Contributing Writers

The Associated Press projects that Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan will survive a Republican primary runoff election challenge by David Covey.Phelan’s victory in a state House district east of Houston is seen as a political setback for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and former President Donald Trump, and to a lesser degree for Gov. Greg Abbott.Phelan oversaw the effort last year to impeach Paxton over corruption charges.

President Biden on Monday invoked the memory of his late son, Beau Biden, while addressing an audience at Arlington National Cemetery for a Memorial Day ceremony. Sharing the pain of those whose family members have died in service, Biden noted this week marks nine years since he lost his son Beau, who served in Iraq and later died from brain cancer that the president attributes to his time stationed near toxic burn pits.

On Memorial Day, Americans honor those who sacrificed their lives for our country. Many of the families of those who went missing in action have not had the full opportunity to say goodbye to their loved ones. The Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency is working to change that.”It really is a fulfillment of a promise made to service members who we send off to combat and did not come home,” said Kelly McKeague, the agency’s director.

Former President Donald Trump weighed in with his important endorsement in the crowded Virginia Republican Senate race, giving the nod to retired Navy Capt. Hung Cao.

President Biden paid a visit to his daughter-in-law’s home Sunday night, days before the ninth anniversary of the death of his son Beau Biden, who was her husband.The president’s brief visit to Hallie Biden’s home also comes before she is expected to testify as a witness in Hunter Biden’s gun crime trial next month. The first son is charged with making false statements on a federal form when purchasing a firearm in 2018.A source with knowledge of the Oct.

Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will host an exclusive fundraising dinner for President Biden in Virginia next month.The June 18 event is being hosted by former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, and will come just days after another fundraiser in Los Angeles that will feature President Barack Obama in addition to Biden and Clinton. That event is being hosted by actor George Clooney.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu slammed two of his gubernatorial colleagues Thursday, saying many of the governors he’s served alongside get along with each other, save for California’s Gavin Newsom and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.Sununu was responding to a question from Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute (RISE) moderator Fred Ryan about the difference in dynamics between how governors and congressional lawmakers work.

A Texas state senator called out Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for failing to publicly acknowledge the two-year anniversary of the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.Friday was the two-year anniversary since the shooting at Robb Elementary School, where an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 students and two teachers.The shooting was not mentioned in the governor’s social media accounts or his office’s press releases.State Sen.

Former President Trump on Saturday vowed to commute the prison sentence of Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the online drug-selling site Silk Road. The GOP frontrunner made the pledge while addressing the Libertarian National Convention in Washington, D.C., in a bid to win over skeptical party activists, many of whom held up signs that read: “FREE ROSS.

Hillary Clinton had some tough words for her fellow Democrats for their failure to protect abortion rights in the years leading up to Roe v. Wade being overturned by the Supreme Court. In an interview with The New York Times, Clinton, 76, discussed her forthcoming book, “The Fall of Roe: The Rise of a New America” and what she believed a second Trump administration will look like.

Donald Trump addressed the Libertarians’ National Convention on Saturday night in an effort to win over activists who are skeptical of the GOP frontrunner, and turn them away from independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.The Libertarian National Convention is being held at the Washington Hilton hotel through Sunday with the tagline: “Become Ungovernable.

First-of-its-kind legislation that classifies two abortion-inducing drugs as controlled and dangerous substances was signed into law Friday by Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry.The Republican governor announced his signing of the bill in Baton Rouge a day after it gained final legislative passage in the state Senate.The measure affects the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol, which are used in medication abortions, the most common method of abortion in the U.S.

Hunter Biden’s defense attorney Abbe Lowell seemed to telegraph a key element of his defense strategy in a Delaware federal court on Friday: who exactly filled out the key federal gun form at the center of the trial?The heart of the government’s case is that the president’s son checked a box on a government which stated that he was not using or addicted to drugs at the time he was purchasing a firearm — a violation of federal law in October 2018.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed two bills into law Friday that overhaul state oversight of the funeral home industry after a series of gruesome discoveries, including 190 discomposing bodies in a facility, families being sent fake ashes and the unauthorized sale of body parts.The cases put Colorado’s lax funeral home regulations — some of the weakest in the nation — in the spotlight and rocked hundreds of already grieving families.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said Friday he is ending the state of emergency over staffing in the state Department of Corrections.The Republican governor called on the state National Guard to help stop worker attrition at the state’s jails and prisons almost two years ago now. Last summer, the vacancy rate was more than 30%.”We’re just always proud to run to the fire,” Gen. William E.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had a “scheduled, elective, and minimally invasive” nonsurgical procedure Friday evening at Walter Reed Medical Center as a follow-up for a bladder issue he had earlier this year, the Pentagon said in a release.The procedure was unrelated to Austin’s cancer diagnosis.

In a continued effort to contain New York City’s rat problem, Mayor Eric Adams announced Wednesday the inaugural National Urban Rat Summit.The summit, which will take place on Sept. 18 and 19, will gather the best in the rat business from Boston, New Orleans and Seattle to mitigate the spiraling rodent problem in the Big Apple, Adam’s announced in a press release Wednesday.

A centrist district attorney candidate in Oregon has ousted his incumbent progressive opponent after running on a tough-on-crime platform.Nathan Vasquez previously served as a deputy prosecutor to Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt. Vasquez won Tuesday’s nonpartisan primary election after returns showed him receiving more than 50% of the vote.Vasquez, who was endorsed by several police groups, said Schmidt conceded the election during a Wednesday phone call.

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said Wednesday he wants additional staff for his office to combat fentanyl trafficking and to solve longstanding sexual assault crimes, as well as more funds to help law enforcement agencies recruit and retain officers.Stein, who is also the Democratic nominee for governor this fall, held a news conference with several police chiefs and sheriffs to highlight his legislative priorities during this year’s General Assembly session.

FIRST ON FOX: Newly released messages from the House Ways and Means Committee appear to show Hunter Biden proposing a meeting in New York City between the boss of a Chinese energy company and Joe Biden, the former vice president at the time, along with Joe’s brother, Jim Biden.”Can you meet this evening early,” Hunter Biden asked Yadong Liu, CEO of CEFC Global Strategic Holdings in a poorly punctuated text message the evening of Dec. 12, 2017.