Congress
Laura Gillen defeats Rep. Anthony D’Esposito in heated NY rematch focused on border security
NEW YORK — Democratic challenger Laura Gillen notched an upset Tuesday night over first-term GOP Rep. Anthony D’Esposito in New York City’s suburbs, flipping a highly coveted seat in a racially diverse district spanning the South Shore of western Long Island.
The win by Gillen, a former local government official, gives Democrats a much-needed boost in their quest to retake the House and returns some partisan balance in a region largely governed by Republicans at local and state levels.
Gillen, previously the town of Hempstead’s supervisor, had narrowly lost a bid against D’Esposito for the seat in 2022.
D’Esposito, a freshman member of Congress and former NYPD detective, faced scandal in the final months of his campaign after a September New York Times exposé revealed he had an affair and put his lover and his fiancee’s daughter on his payroll.
He has denied he violated House ethics rules.
Gillen’s path to victory was paved by Democrats’ outreach to Black and Latino voters in the district, her argument that she’s better positioned to work across the aisle and her message that her party cares about securing the border. Her prospects improved after Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket.
Congressional races on Long Island, in the Hudson Valley and in central New York are expected to help determine whether Mike Johnson or Hakeem Jeffries serves as speaker next year.
In 2022, D’Esposito flipped the NY-04 red after former Democratic Rep. Kathleen Rice opted not to seek reelection.
It made the district one of a handful in the House where voters chose Biden in 2020 but elected a GOP House member two years later. The victory was part of a red wave that engulfed the state as Republicans flipped four New York House seats red.
D’Esposito, who was instrumental in getting then-colleague Rep. George Santos expelled, was a face of the storied Nassau County Republican Party and a leader that Donald Trump touted when he visited the district in September.
As one of the few women challengers Democrats floated in the battlegrounds of California and New York, Gillen proved to be a prolific fundraiser. She brought in $2.4 million in the third quarter of her campaign and $1.9 million in the second quarter.
Democratic attacks on D’Esposito often focused less on the accusations of patronage and nepotism and more on misconduct complaints against him that were lodged during his days as a police officer. He was accused of lying under oath, a matter New York City settled with $250,000 in taxpayer money, and he failed to secure his gun, which was stolen from him.
D’Esposito defended his police record in their sole debate. He accused Gillen of patronage and sought to use her record as town supervisor against her. He repeatedly attacked her as a liar, a gaslighter and someone he described as ineffective in the Hempstead government where they both served.
His ads targeted Gillen as an ally of unpopular Democratic leaders, Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who he and other vulnerable New York Republicans painted as soft on migrants and crime.
“My opponent and Democrats throughout the country told us that the border was secure, and they said that the economy was booming,” D’Esposito said at the News 12 debate. “All of a sudden Kamala Harris becomes the nominee, and now they want to secure the border and they want to fix the economy. They’re lying to everyone.”
Gillen sought to paint D’Esposito as enabling a highly ineffective and dysfunctional Republican-controlled Congress, noting that House Republicans rejected the Senate’s bipartisan border deal.
“You send me to Congress,” she said in one ad. “I will work with anyone from any party to secure our southern border, lock up criminals pushing fentanyl and stop the migrant crisis.”
The Democrat also insisted that the GOP incumbent would green-light a nationwide abortion ban supported by Speaker Johnson.
D’Esposito, like other moderate Republicans fighting for their political lives in blue states, said he would not vote for a federal ban and accused Democrats of misrepresenting his views for political gain.
Democratic leaders stumped in the district for Gillen over the course of the race. They included House Minority Leader Jeffries, House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks and House Minority Whip Katherine Clark.
Congress
Rep. Al Green is filing new impeachment articles against Trump
Rep. Al Green said Wednesday he was introducing impeachment articles against Donald Trump after the president said the U.S. would “take over” Gaza.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. and injustice in Gaza is a threat to justice in the United States of America,” Green said in a floor speech Wednesday morning. “I rise to announce that the movement to impeach the president has begun. I rise to announce that I will bring articles of impeachment against the president for dastardly deeds proposed and dastardly deeds done.”
The Texas Democrat launched multiple longshot impeachment bids during Trump’s first term using procedural maneuvers meant to circumvent House leadership and bypass committees. Similar to his last efforts, there’s not much appetite among Democrats to impeach Trump as of yet.
Asked Wednesday about Green’s measure, Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), the No. 3 House Democrat, said it wasn’t a focus for the caucus.
Congress
Ex-NLRB member challenges Trump’s firing
Former National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox sued the Trump administration on Wednesday over her abrupt removal from the agency last week.
“The President’s removal of Ms. Wilcox without even purporting to identify any neglect of duty or malfeasance, and without notice or a hearing, defies ninety years of Supreme Court precedent that has ensured the independence of critical government agencies like the Federal Reserve,” states the complaint, which was filed in D.C. district court.
“The President’s action against Ms. Wilcox is part of a string of openly illegal firings in the early days of the second Trump administration that are apparently designed to test Congress’s power to create independent agencies like the Board,” the complaint continues.
The outcome of the case will likely have ramifications for other independent agencies in the executive branch and determine whether they can be insulated from the president’s reach. In firing Wilcox, the Trump administration flouted a federal statute that said NLRB board members can only be removed “for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, but for no other cause.”
In its Jan. 27 letter to Wilcox and general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, a fellow Democratic appointee who was simultaneously removed, the White House stated that part of the National Labor Relations Act “does not operate as a restriction on [the president’s] ability to remove Board members.”
Though Abruzzo’s firing was widely expected, Wilcox’s unprecedented removal has left the NLRB without the quorum necessary to rule on cases, grinding much of the agency’s most consequential work to a standstill.
Wilcox is asking the court to declare that she remains a “rightful member of the Board and that the President lacks authority to remove her” outside of the process outlined by the NLRA.
The White House did not immediately return a request for comment. A Trump administration official previously told Blue Light News Wicox and Abruzzo were “far-left appointees with radical records of upending longstanding labor law, and they have no place as senior appointees in the Trump Administration, which was given a mandate by the American people to undo the radical policies they created.”
The administration has similarly dismantled the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — which enforces workplace antidiscrimination laws — by removing two Democratic commissioners and its Biden-appointed top lawyer.
The ousted EEOC commissioners have also threatened to challenge their own removals, while the general counsel — Karla Gilbride — joined a government watchdog group that is suing the Trump administration over other matters.
The White House’s position that it holds near-unlimited authority to shape the executive branch to the president’s liking could tee up the Supreme Court to revisit a precedent known as Humphrey’s Executor that, for nearly a century, has served as the foundation for the constitutionality of independent agencies.
Congress
Byron Donalds pressures Mike Johnson on budget plan
Florida Rep. Byron Donalds challenged Speaker Mike Johnson inside a closed-door House Republican conference meeting Wednesday morning to produce a workable plan to advance President Donald Trump’s policy agenda, according to three people in the room granted anonymity to describe the exchange.
Donalds is a member of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus that has proposed an alternative to Johnson’s one-big-bill strategy, and he spoke as Republicans across the House GOP’s ideological divides are growing anxious with the delays.
He argued to Johnson that the Freedom Caucus comes in for lots of criticism, according to the people present, but they at least have a workable plan — one that involves dividing the agenda into two bills. Johnson huddled privately for hours last night with members of the House Budget Committee, including some Freedom Caucus members, but did not emerge with a viable blueprint; he’s previously argued a two-bill approach would fail in the House.
Johnson said in a brief interview after the meeting that he assured Donalds “that we’re moving forward toward the final decision.” Separately, House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) said talks were “in a good spot” and that a committee meeting could be called by the end of the week to debate and advance a budget blueprint.
The budget plan wasn’t the only point of contention: Donalds, who is considering a run for governor, also got in a heated back-and-forth with the speaker over a brewing government funding deal with Democrats ahead of a March 14 shutdown deadline.
Donalds argued Republicans shouldn’t strike a deal with Democrats to fund the government and, likely, raise the debt ceiling. Johnson responded that they would need seven Democrats in the Senate to back any government funding plan due to the chamber’s filibuster rule.
“None of us” want to work with Democrats on government funding, Johnson said in the interview afterward. “The reality is you have to get 60 votes in the Senate, so that’s what dictates how all this goes.”
Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.
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