Today’s notice: 50 states, 50 redistricting stories. What Rep. Lisa McClain’s OBBB sales pitch sounds like. Why Democrats feel good-ish about Iowa. And: Why the anti-abortion movement feels good about everything.
THE LATEST
Redistricting war: It’s everywhere now, which means the eccentricities of state legislatures are coming into view.
Missouri: cold feet? “I started thinking about, what if the tables were turned and the Democrats had the majority?” Republican state Sen. Mike Moon told the local press recently. NOTUS’ Emily Kennard reports that the GOP-controlled General Assembly is not as gung ho about redrawing as other states are.
Nebraska: getting curious. Retiring Rep. Don Bacon told the Nebraska Examiner that people are talking in the ol’ unicameral Legislature about how to redraw the district he represents to make it more likely Republicans hang on to it. So far the talk is “nothing serious,” Bacon told the outlet.
Texas: still the center of attention. State Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Wednesday he’s launching an investigation into an organization run by former Rep. Beto O’Rourke. Paxton says he’s out to discover if Powered by People bribed Democratic legislators to flee the state.
Democrats’ view: “They’re using hardball, unconventional, authoritarian tactics that we didn’t see in 2021,” Texas Democratic state Rep. Ron Reynolds told The New York Times on Wednesday. “People are concerned. We’re looking over our shoulder.”
New: Emily’s List is announcing this morning that it’s prepared to mess around in Texas. The group says it would take on Republicans in newly competitive districts created by the gerrymander plan. Group President Jessica Mackler: “We will recruit, train and fundraise to defeat you.”
California: waiting in the wings. “If Texas moves forward with a mid-cycle power grab that undermines fair representation, California has every right to respond,” Rep. Jimmy Gomez told NOTUS’ Samuel Larreal as Democrats debate their own redistricting plan.
Open Tabs: Suspect ID’d in shooting at Fort Stewart (Atlanta Journal-Constitution); India calls Trump’s 50% tariff ‘extremely unfortunate’ (Times of India); Homeland Security removes age limits for ICE recruits (AP); Trump Plans to Meet With Putin to Discuss Ending Ukraine War (WSJ)
From the campaign trail
The GOP sales pitch: Rep. Lisa McClain, chair of the House Republican Conference, kicked off her “One Big Beautiful Tour” yesterday, stopping with Republican lawmakers at small businesses and diners in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to sell the recently enacted budget law.
Republicans are currently under withering attack from Democrats for not speaking with voters more about the law polls continue to show is unpopular, so McClain’s tour is a good chance to see what the sales pitch sounds like. Her office sent NOTUS a recording from the tour after we asked for one.
“Americans are actually excited about the benefits of the one big, beautiful bill,” McClain is saying out there. “Think about what they’re excited about: No taxes on tips and no tax on overtime will put more money in the pockets of the working-class American.”
“The pro-business and pro-growth provisions are already creating jobs,” she says in the clip.
“Republicans are running scared,” reads a new DCCC memo obtained by NOTUS’ Violet Jira, summarizing the Democratic response to the ongoing lack of traditional town halls from Republicans.
Iowa musings: Some strategists gaming out the Senate map see the state as the most likely of the unlikely places for a Democratic pickup, NOTUS’ Ursula Perano reports. A Democrat would either have to knock off Sen. Joni Ernst or win an open seat if she doesn’t run. Democrats kinda-sorta see a path in either case. Sen. Chuck Grassley’s take: “They’re dreaming.”
Jersey barrier: The DNC is dropping $1.5 million to prevent Republicans from winning the New Jersey governor’s race this fall. DNC leaders call it one of the “largest and earliest initial investments” in the state. NOTUS’ Shifra Dayak found that the number is far less than the $10 million the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, in January asked the DNC to send.
THE BIG ONE
Anti-abortion resurgence: It’s nearly eight months into Trump 2.0 and abortion opponents think they have closed the slight gap that emerged between them and the mainstream GOP after Dobbs. You’ll recall then-candidate Donald Trump and other Republicans on the trail distanced themselves from the movement, after it suffered loss after loss at the ballot box.
NOTUS’ Oriana González reports on the movement’s changing fortunes:
IVF: “We’ve asked the Trump administration and the GOP to slow down and really take a look at the issue, and we’ve been heard,” Kristi Hamrick of Students for Life Action told Oriana.
The White House has effectively backed away from Trump’s campaign promises on IVF (Trump “remains committed” to expanding IVF access, a White House spox said). Opponents say they’ve been pushing admin officials toward embracing restorative reproductive medicine, an anti-abortion and MAHA-friendly solution for infertility.
Rethinking ballot initiatives: Even ruby-red Missouri voted for a ballot initiative in 2024 codifying abortion rights. But abortion opponents say they can reverse that outcome in 2026 by riding the culture war wave kicked up by Trump’s election. A new ballot initiative would outlaw abortion with the usual exceptions and ban gender-affirming care for minors.
Anti-abortion advocates across the country are watching to see if this can work to turn the politics of abortion around after Dobbs. “It can help on a PR level, as well as in policymaking,” one activist told Oriana of Missouri’s approach.
NEW ON NOTUS
Time for Epstein victims: The federal judge ruling on the DOJ’s request to release Epstein case grand jury transcripts has given the feds until tomorrow to clarify whether they’ve given sufficient consideration to Jeffrey Epstein’s many victims, NOTUS’ Jose Pagliery reports.
“The government has once again proceeded in a manner that disregards the victims’ rights,” attorney Bradley Edwards, who represents some of the victims, told the judge in a letter.
Oklahoma schools fight: “We will continue to work with the tax commission and American Virtual to have them approved by the start of the school year. Oklahoma is proud to remain the most school-choice state in the country,” Ryan Walters, the state’s superintendent of public instruction, said in a statement to NOTUS’ Em Luetkemeyer. The conservative online school was deemed ineligible for tax credits in the state.
More: Trump Announces 100% Tariff on Chips and Semiconductors, by Violet Jira
Standoff at ICE Facility Leaves Democrats ‘Trapped’ for Half an Hour, by Amelia Benavides-Colón
Cuomo Promised to Stand Up to the President. Trump Isn’t Making It Easy. By Shifra Dayak
Trump’s Interior Department Rescinds Approval for Huge Idaho Wind Project, by Shifra Dayak
NOT US
- Political opposites Jamie Raskin and Lauren Boebert form unlikely friendship, by Jeff Barker for The Baltimore Sun
- Miss United States Files Restraining Order Against GOP Rep. Cory Mills, by Roger Sollenberger for Drop Site News
- How Trump blunted the far-right furor over Jeffrey Epstein, by Clara Ence Morse and Cleve R. Wootson Jr. for The Washington Post
- Another Votec financial scare puts Texas election officials in a bind, by Natalia Contreras for Votebeat
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