Author: Samantha-Jo Roth, Washington Examiner

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) is shutting down talk of a party switch, but the speculation itself is already reshaping the early contours of Pennsylvania’s 2028 Senate race. The Democratic senator has become the subject of growing chatter in Washington and back home about whether he could leave the party, driven by his repeated breaks with…

Democrats are gaining ground in the race for the Senate majority as a tougher national environment for Republicans reshapes key battlegrounds, but flipping the chamber remains a steep climb. A new round of rating changes from the Cook Political Report is giving Democrats fresh optimism, with four races moving in their direction as President Donald…

Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s high-profile role in the Trump administration’s response to the Iran war is boosting his standing in the early jockeying for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination — and positioning him as a possible rival to Vice President JD Vance, the early front-runner. Rubio has emerged as one of the most visible…

Heavy snow, grounded flights, and school closures across the Northeast are adding urgency to Washington’s fight over Homeland Security funding, with the Federal Emergency Management Agency facing new operational strain as a partial shutdown drags on. The latest winter storm has dumped more than 30 inches of snow in some areas, with at least five…

An FBI raid on Georgia’s largest elections office has reopened the state’s deepest political fault line, dragging the 2020 election back into the center of two of its highest-profile races and forcing Republican candidates to decide how closely to align themselves with President Donald Trump’s renewed fight. The FBI’s seizure of thousands of 2020 ballots…

President Donald Trump’s decision Monday to dispatch border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota was welcomed by a growing number of Republicans on Capitol Hill who say the federal government must work to lower tensions following the fatal shooting of another civilian during an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis. Trump’s move came after Border Patrol agents…

Senate Democrats are projecting growing confidence about their chances to reclaim the upper chamber in 2026, outlining an expanded battleground map they say offers multiple routes back to the majority, even as the underlying electoral math remains unforgiving. A new memo released Tuesday by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee argues that disciplined recruiting, favorable midterm…

Iowa became the first state in the nation to be approved for a sweeping federal education waiver that allows state leaders to bypass major federal compliance requirements and give the state more flexibility on how federal education money is spent, Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA) and Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced on Wednesday. The approval positions…

The 43-day federal government shutdown pushed hundreds of prospective air traffic controllers out of the training ranks, deepening staffing strains that workers say will ripple through the system for years. Inside air traffic control facilities during the funding lapse, controllers say the warning signs were immediate. Trainees who had already cleared months of screening and…