Politics update

Virginia Del. Don Scott Jr. made history Wednesday when he was sworn in as the state's first Black speaker of the House of Delegates. The Portsmouth Democrat, who was first elected to the chamber in 2019 and unanimously chosen by his party for the speakership in November, was sworn in in Richmond on Wednesday, becoming the first Black speaker in the state's history... After serving as an officer in the Navy and while in his third year of law school, Scott spent nearly eight years in federal prison after pleading guilty in a drug conspiracy case. "I made the dreadful mistake of going to pick up some money, some drug money," said Scott, who noted that he had never been in any trouble before... After being released from prison, Scott went on to finish his law degree and open a law practice before being elected to the Virginia legislature, where he saw a meteoric rise – serving as minority leader since 2022, before gaining his party's backing for the chamber's top post.

Massachusetts generated $1.5 billion for free school lunches and more by taxing millionaires. Meanwhile, Nebraska and Iowa opted out of free summer lunch programs. 175,000 Nebraska children and 240,000 Iowa kids will lose out on food assistance.

With the Iowa caucuses heating up the 2024 presidential race, the personal finance website WalletHub compared Iowa’s demographic characteristics and public opinions against that of the U.S. to answer: How Closely Does Iowa Resemble the U.S.? Our data set of 22 key measures includes sociodemographic, economic, educational and religious metrics as well as public stances on certain issues.

Key Findings

•  The Overall Resemblance Index for Iowa is 89.
  • Sociodemographics: 84
  • Economics: 89
  • Education: 92
  • Religion: 87
  • Public Opinion: 91
     
• 63.6% of Iowa-caucus winners have won the Democratic Party nomination and 44.4% the Republican Party nomination. The Iowa caucuses, therefore, are a much better predictor of advancement for Democrats than for Republicans.
   
• Iowa least resembles the U.S. in terms of race, with a 50.00 percent difference; religious composition, with a 74.52 percent difference; wealth gap, with a 76.41 percent difference; and employment by industry, with an 80.30 percent difference.
   
• Iowa most resembles the U.S. in terms of mean work hours, with a 99.48 percent similarity; unemployment rate, with a 99.10 percent similarity; school enrollment, with a 99.02 percent similarity; and importance of religion in one's life, with a 99.00 percent similarity.

With the latest CNN/University of New Hampshire poll showing Trump’s lead over Haley in the state dropping to single digits (39% to 32%), talk is increasing among the anybody-but-Trump crowd of corporate/Wall Street Republicans that the former South Carolina governor could be surging.  

Roll Call - A consistent drip of members announcing they will not seek reelection combined with a desire to portray Capitol Hill as a toxic place everyone wants to flee can create a narrative that there’s a mass exodus underway from the House. But that’s not the real story, at least not yet, writes Nathan L. Gonzales. Read more...

Guadian - House Republicans are barreling ahead with their effort to impeach homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, part of a broader effort to make immigration and border security a defining issue of this year’s presidential election.The House homeland security committee will hold its first impeachment hearing on Wednesday, after more than a year of intensifying attacks by Republicans, who have accused Mayorkas of being derelict in his duty to secure the US-Mexico border. If Republicans are successful, Mayorkas would be the first cabinet secretary impeached in nearly 150 years.