Good morning, it’s Wednesday, November 19, 2025. In today’s edition, judge strikes down Texas U.S. House maps in blow to GOP; court halts California climate law; Gianforte to head Republican governors:
Top Stories
REDISTRICTING: A panel of federal judges on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction barring Texas from enacting new congressional district lines ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The panel found plaintiffs who sued alleging a racial gerrymander had met four separate legal bars to qualify for the injunction during a nine-day trial held earlier this month in El Paso. Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) vowed to appeal. (Pluribus News)
The blistering opinion, written by a Trump-appointed judge who formerly won election as a Republican to the Texas Supreme Court, is a massive blow to the GOP’s hopes of keeping the U.S. House of Representatives. As a practical matter, it’s not clear the U.S. Supreme Court would have time to hear arguments and rule on the case; the filing deadline for candidates is already open.
MORE: The Indiana Senate approved a resolution allowing the chamber to wait until January to reconvene, punting proposed redistricting measures into the new year. State House Speaker Todd Huston (R) has encouraged members to keep the first two weeks of December open for a redistricting measure as the White House continues pressuring lawmakers. (State Affairs)
SECURITY: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has named the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations as transnational criminal organizations. Abbott accused the groups of supporting terrorism and subverting Texas law. CAIR, the nation’s oldest Muslim civil rights group, said Abbott lacked the authority to make such a declaration. (Texas Tribune)
VOTING: An Ohio House committee has advanced legislation to eliminate a four-day grace period for absentee ballots to arrive after Election Day. The committee added new language related to cleaning voter registration rolls, meaning the bill will have to go back to the state Senate, which adopted the original language two weeks ago. (State Affairs)
ABORTION: The Wisconsin Senate has adopted legislation exempting some medical procedures from the definition of abortion. The bill would exempt removing a dead embryo or fetus or treating an ectopic pregnancy. Gov. Tony Evers (D) has vowed to veto the bill. (State Affairs)
A South Carolina bill that would have allowed judges to sentence women who get abortions to prison terms and restrict the use of IUDs and IVF treatment failed in a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday. (Associated Press)
ENVIRONMENT: The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has paused a California law set to take effect in January that would require large companies to report climate risks every two years. The court allowed another law requiring big companies to disclose carbon emissions to stay in place. (Associated Press)
LGBTQ RIGHTS: The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Jan. 13 over an Idaho law barring transgender women from girls sports. The law has been blocked by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals since it was passed in 2020, the first such law in the nation. (Idaho Capital Sun)
In Politics & Business
REPUBLICANS: Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) has been elected to lead the Republican Governors Association, taking over for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R). Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) will serve as vice chair, while Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) will be policy chair. (Daily Montanan)
SOUTH DAKOTA: Gov. Larry Rhoden (R) will run for a full term next year, he said Tuesday. Rhoden, who ascended to the governor’s office when former Gov. Kristi Noem (R) resigned to become secretary of Homeland Security, will face U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson (R) and others in the GOP primary. (MPR News)
NEW YORK: A new Siena College poll finds Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) leading U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R) 52% to 32%. Hochul leads the Democratic primary against her lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado (D), by a 56% to 16% margin among Democratic voters. (Albany Times Union)
NEW JERSEY: Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill (D) will resign her position in the U.S. House of Representatives effective Thursday, as she prepares to succeed Gov. Phil Murphy (D). Murphy will call a special election by Friday, likely setting primaries for late January or early February and a general election in April. (New Jersey Globe)
ILLINOIS: State elections authorities have dropped a nearly $10 million fine against Senate President Don Harmon’s (D) campaign funds amid partisan gridlock. The State Board of Elections, evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, split along party lines over whether to accept the recommendation from a hearing officer to fine Harmon over campaign contribution limit violations. (Chicago Tribune)
By The Numbers
$1.1 million: The amount Rhode Island raised in an auction of unclaimed property. The rising price of gold meant the auction took in well more than the $752,000 the state Treasurer’s office expected. Among the items auctioned were baseballs signed by Yankees legends Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. (Rhode Island Current)
$105 million: The amount of extra revenue collected by Washington State in the current fiscal year, about 0.1% over expectations. That’s cold comfort to lawmakers, who expect a budget shortfall of $12 billion to $16 billion. (Washington State Standard)
Off The Wall
A federal judge has ordered Alabama to implement a new state Senate map that will add a Black-majority seat in Montgomery. The court picked a remedial map drawn by D.D., a teenager who drew six potential fixes. (Associated Press) Read the court filing here.
That’s a heck of a topic for the kid’s college application.
Residents in Pawnee County, Neb., are launching a fundraising effort and a journalism trust to keep the local newspaper, the Pawnee Republican, afloat. The paper is the oldest continuously published weekly newspaper in Nebraska. Bev and Ron Puhalla, who ran the newspaper from 1990 to 2019, have come out of retirement to run the paper after the former owner quit suddenly. (Nebraska Examiner)
Yale University will continue offering a course on the rapper Bad Bunny and his home island of Puerto Rico. Professor Albert Laguna said 120 students applied to get into the class, which he will limit to just 18 students. (Connecticut Public Radio)
Quote of the Day
“You’ll have to be open to having your services maybe delivered differently. Looking at ways that you access some of those services. How can we collaborate with other counties? How can we collaborate within the county, within the cities?”
— Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R), forecasting changes to state services under a plan to cut property taxes she will push in next year’s legislative session. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)