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Category: Politics

  • Trump picks Heidi Overton, a top White House aide, to lead the Food and Drug Administration

    Trump picks Heidi Overton, a top White House aide, to lead the Food and Drug Administration

    WASHINGTON — Heidi Overton, a top White House aide, has been picked to lead the Food and Drug Administration, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday.

    Overton is a medical doctor and deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council who has worked on several of Trump’s second-term health initiatives. She has become a trusted administration figure and a champion of the Republican president’s goals.

    If confirmed by the Senate, she would have to balance a raft of competing priorities, including Trump’s fixations, the anti-regulatory interests of traditional Republicans, and the anti-corporate posture of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

    Those challenges dogged the tenure of the previous FDA head, Marty Makary. He resigned in May, leaving behind unfinished projects such as work on ultraprocessed foods, antidepressants, and COVID-19 shots.

    Referring to her as “Dr. Heidi” in a Truth Social post, Trump said Overton was a smart and respected “rockstar” who would deliver on his priorities of faster cures, innovation, lower drug prices and more wins for Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement.

    Kennedy posted on X that Overton has “exceptional judgment, professionalism, discipline and an unwavering commitment to the American people.”

    Overton has promoted Trump’s health priorities

    Overton attended medical school at the University of New Mexico and has a doctoral degree in clinical investigation from Johns Hopkins University, according to her LinkedIn profile. Before joining Trump’s second administration, she was the chief policy officer at the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank.

    In recent months, she has appeared with the president to announce major projects, including some of his “most favored nation” deals with drug companies to lower prices to those of other developed countries and his recent vaccine order that sought to split the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three separate immunizations — against the advice of medical groups.

    At an Oval Office event to promote that order, she stood by Trump as he falsely suggested the number or timing of vaccines could play a role in rising rates of autism spectrum disorder. Scientific consensus and decades of studies have firmly concluded there is no link.

    Overton has been critical of abortion pills and, if confirmed, would be positioned to roll back FDA rules that made them more accessible. U.S. abortion opponents have expressed frustration that the administration has not acted to stem the flow of such pills prescribed online, a situation they view as undermining state abortion bans.

    Mifepristone is typically used with misoprostol in medication abortions that make up close to two-thirds of abortions in the U.S. Medical professionals call it “among the safest medications” ever approved by the FDA.

    To be confirmed, Overton must seek approval from a narrowly Republican-led Senate and face questions from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Its chair, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician from Louisiana, has been a vocal critic of some of Trump’s actions to sow doubt in vaccinations, including the MMR order.

    Democratic senators slammed the nomination on social media.

    “Heidi Overton is a far-right, anti-abortion extremist who has no business leading the FDA,” posted Washington Sen. Patty Murray, a committee member.

    Makary’s replacement will face challenges he left behind

    Before he left the FDA, Makary had drawn complaints from health industry executives and anti-abortion activists. The frustration with him came to a head over the agency’s lack of movement on flavored e-cigarettes. Companies such as R.J. Reynolds are seeking to market to adult smokers, but sweet-flavored vapes have long been blamed for the trend of teenage vaping. FDA scientists have hesitated to endorse those products to curb adult smoking.

    Days before Makary’s departure, the agency opened the door to allowing more unauthorized electronic cigarettes and nicotine pouches onto the U.S. market, in a policy change that essentially bypassed FDA experts.

    Pharmaceutical companies will be looking for changes at the agency, too, after rejections or reversals of biotech drugs intended for rare diseases. Complaints from biotech companies, investors and patient groups have grown and been taken up by conservative lawmakers.

    Makary tried to assuage industry grievances, in part by announcing new programs designed to streamline or accelerate drug approvals. Some of those initiatives, however, have meant new headaches for the agency.

    Several of Makary’s deputies also exited the agency.

    Vinay Prasad, the vaccine and biotech chief, stepped down in April following intense criticism from drugmakers, patients and investors. Tracy Beth Hoeg, who was involved in scrutinizing the safety of antidepressants, COVID-19 vaccines, and other widely used therapies, was replaced as FDA’s acting drug center director.

    MAHA has high expectations of FDA’s next head

    Overton would also need to tend to the priorities of Kennedy’s health movement, some members of which are already skeptical of her.

    Kelly Ryerson, an activist critical of pesticides who is known to her supporters as “Glyphosate Girl,” told The Associated Press that Overton parroted pesticide manufacturer Bayer’s talking points in a MAHA roundtable at the White House in April.

    “I was stunned by the blatant, undisguised corruption,” Ryerson said.

    One major decision for the next commissioner is what to do about peptide regulation. A panel of federal health advisers selected by Kennedy recently recommended easing access to several peptides that are popular with wellness influencers and celebrities, despite warnings from FDA scientists that the chemicals have not been shown to be safe or effective.

    The agency recently proposed a rule change that would require food manufacturers to notify regulators before introducing new ingredients or additives into processed or packaged foods. But it is still working with the White House to finalize a first-of-its-kind definition of ultraprocessed foods, which Kennedy blames for elevated rates of diabetes, obesity and other chronic conditions.

    Under Kennedy, the FDA has set up extra hurdles for vaccine testing and blocked the publication of research into the effectiveness of COVID-19 shots. Kennedy stood by Trump recently as the president signed the executive order aimed at upending childhood vaccinations in the U.S. despite unprecedented financial and logistical challenges.

    The FDA also has an ongoing review of widely used antidepressants, including whether they may increase the risk of autism and other disorders when used during pregnancy. The medicines have long been a target of Kennedy, who was a leader in the anti-vaccine movement before joining the government.

    In recent weeks, the agency has been investigating two summertime foodborne illness outbreaks: a cyclospora outbreak linked to tainted iceberg lettuce that has sickened thousands of people and a multistate salmonella outbreak linked to jalapeño peppers.

  • This secular congressman is urging Democrats to fight Christian nationalism

    This secular congressman is urging Democrats to fight Christian nationalism

    When Rep. Jared Huffman came out publicly in 2017 as a “nonbeliever,” he was only the second member of Congress in modern times to do so — even though a quarter of U.S. residents identified as nonreligious.

    Things have changed since for the secular cause on Capitol Hill.

    The Freethought Caucus, which Huffman launched in 2018 to promote church-state separation, has grown to 37 members — more House lawmakers than the uber-conservative Freedom Caucus (32) or the Congressional Prayer Caucus (34), according to the platform LegiStorm.

    And the percent of lawmakers who choose not to give a religious affiliation or say the unspecific “other” has more than doubled in the past decade, from 16 to 40.

    Along the way Huffman, a Northern California Democrat who is a Humanist, has become a kind of national spokesperson for promoting a secular government. And as some data shows many Americans increasingly displeased with the way religion and politics are mixing, he sees an opportunity for his cause, and for his party.

    “I think the game has changed,” Huffman said. “Republicans have made a losing bet. Democrats need to understand that and be ready to connect.”

    The data is somewhat more complex. Chip Rotolo, senior researcher at Pew Research, said growing majorities of Americans want congregations and pastors to stay out of partisan politics but also approve of some unspecific religiosity having influence in public life.

    “It does seem people are more reluctant to see [organized religion] engaging with politics.” Rotolo said. “But at a national level they’d like to see ‘religious values,’ broadly spoken, incorporated.”

    President Donald Trump’s administration has vigorously pressed the idea that the United States is a Christian nation, sponsoring a massive evangelical jubilee on the National Mall in May and a June report that described church-state separation as a legal error.

    Those efforts have thrilled many Christian conservatives but also prompted concern from others, Huffman among them. He is taking aim at Christian nationalists on his biggest-ever stage, with a book “No Prophets” published this week.

    The book argues that extreme Christian nationalism, which fuses Christian and national identities, is the country’s most dangerous political movement. Huffman, 62, accuses his congressional colleagues — including Democrats — of being far too timid on confronting the issue. At the same time, he argues that religious nationalists are “sailing headlong into a failing wind.”

    Lance Wallnau, a MAGA influencer who has described himself as a Christian nationalist, rebuffed the idea that his worldview is dangerous.

    “I’m looking for a leader whose values align with the transcendent values of when we were founded as a nation,” he said, noting that multiple early U.S. states officially aligned with various Protestant denominations. “They weren’t concerned about a Christian government. What I’m advocating isn’t some oddball thing. We shouldn’t shift the foundation of the house.”

    As far as whether secularism is rising, Wallnau said: “Is it possible for America to get more un-Godly? Sure. The Bible talks about gross darkness covering the people.”

    Majorities of Americans say houses of worship should not endorse candidates (79%, according to Pew Research) and should “keep out of political matters” (66%). And those numbers have grown. A decade ago, 66% opposed endorsing candidates and 49% said congregations should keep out of politics.

    Just 10% of Americans say their views of Christian nationalism are favorable, while 31% are unfavorable (most Americans say they aren’t very familiar with the term). Sixty percent of Americans in 2024 told Gallup they would vote for an atheist, up from 49% in 1999.

    University of Notre Dame political scientist David Campbell said Huffman is probably right that secularism’s impact in the U.S. is growing. He called the change “one of the most significant developments in American society in the last generation.”

    However, Americans’ attitudes are complex and don’t point in only one direction.

    Pew recently found that 37% of Americans say religion’s influence in the U.S. is growing — the highest percentage in 24 years. And 55% of Americans see that as a positive thing, compared with 22% who see it as negative.

    Even as Huffman’s caucus is growing, Congress still significantly overrepresents Christians (87% versus 62% of American adults) and significantly underrepresents those who say they have no religion (28% of the U.S., 0.6% of Congress).

    Experts who measure Christian nationalism say about a third of Americans embrace or sympathize with the movement. According to a PRRI survey last year, that one-third number has been stable since 2022.

    Robert George, who teaches law, religion and philosophy at Princeton University, wrote in an email that Huffman and the Freethought Caucus are actually advocating for socially liberal causes — on abortion, gender and others — and dressing that up as neutrality.

    The caucus, and Huffman’s political allies in general, want to further their own “doctrine” or worldview — just like those on the religiously conservative side, George wrote in an email.

    “Neither side is violating the ‘separation of church and state’ when they do that, irrespective of whether their advocacy relies on secular or religious rhetoric,” he said.

    In “No Prophets,’” Huffman argues that the Religious Right movement of the 1970s was focused on engaging the democratic system to attain culture war wins. Now, he writes, religious nationalists have morphed into a “scorched earth insurgency,” with crowds carrying crosses during the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, states passing laws mandating the Ten Commandments on display in public schools and Trump administration officials launching and taking part in Christian prayer services inside federal agencies. Huffman sees this movement as actively seeking “to destroy” democracy.

    His book aims to be a call to action for fellow Democrats, whom he calls his “greatest frustration” on this topic. In his view, Democratic lawmakers and public officials have done far too little to push back against Christian nationalist ideas.

    The Humanism that Huffman affiliates with is a loose philosophy based on the idea that humans should work to improve society and live ethically, guided by reason, not necessarily by anything supernatural.

    He doesn’t reject the label “atheist” but says he prefers “leaving room” for new discoveries.

    “We all want to understand our place in the universe and what all this means. You can see that — especially the younger generation — some are really struggling,” he said.

    But to Huffman, who was raised in a very religious home in an offshoot of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, personal questions of faith are very different from what he sees as government overreach.

    “Reckoning with Christian nationalism is unavoidable,” he writes in his book. “This movement is forcing us to make urgent choices.”

    Scott Clement contributed to this report.

  • ‘No serious dispute’ that Comey’s seashell post could be read as a Trump threat, prosecutors say

    ‘No serious dispute’ that Comey’s seashell post could be read as a Trump threat, prosecutors say

    WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice is defending its prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey, saying “there is no serious dispute” that a social media post of seashells he made last year could be understood as a threat against President Donald Trump.

    Prosecutors also called into question Comey’s account that he had found the seashells in the numerical arrangement of “86 47” while walking on a beach in North Carolina and suggested that his May 2025 post on Instagram was an effort to generate attention for a forthcoming novel about a social media personality whose words inspire his fans to attack his foes.

    The arguments in motions late Tuesday represent the government’s most detailed explanation of its indictment and were filed in response to wide-ranging defense efforts to dismiss the case on grounds including that it constitutes a vindictive prosecution and that Comey’s post did not amount to a true threat. Comey’s lawyers contend that investigators in the case misled judges, submitted documents containing false statements, withheld key facts, and repeatedly came up empty in their efforts to prove that Comey intended a physical threat or knew that the number 86 could suggest violence.

    The entry for “86” from Merriam-Webster, the dictionary used by The Associated Press, says its meaning is “to throw out,” “to get rid of” or “to refuse service to.” Trump, a Republican, is the 47th president.

    The Justice Department maintains that the post constituted a real threat

    Federal prosecutors maintain that the photo of the seashells, which Comey said he found on the beach, constituted a threat against Trump. Comey deleted the post shortly after he put it up, saying he did not know that anyone interpreted the numbers as a call to violence. His lawyers have said that the slogan has long meant to “get rid of” or “eject” and has been featured on thousands of items sold online and regularly displayed at protests.

    But the department sought in its filings to place the post against the backdrop of assassination plots or attempts against Trump in the months before and after Comey’s post. Prosecutors say that two minutes before the post was made, Comey’s wife texted him a screenshot of a definition of “86” that said “to get rid of or refuse service.”

    “There is no serious dispute that an objective viewer of Comey’s post could read it to mean ‘Kill President Trump,’” prosecutors wrote.

    The photo was posted days before Comey was set to release a novel he wrote titled “FDR Drive,” in which a prosecutor pursues a far-right social media personality who has called out his adversaries by name and inspired violence against them by his fans, the department said.

    After the Instagram post provoked an outcry, according to the government’s filings, Comey’s publishing agent observed in a text message to him that he had “gone viral.” Comey responded that that was “not my intention, but I’ll be OK if it sells books.” The agent replied, ”Music to an agent’s ears.”

    Prosecutors also asserted there was “reason to doubt” Comey’s account of having come upon the seashells while on a walk, saying they were located 4 miles (6 kilometers) “down from the beach from beachfront property where Comey was staying, in an area separated from the ocean by a sand dune.” They said there was “no evidence that anyone else arranged, photographed, or even saw the shells.”

    Comey has called the case vindictive, but prosecutors deny that

    Comey’s lawyers have called the indictment, which was filed months after an earlier and unrelated case against him was dismissed, part of a Trump retribution campaign targeting one of the president’s vocal critics. Trump fired Comey as head of the FBI in 2017 as Comey was overseeing an investigation into potential ties between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia. Trump since then has called for him and other perceived adversaries to be jailed.

    But the Justice Department denied allegations of vindictiveness, saying the decision to indict Comey was made by the U.S. attorney in the area and did not stem from a directive from the president or the attorney general.

    To bolster their claims that Comey was unjustly targeted, defense team argued that investigators struggled to develop compelling evidence from witnesses that Comey had intended the post as a threat, but they concealed that from federal magistrates as they applied for warrants to search digital accounts associated with Comey and his wife

    For instance, defense lawyers have said, the FBI searched an internal database of information about open and closed investigations for any indication of an association between Comey and the term “86” but found inconclusive results. An FBI agent also requested a review of the FBI file for the case against reputed mobster John Gambino, which Comey worked on as a young prosecutor, but found no references to the term “86.”

    Investigators also interviewed a key government cooperator in the case, Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano, who said he did not recall ever discussing the term “86” with Comey or hearing it in connection with the trial.

    The latest filings made clear that the administration was standing behind the premise of the case.

    “No Government theory was disproved at that time, or now. No intentionally false omission exists, much less one made with reckless disregard for the truth,” prosecutors wrote. “The evidence still supports that Defendant acted at least recklessly by consciously disregarding a substantial risk that his coded message of “8647” that he sent to his 200,000 or so Instagram followers, and the millions of secondary social media users who would view this as threatening violence against the President of the United States.”

  • 8 takeaways and surprises from Florida, Wyoming, and Alaska primaries

    8 takeaways and surprises from Florida, Wyoming, and Alaska primaries

    Many of the highest-profile elections on Tuesday night went just as expected. But across the country and down the ballot in four states, there were some surprises.

    In a onetime battleground state that has shifted firmly to the right, Florida Democrats took dueling approaches as they attempt to win statewide for the first time since 2018. They picked a democratic socialist to run for Senate and a former Republican to run for governor.

    GOP voters picked one House incumbent to succeed Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, and ousted another mired in scandal whom DeSantis declined to support.

    A Democrat is locked in a tight race for a special election for a heavily Republican Pennsylvania state House district, and President Donald Trump’s pick for Wyoming governor lost to a state lawmaker.

    Here’s a rundown from Tuesday’s elections.

    Scandal in Washington topples a GOP incumbent in Florida

    Of eight Florida House incumbents who faced primary challenges, only one lost: Republican Cory Mills.

    Mills, a two-term lawmaker from the Daytona Beach area, faces mounting allegations of sexual misconduct, domestic abuse, and campaign finance violations. The House Ethics Committee said it authorized more than 20 subpoenas as it investigates him.

    As DeSantis stayed out of the race, Trump stopped publicly backing Mills, and some of Mills’ House GOP colleagues endorsed a challenger. Primary voters in his district followed suit: They picked former news anchor Ryan Elijah by a margin of 13 percentage points, signaling voter distaste for incumbents’ scandals.

    In a Truth Social post Wednesday morning, Trump endorsed Elijah.

    “I told Congressman Cory Mills of Florida, a friend of mine, to get out of the Race, but he wouldn’t listen,” Trump wrote. “He thought he could win, so who can blame him? We now have a great candidate, Ryan Elijah, running in his place! Ryan stands for EVERYTHING MAGA, and is respected by ALL.”

    Democrats pick a former Republican and a new DSA member

    Democrats haven’t won statewide in Florida since 2018, and they face long odds this year. A pair of wild cards who won over primary voters will try to reverse the party’s losing streak.

    David Jolly, a Republican turned independent Trump critic turned Democrat, beat challengers from the left to take on Rep. Byron Donalds (R) in the governor’s race.

    He’ll be on the ballot alongside Angie Nixon, a progressive state lawmaker from Jacksonville who recently joined the Democratic Socialists of America but had not been endorsed by the group or any of its chapters. Facing Alexander Vindman, a key witness in Trump’s first impeachment trial, she overcame a massive disadvantage in fundraising and spending. She will face Sen. Ashley Moody (R), who is in her second year in Congress after being appointed to fill the seat left open when Marco Rubio became secretary of state.

    Donalds and Moody will be heavily favored. Although this election will herald the end of DeSantis’ ironfisted leadership in Florida, he has managed to turn the former swing state into a conservative bastion.

    Florida House Democrats hold on for now

    DeSantis’s move to redraw the state’s congressional map and give the GOP a boost scrambled the field for many House races.

    But some of the incumbents whose districts were splintered managed to hang on: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D), who faced criticism for shifting to run in a predominantly Black seat, beat four Black candidates.

    Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D), a moderate, ran in a new district, a battleground where he defeated a democratic socialist. He will now face a self-described “America First” mayor.

    As in that race, Democrats are expected to fight for other seats that were redrawn to favor Republicans: In Tampa, Rep. Kathy Castor (D) is facing former state lawmaker Mike Beltran, while an empty seat in southern Florida pits restaurant franchisee Casey Askar (R) against Pia Dandiya (D), a tech executive and former teacher.

    The GOP’s best flip opportunity is likely to come in the Orlando area, where the Republican primary to take on Rep. Darren Soto (D) was too close to call early Wednesday.

    Another loss for Trump in a governor’s race

    The power of Trump’s endorsement took another blow after his preferred candidate in Wyoming’s gubernatorial primary, Megan Degenfelder, lost to state Sen. Eric Barlow.

    Degenfelder, the state’s superintendent of public instruction, secured Trump’s endorsement before she even announced her campaign. But Barlow had years of experience in party leadership in the state legislature, as well as the cash advantage.

    Gubernatorial candidates in Iowa, Minnesota, South Carolina, and Georgia also lost GOP primaries despite Trump’s backing.

    Mixed results for Wyoming’s right wing

    In a deep red state like Wyoming, political fights are usually about how far right Republicans should go.

    State Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, chair of the ultraconservative Wyoming Freedom Caucus, accused Barlow of being insufficiently conservative during his time as House speaker and opposed his gubernatorial run. Others in Wyoming’s right flank did well on Tuesday.

    Rep. Harriet Hageman, Trump’s pick for the open Senate seat vacated by the retiring Sen. Cynthia Lummis, won her race handily. Secretary of State Chuck Gray, aligned with the Freedom Caucus, won the crowded primary for the state’s sole House seat, vacated by Hageman, a conservative who unseated the fierce Republican Trump critic Liz Cheney in 2022.

    A surprising showing for Democrats in Pennsylvania

    In a Pennsylvania special election, Democrat Brandon Dukes held a narrow lead over Republican Scott Timko in a state House district that Trump carried by 18 percentage points in 2024. The race remained uncalled early Wednesday morning.

    The district includes parts of Butler County close to the site where Trump was shot at during a campaign rally two years ago. Tuesday’s winner will complete the months left in the term of a lawmaker who stepped down. Dukes and Timko are also competing in November for a full term.

    While special elections generally have low turnout, Tuesday’s contest could be an early sign of shifting political sentiments in the swing state. Pennsylvania is home to several battleground congressional districts in the fight for control of the U.S. House.

    Democrats have won or overperformed expectations in special elections in the past year, including an upset in a Florida state legislative district that includes the president’s Mar-a-Lago estate.

    AIPAC makes a difference

    The force of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee was on display in a California special election where the pro-Israel lobby’s last-minute intervention may have thinned the margin between two Democrats competing for the seat vacated by Eric Swalwell (D).

    AIPAC’s super PAC, the United Democracy Project, swooped in and spent millions of dollars on advertising in the final two weeks of the race. The election was too close to call Tuesday despite state Sen. Aisha Wahab, a critic of Israel, finishing with a double-digit lead over her opponent, Melissa Hernandez, in the primary.

    AIPAC’s involvement in races has become controversial, including in Michigan, where Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed turned its super PAC’s massive spending against him into a rallying cry for his supporters. Tuesday’s outcome showed that despite its polarizing brand, AIPAC still wields power in congressional races.

    Alaska sets up competitive Senate showdown

    Sen. Dan Sullivan (R) and former representative Mary Peltola (D) advanced to the general election in Alaska’s Senate race.

    The state’s unusual ranked-choice system means two additional candidates who finished lower in the primary will also make the general election ballot. But it remained unclear Wednesday morning who the final two candidates will be.

    Sullivan is one of Democrats’ biggest targets this year in their bid to retake control of the Senate. Peltola, who was previously the state’s sole House member, was recruited by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (New York) and has been an adept fundraiser.

  • Could GLP-1s help with alcohol use disorder? A Philly VA doctor is leading a national trial to find out.

    Could GLP-1s help with alcohol use disorder? A Philly VA doctor is leading a national trial to find out.

    A Philadelphia Veterans Affairs doctor is leading a national trial testing whether GLP-1 drugs could help patients with alcohol use disorder.

    The treatments, which work by mimicking a natural hormone in the body, have skyrocketed in popularity in recent years for diabetes and weight loss. People have also reported unexpected benefits for other conditions, from heart issues to kidney disease. GLP-1s may even help reduce cravings for addictive substances, including alcohol, opioids, and nicotine, early studies suggest.

    While some of the additional health effects have been well-studied, others, like alcohol use disorder, still need a robust trial to assess safety and efficacy.

    The upcoming trial will take place at 18 VA sites around the country, including Philadelphia, with the goal of recruiting 622 participants.

    “The driving force has been really the groundswell of anecdotal and observational data from folks,” said David Oslin, the psychiatrist leading the national trial.

    Recruitment for the trial starts this week and will likely take two years. Half of participants will be randomly selected to receive the treatment for six months, while the other half will receive a placebo with no active drug.

    Participants will not know whether they received the intervention — a study design that’s considered the gold standard for medical research.

    Alcohol use disorder affects roughly 28 million people nationwide. While there are many options to treat it — including psychosocial treatment, peer support groups, and medications — uptake is low.

    Fewer than 10% of people with alcohol use disorder receive any treatment in a given year. Oslin hopes GLP-1s, should they prove safe and effective, could improve that statistic.

    “The impact is potentially very big in the sense that this is a drug that people seem comfortable prescribing and using,” he said.

    He anticipates publishing the results in about three years.

    The Inquirer spoke with Oslin, who also serves as the chief of behavioral health at the Philadelphia VA, about the trial in an interview lightly edited for length and clarity.

    David Oslin serves as the chief of behavioral health at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center and a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. He is leading the national trial.Courtesy of the VA
    What inspired the trial?

    Anecdotally, folks that have been receiving the GLP-1s for something else — diabetes or weight loss — had noticed a decline in use of alcohol.

    There have subsequently been three small clinical trials in the U.S. that have been published. They wouldn’t be sufficient to define efficacy from an FDA perspective, but they’re certainly encouraging.

    Each of them have their own little pitfalls. One of them is small — 40 subjects — so we wouldn’t want to change clinical practice based on that. But they certainly point us in the direction that we need a large trial, and this trial was designed specifically with FDA requirements in mind.

    How is this trial different?

    Semaglutide is already FDA-approved. What you would want to be able to do is change the existing label to add the indication of alcohol use disorder.

    The FDA has a number of requirements for trials in this domain for alcohol use disorder. One is that the duration be a minimum of six months, and we are doing that. The other is that it be a sufficient sample size to test a hypothesis. For our trial, we are hoping to enroll 622 veterans over the course of the next couple of years. That would be sufficient to answer the question of, ‘Is there efficacy and is there safety?’

    What is the theory behind how GLP-1s could treat alcohol use disorder?

    We know that GLP-1s have three main effects on the body.

    One effect is to induce the pancreas to release more insulin. The second effect is that it slows down the stomach’s emptying when you eat. The third effect is on GLP-1 receptors in our brain. Those receptors actually respond to reward, and the natural effect of GLP-1s is to indicate that you’re full or that you don’t need any more to eat or drink.

    These medicines will have the effect of reducing your desire to want to drink more. They don’t take away your pleasure or your ability to enjoy life, but they will reduce excessive eating and excessive drinking — that’s the hypothesis that is driving the study.

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    Who can participate in the study?

    They have to be a veteran getting their healthcare through the VA. They have to be between 18 and 80. They have to be drinking sufficiently enough to meet criteria for moderate to severe alcohol use disorder. You also can’t be on insulin and can’t be taking another medication for diabetes.

    The 18 sites would take any veteran and screen them, and if they’re not appropriate for the trial, we would get them into the right care for their needs.

    How could having a GLP-1 as an option improve uptake?

    A lot of folks that have alcohol use disorder will not seek treatment in a specialty care setting. They don’t think of their symptoms as being that severe. So they’ll talk to their primary care doctor.

    We need treatments that primary care providers are comfortable delivering. The current medicines are not medicines that they often prescribe, so they’re not used to using them. Meanwhile, they’re prescribing GLP-1s for diabetes and weight loss, so they clearly are comfortable prescribing them.

    There’s a lot of potential here that this could become a front-line treatment for folks, and we could reach many more people to get them in treatment. We need to establish the safety and efficacy first.

    How big of an impact could that have?

    The early clinical trials show that the effect of the treatment is actually larger than our current treatments, which would be really great if that’s replicated. It really could shepherd in a new era of being able to treat more people than we’ve been able to treat in the past.

    Is there anything else you would like to share?

    We want to really make sure that these compounds are safe in this population. I know that you can get these compounds pretty much anywhere these days, and I would discourage people from doing that when we don’t know that they’re safe and efficacious.

    Alcohol use disorder is a devastating illness, and people should feel comfortable reaching out for help. Even if they can’t get into the study, the VA is here to assist them in that journey and try to find them a path to sobriety and a better life.

    Veterans who need support can contact the Veterans Crisis Line 24/7. You don’t need to be in immediate crisis or enrolled in VA care to reach out. Dial 988 and press 1, visit VeteransCrisisLine.net/Chat, or text 838255 to connect with trained responders who can help with next steps.

    Those interested in participating in the clinical trial in Philadelphia can call: 215-823-5800 extension 203404.

  • Byron Donalds and David Jolly will compete to replace Ron DeSantis as Florida governor

    Byron Donalds and David Jolly will compete to replace Ron DeSantis as Florida governor

    ORLANDO — U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds won the Republican nomination for Florida governor and former Rep. David Jolly picked up the Democratic nod in Tuesday’s primaries, setting the stage for a fall campaign to replace outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis and decide the state’s future political direction.

    November’s election will test President Donald Trump’s grip on his adopted state and Democrats’ ability to resurrect Florida as a national political battleground. Florida has moved notably to the right since Trump’s victory in 2016, though Democrats hope to regain ground from his slumping popularity ratings.

    DeSantis, a leading conservative figure who has both clashed and collaborated with Trump over the years, is barred from running for a third consecutive term.

    Also Tuesday, progressive state Rep. Angie Nixon won the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate special election, defeating retired Army Lt. Col Alexander Vindman, a onetime National Security Council official who testified in Trump’s first impeachment in 2019.

    Nixon, who was heavily outspent by Vindman, will face Sen. Ashley Moody, winner of the Republican nomination, in November to fill the last two years of Marco Rubio’s Senate term. Rubio left the seat to become Trump’s secretary of state last year.

    Donalds could be a historic figure in Florida

    Donalds would be Florida’s first Black governor if he wins in November. He defeated a former DeSantis running mate, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, political newcomer James Fishback and others Tuesday.

    The 47-year-old congressman Donalds told his supporters at a Universal Studios resort hotel that he’d heard from Republican rivals who pledged their help in winning the general election.

    “The primary is over,” Donalds said. “Tonight we put aside our differences. Tonight we are one united Republican Party.”

    Donalds described Trump’s backing as important but not determinative.

    “Obviously, he has the strongest following of anybody in our party,” he said. However, he added, “you can’t just sit back and think the president’s endorsement is going to carry you.”

    Donalds has promised to push tax cuts, overhaul Florida’s insurance regulations to lower consumer costs and seek greater price transparency from healthcare providers.

    The Democrats’ candidate for governor, Jolly, is a former Republican congressman who switched parties last year. He did not shy away from his partisan history as he addressed supporters Tuesday night.

    “To my Democratic friends, thank you for welcoming me into the party,” he said.

    Jolly’s speech detailed a platform that balances between both political parties: an embrace of capitalism and a lean government, but one that “needs to do its part to fill the gaps,” such as with education and housing.

    “As an old-school Republican, I talk about ending the culture wars not to celebrate some progressive platform,” he said, “but because I still believe in the old school Republican, Libertarian policy that government should simply stay out of your life, and stay out of your bedroom.”

    It’s the second time in a row that Democrats have nominated a onetime Republican for governor.

    Four years ago, they backed former Gov. Charlie Crist, only to see him lose by nearly 20 percentage points to DeSantis.

    Rich Chamberlin, a retiree in Port St. Lucie, said he supported Jolly in Tuesday’s primary, spurred on by attack ads against him.

    “I saw anti-Jolly ads. I said ‘OK, if they are against him, then I must be for him,’” Chamberlin said, adding it didn’t matter to him that Jolly was once a Republican.

    A progressive gets Democratic nomination for Senate

    Florida voters haven’t sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 2012, and this year’s race was always going to be an uphill climb.

    Moody, a former state attorney general, was appointed by DeSantis to fill Rubio’s seat last year after he became Trump’s secretary of state. She’s now running to finish the last two years of his term.

    Moody will face Nixon, a progressive state lawmaker who scored an upset victory over the Army veteran Vindman. Nixon would be Florida’s first Black U.S. senator if elected in November.

    “Rep. Nixon ran a strong campaign,” Vindman posted on social media. “I will be standing by her side in the fight against Ashley Moody. I hope you’ll join me.

    Wasserman Schultz wins in a new plurality Black district

    In U.S. House primaries, Tuesday’s biggest contest saw longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz defeat former U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and others in a redrawn South Florida district.

    Wasserman Schultz, who is white, urged voters in the new, plurality Black district to help her return to Washington for a 12th term. Cherfilus-McCormick had sought a comeback after resigning earlier this year under a pending federal indictment and threat of House ethics sanctions.

    Wasserman Schultz entered a new district after DeSantis’ successful push for new congressional maps intended to boost Trump’s midterm election prospects.

    Her four Black primary opponents — including Cherfilus-McCormick — had argued that the district should have a Black representative. But the voters went with a candidate who touted long experience from serving in Congress since 2005.

    Surrounded by her campaign staff Tuesday night, Wasserman Schultz tearfully thanked voters for having confidence in her. She said she wanted to “make all of you proud, to make sure that the people we spoke to all across this district know that I will fight so they can pay their rent.”

    Republican Rep. Cory Mills is ousted by a challenger

    Former television news reporter Ryan Elijah won the Republican nomination for Florida’s 7th Congressional District, ousting the scandal-plagued Mills.

    A two-term congressman, Mills has denied allegations of domestic violence against a former girlfriend and other controversies.

    But Florida Republicans including DeSantis had abandoned Mills ahead of the primary and the congressman was not included on Trump’s final list of Florida endorsements. Elijah advances to the general election in a central Florida district that is considered reliably Republican.

  • In a major shift, Gov. Josh Shapiro restricts data center development in Pennsylvania

    In a major shift, Gov. Josh Shapiro restricts data center development in Pennsylvania

    HARRISBURG — Gov. Josh Shapiro signed a sweeping executive order on Tuesday dramatically restricting data center development in Pennsylvania, marking a major shift from his initial embrace of the increasingly unpopular projects.

    Shapiro, a first-term Democrat running for reelection and a rumored 2028 presidential contender, had been an early champion of data center development in the state, including a $20 billion commitment from Amazon to build at least two data centers in Bucks and Luzerne Counties.

    Now he is taking a hard-line stance against the burgeoning data center industry he once courted, as proposed projects draw increasing bipartisan backlash across Pennsylvania.

    How Josh Shapiro’s early embrace of data centers is testing his high popularity in Pennsylvania

    The far-reaching executive order does not include a moratorium on data center development. However, the order requires local approval for projects to receive state permits, which in effect may block many developments from moving forward.

    Shapiro used his executive powers Tuesday to push through his previously proposed Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development standards, which were initially pitched as voluntary incentives for data center developers to receive tax breaks, but failed to receive support from the GOP-controlled state Senate. All projects will be required to follow GRID’s environmental, economic, and transparency requirements in order to move forward.

    “I have no other choice than but to take this executive action to protect the good people of Pennsylvania from these predatory developers and from these projects that would negatively impact our communities,” Shapiro said after signing the order.

    Shapiro’s order also:

    • Removes all data center developments, including those by Amazon, from the fast-track permitting program, and no data centers will be considered for the program moving forward.
    • Requires data center projects to sign legally binding agreements to certain transparency and environmental requirements in GRID, such as water conservation standards and early and transparent public notification of proposed projects ahead of key local approvals. Companies must follow GRID guidelines to access the state’s existing sales tax break for data centers.
    • Prohibits any state agency from signing a nondisclosure agreement related to a data center project.
    • Instructs the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to publish a publicly accessible map of current permitting information for all proposed data center projects.
    • Mandates that the projects bring their own electricity generation and pay all costs associated with increased energy usage.
    • Requires a community-benefit agreement that includes promises to hire and train local employees, as well as developer investments in schools or infrastructure.
    • Underscores Pennsylvania’s unique state constitutional rights to clean air, pure water, and environmental preservation — a focus of many residents who oppose data center projects.

    ‘On notice’

    Pennsylvania has become a top target for data center projects, due to its key placement near some of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas, its energy production potential, and its vast rural areas.

    But data centers have become increasingly unpopular in the year since Shapiro championed the Amazon deal as one promising that the future of artificial intelligence “is going to run right here through the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

    In a June poll conducted by Quinnipiac University, 76% of registered Pennsylvania voters said they would oppose a data center in their communities. Only 24% of voters said they approve how Shapiro is handling data centers in Pennsylvania, including 40% of Democrats — a drop from his 51% overall favorability in the same poll.

    His past support for data centers emerged as a potential liability to his reelection campaign and his 2028 prospects.

    A yard sign protests the proposed data center on New Elm Street near the Closed Cleveland-Cliffs steel mill photographed on Thursday, June 4, 2026 in Conshohocken, Pa.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    Shapiro delivered remarks in Harrisburg before signing the order, touching on his visit to Archbald, a rural town in Northeastern Pennsylvania set for widespread data center development. The governor also outlined his opposition to controversial projects in Shapiro’s home county, Montgomery County, that he had recently denounced.

    “Archbald and Montco are just two examples of dozens of communities being overrun and overwhelmed by developers who don’t give a damn about us and think they can have their way,” Shapiro said. “Today, I’m formally putting them on notice.”

    Shapiro took specific issue with the more than 100 speculative projects across the state, which include some from real estate developers who are seeking building approvals without determining or disclosing the company for which they would be storing the data.

    The Data Center Coalition — the leading data center group representing Amazon, Microsoft, and other top developers — said in a statement that distinguishing between real, company-led projects and proposals is important and that rules should not be “changed midstream” for “verified and responsible data center projects.”

    “Companies have made plans, communities have prepared for economic opportunities, and workers are ready to build the next generation of digital infrastructure right here in Pennsylvania,” said Dan Diorio, the executive vice president for state policy and government affairs at the Data Center Coalition.

    Diorio previously told The Inquirer that Shapiro’s GRID standards were “extensive” compared with the 37 other states that offer sales tax exemptions.

    Shapiro’s administration appeared prepared to face legal challenges from the deep pockets of the data center industry or property developers. The order includes a severability clause, something not traditionally used in executive orders, that says if any parts of the order are “held to be invalid,” the rest of the order still stands.

    Shapiro has previously said his position on data centers has evolved. But his order Tuesday is perhaps his most dramatic shift: He has gone from consulting Amazon and the data center industry on his GRID principles earlier this year to pulling the tech giant and others from the state’s fast-track permitting program and requiring community-benefits agreements for the projects to move forward.

    Pa. state lawmakers found common ground on this data center policy — but still couldn’t reach a deal
    Gov. Josh Shapiro signs an executive order restricting data centers in Pennsylvania during a ceremony in the Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., Tuesday August 18, 2026.Kalim A. Bhatti / For The Inquirer

    The Amazon projects currently underway in Pennsylvania have already passed through the first phase of permitting, and will be required like all other projects to follow the requirements moving forward, a spokesperson for Shapiro said.

    An Amazon spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

    There are six data center projects under construction in Pennsylvania, and 10 have received at least one state-level permit approval, Shapiro’s office previously told The Inquirer.

    Shapiro and the General Assembly have been under pressure by anti-data center activists to enact guardrails on the massive projects, with many arguing that Pennsylvania moved too quickly and sacrificed the state’s safety in favor of Big Tech. Pennsylvania lawmakers nearly unanimously supported ending the sales tax exemption for the projects, but failed to implement a measure during the spring legislative session.

    At the news conference Tuesday, Shapiro invited representatives from the Pennsylvania Association of Township Supervisors — the main group representing the local governments at the forefront of pushing for data center restrictions — in addition to advocacy groups including the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project and the National Resources Defense Council. The groups praised Shapiro’s plan.

    Though Shapiro’s order was widely lauded by Democratic state lawmakers and environmental groups, it was met with criticism from some of his detractors, including his Republican challenger for governor in November, Treasurer Stacy Garrity.

    Garrity’s first TV ad featured Shapiro’s support for data centers, and on Tuesday she said in a statement that Shapiro is “trying to gaslight the people of Pennsylvania into not believing what they’ve seen with their own eyes for the past 13 months.” (Garrity’s position on data centers has also changed since the June 2025 announcement, which she lauded at the time; she has since said Pennsylvania needs to put a “pause” on all data center development.)

    Megan McDonough, the state director for advocacy organization Food and Water Watch, said in a statement that “Shapiro knows that he’s been acting out of accordance with what Pennsylvanians actually need,” but that the order falls short.

    “Shapiro is feeling our heat because Pennsylvanians have made it impossible for him to ignore us,” she said. “The only solution to addressing AI data centers’ many woes is by placing a mandatory moratorium on all new data center development.”

  • Trump votes by mail again in Florida

    Trump votes by mail again in Florida

    WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump voted by mail before Florida’s Republican primary on Tuesday, according to the White House, participating for at least the third time in a practice that he has railed against for years and has equated to cheating.

    Trump voted by mail in Palm Beach County in 2020, and did so again this year in the special election between Democrat Emily Gregory and Republican Jon Maples to represent the district in the Florida statehouse. Records show Trump has been registered to vote there since 2019.

    Politico earlier reported that Trump had voted by mail in Tuesday’s primary, citing voting records from Palm Beach Country, home to Mar-a-Lago, his private club. The New York Times could not access these records through the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections website, which said that Trump’s voting record was “protected from public disclosure.”

    In an unsigned statement, the Palm Beach elections office confirmed that it had blocked access to Trump’s voting records, saying that the publicly available documents were “intended for use by a registered voter to determine his or her voter registration and voting status. Voters with protected information will not appear in this search.”

    Olivia Wales, a White House spokesperson, confirmed that Trump voted by mail in the primary, saying that “this is a nonstory.”

    “As everyone knows, the president is a resident of Palm Beach and participates in Florida elections, but he obviously primarily lives at the White House in Washington, D.C.,” she said, repeating a White House statement about Trump’s last vote by mail, in March.

    Trump has continued to push for Republicans in Congress to pass legislation before the midterms that would strengthen voter identification requirements and make mail-in voting significantly more difficult. There was not enough Republican support to push through the legislation this year, and senators abandoned the effort so they could get home to their states to campaign for reelection.

    Trump has long fixated on mail-in voting to bolster his baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, and has called the SAVE Act one of the most consequential pieces of legislation in the country’s history. During his State of the Union address, Trump falsely claimed that “cheating is rampant in our elections” and called for “no more crooked mail-in ballots,” though states that vote entirely by mail see little fraud.

    This article originally appeared in the New York Times.

  • A wave election could open the door to sorely needed reforms in Congress

    A wave election could open the door to sorely needed reforms in Congress

    The 2026 midterm election cycle has hinged on a demand for reform, amid an unpopular war and an administration mired in ethics scandals. It’s not the first time midterms have generated such substantive demands for change.

    Against the backdrop of the increasingly costly and unpopular Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal, the 1974 election produced one of the largest freshman classes in congressional history and stirred significant institutional change. Their road map for change provides us with important lessons on how to translate campaign promises into substantive reform in a dysfunctional institution resistant to change.

    The first lesson: harnessing momentum. In a body where influence is currency, the incoming freshman class recognized that steps toward meaningful reform would require decentralizing Congress’ power structure. Between November 1974 and January 1975, new members of Congress provided key votes for opening up avenues for junior members. They weakened the “seniority” system guiding committee assignments by shifting that responsibility from the Ways and Means Committee to the Party Steering Committee. That led to a legislative process in which junior members could more easily rise through the ranks.

    Lawmakers also increased the size of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. That committee has long been responsible for drafting bills that raised money, including taxes and tariffs, and programs such as Social Security and Medicare. Providing greater opportunities for new members to join gave them a powerful seat at the table. Serving on the committee also gave these new members an opportunity to address their economic campaign promises and to have a legislative impact for their constituents.

    “We realized we were a large enough group to make a difference,” former New York Rep. Tom Downey told the Atlantic, adding that support from more senior members of Congress helped to “mold” the class “into the effective tool they wanted to modify the seniority system.”

    Former Connecticut Rep. Toby Moffett, a member of the 1974 class, agreed, recalling that some senior members vocalized how central the freshman class was to getting critical reforms across the finish line. “I remember once … in some hearing on government operations … [former New York Rep.] Bella Abzug pushed the button on her mic and she said, ‘Reinforcements have arrived,’” he said.

    As a result of these structural changes and strategic networking, former members like Moffett, Steve Neal of North Carolina, and Henry Waxman of California rose from freshmen in 1974 to be committee chairs relatively quickly, as others gained seats on powerful committees and subcommittees.

    Building alliances with more experienced members also mattered. Waxman leveraged his relationship with senior member Phil Burton, a representative from California, to get onto the Energy and Commerce Committee, which he believed proved crucial to his impact on health policy, one of his major priorities. Relationships were also important for freshman members of the Republican minority. Former Ohio Rep. Willis “Bill” Gradison built relationships on the Banking Committee and was dedicated to working with the majority in order to craft monetary policy.

    Made By History sponsors. FOR USE ON MADE BY HISTORY STORIES ONLY.Inquirer Staff

    Yet, 1974’s freshmen were also careful to thread the needle between cooperating with senior leaders and standing up for their own positions. “This system still works on knowledge … You can’t be totally intransigent, but you don’t want leadership to think they can count on you automatically either,” Moffett said.

    Another equally important factor in the class’s success was coalition building. “Patience and a knack for finding allies (especially unlikely ones) are two of the most important qualities of being a legislator,” Waxman told the Atlantic.

    For example, when former California Rep. Leo Ryan was killed in the Jonestown massacre, it left the chairmanship of the Government Operations subcommittee vacant. Moffett described how he and other junior members like Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank, Waxman, and Michigan Rep. John Conyers joined forces to back his campaign for the chairmanship against more senior members.

    It worked. Under Moffett’s leadership, the committee took on oversight. In 1975, the newly minted subcommittee chairman helped to defeat President Gerald Ford’s request for additional military aid to Cambodia and South Vietnam. Later, Moffett pressed President Ronald Reagan’s Environmental Protection Agency to publicly disclose contaminated water sites when EPA chief Anne Gorsuch and Interior Secretary James Watt refused to hand over subpoenaed documents.

    There are clear lessons here for current and future members. Today’s Congress is hypercentralized, with rank-and-file members becoming increasingly dependent on their relationships with senior members to see legislative priorities through. If 2026 is another wave election, that could create openings for new ideas and opportunities and incentives for new members to build coalitions and get Congress working again. It might even open the door to addressing major structural changes: expanding the size of the U.S. House, restoring much of the lost staff expertise in Congress, ethics reforms, and establishing an upper age limit for Congress, among other key reforms.

    It is not enough to just be elected to Congress. Members of the Class of 2026 will have to apply lessons from their predecessors to achieve the change they are campaigning on.

    Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect the fact that Tom Downey’s and Henry Waxman’s remarks were made to the Atlantic.

    Maya Kornberg is a senior research fellow in the elections and government program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law and author most recently of “Stuck: How Money, Media, and Violence Prevent Change in Congress” (Johns Hopkins University Press, March 10).

    Made By History takes readers beyond the headlines with articles written and edited by professional historians. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of The Inquirer.

  • Google just made it easier for campaigns to send you fundraising emails

    Google just made it easier for campaigns to send you fundraising emails

    Google quietly rolled out a new program Monday that will allow candidates, political parties, and political action committees to more easily bypass Gmail’s spam filter and send fundraising appeals to the inboxes of the company’s many millions of email users.

    The change comes after years of complaints from Republicans that Gmail’s spam algorithm unfairly blocked their committees’ emails more than those of their Democratic counterparts, although those complaints were dismissed in court. For campaigns and PACs that meet the terms of the program, it is expected to route an influx of cash solicitations into Gmail inboxes, helping campaigns raise millions of dollars more in the final sprint to the midterm elections.

    Google chose not to debut the new program with any fanfare, instead posting an update to its Help Center on Monday. The company began to reach out to some political committees in both parties Monday after publishing the change, according to three people briefed on the outreach who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.

    Political strategists in both parties said the new policy could be deeply consequential for candidates — even if frustrating for users in the United States, who are likely to be bombarded with pleas for donations.

    “Heading into the 2026 elections, Gmail users are going to be flooded with unwanted political spam because Google decided to create a VIP lane for campaigns,” said Kenneth Pennington, a Democratic digital strategist and veteran online fundraiser. “This is a bad deal for Gmail users and a gift to bad actors in the political fundraising space.”

    José Castañeda, a spokesperson for Google, said the new program resulted from an effort to provide long-term clarity for both campaigns and users.

    “This program is designed to connect people with the emails they want to receive while keeping them fully in control of their inboxes,” he said in a statement. “To participate, bulk senders must meet strict security and compliance requirements, ensuring that messages people receive are relevant, useful, and verified.”

    The new program is set to begin Sept. 8, the day after Labor Day — and the day before Republicans are set to hold a rare midterm convention in Dallas.

    The change comes four years after Google rolled out a similar program on a pilot basis that was discontinued months later.

    At the time, the Republican National Committee sued the technology giant, accusing it of “throttling its email messages,” though Google said the party had not signed up for the program. A federal court later dismissed the case, with Judge Daniel J. Calabretta writing of the RNC’s claims, “This is pure speculation, lacking facts from which the Court could infer animus or an absence of good faith.”

    The Federal Election Commission also dismissed a formal complaint from Republicans that Gmail’s spam filter was biased against the party.

    Whether a fundraising email winds up in users’ spam folders or inboxes can be worth millions of dollars to campaigns over time.

    It is not immediately clear whether the changes would affect one party more than the other, but some Republicans appeared optimistic.

    “For years Google’s algorithm silenced Republican voices, burying our emails in spam while Democrats’ landed in the inbox,” said Will Kiley, the communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “This program is a real chance to fix it and let voters hear from the candidates they choose to follow. We’ll be watching closely to make sure Google follows through.”

    Some Democrats feared the change could open the door for so-called scam PACs, which spend little of their money on actual campaigns, to more easily reach inboxes. Other Democrats hoped the change might help deliver the party an advantage because Democrats generally have been better at online fundraising than Republicans.

    The RNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Google’s new program will require that candidates, PACs, and party committees register the domain they send emails from and that their spam rates, the percentage of emails that users mark as spam, remain below 0.3%, according to the policy.

    Pennington feared that Google made the change because of pressure from Republicans.

    “While there could theoretically be another reason for this policy shift, it appears that Google is sacrificing the inbox sanity of its customers simply to placate a false, bad faith narrative from Republicans claiming partisan spam bias,” he said.

    Amanda Elliott, a Republican digital strategist, said the mistrust on the right with the tech industry runs deep, especially around the issue of whether fundraising emails wind up in inboxes or spam folders.

    “For everyone who’s been talking about censorship and bias, this could be a put-up or shut-up moment,” she wrote in a text message. “Are your emails landing in spam filters because you’re a Republican or because you’re just running a subpar email program and not following best practices? Perhaps we’re about to find out!”

    This article originally appeared in the New York Times.