Politics

Ronald Reagan became president even though he worked with chimps in B movies. Arnold Schwarzenegger played a murderous robot, and that didn’t keep him from becoming governor. So can “Law & Order” actor and former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) become the first presidential candidate with this credit? Thompson played a white supremacist, spewing anti-Semitic comments … Read more

Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) listens during a town hall in Asheville, N.C., on March 13. (Makiya Seminera / Associated Press) As congressional lawmakers scramble to respond to President Trump’s slashing of the federal government, one group is already taking a front and center role: military veterans. From layoffs at the Department of Veterans Affairs to … Read more

Unions backing John J. Sweeney, the dissident labor leader fighting a historic battle for the presidency of the AFL-CIO, claimed Monday that their candidate had locked up his election victory. Sweeney, the 61-year-old president of the Service Employees International Union, is challenging incumbent AFL-CIO President Thomas R. Donahue in the first openly contested leadership battle … Read more

California Gov. Gavin Newsom delivers a briefing of his proposed 2025-26 state budget at Cal State Stanislaus in Turlock on Jan. 6. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Newsletter You’re reading the L.A. Times Politics newsletter Anita Chabria and David Lauter bring insights into legislation, politics and policy from California and beyond. In your inbox three … Read more

Millions could lose internet access in California if this program expires Four years ago, Claudia Aleman and her family had only one way to get online — through their cellphones. Without internet service on a computer, her youngest daughter couldn’t get homework assignments in on time, her parents couldn’t keep up with online doctor visits, … Read more

President Trump takes questions during a White House briefing about the coronavirus crisis. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) Confronted with criticism about the lagging federal response to the coronavirus crisis, President Trump often boasts about his Jan. 31 decision to restrict travel from China, where the outbreak began, claiming he saved thousands of American lives. … Read more

WASHINGTON — As dean of Yale Law School, Harold Hongju Koh was among the fiercest critics of President George W. Bush’s “war on terror,” arguing that his administration had trampled the Constitution and tarnished America’s international standing by claiming the power to capture “enemy combatants” abroad and hold them without charges at the prison in … Read more

Utah’s Mia Love was tabbed as a rising star in the GOP when she became the first black Republican woman in Congress with her 2014 victory. But on Tuesday she became the latest Republican incumbent to fall in the midterm election’s Democratic wave that has seen more than three dozen Republican-held seats flipped across the … Read more

A woman who has sued William Kennedy Smith said Thursday that the member of the prominent political family sexually assaulted her five years ago. “Today I am putting William Kennedy Smith on notice. You will not victimize another woman and be able to keep it silent if I can help it,” Audra Soulias, 28, said … Read more

Border Patrol agents and members of the military stand inside a gate in one of two border walls separating Mexico from the United States during a news conference on joint operations involving the military and the Border Patrol on Friday in San Diego. (Gregory Bull / Associated Press) Nelson and Gladys Gonzalez lived in the … Read more