House Speaker

With Gov. Janet Mills in quarantine, the state’s acting chief justice instead swore lawmakers into office Wednesday in a historic offsite session that featured the state’s first openly gay House speaker and the first Black woman in a party leadership position. House members formally elected Democratic Rep. Ryan Fecteau to succeed House Speaker Sara Gideon. The 28-year-old is also...

A former Maryland state lawmaker pleaded guilty Thursday to a charge that she illegally used campaign funds for her personal benefit.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Sunday that the world’s efforts to stop climate change have been “utterly inadequate” so far and there is a danger global warming could pass the “point of no return.” Speaking before the start Monday of a two-week international climate conference in Madrid, the U.N. chief said the impact of rising temperatures — including more extreme...

Republicans aim to use the House drive toward impeaching President Donald Trump to whittle down Democrats’ majority by dislodging vulnerable incumbents from swing districts loaded with moderate voters. It could work, especially in Democratic-held districts Trump carried in 2016 with throngs of independent voters who polls shows are closely divided over his removal. Or it could flop, in an era...

Maryland’s House speaker has removed a white lawmaker from a leadership position for using a racial slur for black people.

Virginia’s attorney general is the latest of the top elected officials in the state to face a scandal. He said Wednesday that he once wore blackface. News4’s Julie Carey has the latest details from Richmond on Gov. Ralph Northam, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax and Attorney General Mark Herring.

Virginia’s Democrats struggled to find their way out of three interlocking political crises Thursday that could bring down the party’s top elected officials and put a Republican in the governor’s chair.

Nancy Pelosi was elected House speaker for the 116th Congress on Thursday. It’s the second time Pelosi has been elected to the position. She is the first woman to ever serve as speaker.

Gordon Sondland, President Donald Trump’s emissary to the European Union, had a message when he met with a top Ukrainian official. Sondland said vital U.S. military assistance to Ukraine might be freed up if the country’s top prosecutor “would go to the mike and announce that he was opening the Burisma investigation,” a U.S. official told lawmakers. Burisma is the...

Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch testified Friday that she was “shocked and devastated” when she learned President Donald Trump told Ukraine’s leader in a call now central to the impeachment inquiry that she was “bad news” and would be “going through some things.” “A person who saw me actually reading the transcript said that the color drained from...

Former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch says she felt President Donald Trump’s comments on a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy “sounded like a threat.”

House Democrats are refining part of their impeachment case against the president to a simple allegation: Bribery. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday brushed aside the Latin phrase “quid pro quo” that Democrats have been using to describe President Donald Trump’s actions toward Ukraine. As the impeachment hearings go public, they’re going for a more colloquial term that may resonate...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi discusses impeachment hearings and compares allegations against President Donald Trump to those of President Richard Nixon.

Students and alumni from Maryland’s four historically black colleges rallied Wednesday for resolution to a 13-year-old federal lawsuit over disparities in academic programs.

A top House lawmaker announced Tuesday that Congress will pass a governmentwide temporary spending bill to keep the government running through Dec. 20, forestalling a government shutdown as the House turns its focus to impeachment hearings. Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., made the announcement after meeting with Senate counterpart Richard Shelby, R-Ala., in hopes of kick-starting long-delayed efforts to...

The treasurer and daughter of a former Maryland lawmaker has pleaded guilty to a federal wire fraud charge.

A Maryland lawmaker said legislation is being considered to resolve a long-running lawsuit in federal court over program disparities between four historically black colleges and traditionally white colleges.

Virginia Democrats are already working on their agenda after gaining control of the General Assembly in Tuesday’s election. Legislation blocked by Republicans in the past might now move forward.

Virginia Democrats are already working on their agenda after gaining full control of the General Assembly on Election Day. Northern Virginia Bureau Chief Julie Carey reports.

The whistleblower who raised alarms about President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine and touched off the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry is willing to answer written questions submitted by House Republicans, the person’s lawyer says. But President Trump says that’s not good enough. Trump himself refused to provide anything but written answers in response to limited questions during the special counsel’s investigation...