Justice jumps into race to unseat Manchin
|
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) filed paperwork for the state’s 2024 Senate race and is expected to formally launch his campaign at an event Thursday at 5 p.m.
Incumbent Sen. Joe Manchin (D), who Justice is hoping to unseat, hasn’t officially said whether he’s seeking reelection but declared Thursday, “I will win any race I enter.” Manchin is one of three Democratic senators up for reelection in a state former President Trump won in 2020, meaning the race is expected to be one of 2024’s most competitive.
The West Virginia senator has not yet announced any future campaign, including any potential presidential ambitions, saying he would decide on his 2024 plans at the end of this year.
Manchin served as governor before being elected to the Senate in 2010. Justice was elected governor in 2016 as a Democrat and changed his affiliation to Republican the following year. Both the primary and general election are shaping up to be races to watch.
Among Justice’s GOP primary competition will be Rep. Alex Mooney (R), who defeated fellow Rep. David McKinley in last year’s House primary after redistricting left the state with one fewer congressional district. Mooney earlier this week called Justice a “RINO” (Republican in Name Only).
Democrats currently hold seven of the eight Senate seats The Cook Political Report rates most competitive. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), who changed her affiliation from Democratic to Independent at the end of 2022, holds the eighth. | |
|
Welcome to Evening Report! I’m Amee LaTour, catching you up from the afternoon and what’s coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here. |
|
|
-
Jerry Springer, who served as mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio from 1977 to 1978 before his time as a talk show host, died on Thursday at the age of 79.
“I don’t think the suit has merit; I think it’s political,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who is traveling in Israel, said about the lawsuit the Walt Disney Company filed against him amid a growing battle.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said it was “undemocratic” for the Montana statehouse to censure state Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D), who is transgender, over Zephyr’s remarks about colleagues’ votes to ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors.
|
|
|
Equal Rights Amendment knocked down in Senate
|
An effort in the Senate to add the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the Constitution fell short of the required 60 votes Thursday, when 51 senators voted to invoke cloture on a motion to proceed. Two Republicans — Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) — voted with Democrats in support.
The ERA, which would guarantee equal rights under the law regardless of sex, passed Congress in 1972. To take effect, it needed to be ratified by 38 states before a deadline Congress established (initially 1979, then extended to 1982). The amendment fell short, but states continued ratifying it. In 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to do so.
The Hill’s Julia Shapero noted that “the inclusion of the ERA in the Constitution faces several barriers beyond a vote in Congress, including legal questions of whether Congress has the authority to remove the original deadline on the amendment’s ratification and whether states can rescind their ratification.” Five states have voted to do so.
|
|
|
Biden officials lay out border plan as Title 42 end nears
|
The Biden administration is laying out its plans for managing migration amid the approaching end of Title 42, under which officials could quickly expel migrants at the border during the pandemic.
One part of the plan is to make use of expedited removal under Title 8: “Unlike Title 42, in which migrants who were expelled could keep trying to come back to the country with no consequences, [Title 8] carries additional stiffer consequences for unlawful migration, which include at least a five year ban on reentry as well as potential criminal prosecutions for repeated attempts to cross unlawfully,” an administration official said. Another plank of the plan: creating regional processing centers, which officials hope will “cut traffic on the northbound migrant path, while allowing more people to benefit from existing legal pathways to enter the United States,” The Hill’s Rafael Bernal wrote. Read more on the administration’s plan here |
|
|
Senators revive push for cannabis banking
|
Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) introduced a bill to protect financial institutions providing services to marijuana businesses in states where it’s legalized. Such bills passed the House in previous sessions but haven’t made it through the upper chamber. “Right now, legal cannabis businesses are forced to operate entirely in cash. It’s a dangerous system—ripe for robbery, assaults, tax fraud, and money laundering,” Merkley said. |
|
|
Cheapest states to buy a house in
|
|
|
Washington’s struggle with AI |
The Hill’s Rebecca Klar looks at the challenges government officials face concerning artificial intelligence, including “a range of concerns from the spread of misinformation and a changing workforce, to risks of inherent bias in the technology,” along with efforts agencies and legislators are making to regulate the phenomenon.
|
|
|
Trump takes dig at McCain funeral in new book
|
In his new book, “Letters to Trump,” former President Trump said of Sen. John McCain‘s (R-Ariz.) funeral that “much like his wars, it never ended.” |
|
|
“Opportunities, challenges and uncertainties in campaign ’24” — Mark Mellman, president of The Mellman Group and president of Democratic Majority for Israel. (Read here) “On capital gains taxes, Biden should look back at history” — Mark Bloomfield, president and CEO of the American Council for Capital Formation. (Read here) |
|
|
558 days until the presidential election. |
|
|
President Biden presents the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy to the Air Force Falcons. |
|
|
|
