Good morning and welcome to the DDHQ Morning News Spotlight. Today we’re looking at more redistricting news out of Ohio, potential action from the White House on rising gas prices, and more.
Morning Headlines
- The Biden Administration is considering a plan to release as much as a million barrels of oil a day from the US reserves in an effort to combat rising gas prices. The President could make an announcement on this as early as this afternoon. Oil futures dropped about 5.5% overnight after Bloomberg reported that the White House is considering the release.
- A three-judge federal panel in Ohio yesterday said they will not intervene to disrupt the May 3 primary, another decision that appears to further cement that the most recent Congressional maps passed will be used this year. That same court made no ruling on whether to restore the 3rd set of state legislative maps thrown out by the Ohio Supreme Court, which was the original purpose of the hearing. In the Ohio Supreme Court, a complaint was filed regarding the 4th set of state legislative maps passed on Monday. Those maps were only a minor tweak on the 3rd state legislative maps the Court found unconstitutional. As a result, the Ohio Supreme Court again asked members of the Ohio Redistricting Commission why they should not be held in contempt of court. They have until Monday to respond.
- Democratic Senators Kelly, Manchin, and Sinema have sunk President Biden’s nominee to the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hours Division. The three moderate senators, along with all 50 Republicans voted against moving the nomination forward. Republicans have been criticizing the nominee’s past work in the Obama administration.
- The Washington Post has been able to confirm certain details of the Biden family’s interactions with Chinese executives. The report included details of millions of dollars paid to entities controlled by Hunter Biden and his uncle by a Chinese energy conglomerate. The report did not find evidence that President Joe Biden knew of or benefitted from any of these deals.
- The White House will not assert executive privilege for Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner before they testify before the Jan. 6 committee. Jared Kushner will testify remotely today. He is the highest-ranking Trump administration official to testify so far. He is doing so willingly without being subpoenaed.
- The Federal Elections Commission is fining the DNC and the 2016 Clinton campaign $113,000 for misreported spending related to the Steele dossier. The commission found that the party and campaign had made payments to a Democratic law firm that was then used to pay Fusion GPS for opposition research on Donald Trump.
- Taylor Lorenz of the Washington Post reported yesterday that Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has enlisted DC consulting firm Targeted Victory in a quiet campaign to turn public opinion against TikTok. Targeted Victory was a huge recipient of Republican campaign spending in 2020, but their work with Meta has even prompted Democrats such as Senator Blumenthal of Connecticut to take action against TikTok.
- Over at Elections Daily, they take a look at the Arizona State Senate, where Republicans are firmly in the driver’s seat, but there are many districts of interest to watch.
- ICYMI: Check out Nick Field’s latest on the US Senate race in Missouri and what a potential win by former Governor Eric Greitens in the Republican primary could mean there.
Upcoming Elections
| 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 |