Politics

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia state lawmakers are pushing back on a state court ruling that forced some of them to testify during an investigation into whether former President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to influence the 2020 election in the state.

The state House and Senate adopted rules Wednesday that say legislative privilege — a legal concept rooted in the U.S. and Georgia constitutions that says lawmakers shouldn’t face questioning for activities relating to making laws — should shield communications with people outside the legislature. Most majority Republicans voted in favor and most Democrats voted against.

Crucially, the language is only part of legislative rules. It’s not clear if it would hold up in court, and judges nationwide have typically limited sweeping claims of legislative privilege.

A Georgia judge ruled last year that lawmakers had to testify before a special grand jury in Atlanta about contact with private citizens on Trump-related matters, even if those communications were part of legislative duties.

“We can’t all be experts on every issue that comes up before us,” House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration, a Dacula Republican, said Wednesday during debate. “We rely on others who do have expertise. That communication in order to help us make those determinations would be protected.”

But Democrats question whether Republicans are trying to cover up evidence from the period after the 2020 elections, when some GOP lawmakers showcased Trump’s false claims of electoral wrongdoing in Georgia.

“Are we trying to protect that because of some of the issues in elections that came up with elections?” asked Senate Minority Whip Harold Jones II, an Augusta Democrat.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled in July that lawmakers have broad immunity but could be asked about their conversations with people outside the legislature. Lawmakers had argued they should be entirely immune from testifying.

At the time of McBurney’s ruling, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said there was evidence that testimony given before legislative committees in December 2020 by Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and others “was part of a multi-state, coordinated plan by the Trump Campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere.”

Fred Smith, a constitutional law professor at Emory University in Atlanta, said district attorneys have powers that must be respected, too.

“It’s hard to imagine that a state legislative rule could kind of trump a DA’s ability to engage in their own state constitutional responsibilities, up to the line provided for in the Constitution,” Smith said.

McBurney ruled that the grand jury couldn’t ask questions about communications between lawmakers, or with legislative staff members, finding those conversations were immune because of legislative privilege.

But he found that such immunity “ought not to be a shield that benefits those outside individuals or otherwise obscures from the grand jury’s view the full scope of the alleged efforts to subvert Georgia’s elections.”

The special grand jury has since finished its work. McBurney dissolved the panel Monday and has scheduled a Jan. 24 hearing to decide whether all or part of the report should be made public.

Willis now must decide whether she will seek indictments from a regular grand jury against Trump or anyone else. The lengthy investigation has been one of several across the country that threaten legal peril for Trump as he mounts a third bid for the White House.

Democrats this week also questioned a provision that suggests one Georgia lawmaker might be able to block another lawmaker from testifying if the first lawmaker refused to allow colleagues to talk about private conversations.

“If you and your colleague to your right or left are having a conversation about a piece of legislation, you would have immunity as well as the colleague you’re talking to,” Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, a Dahlonega Republican, said Monday. “And so you would not be able to reveal the conversation that you and she are having without jeopardizing the immunity that that senator also enjoys.”

Because lawmakers are exempt from state open records requirements to produce their own written communications, it’s likely that written and oral communications would come out only in litigation. Efstration said written communications with executive branch agencies would still be subject to open records laws.

Both chambers approved the language as part of a larger set of rules routinely adopted at the beginning of each two-year session of the Georgia General Assembly.

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Follow Jeff Amy on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jeffamy.

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TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Inviting a national political spotlight, New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday took implicit aim at GOP rivals who criticize blue states for being “woke” while also calling for responsible government and bipartisanship in his annual state of the state address.

Murphy marked his fifth state of the state Tuesday before a joint session of the Democrat-led Legislature, which faces an election this year, and as jockeying ahead of next year’s presidential contest unfolds.

He didn’t mention Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential 2024 White House contender, by name but alluded to his recent second inaugural address in which he said Florida is where “woke goes to die.”

“Some governors boast that their state is where ‘woke goes to die.’ I’m not sure I know what that’s supposed to mean,” Murphy said, adding that “the American Dream is alive and well” in New Jersey. He pointed to the state’s 3.4% unemployment rate, slightly lower than the federal level, a burgeoning film production and tax credit industry and key regional infrastructure projects.

“It’s cool to be from New Jersey again,” Murphy added.

Murphy has responded to questions about a possible presidential candidacy by saying he would back President Joe Biden if he runs for reelection next year, leaving open the possibility he could consider running.

He drew other contrasts with GOP-led states.

Invoking tax incentive programs in Florida and Georgia aimed at attracting businesses, Murphy claimed New Jersey’s third quarter of 2022 economic output outpaced their performance.

“Our clear record of success is greater than that of states that pay for huge tax breaks for the wealthiest and most powerful by taking away investments from public education and civic programs,” Murphy said.

Unlike last year’s state of the state declaration that he was “boldly progressive,” Murphy called for bipartisanship and “reasonable, responsible government.” It’s a bit of a tone shift that comes as legislative Democrats face reelection after Murphy’s own close victory in 2021.

He touted his work alongside Republican Utah Gov. Spencer Cox at the National Governors Association, saying that state and national politics needs less contempt and more friendship.

“Let us never forget that in the grand ranking of things we are partisans fourth, elected officials third, New Jerseyans second, and Americans first and foremost,” Murphy said.

While he called for working with Republicans, his major accomplishments so far, like raising taxes on the wealthy, passing new gun control legislation, legalizing recreational marijuana and boosting funding for abortion services, were passed by the Democrat-dominated Legislature.

New Jersey Republicans viewed the speech as a scene-setter for a possible presidential run and criticized Murphy’s administration amid high inflation.

“Today’s speech particularly showed the importance of electing Republican majorities in the state legislature this year to place a badly-needed check on Murphy’s governorship and to stop his presidential campaign dead in its tracks,” state GOP spokesperson Alexandra Wilkes said.

While the governor seemed to aim partly for a national audience, he also included plenty of state-level detail in the nearly hour-long address.

He unveiled a proposal to overhaul the state’s Prohibition-era liquor license system for restaurants.

Because the state’s liquor license laws restrict permits to one for every 3,000 residents, restaurateurs often pay dearly — up to seven figures — for such a license. That system shuts out many who can’t afford the cost, he said.

Murphy called for gradually expanding the number of licenses until such restrictions are eliminated, and to compensate those who spent much for a license, he called for a “targeted tax credit.”

He unveiled what he called a “Boardwalk Fund” to pay for upgrades to the shore’s well-known seaside walkways, but with scant detail.

He told lawmakers he we would sign legislation that would tighten laws against auto theft if they sent him such a measure and he touted a property tax relief program enacted last year that he has said he wants to continue this year.

An emotional high point came when Murphy announced that four Ukrainian military service members who were receiving treatment in the United States were in the Assembly chamber. Lawmakers stood and applauded before Murphy intoned “Slava Ukraini” or glory to Ukraine.

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner announced Tuesday that he is running for governor.

“We live in serious times, and serious times call for serious leaders,” the Republican said in a speech beside the veteran’s memorial on the West Virginia state Capitol grounds. Warner, who was first elected secretary of state in 2016, already has nearly $53,000 in contributions for the 2024 election cycle, according to the secretary of state’s website.

Republican Gov. Jim Justice is prohibited by law from seeking a third term.

Warner lost in a U.S. House GOP primary race in 2010. Before that, he had served in the U.S. Army for 23 years, retiring at the rank of lieutenant colonel.

He said his decades of service, including in the military, have instilled in him a “an appreciation for organizational structures, a skilled chain of command, the importance of staffing issues, and the need to build strong, competent teams.”

After Warner took over as secretary of state in 2017, he fired 16 employees — one-third of the office’s staff — and the state had to pay more than $3 million in wrongful termination legal settlements.

The employees sued, alleging he terminated them over their political affiliations. All but one of the employees Warner fired were registered Democrats. Of the 22 new hires, 19 were Republicans.

After President Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 election, Warner, as the state’s top elections official, said he supported the state’s involvement in a lawsuit challenging electoral results in swing states won by Biden. He also made an appearance at a “March for Trump” rally in Charleston, where he appeared to be holding up a “Stop the Steal” sign.

Warner is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and the West Virginia University College of Law. ___

This story has been corrected to remove a reference to Warner previously losing in the 2004 governor’s election. It was Warner’s brother, Monty Warner, who ran for governor that year.

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NEW YORK (AP) — State and local Republican leaders in New York on Wednesday called for the immediate resignation of their new GOP congressman George Santos, who is facing multiple investigations by prosecutors over his personal and campaign finances and lies about his resume and family heritage.

“His lies were not mere fibs. He disgraced the House of Representatives,” Joseph Cairo Jr., chair of the Nassau County Republican Committee, said at a news conference. “He’s not welcome here at Republican headquarters.”

Santos, swarmed by reporters at the Capitol on Wednesday, flatly rejected the call to resign, saying, “I will not.”

The call was an extraordinary rebuke of the freshman congressman whose election months ago flipped a Democratic-held House seat and was initially one of the GOP’s highlights of the November election. The denunciation by local Republicans also amps up the pressure on Republicans in Congress to rebuke or sideline Santos.

Cairo and other Republicans said Santos deceived voters and the local GOP in Long Island’s Nassau County, and they were particularly incensed by his lies about having Jewish ancestry.

Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, another Republican newly elected to represent Long Island, spoke at the news conference via video from Washington and joined Cairo’s call for his colleague’s resignation.

“George Santos does not have the ability to serve here in the House of Representatives and should resign,” D’Esposito said.

The state Republican Party joined the call a few hours later, with chair Nick Langworthy saying in a statement that it was clear Santos “cannot be an effective representative and it would be in the best interest of the taxpayers to have new leadership.”

The state and local parties have no mechanism to remove Santos from office. He was sworn in to the U.S. House last week representing New York’s 3rd Congressional District.

Santos reiterated his refusal in a post on Twitter later Wednesday.

“I was elected to serve the people of #NY03 not the party & politicians, I remain committed to doing that and regret to hear that local officials refuse to work with my office to deliver results to keep our community safe and lower the cost of living. I will NOT resign!”

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy stood by Santos on Wednesday, saying that voters had made their choice.

“The voters made the decision. He has a right to serve. If there is something that rises to the occasion that he did something wrong, then we’ll deal with that later,” McCarthy said in Washington.

The resignation calls come a day after two Democrats from New York asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate Santos. Reps. Ritchie Torres and Dan Goldman, in a letter to the committee, said Santos also failed to file “timely, accurate and complete” financial disclosure reports and the reports he did file are “sparse and perplexing.”

Earlier this week, the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center lodged a complaint with the Federal Election Commission and urged regulators to investigate Santos. The “mountain of lies” Santos propagated during the campaign about his life story and qualifications, the center said, should prompt the commission to “thoroughly investigate what appear to be equally brazen lies about how his campaign raised and spent money.”

Initially, the victory by Santos, the only openly gay Republican in Congress, was seen as a bright spot for the party in an otherwise underwhelming midterm election. But as reports began to emerge that Santos had lied about having Jewish ancestry, a career at top Wall Street firms and a college degree, he turned into a distraction and an embarrassment to the party as it took control of the House.

During his campaign, he referred to himself as “a proud American Jew.” But he later backtracked on that claim, saying his mother’s family had “a Jewish background,” and he told the New York Post in an interview, “I said I was ‘Jew-ish.’”

Bruce Blakeman, a Jewish Republican and the elected Nassau County Executive, said he and other members of the sizeable Jewish population in the area take their religion and heritage seriously. He said it was “ridiculous” for Santos to call himself a Jew, but said it was “beyond the pale” and “outrageous” for Santos to have said in an interview that his grandparents survived the Holocaust.

“He cannot serve anymore. He does not deserve that right,” Blakeman said. “He is a stain on the House of Representatives.”

Blakeman said his office would have no interaction with Santos or his staff until he resigns and that the county would redirect any of Santos’ constituents seeking help to the office of D’Esposito in the neighboring congressional district.

Santos first ran for Congress in 2020, losing to Tom Suozzi, a Democrat. He ran again in 2022, facing Democrat Robert Zimmerman in a district that includes some Long Island suburbs and a small slice of Queens.

Cairo said Santos was backed by the Nassau GOP after another local Republican club recommended him as a candidate in 2020 and that Santos lied when he presented his resume. He said they would change their vetting process going forward.

With Santos now, Cairo said, “We do not consider him one of our congresspeople.”

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Associated Press writer Ashley Thomas in Washington contributed to this report.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The infighting was so intense a year ago that Democrats who controlled both the White House and Congress couldn’t win support for a sweeping social spending package that was the party’s top legislative priority. President Joe Biden, meanwhile, was viewed skeptically enough that some of his fellow Democrats questioned the wisdom of him seeking reelection.

What a difference a year makes.

Speculation about Biden’s political future has quieted after Democrats outperformed expectations during the November midterm elections. His toughest critics on the left are signaling they’ll work to help him secure a second term.

And perhaps most notably, last year’s dissent on Capitol Hill melted away over the past week as every Democrat voted — repeatedly — in support of Hakeem Jeffries for the House speakership. That was the type of showing Republican Kevin McCarthy could only long for as he worked through 15 votes over four bruising days to finally win backing from his party to take the gavel.

That unity is a shift for a Democratic Party built on fragile electoral coalitions that often begin to fray when it’s time to govern. But the dynamic was a tonic of sorts for lawmakers otherwise unhappy to be shifting to the House minority and spurred optimism that the party could stick together heading into the next campaign, when both Congress and the White House are at stake.

“It’s a very powerful feeling,” New Hampshire Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster said of Jeffries receiving all 3,179 votes for speaker of the 3,179 cast by his party’s House members. “It’s sort of a championship moment.”

Of course, the unity may not prove sustainable. It will get an immediate test as the Department of Justice investigates potentially classified documents found in the Washington office space of Biden’s former institute — which Republicans are likening to federal authorities probing of former President Donald Trump keeping hundreds of such records at his Florida club.

Tensions could also come from fellow Democrats on policy issues like immigration, police reform, raising the minimum wage, expanding voting rights and better protecting access to abortion — all areas where the party’s progressive wing would like to see Biden and the establishment do more.

Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of the progressive advocacy group Our Revolution, said grassroots activists and elected officials around the country understand the strategic value of the party holding firm during so many House speaker votes.

But he warned that it may not last.

“I don’t think this show of unity should create any illusion that progressives are going to pull their punches,” Geevarghese said. “There’s an old organizing adage, ’No permanent allies, no permanent enemies, only permanent interests.’”

Indeed, McCarthy alluded to how hard it will be for Democrats to stave off eventual dissent within their own ranks, joking, “Hakeem, I’ve got to warn you: Two years ago, I got 100% of the vote from my conference.” That recalled House Republicans uniformly opposing Democrat Nancy Pelosi as speaker in 2021, when doing so was easier than settling on someone to actually run the House.

Still, former New York Rep. Steve Israel, who was a top Pelosi adviser, predicted that additional divisions within the House GOP would make it easier for Democrats to find common ground.

“I expect that House Republicans will pursue a vitriolic agenda that pleases their own base and that will keep Democrats united for the next two years,” said Israel, who headed the House Democratic campaign arm from 2011 to 2015 and now directs the Cornell University Institute of Politics and Global Affairs.

That’s a far cry from early last year, when Democratic congressional disagreements derailed Build Back Better, an environmental and social spending proposal that was supposed to be the centerpiece of Biden’s domestic agenda.

The president later salvaged some of that package’s green energy and health care priorities via a major spending bill. He also scored key victories on a bipartisan infrastructure package, new gun safety regulations and bolstering U.S. technology manufacturing.

Democrats additionally made progress in expanding Medicaid for the poorest children, capping insulin prices for Medicare recipients and giving Medicare the ability to negotiate drug pricing — all of which seemingly satiated many progressives, at least for now.

The party did that despite having a House majority about as razor-thin as the one that left Republicans unable to settle on a speaker for so long last week. Jeffries has also been part of the Progressive Congressional Caucus, but that hasn’t prevented other disagreements from surfacing.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., head of the progressive House caucus, has already co-authored a statement calling “unacceptable” a Biden administration announcement that it would continue enforcing Title 42, the emergency powers that allows officials on the U.S.-Mexico border to quickly turn away migrants, amid court orders.

Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., also is gearing up for a primary challenge against incumbent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who recently left the Democratic Party to become an independent, because of her past opposition progressive legislation.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who launched Democratic presidential primary challenges from the left against Biden in 2020 and Hillary Clinton in 2016, has vowed to campaign against his own colleagues, promising to try to defeat Sinema and moderate West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin.

Sanders hasn’t ruled out a third White House run but plans to support Biden if he runs — and the party appears to be coalescing around the president, whose aides and allies are preparing for a reelection run, even though one hasn’t yet been formally announced.

That’s despite Biden being the oldest president in U.S. history and remaining unpopular, with just 43% job approval rating — even after Democrats’ strong midterm elections showings. One progressive group isn’t onboard, paying for a national cable TV spot and mobile billboard circulating between the White House and U.S. Capitol proclaiming, “Don’t Run, Joe.”

But Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a rising star on the left and possible future presidential contender, said that what he’s telling “my friends on the progressive side is it’s in our interest to have the president succeed as much as possible, and then we can argue about what the future is post Biden.”

“I definitely want to be part of the conversation about the future of the party,” Khanna said. “And I know probably that conversation starts in 2028.”

Geevarghese struck a similar, conciliatory tone, saying Our Revolution has enjoyed a strong working relationship with Biden despite it having grown out of Sanders’ 2016 White House bid.

“There’s a conversation that’s been happening where progressive feel like we have an opening with Joe Biden to press our priorities,” Geevarghese said. “We may not win everything. But we’re a partner in the process.”

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Associated Press writers Steve Peoples in New York and Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington contributed to this report.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government is on track to max out on its $31.4 trillion borrowing authority as soon as this month, starting the clock on an expected standoff between President Joe Biden and the new House Republican majority that will test both parties’ ability to navigate a divided Washington, with the fragile global economy at stake.

Once the government bumps up against the cap — it could happen any time in the next few weeks or longer — the Treasury Department will be unable to issue new debt without congressional action. The department plans to deploy what are known as “extraordinary measures” to keep the government operating. But once those measures run out, probably mid-summer, the government could be at risk of defaulting unless lawmakers and the president agree to lift the limit on the U.S. government’s ability to borrow.

The expected showdown over the debt limit would be a stark display of the new reality for Biden and his fellow Democrats, who enjoyed one-party control of Washington for the past two years. It would presage the challenges to come in achieving even the modest ambitions that Democrats are bringing to the task of legislating in a divided Capitol.

The White House has insisted that it won’t allow the nation’s credit to be held captive to the demands of newly empowered GOP lawmakers. But the concessions made by new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in his arduous path to securing the job raise questions about whether he has the ability to cut any kind of deal to resolve a standoff.

McCarthy, who secured his post after 15 rounds of voting and major compromises with conservative members of his caucus, has said that his fellow Republicans will only agree to increase the debt ceiling in return for spending cuts of unspecified magnitude. And a new rule that allows any lawmaker to trigger a vote for McCarthy’s removal could make even the most urgent of votes a dicey matter.

McCarthy said he’s spoken with Biden about the coming debt ceiling and told the president “it doesn’t have to come to that” — meaning a federal government shutdown over spending levels.

“This is our moment to change the behavior,” McCarthy said Tuesday on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity.”

But the new speaker stopped short of saying Republicans now in charge of the House would go so far as to refuse to pass the annual spending bills needed to fund the government, as happened more than a decade ago during an earlier debt ceiling showdown in Congress.

“We’re going to look at every single dollar spent,” McCarthy said.

The stakes are treacherous. Past forecasts suggest a default could instantly bury the country in a deep recession, right at a moment of slowing global growth as the U.S. and much of the world face high inflation because of the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The White House has ruled out executive action to stave off a default.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans on Wednesday opened their long-promised investigation into President Joe Biden and his family, wielding the power of their new majority to demand information from the Treasury Department and former Twitter executives as they laid the groundwork for public hearings.

“Now that Democrats no longer have one-party rule in Washington, oversight and accountability are coming,” Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement.

The Republican-led committee sent a series of letters requesting financial information from the Treasury Department about financial transactions by members of the Biden family that were flagged as suspicious activity. Those reports are routine, with larger financial transactions automatically flagged to the government, and are not evidence on their own of misconduct.

Lawmakers also requested testimony from multiple former Twitter executives who were involved in the company’s handling of an October 2020 story from the New York Post about Hunter Biden, the president’s younger son. Republicans say that story was suppressed for political reasons.

Moving quickly after taking control of the House, Republicans are setting up a messy, politically explosive showdown with the White House that could delve deeply into the affairs of the president’s family and shape the contours of the 2024 race for the White House.

Comer and other Republicans set out their plan for probing the Biden family the day after clinching a slim majority in the November midterm elections. The Kentucky Republican told reporters there are “troubling questions,” specifically about the business dealings of Hunter Biden and one of the president’s brothers, James Biden, that require deeper investigation.

GOP investigations into the Biden family are nothing new. Republican lawmakers and their staff have been analyzing messages and financial transactions found on a laptop that belonged to Hunter Biden for the past year. Comer told reporters late Wednesday that he’s been in touch with GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who led the investigative efforts against Hunter Biden in the Senate, and there is information sharing between the two chambers.

But Republicans now have subpoena power in the House, giving them the authority to compel testimony and conduct a far more aggressive investigation.

Republicans have discussed issuing congressional subpoenas to foreign entities that did business with Hunter Biden, and they recently brought on James Mandolfo, a former federal prosecutor, to assist with the investigation as general counsel for the Oversight panel.

Hunter Biden’s taxes and foreign business work are already under federal investigation, with a grand jury in Delaware hearing testimony in recent months. While he never held a position on the presidential campaign or in the White House, his membership on the board of a Ukrainian energy company and his efforts to strike deals in China have long raised questions about whether he traded on his father’s public service, including reported references in his emails to the “big guy.”

Joe Biden has said he’s never spoken to his son about his foreign business.

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TAVERNIER, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent dozens of immigrants from Texas to an island off the Massachusetts coast last year in a high-profile effort to highlight illegal immigration on the eve of the midterm elections. But as thousands of Cuban migrants flocked to his own state’s shores in recent weeks, he adopted a more cautious approach.

The governor, who is a top Republican presidential prospect, activated the National Guard late last week. But related deployments of soldiers, boat patrols and military planes were slow to materialize. Some residents expressed frustration about the persistent influx of migrants as they recently inspected two large rafts abandoned in a Florida Keys community park.

“If they come over on a boat, they need to turn the boat back around,” Ernest Vaile, a Missouri resident who winters in Florida, said as he examined the collection of cracked wood, adding that he didn’t blame DeSantis. “From all I know, whatever Gov. DeSantis decides to do will be the right thing.”

The episode unfolding in south Florida offers insight into DeSantis’ leadership as he eyes a presidential primary campaign against former President Donald Trump. The hard-charging governor has won admiration from many Republican voters nationwide by championing hard-line conservative policies on cultural issues — among them race, gender and immigration. But as he considers a presidential announcement, DeSantis appears to be treading more carefully with immigration developments in his own backyard.

He has been silent on the topic in the days since declaring a state of emergency and activating the National Guard via news release. His office declined to answer several questions about his approach to the Cuban migrants. In the news release, he blamed the Biden administration while offering empathy to the Cubans, a community that typically favors Republicans in U.S. elections.

“Florida has a long history of helping refugees, including Cubans and others fleeing communist regimes, find support after they arrive in the United States,” DeSantis said.

While DeSantis is known for embracing Trump’s brash leadership style and even his mannerisms, allies suggest the Harvard-educated former military attorney is more deft at navigating delicate political issues than the former president is.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a Trump rival during the 2016 campaign who attended DeSantis’ second inauguration last week, offered a warm assessment when asked to evaluate the governor’s approach on hot-button issues like immigration.

“I will say that, overall, Gov. DeSantis has done a good job as governor and Florida is on a roll,” Bush told The Associated Press.

DeSantis associates privately believe he will finalize his 2024 decision by the end of March, although a public announcement may not come until early summer. He is eyeing an aggressive conservative policy agenda over the coming months to strengthen his prospective Republican candidacy. As DeSantis moves forward, however, the Cuban migrants pose a test for him.

An estimated 7,400 Cubans have been caught in waters off the coast of Florida trying to seek refuge from their communist island nation over the last five months, a dramatic increase under DeSantis’ watch that could leave him vulnerable to criticism from the right.

Failed Florida Republican congressional candidate Laura Loomer, a popular voice among Trump’s most fervent supporters, questioned DeSantis’ commitment to conservative policies on multiple fronts, especially immigration.

“Thanks to Gov. Ron DeSantis, we now have more illegal aliens in our country,” Loomer said. “During his time as governor, immigration has actually gotten worse.”

Cubans are leaving the island nation in their largest numbers in six decades. More than 6,000 Cubans journeying by sea were caught by federal authorities in the fiscal year between October 2021 and September 2022, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. That’s compared with only about 800 the year before.

Meanwhile, illegal crossings by Cubans at the U.S.-Mexico border surged from 39,000 between October 2020 and September 2021 to more than 220,000 between October 2021 and September 2022, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Once captured, the Cubans are generally freed to pursue their immigration cases in the courts, and many head to Florida.

That number may drop under new asylum rules announced by President Joe Biden that now also apply to Cubans.

Cubans have long been granted immigration benefits under the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act. While some policies changed under President Barack Obama and were not reinstated under Trump, the lack of formal diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba makes it less likely for Cubans to be deported.

Meanwhile, DeSantis’ would-be 2024 rivals — and there are many beyond Trump — are quietly hoping the shine of the governor’s political star will fade as his status as a leading presidential prospect attracts new scrutiny.

In recent days, an aide to South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who is also weighing a presidential bid, criticized DeSantis for supporting a ban on abortion at 15 weeks after conception as insufficiently conservative. The Florida governor has faced related criticism from anti-abortion activists in his own state who have called on him to impose even stricter limits on the procedure.

At the same time, Democratic operatives are combing through DeSantis’ record and tracking every appearance to generate content designed to weaken his political standing. American Bridge, a pro-Democrat super PAC known best for producing so-called opposition research, has had a team focused on DeSantis, among other potential 2024 Republican candidates, since October.

“DeSantis believes that he has been tested at the national level, but presidential primaries are a whole different ballgame where perceived small mistakes turn into big problems,” American Bridge President Pat Dennis said.

Meanwhile, DeSantis is planning to bolster his conservative bona fides in Florida’s upcoming state legislative session, which begins in March and is expected to conclude by May.

It’s unclear what legislation DeSantis will pursue, but the governor in recent weeks has signaled a desire to keep pulling at partisan divides. He isn’t expected to face much meaningful opposition in a legislature with a Republican supermajority.

In late December, DeSantis’ budget office called on state colleges to submit spending information on programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory, which examines systemic racism. The request could be a prelude to a DeSantis push to slash state funding around what he calls “woke” ideology in state schools. The colleges have to submit the spending data by Friday.

DeSantis also recently made a series of high-profile conservative appointments to the board of trustees of a liberal arts college. Critics worry that he’s simply injecting his conservative politics into the state’s higher education.

“Is he willing to just burn an institution to the ground and harm the community just to score cheap political points?” asked Andrew Gothard, president of the union United Faculty of Florida.

The governor is set to notch another political victory in his fight against Walt Disney World. With his blessing, Republican lawmakers are expected to pass a sweeping bill to increase state control of the private government operated by the entertainment giant over its property in Florida.

DeSantis last year pushed the legislature to dissolve the Disney government over the company’s objection to the law that critics call “Don’t Say Gay,” which bars instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.

It’s not all red meat for the Republican base, however.

In the final year of his first term, DeSantis orchestrated pay raises for teachers and law enforcement, a minimum wage increase for state workers and various state tax suspensions. The governor also secured billions of dollars for Everglades restoration and other environmental projects. This week, he signed an executive order calling on lawmakers to dedicate $3.5 billion more to similar environmental initiatives.

And on the Cuban immigration front, he has avoided some of the fiery conservative rhetoric that defined his view on the U.S.-Mexico border — at least, so far.

The Florida National Guard announced Wednesday that it was mobilizing 12 military planes and approximately 150 troops to help south Florida authorities respond to “mass migration impacting the area.”

“The Florida National Guard supports and follows orders of our Commander in Chief, Governor Ron DeSantis,” the Guard said in a statement.

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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — J.B. Pritzker, the multibillionaire whose actions over the past year suggest he may be eyeing a run for president, was sworn in Monday as Illinois governor for the second time, an occasion the Democrat used to issue bold proposals for universal preschool and free college tuition.

Catapulting off the financial successes of his first term — including the conversion of mounds of state debt into a $3.7 billion surplus — he declared, “It’s time for Illinois to lead.” He called his plans “as ambitious and bold as our people are, thinking not only about the next four years, but about the next 40.”

“I propose we go all-in for our children and make preschool available to every family throughout the state,” Pritzker said. “It’s also our obligation to make college more affordable by removing financial barriers. … Let’s focus on making tuition free for every working-class family.”

He did not elaborate on the proposals, which also include child care options that would allow parents to work or go to school.

Pritzker, who turns 58 this month, is the first Illinois governor to start a second four-year term since 2007, when Democrat Rod Blagojevich took the oath. Blagojevich was impeached and removed from office in 2009 and later went to federal prison for political corruption. No governor has served two full terms since Jim Edgar left Springfield in 1999.

During his reelection campaign, Pritzker leaned on his record of whittling down government debt, credit-rating agency upgrades and bolstering the state’s “rainy day” fund. He defeated Republican state Sen. Darren Bailey with 55% of the vote.

Bailey was one who took notice of Pritzker’s possible look beyond the Land of Lincoln, beseeching the governor in two televised debates to join him in signing a pledge to serve a full term if elected. He was reacting to Pritzker’s summertime trip to the early presidential primary state of New Hampshire and his raising millions of dollars for Democrats nationwide. Pritzker has said he has no plans to run and supports President Joe Biden for reelection.

But in his Election Day victory speech, Pritzker appealed to a broad constituency, barely mentioning Illinois while indirectly lambasting former GOP President Donald Trump, who will seek a second term in 2024. The prairie state governor criticized Republicans for failing to “treat the disease” and letting it fester into “insurrectionists tearing down the doors of the U.S. Capitol.”

Pritzker revived that sermon in his inaugural speech, warning against “a rising tide of hate.” He postulated, “Old evils will always find new haters to bring them back to life. Yesterday’s Father Coughlin becomes today’s Tucker Carlson.” He was comparing the Fox News commentator to the Rev. Charles Coughlin, whose wildly popular 1930s radio commentary was laced with antisemitism, embraced some policies of Nazi Germany and derided President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.

“Their message is amplified by elected officials or political grifters who look to harness the tremendous power of hate for their own ambition,” Pritzker said. “They pledge allegiance to our nation with one hand and then usher in the means of its destruction with the other.”

Pritzker, an equity investor and philanthropist whose family founded the Hyatt Hotel chain, is the nations 310th richest person, with a net worth of $3.6 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

In 2018, he was swept into office largely on voter dissatisfaction with then-GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner, whom they blamed for a two-year budget stalemate with Legislative Democrats that stalled state services and flooded account books with red ink.

Pritzker has overseen paying down a mountain of debt, including $17 billion in overdue bills to vendors at one point. He steered the state through a rocky bout with the COVID-19 pandemic, signed laws to eventually eliminate carbon-generating power production and increase the minimum wage to $15 by 2025. And to the delight of Democrats, he stood fast against restricting access to abortion and called Monday for constitutional protection. This prompted the advocacy group Illinois Right to Life to decree that abortion violates the constitution’s due process clause.

As in his first term, there seems little in his way. Republicans’ hopes of winning a partisan majority on the state Supreme Court in November’s election fizzled, with Democrats increasing their majority to 5-2. In the General Assembly, there seems no limit to the extent of Democratic control.

After Wednesday’s inauguration of members of the General Assembly, Democrats control two-thirds of all possible seats. The 78 Democrats in the House is a record since the chamber’s size was scaled back in 1983 — and as a percentage of all seats, virtually equals the number they won with President Lyndon Johnson’s landslide in 1964. Although they lost one seat in the Senate, the party has controlled at least 40 of the upper chamber’s 59 posts since Pritzker arrived in town.

Only one statewide officer inaugurated Monday is new to the job. Alexi Giannoulias succeeds Jesse White as secretary of state. White served six terms — half of his 48 years as an elected official. Giannoulias was state treasurer from 2007-2011.

Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton joins Pritzker for a second term, as does Attorney General Kwame Raoul. Treasurer Michael Frerichs took the oath for a third term and Susana Mendoza begins her second full term as comptroller after she won a 2016 special election to replace the late Judy Baar Topinka.

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Follow Political Writer John O’Connor at https://twitter.com/apoconnor

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly called Monday for leaders in Republican-leaning Kansas to follow the lead of the state’s residents and “turn down the volume” on “this hate, this vitriol, this divisiveness” in politics as she started a second term with a new, hard-right state attorney general.

Kelly and other statewide elected officials took their oaths of office under banners hung on the south side of the Statehouse, one declaring “Innovation,” and the others, “Unity” and “Prosperity.” Kelly was sworn in last and stuck with a pattern in major speeches of promoting bipartisanship after narrowly winning reelection in November.

The Democratic governor told her audience that the COVID-19 pandemic showed that Kansas residents “came through for one another,” adding, “It’s a part of who we’ve always been.”

“Time and time again, in ways big and small, Kansans choose kindness, cooperation and civility,” Kelly said in her 14-minute inaugural address. “Those in leadership positions have a particular responsibility to follow Kansans’ lead. The times demand it.”

The ceremony also capped a big political comeback for Kris Kobach, the new attorney general. Over two decades, he gained a national reputation by advocating for strict immigration and election laws but became a lightning rod for controversy. He lost the 2018 governor’s race to Kelly and then a GOP primary for an open U.S. Senate seat in 2020.

“I’ve always been willing to dust myself off and get up off the ground and keep on fighting,” Kobach said after the inauguration ceremony ended.

Both Kelly’s and Kobach’s victories last year were narrow, as Kansas voters sent decidedly mixed messages. Voters in August decisively rejected a proposed change to the state constitution that would have allowed lawmakers to ban abortion, but Republicans maintained their supermajorities in both legislative chambers — keeping conservatives firmly in charge.

The Legislature convened less than an hour after Kelly’s inauguration ceremoney ended for House and Senate sessions of mostly housekeeping and swearing in new members. Kelly is scheduled to outline her legislative agenda in the annual State of the State address Wednesday evening.

“We cannot let the hostility and anger that has poisoned our national politics spread here to Kansas,” Kelly said in her inaugural address. “We should all agree: Now is the time to turn down the volume. This hate, this vitriol, this divisiveness, it is not who we are as Kansans.”

Kelly’s centrist credibility has rested on a few high-profile moves, such as breaking with President Joe Biden on COVID-19 vaccine mandates in November 2021 and signing a bill to ban “sanctuary” cities for immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. Last month she banned the use of TikTok by state workers on state-issued devices, following similar action by Congress and a slew of Republican governors such as South Dakota’s Kristi Noem.

Kelly’s reelection campaign featured television ads showing her standing in the middle of a rural row, and she said in her address, “I believe the best choice is right down the middle of that road.”

“Because the middle of the road is where left and right come together, where well-intentioned people who hold different positions find common ground,” she said. “And progress is made.”

But Kelly also has clashed frequently with Republican lawmakers on budget issues, tax cuts and education and public health policy. She twice vetoed their proposals to ban transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s K-12 and college sports. Her proposals to expand the state’s Medicaid coverage for another 150,000 people have been dead letters for top Republicans.

Still, Senate President Ty Masterson, a conservative Wichita-area Republican, expressed some guarded optimism, saying, “We’d love to meet in the middle and have those words have meeting.” Masterson noted that Kelly is now term-limited.

“People say, well, she’s not accountable to voters anymore, so she can go as far left as she wants, or whatever, but the flip side is that she’s also not beholden to kind of that radical base,” Masterson told reporters after the Senate’s brief session.

Meanwhile, Kobach and his family marked his return to public office in what, as a former law professor, he called “a role that will suit me well.”

Kobach lost a congressional race in 2004 before winning the first of two terms as Kansas secretary of state in 2010. He was the first prominent Kansas elected official to endorse Donald Trump’s bid for president in 2016 and served as vice chairman of a short-lived Trump commission on voter fraud.

His unsuccessful 2018 and 2020 races crashed his political career and left many Republicans believing that he couldn’t win a statewide race. But many GOP leaders and activists said his 2022 campaign was better organized and more focused, generating less drama or outrage.

The more combative Kobach could return: He’s promised to file lawsuits to challenge Biden administration policies.

He’s already identified as potential targets a listing of the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species and an expansion of waters covered by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations.

Kobach said Monday that the attorney general’s office also will examine a new U.S. Food and Drug Administration rule allowing more pharmacies to dispense abortion medications. Kobach is a strong abortion opponent, while Kelly supports abortion rights.

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Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna

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