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Republican US Rep. Elise Stefanik is running for governor of New York
Legal Tribune |
2025/11/07 08:24
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U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, a close Republican ally of President Donald Trump, announced Friday that she’s running for governor of New York, a place she depicted in a campaign launch video as being “in ashes” because of lawlessness and a high cost of living.
In her video, a narrator declares “The Empire State has fallen” as it painted a grim picture of crime and economic crisis in New York City, though her message appeared to be aimed at other, more conservative parts of the state that she will need to win over next year.
“Under Kathy Hochul’s failed leadership, New York is the most unaffordable state in the nation with the highest taxes, highest energy, utilities, rent, and grocery prices crushing hardworking families,” Stefanik said in a statement.
Stefanik, who represents a conservative congressional district in upstate New York, has for months teased a run, leveling heavy criticism at incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul and more recently toward Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City.
Last year, Trump picked Stefanik to be the administration’s ambassador to the United Nations, but later rescinded the nomination over concerns about Republicans’ tight margins in the House.
Though any Republican faces long odds of winning the governor’s mansion in New York, Stefanik’s campaign will bring solid name recognition, fundraising prowess and deep ties to the White House. Her campaign announced Friday that she has received the backing of nearly three-quarters of the state’s county Republican chairs.
In a statement, Hochul campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika called Stefanik “Donald Trump’s number one cheerleader in Congress.”
“Apparently, screwing over New Yorkers in Congress wasn’t enough — now she’s trying to bring Trump’s chaos and skyrocketing costs to our state,” Chitika said.
The Republican primary field remains unclear ahead of the 2026 race. U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler had been contemplating a run and was considered a potentially strong candidate, but said earlier this year that he would instead seek reelection in his battleground House district in the New York Hudson Valley.
Hochul faces a contested primary, with her own lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado, running against her.
Stefanik, a Harvard graduate, was 30 when she was first elected to the House in 2014. She entered Congress as a moderate Republican but soon attached herself to Trump, reshaping her persona into more of a brash, outspoken MAGA disciple.
Her national profile got a big boost after she aggressively questioned a group of university presidents over antisemitism on their campuses, leading to two of their resignations and winning praise from the Republican president.
Democrats have a major voter registration edge in New York. The last Republican governor in the state was former Gov. George Pataki, who left office about two decades ago. Still, Republican Lee Zeldin, a former Long Island congressman and current head of the Environmental Protection Agency, made a serious run for the office in 2022, coming within striking distance of upsetting Hochul. |
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California voters take up Prop 50, a Democratic push for more US House seats
Legal Tribune |
2025/11/01 08:25
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The national battle to control the U.S. House shifts to California on Tuesday as voters consider a Democratic proposal that could erase as many as five Republican districts and blunt President Donald Trump’s moves to safeguard his party’s lock on Washington power.
The outcome will reverberate into next year’s midterm elections and beyond, with Democrats hoping a victory will set the stage for the party to regain control of the House in 2026. A shift in the majority would imperil Trump’s agenda for the remainder of his term at a time of deep partisan divisions over immigration, health care and the future direction of the nation.
“God help us if we lose in California,” Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom says.
Democrats need to gain just three seats in the 2026 elections to take control of the House.
Heavily Democratic California and its 52 congressional districts represent by far the Democrats’ best opportunity in an unprecedented state-by-state redistricting battle, which started when Texas Republicans heeded Trump’s demand that they redraw their boundaries to help the GOP retain its House majority. Democrats hold 43 of the state’s seats and hope to boost that to 48.
Trump is fighting not just the Democrats but history. Midterm elections typically punish the party in the White House, but four GOP-led states so far have adopted new district maps to pack more Republican voters into key districts.
Measure supported by Newsom, Obama
California’s Proposition 50 asks voters to suspend House maps drawn by an independent commission and replace them with rejiggered districts adopted by the Democratic-controlled Legislature. Those new districts would be in place for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections.
The recast districts aim to dilute Republican voters’ power, in one case by uniting rural, conservative-leaning parts of far northern California with Marin County, a famously liberal coastal stronghold across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.
The measure has been spearheaded by Newsom, who has thrown the weight of his political operation behind it in a major test of his mettle ahead of a potential 2028 presidential campaign. Former President Barack Obama has urged voters to pass it as well.
Newsom has sought to nationalize the campaign, depicting the proposal as a counterweight to all things Trump.
“Republicans want to steal enough seats in Congress to rig the next election and wield unchecked power for two more years,” Obama says in one ad. “You can stop Republicans in their tracks.”
Critics say two wrongs don’t make a right. They urge Californians to reject what they call a Democratic power grab, even if they have misgivings about Trump’s moves in Republican-led states.
Among the most prominent critics is Arnold Schwarzenegger, the movie star and former Republican governor who pushed for the creation of the independent commission, which voters approved in 2008 and 2010. It makes no sense to fight Trump by becoming him, Schwarzenegger said in September, arguing that the proposal would “take the power away from the people.”
“I don’t want Newsom to have control,” said Rebecca Fleshman, a 63-year-old retired medical assistant from Norco in Southern California, who voted against the measure. “I don’t want the state to be blue. I want it to be red.”
After an early burst of TV advertising, opponents of the plan have struggled to raise cash in a state with some of the nation’s most expensive media markets. Data compiled by advertising tracker AdImpact last week showed Democrats and other supporters with over $5 million in ad buys booked on broadcast TV, cable and radio. But opponents had virtually no time reserved, though the data didn’t include some popular streaming services like Hulu and YouTube or mail advertising.
Total spending on broadcast and cable ads topped $100 million, with more than two-thirds of it coming from supporters. Newsom told people to stop donating in the race’s final weeks.
Trump, who overwhelmingly lost California in his three presidential campaigns, largely stayed out of the fray. A week before the election, he urged voters in a social media post not to vote early or by mail — messaging that conflicts with that of top Republicans in the state who urged people to get their ballots in as soon as possible.
Democrats hope to pick up as many as five seats in California if voters approve the new boundaries, offsetting the five that Republicans hope to pick up through their new Texas maps. Republicans also expect to gain one seat each from new maps in Missouri and North Carolina, and potentially two more in Ohio.
Congressional district boundaries are typically redrawn every 10 years to reflect population shifts documented in the census. Mid-decade redistricting is unusual, absent a court order finding fault with the maps in place.
Five other GOP-led states are also considering new maps: Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana and Nebraska. On the Democratic side, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New York and Virginia have proposals to redraw maps, but major hurdles remain.
A court has ordered new boundaries be drawn in Utah, where all four House districts are represented by Republicans, but it remains to be seen if the state will approve a map that makes any of them winnable for Democrats. |
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Man pleads not guilty to sparking deadly Palisades Fire in Los Angeles
Court Updates |
2025/10/25 16:43
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A 29-year-old man accused of sparking the deadly Palisades Fire, one of the most destructive wildfires in California history, pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal charges.
Jonathan Rinderknecht appeared in federal court Thursday afternoon after arriving in Los Angeles from Florida earlier in the day, his attorney Steve Haney said. A judge ordered that he remain in custody ahead of his trial.
Federal officials said Rinderknecht, who lived in the area, started a small fire on New Year’s Day that smoldered underground before reigniting nearly a week later and roaring through Pacific Palisades, home to many of Los Angeles’ rich and famous.
The fire, which left 12 dead in the hillside neighborhoods across Pacific Palisades and Malibu, was one of two blazes that broke out on Jan. 7, killing more than 30 people in all and destroying over 17,000 homes and buildings while burning for days in Los Angeles County.
Haney told the judge he took issue with the fact that Rinderknecht was facing charges for the Palisades Fire when he allegedly started the smaller fire beforehand known as the Lachman Fire.
“My client is being charged with a fire that started seven days after,” he said.
Rinderknecht was staying at his sister’s house in Orlando when he was arrested by federal officials on Oct. 7. He made his first court appearance the next day in Florida on a charge of malicious destruction by means of a fire.
A week later, a grand jury indicted him on additional charges including one count of arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, and one count of timber set afire. If convicted, he would face up to 20 years in federal prison.
Rinderknecht’s trial is set for December 16.
On Thursday, he appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver wearing a white jumpsuit. His attorney argued that he should be released on bail, based on the evaluation of court officials in Florida.
Rinderknecht has no documented history of mental health issues, drug use, or prior criminal activity, Haney said.
However, the judge in Florida who ordered Rinderknecht to be detained said he had concerns about the Rinderknecht’s mental health and his ability to get to California for future court hearings.
He appeared agitated when the judge in Los Anglees again ordered that he remain in jail, interjecting into the microphone, “Can I actually say something about detainment?”
Haney said they planned to return to the judge with additional evidence for why Rinderknecht should be released on bail.
“He’s a frustrated young man,” Haney said after the hearing. “He doesn’t know why he’s in jail right now.”
Haney said they plan to argue that even if Rinderknecht was the cause of the initial smaller fire on New Year’s Day, there were several “intervening factors” in the week between that day and when the Palisades Fire ignited, mainly the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Rinderknecht made several 911 calls to report the fire, according to a criminal complaint. Federal officials called the Palisades blaze a “holdover fire” from the Jan. 1 fire, which was not fully extinguished by firefighters, the complaint said.
The city’s interim fire chief said such fires linger in root systems and can reach depths of 15 to 20 feet (4.6 to over 6 meters), making them undetectable by thermal imaging cameras.
“They had a duty to put the fire out,” Haney said. “I do think he’s a scapegoat.”
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‘No Kings’ protests against Trump bring a street party vibe to cities
Court Updates |
2025/10/20 16:40
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Large crowds of protesters marched and rallied in cities across the U.S. Saturday for “ No Kings ” demonstrations decrying what participants see as the government’s swift drift into authoritarianism under President Donald Trump.
People carrying signs with slogans such as “Nothing is more patriotic than protesting” or “Resist Fascism” packed into New York City’s Times Square and rallied by the thousands in parks in Boston, Atlanta and Chicago. Demonstrators marched through Washington and downtown Los Angeles and picketed outside capitols in several Republican-led states, a courthouse in Billings, Montana, and at hundreds of smaller public spaces.
Trump’s Republican Party disparaged the demonstrations as “Hate America” rallies, but in many places the events looked more like a street party. There were marching bands, huge banners with the U.S. Constitution’s “We The People” preamble that people could sign, and demonstrators wearing inflatable costumes, particularly frogs, which have emerged as a sign of resistance in Portland, Oregon.
It was the third mass mobilization since Trump’s return to the White House and came against the backdrop of a government shutdown that not only has closed federal programs and services but is testing the core balance of power, as an aggressive executive confronts Congress and the courts in ways that protest organizers warn are a slide toward authoritarianism.
In Washington, Iraq War Marine veteran Shawn Howard said he had never participated in a protest before but was motivated to show up because of what he sees as the Trump administration’s “disregard for the law.” He said immigration detentions without due process and deployments of troops in U.S. cities are “un-American” and alarming signs of eroding democracy.
“I fought for freedom and against this kind of extremism abroad,” said Howard, who added that he also worked at the CIA for 20 years on counter-extremism operations. “And now I see a moment in America where we have extremists everywhere who are, in my opinion, pushing us to some kind of civil conflict.”
Trump, meanwhile, was spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
“They say they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” the president said in a Fox News interview that aired early Friday, before he departed for a $1 million-per-plate MAGA Inc. fundraiser at his club.
A Trump campaign social media account mocked the protests by posting a computer-generated video of the president clothed like a monarch, wearing a crown and waving from a balcony.
In San Francisco hundreds of people spelled out “No King!” and other phrases with their bodies on Ocean Beach. Hayley Wingard, who was dressed as the Statue of Liberty, said she too had never been to a protest before. Only recently she began to view Trump as a “dictator.”
“I was actually OK with everything until I found that the military invasion in Los Angeles and Chicago and Portland — Portland bothered me the most, because I’m from Portland, and I don’t want the military in my cities. That’s scary,” Wingard said.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in Portland for a peaceful demonstration downtown. Later in the day, tensions grew as a few hundred protesters and counterprotesters showed up at a U.S. Immigration and Customs enforcement building, with federal agents at times firing tear gas to disperse the crowd and city police threatening to make arrests if demonstrators blocked streets.
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Federal workers fear layoffs as the government shutdown drags on
Legal Tribune |
2025/10/15 07:52
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With every passing day of the government shutdown, hundreds of thousands of federal employees furloughed or working without pay face mounting financial strain. And now they are confronting new uncertainty with the Trump administration’s promised layoffs.
Little progress has been made to end the shutdown as it enters its third week, with Republicans and Democrats digging in and convinced their messaging is resonating with voters. The fate of the federal workers is among several pressure points that could eventually push the sides to agree to resolve the stalemate.
“Luckily I was able to pay rent this month,” said Peter Farruggia, a furloughed federal worker. “But for sure I am going to have bills that are going to go unpaid this month, and I really don’t have many options.”
The shutdown has a familiar feel for many federal employees who endured past stalemates — including during President Donald Trump’s first term — but this time, the stakes are higher. The Republican White House is leveraging federal workers’ jobs to pressure Democrats to soften their demands.
The shutdown began on Oct. 1 after Democrats rejected a short-term funding fix and demanded that the bill include an extension of federal subsidies for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Trump and other Republican leaders have said the government must reopen before they will negotiate with Democrats on the health subsidies.
Farruggia is the head of the American Federation of Government Employees local representing employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency that faced a wave of layoffs over the weekend. Like 8,000 other CDC employees who have been furloughed from the agency, he was already living paycheck to paycheck, and the partial pay that arrived Friday was his last until the government comes back online.
With the agency’s leadership in turmoil and still rattled from a shooting, the shutdown and new firings mean “people are scared, nervous, anxious, but also really just exasperated,” Farruggia said.
After Russ Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said last week on social media that the “RIFs have begun,” referring to reduction-in-force plans aimed at reducing the size of the federal government, Vice President JD Vance doubled down on the threat Sunday, saying “the longer this goes on, the deeper the cuts are going to be.”
The layoffs have begun across federal agencies. Labor unions have already filed a lawsuit to stop the move by Trump’s budget office.
In a court filing on Friday, the Office of Management and Budget said well over 4,000 federal employees from eight departments and agencies would be fired in conjunction with the shutdown.
Jessica Sweet, an Albany, New York, Social Security claims specialist who is a union steward of AFGE Local 3343 in New York, said, “I, myself, have a backup plan” in case she is fired during the shutdown, “but I know most people don’t.”
She says the Social Security Administration is already so short-staffed from layoffs earlier this year brought on by the Department of Government Efficiency, she doesn’t fear a massive layoff during the shutdown.
Workers used as ‘political pawns’
National Treasury Employees Union President Doreen Greenwald, which represents workers across dozens of federal agencies, said several of the union’s members had been laid off as of Friday. The Treasury Department would lose 1,446 workers, according to the filing.
Greenwald said it was unfortunate that the Trump administration was using “federal employees as political pawns by furloughing and proposing to fire them all to try to cause pressure in a political game of chicken.”
“This isn’t about one party or the other. It’s about real people,” said Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees.
“The correction officer worrying about his next paycheck. The TSA officer who still shows up to work because he or she loves their country, even though they’re not getting paid. No American should ever have to choose between serving their country and feeding their family,” Kelley said.
Kelley and other major federal worker union leaders gathered blocks from the Capitol last week, urging congressional leaders to find a solution and put “people over politics.” The event grew emotional at times, with union heads outlining the difficulties facing their members and the stakes growing daily.
Randy Erwin, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees, which represents 110,000 workers nationwide, called on both sides of Congress to find a resolution. He said Trump appeared to aim to “degrade, frighten, antagonize hardworking federal employees.”
Chris Bartley, political program coordinator for the International Association of Fire Fighters, said thousands of firefighters were showing up for work without pay out of a sense of devotion but stressed that could have broader consequences.
“Families go without income,” Bartley said. “Morale and retention suffer. Public safety is compromised.” |
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