Voting began this week for a statewide special election that would drastically alter California’s congressional map. Proposition 50, or Prop 50, could add as many as five Democratic-held seats in Congress in time for the 2026 midterms.The measure asks California voters to temporarily allow the legislature to decide the state’s district maps through 2030, after which the power would return to the independent California Citizens Redistricting Commission.

GREENBELT, MD— A federal judge in Maryland on Friday vowed to issue an order “as soon as possible” in a case involving the legal status of Salvadorian migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia and the Trump administration’s plans to deport him from the U.S. to a third country within days — capping an extraordinary marathon hearing in his case that stretched for nearly seven hours — and has dominated headlines and federal court dockets for as many months.U.S.

President Donald Trump is in “excellent overall health,” the president’s doctor said in a memorandum after a follow-up evaluation at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday. Earlier this week, the White House announced that Trump, 79, would undergo a “routine” semiannual physical on Friday. The president also met with troops while at the hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Friday announced that the Department of War (DOW) is establishing a new counter-narcotics Joint Task Force in the Caribbean Sea. Hegseth said the task force’s aim would be to “crush the cartels, stop the poison and keep America safe. The message is clear: if you traffic drugs toward our shores, we will stop you cold.

Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills appeared to announce the launch of her campaign for the Senate on X on Friday, but then quickly deleted the post. In a since-deleted announcement video, the 77-year-old Maine governor asked, “Folks, do you want Democrats to take back the Senate? Well, I’m Gov. Janet Mills, and I’m running to flip Maine’s Senate seat blue.”In the video, Mills took aim at incumbent Sen.

Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears came out swinging against what she called former Rep. Abigail Spanberger’s dodges on calls for fellow Democrat Jay Jones to drop out of the attorney general contest after texts envisioning the murder of a Republican leader came to light.Throughout the debate, Spanberger mostly declined to make eye contact with Earle-Sears and ignored her when she was interrupted.

The Senate advanced its version of a colossal package to authorize funding for the Pentagon on Thursday in the midst of the ongoing government shutdown.The 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which had been gathering dust as lawmakers worked to break through holds on the bill for over a month, advanced in the upper chamber on a bipartisan vote. The legislation would authorize roughly $925 billion in defense spending.