Good morning, it’s Monday, September 29, 2025. In today’s edition, AI industry becomes a major political player; Oregon sues over National Guard deployment orders; New York Mayor Adams drops re-elect bid:
Top Stories
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The AI industry is mounting increasingly pricey efforts to block regulations in state legislatures. Three super PACs, two funded by Meta, have launched in recent weeks pledging to spend more than $100 million, much of it on statewide races, as AI companies view state-level regulatory efforts as their largest threats.
Most states have passed restrictions on election-related or intimate deepfakes. Colorado passed the first-in-the-nation comprehensive AI measure last year, while California and New York approved measures regulating companion chatbots and large frontier AI models. Texas also approved an AI regulation bill. (Pluribus News)
We’ve said it before: Big Tech and Big Crypto are the new Big Oil in political spending.
MORE: Ohio Rep. Thad Claggett (R) has introduced legislation declaring AI systems are consentient entities, banning them from gaining personhood and making it illegal for someone to marry an AI system. The bill would also ban AI systems from owning or controlling real estate, intellectual property and financial accounts. (Columbus Dispatch)
FEDERALISM: Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield (D) has filed suit against the Trump administration to block the deployment of National Guard troops to Portland. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memo to Gov. Tina Kotek (D) calling up 200 Guard troops for a 60-day deployment. In a press conference, Rayfield and Kotek called the order an infringement on state sovereignty. (Oregonian)
REDISTRICTING: Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) has signed new congressional district maps that appear likely to hand an additional U.S. House seat to Republicans in next year’s midterm elections. Opponents of the new map have until Dec. 11 to submit about 110,000 valid signatures to challenge it under a referendum, which would put the map on hold until a statewide vote. (Associated Press)
MORE: The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ordered briefings in two lawsuits seeking to overturn the state’s congressional district map lines. The two challenges seek to use a 2011 law Republicans approved directing a three-judge panel to oversee complaints about congressional district map lines. (State Affairs)
Supporters of California’s Proposition 50, to redraw congressional district lines, have raised $77.5 million for their campaign. Opponents have pulled in $35.3 million, almost all of it — $30 million — from conservative activist Charles Munger Jr. (Los Angeles Times)
EDUCATION: Sixteen Democratic states and the District of Columbia have sued the Department of Health and Human Services, alleging threats to pull sexual education funding over lessons mentioning diverse gender identities violates federal law. The federal grants in question fund the Personal Responsibility Education Program and the Sexual Risk Avoidance Education program. (Associated Press)
TRANSPORTATION: The Department of Transportation has sent notices to at least six states — Alabama, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts and New Mexico — informing them it is withdrawing money under the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law meant to fund recreational trails and bike lanes. The department said those projects fail to promote road capacity or are “hostile to motor vehicles.” (Associated Press)
In Politics & Business
WISCONSIN: Former Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation Secretary and CEO Missy Hughes (D) has joined the race to replace retiring Gov. Tony Evers (D). (State Affairs) Businessman Bill Berrien (R) dropped his campaign for governor, citing media reports about sexually explicit social media accounts he followed. (State Affairs)
GEORGIA: State Rep. Ruwa Romman (D) will join the crowded Democratic field for governor, seeking to carve out a progressive lane. Romman, 32, first won her state House seat in suburban Gwinnett County in 2022. She’s the eighth Democrat to say she will run. (Associated Press)
CONNECTICUT: Westport First Selectwoman Jen Tooker (R) has dropped her bid for governor after anemic fundraising. In her announcement, she hinted at a run for some other down-ballot office. Her exit leaves Sen. Ryan Fazio (R) as the only announced Republican in the race, though New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart (R) has been operating an exploratory committee since January. (Hartford Courant)
NEW YORK CITY: Mayor Eric Adams dropped his campaign for re-election on Sunday, acknowledging the reality of his sagging poll numbers. Adams announced his decision in a video that opened with Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.” His name will remain on the ballot after the deadline for removing it passed. (New York Times)
CRIME BLOTTER: Former South Carolina Rep. R.J. May (R) has agreed to plead guilty to distributing abuse material involving children. May faces five counts, all of which carry five to 20 years in prison. He will appear in federal court today to change his plea. (Associated Press)
By The Numbers
146,332: The number of electric vehicles sold in the United States in August, up 18% from the month before. Industry analysts expect sales to plummet in the last quarter of the year after a $7,500 federal tax credit expires. (New York Times)
Nearly 1,500: The number of Indiana state jobs that have been cut since Gov. Mike Braun (R) took office. Government agencies incurred a 5% funding cut under this year’s state budget. (State Affairs)
Off The Wall
Kansas Rep. Tobias Schlingensiepen (D) used a three-month sabbatical from his job as pastor of the First Congregational Church in Topeka to hike 350 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Schlingensiepen started his trek in New York and ended in Boston for this year’s National Conference of State Legislatures Legislative Summit. (Topeka Capital-Journal)
We hope one of his colleagues brought him a change of clothes.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has recalled some 58 million pounds of corndogs and sausage-on-a-stick products because pieces of wood may be embedded in the batter. Tyson, the parent company of Texas-based Hillshire Brands, said the mistake is isolated to one factory in Haltom City, Texas. (Associated Press)
Quote of the Day
“This has a little bit different characteristic to it, the threat is a little bit different this time, so that remains to be seen what will happen.”
— JoDonn Chaney, director of strategy and communication at the Missouri Department of Revenue, on the threat of a federal government shutdown. The fiscal year ends at midnight on Tuesday, and Republicans and Democrats in Washington don’t appear anywhere near a compromise. (KCUR)