Doug Skaff, originally a Democrat in the state’s House of Delegates who switched his affiliation to Republican to run, finished second in the Republican primary and is currently in a Charleston, West Virginia, hospital.

Venomous copperhead snakes, one of the most venomous in the United States, bit Skaff in the left leg and right foot Wednesday, according to multiple reports, and he had to be helped by passersby who called for help.

“I just felt like something sharp, and then I grabbed my sign and it knocked me back,” Skaff said. “It may take couple days till they get all this venom out to relieve the pressure on my muscle. Left leg from knees down completely swollen — can’t touch it.”

“It hurts more than I’ve had anything hurt me in my life,” he said.

Democratic Senate candidate Glenn Eliott, who won his primary and will face Gov. Jim Justice (R-WV) in the West Virginia Senate general election, tweeted his well wishes for Skaff.

West Virginia Democratic House Minority Whip Shawn Fluharty joked about the occurrence, saying he “tried to warn him about the snakes in the grass when he joined the WV GOP.” He later said he is friends with Skaff and that he is doing well as of about 11:30 a.m. Thursday.

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Skaff told WV MetroNews that he needed to be treated in an ICU and will need more venom reversal medicine. 

Kris Warner, who beat Skaff in the primary 46% to 21%, will face Thornton Cooper in the West Virginia secretary of state general election.

Between July 1, 2022, and July 1, 2023, Detroit gained 1,852 residents, which brought its total population to 633,366. It was the fastest-growing city of any in Michigan.

“We have known for some time that Detroit’s population has been growing, but this is the first time the U.S. Census Bureau has confirmed it in its official estimate,” Mayor Mike Duggan said. “This day is for the Detroiters who stayed and for everyone who has put in the hard work to make Detroit a great place to live.”

Duggan previously challenged the Census Bureau in a 2022 lawsuit, claiming it overestimated the number of people who moved from the city. The move followed the Census Bureau previously acknowledging that a higher percentage of African Americans and Hispanics were undercounted than the decade prior. It was worrisome for Detroit, as 77.5% of the city is black.

In 2024, Duggan reinforced his claim that Detroit was a growing city and said much of the growth was through the rehabilitation of vacant homes, not new builds. Rehabilitating vacant homes is not accounted for by the Census Bureau. 

“This is the first time since 1957 that the Census Bureau has put Detroit in the category of a growing city in population, so it probably means more to our national brand than the NFL draft did,” Duggan said.

In a push for more tourism, Detroit hosted the 2024 NFL draft last month and had 775,000 fans attend, breaking the overall record set in 2019. Duggan said the event was a chance for Detroit to “reintroduce ourselves to America.”

“Of course, this is not just about three days in April,” Christopher Moyer, spokesman for Visit Detroit, said. “The success of this event will help accelerate Detroit and Michigan’s growth for the next 30 years. Success this week will help us attract more visitors, events, and billions of dollars in investment.”

In the 1950s, Detroit had a population of 1.8 million people. White residents flocked to the suburbs, and black middle-class families followed. In recent years, many Midwestern cities like Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee have seen their populations continue to decline as cities in the Sun Belt grow rapidly in popularity and population. 

“This is the first time since 1957 that the Census Bureau has put Detroit in the category of a growing city in population, so it probably means more to our national brand than the NFL draft did,” Duggan said.

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Michigan is also at the center of the 2024 election as one of seven key swing states, viewed as a “must-win” state for both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. In 2016, Trump won by about 10,000 votes, the narrowest presidential margin in Michigan history. Biden flipped the state blue in 2020 by more than 150,000 votes.

Early polling shows Trump with a 3-point lead in the state. In the Michigan House, Senate, and office of the governor, Democrats are in control. 

The new legislation aims to impose a cap on oil refineries’ profits that Lombardo says “could lead to refineries either constraining supplies of fuels to avoid a profit penalty or even leaving our shared fuels market entirely.”

“While we have no details on what this might look like, I’m concerned that this approach could lead to refiners either constraining supplies of fuels to avoid a profit penalty or even leaving our shared fuels market entirely,” Lombardo wrote, pointing out that 88% of his state’s fuels are delivered from California via pipeline or truck. 

“Either scenario would likely lead to limited supplies and higher fuel costs for consumers in both of our states,” he added.

Lombardo finishes the letter by saying he hopes Newsom’s administration will mitigate the consequences of the legislation “so that we can spare hard working Californians and Nevadans from further pain at the pump.”

Newsom’s staff was not pleased with the correspondence.

“This is a stunt to appease Governor Lombardo’s Big Oil donors, who contributed tens of thousands of dollars to his campaign,” Newsom spokesman Alex Stack told Politico in a statement. 

“He’s parroting their talking points, and he knows full well that oil refiners are driving up gas prices and making massive profits — harming residents of both of our states,” Stack added. “Price spikes are profit spikes, and California is holding Big Oil accountable.”

A Lombardo spokesperson responded to Newsom’s office in short order.

“Gov. Lombardo sent his letter to Gov. Newsom in good faith to express serious concerns on behalf of millions of hardworking Nevadans currently suffering under inflation and high gas prices,” spokeswoman Elizabeth Ray said to the Washington Examiner.

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“Gov. Lombardo isn’t intimidated by baseless attacks, and he’ll always speak up in the best interest of his constituents,” she added. “Political gamesmanship isn’t the answer to legitimate policy concerns, and Gov. Lombardo’s offer to have the Nevada Office of Energy assist the California Energy Commission in understanding the impacts of their policy decisions still stands — though Gov. Newsom has no apparent interest in that.”

California has a $5.26 per-gallon average, while Nevada has a $4.41 average, per AAA. Both marks are among the most expensive in the nation.

The Crow Creek Sioux Tribe confirmed Noem had been banned from their reservation in a post on Facebook on Tuesday after the council unanimously voted in favor of banning the governor. She has now been banned from all but two Native American reservations in South Dakota.

Noem has had a strained relationship with many of the Native American tribes during her tenure as governor, but came under fire for recent comments she has made about the handling of drug cartels on tribal lands.

“Tribals leaders should take action to ban the cartels from their lands and accept my offer to help them restore law and order to their communities while protecting their sovereignty. We can only do this through partnerships because the Biden Administration is failing to do their job,” Noem posted on X last week.

She has also tied drug cartels on tribal lands to President Joe Biden’s handling of border security — with some tribal leaders decrying her attacks as being a way to raise her profile in the race to be former President Donald Trump’s vice president.

“The people voted unanimously to ban her along with the tribal council for her derogatory remarks about the tribes and cartels,” tribal council member Kyle Loudner told the Dakota Scout. “And about the remarks she made about the children being nobodies their whole lives because of the parents.” Noem made remarks about children on the reservation during a series of March town halls.

On Tuesday, Noem announced she had made Algin Young the Tribal Law Enforcement Liaison for her administration as part of her public safety efforts. Young previously served as chief of police for the Pine Ridge Reservation, and she commended his testimony before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs about cartels on reservations.

“The federal government is turning their backs on our tribal reservations. The lack of tribal law enforcement officers combined with the warzone at our Southern Border has created multiple crises on our reservations,” Noem said in a statement on Tuesday.

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“Algin Young is well respected within our tribal communities and at the federal level. His knowledge will help in our efforts to restore law and order in Indian country,” she added.

Noem has also faced intense criticism over an anecdote in her recently released book, where she tells the story of shooting her family’s 14-month-old hunting dog Cricket several years ago.

Gomez, a self-described real estate investor, financier, strategist, and former NCAA Division I swimmer, is running for Missouri secretary of state in this year’s election. On Tuesday, she posted a new video telling voters “not to be weak or gay” while running with a weighted vest on.

“In America, you can be anything you want, so don’t be weak and gay. Stay f***ing hard,” Gomez said in the video. The video ends with a picture of herself holding a rifle. 

“Don’t be weak and gay. August 6th is the day we take Missouri back from these corrupt politicians,” she posted on X, adding, “MAGA.”

According to the New York Post, Gomez was running through the Soulard District, which is a predominantly LGBT neighborhood in St. Louis. She previously shared a video of herself throwing a flamethrower on library books on the LBGT community. 

Gomez, who is 24 years old, frequently posts videos of herself exercising and using guns while talking about her campaign. 

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Her campaign website is focused on the secretary of state’s budget, removing electronic voter machines to move back to hand counting, “championing capitalism,” and restoring “public confidence towards election integrity by decentralizing voting accessibility to the elderly and rural areas.”

The current Missouri secretary of state, Republican Jay Ashcroft, is running for governor, paving the way for a crowded primary to succeed him. At least seven other Republicans have joined the primary race so far, and Missouri’s primary is on Aug. 6.

The board of supervisors voted 3-0 during a meeting on Tuesday to set the recall vote for Nov. 5 rather than a special election after the recall effort was confirmed during a previous meeting.

Supporters of Price had pushed for the recall vote to be held on the same day as the general election, hoping high voter turnout could help her survive the bid to oust her. Those supporting the recall had advocated that the vote be held sooner, separate from the general election.

The November election will also see residents of Alameda County, which includes Oakland, vote in the presidential, Senate, and House elections, among other contests. Alameda County Registrar of Voters Tim Dupuis had pushed for the recall vote to occur alongside the general election, noting a separate special election could cost roughly $15 million to $20 million.

Crime has been a key topic in Oakland and the rest of the county, as has been the case in various other big cities in recent years. Earlier this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and other state officials announced the installation of 480 surveillance cameras in the city and the East Bay to help law enforcement combat crime in the area.

Price, along with other progressive district attorneys across the country, has been criticized for her handling of prosecuting cases, with many opponents slamming her as soft on crime.

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Across the bay, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin was recalled by voters in June 2022 after backlash over his soft-on-crime record.

In Southern California, opponents of progressive Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon have failed to get a recall on the ballot in recent years. Gascon is up for election to another term in November.

In 2022, the then-right-leaning court ruled the use of ballot drop boxes in most circumstances was unlawful because they were not accounted for in any existing Wisconsin law. Now, a new left-leaning Wisconsin Supreme Court is hearing a case that would reverse that ruling and reinstate the boxes. 

“We have to deal with the law the way it is, not the way we wish it was or the way we hoped it would be someday,” Wisconsin GOP Chairman Brian Schimming said. “We have to deal with things as they are, not maybe how we wish they were sometimes, and that’s going to apply to drop boxes.”

This move toward accepting early and absentee ballots, a practice that has been around since at least the 1990s in many states, could be a sign that Republicans nationally are warming to the idea of their base using the voting method. 

Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly falsely claimed that ballot drop boxes led to widespread voter fraud in 2020. He has switched course, recently posting on Truth Social, “Absentee voting, early voting and election day voting are all good options,” and urging Republican voters to “make a plan, register and vote!”

“Regardless of the outcome, we urge all Republicans to make a plan to vote by the method that works best for you,” Republican National Committee spokeswoman Claire Fortenberry Zunk said in a statement. 

Democrats widely used ballot drop boxes during the 2020 election due to COVID-19. This year, they are expected to do the same. Milwaukee and Dane counties, the state’s Democratic strongholds, had 29 drop boxes between both of them. Ballot drop boxes are present in 66 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties.

Jay Heck, the executive director of Common Cause Wisconsin, is part of one group that filed the amicus brief in support of overturning the 2022 decision to ban the boxes. Groups like his believe ballot boxes allow more accessibility for voting across the Badger State.

“Despite worries and claims by election deniers and conspiracy theorists, drop boxes were not used for any nefarious purpose like they’ve claimed,” he said. 

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Wisconsin is one of seven swing states in the 2024 general election. Presidential elections there have been decided by less than 1 percentage point in four of the last six presidential elections. 

“It could make a difference around the margins,” Heck said. “But, you know, the small margins are important in Wisconsin.”

The Associated Press called the race for Morrisey at 10:25 p.m., about three hours after the polls closed in West Virginia. With 92% of ballots counted, Morrisey led with 33% of the vote.

Morrisey narrowly defeated his closest competition, former state Rep. Moore Capito, who received 27.8% support. The field also included businessman Chris Miller, who received 20.4% support, and state Secretary of State Mac Warner, who received 16.1% of the vote. The race included two lesser-known candidates, Kevin Christian and Mitch Roberts, who both received 1.4% in the race.

Morrisey has been known for mounting legal challenges against the Obama and Biden administrations on environmental regulations and more. Capito, the grandson of former West Virginia Republican Gov. Arch Moore Jr., was elected to the House in 2016 representing Kanawha County. He serves as chairman of the West Virginia legislature’s Judiciary Committee.

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Many of the candidates running have ties to West Virginia politics. Morrisey ran against outgoing Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) in 2018, whereas Capito’s mother is Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and Miller’s mother is current Rep. Carol Miller (R-WV). In West Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District, Riley Moore, the nephew of Sen. Capito, is one step closer to joining her in Congress after winning the Republican nomination on Tuesday.

Morrisey will face Huntington Mayor Steve Williams, the Democratic nominee, in November.

Casey DeSantis was a fixture on the campaign trail alongside her husband during his unsuccessful presidential bid, which ended in January, with some outlets dubbing her his “not-so-secret campaign weapon.” Asked about a Florida Atlantic University poll released last month that showed her leading Gaetz in a race for governor, Ron DeSantis said his wife has “zero” interest.

“If I had to characterize her interest in getting into the political thicket as a candidate, I would say, I would characterize it as zero,” Ron DeSantis said at an event on Monday. “But, you know, I think it’s because she has had a front-row seat on all the nonsense that goes on when you do it.”

The survey from FAU showed Casey DeSantis leading Gaetz 37.6% to 16.1%, with 25.8% saying they were unsure and 20.5% saying they’d prefer another candidate.

Ron DeSantis added he believes the reason his wife has been floated as a gubernatorial candidate is because of her work as first lady.

“Just look at Hope Florida. Forget about all the stuff she’s done with mental health in schools, with helping get substance abuse, which has been serious, but Hope Florida alone. It’s been one of the more successful programs to deal with social problems that we can see in modern history,” he said.

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Ron DeSantis, who was reelected in a landslide in 2022, is term-limited and cannot seek a third term in 2026.

Some of the other names floated as gubernatorial candidates on the GOP side include Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez, and Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody.

The ruling allows Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, to appeal the Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“I continue to believe this case was wrongly decided, and there are issues that merit additional judicial review,” Mayes said in a statement. “I will do everything I can to ensure that doctors can provide medical care for their patients according to their best judgment, not the beliefs of the men elected to the territorial legislature 160 years ago.”

Mayes’s office had asked for the delay in order to figure out its next course of action with the appeal. The attorney general said the 90-day stay will allow her office to “consider the best legal course of action to take from here, including a potential petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court.”

While the state legislature repealed the Civil War-era abortion ban, there was still going to be a period of time this summer when abortion would be banned because Arizona law requires that new bills signed into law not go into effect until 90 days after the legislature adjourns.

The ruling cleared up confusion about a timeline as it states that the ban cannot go into effect until Aug. 12, which was the time when the legislation was set to go into effect.

The abortion ban will likely not go into effect in Arizona, although that depends on when the Arizona legislature adjourns for the session.

The repeal signed into law this month reverted the state back to a 2022 abortion law, which bans abortions after 15 weeks with no exceptions for rape or incest. 

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An abortion referendum will still be on the ballot for Arizona voters this November, which would create a “fundamental right to abortion” in the state constitution. The coalition that is spearheading the referendum, Arizona for Abortion Access, said it gathered enough signatures for abortion to be on the ballot statewide.

“With this order, Arizonans are still subjected to another extreme ban, one that punishes patients experiencing pregnancy complications and survivors of rape and incest,” Arizona for Abortion Access spokeswoman Chris Love said of the 2022 law.