Trump's sway faces test in Texas special election runoff
CNN
Former President Donald Trump's influence with Texas Republicans faces a stern test on Tuesday as voters in the state's 6th Congressional District choose between a pair of GOP candidates in a runoff to fill the late Rep. Ron Wright's seat.
Susan Wright, the widow of the congressman -- who had cancer and died following a Covid-19 diagnosis in February -- finished first in the May 1 special election after picking up Trump's support shortly before the end of early voting. But the former aide to GOP state lawmakers failed to win a majority, which spurred a one-on-one contest with the second-place candidate, state Rep. Jake Ellzey. The district includes Ellis, Navarro and parts of Tarrant counties. The campaign has turned less on any specific issue -- both are in line on all major conservative policy priorities -- than on clashing endorsements. Wright has Trump's support, while Ellzey enjoys the backing of some high-profile Texas Republicans with ties to the former President. And because Democrats were locked out of this final round, the results on Tuesday will not make any immediate impact on President Joe Biden's agenda in Washington, where Democrats hold a narrow House majority.Senate Democrats have confirmed some of President Joe Biden’s picks for the federal bench this week in the face of President-elect Donald Trump’s calls for a total GOP blockade of judicial nominations – in part because several Republicans involved with the Trump transition process have been missing votes.
Donald Trump is considering a right-wing media personality and people who have served on his US Secret Service detail to run the agency that has been plagued by its failure to preempt two alleged assassination attempts on Trump this summer, sources familiar with the president-elect’s thinking tell CNN.
President-elect Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, a nongovernmental entity helmed by billionaire Elon Musk and biotech entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, is expected to make a push for an end to remote work across federal agencies as a way to help reduce the federal workforce through attrition.