Congress

Democrats and a few Republicans are calling for curbing President Trump's unilateral use of military power in Iran, despite previous such efforts failing to advance.

The United States and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday with multiple airstrikes, with an Israeli airstrike killing Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei. President Trump has long called for regime change and decried the threat of Iran's nuclear capability.

Missouri state Sen. Rick Brattin, of Harrisonville, is running for the 5th congressional district even though he does not currently live there. The Kansas City-area race is attracting a big list of Republican hopefuls because it was redrawn to include rural areas hundreds of miles away.

A bad national environment for Republicans could affect this year's election cycle, which will feature critical ballot measures like a proposal to repeal abortion rights, restricting citizen-led initiative petitions, and deciding the fate of the gerrymandered congressional map.

Dozens of U.S. House and Senate members boycotted President Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday. But both Cleaver and Rep. Sharice Davids, Democrats who represent the Kansas City metro, attended.

Although Secretary of State Denny Hoskins says the Republican-favoring map from 2025 is now in effect, a court case could require congressional candidates to run instead within the lines drawn back in 2022. For Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, that could either mean an easy reelection bid or the hardest campaign of his life.

Davids has represented Kansas’ 3rd District in Congress, which includes all of Johnson County and part of Wyandotte County, since 2019. But with Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall up for reelection this year, she’s openly considering a run.

Primary voters in a small number of districts play an outsized role in deciding who wins Congress. The Trump-initiated mid-decade redistricting wave, which led to a new Republican-drawn map in Missouri, is driving that number of competitive seats even lower.

The Republican Missouri senator introduced bipartisan legislation that would require data centers to build their own power plants and would increase transparency around data center energy use.

The lawsuit from Republican Attorney General Catherine Hanaway argues Missouri would gain another congressional seat and Electoral College vote by excluding people without legal status from the count.

Senate Democrats say they are unwilling to fund the Department of Homeland Security without major reforms, raising the likelihood of a partial government shutdown at the end of this week.

In his first year back in the White House, President Trump has presided over a sweeping expansion of executive power while eroding democratic norms.