GOP vote

As of Saturday evening, political newcomer and retired Navy captain Hung Cao holds a strong lead with Prince William County Supervisor Jeanine Lawson in second. Northern Virginia Bureau Chief Julie Carey reports that GOP leaders are encouraged by Saturday’s turnout.

The Pentagon sent a 20-page list of military construction projects to Congress on Monday that might be slashed to pay for President Donald Trump’s wall along the Mexican border. Democrats expressed hope that by knowing which local projects could be targeted, lawmakers would be likelier to override Trump’s veto of a measure aimed at preventing the cuts.

House Democrats have ignored a veto threat and passed legislation that would stymie President Donald Trump’s bid for billions of extra dollars for a U.S.-Mexico border wall. The move has escalated a clash over whether he has abused his powers to advance the signature pledge of his 2016 campaign. The House’s 245-182 vote Tuesday to block Trump’s national emergency declaration...

Some say it’s a fight between West and South. Or a battle for President Donald Trump’s affections. Or a test of who can woo conservatives. But one thing is clear: If the showdown between California Rep. Kevin McCarthy and Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise for House speaker is a popularity contest, it will be tight. “Steve is the more low-key guy,...

A bipartisan immigration proposal surfaced Monday in the Senate, only to be quickly knocked down by President Donald Trump via Twitter. Firing back, one senator pushing the narrowly focused compromise said Trump’s “unconstructive engagement” has hurt congressional efforts to strike a broader deal. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said their legislation would provide a pathway to...

President Donald Trump’s State of the Union offer of a “down-the-middle compromise” on immigration did nothing to move Republicans and Democrats closer to a deal, as Democrats accused the president of lacing his speech with racially charged remarks and Republicans dug in on their demands. The reaction to Trump’s high-profile overture suggested both parties were settling into a protracted tug-of-war....

House Republicans have introduced a new short-term spending bill in hopes to avoid a government shutdown on Friday at midnight.

President Donald Trump signed a temporary spending bill into law on Friday to avert a government shutdown after the Republican-led Congress did the bare minimum in a sprint toward the holidays and punted disputes on immigration, health care and the budget to next year.

Roy Moore’s support from fellow Republicans is hemorrhaging after a second woman accused the Alabaman of groping her when she was a teenager in the late 1970s, the latest setback to his effort to win an open Senate seat that suddenly seems up for grabs. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday joined other prominent Republicans in saying that Moore should...

The University of Tampa has fired a visiting assistant professor who suggested in a tweet that Hurricane Harvey’s destruction is “instant karma” for Texas because it voted Republican.

An upstart Democrat leads a special election in a conservative Georgia congressional district, but returns late Tuesday suggest he may still need a runoff to pull a major upset for the longtime Republican-held seat. And because of technical difficulties in the elections office of Georgia’s most populous county, it was not clear when final results would be available, leaving political...