Good morning and welcome to the DDHQ Morning News Spotlight. Today we’re looking a the third day of Supreme Court hearings and how potential 2024 Presidential candidates are using them as a platform, and potential Trump involvement in 2022 Senate races.
Morning Headlines
- Senate hearings for the Supreme Court nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson became more contentious yesterday as topics ranging from Judge Jackson’s sentencing in child pornography cases to critical race theory came up in direct questioning from senators. The hearings will continue for a third day today with more direct questioning from senators. Supreme Court hearings have long been a huge platform for presidential hopefuls in the Senate, and this one is no exception.
- President Biden is heading to Europe today where he will address an emergency summit of NATO and meet with the leaders of G7 countries. He is expected to announce additional sanctions on Russia for their ongoing war in Ukraine.
- The Ohio Redistricting Commission hired outside mapmakers and mediators in a fourth attempt at drawing maps that can pass the state’s constitutional test. The commission is under a time crunch as the state Supreme Court gave them until next Monday to come up with new state legislative maps. They have scheduled meetings every day between now and then, including the weekend.
- Utah Governor Spencer Cox has vetoed a bill that would ban transgender girls from participating in girls’ school sports. This came just a day after Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb did the same. Like Indiana, the Utah State Legislature is expected to override the veto. Governor Cox gave a five-page explanation for his reasoning behind the veto.
- Former President Trump has split with Rep. Mo Brooks in his bid for US Senate. He said of the Alabama Republican “Mo Brooks of Alabama made a horrible mistake recently when he went “woke” and stated, referring to the 2020 Presidential Election Scam, “Put that behind you, put that behind you,”. Trump had said last week if he does unendorse Brooks he would be endorsing one of his opponents.
- Also in Trump-world, the former First Lady has let her husband know her preference for the US Senate race in Pennsylvania. Melania Trump is apparently a big fan of Dr. Oz and is lobbying on his behalf when many in Trump’s orbit are throwing their support behind his opponents such as David McCormick.
- There were two state legislative special elections yesterday in South Carolina and New York. Republicans in the Greenville area managed to avoid a runoff, while in Brooklyn another battle between the Democratic Party and the Working Family’s Party went down. You can see the election results here.
Upcoming Elections
| Sat March 26 | LA State House 101 Special Primary |
| Tues March 29 | SC State Senate 31 Special General |
| Tues April 5 | GA State House 45 Special General |
| PA State House 19 Special General | |
| PA State House 24 Special General | |
| PA State House 116 Special General | |
| Milwaukee, WI Mayoral Special General | |
| CA US House 22 Special Primary | |
| CA State Assembly 11 Special Primary | |
| CA State Assembly 62 Special Primary | |
| CA State Assembly 80 Special Primary | |
| Thurs April 7 | NY State Assembly 20 Special Election |
| Tues April 19 | CA State Assembly 17 Special General |