“Nineteen seats in the U.S. Senate could potentially flip parties if there’s an unexpected vacancy, which most often allow the governor to appoint a replacement,” Axios reports.
“Depending on the senator, a single resignation, retirement or death — by accident or old age — could flip control of the 50-50 Senate, or give Democrats a two-vote cushion.”
“The White House is quietly working with Senate Democrats to ensure President Biden has a steady stream of nominees for the federal courts,” Axios reports.
Idaho state Rep. Karey Hanks (R) said she has “done some research” and concluded that face masks can cause injuries to “even our souls,” KTVB reports.
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“The Los Angeles Times has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to unseal the warrant that authorized federal authorities to search Sen. Richard Burr’s (R-NC) cellphone as part of the FBI investigation into stock trades just as the coronavirus pandemic began to surge across the country,” the Los Angeles Times reports
“The lawsuit, which was filed Feb. 24 but became public late Tuesday, seeks to have a federal judge make public the warrant, supporting affidavits and related materials connected to the search of the North Carolina senator’s phone.”
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declined to rule out a run for the White House if former President Donald Trump does not seek the office in 2024, telling Fox News he was “always up for a fight.”
“The House on Wednesday passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, an expansive police reform measure named for the 46-year-old Black man who died last Memorial Day after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against his neck for more than eight minutes,” the Washington Post reports.
“The bill passed 220-212 along mostly party lines with two Democrats voting against it and one Republican voting for it.”
Daily Beast: “Pro-Trump attorney Lin Wood has been banished from a private lawyer’s club in Atlanta after calling for former Vice President Mike Pence to face a firing squad. Wood, who was behind several failed courtroom attempts to overturn the presidential election for Trump, lost his membership in the Lawyers Club of Atlanta on Wednesday.”
Simone Pathe ranks the U.S. Senate seats most likely to change parties in 2022:
“The Transportation Department’s inspector general asked the Justice Department in December to consider a criminal investigation into what it said was Elaine Chao’s misuse of her office as transportation secretary in the Trump administration to help promote her family’s shipping business, which is run by her sister and has extensive business ties with China,” the New York Times reports.
“The inspector general said the Justice Department’s criminal and public integrity divisions both declined to take up the matter in the closing weeks of the Trump administration, even after the inspector general found repeated examples of Ms. Chao using her staff and her office to help benefit her family and their business operations and revealed that staff members at the agency had raised ethics concerns.”
Daily Kos has put together a spreadsheet updating where each Democratic U.S. Senator stands on eliminating the filibuster.
With Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) now in favor to move a voting rights reform bill, there are now just 8 Democrats in opposition.
The Week: “Left-leaning and centrist news publications get fewer clicks on Facebook if they publish false stories. But far-right publications experience the opposite, nabbing nearly twice as much Facebook engagement on stories classified as misinformation.”
“The researchers at the Cybersecurity for Democracy project at New York University found that not only are far-right publications unique in that they are seemingly rewarded for posting faulty information, they are receiving by far the most engagement compared to slightly right, center, slightly left, and far-left publications in general.”
When a Morning Consult poll left out that the coronavirus relief bill was drafted by Democrats, 77% approved of the legislation.
Whey it was identified as a Democratic bill, 71% approved.
Vox: “There is reason to think that many so-called ‘skeptics’ aren’t experiencing doubt at all. Instead, says Robbie Sutton, a social psychologist at the University of Kent who studies belief in conspiracy theories, studies have shown that people who question scientific conclusions are often motivated by a range of religious, economic, political, and personal convictions.”
“Evolution skepticism, for example, is more common among people who have strong beliefs about the relationship between God and humans. Climate change skepticism, by contrast, may be camouflaging resistance to climate action: In one 2014 study, Republicans expressed less skepticism about climate change when they were presented with free market solutions like technological innovation compared to traditionally liberal solutions like emissions restrictions. This wasn’t climate skepticism, the researchers concluded, but ‘solution aversion.’”
Associated Press: “The acting chief of the U.S. Capitol Police says there has been a more than 93% increase in the number of threats received by members of Congress in the first two months of this year compared with the same period last year.”
Related in The Hill: Threats to Capitol prompt House to change schedule.
Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) has begun hiring staffers to work on a campaign for governor of New York, a clear sign he’s nearing a bid, Axios reports.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) has told colleagues he will ask for a reading of entire coronavirus relief bill on the Senate floor, The Hill reports.
Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) estimates that will add 10 hours to the bill’s floor time, and will come on top of 20 hours of scheduled debate time.
President Biden on Wednesday criticized the governors of Texas and Mississippi for ending mask mandates and rolling back other coronavirus restrictions, saying “the last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking,” the Washington Post reports.
“Donald Trump is telling allies he’s strongly considering another run for president in 2024 — and close advisers want him to choose someone other than former Vice President Mike Pence for his ticket,” Bloomberg reports.
Trump publicly teased at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Sunday that he’s mulling another bid for president. Privately, he’s discussed alternatives to Pence as he takes stock of who he believes stood with him at the end of his term and who didn’t.”
“Trump’s advisers have discussed identifying a Black or female running mate for his next run.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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