State Politics & News
Coverage of state politics, elections, and conservative policy battles across all 50 states shaping America’s future.
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- News
Congressman Says Corruption in Washington Is ‘Worse Than You Think’
Corruption on Capitol Hill is “worse than you think,” Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., insists. “When you first get here, you think that you are in some sort of fairy-tale novel,” Buck said. “They wine and dine you and they show you just exactly what it’s like if you play the game. It’s a wonderful life.” Things…Rachel del Guidice -
- News
Kansas Republican’s Narrow Win Serves as Warning for GOP
Republican Ron Estes won a seat in Kansas’ 4th District on Tuesday that was vacated when President Donald Trump appointed Rep. Mike Pompeo to serve as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Estes will takes the seat Pompeo held in the House of Representatives since 2011 before joining the CIA in January. Estes, Kansas’ state…Rachel del Guidice -
- News
Why the Maryland Rape Case Is a National Issue, According to One Lawmaker
In the debate over illegal immigrants, sanctuary cities, and walls, there’s a great deal of existing policy undergoing re-examination. Last month, two young men, one 17 and one 18, who allegedly entered the country illegally and were enrolled in the ninth grade were charged with raping a 14-year-old girl at Rockville High School in Rockville,…Sharyl Attkisson -
- Opinion
Arizona Scored a Big Win With School Choice. Here’s How It Will Help Children.
Last week, Arizona leaped to the front of the education choice pack. Already a leader in school choice, being the first state to create education savings accounts back in 2011, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has now signed into law an expansion of the program, transforming it into a near-universal option for students across the state….Lindsey Burke -
- Opinion
Weak March Jobs Report Shows Need for More Reforms in Washington
Friday’s jobs report announced that businesses created 98,000 jobs, underperforming expert predictions, and showing the weakest gains in almost a year. It appears that the “Trump bump,” based on confidence from President Donald Trump’s election, has subsided as job creators await Washington’s next concrete steps on taxes or trade. On the positive side, the jobs report…Timothy Doescher -
- News
Arizona Undertakes Sweeping Reform of Occupational Licensing Laws
This past week saw two major reforms for Arizona’s occupational licensing regime, which could kick off a lightening of the regulatory burden in the state. On March 29, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey issued an executive order requiring all state licensing boards to report on their minimum requirements for obtaining an occupational license. Should those requirements exceed national…Christian Britschgi -
- Opinion
California Races to Become Sanctuary State, Shunning Federal Law and Its Own Residents
Lucky Luciano and other gangsters like Los Angeles mobster Simon Scozzari, an illegal alien who was finally deported back to Italy in 1962, would love the sanctuary bill rapidly making its way through the California Legislature. It would implement a policy that ensures the entire state of California becomes a sanctuary for dangerous criminal aliens—like…Hans von Spakovsky -
- Opinion
Kansas Almost Voted to Expand Medicaid. What Other States Should Learn From This Near-Mistake.
To expand Medicaid or to not expand Medicaid? That’s still the question facing lawmakers in Kansas and 18 other states. Though the Kansas Legislature voted for expansion last week, Gov. Sam Brownback promptly vetoed the measure. Legislators then tried to override the veto early this week, but fell three votes short of the two-thirds threshold…Drew Gonshorowski -
- News
Texas State Coalition Sends Letter to Trump Voicing Support for the Freedom Caucus
“For seven long years, we have been suffering from the rising costs of Obamacare.” That’s the opening sentence of the letter a Texas grassroots coalition has sent to President Donald Trump this week, in the wake of the House health care bill’s failure to pass and Trump’s criticisms of the House Freedom Caucus, which was…James Rogers -
- News
Bad Science Guides California City’s Anti-Smoking Laws
Anti-smoking nannies have pushed their crusade further and further, and in California, they’re increasingly reaching into peoples’ lives. Next up? They’re trying to prohibit smoking inside your own home. The city of Novato has passed one of the most sweeping anti-smoking ordinances in the country. It prohibits smoking in all restaurants, service areas, public parks,…Kevin Glass -
- Opinion
GOP Repeal Bill Left Too Much of Washington Power Grab in Place
The federal government has been too involved in regulating America’s health care system for years. Yes, long before the unaffordable “Affordable Care Act,” aka Obamacare, came along, Washington was picking winners and losers in health care. The unfair tax treatment of health care started post-World War II when we began giving tax breaks to those…Genevieve Wood -
- News
Ohio Conservatives to Trump: Work With Freedom Caucus Members, Not Against Them
Hours after President Donald Trump attacked the Freedom Caucus and several of its members on Twitter, several prominent Ohio conservatives are speaking out in defense of the GOP lawmakers. Ohio tea party members, state representatives, and other conservative leaders responded to Trump’s tweets with a letter to the White House asking the president to “work…James Rogers -
- Opinion
North Carolina’s Leaders Are Trying to Appease Cultural Bullies. It’s Not Working.
If the goal of compromise is to ensure that nobody’s happy, then North Carolina is succeeding. With the NCAA’s ultimatum to repeal H.B. 2 just hours away, the state flew into action Thursday to try to appease the NCAA, which has become a puppet of the radical left. Turns out, the compromise only made liberals…Tony Perkins -
- News
What Georgia Could Teach Trump About How to Drain the Swamp
If the Trump administration wants to “dismantle the administrative state,” it might examine state-based efforts to tame the bureaucracy—the oldest being that of Georgia, where a Democratic governor moved state employees away from stringent civil service protections that blocked accountability. “Who gets cut out of the picture when you protect the civil servant? The average…Fred Lucas -
- News
Journalists From BuzzFeed, New York Times Assess Daily Signal’s Splash in White House Press ‘Pool’
A story in The Washington Post questioning the legitimacy of The Daily Signal and its White House correspondent demonstrates the entrenched news media’s slowness to adapt and protectiveness of its turf, a veteran Washington reporter observes. “I was surprised that anyone objected to @FredLucasWH’s inclusion in the WH pool,” @BuzzFeedBen says. Those “gatekeepers” in the…Ken McIntyre -
- News
Maryland City Considers Sanctuary Status Amid Immigrant Rape Scandal
Rockville, Maryland, the city home to the recent immigrant high school rape scandal, is considering declaring itself a sanctuary city. Although Rockville police have had a longstanding policy neither to question suspected illegal immigrants about their immigration status, or to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, the city is now considering the process of formalizing that informal…Jonah Bennett -
- News
Conservatives Defend The Daily Signal After Washington Post Questions Legitimacy
Conservatives are coming to the defense of The Daily Signal after The Washington Post questioned its journalistic legitimacy for being part of White House press pool coverage. Pool reporting is a responsibility that includes covering day-to-day activities of the president, vice president, and first lady. The Washington Post called Daily Signal correspondent Fred Lucas’ participation…Caleb Ecarma -
- Opinion
New York Times Misuses Data to Criticize Defunding of Planned Parenthood
Earlier this week, The New York Times ran a piece responding to Congress’ current plan to reallocate Planned Parenthood funding. The piece is little more than a recycling of old, problematic studies conducted by a partisan research group, combined with both anecdotal and selective evidence drawn from interviews and media reports. The article also completely…Chuck Donovan -
- Opinion
Colorado ‘Selfie’ Bill Opens the Door to Vote-Buying and Election Fraud
The secret ballot is a fundamental tenet of American democracy. It was implemented in the United States in the late 1800s to counter widespread instances of bribery and intimidation of voters. Both houses of the Colorado Legislature recently passed a bill that is now sitting on Gov. John Hickenlooper’s desk that would allow voters to…Hans von Spakovsky -
- Opinion
Hawaii Has No Case Against Revised Travel Executive Order
The new lawsuit filed by Hawaii against President Donald Trump’s revised March 6 immigration executive order is just as unsound as the lawsuits filed by other states against the original order—despite what some courts have said about the original order or may say about the revised order. Executive Order 13780, “Protecting the Nation From Foreign…Hans von Spakovsky