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Questions are swirling around Dallas Rep. Pete Sessions after reports that the Republican secretly met with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas this week during a previously undisclosed trip to the South American country. Sessions' office is billing the trip, first reported by the Associated Press, as a peacekeeping mission.
At the House level, Democrats hope to win three districts won by Hillary Clinton and now held by Republican incumbents, as well as some of the six seats opened up by GOP retirements. Here again, the primary results are not heartening for Democrats.
What's in play? There's one congressional seat, and maybe a couple more, that could change flags when the major parties clash. There's a seat in the Texas Senate, and a couple of wildcard races that will put new people in that body.
Texas Democrats have turned o... . FILE - In this Feb. 21, 2018, file photo, Carina Driscoll, stepdaughter of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, stands outside her campaign office in Burlington, Vt.
This year's midterm elections officially kick off Tuesday with the Texas primaries, where voters will sift through jam-packed fields of Democratic candidates vying to take on vulnerable Republican members of Congress. Polls open at 7 a.m. CST and close at 7 p.m. CST.Democrats are running in all of Texas' 36 congressional districts for the first time in 25 years.Democrats have an edge in early voting, a notable, though limited, gauge of voter enthusiasm in what's been a reliably red state.Candidates must top 50% in their primary, or the top two finishers will head to a runoff election in six weeks.Incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic Rep. Beto O'Rourke are likely to win their respective primaries.
San Antonio's former Democratic mayor Julian Castro predicts that Tuesday's primary election in Texas will be the first sign of growing Democratic strength ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. "What we're going to see on Tuesday is a tremendous amount of Democratic enthusiasm," Castro, who served as Housing and Urban Development secretary under President Barack Obama and is considering a presidential run in 2020, told ABC News' Rick Klein on the Powerhouse Politics podcast.
Texas Democrats turned out in force ahead of the first-in-the-nation primary Tuesday in what could be an early hint of a midterm election backlash against President Donald Trump, but their party remains a longshot to make much of a dent in Republican political dominance of the state. Democratic early voting across Texas' 15 most-populous counties, the only figures available, more than doubled that of the last non-presidential cycle in 2014, while the number of Republican early ballots cast increased only slightly.
"What we're going to see on Tuesday is a tremendous amount of Democratic enthusiasm," Castro, who served as Housing and Urban Development secretary under President Barack Obama and is considering a presidential run in 2020, told ABC News' Rick Klein on the Powerhouse Politics podcast. Castro, who recently founded Opportunity First, a super PAC that supports young candidates for federal and state offices, said he will decide on a White House run by the end of 2018, but that right now his sole aim is to get Democrats elected.
Signs mark a polling site as early voting begins began on Feb. 20 in San Antonio. Early voting in Texas ran through last Friday, March 2. The 2018 primary elections kick off this week, and Democrats are already seeing reasons to be excited deep in the red, beating heart of Texas.
Gabby Giffords' political organization is focusing on six high-profile members of Congress this fall - House Speaker Paul Ryan, among them - in a 2018 midterm strategy that will use high school students to challenge Republican lawmakers it blames for blocking efforts to curb gun violence. The group known as Giffords, named for the former Democratic congresswoman from Arizona who survived a shooting in 2011, says it plans to spend at least $10 million to influence the November elections.
Gabby Giffords' political organization is targeting six high-profile members of Congress this fall - House Speaker Paul Ryan, among them - in a 2018 midterm strategy that will use high school students to challenge Republican lawmakers it blames for blocking efforts to curb gun violence. The group known as Giffords, named for the former Democratic congresswoman from Arizona who survived a shooting in 2011, says it plans to spend at least $10 million to influence the November elections.
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.
On Tuesday, they plan to put aside their differences and fundraise, together. That's because the money they raise will go to the primary winner no matter who it is.
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.
Drawing clever political districts is one way politicians in Texas and elsewhere avoid accountability - by protecting themselves from voters who disagree with them. They do this by stuffing weirdly shaped geographic districts with voters who agree with them.
Capitol Hill leaders essentially scrubbed earmarks from the congressional experience a few years ago. They toppled the earmarking process like statues of Communist dictators in Eastern Europe, circa 1989.
Winter Weather Advisory issued December 20 at 5:46PM MST expiring December 22 at 12:00AM MST in effect for: Chaffee, Conejos, Lake, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache Winter Weather Advisory issued December 20 at 4:13PM MST expiring December 21 at 6:00PM MST in effect for: Eagle, Garfield, Mesa, Moffat, Pitkin, Rio Blanco, Routt Winter Weather Advisory issued December 20 at 4:13PM MST expiring December 22 at 12:00AM MST in effect for: Delta, Eagle, Garfield, Gunnison, Montrose, Pitkin Winter Weather Advisory issued December 20 at 4:13PM MST expiring December 21 at 6:00PM MST in effect for: Garfield, Mesa, Moffat, Rio Blanco, Routt Winter Weather Advisory issued December 20 at 4:13PM MST expiring December 22 at 12:00AM MST in effect for: Archuleta, Dolores, Gunnison, Hinsdale, La Plata, Montezuma, Montrose, Ouray, San Juan, San Miguel Winter Weather Advisory issued December 20 at 4:13PM MST ... (more)
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., accompanied at right by Secretary for the Majority Laura Dove, walks to the chamber as Republicans in the House and Senate plan to pass the sweeping $1.5 trillion GOP tax bill on party-line votes, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Dec. 18, 2017. House Republicans have unveiled an $81 billion disaster aid measure that almost doubles last month's request by President Donald Trump.
A firefighter turns away from the heat as flames explode through the front windows of a home burning in the Lilac fire in House Republicans agreed Monday on $81 billion in disaster relief for areas hit by hurricanes and wildfires that will be attached to a must-pass government spending bill this week, according to a document provided by a Republican lawmaker.
This Sept. 27, 2017 file photo shows Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., center, joining Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and other GOP lawmakers to talk about the Republicans' proposed rewrite of the tax code for individuals and corporations, at the Capitol in Washington.