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This section covers the people, institutions and decisions that shape government and public life. Expect coverage of national leadership, legislation, elections, courts and policy debates, along with the officials and agencies carrying them out.

Stories here track how power is used and challenged, from budgets and regulations to campaigns and appointments, offering context on what these developments mean for citizens and communities.

Politics· Verified

The shifting Senate map: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

Politics· Verified

Christa Pike left in ‘critical condition’ as Tennessee halts all executions | First Thing

Failed attempt to execute 50-year-old prompts review of state’s execution practices amid distressing witness accounts. Plus the California woman who is allergic to cold Good morning. Tennessee’s governor has suspended executions as Christa Pike’s lawyer says the state’s failed lethal injection execution attempt has left her in a critical condition. Bill Lee, the Republican state governor, has suspended all executions in the state until at least the end of the year and ordered an independent inquiry. Leading voices on the death penalty in the US have told the Guardian that the failed execution was such a violation of the constitutional prohibition on “cruel and unusual punishment” that all judicial killings should be halted nationwide. What have Pike’s lawyers said about her condition? Randy Spivey, one of her attorneys, said: “We don’t have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment, but we do know that she is alive right now and receiving life-saving medical care. She is in a critical condition.” What did witnesses say took place during the execution attempt? Catherine Sweeney, a reporter at the Nashville Public Radio WPLN, said: “They went through two rounds, and she was still breathing at the end. She was very ragged. She lifted her head up and was looking around. At one point, she said … there was a spot that was burning and hurting, and asked if that was normal. None of it was normal.” What was Pike convicted of? She was convicted of the brutal 1995 killing of Colleen Slemmer, alongside her then boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp. Lee said he had not yet spoken to Slemmer’s family after the failed execution. Why has the DNC issued a lawsuit against the administration? The Trump administration broke the law when it pushed through a last-minute change to the form overseas citizens use to register and request absentee ballots, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) said in a lawsuit filed on Thursday. “Trump and Republicans are so desperate to hang on to power that they are trying to eliminate the way some American citizens abroad register to vote and request mail ballots,” said Ken Martin, the chair of the DNC. Which states are leading the resistance to the Trump EPA’s repeal of emissions rules? Twenty-one states, led by New York, are challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s power plant rule. The New York attorney general, Letitia James, said the federal government was showing “callous disregard” for Americans’ health and the environment, and future generations would pay the price. Power plants that burn fossil fuels are a major source of planet-warming pollution. Continue reading...

Politics· Verified

Calls grow for US death penalty halt after ‘torturous’ botched execution of Christa Pike

Pike alive but in critical condition as experts call ordeal that unfolded in Tennessee Wednesday ‘unimaginably barbaric’ Top lawyers, doctors and members of the faith community are calling for a moratorium on the US death penalty after Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute Christa Pike left the prisoner alive but in critical condition and receiving life-saving medical care. The recent spate of harrowingly botched executions across US death penalty states reached a new low late on Wednesday when Tennessee’s governor Bill Lee called off the procedure after Pike had been injected with two full syringes of pentobarbital. She is the only person to have survived being administered 5mg of the sedative – a massive dose that under normal circumstances is considered fatal. Continue reading...

Politics· Verified

White House airs new taxpayer-funded ad praising Trump’s war on Iran

New ad features audio from Trump’s declaration of war and Pete Hegseth saying ‘if you kill Americans … we will kill you’ The latest in a series of pro-Trump television ads aired using taxpayer funds in the run-up to the the midterm elections is a one-minute spot that celebrates Donald Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran. The ad aired during a commercial break on Fox News on Wednesday night, according video posted online by MeidasTouch, a leftwing outlet. Continue reading...

Politics· Verified

Tennessee governor halts executions after second botched lethal injection attempt this year – US politics live

Bill Lee pauses state’s remaining executions for the rest of the year after inmate Christa Pike survives two lethal injections Tennessee woman on death row taken to hospital after surviving two lethal injections The Trump administration has abandoned key security bodies meant to investigate direct threats to US elections by foreign actors and domestic terrorists, according to former officials and a recent report. While administration officials have been actively focused on unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud by noncitizens, other credible election threats appear to have been overlooked, the officials say. The latest in a series of pro-Trump ads the Trump administration is using taxpayer funds to air on television in the run-up to the the midterm elections is a 1-minute spot that celebrates his decision to go to war with Iran. Pete Hegseth announced that Elon Musk will co-lead a government project to study the future of warfare, with Palmer Luckey, CEO of the defense tech company Anduril, and Newt Gingrich, the former Republican speaker of the House. An internal watchdog said the Federal Reserve mismanaged costs associated with a $2.4bn renovation of its Washington DC headquarters, but noted that no criminal violations occurred, according to a report released Wednesday. Trump said South Korea plans to invest about $54bn in a natural gas project in Alaska. Xavier Becerra and Steve Hilton, the candidates running to be California’s next governor, clashed Wednesday over taxes, immigration and regulating artificial intelligence in a testy debate held days before voters begin receiving their ballots in the heavily Democratic state. Continue reading...

Politics· Verified

Steve Hilton, Xavier Becerra clash in testy California governor’s race debate

The candidates running to replace Gavin Newsom sparred over taxes, immigration and regulating AI Xavier Becerra and Steve Hilton, the candidates running to be California’s next governor, clashed Wednesday over taxes, immigration and regulating artificial intelligence in a testy debate held days before voters begin receiving their ballots in the heavily Democratic state. Hilton, the former Fox News host endorsed by Donald Trump, used the hourlong matchup, hosted by CNN, to argue that Becerra, a former congressman who served as health and human services secretary during the Biden administration, was not actively campaigning and instead taking voters for granted. Continue reading...

Politics· Developing

Hegseth confirms plan to cut 20% of US top military brass and rails at ‘beardos, weirdos and wimps’

Pentagon head hails military with ‘no fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals’ in anti-DEI rant Send us your questions about how the Iran war will affect US voters in the midterms The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has confirmed plans to cut 20% of generals and admirals and declared “no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps” would be tolerated inside the country’s military. Delivering his latest extraordinary attack on diversity, and dismissing reports of low morale within the US armed forces as “false claims”, Hegseth also suggested they were retaining service personnel at “record” rates. Continue reading...

Politics· Verified

Senate Democrats block datacenter energy bill, saying ‘toothless’ legislation ‘misses the mark’

Republicans supported legislation although Democrats said it wouldn’t effectively address energy consumption Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked legislation intended to offset the impact of datacenters on consumer electricity bills, calling it a “toothless” attempt to address a top voter concern ahead of November’s midterm elections. The Ratepayer Protection Act failed by a 57 to 43 vote, falling just shy of the 60 votes necessary to advance through the Republican-controlled chamber. Four Democrats – Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and both Georgia senators, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock – joined Republicans in support of the measure. Continue reading...

ExplainedPolitics· Developing

What is behind Trump's $15bn Iowa steel plant announcement?

Trump announced a $15 billion steel plant for eastern Iowa timed to boost a Republican Senate candidate, even as polling shows widespread public unease about the economy heading into the midterms.

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