Political Charge Weekly Recap 5/6

By TokyoSand on May 7, 2023 • ( 5 )

Let’s jump right into the great news from this past week!

Good News

Incredible economic news –> The U.S. reported 253,000 new jobs in April, beating expectations once again; we’re at 3.4% unemployment, matching lowest in >50 years; and we’re at a 4.4% yearly average hourly earnings gain (we were expecting 4.2%)

Former Proud Boys chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio and three other members of the extremist group were found guilty Thursday of seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol

The Arizona Supreme Court sanctioned Kari Lake’s attorneys, ordering them to pay thousands of dollars for repeating ‘unequivocally false’ election claims in court

This week, the Senate confirmed seven highly qualified and diverse judicial nominees to lifetime appointments on the federal bench

President Biden is expected to nominate Gen. C.Q. Brown, the Air Force’s top officer and the first Black person to lead any branch of the military, as the next Joint Chiefs chair. If confirmed, he would become the second Black Joint Chiefs chair in the nation’s history, after the late Colin Powell

A New York judge has tossed out Donald Trump’s lawsuit against The New York Times, and ordered the former president to pay all attorneys fees and legal expenses

Planned Parenthood is launching an effort to put abortion on the Florida ballot next year — setting the stage for a high-profile battle with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis

Former Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R) pleaded guilty to bringing a loaded handgun through a TSA checkpoint at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport

Federal prosecutors investigating former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents have obtained the confidential cooperation of a person who has worked for him at Mar-a-Lago

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) announced that he’s running for reelection

Special counsel Jack Smith sat in on the federal grand jury proceeding while former Vice President Mike Pence testified for more than five hours last week

Call to Action

I hope by now you all realize just how important it is to focus on what is happening in state legislatures, not just Congress and the White House. There are a lot of great organizations you can connect to to build more power in the states, but for today, I encourage you to check out The States Project.

Their successes in the 2022 midterms were inspiring and I want to build on that in 2024. Join me by checking out their mission and even signing up to get updates! (Scroll to the bottom of the website to enter your email to get their newsletter.)