BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The lines on Alabama's congressional map have shifted — along with some of the state's political power.

After a high-profile legal fight that lasted roughly two years, a panel of three federal judges on Thursday picked a map that will be used when Alabamians cast their 2024 vote for who will represent them in the U.S. House.

The new map adds a second congressional district where Black voters' preferred candidate is projected to win a majority of the time.

That's a win for Black Alabamians — and Democrats, who tend to receive those votes.

Expectations are at rock-bottom among House Republicans that their civil war will be resolved by the speaker vote on Wednesday, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: There are way too many potential blowup points for this leadership vacuum to be easily resolved, thanks to a rump caucus of Republicans who proved they'll break with the overwhelming majority of their colleagues.

Some moderates are threatening to tank any speaker if the rules aren't changed to protect future speakers from single-member motions to vacate. That's a deal breaker for conservatives.

Some conservatives are threatening to tank any speaker who'd support aid for Ukraine, or who wouldn't push along an impeachment vote on President Biden. That's a deal breaker for some moderates.

To be clear, we’re skeptical that either Jordan or his main rival, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, can garner the 218 votes necessary to become speaker. That doesn’t mean they won’t; it just means it’ll be very difficult. We also think that the speaker election could stretch beyond next Wednesday’s current deadline.

Let’s start with this: We’ve all covered the 59-year-old Jordan for a long time, dating back to his days as former Speaker John Boehner’s chief tormentor. Jake spent time with him at home in Urbana, Ohio, for “The Hill to Die On.”

Jordan is a walking contradiction. He’s an old-school populist who’s spent decades in government. He went to law school but never took the bar exam. He comes across as straightforward and direct, yet he’s also an extremely sophisticated pol.

Jordan’s theory of governance is simple: he hates losing and thinks Republicans have been feckless for decades, dating back to 2006 and the Bush era, when he first won a House seat. Jordan’s motto — and the title of his book — is “Do What You Said You Would Do.” In other words, don’t campaign in poetry and govern in prose.


https://punchbowl.news/article/judiciary-chair-jordan-wades-into-gop-speaker-race/

First, Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) stepped down from House Democratic leadership over his views on President Joe Biden’s reelection bid. Now, Phillips may face a primary challenger thanks to his 2024 ambitions.

Ron Harris, a Democratic Party official, told us he’s been making calls and putting a team together for a possible House run. Harris is a Democratic National Committee Executive Committee member and DNC’s Midwestern Caucus chair.

Harris is eyeing an open seat if Phillips runs for president. But Harris also didn’t rule out running against Phillips if the three-term lawmaker seeks reelection in the House.

“My main focus is making sure that this district stays in Democratic hands,” Harris told us in an interview. “Dean is making a lot of noise about potentially running for president and that’s kind of where we’re at today. That’s the foundation of which I’m exploring this run.”

Jacob Rubashkin
@JacobRubashkin
A new PPP (D) poll for End Citizens United of the NEW JERSEY primary finds bad news for Bob Menendez:

Andy Kim 63%
Bob Menendez (inc) 10%
~~
Kim 42%
Tammy Murphy 19%
Menendez 5%
~~
Fav/unfav
Menendez 14/67
Kim 54/6
Murphy 54/5

X, the site formerly known as Twitter, has removed automatically generated headlines from links to external websites, including news articles, the latest change introduced by owner Elon Musk as he seeks to remold the social media company and reduce traffic to other sites.

Under the new format, posts linking to third-party news stories or websites automatically load those articles’ lead images in preview tiles along with their web domains — but with no headlines, depriving readers of key context from the publishers about their articles, according to a review by The Washington Post on Thursday. The change also appeared to affect shared links to non-news websites, although it did not affect paid advertisements, which still loaded with headlines, The Post’s review found.

X did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Thursday.

The change comes amid a wider push by X to discourage users from clicking on external links, including links leading to news sites. “Our algorithm tries to optimize time spent on X, so links don’t get as much attention, because there is less time spent if people click away,” Musk said in a tweet Tuesday.

The judge who doomed Donald Trump’s family business last week took an aggressive and preemptive step on Wednesday to ensure the former president can't secretly shift assets to salvage his real estate empire.

In an order that was posted on the fourth day of the former president’s bank fraud trial, Justice Arthur F. Engoron commanded that the Trumps identify any corporations they have—and come clean about any plans to move around money in an attempt to hide or keep their wealth.

...snip...

Trump, sons Don Jr. and Eric, and two other top executives were ordered to tell the court about “any other entity is controlled or beneficially owned” by them, “any creation of a new entity to hold or acquire the assets,” and “any anticipated transfer of assets.”

The judge also empowered a court-appointed monitor currently babysitting the Trump Organization, a former federal judge named Barbara Jones, to manage this phase until someone can be appointed to disintegrate Trump’s companies.

LOS ANGELES — Rick Caruso, the billionaire shopping mall magnate who lost an expensive race for Los Angeles mayor, is stepping out of the shadows with a new plan to help swing-seat Democrats retake the House in 2024.

Caruso has spent months quietly laying the groundwork for his comeback in California, including meetings with top House Democrats in Los Angeles and Washington and donations to their committees. In an interview with POLITICO on his plans, Caruso pledged to throw himself into the five California congressional districts President Joe Biden won in 2020 that are now held by Republicans.

Caruso, who didn’t rule out spending in primaries, wouldn’t put an exact dollar figure on his anticipated contributions for the next cycle. But he said he was dedicating his money and time to push the most viable Democratic candidates to the front of the field and give them the best chance of beating their GOP opponents. He also anticipates being involved in the presidential and U.S. Senate races and wants to court Latino voters who failed to tip the scales in his favor in his own mayoral race last year.

“Stick with the central theme of getting moderates in the House,” Caruso told POLITICO of his strategy for the next year. “I am not out to support extremists or, frankly, ideologues.”

A grandfather who was officiating a wedding in Nebraska is facing charges after accidentally shooting his 12-year-old grandson during the ceremony, officials said.

Michael Gardner, 62, was officiating the festivities at Hillcrest Events in Denton around 5 p.m. on Saturday when he attempted to shoot a Pietta Model 1860 Snub Nose revolver loaded with a blank into the air to gain the attention of the wedding guests, according to Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Ben Houchin.

Gardner “decided to gain everybody’s attention and start the wedding with a bang,” Houchin said during a news conference Monday.

“When he decided to cock back the hammer of this revolver, it slipped and it shot his grandson into the left shoulder causing an injury,” Houchin said.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/04/us/wedding-shooting-nebraska/index.html

WASHINGTON - GOP U.S. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer is primed to run for a leadership promotion in the aftermath of Kevin McCarthy's unprecedented removal as speaker of the House.

A source with direct knowledge confirmed to the Star Tribune that Emmer has started calling fellow House Republicans and is planning a run for majority leader.

The source also said that Emmer supports current Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana in the Republican race for speaker.

House Republicans are scrambling to find a path forward after McCarthy was removed as speaker in a historic first on Tuesday. A small group of Republicans bucked most members of their party to vote against McCarthy and the revolt was enough to oust him from his leadership post in the closely divided House since he received no support from Democrats.