Tammy Baldwin

Abortion among key issues in Wisconsin high court race that become the most expensive state judicial race in the nation.

Senate Democrats say they will not vote for the House-passed six-month government funding package, which would boost defense spending and cut nondefense programs, unless they first get a vote on a 30-day funding stopgap to give bipartisan negotiators more time to reach a deal on the annual appropriations bills. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) [...]

'Let local schools make those kinds of decisions'

Senate Democrats want to leave the issue of trans athletes playing in women's sports to state and local governments.Why it matters: Democrats privately admit they need a sharper response to counter Republican attacks on their support for transgender rights, especially when it involves sports.In the Senate, their emerging strategy is to argue that one part of the issue is best left to the states, while acknowledging concerns about athletes gaining an unfair advantage."There are basic issues of fairness here," said Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) "There are really important issues that we should be discussing on the local level, within sports leagues and within conferences."Between the lines: The Democratic messaging effort has been spearheaded by Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), sources tell Axios.Baldwin, the first openly gay person elected to the Senate, faced a barrage of attacks on the topic in her 2024 reelection campaign.She feared Republicans were flooding the zone with their attacks without Democrats having a clear and consistent rebuttal."Republicans in Washington are saying they know better than parents and local school districts," she said in a statement. "They are wrong. I trust parents, schools and local sports leagues to make these decisions for their children."Zoom in: The issue was thrust into the public Thursday by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who broke with progressives by saying transgender participation in sports was an "issue of fairness.""It's deeply unfair," Newsom, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, told Charlie Kirk on his inaugural podcast, "This Is Gavin Newsom."Senate Democrats this week blocked a bill that would have banned trans athletes from women's sports. Not a single Democrat voted to bring the bill to the floor.What they are saying: Some Senate Democrats agreed with Newsom on the sports fairness issue, but they said to be careful that the overall conversation doesn't demonize transgender athletes. They also want to avoid federal overreach."It's leading to more bullying. It's leading to more mental health issues as people are feeling targeted," Booker told Axios. "Yes, when it comes to sports leagues, they have to find a way to create fairness."Said Sen. Angus King (I-Maine): "I understand the concern. I have a daughter who was a high school athlete. Interestingly, when I asked her about this issue, she said, by all means, there should not be a federal ban.""Every state and every community is going to come to their own decision on it," Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told Axios.The bottom line: "Everyone deserves a level playing field, but the governing bodies — the parents, the coaches, the NCAA ... need to make those decisions," said Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.)."We let local schools make those kinds of decisions," said Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) "There's no one set of facts. These are going to be pretty complicated situations."

Dr. Marty Makary pointed out the Biden administration's decision to skip key committee meetings when authorizing vaccines, in response to a top Democrat's question.

Democratic lawmakers told Fox News Digital on Capitol Hill they do support cuts to the federal government but aren't in support of how DOGE is conducting its sweep.

Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and other Democratic members of Congress hold a press conference on the budget plan for Medicaid at 12:00 p.m. ET on Feb. 19.

Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Oregon’s first Republican congresswoman and President Donald Trump’s pick for labor secretary, could be the president’s first Cabinet pick to not have enough congressional support for her bid.Of course, by first we’re intentionally excluding former Rep. Matt Gaetz, Trump’s first choice for attorney general who resigned once his penchant for allegedly paying minors for sex at drug-fueled parties came to the forefront.Unlike Gaetz, Chavez-DeRemer isn’t necessarily plagued by scandal. But some Republicans on the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee remain deeply suspicious of her union bonafides, which they say clash with the business community. Since one Republican, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, is already against her bid, the GOP is going to need a Democrat on the committee to cross over and vote for her.Sen. Rand Paul“Her support for the PRO Act, which would not only oppose national right to work but would pre-empt state law on right to work—I think it’s not a good thing,” Paul said in January. “And it’d be sort of hard for me, since it’s a big issue for me, to support her. So I won’t support her.” By that, Rand was referring to Chavez-DeRemer’s support for the pro-union PRO Act during her brief stint in Congress. (Chavez-DeRemer narrowly won the congressional race to represent Oregon’s 5th District in 2022, but was ousted from the seat this past November.) She’s also earned plaudits from groups traditionally aligned with Democrats, such as the AFL-CIO, and once worked at Planned Parenthood, according to NBC News, though she said it was a “brief, part-time job” in her twenties and she doesn’t “personally” support abortion.Paul warned last month that as many as 15 Republicans could reject her nomination. But Chavez-DeRemer arguably can’t afford a second Republican defection, at least in committee. As Semafor reported, Cabinet nominees can progress to the Senate floor with a non-favorable recommendation, but it’s rare. The GOP reportedly weighed doing this to help get Tulsi Gabbard, the newly appointed director of national intelligence, over the finish line but ultimately didn’t need to as all Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee endorsed her bid.It’s possible that given Chavez-DeRemer’s pro-labor views, some of the committee’s 11 Democrats could vote in her favor. After all, the party is doing little so far to stop Trump’s unqualified picks from getting confirmed. And according to Semafor, Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) Patty Murray (D-WA), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) have not ruled out supporting her bid.“I’ll give her a fair shake,” Baldwin told the outlet.She added, “I try to view each nominee through the lens of whether they will help or hurt Wisconsin.”Regardless of whether Chavez-DeRemer is truly pro-union, it would be rich if Democrats were responsible for helping her make it past the first Senate committee hurdle. Not only would that represent a break from Trump’s past Cabinet appointees (Gabbard, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. all relied on GOP support to overcome committee and the floor) but it would be a bad look for a party that’s supposed to be resisting Trump.Instead, Democrats should use the opening given to them by Paul’s no-vote to sink a Trump nominee. This is a crucial time for the party and members need to use every tool in their arsenal, including blocking nominations when possible, to slow down Trump’s agenda.Assuming the president’s labor pick makes it past the Senate’s HELP Committee—which is still a big if—some members of Congress have predicted she’ll be fine should her nomination go to the Senate floor. Sen. John Fetterman (D–PA), Trump’s favorite Democrat, has already said he’d vote for her, meaning Chavez-DeRemer could lose four Republicans and still get confirmed.“Is she controversial now? She was very pro-labor and supported the Pro Act, and I plan to vote yes, until they find a way that she’s controversial and turn it into more drama,” Fetterman told Semafor of Chavez-DeRemer’s upcoming vote.Chavez-DeRemer will appear before the Senate HELP Committee on Wednesday at 10 AM ET.Campaign Action

Wisconsin voters will return to the polls this spring for the first major election in a battleground state since the 2024 presidential race.

Musk has been named as a special government employee, which subjects him to less stringent rules on ethics and financial disclosures than other workers.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green and Democrat Sens. Tammy Baldwin, Brian Schatz, Chris Van Hollen, and Chris Murphy speak at 9:00 a.m. ET on Jan. 29, ahead of this week’s Senate Finance Committee and Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearings on the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Money already is pouring in and is expected to eclipse the more than $70 million combined spent on state Supreme Court races in both states two years ago.

Attacks on our rights are still in full throttle. And the future of your reproductive health care access may lie in the hands of your state leaders.

Biden appears ready to sign the NDAA, despite objections from advocates and some Democrats about an insidious anti-trans rider.The post Senate Approves Defense Bill Blocking Health Care for Thousands of Trans Youth appeared first on The Intercept.

The Senate voted to pass the $895 billion annual defense policy bill, that includes a pay raise for U.S. troops and a provision that restricts transgender care.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is voting Wednesday on final passage of a sweeping defense bill that will authorize significant pay raises for junior enlisted service members and boost overall military spending to $895 billion while also stripping coverage of transgender medical treatments for children of military members.

Senate Democrats reelected Chuck Schumer as party leader on Tuesday as the party moves into a deeply uncertain time.

Schumer and Durbin will be Senate minority leader and minority whip, respectively, as the GOP will control the upper congressional chamber starting in January.

The New York senator was unanimously reelected to lead his caucus for the fifth time in a row

A GOP senator is pushing a new bill to abolish the Department of Education, which Trump said he planned to do on the campaign trail.

Welcome to At the Races! Each week we bring you news and analysis from the CQ Roll Call campaign team. Know someone who’d like to get this newsletter? They can subscribe here. House Democrats voted this week to keep their top leaders in place for the next Congress, as the race to lead the national party [...]The post At the Races: DNC, or the Democrats’ Next Campaign appeared first on Roll Call.

Minnesota Democrats’ leader thinks the national party must communicate better in new media spaces and restore its reputation as a champion for workers.

The Senate overwhelmingly rejected three efforts led by progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders that would have blocked certain offensive weapons sales to Israel.

Sen.-elect Elissa Slotkin tore into identity politics as she recalled why she believes she won her race in a Trump-voting state.

by Erik Gunn, Wisconsin ExaminerVoting rights advocates joined the calls Thursday for Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde to back away from accusations he made earlier this week that something went wrong with vote-counting in the election Hovde lost to Sen. Tammy Baldwin.“This is a direct attempt to cast doubt on our free and fair elections. And this is not only disappointing, it’s unnecessary,” said Sam Liebert, Wisconsin state director for All Voting is Local at a news conference Thursday morning. The nonpartisan, nonprofit organization advocates for policies to ensure voting access, particularly for voters of color and other marginalized groups.“The rhetoric of questioning our democracy is more than just words, but it contributes to chaos and confusion, which undermines public trust in our elections and the officials who administer them,” Liebert said.The news conference, held outside the state office building that houses the Wisconsin Elections Commission, was organized by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a nonpartisan voting rights and campaign finance reform advocacy group.Speakers emphasized Wisconsin’s history of ticket-splitting and the near equal division of Republican and Democratic voters. For that reason, they said, victories last week by Republican Donald Trump in the presidential race and Baldwin, a Democrat, in the Senate race shouldn’t be viewed as remarkable or suspicious.

The Senate majority leader had not extended invitations to two candidates in close races.

The 2024 election had at least three split-ticket results, though presidential and Senate votes still closely aligned.

The Trump campaign spent big on ads highlighting Vice President Kamala Harris’ past support for gender-affirming medical care for federal prisoners.

Republican victories were most pronounced in Pennsylvania, a state flagged early on as this year’s preeminent swing state, where deep dissatisfaction surfaced with the status quo.

'These twelve are the most important to watch on Election Day'

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Billions of dollars in advertising are raining down on voters across the Rust Belt, Rocky Mountains and American southwest as the two major political parties portray their opponent’s candidates as extreme in a struggle for control of the U.S. Senate.

Vice President Kamala Harris tied former President Donald Trump's comments on protecting women from migrant crime to abortion, calling them "offensive."

I couldn’t sit on the sidelines any longer. I want to go to Washington to get things done because we have a lot of problems facing our country.

Republicans believe that they are in prime shape to win at least 52 seats in the Senate with only days to go until Election Day. The GOP has long been favored to win back the upper chamber, but the size of its majority has been in question as the party’s candidates trailed against Democratic incumbents in [...]

A win for Donald Trump would jeopardize organized labor's gains — and its ascendant place in the Democratic Party.

New poll points to a big gender gap in two crucial battlegrounds that are among the seven states likely to determine if Vice President Harris or former President Trump wins the 2024 election.

What 538's 2024 Senate election forecast says.

Senate Democrats are facing an increasingly tough road to keeping their majority in the upper chamber as races in crucial swing states tighten with just two weeks until Election Day. The path to 51 seats was always going to be a long shot for Democrats, who are facing a difficult Senate map featuring multiple incumbents [...]

With just two weeks to go, former President Barack Obama made the case against Donald Trump in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin is no stranger to close presidential elections

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz made a brief fundraising stop in Chicago on Saturday, hoping to fuel the ground game in battleground states to defeat former President Donald Trump.

Some endangered Democratic senators are highlighting their connections to former President Trump in campaign ads as they seek reelection in battleground states. Sens. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania recently released ads featuring Trump, according to an Axios analysis. Casey’s ad touts that he “sided with Trump to end NAFTA and put [...]The post Democrats Embrace Trump in Desperate Bid to Save Senate Seats appeared first on GV Wire.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Republican challenger Eric Hovde squared off on a debate stage Friday evening in Madison in a fiery exchange of attacks that showed how intense this race has become after largely flying under the radar for months. Hovde wasn’t as highly touted a Senate Republican candidate as some others trying to [...]

Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Republican challenger Eric Hovde have repeatedly accused each other of lying during an often testy and confrontational debate

'Wisconsin is one of the most evenly divided states in the country,' said the Cook Political Report, which changed the race from 'Lean Democrat' to 'Toss-Up.'

Senate candidates this cycle are largely steering clear of the debate stage, in some cases avoiding it altogether, marking a major change from past years as campaigns question the debates' importance. For years, it was common for top Senate races to feature multiple debates. That is far from the case this year, with Ohio serving [...]

Democrats like Sen. Tammy Baldwin could triumph even if the Democratic presidential candidate loses — an increasingly rare feat.