on powerful corporations. These terms of engagement represent the bare minimum that data center projects should be able to guarantee if they want to move into our communities.”
He argued that utility companies are pushing to fast-track approvals without adequate oversight, even as residents face rising rates and persistent reliability problems.
The plan targets investor-owned utilities such as DTE Energy and Consumers Energy, which El-Sayed said have a history of rate hikes without improvements in service. His campaign accused utilities and developers of “steamrolling” local governments and regulators as communities scramble to understand the long-term impacts of energy-hungry data centers.
Under El-Sayed’s “Our Communities, Our Terms” framework, data center projects would be required to meet a series of conditions before receiving approval:
No rate hikes: Data centers would be required to pay for their own energy demand, preventing costs from being passed on to residential ratepayers.
Community transparency: Local residents would have a meaningful role in approvals and in negotiating community benefits.
Energy reliability guarantees: Projects would need enforceable commitments to improve, not weaken, grid reliability, funded by data center revenues.
Jobs guarantees: Developers would face penalties if promised local jobs fail to materialize.
Water protection: Data centers would be required to use closed-loop cooling systems to limit water use and pollution.
Community benefits agreements: Binding agreements would be required to deliver tangible benefits, such as grid upgrades, buried power lines, and improvements to water infrastructure.
No clean-energy loopholes: Utilities would be barred from using data center demand as a justification to weaken Michigan’s clean-energy laws.
Enforceability: All commitments would have to include clear penalties for noncompliance.
El-Sayed is competing in the Democratic primary against U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens of Birmingham and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow of Royal Oak. His campaign said his opponents have supported tax exemptions for data center development without enforceable protections for ratepayers or the environment.
The campaign also emphasized that El-Sayed has never taken campaign contributions from utility companies that could benefit from rapid data center expansion.
A former Detroit health director and Wayne County health executive, El-Sayed has built his Senate run around challenging corporate power and prioritizing public health, affordability, and environmental protection. His campaign said the data center policy is part of a broader push to ensure that large infrastructure projects deliver measurable benefits to the communities that host them, rather than shifting costs onto residents.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top officials briefed leaders in Congress late Monday on the striking military operation in Venezuela amid mounting concerns that President Donald Trump is embarking on a new era of U.S. expansionism without consultation of lawmakers or a clear vision for running the South American country.Republican leaders entered the closed-door session at the Capitol largely supportive of Trump’s decision to forcibly remove Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro from power, but many Democrats emerged with more questions as Trump maintains a fleet of naval vessels off the Venezuelan coast and urges U.S. companies to reinvest in the country’s underperforming oil industry.A war powers resolution that would prohibit U.S. military action in Venezuela without approval from Congress is heading for a vote this week in the Senate.“We don’t expect troops on the ground,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., afterward.He said Venezuela’s new leadership cannot be allowed to engage in narcoterrorism or the trafficking of drugs into the U.S., which sparked Trump’s initial campaign of deadly boat strikes that have killed more than 115 people.“This is not a regime change. This is demand for a change in behavior,” Johnson said. “We don’t expect direct involvement in any other way beyond just coercing the new, the interim government, to get that going.”Johnson added, “We have a way of persuasion — because their oil exports, as you know, have been seized, and I think that will bring the country to a new governance in very short order,” he said.But Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, emerged saying, “There are still many more questions that need to be answered.”“What is the cost? How much is this going to cost the United States of America?” Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said afterward.Lawmakers were kept in the darkThe briefing, which stretched for two hours, came days after the surprise military action that few, if any, of the congressional leaders knew about until after it was underway — a remarkable delay in informing Congress, which has ultimate say over matters of war.Administration officials fielded a range of questions — from further involvement of U.S. troops on the ground to the role of the Venezuelan opposition leadership that appeared to have been sidelined by the Trump administration as the country’s vice president, Maduro ally Delcy Rodriguez, swiftly became the country’s interim president.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, and Attorney General Pam Bondi, who brought drug trafficking charges against Maduro, all joined the classified session. It was intended for the called “gang of eight” leaders, which includes Intelligence committee leadership as well as the chairmen and ranking lawmakers on the national security committees.Asked afterward if he had any more clarity about who is actually running Venezuela, Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said, “I wish I could tell you yes, but I can’t.”Leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee — Republican chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and ranking Democrat Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois — said they should have been included in the classified briefing, arguing they have oversight of the Justice Department under Bondi.Earlier in the day, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer warned that Trump’s action in Venezuela is only the beginning of a dangerous approach to foreign policy as the president publicly signals his interests in Colombia, Cuba and Greenland.“The American people did not sign up for another round of endless wars,” Schumer said.Afterward, Schumer said the briefing, “while extensive and long, posed far more questions than it answered.”Republicans hold mixed views reflective of the deepening schism within Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement as the president, who vowed to put America first, ventures toward overseas entanglements many lawmakers in both parties want to avoid — particularly after the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.No clarity on what comes nextNext steps in the country, and calls for elections in Venezuela, are uncertain.The Trump administration had been in talks with Rodríguez, who took the place of her ally Maduro and offered “to collaborate” with the Trump administration. Meanwhile, Trump has been dismissive of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who last month won the Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition in her nation. Trump has said Machado lacks the “support” or “respect” to run the country.But Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., a staunch Trump ally, said he plans to speak soon with Machado, and called her “very popular if you look at what happened in the last election.”“She eventually, I think, will be the president of Venezuela,” Scott said. “You know, this is going to be a process to get to a democracy. It’s not easy. There’s a lot of bad people still there, so it’s going to take time. They are going to have an election, and I think she will get elected.”Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has been a leading critic of the Trump campaign of boat strikes against suspected drug smugglers, said there are probably a dozen leaders around the world who the U.S. could say are in violation of an international law or human rights law.“And we have never gone in and plucked them out the country. So it sets a very bad precedent for doing this, and it’s unconstitutional,” Paul told reporters. “There’s no way you can say bombing a capital and removing the president of a foreign country is not an initiation of war.”__Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this story.
WASHINGTON —
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top officials briefed leaders in Congress late Monday on the striking military operation in Venezuela amid mounting concerns that President Donald Trump is embarking on a new era of U.S. expansionism without consultation of lawmakers or a clear vision for running the South American country.
Republican leaders entered the closed-door session at the Capitol largely supportive of Trump’s decision to forcibly remove Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro from power, but many Democrats emerged with more questions as Trump maintains a fleet of naval vessels off the Venezuelan coast and urges U.S. companies to reinvest in the country’s underperforming oil industry.
A war powers resolution that would prohibit U.S. military action in Venezuela without approval from Congress is heading for a vote this week in the Senate.
“We don’t expect troops on the ground,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., afterward.
He said Venezuela’s new leadership cannot be allowed to engage in narcoterrorism or the trafficking of drugs into the U.S., which sparked Trump’s initial campaign of deadly boat strikes that have killed more than 115 people.
“This is not a regime change. This is demand for a change in behavior,” Johnson said. “We don’t expect direct involvement in any other way beyond just coercing the new, the interim government, to get that going.”
Johnson added, “We have a way of persuasion — because their oil exports, as you know, have been seized, and I think that will bring the country to a new governance in very short order,” he said.
But Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, emerged saying, “There are still many more questions that need to be answered.”
“What is the cost? How much is this going to cost the United States of America?” Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said afterward.
Lawmakers were kept in the dark
The briefing, which stretched for two hours, came days after the surprise military action that few, if any, of the congressional leaders knew about until after it was underway — a remarkable delay in informing Congress, which has ultimate say over matters of war.
Administration officials fielded a range of questions — from further involvement of U.S. troops on the ground to the role of the Venezuelan opposition leadership that appeared to have been sidelined by the Trump administration as the country’s vice president, Maduro ally Delcy Rodriguez, swiftly became the country’s interim president.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, and Attorney General Pam Bondi, who brought drug trafficking charges against Maduro, all joined the classified session. It was intended for the called “gang of eight” leaders, which includes Intelligence committee leadership as well as the chairmen and ranking lawmakers on the national security committees.
Asked afterward if he had any more clarity about who is actually running Venezuela, Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said, “I wish I could tell you yes, but I can’t.”
Leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee — Republican chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and ranking Democrat Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois — said they should have been included in the classified briefing, arguing they have oversight of the Justice Department under Bondi.
Earlier in the day, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer warned that Trump’s action in Venezuela is only the beginning of a dangerous approach to foreign policy as the president publicly signals his interests in Colombia, Cuba and Greenland.
“The American people did not sign up for another round of endless wars,” Schumer said.
Afterward, Schumer said the briefing, “while extensive and long, posed far more questions than it answered.”
Republicans hold mixed views reflective of the deepening schism within Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement as the president, who vowed to put America first, ventures toward overseas entanglements many lawmakers in both parties want to avoid — particularly after the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
No clarity on what comes next
Next steps in the country, and calls for elections in Venezuela, are uncertain.
The Trump administration had been in talks with Rodríguez, who took the place of her ally Maduro and offered “to collaborate” with the Trump administration. Meanwhile, Trump has been dismissive of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who last month won the Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition in her nation. Trump has said Machado lacks the “support” or “respect” to run the country.
But Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., a staunch Trump ally, said he plans to speak soon with Machado, and called her “very popular if you look at what happened in the last election.”
“She eventually, I think, will be the president of Venezuela,” Scott said. “You know, this is going to be a process to get to a democracy. It’s not easy. There’s a lot of bad people still there, so it’s going to take time. They are going to have an election, and I think she will get elected.”
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has been a leading critic of the Trump campaign of boat strikes against suspected drug smugglers, said there are probably a dozen leaders around the world who the U.S. could say are in violation of an international law or human rights law.
“And we have never gone in and plucked them out the country. So it sets a very bad precedent for doing this, and it’s unconstitutional,” Paul told reporters. “There’s no way you can say bombing a capital and removing the president of a foreign country is not an initiation of war.”
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Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this story.
The race for U.S. Senate in Minnesota gets underway in less than a month, with both the DFL and GOP caucuses set for Feb. 3.
The DFL race pits two prominent party leaders, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Rep. Angie Craig, against each other.
The Democratic Party has struggled to define itself in the Trump era, with the party split between progressives and moderates. That same split is evident in the race for the DFL U.S. Senate nomination.
Flanagan is widely seen as the more progressive candidate; Craig is viewed as more moderate.
“My opponent, Angie Craig, voted in favor of the Laken Riley Act right out of the gate since the first vote under the second Trump administration, which strips immigrants of due process,” Flanagan said.
Craig has received $3.5 million in contributions and has $2.9 million cash on hand. Flanagan has received $2.2 million in contributions and has $835,000 on hand.
Both candidates must navigate upcoming caucuses, conventions and a potential August primary before they face off against the Republican nominee in November.
Flanagan will have to run amidst a backdrop of evolving fraud scandals that have mushroomed under the Walz-Flanagan administration.
When asked if she and Gov. Tim Walz should have done more, Flanagan said, “You know, the governor has been clear that the buck stops with him. He has taken the lead here. And of course, I have expressed concern, and, you know, he has been clear with the legislature. They put additional measures in place.”
But a key issue for Flanagan is just now emerging. On Thursday, the state’s new paid family and medical leave act went into effect. If that rollout is a success, it could boost her campaign.
Historically, Minnesota has not done well with statewide roll-outs like MNsure and MNLARS. Flanagan is among the DFL leaders predicting that the program, which will provide paid leave to almost all Minnesotans, will be a success and widely popular.
On the Republican side, top candidates for U.S. Senate include former GOP Chair David Hann and former U.S. Senate candidate Royce White.
You can watch WCCO Sunday Morning with Esme Murphy and Adam Del Rosso every Sunday at 6 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
Mary Sheffield, a political phenom whose rise began when she was elected to Detroit City Council at age 26, made history Thursday when she was sworn in as the city’s first woman mayor.
In her first one-on-one interview since taking office, Sheffield spoke with Metro Times about making history as Detroit’s first woman mayor, how she wants residents to judge her success, the balance between downtown development and neighborhood needs, and the priorities she plans to tackle in her first term. She also opened up about her recent marriage and her relationship with God.
Sheffield’s inauguration marks the start of a new era in city government, ending a 324-year stretch in which men led Detroit.
Now 38, Sheffield has become a popular figure in city politics by promoting progressive values, advocating for racial equality, and championing policies aimed at narrowing the economic divide.
Sheffield won the general election with 77% of the vote in November, delivering a decisive mandate for a platform centered on equity, neighborhood investment, and structural reforms designed to improve residents’ quality of life.
She now faces daunting and serious challenges. Nearly half of Detroit’s children live in poverty, many neighborhoods continue to struggle with basic resources and disinvestment, and the city has seen a continued exodus of Black residents even as downtown has flourished.
Sheffield’s rise has been rapid and historic. In November 2013, Sheffield was 26 years old when she became the youngest person ever elected to Detroit City Council. She later became the council’s youngest president.
During her tenure on the council, Sheffield has become a leading advocate for affordable housing, tenants’ rights, neighborhood development, property tax reform, and environmental justice, often pushing back against large tax incentives for wealthy developers and calling for investment strategies that more directly benefit longtime Detroiters.
Sheffield succeeds Mike Duggan, who did not seek reelection after three terms and is now running for governor as an independent.
Metro Times: Yesterday, you became Detroit’s first woman mayor. What does that milestone mean to you personally, and what do you hope it means to women and girls growing up in the city?
Mayor Mary Sheffield: I think it means leadership has no gender, no age limit, and no ceiling. And for women, especially Black women, it affirms that our voices, our experiences, and our ideas belong at the highest levels of decision-making. I’ve watched so many young girls follow me throughout this campaign who feel inspired and empowered, and that’s what I’ve always wanted my leadership to reflect. It’s an indication to dream big, to work hard, and to know that we can all achieve what we put our minds to.
I also think it’s a powerful moment as it relates to attracting and retaining youth in Detroit. Hopefully this is an inspiration and motivation to want to be in Detroit. There are so many young professionals who I believe are encouraged and inspired to stay and come back to the city as well.
Metro Times: You became the youngest person ever elected to City Council at 26 and later the youngest council president. What has driven you, at such a young age, to serve?
Mayor Sheffield: It all goes back to my childhood. My life was really molded by service. It’s all I know. My father [Rev. Horace Sheffield III] was a civil rights activist and preacher, and my mother [Yvonne Lovett] was an educator at Wayne County Community College District and a professor of nursing. Both of them showed me that life is really all about serving.
Detroit is a city that shaped me and molded me into who I am. When I got into office at 26, I didn’t know I would have the impact I had in terms of legislative accomplishments, but it motivated me to understand how important these positions are in directly changing quality of life. Detroit has made tremendous progress, but there are still needs. That inspired me to continue serving now as mayor, to elevate the issues that matter to Detroiters and ensure that Detroit’s resurgence goes deeper into our neighborhoods.
Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield succeeds Mike Duggan, who led the city since 2014.
Metro Times: When Mike Duggan was first elected in 2013, he said residents could judge his success by whether Detroit’s population increased. Is there a similar benchmark you want Detroiters to use to judge your administration?
Mayor Sheffield: For me, it’s really about overall quality of life. Whether that’s directing more money into our neighborhoods, making Detroit the best place to grow and start a business, creating more jobs, increasing incomes. I don’t think it’s one singular thing.
I want Detroiters to be able to say their quality of life is better because of this administration. That their neighborhood has investment. That their street lights are on. That they were able to access a home repair grant. If incomes are increased, mental health is better, and poverty is reduced, those are the things I want to be judged on.
Metro Times: Are there one or two priorities you want residents to see tangible action on in your first year?
Mayor Sheffield: First and foremost, we have to take bold steps around housing. I want to see more development of affordable housing, particularly access to homeownership. Increasing the number of residents who can become homeowners is very important to me.
Neighborhood reforms are also critical — basic infrastructure like sidewalk repairs, dangerous trees, alley cleaning, and overall neighborhood investment. We want to activate additional commercial corridors to support small businesses and bring vibrancy back to neighborhoods. And property tax reform is extremely important. It may take time, but providing relief from Detroit’s high millage rate is a priority.
Metro Times: Is there a neighborhood issue you think City Hall has underestimated or misunderstood for too long?
Mayor Sheffield: For me, it’s about creating a government that directly works for people and is easily accessible. We want to bring government back into the neighborhoods, whether that’s activating rec centers where residents can access city services or creating more community hubs.
There’s always room to improve customer service — how we respond when residents call about sidewalks or vacant buildings. Creating opportunity hubs throughout neighborhoods so people can easily access resources is something we’re committed to improving.
Then-Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield at a charity basketball game in 2023. Credit: City of Detroit
Metro Times: Former Mayor Duggan emphasized art and culture through murals and public projects. How important is it for your administration to continue elevating art and culture?
Mayor Sheffield: It’s extremely important. Arts and culture came up significantly throughout the campaign. We had a committee focused on it and met with many stakeholders. It’s an untapped economic engine that we haven’t fully utilized.
We’re looking at forming an office dedicated to the creative economy and taking mural arts and cultural investment to another level. Arts and culture are part of Detroit’s identity. They beautify neighborhoods, tell our story, and create opportunities for local artists. We want to make sure this work is valued and funded appropriately.
Metro Times: What part of being mayor do you think will be the hardest for you personally?
Mayor Sheffield: I really want to understand and listen to everyone’s perspective. I believe in leading with collaboration and making sure people feel seen, valued, and empowered. In a big city, there are many voices and ideas, and balancing that can be challenging.
Politically, the climate has changed, and we have to do more with less. And as a woman leader, there are different expectations and standards I’ll be judged by. That can be difficult. But I believe I was put here for a reason, and that God will equip me with what I need to serve Detroiters.
Metro Times: What keeps you optimistic about Detroit right now?
Mary Sheffield: The people. I’ve been inspired by the support from corporate leaders, grassroots organizers, faith communities — every sector of the city. There’s a shared belief that Detroit’s best days are ahead.
During the transition alone, we had 18 committees and more than 150 residents and business leaders give their time and expertise. That tells me people are deeply invested in Detroit’s future. No one wants to see this city go backward.
Metro Times: You’re known for progressive leadership and taking positions that weren’t always popular. What do you think people don’t know about you?
Mayor Sheffield: I’m very purpose-driven. I focus a lot on personal development and always trying to be better as a person and a leader. I’m very family-driven, and my relationship with God is central to who I am. I’m always working on improving myself.
Metro Times: You recently got married. Has your relationship with your husband Ricky Jackson Jr. shaped or grounded you as you take on the role of mayor?
Mayor Sheffield: Without a doubt. He brings a lot of stability and peace in the midst of what can be turbulent and chaotic times. He’s an anchor that keeps me grounded. I’m blessed to have someone by my side who shares a deep commitment to the betterment of Detroit. He’s from Detroit, went to Cass Tech, and has a passion for youth and sports. He’s been a true blessing throughout this process.
Metro Times: When things get overwhelming, how do you reset or ground yourself?
Mayor Sheffield: Stillness. Prayer. Being quiet and listening to my intuition. Finding ways to center myself and really listen.
A conservative podcaster who’s trumpeted false election conspiracies and called for the execution of political rivals, including Gov. Jared Polis, has formally joined the Republican race to become Colorado’s next governor.
Joe Oltmann, who filed his candidacy paperwork Monday night, now seeks to participate in an electoral system that he has repeatedly tried to undermine.
He is the 22nd Republican actively seeking to earn the party’s nomination in June. It’s the largest gubernatorial primary field for a major party in Colorado this century, surpassing the GOP’s previous records set first in 2018, and then again in 2022 — and it comes as the party hopes to break Democrats’ electoral dominance in the state.
That field will almost certainly narrow in the coming months; four Republicans who’d filed have already dropped out. No more than four are likely to make it onto the ballot — either through the state assembly or by gathering signatures — for the summer primary, said Dick Wadhams, the Colorado GOP’s former chairman.
The size of the primary field doesn’t really matter, he said, because few candidates will actually end up in front of voters. Eighteen candidates filed ahead of the 2022 race, for instance, but just two were on the primary ballot.
On the Democratic side, a smaller field of seven active candidates is headlined by Attorney General Phil Weiser and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet. Polis is term-limited from running again.
For 2026, Wadhams counted only a half-dozen or so Republican candidates whom he considered “credible,” a qualifier that Wadhams said he used “very, very loosely”: Oltmann, state Sens. Barbara Kirkmeyer and Mark Baisley, state Rep. Scott Bottoms, ministry leader Victor Marx, Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell and former Congressman Greg Lopez.
Wadhams said that other than Kirkmeyer, all of those candidates had either supported election conspiracies or a pardon for Tina Peters, the former Mesa County clerk now serving a nine-year sentence for convictions related to providing unauthorized access to voting equipment.
Oltmann, of Castle Rock, has repeatedly — and falsely — claimed that the 2020 presidential election was not won by Democrat Joe Biden, while calling for the hanging of political opponents. He previously said he wanted to dismember some opponents to send a message, according to the Washington Post, before adding that he was joking.
In his Dec. 26 announcement video, Oltmann baselessly claimed that Democrats, who have won control of the state amid demographic shifts and anti-Trump sentiment, were in power in Colorado only because of election fraud.
He said Polis and Secretary of State Jena Griswold, along with 9News anchor Kyle Clark, were part of a “synagogue of Satan.” Polis and Griswold are both Jewish.
In his announcement, Oltmann painted an apocalyptic picture of the state and said he hoped that three of its elected leaders — Polis, Griswold and Weiser — would all be imprisoned. He pledged to eliminate property taxes, to focus on the “have-nots” and to pardon Peters, whom President Donald Trump has also sought to release by issuing a federal pardon that legal experts say can’t clear Peters of state convictions.
Oltmann’s decision to join the field is an example of “extreme candidates” from either major party “who file to run but will go nowhere,” predicted Kristi Burton Brown, another former state GOP chair. She now sits on the Colorado State Board of Education.
She said the size of the Republican primary field was a consequence of Republicans’ difficulties winning statewide races in Colorado. Democrats have won all four constitutional elected offices for two straight election cycles.
Burton Brown said it “might be a good idea moving forward” to require candidates to do more than just submit paperwork to run for office. That might include a monetary requirement: She said she didn’t support charging candidates significant sums but thought that “requiring some skin in the game” could prevent “unreasonable primaries.”
The 2026 election comes as state and national Democrats search for a path forward after Trump’s reelection last year.
Approval polling for leading Colorado Democrats has sagged this year, and voters here hold unfavorable views of both the Democratic and Republican parties that are roughly equal, according to a November poll.
Wadhams said that the odds were “very difficult” for any Republican gubernatorial candidate next year. While approval for Polis and other Democrats has declined, support for the Republican standard-bearer — Trump — is far lower in the state. In last year’s election, Colorado was a largely blue island in a broader national red wave.
To have a real shot of winning in 2026, Wadhams argued, the GOP needed to nominate someone for governor who could sidestep anti-Trump sentiment and press on the issues driving voter discontent. Running more divisive candidates in a blue state, he warned, would risk harming Republicans’ chances in down-ballot races the statehouse or in races for Congress.
“There seems to be an opening for Republicans we haven’t seen for a while,” he said. “But that opening will only exist if we have candidates who won’t get pulled into this conspiracy stuff and this Tina Peters stuff. Because those are nonstarters. They’re sure losers.”
A series of 2025 victories, in red and blue states alike, was marked by a striking improvement over the party’s 2024 showing. That over-performance, to use the political term of art, means candidates — including even some who lost — received a significantly higher percentage of the vote than presidential candidate Kamala Harris managed.
That’s a strong signal ahead of the midterm election, suggesting Democratic partisans are energized, a key ingredient in any successful campaign, and the party is winning support among independents and perhaps even a few disaffected Republicans.
Yes, the party suffered a soul-crushing defeat in the presidential race. But 2024 was never the disaster some made it out to be. Democrats gained two House seats and held their own in most contests apart from the fight for the Senate, where several Republican states reverted to form and ousted the chamber’s few remaining Democratic holdouts.
Campaigning to become the party’s chairman, Ken Martin last winter promised to conduct a thorough review of the 2024 election and to make its findings public, as a step toward redressing Democrats’ mistakes and bolstering the party going forward.
”What we need to do right now is really start to get a handle around what happened,” he told reporters before his election.
Now Martin has decided to bury that autopsy report.
“Here’s our North Star: Does this help us win?” he said in a mid-December statement announcing his turnabout and the study’s unceremonious interment. “If the answer is no, it’s a distraction from the core mission.”
There is certainly no shortage of 2024 election analyses for the asking. The sifting of rubble, pointing of fingers and laying of blame began an eye blink after Donald Trump was declared the winner.
There are prescriptions from the moderate and progressive wings of the party — suggesting, naturally, that Democrats absolutely must move their direction to stand any chance of ever winning again. There are diagnoses from a welter of 2028 presidential hopefuls, declared and undeclared, offering themselves as both seer and Democratic savior.
The report Martin commissioned was, however, supposed to be the definitive word from the party, offering both a clear-eyed look back and a clarion way forward.
“We know that we lost ground with Latino voters,” he said in those searching days before he became party chairman. “We know we lost ground with women and younger voters and, of course, working-class voters. We don’t know the how and why yet.”
As part of the investigation, more than 300 Democrats were interviewed in each of the 50 states. But there was good reason to doubt the integrity of the report, even before Martin pulled out his shovel and started digging.
Which is like setting out to solve a murder by ignoring the weapon used and skipping past the cause of death.
Curious, indeed.
Still, there was predictable outrage when Martin went back on his promise.
“This is a very bad decision that reeks of the caution and complacency that brought us to this moment,” Dan Pfeiffer, an alumnus of the Obama White House, posted on social media.
“The people who volunteered, donated and voted deserve to know what went wrong,” Jamal Simmons, a former Harris vice presidential advisor, told the Hill newspaper. “The DNC should tell them.”
The 98-page report said a smug, uncaring, ideologically rigid party was turning off voters with stale policies that had changed little in decades and was unhelpfully projecting an image that alienated minorities and young voters.
Among its recommendation, the postmortem called on the party to develop “a more welcoming brand of conservatism” and suggested an extensive set of “inclusion” proposals for minority groups, including Latinos, Asians and African Americans. (DEI, anyone?)
“Unless changes are made,” the report concluded, “it will be increasingly difficult for Republicans to win another presidential election in the near future.”
Which suggests the Democratic autopsy, buried or otherwise, is not likely to matter a whole lot when voters go to the polls. (It’s the affordability, stupid.)
That said, Martin should have released the appraisal and not just because of the time and effort invested. There was already Democratic hostility toward the chairman, particularly among donors unhappy with his leadership and performance, and his entombing of the autopsy report won’t help.
Martin gave his word, and breaking it is a needless distraction and blemish on the party.
Besides, a bit of thoughtful self-reflection is never a bad thing. It’s hard to look forward when you’ve got your head stuck in the sand.
Democrat Renee Hardman was elected to the Iowa state Senate on Tuesday in a year-end special election, denying Republicans from reclaiming two-thirds control of the chamber.Hardman bested Republican Lucas Loftin by an overwhelming margin to win a seat representing parts of the Des Moines suburbs. The seat became vacant after the Oct. 6 death of state Sen. Claire Celsi, a Democrat.Hardman, the CEO of nonprofit Lutheran Services of Iowa and a member of the West Des Moines City Council, becomes the first Black woman elected to the 50-member Senate.“I want to recognize that while my name was the one on the ballot, this race was never just about me,” Hardman told a room of supporters in West Des Moines after declaring victory.Her win is latest in a string of special election victories for Iowa Democrats, who flipped two Senate seats this year to break up a supermajority that had allowed Republicans to easily confirm GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds’ appointments to state agencies and commissions.Democrat Mike Zimmer first flipped a seat in January, winning a district that had strongly favored Republican President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. In August, Democrat Catelin Drey handily defeated her GOP opponent in the Republican stronghold of northwestern Iowa, giving Democrats 17 seats to Republicans’ 33. Celsi’s death brought that down to 16.Republicans would have regained two-thirds control with a Loftin victory Tuesday. Without a supermajority, the party will need to get support from at least one Democrat to approve Reynolds’ nominees. The GOP still has significant majorities in both legislative chambers.Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee, called Hardman’s victory “a major check on Republican power.”“With the last special election of the year now decided, one thing is clear: 2025 was the year of Democratic victories and overperformance, and Democrats are on track for big midterm elections,” Martin said.In November the party handily won governors’ races in Virginia and New Jersey and the mayoral election in New York City. Democrats held onto a Kentucky state Senate seat this month in a special election. And while Republican Matt Van Epps won a Tennessee special election for a U.S. House seat, the relatively slim margin of victory gave Democrats hope for next year’s midterms. Democrats nationally need to net three U.S. House seats in 2026 to reclaim the majority and impede Trump’s agenda.Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufmann applauded Loftin and his supporters for putting up a fight in a district he described as “so blue.” Democrats outnumber Republicans in the district by about 3,300 voters, or 37% to 30%.“Although we fell short this time, the Republican Party of Iowa remains laser-focused on expanding our majorities in the Iowa Legislature and keeping Iowa ruby-red,” Kaufmann said.The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee pledged Tuesday to help defend the party’s gains in Iowa and prevent the return of a GOP supermajority next year.
DES MOINES, Iowa —
Democrat Renee Hardman was elected to the Iowa state Senate on Tuesday in a year-end special election, denying Republicans from reclaiming two-thirds control of the chamber.
Hardman bested Republican Lucas Loftin by an overwhelming margin to win a seat representing parts of the Des Moines suburbs. The seat became vacant after the Oct. 6 death of state Sen. Claire Celsi, a Democrat.
Hardman, the CEO of nonprofit Lutheran Services of Iowa and a member of the West Des Moines City Council, becomes the first Black woman elected to the 50-member Senate.
“I want to recognize that while my name was the one on the ballot, this race was never just about me,” Hardman told a room of supporters in West Des Moines after declaring victory.
Her win is latest in a string of special election victories for Iowa Democrats, who flipped two Senate seats this year to break up a supermajority that had allowed Republicans to easily confirm GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds’ appointments to state agencies and commissions.
Democrat Mike Zimmer first flipped a seat in January, winning a district that had strongly favored Republican President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. In August, Democrat Catelin Drey handily defeated her GOP opponent in the Republican stronghold of northwestern Iowa, giving Democrats 17 seats to Republicans’ 33. Celsi’s death brought that down to 16.
Republicans would have regained two-thirds control with a Loftin victory Tuesday. Without a supermajority, the party will need to get support from at least one Democrat to approve Reynolds’ nominees. The GOP still has significant majorities in both legislative chambers.
Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee, called Hardman’s victory “a major check on Republican power.”
“With the last special election of the year now decided, one thing is clear: 2025 was the year of Democratic victories and overperformance, and Democrats are on track for big midterm elections,” Martin said.
In November the party handily won governors’ races in Virginia and New Jersey and the mayoral election in New York City. Democrats held onto a Kentucky state Senate seat this month in a special election. And while Republican Matt Van Epps won a Tennessee special election for a U.S. House seat, the relatively slim margin of victory gave Democrats hope for next year’s midterms. Democrats nationally need to net three U.S. House seats in 2026 to reclaim the majority and impede Trump’s agenda.
Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufmann applauded Loftin and his supporters for putting up a fight in a district he described as “so blue.” Democrats outnumber Republicans in the district by about 3,300 voters, or 37% to 30%.
“Although we fell short this time, the Republican Party of Iowa remains laser-focused on expanding our majorities in the Iowa Legislature and keeping Iowa ruby-red,” Kaufmann said.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee pledged Tuesday to help defend the party’s gains in Iowa and prevent the return of a GOP supermajority next year.
A candidate in the crowded Democratic primary to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky said Tuesday he plans to drop out of the race following a pressure campaign from AIPAC, an influential but controversial pro-Israel lobbying organization.
The development appears to be a boon to state Sen. Laura Fine, another Democratic candidate who supports Israel and seems to have received the interest group’s tacit backing.
Bruce Leon, an Orthodox Jew and a staunch supporter of Israel, said the American Israel Public Affairs Committee pressured him for months to drop out of the 9th Congressional District race to consolidate support for Fine, who has more widespread backing and has been endorsed by dozens of Democratic leaders in the district. AIPAC’s push was previously reported by the outlet Evanston Now.
The final straw for Leon came this week, after AIPAC successfully pressured leaders within his own Orthodox Jewish community to also push him to the sidelines, Leon told the Tribune.
“AIPAC has been breathing down the rabbis’ necks,” Leon, who said he previously donated thousands of dollars annually to the organization, said this week.
The North Side and north suburban 9th District seat has long been held in Congress by Jewish representatives. Before Schakowsky, who is Jewish, was elected in 1998, the district was represented by the late Democratic U.S. Rep. Sidney Yates, who was also Jewish, for nearly five decades. However, changing demographics, redistricting and next year’s open primary could cause that to change.
State Sen. Laura Fine, left, participates in an Illinois 9th Congressional District candidate forum at Oakton College on Oct. 21, 2025, in Skokie. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
AIPAC has sent fundraising messages in support of Fine, and she has received tens of thousands of dollars from AIPAC-aligned donors.
Yet Fine this week continued to say she hadn’t sought the controversial group’s endorsement.
Asked repeatedly Monday whether her campaign had been in contact with AIPAC and how she felt about the organization, Fine didn’t answer directly.
“I’m a proud Jewish woman who supports Israel, and I’m the co-chair of the Jewish Caucus in the Illinois Senate. So it’s no surprise to me that people are putting us together, because I’m a pro-Israel, Jewish woman,” she said.
Fine added that she believes people support her based on her legislative record, which includes measures to improve health care affordability.
Asked whether she would acknowledge the political maneuvers from AIPAC that appeared to be to her benefit, Fine said: “I have no idea, because I have no control over what they do.”
AIPAC’s fundraising arm is the largest pro-Israel political action committee in the country and one of the most powerful for any issue in the country. AIPAC pushes its allies in Congress to support Israel’s interests, including through continued military assistance that has come under scrutiny during Israel’s attacks on Palestinians in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel by Hamas.
AIPAC has also been criticized by progressive Democrats who point out that Republican donors have helped fund AIPAC’s efforts to elect allies of Israel.
The organization fears a win in the competitive congressional district Democratic primary by either Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss or commentator Kat Abughazaleh, two progressives in the race who have been more critical of Israel’s government, Leon said.
Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss participates in an Illinois 9th Congressional District candidate forum at Oakton College on Oct. 21, 2025, in Skokie. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
This week, a “rabbinical edict was communicated to Leon” from top local Orthodox Jewish leaders asking that he drop out of the race “due to community security concerns highlighted by two weeks of lobbying by high level leaders in AIPAC,” according to an email from Leon’s campaign.
Antisemitic violence has been an ongoing concern for Jewish leaders, particularly since the Oct. 7 attack. Leon said he believed AIPAC connected the concern about antisemitic violence to the Democratic primary, suggesting to the Orthodox leaders that a win by a candidate who isn’t aligned with AIPAC’s interests could incite an increase in antisemitism.
AIPAC has also said that a progressive win in the relatively early Illinois primary could trigger a domino effect and more wins for progressive candidates in primaries throughout 2026, Leon said.
Representatives of AIPAC did not respond to requests for comment.
Biss, who is Jewish and whose mother grew up in Israel, has been endorsed by J-Street, a more liberal pro-Israel group than AIPAC. Abughazaleh, a 26-year-old political commentator who rose to prominence through social media, is Palestinian and has been critical of Israel’s attacks on Palestinians.
Kat Abughazaleh participates in an Illinois 9th Congressional District candidate forum at Oakton College on Oct. 21, 2025, in Skokie. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune) whistle
In Fine, AIPAC may see “an opportunity to push back against what was a formidable opponent in Jan Schakowsky,” who represented the district for decades, said Joshua Shanes, a longtime resident of the north suburbs who is now a professor of Jewish history at the University of California-Davis. Schakowsky described herself as a supporter of Israel but at times criticized its government.
Steve Sheffey, a former district resident who now writes a newsletter called the “Pro-Israel Political Update,” believes consolidating pro-Israel support around Fine would be a mistake. Sheffey — who identifies as progressive and supports Biss — said he thinks Biss “is fantastic on Israel,” distinguishing Israel itself and its current government.
“They should not get involved in this race,” Sheffey said of AIPAC. “There are so many races in this country that should matter much more to them.”
Leon said he did not feel it was an option to fight the group of local rabbis who were pushing him out, as he didn’t want to cause a split in his community. He plans to announce an endorsement with a “coalition” on Monday, he said.
“I’m not a rebel here,” Leon said. “Maybe a little bit of a martyr, but not a rebel.”
State Sen. John Hoffman of Minnesota has announced he is running for reelection.
Hoffman, a Democrat, made the announcement on his Facebook page Monday afternoon.
“Minnesotans are tired of the vitriol,” Hoffman, 60, said in the social media post. “We have seen first hand where hate and dehumanization can lead. My family survived it. Decency matters. Speaking up matters.”
He and his wife, Yvette, were shot in their Champlin home in June in what federal and local officials have called politically motivated attacks. Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were fatally shot in their Brooklyn Park home as part of the attacks.
According to Sen. Hoffman, he is seeking reelection to “keep leading with dignity.”
Sen. Hoffman represents Minnesota Senate District 34, which covers a swath of the northwest Twin Cities suburbs, including Rogers and Champlin. He was first elected to the seat in 2012 and has been reelected three times since.
According to the Minnesota Legislature’s website, Sen. Hoffman serves as chair of the Human Services Committee and is vice chair of the Environment and Energy Committee.
The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office filed a formal complaint Friday against Colorado House Rep. Ron Weinberg for alleged campaign finance violations following an investigation that began when Weinberg’s House colleague Brandi Bradley reported suspected violations to the state in August.
Ron Weinberg (Photo courtesy of Ron Weinberg)
Bradley’s complaint alleges that the District 51 representative spent campaign funds on personal expenses, ranging from haircuts and restaurant bills to donations to an Israeli rugby team, between the years of 2023 and 2025. In November, the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office announced that it would investigate Weinberg’s spending, and last week it filed a complaint of its own, which will be heard by a hearing officer by Jan. 20.
The complaint included exhibits of expenses in its report, the earliest being an $84.31 charge at McGraff’s American Grill in Loveland on July 13, 2023, and the most recent being a $96.26 charge at the University Club in Denver on Sept. 18, 2025.
“Although some of these expenditures, in isolation, may be reasonably related to supporting Weinberg’s election, the sheer volume of questionable expenditures is a sharp departure from other candidates and committees,” the Secretary of State’s Office wrote in its complaint Friday.
Expenditures included several payments at Monarch Casino Resort Spa in Blackhawk, which Weinberg said was spent during a stay during a Republican Caucus meeting; a nearly $2,000 donation to the Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club, a donation that Weinberg said was an advertising expenditure that included his campaign logo appearing on the team’s jerseys; and a donation to Mountain View High School in Loveland that the school said it had no record of receiving. Weinberg, in an interview Monday, said that the donation had been for advertising purposes as well as to support a sports team at a local high school, and that he suspected the school’s administrators were mistaken.
He also reported over 100 bar and restaurant bills since 2023, enough that they were included in an exhibit separate from the rest of the expenditures in the complaint.
The thousands of dollars in bar and restaurant expenses, including $3,566.19 at McGraff’s American Grill in Loveland, were likely not all campaign related, the complaint said.
“On information and belief, not all of those expenditures were made for campaign purposes,” it read.
Weinberg said that he hosts many campaign events at McGraff’s, a local establishment near his home in Loveland.
“It’s not personal,” he said. “If it were personal it would be a $25 charge.”
The smallest expense at McGraff’s was $25.56, and most of his expenses at the restaurant ranged between $60 and $100.
Weinberg said that he was confused by the complaint, saying that all expenditures were made through a registered agent, Marge Klein, adding that it was suspicious that the expenditures, which had been publicly available for years prior to Bradley’s complaint, had come so soon after Weinberg made a play for a leadership position in the Colorado House earlier this year.
“It’s odd that I run for Republican leadership, and all this stuff that’s been out for years suddenly surfaces,” he said. “It seems suspicious. It’s not a coincidence. These charges that they’re talking about have been in the public eye for three years. It’s not like they found a hidden box of receipts under my bed.”
Candidates for public office file periodic campaign finance reports detailing incoming and outgoing funds, and the expenditures mentioned in the complaint have been publicly available on the Secretary of State’s website since shortly after they were made.
Weinberg said he was looking forward to a hearing where he could defend the expenditures.
The Secretary of State’s Office contracts with an outside attorney for such hearings, and that hearing will be scheduled by Jan. 20. After the hearing officer renders a decision, either party can appeal, at which point the Colorado Attorney General’s Office would represent the Secretary of State.
The complaint did not specify a penalty if Weinberg is found to have violated campaign finance laws but did reference a Colorado State statute that included potential fines, return of the misspent funds, and certain clarifications from the candidate.
President Trump said Thursday evening he is granting a pardon to Tina Peters, a former Colorado county clerk who is serving a nine-year state sentence for allowing unauthorized access to voting machines — even though the president’s pardon power is widely understood to only apply to federal crimes.
“Democrats have been relentless in their targeting of TINA PETERS, a Patriot who simply wanted to make sure that our Elections were Fair and Honest,” the president claimed on Truth Social, though Peters was prosecuted by an elected Republican district attorney. “Tina is sitting in a Colorado prison for the ‘crime’ of demanding Honest Elections.”
Mr. Trump claimed Peters was trying to “expose Voter Fraud” in 2020. The president has long insisted, without evidence, that he lost the 2020 race due to fraud, claims that were promoted by Peters, a onetime candidate for Colorado secretary of state.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said in a statement Thursday that “Tina Peters was convicted by a jury of her peers for state crimes in a state Court. Trump has no constitutional authority to pardon her. His assault is not just on our democracy, but on states’ rights and the American constitution.”
“One of the most basic principles of our constitution is that states have independent sovereignty and manage our own criminal justice systems without interference from the federal government,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a separate statement. “The idea that a president could pardon someone tried and convicted in state court has no precedent in American law, would be an outrageous departure from what our constitution requires, and will not hold up.”
A former Mesa County clerk, Peters was convicted in state court last year on seven charges, including three counts of attempting to influence a public servant and one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation. She was sentenced in October 2024.
Tina Peters
Mesa County
Prosecutors have alleged that in 2021, Peters and others “devised and executed a deceptive scheme” to cause an unauthorized person to access Mesa County voting machines. Images from the county’s voting equipment later showed up online. Prosecutors said that Peters — who was aligned with national figures who have falsely claimed that voting machines were rigged in 2020 — became “fixated” on alleged voting problems.
At a sentencing hearing late last year, Judge Matthew Barrett called Peters a “charlatan” and “as defiant as a defendant as this court has ever seen.” Peters has denied wrongdoing, and she insisted before her sentencing that she had “never done anything with malice to break the law.”
Earlier this week, a federal magistrate judge rejected Peters’ request to be released while she appeals her conviction.
“Tina Peters was convicted by a jury of her peers, prosecuted by a Republican District Attorney and in a Republican county of Colorado and found guilty of violating Colorado state laws including criminal impersonation,” Democratic Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement Thursday. “No President has jurisdiction over state law nor the power to pardon a person for state convictions. This is a matter for the courts to decide, and we will abide by court orders.”
Mr. Trump has taken an interest in Peters’ case, warning in August that he would take “harsh measures” if she wasn’t let out of state custody. The Federal Bureau of Prisons asked the state of Colorado last month to transfer her to federal custody, drawing pushback from state officials and calls for Polis to deny the request.
Meanwhile, an attorney representing Peters argued in a letter last week that Mr. Trump may have the power to pardon the former Mesa County clerk.
Under the Constitution, the president’s pardon power applies to “Offences against the United States,” which is almost universally understood not to include state crimes. But Peters’ lawyer, Peter Ticktin, laid out a theory that the power could extend to the states. Ticktin acknowledged that the issue “has never been raised in any court.”
In a statement late Thursday, Ticktin thanked Mr. Trump and argued that Peters “needs to be released while the issues are being resolved,” including while courts weigh whether she should be released due to the president’s pardon.
“I am greatly thankful for President Trump,” Ticktin said in an email to CBS News. “He has always been true to his beliefs and continues to fight against injustice. God bless our President.”
CBS News has reached out to the White House for comment.
Mr. Trump has intervened on behalf of others who back his false election fraud claims. Shortly after his inauguration in January, Mr. Trump offered pardons or commutations to everybody convicted in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
The president also granted pardons last month to dozens of people accused in state court of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss, including “alternate state electors” and his former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers has assembled a campaign team of extremist pastors and activists who have long opposed LGBTQ+ rights and promoted false claims about election fraud, a Metro Times review shows.
Rogers, a former FBI agent and Republican congressman who narrowly lost the 2024 Senate race to Democrat Elissa Slotkin, launched his 2026 Senate bid in April. As part of his campaign, he created a “Faith Coalition Leadership Team” whose members include hard-right conservatives with well-documented histories of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and attempts to overturn or undermine past election results. The team includes members who openly opposed gay marriage and LGBTQ+ rights, encouraged the practice of conversion therapy on minors, and shared extreme anti-gay rhetoric that included calling LGBTQ+ rights “demonic, satanic, and wicked.”
The makeup of the council aligns with Rogers’s own record of voting against LGBTQ+ protections during his time in Congress. During his 14 years in the U.S. House, he consistently opposed expanding federal protections for LGBTQ+ people, including voting against efforts to add sexual orientation or gender identity to federal civil rights statutes. More recently, he has criticized Title IX protections for transgender students and has spoken out against transgender athletes participating in school sports.
One of the most prominent members of the coalition is former Michigan Civil Rights Commissioner Linda Lee Tarver, who repeatedly fought efforts to extend basic protections to LGBTQ+ residents while serving on the commission. In 2017, when Equality Michigan asked the commission to interpret the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act as covering sexual orientation and gender identity, Tarver pushed for an outright rejection, saying, “We’re not here to expand law; it is not within our purview.”
Tarver’s public statements went even further. On Facebook in February 2021, when President Joe Biden wanted to add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes, she wrote that “God designed the husband to be a MAN and the wife to be a WOMAN” and called federal LGBTQ+ protections a “godless, demonic, satanic and wicked agenda of the devil.”
Another coalition member, Pastor Lorenzo Sewell, has preached that LGBTQ+ civil rights undermine Christian teachings. In June, he insisted that extending civil rights to LGBTQ+ residents will “superimpose your sexuality on our culture,” urging congregants to pray against what he described as an “abomination.”
Another coalition member, attorney Alexandria Taylor, is an election conspiracy theorist who was sanctioned by a Wayne County judge for filing a baseless 2022 lawsuit claiming widespread wrongdoing in Detroit’s election. The judge found the case “devoid of arguable legal merit” and “rife with speculation.”
Meerman, who was also appointed to the coalition, was involved in efforts to undermine the 2020 election and was named an “election denier” by States United Action, a nonpartisan group “with a mission to protect elections.”
Coalition member John Damoose, a Republican state senator from Harbor Springs, also opposed both bills.
When Rogers announced his coalition last month, he said the members will “lead grassroots outreach to faith communities, building important relationships, sharing Mike’s America First vision, and mobilizing people of faith across Michigan.”
“This campaign is built on faith, family, and freedom, and I will fight as your next U.S. Senator to defend those values every single day,” Rogers said in a statement at the time. “We look forward to working with this all-star team of faith leaders to protect and defend the religious freedoms that make our state and country the ‘shining city on a hill.’”
In a statement to Metro Times, Rogers’s campaign downplayed the extreme positions of the coalition members, suggesting Rogers couldn’t possibly know the views of all of them.
“Mike has had thousands of volunteers for his campaigns. There’s no way for him to know every view of every volunteer—no candidate does,” the campaign said. “These volunteers get involved not because they agree 100% of the time but because they know Mike is the only candidate who can get Michigan working again and deliver for working families.”
Responding to Metro Times‘s story, the Michigan Democratic Party denounced Rogers for surrounding himself with divisive figures at a time when residents are already divided.
“Mike Rogers is surrounding himself with election deniers and extremists who want to ban marriage equality and force conversion therapy on minors—all while championing policies that make life more expensive and rip away health care,” Michigan Democratic Party spokesperson Joey Hannum said. “Instead of focusing on how to make Michigan more welcoming and affordable for everyone, Rogers is running a hateful, out-of-touch campaign that pits neighbors against each other and makes everybody worse off.”
