• Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has proposed new congressional district maps designed to strip Democrats of additional House seats in the state.
• The redistricting effort is part of a broader coast-to-coast battle over legislative boundaries ahead of the 2026 midterms, with competing proposals from both parties.
• In Virginia, voters narrowly backed a Democratic remap that threatens several Republican incumbents, demonstrating the high stakes of redistricting.
• Republicans are using a legislative maneuver that would bypass a Senate filibuster to send billions of dollars to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to POLITICO reports from Washington on May 1, 2026.
• The move is intended to strengthen ICE enforcement capacity amid President Trump’s fixation on keeping a Republican House majority in the upcoming midterms and comes as the administration faces criticism over border and deportation policies.
• Critics warn the approach could cement highly restrictive immigration enforcement for years, while the GOP argues it will bolster security and hold the administration to its campaign promises.
Vote comes as 60-day deadline looms, with two GOP backing limits and dispute over whether ceasefire pauses clockUS politics live – latest updatesThe Republican-led Senate on Thursday again blocked a Democratic attempt to stop Donald Trump’s war in Iran, rejecting a war powers resolution that would have limited the conflict until Congress authorizes further military action.The vote was 47-50, with two Republicans – Susan Collins, a senator of Maine, and Rand Paul, of Kentucky – voting in favor and one Democrat – John Fetterman, of Pennsylvania – opposing it. Continue reading...
Vote comes on same day the US supreme court rolls back a key provision of the Voting Rights ActThe Florida legislature approved a new congressional map intended to maximize Republicans’ advantage in the state as part of the national redistricting battle that Donald Trump launched before this year’s midterms.The vote came just two days after the governor, Ron DeSantis, unveiled his proposal and the same day the US supreme court rolled back a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. The decision could make it harder for Democrats to challenge Republican efforts to redraw congressional districts in ways that limit the influence of voters of color. Continue reading...
Decision gives mapmakers in Republican states power to crack districts into pieces and dilute votes into oblivionThe Voting Rights Act was a political peace compact written in John Lewis’s blood.The Callais v Landry decision by the US supreme court, which set aside much of section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, whitewashed that blood from history, along with that of thousands of other Americans who fought segregationist white supremacists at lunch counters and bus stations and courthouses for political equality. Continue reading...
Redrawn map could flip up to five seats to Republicans as Trump’s party seeks to keep control of CongressThe US supreme court formally reinstated on Monday a redrawn Texas electoral map that was designed to add more Republicans to the US House of Representatives, as Donald Trump’s party seeks to keep control of Congress in the November congressional elections.The move by the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, formalizes an interim decision it made in December to revive the map of US House districts in Texas. Continue reading...
Bill clears 50–48 vote to boost ICE and CBP funding as Democrats oppose and shutdown continuesUS politics live – latest updatesSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailSenate Republicans on Thursday approved a plan to fund Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants for the remainder of his term and pave the way for an end to the ongoing shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).The budget resolution adopted along a near party line vote in the early morning hours sets the stage for Congress to craft legislation allocating as much as $140b to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), two agencies at the forefront of Trump’s mass deportation agenda that have been without funding since mid-February, when the DHS shutdown began. Continue reading...
Republicans deploy measure known as budget reconciliation to push through plan without backing from Democrats during lengthy late-night voteHello and welcome to the US politics live blog.The Senate voted to adopt a $70bn budget plan to fund ICE and Border Patrol as part of a new effort to reopen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).We have a multistep process ahead of us, but at the end Republicans will have helped ensure that America’s borders are secure and prevented Democrats from defunding these important agencies.Instead of pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into ICE and Border Patrol, Republicans should be working with Democrats to lower out-of-pocket costs.The Pentagon announced, without explanation, that “Secretary of the Navy John C Phelan is departing the administration, effective immediately”. The head of the US navy, which is now enforcing a wartime blockade of Iranian ports, was replaced by a former Maga political candidate, Hung Cao, now acting secretary of the navy.The surprise announcement brought renewed attention to Cao’s 2023 comments that that “witchcraft” had “taken over” Monterey, California.Virginia’s attorney general, Jay Jones, promised to appeal an injunction issued by a circuit court judge that temporarily blocks the state from certifying the results of the Tuesday’s redistricting referendum.As jet fuel prices spike amid the ongoing energy crisis sparked by Donald Trump’s war on Iran, two Republican senators, Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton, denounced a proposed US government bailout of budget carrier Spirit Airlines.Representative David Scott, a Democrat from Georgia, has died at the age of 80. He is the fifth member of Congress to die in office within the last year. Continue reading...
• House Republicans openly questioned President Donald Trump's mid-decade redistricting strategy on Wednesday, following a Democratic victory in Virginia on Tuesday that threatens the GOP's slim House majority.
• The Virginia vote paves the way for as many as four Republican seats to be lost, intensifying GOP concerns about the redistricting war Trump sparked.
• Republican lawmakers are now expressing misgivings about the strategy, signaling potential fractures within the party over Trump's aggressive electoral positioning ahead of the November midterms.
Reuters-Ipsos, AP-NORC and NBC polls show approval in mid-30s, with economy, Iran and immigration concernsUS politics live – latest updatesA trio of political polls indicate public approval of Donald Trump’s management of the US economy, immigration and the Iran conflict is slipping, flashing warning lights for Trump-aligned Republican candidates with six months to go until the US midterm elections.Polls by Reuters-Ipsos poll, Strength in Numbers-Verasight and AP-NORC had the president’s approval rating hovering in the mid-30s, at 36%, 35% and 33% respectively, which are near his lowest numbers. Continue reading...
