Wisconsin, Virginia, California: The Tide Has Turned

Newsom delays election for GOP House seat, Buttigieg takes red district by storm, and Spanberger is sworn in

With all of the chaos coming out of the Trump regime, I’m glad to have today’s news brief for you. I hope it gives you some relief from their madness, even if only for a moment.

The path forward is clear as day—but only if we act on it now. That’s why we launched our Midterm Accountability Project to win back Congress.

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Thanks for being here. Let’s jump in.

BUTTIGIEG TOWN HALL

Pete Buttigieg hosted a town hall on Friday in La Crosse, Wisconsin—the heart of GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden’s district. The energy in the room was palpable as Buttigieg wasted no time calling out Van Orden: “If he’s not willing to come here and do a town hall, we can have a perfectly good one without him.”

Buttigieg brought up the fact there is nothing in the Constitution about having only nine Supreme Court justices. He also hit on campaign finance reform, stating: “In a country that amended its constitution so you could not purchase a beer—and then realized it was a bad idea and amended it back—surely we can have an amendment clarifying that a corporation is not a person and money is not speech.”

Buttigieg noted that Trump’s “grip on his own party is starting to slip,” and said: “The people—not this Congress, not these courts—are our true backstop against” the regime’s abuses.

TRUMP POLLING A YEAR IN

As we close in on a year of Trump being in office, polls look absolutely abysmal for him—even those coming from corporate media.

A new CNN poll revealed that 58% of Americans call Trump’s first year a “failure.” Among those surveyed, only 19% “approve strongly” of his job performance, the lowest ever for Trump out of the 21 polls taken since early 2017.

And of those who disapprove, 60% say that his unhinged behavior and abuses of power are the main reasons why. I think the real numbers are actually way worse for Trump, but the trends are clearly moving in the right direction.

WALZ AND FREY PUSH BACK

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey are pushing back against a retaliatory DOJ investigation that alleges they are obstructing federal agents.

Walz responded to the bogus investigation, stating: “Two days ago it was Elissa Slotkin. Last week it was Jerome Powell. Before that, Mark Kelly. Weaponizing the justice system against your opponents is an authoritarian tactic. The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her.”

Frey also remained defiant, saying: “This is an obvious attempt to intimidate me for standing up for Minneapolis, our local law enforcement, and our residents against the chaos and danger this administration has brought to our streets. I will not be intimidated. My focus will remain where it’s always been: keeping our city safe.”

And former Assistant US Attorney Elie Honig chimed in, saying that if the DOJ tries to indict them for obstruction, “they will lose.” He added that the DOJ “has lost its damn mind … They’re just off the rails at this point.”

MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA

Abigail Spanberger was sworn in yesterday, making history as Virginia’s first female governor. “The history and the gravity of this moment are not lost on me,” Spanberger said in her inaugural address. “It is with a profound sense of duty that I assume the governorship and pledge myself to work tirelessly on behalf of our Commonwealth.”

Now that Democrats have secured control of the General Assembly and governor’s mansion, the fight over redistricting in Virginia is heating up. Last week, both the state House and Senate approved a measure to allow Virginians to vote on whether their congressional map will be redrawn. If successful, it could add up to four Democratic seats to the US House.

NEWSOM ON OFFENSE

California Gov. Gavin Newsom isn’t bending to Republican demands. After the passing of GOP Rep. Doug LaMalfa, Newsom set the special election for the latest date legally permissible, stretching the vacancy as long as possible.

The decision infuriated Speaker Mike Johnson, who is now down a critical vote—one he will only get back if Republicans actually manage to hold the seat.

While Republicans feign outrage, the strategy is sound—we can’t save democracy by staying on the defensive—we must go on offense.

That’s why we launched our Midterm Accountability Project, to win back Congress and put an end to Trump’s rubber stamp in the House and Senate. Last year we demolished maga propaganda, generated billions of impressions monthly on social media, and drove half a million contacts to lawmakers. And now it’s time to ramp up the pressure even more.

We have no advertisers or billionaires who control us, which means we rely on our amazing community here for all of our funding. So join our fight against the Trump regime by upgrading to a paid subscription today:

Onward!

Scott

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I have two questions for you today:

Do you think Newsom was right to schedule the special election for the last day possible?

What do you think of the bogus DOJ investigations into Gov. Walz and Mayor Frey?