Roll Call

Georgia governor sets special election date for Scott’s seat

Campaigns Scott died last month at the age of 80 Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., attends a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. Scott died last month at the age of 80. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call) Posted May 1, 2026 at 8:28pm Facebook Twitter Email Reddit Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday set a July 28 special election in the state’s deep blue 13th District to fill the rest of former Rep. David Scott’s term, which ends in January. Scott died last month at 80 and his daughter, Marcye Scott, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she plans to run in the special election. However the filing window to run for a full term closed in March. Under Georgia law, candidates of all parties will run on the same special election ballot. If no one gets a majority of the vote, the top two vote-getters will face off in a runoff. Apart from the special election, the district is home to a competitive Democratic primary for a full term. Even before Scott’s death, a crowd of Democrats had been campaigning for the seat, including Emory University professor and state Rep. Jasmine Clark, educator Everton Blair and state Sen.

Voter groups challenge order to postpone House primaries in Louisiana

Campaigns Lawsuit contends Gov. Jeff Landry exceeded his authority after Supreme Court ruling Rep. Troy Carter, D-La., speaks during the Congressional Black Caucus news conference Wednesday on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call) Posted May 1, 2026 at 5:41pm Facebook Twitter Email Reddit A group of Louisiana voters and voting rights groups filed a state lawsuit Friday challenging Gov. Jeff Landry’s executive order to postpone the state’s May 16 primaries for the House. The lawsuit seeks to block Landry’s move, arguing in part it exceeds the governor’s authority to invoke emergency power to stop elections because of a Supreme Court ruling, rather than a natural disaster, public health or other safety emergency. Plaintiffs and counsel, who sought a temporary restraining order from a Louisiana court, said in a news release any last-minute effort to alter election procedures or enact discriminatory maps must be stopped. “Emergency powers are not a blank check to rewrite election rules after voting has begun, nor do they authorize the Governor to cancel votes that have already been cast to suit his political purposes,” the statement said. “The Governor’s order is sparking chaos and is an illegal effort to erase

King spin  — Congressional Hits and Misses

Video Week ending May 1, 2026 Posted May 1, 2026 at 4:52pm Facebook Twitter Email Reddit A divided Congress united behind King Charles III when the monarch of the United Kingdom addressed a joint meeting at the Capitol this week to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Recent Stories Voter groups challenge order to postpone House primaries in Louisiana King spin — Congressional Hits and Misses Alabama governor calls for special session on redistricting GOP emerges from ‘hell week’ with deep divisions between Senate and House Hostilities with Iran ‘terminated,’ Trump says in War Powers letter After nixing Nixon, Michigan’s Riegle became a lifelong progressive

Alabama governor calls for special session on redistricting

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey called for the state’s legislature to meet in special session next week to revisit their congressional map, the latest fallout from a Supreme Court ruling this week limiting the Voting Rights Act. Ivey, a Republican, on Friday said she was hopeful the state would “receive a favorable outcome” from the Supreme Court, which could weigh in on legal challenges to Alabama’s congressional map after the justices invalidated Louisiana’s map earlier this week. On Thursday, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry postponed his state’s May 16 primaries for the House in light of the decision. By convening a special session, Ivey said the state would be able to respond when a ruling comes in from challenges to her own state’s districts. “By calling the Legislature into a special session, I am ensuring Alabama is prepared should the courts act quickly enough to allow Alabama’s previously drawn congressional and state senate maps to be used during this election cycle,” she said in a statement. “If the court-ordered injunction is lifted, Alabama would revert to the maps drawn by the Legislature for congressional districts in 2023 and state senate districts in 2021.” The decision to call a special session is a

GOP emerges from ‘hell week’ with deep divisions between Senate and House

During the final vote to close out the House’s “hell week,” a handful of Republicans had a message for the Senate: You’re responsible for the “suffering” agenda. Standing on the steps outside the Capitol on Thursday, House Freedom Caucus members loudly aired their grievances with the Senate. Republicans there have shown them “no respect,” they said, and Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., needs to “get control” of his chamber. “The agenda of the American people is suffering and lagging behind, and the Senate, unfortunately, is just responsible for that,” said Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa. The feud between Republicans in the House and Senate reached a fever pitch this week as leadership faced high-stakes deadlines for expiring spy power authorities and Department of Homeland Security paychecks. They managed to figure things out — but not without stepping on each other’s toes. “Where the hell is the Senate? I mean, again, the greatest deliberative body in the world? When are they deliberating?” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, asked. The Senate had gaveled out less than an hour prior, effectively jamming the House with a short-term extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. “That’s what I want to know, because the

After nixing Nixon, Michigan’s Riegle became a lifelong progressive

Hundreds of American politicians have switched party affiliations during their careers, but when Donald W. Riegle Jr. went from Republican to Democrat in 1973, he was one of the first sitting members of the House to move across the aisle. The shift by the Michigan congressman and later senator was a dramatic one, too, given that the man who first encouraged him to run for office, Richard M. Nixon, became the main reason Riegle left the GOP. Nixon’s policies as president, including his conduct of the Vietnam War and his mixed record on civil rights, pushed Riegle into the Democratic Party, where he continued to champion progressive causes until he announced his retirement in 1994 under the cloud of a banking scandal. Riegle, a member of the House from 1967-76 and a senator from 1976-95, died at his home in San Diego on April 24 at age 88. Those who knew Riegle — I covered his last eight years in Congress for Michigan newspapers — remember a passionate, friendly and hard-charging man who, like all politicians, won some (he shepherded the Chrysler bailout through the Senate in 1979) and lost some (he opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement adopted

When a 5-minute vote takes 5 hours

The clock was ticking in the House chamber. Or was it? A key vote on the floor began with famous last words: “This is a 5-minute vote.” More than two hours later, it was still going. Later that day, it happened again. Leaders held open another seemingly endless vote, as Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., huddled in corners and cloakrooms Wednesday with holdouts from his own party. This time, it took over five hours to get his members in line. The tactic — whipping support for high-profile bills in real time, during the vote, as the countdown hits zero and then beyond — is not a new one for Johnson. With such a small majority, Republican leadership frequently comes to the floor without any guarantee they can pull out a win. It’s created one of Johnson’s favorite refrains, uttered when reporters question whether he has enough support to pass a bill: “Stay tuned.” The strategy makes for long days and longer nights, which can work in Johnson’s favor. As negotiations drag on, in theory, members’ resolve weakens. Holdouts left Johnson’s office Wednesday night visibly tired. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., had to stop and correct himself a few times while talking

Redistricting decision hamstrings potential congressional response

The Supreme Court’s decision limiting the Voting Rights Act appears to hamper Congress from passing legislation to restore the law’s protections for minority voters when states draw new congressional districts, legal experts say. In the hours after Wednesday’s 6-3 decision invalidating Louisiana’s congressional map, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., was among Democrats who called for Congress to pass a new version of the law to counter the perceived harms of the majority opinion in Louisiana v. Callais. At an event with members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Jeffries said the bill would be “one of our first acts” if Democrats win control in the November midterm elections, “so we can end the era of voter suppression in America once and for all.” But in the majority opinion, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. included several passages that seem to limit Congress’ powers under the 15th Amendment to enact “appropriate legislation” to protect voting rights. In one section, Alito wrote that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act requires evidence showing that states intentionally drew districts to harm the opportunity of minority voters because of their race. That interpretation is consistent with the “limited authority” the 15th Amendment confers to Congress,

Photos of the week | April 24-30, 2026

Heard on the Hill Secret Service agents respond on the dais at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner after shots were fired near the ballroom of the Washington Hilton on Saturday night. (Jason Dick/CQ Roll Call) Posted May 1, 2026 at 12:17pm Facebook Twitter Email Reddit A shooting at the White House Correspondents’ dinner, a visit from King Charles III, and contentious testimony from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth highlighted the week in Washington politics. Here are images captured by CQ Roll Call photojournalists — plus one from our editor-in-chief. From left, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel, and FBI Washington Field Office Assistant Director in Charge Darren B. Cox conduct a news conference at the Department of Justice on Monday about the suspect in the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner shooting. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) Tennessee Democratic State Rep. Justin Jones takes a selfie with former Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, D-Ohio, during a protest rally as the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in the case of Monsanto Co. v. Durnell on Monday. The case looks at whether federal law protects manufacturers like Monsanto from local lawsuits that accuse its products of causing cancer.

Louisiana governor postpones House primaries after Supreme Court ruling

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry on Thursday postponed his state’s May 16 primaries for the House, one day after the Supreme Court struck down the state’s congressional map as an “unconstitutional racial gerrymander.” “Allowing elections to proceed under an unconstitutional map would undermine the integrity of our system and violate the rights of our voters,” the Republican governor said in a news release accompanying an executive order he signed prohibiting the state from conducting House elections under its current map. “This executive order ensures we uphold the rule of law while giving the Legislature the time it needs to pass a fair and lawful congressional map.” Primaries for other offices in Louisiana will go ahead on May 16, state officials said. President Donald Trump lauded Landry for “moving so quickly to fix the Unconstitutionality of Louisiana’s Congressional Maps.’’ The Supreme Court decision invalidating Louisiana’s congressional map limits the use of race in drawing congressional districts and could lead to further redistricting nationwide, especially in Southern states. In a 6-3 decision, the court’s conservative majority found that Louisiana should not have been forced to draw a congressional map with a second Black-majority district to comply with the Voting Rights Act. Democrats denounced