Congress

Special election shocker has Florida Republicans nervous about redistricting

Published

7 months ago

March 25, 2026

Florida has been viewed for months as the potential capstone of a GOP redistricting campaign, but now Sunshine State Republicans are growing wary after the dramatic flip of two legislative seats in the state — including one where President Donald Trump votes.

Republicans already hold a commanding 20-8 edge over Democrats in the Florida House delegation, and some in the GOP — including Gov. Ron DeSantis — believe they could pick up as many as five more seats with a rare mid-decade redraw of district lines.

Some Florida incumbents are now warning in stark terms it could backfire.

“I think the Legislature needs to be very cognizant of the fact that if they get too aggressive … you could put incumbent members at risk,” GOP Rep. Greg Steube said. Some seats that Republicans previously won by eight or nine points, he said, could instead have only a four- or five-point GOP advantage — putting them in reach for Democrats in a wave election.

DeSantis, citing a state Supreme Court decision from last year and a potential ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, has already called a special session of the state Legislature in April to push ahead with new lines. So far there have been no official maps produced or any signs that lawmakers have started working on them.

Republican anxiety has only grown further after Democrats notched surprising wins in special elections Tuesday, including a Palm Beach County district that contains the Mar-a-Largo resort where Trump lives and votes.

While many in the GOP have brushed off the Democratic gains there and in other states as anomalies, private qualms are growing among the incumbents whose seats could be put at greater risk due to redistricting.

“We keep saying these are kind of one-off things that haven’t gone our way,” said one Florida House Republican granted anonymity to speak candidly. “But I’m not seeing any of the one-offs that are going our way.”

“To talk as aggressively as some of what we’ve heard, there’s no way to get there without significantly weakening some districts,” the member added.

House Democrats are hoping to capitalize on the opportunity. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries quickly sent a warning Tuesday night that redistricting could backfire.

“We will crush House Republicans in November if DeSantis tries to gerrymander the Florida congressional map,” Jeffries said in a post on X.

Others are openly objecting to redistricting on more high-minded grounds. Rep. Daniel Webster, a veteran Republican from central Florida, called it a “slippery slope.”

“I’ve been around enough reapportionments to know it can come back and bite you,” he said.

“I don’t like this redistricting stuff,” Jacksonville-area Rep. John Rutherford said, noting south Florida would likely bear the brunt of any changes. “But if they think they can get another two seats or something, have at it.”

Any significant redraw in Florida would likely focus on changing districts that were drawn based on racial considerations, the subject of the court rulings DeSantis has cited. While much of the focus has been on seats held by Democrats, Republicans concede it could lead to changes to the Miami-area district represented by GOP Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart.

Some incumbents are also worried that redistricting — still weeks away — is hindering their reelection campaigns as the midterms approach.

“Why would you knock on doors if you don’t know if those doors are gonna be in your district or not?” Steube said.

The hand-wringing over Florida comes as the fallout from Trump’s monthslong redistricting push continues to ripple through the House. Republicans kicked things off with a surprise effort to draw new maps in Texas, but Democrats countered with an effort to draw California’s lines in their favor.

After months of wrangling in about a dozen states, the whole effort looks to end up close to a wash — after some Republicans tried to warn party leaders the heavy-handed effort could backfire.

A group of House Republicans from Florida privately discussed their concerns about the fallout of yet another redistricting push in their state, several Republicans confirmed — especially amid rising anxiety that Hispanic voters could be turning away from the GOP.

House GOP leaders mostly brushed off the Florida special elections in public comments Wednesday, arguing that low-turnout, off-cycle races shouldn’t be considered midterm bellwethers. But some suggested there are lessons to be learned from Tuesday’s results.

“Surely you look at those and see, are there things we can learn and improve upon when the big election comes?” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told reporters Wednesday. “And obviously, November is the election that we are focused on.”

The top leaders of the House GOP’s campaign arm, Reps. Richard Hudson of North Carolina and Brian Jack of Georgia, both deferred to the state Legislature on redistricting in Florida Wednesday.

Hudson, the NRCC chair, said Florida’s growing population means redistricting “makes sense to do,” but he said he was more concerned about turnout and other factors.

Jack, the group’s deputy chair for recruiting, similarly talked up the candidates Republicans would be fielding in Florida and elsewhere. As for redistricting, he said, “I defer to the Legislature.”

“It’s up to them,” he said, “not up to us.”

Congress

‘Lisa is Lisa’: Murkowski endorses a Democrat as she faces 2028 dilemma

Published

2 hours ago

October 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski endorsed a Democrat for governor this week as she ponders her own reelection decision. Amid speculation about her retirement, political operatives and longtime watchers say it’s not necessarily a clue as to what she’s thinking.

Murkowski backed Democratic candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins to lead her home state Tuesday, saying that he would “serve all Alaskans, regardless of party.”

Her decision is a break with her party, which has three candidates in the four-way ranked choice general election next week. President Donald Trump has backed GOP candidate Bernadette Wilson to succeed outgoing GOP Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

It could be read by some as an indication that Murkowski might be contemplating retirement rather than seeking reelection in 2028 — or positioning herself to win by appealing across the aisle, as she has done in the past. Trump has repeatedly lashed out at the senator and could rally Alaska Republicans to oust her.

But back home, her move to endorse a Democrat who is promising to work productively with state legislators of both parties is being viewed as further evidence of her well-known independent streak rather than tea leaves to be read about her own race.

“It’s certainly no surprise. Lisa is Lisa. She doesn’t make decisions based on party,” said Art Hackney, a GOP operative in Alaska running a super PAC for Sen. Dan Sullivan. “She’s looked at the four candidates and decided JKT is the best choice.”

Longtime Alaska political aide and journalist Larry Persily also said in an interview that he does not think Murkowski’s endorsement is a “signal for 2028.”

He called the move “the indication of her frustration with the current [Dunleavy] administration,” adding that she “doesn’t want to see anything close to a repeat. I think it’s a realization that her voice matters in Alaska.”

She hasn’t made a decision about running for reelection and has said little publicly about her thinking. Spokespeople for Murkowski did not respond to a question Wednesday about her endorsement or her 2028 decision.

It’s not the first time Murkowski has endorsed a Democrat. While she is backing Sullivan in his current battleground Senate race, she previously backed his Democratic rival, then-Rep. Mary Peltola, in the at-large House race. Murkowski’s father, former U.S. senator and former Gov. Frank Murkowski, is also backing Kreiss-Tomkins.

Further evidence of Lisa Murkowski’s independence was on display this week surrounding the 2026 Senate race — and allegations that Democrats schemed to put a second Dan Sullivan on the ballot to confuse voters.

After the Justice Department filed a lawsuit last week to block certification, citing the two Sullivans on the ballot, Murkowski pushed back in a statement, saying “Alaskans don’t need any help voting for their preferred candidates.”

Then, after the New York Times published evidence Wednesday that Peltola’s campaign and national Democratic operatives had knowledge of the plans, Murkowski spoke out again to say Peltola and her campaign needed to share the “honest truth” about “a pattern of lies and coverups and a culture of deception that belongs nowhere in our elections or among our elected officials.”

Trump, meanwhile, has renewed his attacks on Murkowski, calling her the “worst senator” in a Truth Social post over the weekend following her criticism of the DOJ lawsuit.

Murkowski and Trump are also on opposite sides when it comes to Alaska’s ranked choice voting system, which eliminates traditional party primaries. Trump has blasted the state’s system as “corrupt,” pointing to the three Republicans on the ballot in the governor’s race compared to one Democratic candidate.

Alaska is one of only two states that use ranked choice voting statewide, and there is a referendum on this year’s ballot to repeal it. Some have credited the system for helping Murkowski defeat a challenger from her right in 2022.

Though Murkowski votes with her party most of the time, she’s been willing to break with the administration on key foreign and domestic policy questions and has voted against some of Trump’s Cabinet picks, including Todd Blanche’s nomination earlier this year to be attorney general.

Some Senate Republicans have privately questioned if Murkowski will run for reelection and, if she does, whether Trump will recruit another Republican to run against her. Murkowski defeated a Trump-backed challenger in 2022 after already pulling off a legendary electoral feat in 2010 by losing the GOP primary then winning the general election via a write-in campaign.

Heading into a 2028 race, Dunleavy has garnered months of speculation as a potential Senate candidate. But he has been dogged by low approval ratings and poor relations with other Alaska Republicans.

Murkowski said this week she has “found fault with the Dunleavy administration” and that it had “federal money on the table.”

After Fox News reported last year Dunleavy would challenge Murkowski, a spokesperson for the governor said in a statement that Dunleavy was “focused on moving Alaska forward during the remainder of his second term.” Spokespeople for Dunleavy did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday about Murkowski’s fresh criticism of his administration.

National Republican political operatives who were granted anonymity to speak candidly speculated that Dunleavy could be more interested in a potential Cabinet spot than a Senate seat if he decides to stay in politics.

Trump has repeatedly praised Dunleavy, including at a Sept. 30 White House event where he said he was a “great governor and a friend of mine.”

Congress

TV station says it is ‘pulling’ GOP ad attacking Pennsylvania House candidate

Published

4 hours ago

October 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A Harrisburg-area television station said it is “pulling” a controversial advertisement attacking Pennsylvania House candidate Janelle Stelson, who is locked in one of the country’s tightest House races.

The ad was sponsored by No Going Back, a group affiliated with the President Donald Trump-aligned MAGA Inc. super PAC. The ad raised an unsubstantiated public nudity allegation which Stelson — a longtime local broadcast journalist — denies. The PAC has spent $295,000 on the ad, which has aired on multiple local stations since Oct. 25, according data from ad-tracking firm AdImpact.

Stelson is facing Republican Rep. Scott Perry in the south-central Pennsylvania district. The No Going Back ad, and a similar spot from Perry’s campaign, have sparked significant local attention in the days before the election.

“We will continue to pursue every possible legal avenue to combat these verifiably false attacks that fail to meet the already miserably low standard of ethics Scott Perry has set for himself,” Stelson campaign manager Alma Baker said in a statement. “Perry should take the rest of his lying ads off the air.”

In a letter sent to stations airing the ad this week, lawyers for Stelson’s campaign and House Democrats’ campaign arm called the ad “false and defamatory” and demanded that it be taken down.

In a Wednesday morning email reviewed by Blue Light News, the general sales manager for ABC affiliate WHTM, Michael Nurse, informed lawyers that the station was “pulling the ad in question out of rotation as soon as we can” and noting the station did not receive a response from the advertising agency that placed the order.

In another email reviewed by Blue Light News, a representative for WGAL — the Harrisburg NBC affiliate where Stelson worked for over 25 years — said that they are “not airing” the ad.

Reached by phone, Nurse declined to comment. Other WHTM officials as well as spokespeople for WGAL did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A spokesperson for the Perry campaign referred a reporter to No Going Back PAC to answer questions about the ad. When reached for comment, a spokesperson for MAGA, Inc. shared two Oct. 28 letters from the super PAC’s attorney, Andrew Murphy, to local station managers and cable system operators saying “ad is true and must remain in rotation.”

While it is typical for officials to litigate campaign ads, it is highly unusual that television stations actually pull them down. A spokesperson for the DCCC said this is the first time this cycle that a campaign ad has been pulled by a station.

Aaron Pellish contributed to this report.

Congress

Pelosi in London

Published

8 hours ago

October 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

LONDON — Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi was spotted at the U.K. House of Common Wednesday, watch Britain’s new leader, Andy Burnham, at Prime Minister’s Questions. Perched up in the special galleries near political journalists, she studied the order of questions intently in between chatting to a top editor from the Daily Express.

Sadly for Pelosi, she didn’t have the best seat in the house — she was facing Opposition Leader Kemi Badenoch over the top of Burnham’s head — and she left midway through the main event of the day, Chancellor John Healey’s budget speech.