Voters go to polls for Florida special elections, Wisconsin Supreme Court election

The conviction of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, which bars her from holding public office for five years, is “a very big deal,” Trump said.

Le Pen, leader of the National Rally party and one of the best-known figures in far-right European politics, was found guilty in Paris yesterday of embezzling European Union funds and sentenced to four years in prison. She had been considered a front-runner in France’s 2027 presidential election, campaigning in part on anti-immigration and other policies that have drawn comparisons to Trump.

 “That’s a big deal. That’s a very big deal,” Trump said from the Oval Office yesterday evening. “I know all about it, and a lot of people thought she wasn’t going to be convicted of anything.”

“But she was banned for running for five years, and she’s the leading candidate. That sounds like this country, that sounds very much like this country,” Trump continued, in an apparent reference to the multiple legal cases he faced before returning to office.

Le Pen’s lawyer said she would appeal the verdict, though she will remain ineligible for office in the meantime.

Layoffs began widely this morning at the Department of Health and Human Services as the agency sets out to cut some 10,000 full-time jobs as the Trump administration works to drastically shrink the size of the federal government.

The “reduction in force” plan, announced last Thursday and led by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, aims to shrink the health department’s workforce from 82,000 to 62,000 across several of its agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health.

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As morning alarms roused people on the East Coast for their work days, Sen. Cory Booker still hadn’t returned home from the night before. Instead, he was delivering an hourslong overnight speech on the Senate floor, which was ongoing 12 hours later this morning.

Booker showed no signs of slowing down after 7 a.m., speaking with animated gestures as he slammed the Trump administration.

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The European Union has a “strong plan” to retaliate against U.S. tariffs if necessary, the E.U. chief warned, as Trump is poised to impose a 25% auto tariff in addition to reciprocal tariffs on countries around the world.

The 27-member bloc is willing to negotiate but is also prepared to protect its interests, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said today in a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

“We do not necessarily want to retaliate, but we have a strong plan to retaliate if necessary,” she said.

Von der Leyen said she understood American complaints that “others have taken advantage of the rules.”

“I agree. We also suffer from it. So let us work on it,” she said. “But tariffs across the board make things worse, not better.” 

While Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race is officially nonpartisan, Democrats and Republicans have both picked sides and are pouring fortunes into their efforts. As the votes are tallied tonight, the ability to claim political momentum amid the upheaval of President Donald Trump’s second term will be on the line.   

What is being tested, though, is not so much whether large numbers of voters have changed their minds in the five months since the presidential election. When it comes to Trump himself, Wisconsin is an especially polarized state, with three straight presidential elections decided by less than 1 point. More likely, the outcome hinges on whether the pro-Trump side has become more engaged in an election like this than it has been up to this point.

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The first major elections of President Donald Trump’s second term will take place today as voters head to the polls in Wisconsin, a perennial battleground, and in Trump-friendly territory in Florida. 

Tens of millions of dollars have poured into Wisconsin ahead of today’s state Supreme Court race in a contest that could have huge national implications. It’s the first major statewide contest in a battleground since the 2024 election — and it’s happening in the state where Trump had his narrowest margin of victory in November.

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