State Politics & News
Coverage of state politics, elections, and conservative policy battles across all 50 states shaping America’s future.
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- Opinion
DeSantis Signs 4 of Largest Reforms of Public Education in Florida History
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed four landmark pieces of education legislation Tuesday that seek to “empower teachers,” protect schools from the harmful effects of social media, expand student scholarships, and authorize one standardized test as an alternative to two others. DeSantis’ office has dubbed the package of four bills the “Teachers Bill of…Tony Kinnett -
- News
‘Model for Rest of the Country’: South Dakota History Standards Scrap Critical Race Theory, Build on Hillsdale Foundation
While much of the cultural debate about education centers on school libraries removing sexually explicit books, South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem's team has been hard at work crafting new K-12 history and social studies standards that her chief of staff calls a "model for the rest of the country." Noem rejected an earlier effort…Tyler O’Neil -
- News
Smirnoff Drag Queen Partner Flashes Bystanders at Texas Capitol
After Bud Light’s “ill-fated marketing campaign” that featured a transgender woman, it appears that Smirnoff, a brand of vodka produced by the British company Diageo, has made a failed attempt to keep its partnership with Texan drag queen and transgender-identifying woman Maxine St. James LaQueene quiet. In September 2022, LaQueene expressed his excitement in joining Smirnoff’s “Show…Abigail Olsson -
- News
How Florida Rose From ‘Worst to First’ in Timely Election Results
Two decades ago, Florida was a national laughingstock after 36 days of recounts and litigation springing from the 2000 presidential election, which hung on results in the Sunshine State. Today, Florida is a national model, according to the Public Interest Legal Foundation, an election watchdog group. In November, Florida managed to call the federal and…Fred Lucas -
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EXCLUSIVE: Colorado Would Force Her to Create LGBTQ Wedding Websites. She’s Fighting Back.
Graphic designer Lori Smith believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman. She also wants to create wedding websites. Under Colorado's discrimination laws, if she were to create wedding websites, she would be compelled to do so for same-sex weddings. Represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, she has taken her case to the…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- News
What Are They Hiding? Pro-Transgender Groups Refuse to Hand Over Internal Documents Even as They Move to Oppose Florida’s Medicaid Rule
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—A large number of pro-transgender medical interest groups have supported a legal challenge to Florida's rule barring use of Medicaid funds to pay for controversial transgender medical interventions, after most of the same organizations fought in court to hide documents that Florida says are relevant to the case. The American Academy…Tyler O’Neil -
- Opinion
Georgia, Arkansas Revive Old-School Teaching Method: Poetry Recitation. Here’s Why That’s a Good Thing.
In his rousing keynote address at The Heritage Foundation’s 50th anniversary gala last month, then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson offered an unexpected piece of advice: “Don’t throw away your hard-copy books.” Unlike digitized books, films, and albums that can be canceled, rewritten, or vanished altogether, physical copies are “the enduring repository that cannot be disappeared.”…Rachel Alexander Cambre -
- Opinion
Media Falsely Accuses Indiana Library of ‘Book Banning’
The board of a library system in an Indiana county posted new guidelines in December for books in the library’s “teen” section. Books, graphic novels, and comics found to contain overtly sexual content or racial slurs would be moved one room over, to the adult section. As a result of this policy and growing concerns…Tony Kinnett -
- Opinion
Appeals Court in Florida Voids Obama Judge’s Ruling in Win for Election Integrity
In a win for common sense and the voters of Florida, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-to-1 opinion written by Chief Judge Bill Pryor, upheld several election reforms passed by the Florida Legislature in 2021. In League of Women Voters of Florida v. Florida Secretary of State, the appeals court on…Hans von Spakovsky -
- News
Montana Governor Signs Slew of Pro-Life Legislation
The Republican governor of Montana signed five pieces of pro-life legislation into law on Wednesday, stating, “Montanans sent us to Helena to boldly defend life, not send their tax dollars to abortion clinics.” Gov. Greg Gianforte added: “Montanans’ hard-earned money should not be used by the government to fund elective abortions.” “This package of pro-family,…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- News
EXCLUSIVE: 16 Attorneys General Back Florida Transgender Medicaid Rule
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Sixteen state attorneys general weighed in on Florida's rule blocking Medicaid funds from transgender medical interventions on the grounds that they are experimental. "From the Founding, states have exercised their authority to enact health and safety measures—regulating the medical profession, restricting access to potentially dangerous medicines, banning unsafe or unproven treatments,"…Tyler O’Neil -
- Opinion
Dishonest New York Times Series Does Not Deserve a Pulitzer
Following an 18-part investigative series in The New York Times alleging various forms of maleducation and malfeasance in New York City yeshivas, the New York Board of Regents began implementing regulations targeting these Hasidic Jewish day schools. These included requiring certain classes (currently not taught at yeshivas) to be taught for a specified length, allowing…Tony Kinnett -
- Opinion
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Chief Diversity Officer Won’t Roll Over for the Left
Virginia state official Martin Brown is the latest reminder that DEI—“diversity, equity, and inclusion”—is a sham, a strategy to force systemic change and not to encourage equality, participation by all, or ideological diversity. “DEI is dead,” Brown said last week, and the keepers of the orthodoxy started calling for his head. Brown, chief diversity, opportunity,…Mike Gonzalez -
- News
Bracing for Post-Title 42 Surge: Biden Sends 1,500 Troops to Border, Texas Cities Issue Emergency Declarations
Republicans and Democrats agree on one thing at least: Encounters with illegal aliens at the southern border will increase when Title 42 expires on May 11. President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security “expects that encounters at the southwest border will increase as smugglers spread disinformation, which will place a strain on our immigration system,…Virginia Allen -
- Opinion
Missouri County GOP Cites Bible in Resolution Endorsing Natural Marriage
Years after many declared the debate on same-sex marriage closed, a chapter of the Republican Party has passed a resolution defining marriage exclusively as the union of one man and one woman, based on nature and the testimony of Scripture. On April 24, the Republican Party of Jackson County, Missouri, passed the “Defense of Marriage”…Ben Johnson -
- Opinion
‘We’re Not Doing That Here,’ Oklahoma Schools Superintendent Says of DEI Instruction
Oklahoma is taking a lead on school choice programs and resisting far-left ideology in classrooms across the state. “It is amazing how aggressive the Biden administration is with this radical agenda towards our schools,” Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s state superintendent of public instruction, says. When he came into office, Walters says he told staffers there, “We’re…Virginia Allen -
- Opinion
Iowa Taxpayers Shouldn’t Be at Mercy of Woke Investment Managers
Iowans have an opportunity to make asset managers decide whether they will operate to further the financial interests of Iowa residents or weaponize their duties to further a political agenda. Proposed state legislation known as Senate File 507 would protect free enterprise and Iowa’s taxpayers by codifying two commonsense principles: Taxpayer dollars—specifically public pension funds—should…Joel Griffith -
- News
Biden-Garland Lawsuit Against Tennessee Ban on Transgender Procedures for Kids Is Baseless, Legal Scholars Say
The Justice Department filed suit on Wednesday against a new Tennessee law prohibiting doctors from performing irreversible transgender procedures on minors. The federal lawsuit asserts the law violates the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause by denying what it calls “medically necessary care” to minors. The complaint asks the court to issue an immediate stay to prevent the law…Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell -
- Opinion
Good Riddance to Kim Foxx, Chicago’s Soros-Backed Rogue Prosecutor
The first big city, George Soros-backed rogue prosecutor, Chicago’s Kim Foxx, announced Tuesday that she won’t seek reelection next year as the state’s attorney of Cook County, Illinois. In a defensive, rambling speech at the City Club of Chicago, the controversial Foxx, a Democrat, claimed that she never wanted to make a career out of…Cully Stimson -
- Opinion
Virginia Governor Elevates State’s Economic Partnership With Taiwan
“Together, we will continue to build a deep and lasting partnership.” That was the unmistakable, powerful message Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin conveyed Monday to President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan and the people of the Asian island nation. In his first official overseas trade mission for the commonwealth of Virginia, Youngkin made a notable visit…Anthony B. Kim