Will Chris Smith’s gay adoption remarks make him another endangered N.J. Republican?

Rep. Chris Smith, R-4th Dist., New Jersey's longest serving congressman, was the only Garden State Republican considered safe. The furor erupted after the Washington Blade, a newspaper in the nation's capital that covers the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, published excerpts from a tape recording of Smith's May appearance at Colts Neck High School.

Mollie Tibbetts murder case puts spotlight on farms’ hiring undocumented immigrants

Migrant workers pass freshly picked watermelon down a line to be loaded up in a produce trailer at the Mandujano Brothers Produce's watermelon field on Oct. 3, 2017, in Coyanosa, Texas. Dane Lang, a co-owner of Yarrabee Farms outside of Brooklyn, Iowa, stood outside his family farm this week and lamented that he had employed the undocumented immigrant charged in the murder of 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts.

I’m sure everything will return to normal, any minute now

If you're looking for tea leaves to read about the upcoming election, 2nd quarter fundraising numbers in Texas offer a plausible source of optimism: There are few bigger warning signs for a member of Congress that their re-election may be in doubt than when a challenger outraises them. In Texas, it just happened to seven incumbents, all Republicans.

As Trump backlash continues, STEM professionals in Texas run for office

Clockwise from bottom left: Allison Lami Sawyer, Michelle Beckley, Joseph Kopser, Carla Morton, and Rick Kennedy are Democrats with backgrounds in STEM running for office this year. As a child growing up in small-town Alabama, Sawyer spent five consecutive summers at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, where she built model rockets and began to envision herself as a scientist.

Georgia Democrat Challenges Racial Barrier in Governor Race

Georgia Democrats gave Atlanta lawyer Stacey Abrams a chance to become the first Black female governor in American history on a primary night that ended well for several women seeking office. Abrams set new historical marks with a primary victory Tuesday that made her the first Black nominee and first female nominee for governor of either majority party in Georgia.

Big Night For Women As 4 States Vote Ahead Of Midterms

It was shaping up as a big night for women as four states cast primary and runoff ballots, with Georgia Democrats taking the lead by nominating Stacey Abrams for governor. Democrats were set to nominate a woman for governor either way, with Stacey Abrams and Stacey Evans battling it out in a pitched primary fight.

Ending secret science at EPA

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has proposed to end the longstanding EPA practice of using secretive, often questionable, even deceptive science to support agency policy and regulatory initiatives. His proposed rules will ensure that any science underlying agency actions is transparent and publicly available for independent experts to examine and validate or point out its flaws.

Climate deniers and tobacco flacks headline the EPA’s new science standard announcement

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt testifies during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on Capitol Hill January 18, 2017 in Washington, DC. On Tuesday afternoon, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt signed a proposed rule limiting the kinds of science that the agency can use in its rulemaking, a step that he described as bringing transparency and trust back to the agency's scientific process.

In Texas GOP primary, it’s who can love Trump the most

Texas holds the nation's first 2018 primary elections Tuesday, March 6, 2018, and the campaign is providing a... . In this Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018, photo, Matt McCall, standing, and other Republican congressional candidates attend a forum, in New Braunfels, Texas.

Russian social media also targeted U.S. energy industry, congressional report says

More than four percent of all tweets from Russian President Vladimir Putin's online propaganda outfit charged with engaging in "information warfare" against the U.S. political system were about energy, according to a new congressional report. Released Thursday by the House Science Committee , the report details efforts by the Kremlin's Internet Research Agency since 2015 to distort online discourse about U.S. energy markets, pipeline development, fracking and climate change.

Ted Cruz braces Texas GOP for volatile 2018 election season amid Democratic enthusiasm

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is preparing Texas Republicans for a turbulent election year amid super-charged Democratic enthusiasm - including in his own re-election campaign. Traveling the state for GOP events this weekend, Cruz portrayed an uncertain midterm environment that could go down as disastrous for Republicans if they don't work to counteract Democratic energy throughout the country.

Inside the three congressional districts Texas Democrats hope to turn blue in 2018

In the 2016 election cycle, Democrats pinned their hopes of flipping a red Congressional seat in Texas on just one district. With Trump's low approval rating and a surge of energy among voters on the left, Democrats say they have their best shot in years of taking back a few critical seats in Texas.

GOP lawmakers take aim at cancer research group over Roundup

In this Jan. 26, 2017, file photo, containers of Roundup, a weed killer made by Monsanto, is seen on a shelf at a hardware store in Los Angeles. Republican lawmakers are threatening to cut off U.S. funding for the World Health Organization's cancer research program over its finding that the glyphosate herbicide Roundup is probably carcinogenic to humans.

Here’s how much Texas candidates raised in the state’s hottest U.S. House primaries

That was the deadline for U.S. House and Senate campaigns to file finance reports covering the last three months of 2017. Those watching the races closely are sure to pore over the mishmash of donations and expenditures to separate viable candidates from the long shots.

No deal reached, as moderates search for shutdown solution

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., arrives for a meeting of fellow Republicans on the first morning of a government shutdown after a divided Senate rejected a funding measure, at the Capitol in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018. The U.S. government shut down at midnight after Congress failed to resolve a partisan standoff over immigration and spending.

Democrats, GOP exchange charges of blame for shutdown

Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan says the partial government shutdown is "inflicting needless uncertainty on our country" and he is blaming it all on Senate Democrats. WASHINGTON - Feuding Democrats and Republicans in Congress are trying to dodge blame for a paralyzing standoff over immigration and showing few signs of progress on negotiations needed to end a government shutdown.