Democrats on Monday released 500 pages of opposition research as a preemptive strike on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' 2024 presidential campaign.
Why it matters: The extensively researched effort is the latest sign that Democrats view DeSantis as a candidate worth taking down before his anticipated campaign takes off.
Leading Republicans across the ideological spectrum are rallying behind an aggressive and controversial new approach to the fentanyl crisis: Bomb the cartels, with or without the permission of the Mexican government.
Why it matters: The once-fringe idea, championed in private by former President Trump, is becoming a mainstream policy priority within the GOP — including among congressional Republicans and 2024 presidential candidates.
Former President Trump's flight from Florida to New York on Monday blanketed cable and international news. Clockwise from top left: Sky News, Fox News, CNN and MSNBC
Even for Donald Trump’s tradition-wrecking era in politics, the scene Tuesday will be extraordinary: A Secret Service motorcade will deliver an ex-president to a courthouse, where he’ll be arraigned on felony charges.
Why it matters: Trump, the first current or former president to be indicted, has always used drama and victimhood to score political points — and his surrender to Manhattan authorities will be choreographed through the lens of his current campaign for president.
Driving the news: While people under 30 are TikTok's primary users, millennial and Gen Z lawmakers are weighing in as the app's fate hangs in the balance.
Six people, including three children, were killed in a shooting at a Nashville school last week.
The latest: The suspect had been planning the shooting at The Covenant School "over a period of months," the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said in an update Monday.
Most Americans approve of the indictment of former President Trump — but a plurality also believes that politics played at least some role, recent polls show.
The big picture: The charges have not yet been publicly released. But there are already stark partisan divides over whether a New York grand jury should’ve indicted the former president for a 2016 hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed into law Monday a measure that will allow people in the state to carry concealed weapons without licenses or training.
Driving the news: With Florida, more than half of U.S. states now allow permitless carry of a concealed weapon.
More than 50 people are dead after severe thunderstorms and tornadoes tore through the U.S. South, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic in the past two weeks — and another potentially significant outbreak is projected for Tuesday.
President Biden's advisers and close allies don't expect him to announce a run for re-election any time soon — and some now believe it could come as late as July, or perhaps even the fall.
Why it matters: Biden's waiting game has left many ambitious Democrats and would-be staffers with their 2024 plans on hold. They initially thought Biden would launch a campaign soon after the Christmas break, after talking with his family.
Why it matters: "[T]his is one of the most unpredictable political environments that I've seen in my lifetime," said former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who announced a presidential campaign on Sunday and insisted that the ostensible leader of his party should drop out.
Precision Strategies, a leading Democratic consulting firm with close ties to the White House, has taken the first step toward becoming a union shop for some of its employees, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The company, with more than 120 employees, is at the beginning of a collective bargaining conversation that other Democratic public affairs firms — reliant on a progressive workforce — also are likely to face.
Young, left-of-center workers are demanding the same union protections at work that they're fighting for at the national level in political campaigns.
At the same time, successful firms such as Precision — founded by Stephanie Cutter and Teddy Goff, veterans of former President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign — have become attractive targets for private equity investors who are eager for a slice of the firms' high margins.
That has set up a potential clash between outside private equity investors and progressive workforces that help generate profits.
Driving the news: With the help of the Communications Workers of America, Precision employees recently announced their intent to unionize. Last week, the firm's management indicated it was willing to take the next steps toward unionization.
"It’s a critically important first step," said Sam Tuero, a senior associate at the company and member of the organizing committee.
"We are excited about moving toward gaining formal recognition for our union and working with company leaders to negotiate a fair contract."
The employees are also calling for "pay transparency" in their mission statement.
A key question will be how many employees the agreement will cover.
Cutter declined to comment.
Between the lines: Precision, which also counts Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, who currently serves as White House deputy Chief of Staff, as a co-founder, sold a minority stake to Abry Partners, a Boston-based investment firm, early this year.
Becoming a the first prominent firm to move toward unionization also has its advantages, as many of Democratic clients will want to reward it.
The big picture: After years of decline in the manufacturing industry, labor unions have expanded their reach into the service industry, including in the college-educated tech sector, Axios has reported.
On Capitol Hill this week, the former CEO of Starbucks, Howard Shultz, faced difficult questions over his company’s response to the nearly 300 Starbucks stores that have voted to unionize.
Last year, President Biden signaled his general support for unionization efforts at companies whose employees don’t have collective bargaining rights. “By the way, Amazon, here we come. Watch.”
Biden prides himself on his pro-union pedigree, and has made bringing the creation of good-paying union jobs a cornerstone of his presidency.
“The middle class built America, and unions built the middle class,” he said at a Chip plant last November.
Go deeper: The trend toward unionization in Democratic politics is clear.
In the 2020 presidential contest, several Democratic campaigns, including Sen. Bernie Sander’s (I-Vt.) started off unionized.
After he secured the nomination, Biden’s campaign followed suit. Democrats expect the president’s 2024 campaign will start as a union shop.
Last May, the House passed a bill that recognized congressional staffers' right to collectively bargain and unionize. Then in August, staffers at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee voted to approve a collective bargaining agreement.
Other progressive groups, including Blue State, Catalist, Change.org and Sunrise have unionized under CWA, which has some 700,000 members and is affiliated with the AFL-CIO.
There's a similar drive afoot in some newsrooms. Politico announced in 2021 that management had reached an agreement to voluntarily recognize a union of its employees.
Warren Bloom is one of nine candidates running in the Democrats mayoral primary on May 16. (Read all our candidate questionnaires here.)
The candidate: Bloom is a public adjuster and minister and runs his own small videography and photography business. He's a life-long Philadelphian and graduated from Overbrook High School.
He has never won elected office but has run several times, including for state legislature and city commissioner.
🏡 What neighborhoods have you lived in? University City, North Philadelphia, West Philadelphia, Wynnefield.
💼 What are your past jobs: Mail handler and a life and health insurance agent.
📺 Favorite Philadelphia TV show: “Abbott Elementary.”
💰How much did your property taxes go up last year? 10%.
🥊 Favorite Philly athlete (past or present) and why? Boxer Archie Moore because statistically he has more fights, more wins than any other boxer in history, and for the longest period (27 years).
🚗 Savesies: Pro/con? If you shovel out your parking space, you should be able to keep it in the snow.
🏙 How would you enhance the vibrancy of Center City in the post-pandemic era? Not very good — that’s why I want to enhance it and make it a cleaner, safer city.
What's the one moment in your life that most shaped you? Getting married at age 25.
🥁What is one fun thing voters don't know about you? I play the drums.
Sum up the state of the city in five words or less. Brotherly love and sisterly affection.
And, of course, why do you want to be mayor? 1. I simply want to serve. 2. Enhance the quality of life for all who visit or reside here.
On the issues
Would you increase (⬆️), keep level (⏸️), or decrease (⬇️) the police department's budget?
Bloom did not respond.
What's one big idea you have to address the ongoing gun violence crisis?
Bloom did not respond.
Do you support the 76ers proposal to build a new arena in Center City? Yes (✅) or no (❌)
Bloom did not respond by deadline.
Explain your answer, in 1 sentence.
Bloom did not respond by deadline.
Do you support installing permanent public bathrooms in the city? Yes (✅) or no (❌)
✅
How many would you look to install and in what neighborhoods? (1 sentence or less.)
10 to 20 in Kensington and around Center City.
💡 What's 1 big idea that would be a game-changer for Philly? (2 sentences or less)
Bloom did not respond by deadline.
🪓 What law, tax or program would you scrap immediately, and why? (2 sentences or less)
Bloom did not respond by deadline.
Read Axios Philadelphia's other candidate questionnaires.
Editor's note: This q&a will be updated as primary season continues.
New York City police have stepped up security measures ahead of former President Trump's expected arraignment on Tuesday on charges related to a 2016 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels.
Driving the news: Trump said on his Truth Social platform he'll leave his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida at noon Monday and travel to Trump Tower before attending the courthouse in Manhattan on Tuesday morning.
