Good morning, it’s Wednesday, May 6, 2026. In today’s edition, Trump flexes muscles in GOP primaries; lawmakers consider data portability; South Carolina, New York enter redistricting chat:
Top Stories
SOCIAL MEDIA: Legislators in at least nine states have considered bills this year to allow social media users to port their data to other platforms, following passage of a first-of-its-kind bill in Utah last year. South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden (R) signed the nation’s second Digital Choice Act into law last month, and bills remain alive in California, Minnesota and New York. The bills require social media companies to allow consumers to request their data in a format that is transferrable to a different platform. (Pluribus News)
REDISTRICTING: The South Carolina legislature is joining the redistricting fight, aiming to redraw a Black-majority district long held by U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn (D). Lawmakers could take up a redistricting proposal as early as today; it requires a two-thirds vote in both chambers. Early voting begins in three weeks. (Associated Press) The Alabama legislature is advancing bills to void the May 19 primary elections if courts allow the state to revert to previously adopted congressional district maps. (Yellowhammer News)
MORE: U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D) has dispatched Rep. Joseph Morelle (D) to Albany to oversee redistricting efforts in New York. Morelle served as majority leader in the state Assembly before winning a seat in Congress. New York lawmakers must approve a proposed amendment to redraw the state in two successive legislative sessions, setting up a 2028 remap. (Albany Times Union)
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The Pennsylvania House Communications and Technology Committee approved legislation requiring patients to be notified if AI is used in healthcare decisions. The bill requires a human to review all AI-made decisions in healthcare settings. Another bill gives the state attorney general’s office regulatory authority over AI. (State Affairs)
GAMBLING: A coalition of 41 state attorneys general has formed to protect state-level regulation of online prediction markets. The coalition sent a letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal agency that has asserted its right to oversee such markets. (Magnolia Tribune)
Republican attorneys general are joining Democrats in taking on the Trump administration, a reflection of just how nervous state officials are about the rise of prediction markets.
CONSUMER RIGHTS: The Massachusetts Senate Ways and Means Committee has adopted legislation making it easier to cancel subscriptions. The measure mirrors a proposal Gov. Maura Healey (D) included in her budget that would require companies to make it as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to sign up. (State Affairs)
HEALTHCARE: Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) will sign legislation seeking to ban pharmacy benefit managers from owning pharmacy stores in the state. CVS Health said the bill would require it to shutter 134 pharmacies and 25 MinuteClinics in Tennessee. (State Affairs)
In Politics & Business
INDIANA: Voters on Tuesday ousted at least six incumbent state senators who had refused to go along with a redistricting plan backed by President Trump. Sen. Greg Goode (R) appeared to be the lone incumbent who resisted redistricting to survive a Trump-backed challenger. Sen. Spencer Deery (R) was running neck-and-neck with his Trump-backed rival. (State Affairs)
MICHIGAN: Democrat Chedrick Greene won a special election to fill a Saginaw-area Senate district, claiming 59% of the vote against Republican rival Jason Tunney, who took 39%. Greene’s win restores Democrats’ 20-18 majority in the state Senate. (State Affairs) Greene’s predecessor, former Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D), won the district by just six points in 2022.
OHIO: Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy (R) took 83% of the vote to capture the Republican nomination for governor, setting up a face-off with former state medical director Amy Acton (D), who was unopposed on the Democratic side. Every incumbent Republican state lawmaker facing a primary challenge survived. (State Affairs)
GEORGIA: A new Quantus Insights poll finds businessman Rick Jackson (R) ahead of Lt. Gov. Burt Jones (R) by a 27% to 22% margin in the Republican gubernatorial primary. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) lags with 14%, while Attorney General Chris Carr (R) stands at just 8%. (Quantus)
Context: The last Quantus poll, conducted in February, had Jackson ahead of Jones by 16 points.
NEW YORK: Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) leads Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman (R) 49% to 33%, according to a new Siena College poll. Hochul’s favorable ratings stand at just 41%, while 46% see her in an unfavorable light, her lowest ratings since 2025. (Siena)
By The Numbers
$7.366 billion: The amount in taxes Massachusetts collected last month, 14.3% more than Gov. Healey’s administration expected. Overall revenue collections are up almost $1.6 billion from the same period last fiscal year. (State Affairs)
50%: The increase in the price of a gallon of gasoline since the beginning of the war with Iran. Gas prices hit $4.48 per gallon on Tuesday, up from $2.98 on February 28, when the bombing campaign began. (Associated Press)
267: The number of major-party candidates running for state legislative seats in California this year. That’s the lowest number of contenders who have filed papers to run since at least 2010. (Ballotpedia)
Off The Wall
Need a new job? Fox Sports is offering $50,000 for one person to watch all 104 World Cup soccer matches this year. The catch: You’d have to watch from inside a custom-built glass cube at the heart of New York City’s Times Square. (Reuters)
How’s that for transparency?!? Okay, we’ll show ourselves out.
The co-owner of a Boston bakery is offering sweet treats as a reward for the safe return of a large plastic ice cream cone named Swirly, which may have been stolen over the winter. Flour Bakery on the Boston Common said its mascot was possibly spotted in a nearby dorm window. (UPI)
Quote of the Day
“This is inappropriate. We should be staying here till the end of time so that we can focus on the policy issues that we were elected to do for the people of Oklahoma.”
— Oklahoma Sen. Shane Jett (R), on bills to end the legislative session two weeks before the constitutional deadline. (KOSU)