Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico on Thursday slammed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, his Republican opponent, for a plea deal his office offered a Waco man who was charged with repeatedly sexually abusing a young boy. Speaking from the steps of the McLennan County Courthouse in Waco, Talarico demanded that Paxton release communications from Read More…
A new poll shows Democrats and independents divided between two candidates running against Republican Kurt Alme in Montana’s U.S. Senate race, with the split vote giving Alme a substantial overall lead. The survey, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies from June 8-11 among 500 likely voters, found Alme leading the general election ballot with 44% support, Read More…
Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) said Wednesday that his bipartisan “America the Beautiful Act,” co-authored with Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), has passed out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and is headed to the Senate floor. The committee approved the bill, S. 1547, by voice vote, along with a bipartisan substitute amendment offered by Read More…
A Montana ballot initiative promising to strip dark money from elections is itself being bankrolled almost entirely by a so-called dark money organization — a glaring contradiction that even its own organizers can barely keep a straight face about. The Montana Plan, known as Initiative 194, is being pushed by the Transparent Election Initiative, a Read More…
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico on Thursday slammed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, his Republican opponent, for a plea deal his office offered a Waco man who was charged with repeatedly sexually abusing a young boy. Speaking from the steps of the McLennan County Courthouse in Waco, Talarico demanded that Paxton release communications from Read More…
A new poll shows Democrats and independents divided between two candidates running against Republican Kurt Alme in Montana’s U.S. Senate race, with the split vote giving Alme a substantial overall lead. The survey, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies from June 8-11 among 500 likely voters, found Alme leading the general election ballot with 44% support, Read More…
Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) said Wednesday that his bipartisan “America the Beautiful Act,” co-authored with Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), has passed out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and is headed to the Senate floor. The committee approved the bill, S. 1547, by voice vote, along with a bipartisan substitute amendment offered by Read More…
(The Center Square) – The controversial union-backed billionaire tax in California is officially heading to the Nov. 3 ballot. Secretary of State Shirley Weber announced the California Billionaire Tax Act exceeded the number of signatures it needed to qualify for the general election. The initiative aims to impose a one-time 5% wealth tax on the Read More…
The U.S. House of Representatives passed Congressman Ryan Zinke’s Allied Defense Sales Act, legislation designed to strengthen American manufacturing by making it easier for allied nations to jointly purchase U.S.-made defense equipment while deepening strategic partnerships abroad. The bill represented a continuation of Zinke’s work as Chairman of the Foreign Military Sales Task Force, where Read More…
U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) is taking aim at unauthorized disclosures of taxpayer information, introducing bipartisan legislation that would dramatically increase criminal and civil penalties for those who mishandle or leak Americans’ sensitive tax data. Daines introduced the bill alongside Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), amending the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to crack down Read More…
A Montana ballot initiative promising to strip dark money from elections is itself being bankrolled almost entirely by a so-called dark money organization — a glaring contradiction that even its own organizers can barely keep a straight face about. The Montana Plan, known as Initiative 194, is being pushed by the Transparent Election Initiative, a Read More…
Western Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke joined House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) and Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) in introducing the Great American Outdoors Act 250, legislation designed to reauthorize and modernize one of President Trump’s signature conservation achievements ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary. Zinke, a former Secretary of the Interior and Read More…
A Montana district court judge has dealt a significant blow to embattled state Sen. Jason Ellsworth, rejecting all five motions filed by his attorneys seeking to dismiss a criminal corruption charge — while simultaneously reinstating him to office after a suspension tied to the ongoing case. Ellsworth, a Hamilton Republican and former Senate president, was Read More…
Britney Tennant, chief executive of the Cheyenne Animal Shelter and longtime nonprofit leader, announced her candidacy for the Wyoming House of Representatives in District 11, running as a Democrat on a platform centered on unity, public education and economic opportunity. Tennant brings deep Wyoming roots to her campaign. A fifth-generation Wyomingite and graduate of Cheyenne Read More…
WASHINGTON — One of the lawyers who defended Attorney General Ken Paxton during his three-year-old impeachment trial endorsed Democrat James Talarico Monday in Texas’ U.S. Senate race. Dan Cogdell, a veteran Houston attorney who represented Paxton in his long-running felony securities fraud case and his 2023 impeachment, announced his support for Talarico in an interview Read More…
(The Center Square) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pledged in two congressional hearings this week to cut the federal deficit to 3% of GDP, a target the government’s own budget projections do not currently support. Bessent repeated the goal before both the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, telling lawmakers Read More…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order reclassifying approximately 8,000 policy-influencing federal positions into a new category called Schedule Policy/Career, making it significantly easier for agencies to remove employees who perform poorly, engage in misconduct, or resist presidential directives. The order targeted the highest-ranking career positions outside of the Senior Executive Service, with Read More…
(The Center Square) – The United States has about 20 years to change course on its national debt before it reaches the estimated limits of its debt capacity, according to new research from the Penn Wharton Budget Model. Researchers estimate the outer limit of U.S. debt capacity at about 210% of gross domestic product. At Read More…
National Democrats on Wednesday unveiled their most ambitious list of targets in the Texas House in years, adding a dozen districts, on top of three previously announced seats, to their battleground docket for the fall midterms. Twelve of the Texas districts targeted by the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, an arm of the national party that Read More…
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson used the weekly House Republican Leadership press conference Tuesday to highlight new Treasury Department data showing the Working Families Tax Cuts delivered the largest share of tax relief to lower and middle income earners, while simultaneously calling on Democrats to support a trio of Republican bills targeting waste, fraud, Read More…
WASHINGTON — A handful of Senate Republicans this week joined Democrats to oppose a controversial Trump nominee and vote against the president’s “anti-weaponization fund” and East Wing ballroom — the latest display of defection from a band of GOP moderates, retiring members and vulnerable incumbents in the upper chamber. Sen. John Cornyn was not among Read More…
WASHINGTON — Retiring Western Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke secured more than $22 million in community project funding and a broad range of Montana agriculture and policy priorities across three fiscal year 2027 appropriations bills that advanced through the House last week. The FY27 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations Act passed the full Read More…
Retired combat veteran and conservative broadcaster Aaron Flint won the Republican primary for Montana’s Western Congressional District Tuesday, defeating Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen and former state senator Al Olszewski to capture the Republican nomination for the seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Ryan Zinke. Flint’s victory was decisive, powered by a broad endorsement coalition Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — Former U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme and Air Force veteran Alani Bankhead emerged Tuesday as the Republican and Democratic nominees for Montana’s open U.S. Senate seat, setting up a three-way November race that could include independent Seth Bodnar pending signature certification. Alme, twice appointed as U.S. Attorney by President Trump, was the first Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez traveled to Missoula Thursday to headline a campaign rally for Democratic congressional candidate Sam Forstag, bringing national progressive star power to Montana’s competitive Western District primary in its final days before the June 2 vote. The event was held at The Wilma in downtown Missoula, a venue with Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — Independent U.S. Senate candidate Seth Bodnar appears on track to qualify for Montana’s November general election ballot after county election officials certified more than 18,000 signatures and forwarded them to the Secretary of State’s Office for final verification, according to an unofficial tally released Friday. Bodnar’s campaign needed 13,327 valid signatures to Read More…
Attorney General Ken Paxton won the Republican primary runoff for U.S. Senate Tuesday, ending over three decades of Sen. John Cornyn’s electoral dominance in what amounts to a watershed moment for GOP politics in Texas. The Associated Press called the race for Paxton shortly after 8 p.m., about an hour after most polls closed in Read More…
(The Center Square) – Pennsylvania government has a $5.7 billion problem, and close observers of those running the state don’t anticipate seeing a full solution 46 days from now when the 2026-27 budget deadline arrives. The latest projection from the state Independent Fiscal Office is for a budget deficit of $5.7 billion next fiscal year. Read More…
(The Center Square) – Parental rights group the American Parents Coalition is urging Congress to review federal funding of the American Academy of Pediatrics, alleging that the organization prioritizes politics and gender ideology before children’s health while using tax dollars. Executive director of American Parents Coalition Alleigh Marré told The Center Square that “President [Donald] Trump’s Read More…
A new survey of likely GOP primary voters in Montana’s 1st Congressional District shows Aaron Flint holding a narrow lead in a race where one-third of voters remain undecided, with significant room for ballot movement ahead of the June 2 primary election. The poll, conducted May 5-7 by Public Opinion Strategies, surveyed 400 likely Republican Read More…
(The Center Square) – Democratic senators are advancing a series of proposals to tax America’s wealthiest households, with supporters projecting trillions in new federal revenue. Critics, however, argue the plans would generate far less than promised while creating economic and legal complications. Democrats have introduced four major proposals this year aimed at millionaires and billionaires. Read More…
The bipartisan legislation aims to stabilize American defense production lines by coordinating group buys among smaller allied nations that struggle to navigate the current arms sales process. Rep. Ryan Zinke (R., Mont.) and Rep. Ami Bera (D., Calif.) introduced legislation Thursday that would make it easier for groups of allied countries to jointly purchase American-made Read More…
A former state senator has publicly identified herself for the first time as the source of a confidential 2018 sexual harassment complaint against state Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, directly challenging his recent claims that allegations against him are part of a politically motivated smear campaign. Jennifer Gross disclosed Friday in a post on her Substack Read More…
U.S. Senators Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) have introduced a bipartisan resolution commemorating May 5th, 2026, as a National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. “On this year’s National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, we remember with a heavy heart all those who have Read More…
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen joined the U.S. Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) at a press conference in Washington, D.C. to support the Trump Administration’s efforts to strengthen the Second Amendment and reduce burdens on law-abiding gun owners. “Today is a day of celebration for lawful gun Read More…
U.S. Senators Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) have introduced the China-Africa Mining Transparency Act of 2026, a bipartisan bill aimed at exposing China’s use of forced labor, child labor, and environmental abuse in critical mineral mining operations across Africa. “As we restore American energy dominance and onshore critical mineral production, it is imperative Read More…
U.S. Senators Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy, along with Congressmen Ryan Zinke (MT-01) and Troy Downing (MT-02), sent a letter to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation requesting funding to repair the St. Mary Diversion Dam and Canal in northwestern Montana. The delegation is urging the Bureau of Reclamation to consider the St. Mary Diversion Dam Read More…
Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks after House Republicans ended what he characterized as a Democrat-driven DHS shutdown and passed a budget resolution to fund immigration enforcement and border security for three years, a move Republicans say will prevent future efforts to reopen the border or halt the removal of criminal illegal immigrants. House Republicans also Read More…
The North Dakota Supreme Court welcomed its newest member as Justice Friese was officially installed during a formal investiture ceremony. Chief Justice Lisa Fair McEvers was joined by Justices Jon J. Jensen and Jerod E. Tufte in welcoming attendees to the ceremony. Debra L. Hoffarth, President of the State Bar Association of North Dakota, presented Read More…
Congressman Ryan Zinke announced the House passage of the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, commonly known as the Farm Bill, a comprehensive piece of legislation designed to strengthen American agriculture, support rural communities, and improve forest and land management. The bill includes six provisions sponsored or co-sponsored by Zinke. “The Farm Bill Read More…
Sam Mead, a Jackson rancher and fifth-generation member of a prominent Wyoming political family, has announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate, becoming the latest Republican to enter the open-seat race. Mead is the fourth candidate overall and the third Republican seeking the seat after Cynthia Lummis announced in December that she would not seek Read More…
Gov. Greg Gianforte has appointed a seven-member advisory council to help review candidates for the vacant district court judgeship in Montana’s Sixth Judicial District, which serves Park County and Sweet Grass County. The council will assist the governor in evaluating the lone applicant for the position, Livingston attorney Rebecca Robyn Swandal, after the application and Read More…
Gov. Larry Rhoden has appointed Chad Callahan as a circuit judge in the Fourth Circuit, filling a vacancy created by the retirement of Mike Day. Rhoden praised Callahan’s integrity and professionalism, saying he is confident the judge will uphold the rule of law, treat everyone fairly in the courtroom, and serve the state well. Callahan Read More…
Raúl Labrador sharply criticized a series of political advertisements he said falsely invoke his office and the state’s Internet Crimes Against Children unit, calling the attacks deceptive and shameful. Labrador’s comments came in response to ads from a political organization known as Idaho Values First that claim certain Idaho lawmakers voted against funding for the Read More…