Tennessee poised to vote today on new US House map
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
Republican lawmakers in Tennessee are poised to push through a plan later today that would carve up a majority-Black congressional district.
The move would reshape the electoral map to the GOP’s advantage as part of president Donald Trump’s strategy to try to hold on to a slim House majority in the November midterm elections.
The redistricting effort in Tennessee is one of several rapidly advancing plans in Southern states as Republicans try to leverage a US Supreme Court ruling that weakened the federal Voting Rights Act, AP reports.
The court ruled that Louisiana relied too heavily on race when creating a second Black-majority House district as it attempted to comply with the federal law.
The high court’s decision altered a decades-old understanding of the law, giving Republicans grounds to try to eliminate majority-Black districts that have elected Democrats.
Louisiana has postponed its congressional primary to give time for state lawmakers to craft a new House map.
Legislation awaiting a final vote in Alabama also would upend the state’s congressional primaries if courts allow the state to change its US House districts. In South Carolina, meanwhile, Republican lawmakers urged on by Trump have taken initial steps to add congressional redistricting to their agenda.
The states are the latest to join an already fierce national redistricting battle. Since Trump encouraged Texas to redraw its US House districts last year, eight states have adopted new congressional districts.
From that, Republicans think they could gain as many as 13 seats while Democrats think they could gain up to 10.
In other developments:
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Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged suicide note was released Wednesday. A federal judge has unsealed an alleged suicide note by Jeffrey Epstein, the first time the document has been made public.
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The Trump administration has claimed that migration has made Europe an “incubator” for terrorism, according to a recently published report on counter-terrorism strategies. The administration will focus counter-terrorism efforts on drug cartels.
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Republican politicians in Tennessee released a new congressional voting map that could go into effect before the midterm elections this November. The proposed map would eliminate the state’s only Democratic-controlled district by carving up a majority-Black voting bloc based in Memphis.
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More information was released on the suspect charged in connection to Monday’s shooting near JD Vance’s motorcade. The Texas man accused of firing a gun at law enforcement officers near the Washington monument this week was walking along the path of JD Vance’s motorcade before the shooting and made a vulgar remark about the White House after the confrontation, according to a court filing on Wednesday.
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The FBI’s director, Kash Patel, has allegedly given out customized bottles of bourbon at events, including ones where he is working in a official capacity, according to a report from the Atlantic.
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Donald Trump will be hosting the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, for a visit, a White House source confirmed to the Guardian. Trump and Lula, who was elected in 2023, will discuss “economic and security matters of shared importance”, the source said. The meeting is expected to take place this Thursday.
Key events
On social media, Donald Trump shared a picture of the 15-foot golden statue of himself at the his golf course in Doral, Florida.
“The Real Deal – GOLD – At Doral in Miami. Put there by great American Patriots!!!” Trump wrote while sharing a picture of the monument from the Daily Telegraph.
Nicknamed “Don Colossus”, the statue is on the golf course at the president’s club just outside of Miami.
Jakub Krupa
Meanwhile, US secretary of state Marco Rubio has now left the Vatican after meeting Pope Leo after some two hours there.
He met initially with the pontiff before sitting down with senior Vatican officials, including top diplomat Italian cardinal Pietro Parolin, Reuters reported.
The Vatican and the US state department did not provide any immediate details about the talks, but we’ll bring you the latest if/when we get any more information.
Donald Trump is in Washington today. As we noted earlier, he’ll welcome President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil to the White House for a bilateral meeting at 11am ET. That will be open to the press and we’ll bring you the latest lines as it gets under way. A White House official told the Guardian that the two leaders will discuss “economic and security matters of shared importance.”
It’s worth noting that Lula will seek a fourth, nonconsecutive term in Brazil’s upcoming October elections, where he will face off against Flávio Bolsanaro – his imprisoned predecessor’s son.
Dharna Noor
The billions in profits big oil is reaping due to the Iran war may stymie the energy transition, experts and advocates fear, incentivizing oil and gas expansion and boosting the sector’s funds for political lobbying.
“Windfall profits from Trump’s war will allow big oil to build a wall of money around its Trump-era political victories,” said Lukas Shankar-Ross, a deputy director at green group Friends of the Earth.
The deadly conflict in Iran has created a historic energy shock due to attacks on fossil fuel facilities and the blockage of the crucial trade vessel the strait of Hormuz. Amid the chaos, energy prices – and oil companies’ earnings – have soared.
ConocoPhillips last week reported $2.3bn in profits for the first three months of 2026, up 84% from before the war began. Meanwhile, top petroleum refiner Valero Energy announced quarterly profits of $1.2bn, beating estimates. Liberty Energy, founded and formerly run by Donald Trump’s energy secretary Chris Wright, saw quarterly earnings of $10m, up 32% from before the war began. And BP said it had seen “exceptional” performance, more than doubling its profits during the year’s first quarter.
The oil majors Chevron and ExxonMobil both saw their profits drop during the first three months of 2026, executives reported in earnings calls. Yet in short order, that trajectory will shift, analysts say. Consensus estimates shows ExxonMobil’s second-quarter earnings will more than double from a year ago, while Chevron profits are expected to increase by 56% for the year.
As oil companies rake in billions, Americans are suffering at the pump. On Wednesday, the US average price of gasoline soared to $4.52 per gallon, the highest price since July 2022.
Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visits the White House on Thursday, aiming to revive what US president Donald Trump last year called their “excellent chemistry,” avoid new tariffs, and show a willingness to negotiate deals on critical minerals and organized crime, three people close to the Brazilian president told Reuters.
“We don’t know if the visit will help,” one Brazilian official involved in arranging the meeting told Reuters. “But it’s more likely to help than doing nothing.“
Last year, Trump hit Brazilian products with 50% tariffs, among the highest on any US imports, accusing the country of promoting a witch-hunt against far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was later convicted for attempting to overthrow democracy.
Rubio arrives for audience with Pope Leo to ease tensions after Trump’s criticism over Iran
Secretary of state Marco Rubio is visiting the Vatican today in an effort to mend ties after president Donald Trump’s criticisms of Pope Leo.
Rubio was also due to meet with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who on the eve of his visit strongly defended Leo and criticized Trump’s attacks in understated diplomatic terms.
“Attacking him like that or criticizing what he does seems a bit strange to me, to say the least,” Parolin said Wednesday.
Parolin said Washington had requested Rubio’s audience, and that the pope was open to continued dialogue.
“We cannot ignore the United States,” Parolin said. “Despite some difficulties, they certainly remain a key partner for the Holy See, not least because they play a role in almost every situation we face today.”
Tennessee poised to vote today on new US House map
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
Republican lawmakers in Tennessee are poised to push through a plan later today that would carve up a majority-Black congressional district.
The move would reshape the electoral map to the GOP’s advantage as part of president Donald Trump’s strategy to try to hold on to a slim House majority in the November midterm elections.
The redistricting effort in Tennessee is one of several rapidly advancing plans in Southern states as Republicans try to leverage a US Supreme Court ruling that weakened the federal Voting Rights Act, AP reports.
The court ruled that Louisiana relied too heavily on race when creating a second Black-majority House district as it attempted to comply with the federal law.
The high court’s decision altered a decades-old understanding of the law, giving Republicans grounds to try to eliminate majority-Black districts that have elected Democrats.
Louisiana has postponed its congressional primary to give time for state lawmakers to craft a new House map.
Legislation awaiting a final vote in Alabama also would upend the state’s congressional primaries if courts allow the state to change its US House districts. In South Carolina, meanwhile, Republican lawmakers urged on by Trump have taken initial steps to add congressional redistricting to their agenda.
The states are the latest to join an already fierce national redistricting battle. Since Trump encouraged Texas to redraw its US House districts last year, eight states have adopted new congressional districts.
From that, Republicans think they could gain as many as 13 seats while Democrats think they could gain up to 10.
In other developments:
-
Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged suicide note was released Wednesday. A federal judge has unsealed an alleged suicide note by Jeffrey Epstein, the first time the document has been made public.
-
The Trump administration has claimed that migration has made Europe an “incubator” for terrorism, according to a recently published report on counter-terrorism strategies. The administration will focus counter-terrorism efforts on drug cartels.
-
Republican politicians in Tennessee released a new congressional voting map that could go into effect before the midterm elections this November. The proposed map would eliminate the state’s only Democratic-controlled district by carving up a majority-Black voting bloc based in Memphis.
-
More information was released on the suspect charged in connection to Monday’s shooting near JD Vance’s motorcade. The Texas man accused of firing a gun at law enforcement officers near the Washington monument this week was walking along the path of JD Vance’s motorcade before the shooting and made a vulgar remark about the White House after the confrontation, according to a court filing on Wednesday.
-
The FBI’s director, Kash Patel, has allegedly given out customized bottles of bourbon at events, including ones where he is working in a official capacity, according to a report from the Atlantic.
-
Donald Trump will be hosting the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, for a visit, a White House source confirmed to the Guardian. Trump and Lula, who was elected in 2023, will discuss “economic and security matters of shared importance”, the source said. The meeting is expected to take place this Thursday.
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