DeSantis links redistricting to Supreme Court ruling, but that may not come down by April 20

Unlike the other states that have engaged in partisan gerrymandering since President Trump called on Texas to do so last summer, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has explicitly declared that is not why he has called for the Legislature to reconvene in Tallahassee in April for for a special session to redistrict Florida’s congressional seats.

Cognizant that gerrymandering is banned in the state’s Constitution, the governor has made the case that the Legislature will “be forced to do it because the Supreme Court’s VRA [Voting Rights Act] decision is going to impact the current map. No matter what else, that is going to have to be addressed.”

But what happens if the justices opt not to weigh in on a crucial part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in the pending case Louisiana vs. Callais by the time the Legislature returns to Tallahassee on April 20 for that special session? The case tests whether Section 2 of the VRA violates the Constitution by discriminating against white voters. The section prohibits voting practices or procedures that discriminate based on race.

“Now that primaries are underway in all of these cases, I think the court is more likely to wait until the end of the term to release this decision, so that it is clear that the decision cannot affect districts for the 2026 midterm elections, that the court’s decision is only post-2026, so 2028 and beyond. So, I don’t expect to get that decision anytime soon,” said Sarah Isgur, editor of SCOTUSblog, speaking on Dan Abram’s Sirius/XM show on Feb. 20.





https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/03/01/desantis-links-redistricting-to-supreme-court-ruling-but-that-may-not-come-down-by-april-20/

TX-SEN: Talarico & Paxton with Narrow Edges in Senate Primaries

The final Emerson College Polling/Nexstar Media survey of Texas likely primary voters finds State Rep. James Talarico with a narrow edge over U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic Primary for US Senate: 52% to 47%. Since the January survey, support for Talarico increased by five points, and support for Crockett increased by nine points. The poll results are within the survey’s margin of error.

“Talarico holds a sizable advantage among voters who voted early, 58% to 41%, while Crockett leads the Election Day vote, 50% to 39%, suggesting the outcome will depend on which group shows up in larger numbers by the end of Tuesday,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said.

Talarico’s support is driven by white voters, leading Crockett 71% to 29%, Hispanic voters, 60% to 39%, and men, 58% to 41%. Crockett’s support is driven by female voters, leading 51% to 48%, and Black voters, 80% to 18%.

Since the January poll, support for Talarico among white voters increased 14 points (57% to 71%), while Crockett gained two points (27% to 29%). Crockett’s support increased 14 points among Hispanic voters (25% to 39%), while Talarico increased one point (59% to 60%). Crockett maintained 80% among Black voters, while Talarico picked up 10 points (8% to 18%).





https://emersoncollegepolling.com/texas-2026-primary-poll-talarico-paxton-with-narrow-edges-in-senate-primaries/

NC-04: A vulnerable House Democrat just got a late infusion of support

An unexpected infusion of late money in a hotly contested Democratic primary in North Carolina has tilted the spending picture in favor of Rep. Valerie Foushee, but the congresswoman also just saw one of her ads pulled from the airwaves in a move that appears to violate federal law.

Less than a week ago, Foushee and her supporters were getting badly outspent by allies of Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam. But a super PAC called Jobs and Democracy, which has ties to the AI company Anthropic, just poured in another $1.3 million to boost Foushee in Tuesday’s election, on top of the nearly $300,000 it had already spent to help her.

Unlike other major players in the industry, Anthropic had positioned itself as a supporter of AI “safety.” Just this week, however, the company abandoned a key plank of its safety platform, saying it had hampered its ability to remain competitive with rivals.

In addition, a mysterious group called Article One PAC, which hadn’t previously been involved in the race, jumped in with a late $600,000 ad buy. The PAC’s only prior expenditure came last month, when it deployed $350,000 on behalf of former Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way’s unsuccessful special election bid for New Jersey’s 11th District.



https://www.the-downballot.com/p/morning-digest-a-vulnerable-house

Poppy Family - Which Way You Goin' Billy (1969)

OR-GOV: Oregon House speaker reprimands Republican gubernatorial candidate for fundraising during session

Oregon House Speaker Julie Fahey on Friday chided the chamber’s sole gubernatorial candidate, Republican Rep. Ed Diehl of Scio, for violating self-imposed House rules by collecting campaign donations during this year’s short legislative session.

In a letter of correction sent to Diehl on Friday, the Eugene Democrat urged Diehl to return the money and refrain from accepting further contributions during the session, which must end by March 8.

But while Fahey said future violations of House rules will be “dealt with accordingly,” she acknowledged that there is some uncertainty around the rule’s legal viability. A Jan. 23 legal opinion legislative attorneys have put forth suggested the rule violates free speech rights and would likely be struck down in court.

“The exact manner of enforcement of this has never been made an issue. It was well understood that the House members would not want to be engaged in conduct that might cause reasonable people to be suspicious of their motives for performing the duties of their office,” Fahey wrote on Friday. “Consequently, it has always been a matter of voluntary compliance. It appears that this agreement has been broken by you in this case.”



https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2026/02/27/oregon-house-speaker-reprimands-republican-gubernatorial-candidate-for-fundraising-during-session/

Several Georgia races shed candidates as qualifying week looms and races take shape

This past week – the last before candidates officially qualify to run – brought plenty of news about who won’t be appearing on the ballot this year.

Georgia State Rep. Ruwa Romman suspends gubernatorial campaign, pivots to state Senate run
Georgia state Rep. Ruwa Romman, a Duluth Democrat, announced this week she is dropping out of the campaign for governor, saying that she will instead run for an open seat in the Georgia State Senate District 7.

Romman said the race’s financial landscape changed recently, pointing to recent “dark money” entering the race and grassroots funding moving to other states like North Carolina and Texas, and that the move to the open state Senate seat would help protect and build on the movement she’s helped build. The move, she said, allows her to build a more sustainable political infrastructure.

“My main priority is to make sure the movement that we have built does not completely disappear. I want to make sure that we are building a sustainable movement outside of one person and one individual,” Romman said in an interview Thursday.




https://georgiarecorder.com/2026/02/28/several-georgia-races-shed-candidates-as-qualifying-week-looms-and-races-take-shape/

TX-35: Redrawn to favor GOP, Texas' 35th Congressional District attracts competitive primaries in both parties

WASHINGTON — Voters in Texas’ new 35th Congressional District on Tuesday will cast their ballots in a pair of wide-open primaries to decide the Democratic and Republican nominees in the San Antonio-area seat, one of five overhauled last year to be more favorable for the GOP.

There are 11 Republicans and four Democrats running in the primaries for the 35th District, both of which could go to May runoffs between the top two finishers if nobody wins a majority of the vote. The area’s current representative, Democrat Greg Casar, was drawn out of his seat and is now running in the solidly blue 37th District.

The new 35th’s boundaries contain less than 10% of its former constituency and now cover parts of San Antonio and outlying eastern areas in Bexar, Guadalupe, Wilson and Karnes counties. If the updated lines had existed in 2024, the district would have gone to Donald Trump by about 10 points, though the nonpartisan Cook Political Report gives congressional Republicans a four-point advantage. Democrats have set their sights on overcoming the GOP gerrymander that created the Hispanic-majority district, believing they could capitalize on a leftward shift of Hispanic voters since Trump took office........

In the Democratic primary, Marine Corps veteran and policy analyst John Lira and Bexar County sheriff’s deputy Johnny Garcia have emerged as front-runners against two other candidates: housing justice organizer Maureen Galindo and gun club owner Whitney Masterson-Moyes.


https://www.texastribune.org/2026/02/28/texas-35th-congressional-district-republican-democratic-primaries-trump/

Cap Times to host public Madison School Board candidate forum

Two Madison School Board seats will be decided by voters on April 7, and the Cap Times will bring together the candidates for each seat in a public forum on Wednesday, March 11, at La Follette High School.

The moderators will be Cap Times education reporter Erin Gretzinger and Taylor Kilgore of the Simpson Street Free Press, which provides journalism and writing training for Dane County students in grades 3 through 12.

The forum is free and will run 7-8 p.m. in Room 1353 at La Follette High, 702 Pflaum Road. To get to Room 1353, enter the high school through its Arts Entrance from the main parking lot, and look for signs and greeters to guide you to the room.

The moderators will choose the questions for the candidates, but there are opportunities for you to suggest questions, too. In-person attendees can submit questions via notecard, but your question will be viewed much earlier if you submit it in advance to our moderators here.



https://captimes.com/news/elections/cap-times-to-host-public-madison-school-board-candidate-forum/article_c52f3112-026d-4312-aa85-593a98562f0a.html

Wisconsin Voters Turn Against School Tax Hikes, Poll Finds

Wisconsin voters are more concerned with reducing their property taxes than increasing funding for public schools. Voters also say they’re less inclined to support a school referendum.

These findings come from the latest Marquette University Law School Poll released this week. Voters’ attitude toward public school finances comes at a time when public school advocates are pushing the state Legislature to do more for schools.

Marquette surveyed 818 registered Wisconsin voters from Feb. 11-19. Those surveyed were asked “which is more important to you: reduce property taxes or increase spending on public schools?” Sixty percent said reducing property taxes are more important while 40 percent said funding K-12 schools was more important.

Poll director Charles Franklin said the 60 percent of people who are more concerned with property taxes than school funding is the highest in 26 Marquette polls that have asked the question since 2013.





https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2026/02/26/wisconsin-voters-turn-against-school-tax-hikes-poll-finds/

Harris calls on Detroiters to look after neighbors, engage each other

Detroit — Former Vice President Kamala Harris spoke about everything from the Democrats' chances to flip Congress blue to her favorite things to cook now that she has more free time during a moderated discussion on Friday night.

Harris, 61, spoke for an hour, stressing the need for neighbors to look after one another, saying President Donald Trump has worked to dismantle safety nets like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and to cut the federal departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development.

The 2024 Democratic presidential nominee said those efforts are the "high-velocity" peak of a decades-long attack on the nation's most vulnerable citizens. Harris said the under Trump, the nation has grown more divided.

"It's more than 'Can I trust that I don't need to lock my front door?' It's, 'Can I trust that you are not a threat to my very existence?'" Harris said.




https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2026/02/27/harris-calls-on-detroiters-to-look-after-neighbors-engage-each-other/88878854007/