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FILE - The Missouri State Capitol is seen on Sept. 16, 2022, in Jefferson City, Mo. Jeff Roberson/AP hide caption

FILE - The Missouri State Capitol is seen on Sept. 16, 2022, in Jefferson City, Mo.

Lawmakers in statehouses across the country have spent the past several weeks debating bills that would bring local issues like zoning, education and police powers under state control.

In recent years, national culture war debates have driven a surge of new legislation, known as preemption bills, in Republican state houses aimed at rolling back laws passed by more progressive cities. Mayors and advocates say the trend risks alienating voters who lose faith in the power of their local leaders.

"What we're seeing lately is an increase of home rule grab type legislation," said Clarence Anthony, the CEO of the National League of Cities. "This year, there are 600 different preemptive laws that are being proposed by different legislatures throughout America. That, in fact, is a rise and it's very concerning to our municipal leaders."

Bills targeting education, transgender and LGBTQ rights, housing policy, gun rights and policing are among the most prevalent in the legislative sessions this year, according to the NLC.

FILE - Members of the Missouri House debate legislation on March 21, 2023, at the state Capitol in Jefferson City, Mo. David A. Lieb/AP hide caption

FILE - Members of the Missouri House debate legislation on March 21, 2023, at the state Capitol in Jefferson City, Mo.

The national fight over crime, policing and public safety boiled over in Missouri this week as Republican state lawmakers pushed to transfer control of the St. Louis Police Department to a state-appointed board of trustees. The move was part of a broader crime reduction bill that included a plan to appoint a special prosecutor to oversee some criminal cases in the city.

The legislation was removed Thursday after the city's embattled prosecutor, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, resigned as part of a broader agreement, according to reporting from St. Louis Public Radio.

"I can neither enable nor allow the outright disenfranchisement of the people of the City of St. Louis," Gardner said in a statement announcing her resignation. "Nor can I allow these outsiders to effectively shut down our important work."

Still, the fight over policing in the city has angered residents and local officials who fear a series of ongoing attempts by the state to undercut laws in the city.

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones said the attempt to overtake the police department would have overturned a statewide referendum that passed in 2012 granting St. Louis local control of their public safety.

"The Republican controlled state legislature is trying to take over our police department by putting in a five member board that are appointed by them and confirmed by them to make all of the decisions on public safety in the city of St. Louis," Jones said in an interview with NPR before the bill was scuttled.

Republican lawmakers, like State Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, said the bill was necessary to curb high crime rates in the city.

"Recently we've seen major St. Louis businesses leave or threaten to leave the region because of crime," Luetkemeyer said this week in a speech on the senate floor.

But Jones said these bills to preempt local control are pure politics.

"None of the legislators who are pushing for this live in the city proper," she said. "This isn't about public safety. It's about power and control of our democratically led cities by outstate Republicans."

Bills like these are not new. Governors and state legislatures from both parties often work together to pass uniform laws for the entire state. Advocates for the approach say it's a way to avoid a patchwork of rules by setting state-wide standards, like for ride share companies or the minimum wage.

But there has been a rapid increase in preemption laws centered around national hot button cultural issues. Mark Treskon, a senior researcher at the Washington DC-based Urban Institute, said the political battles between GOP-led states and more liberal cities have grown.

"Increasingly what's happened is states have been active actors in looking for local laws that might not fit into the ideological underpinnings of who is at the state level," Treskon said. "So I think there's been a little bit more of an act of searching for laws that can be preempted."

At the same time, liberal advocates are working with city leaders to try to advance progressive policies on issues like abortion, gun control, housing policy and the minimum wage.

Last month Mississippi's Republican governor Tate Reeves signed a law giving state-appointed leaders control of policing in Jackson, the state's largest city. In Florida, lawmakers are taking aim at school districts, rent control and gun rights and energy laws. Other similar fights are ongoing from Oklahoma and Texas to Idaho and Alabama.

Republicans are not alone in trying to impose their political aims through preemption. Most analysts point to state-mandated minimum wage increases as an area where Democrats have traditionally tried to set state-wide rules that may conflict with local leaders.

Mike Ricci, a former adviser to Larry Hogan, the former Governor of Maryland, said the pattern of preempting local laws took on a new form during the initial COVID-19 outbreak. Governors were using their power to manage the health emergency and saw an opportunity.

"You know, a light bulb goes off," Ricci said in an interview. "If we can do this with local health powers, can we do it in other areas? Whether it's law enforcement or housing or energy policy? So it just takes on a life of its own."

Ricci said the push for preemption is also about messaging in an era where voter bases for both parties are demanding action, results and conflict from their party leaders. In some cases, Republicans who might have once advocated for small government and local control are now meddling directly in those issues.

"It would have been unthinkable to see governors getting so involved and in law and order and day to day public safety issues in cities," Ricci said. "But now we see it all the time, and I think that will continue. I truly believe that preemption and these tools will be the new normal."

Clarence Anthony of the National League of Cities says many of these bills will ultimately fail - like the one in Missouri. Many more will change. But the uptick in state governments trying to restrict the rights and actions of cities is significant.

"One size does not fit all," he said. "Our local leaders were elected to lead their community and to make those decisions."

And mayors like Tishaura Jones in St. Louis say there are serious consequences to undermining local leaders.

"It makes voters angry," Jones said. "Especially when they elect their leaders on the local level. Then they see that their leaders constantly have to fight for the rights of our cities."

It is particularly stark when those voters have nobody to represent them state-wide. Advocates worry that voters who lose faith in the power of their local leaders may stop participating in elections all together.

Jason Rosenbaum of St. Louis Public Radio contributed to this report.

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Preemption bills gain prominence in Republican states to subvert local laws - NPR

Spring has sprung. The birds are singing. The flowers are blooming. And, in our nation's capital, the snipe are running strong for the local hunters. From Politico:

Let us provide a little context here. Fox News is in disarray. The Republican Party can't seem to keep itself from either proposing unpopular policies or nominating El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago for a third time, and he can't seem to stop losing high profile legal battles. The loons are driving the train, and more and more people are starting to notice. So, obviously, it's time for a little of the old conspiracy okey-doke to draw some attention away from the fact their party is nothing but thieves and vandals.

So we get an unidentifiable "highly credible whistleblower" who is said to "assert knowledge" of something some other confidential source told the FBI. Go to James Comer and Chuck Grassley and tell them you saw Hunter Biden lighting the Hindenburg on fire and you, too, can be a Highly Credible Whistleblower. Act now. Operators are standing by. This is a free call.

This complete non-story blew out the entire front page of the New York Post. National Review is a touch less perfervid, but it's also enthusiastic in its accounts of all the previous hunts for all the previous snipes.

As you can see, Politico gingerly hinted that the whole thing might be all wind. And Comer is so notorious for quoting unnamed "whistleblowers" that the Democrats on his committee have called him out on it. Rep. Jamie Raskin, for one, is unsatisfied with the bona fides behind this latest move.

And, of course, CNN is giving the former president* a bloc of time next week to lie about everything, so I'm sure this will come up in a fashion unfamiliar to the rational mind. Nobody has learned anything.

Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976. He lives near Boston and has three children.

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Republican House Oversight Committee Members Claim to Have Heard from a Whistleblower - Esquire

There are a few reasons to think that President Biden might lose his bid for re-election next year, even if Donald Trump is once more for the third straight time the Republican nominee.

Theres the Electoral College, which could still favor the Republican Party just enough to give Trump 270 electoral votes, even if he doesnt win a popular majority. Theres Bidens overall standing around 43 percent of Americans approve of his job performance which doesnt compare favorably with past incumbents who did win re-election. Theres the economy, which may hit a downturn between now and next November. And even if it doesnt, Biden will still have presided over the highest inflation rate since the 1980s. Last, theres Biden himself. The oldest person ever elected president, next year he will be at 81 the oldest president to ever stand for re-election. Bidens age is a real risk that could suddenly become a liability.

If Biden has potential weaknesses, however, it is also true that he doesnt lack for real advantages. Along with low unemployment, theres been meaningful economic growth, and he can point to significant legislative accomplishments. The Democratic Party is behind him; he has no serious rivals for the nomination.

But Bidens biggest advantage has to do with the opposition the Republican Party has gotten weird. Its not just that Republican policies are well outside the mainstream, but that the party itself has tipped over into something very strange.

I had this thought while watching a clip of Ron DeSantis speak from a lectern to an audience we cant see. In the video, which his press team highlighted on Twitter, DeSantis decries the woke mind virus, which he calls a form of cultural Marxism that tries to divide us based on identity politics.

Now, I can follow this as a professional internet user and political observer. I know that woke mind virus is a term of art for the (condescending and misguided) idea that progressive views on race and gender are an outside contagion threatening the minds of young people who might otherwise reject structural explanations of racial inequality and embrace a traditional vision of the gender binary. I know that cultural Marxism is a right-wing buzzword meant to sound scary and imposing.

To a normal person, on the other hand, this language is borderline unintelligible. It doesnt tell you anything; it doesnt obviously mean anything; and its quite likely to be far afield of your interests and concerns.

DeSantis is a regular offender when it comes to speaking in the jargon of culture war-obsessed conservatives, but hes not the only one. And its not just a problem of jargon. Republican politicians from presidential contenders to anonymous state legislators are monomaniacally focused on banning books, fighting wokeness and harassing transgender people. Some Republicans are even still denying the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election, doubling down on the election-related conspiracies that hobbled many Republican candidates in the midterms.

Not only do Americans not care about the various Republican obsessions in a recent Fox News poll 1 percent of respondents said wokeness was the most important issue facing the country today but a large majority say that those obsessions have gone too far. According to Fox, 60 percent of Americans said book banning by school boards was a major problem. Fifty-seven percent said the same for political attacks on families with transgender children.

It is not for nothing that in Bidens first TV ad of the 2024 campaign, he took specific aim at conservative book bans as a threat to freedom and American democracy.

And yet theres no sign that Republicans will relent and shift focus. Just the opposite, in fact; the party is poised to lurch even farther down the road of its alienating preoccupations. On abortion, for example, Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, says candidates need to address the issue head-on in 2024 that they cant be uncomfortable on the issue and need to say Im proud to be pro-life.

But the Republican Party has veered quite far from most Americans on abortion rights, and in a contested race for the presidential nomination, a head-on focus will possibly mean a fight over which candidate can claim the most draconian abortion views and policy aims.

Theres more: DeSantis is in the midst of a legal battle with Disney, one of the most beloved companies on the planet, and House Republicans are threatening the global economy in order to pass a set of deeply unpopular spending cuts to widely used assistance programs.

Taken together, its as if the Republican Party has committed itself to being as off-putting as possible to as many Americans as possible. That doesnt mean the party is doomed, of course. But as of this moment, it is hard to say its on the road to political success.

As for Joe Biden? The current state of the Republican Party only strengthens his most important political asset his normalcy. He promised, in 2020, that he would be a normal president. And he is promising, for 2024, to continue to serve as a normal president. Normal isnt fun and normal isnt exciting. But normal has already won one election, and I wont be surprised if it wins another.

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Opinion | The 'Woke Mind Virus' Is Eating Away at Republicans' Brains - The New York Times

Its been a long time since Kentucky was a competitive state in national politics: Bill Clinton carried it twice in the 1990s, but Republicans have won it by double-digits in every election since 2000, including then-President Donald Trumps 26-point win in 2020. But Gov. Andy Beshears narrow victory in 2019 and enduring popularity since taking office means ticket-splitting may still be alive and well.

This months primary will only determine Gov. Andy Beshears November opponent, not the fate of his governorship.|Timothy D. Easley/AP Photo

This months primary will only determine Beshears November opponent, not the fate of his governorship. But the primary marks key demographic and strategic drivers of politics in the state, foreshadowing the dynamics of the looming general election. Here are five key numbers to know:

Just like Saturdays Kentucky Derby, the race started off with a clear favorite: State Attorney General Daniel Cameron broke strongest from the gate among the dozen candidates for the GOP nomination and has Trumps endorsement. But Kelly Craft, who served separate stints as Trumps former ambassador to Canada and the U.N., has been mounting a late charge.

Back in January, a Mason-Dixon Polling and Research survey found Cameron well ahead of Craft, 39 percent to 13 percent. There hasnt been much public polling since, but an Emerson College/WDKY-TV poll last month had a much closer race, with 21 percent of voters still undecided.

Camerons allies dispute that the race has closed, circulating their own internal poll showing him still comfortably leading but with 19 percent undecided.

Like horse races, primaries break late, since the voters and the candidates are mostly ideologically aligned. Cameron and Craft, the top two GOP hopefuls, will be angling for those voters still waiting to make up their minds.

If Craft cant catch Cameron on the May. 16, it wont be for a lack of financial resources.

Kelly Craft, who served separate stints as Trumps former ambassador to Canada and the U.N., has been mounting a late charge.|Timothy D. Easley/AP Photo

Craft, the wife of billionaire coal magnate Joe Craft, has already spent or booked $5.8 million in TV advertising, according to data from AdImpact, an ad-tracking firm. Shes also been boosted by $1.4 million in ads from Commonwealth PAC, an outside group funded largely (though not entirely) by Joe Craft, though those ads arent on the air anymore. That means shes spent at least $7.2 million on the primary alone.

Cameron, by contrast, has spent or booked only $564,000. He does have an outside group, Bluegrass Freedom Action, which has added $2.1 million to help him close the gap. The group is running ads touting Trumps endorsement.

The spending advantage has been a double-edged sword for Craft. Shes come under attack from Cameron for relying on her familys money in the primary, but she can also offer Republicans the prospect of a blank check to fund an expensive and grueling general election against Beshear.

Kentucky Republicans finally did it last year: They eclipsed Democrats in voter registration for the first time in history, a key milestone in the states rapid red shift.

Four years ago, Democrats still retained a significant registration advantage, 49 percent to 42 percent. Thats already reversed: Republicans outnumber Democrats in registration heading into this primary, according to the state Board of Elections, 46 percent to 44 percent.

The erasure of Democrats ancestral registration advantage has been rapid. Twenty-four years ago, when Republicans chose Peppy Martin for an ill-fated run against Democratic Gov. Paul Patton, Republicans accounted for only 32 percent of registered voters, outnumbered almost 2-to-1 by Democrats (61 percent). When Beshears father, former Gov. Steve Beshear was first elected in 2007, Democrats had a 20-point registration advantage, 57 percent to 37 percent.

This year, more voters can participate in the Republican primary for the first time.

Despite the states rightward shift, Beshear remains popular.

How popular? According to Morning Consults quarterly tracking, Beshear has the highest approval rating of any Democratic governor at 63 percent. He outpaces governors in solidly blue states like Massachusetts, Maryland, Hawaii, California and New York.

Beshears sky-high approval rating isnt an artifact of Morning Consults methodology or long field period, either: The January Mason-Dixon poll gave him a similarly high, 61 percent positive job rating.

Republicans have started the process of trying to knock down Beshears popularity. An outside group affiliated with the Republican Governors Association began running culture war-tinged TV ads late last month hitting the Democrat for allow[ing] sex changes for children as young as 8- or 9-years-old.

So exactly how does Beshear cobble together a winning coalition in a state thats become so Republican?

It involves a lot of crossover Trump voters.

According to a POLITICO analysis of election results, Trump in 2020 outran then-Gov. Matt Bevins 2019 performance in each of Kentuckys 120 counties. In one rural county, Beshear won it by 20, and the next year Biden lost it by 51. The result is an unheard-of 72-point gap between those two races.

In the bluer population centers, the differences were significant, but relatively modest: Beshear won Fayette County, home to Lexington, by 33 points in 2019, while President Joe Biden carried it by 21 points a year later. In Louisville, Beshear won by 35 points, but Biden won by 20.

The gap between the two races was greatest outside the cities especially in Eastern Kentucky, where Democrats once dominated but now barely register in presidential races. Take tiny Elliott County, where Trump beat Biden by a three-to-one margin, 75 percent to 24 percent, in 2020. Beshear actually won it over Bevin and it wasnt particularly close: 59 percent to 39 percent.

The same phenomenon is evident in other surrounding, conservative counties. In Boyd County, home to Ashland the largest city in Eastern Kentuckys coal region Beshear won by 6 points in 2019, but Trump carried it by a whopping 33 points a year later.

Whoever wins this months GOP primary will undoubtedly try to nationalize the race to depress Beshears appeal in these solidly red areas though its worth noting that Bevin pursued the same strategy in 2019 and ended up losing.

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Republican voters return to the polls for the first time since their 2022 ... - POLITICO

After counting votes until after 11 p.m. Saturday, the Republican Party of Chesapeake announced N. Baxter Ennis as the winner of a firehouse primary. Ennis will run as the Republican nominee for the House of Delegates District 89 race.

Ennis beat out Chesapeake City Council member Don Carey III and political newcomer Jason Woolridge from Suffolk.

District 89 includes Chesapeake and parts of Suffolk. Ennis will run against Democrat nominee Karen Lynette Jenkins, a Suffolk school board member.

Im just so honored to get the chance to be the Republican nominee for the House District 89, and Im just really looking forward to a great campaign, Ennis told The Pilot. I look forward to the opportunity to go to Richmond if Im so lucky as to win in November and help Governor Youngkin with his conservative agenda.

Ennis, 70, described himself as a fiscal conservative and wants to make law enforcement and first responders his priorities. He said he values education and wants students to be prepared for college, a technical career or a career in the military.

The firehouse primary used rank choice voting to select the Republican nominee, which means voters ranked the candidates against one another. Votes are counted until one candidate gets 51%. If a candidate doesnt have 51% of first choice votes, the candidate with the least votes is eliminated, and second choice votes are redistributed to the remaining candidates.

Woolridge was eliminated after the first round with 25.7% of the votes against Careys 30.8% and Ennis 43.5%. Results from the first round were posted at 10:37 p.m. Saturday on the Republican Party of Chesapeake Facebook page. In the second and final round, Ennis had 57.7% of the votes and Carey had 42.3%. Results from the second round were posted at 11:12 p.m.

Carey and Woolridge both agreed with the election results Sunday.

We ran a campaign and came up short against Ennis, Carey said.

Woolridge said he won the majority of the votes in Suffolk, but his campaign couldnt get through the wall of money in Chesapeake.

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Carey raised $95,000 in donations as of March 31, according to campaign finance data from the Virginia Public Access Project. Ennis raised $42,466 as of March 31 and Woolridge raised $10,018.

Im pretty proud of our effort, Woolridge said. I got all 40 plus volunteers that were on my crew door knocking, phone banking and trying to get the word out about my campaign for the delegate. We did a really good job considering what we were up against.

Cianna Morales, 757-957-1304, cianna.morales@virginiamedia.com

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Baxter Ennis wins Republican nomination for House District 89 race in firehouse primary - Yahoo News