Politics Random, Random

[dryrunguy]

Democratic Upset in Deep Red Texas District Rattles Republicans

A Democrat won a state legislative special election in a district that President Trump carried by 17 percentage points, unnerving Republicans in Texas and beyond.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/us/d ... =url-share

[mmmm8]

Democratic Upset in Deep Red Texas District Rattles Republicans

A Democrat won a state legislative special election in a district that President Trump carried by 17 percentage points, unnerving Republicans in Texas and beyond.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/us/d ... =url-share

That district includes heavily Latino sections of Fort Worth, imagine that played a significant part, and there is a "Soy SD9 little license plate behind him in the NYT photo

[Suliso]

I'm also reading that the winner will never do any work because Texas legislature is not meeting this year.

[ti-amie]

Seriously who are these people?

Labor Secretary’s Husband Barred From the Department After Sexual Assault Reports
At least two female staff members said Dr. Shawn DeRemer had touched them inappropriately at the agency in Washington.

By Evan Gorelick and Rebecca Davis O’Brien
Feb. 19, 2026
Updated 6:05 p.m. ET

The husband of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer has been barred from the department’s headquarters after at least two female staff members told officials that he had sexually assaulted them, according to people familiar with the decision and a police report obtained by The New York Times.

The women said Ms. Chavez-DeRemer’s husband, Dr. Shawn DeRemer, had touched them inappropriately at the Labor Department’s building on Constitution Avenue. One of the incidents, during working hours on the morning of Dec. 18, was recorded on office security cameras, the people said. The video showed Dr. DeRemer giving one of the women an extended embrace, and was reviewed as part of a criminal investigation, one of the people said.

In January, the women’s concerns about Dr. DeRemer, 57, were raised as part of an internal investigation by the department’s inspector general into alleged misconduct by Ms. Chavez-DeRemer and her senior staff, one of the people said.

On Jan. 24, Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department filed a report about forced sexual contact in December at the Labor Department, according to their report, which was viewed by The Times.

The police report is the only one from the last three months associated with the Labor Department’s address, a police spokesman said, adding that the Police Department’s sexual assault unit is investigating.

After the women described the incidents to investigators, Dr. DeRemer was barred from entering the Labor Department’s premises, according to people familiar with the decision, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the allegations and ongoing investigations surrounding the department.

“If Mr. DeRemer attempts to enter, he is to be asked to leave,” a building restriction notice viewed by The Times said.

Dr. DeRemer, an anesthesiologist in Portland, Ore., who frequently visited his wife’s Washington offices, did not respond to a request for comment. A spokeswoman for the Department of Labor did not provide a comment. A lawyer representing Ms. Chavez-DeRemer in the inspector general investigation declined to comment.

The widening misconduct scandal at the Labor Department has forced several aides and members of the security staff in Ms. Chavez-DeRemer’s inner circle onto administrative and investigative leave.

The inspector general’s office is investigating a formal complaint that Ms. Chavez-DeRemer was having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a subordinate — a member of her security detail — and abusing her office by taking staff to strip clubs, drinking alcohol on the job and taking personal trips at taxpayer expense. Her lawyer has denied the allegations.

President Trump nominated Ms. Chavez-DeRemer as his labor secretary in late 2024, and she was confirmed in March last year. She was a Republican congresswoman from Oregon before losing her bid for re-election in 2024.

During her tenure as labor secretary, thousands of department employees have been pushed out of the federal service. Her department has also broadcast social media messages that echoed those used by white nationalists.

Evan Gorelick is a New York-based writer for The Morning, the flagship daily newsletter of The Times.

Rebecca Davis O’Brien covers labor and the work force for The Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/19/busi ... -ios-share

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]