Reform Party of the United States of America

News organizations projected Tuesday night that Democrats will win control of the U.S. House of Representatives, picking up seats along the East Coast. Rep. Robert Garcia of California, in line to chair the powerful Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Democrats would investigate Trump family business dealings, corporate corruption, DHS and ICE conduct, and the handling of the Epstein files, telling Trump and his family to "lawyer up."

Trump family business interests have drawn scrutiny from watchdog groups over real estate deals, cryptocurrency ventures, and a jet gifted by Qatar. Democratic control gives committee chairs subpoena power to pursue hearings and investigations starting in January, setting up a fight over how aggressively the party pursues accountability versus economic policy.

California voters rejected Proposition 39, a Republican-backed voter ID measure, with about 60% voting no. The initiative, championed by Assemblymember Carl DeMaio and his group Reform California, drew roughly $37 million in support from national GOP donors including Richard Uihlein and Joe Gebbia, framed as a security and fraud-prevention measure despite experts calling voter fraud rare in the state.

Democratic leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom and Sen. Adam Schiff, campaigned heavily against it, calling it voter suppression, with opposition spending around $35 million. Critics also cited potential implementation costs reaching the low hundreds of millions. The result could influence similar voter ID campaigns in other states.

Illinois Rep. Delia Ramirez has introduced the "Reimagining Safety Act," legislation that would abolish the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, replacing DHS with a new Department of Community Safety. The move follows a federal raid on Rep. Ilhan Omar's Washington home, where Homeland Security Investigations agents searched the property early Monday as part of a Justice Department probe into decades-old paperwork, seizing her phone and issuing subpoenas to relatives. Omar called the raid an "outrageous abuse of power"; President Trump denied involvement.

Ramirez's 71-page bill would shift immigration enforcement to the Justice Department, customs to Treasury, and TSA/Coast Guard to Transportation, while redirecting DHS funds toward Medicare for All, housing, and education. It has fewer than seven co-sponsors and faces long odds in the Republican-controlled Congress. Republicans have called the proposal "utterly insane," while some moderate Democrats also oppose abolishing ICE. Separately, Ramirez joined advocacy groups to unveil a broader immigration reform platform with 19 congressional co-sponsors and backing from 54 civil rights organizations.

Three seats on Texas's new 15th Court of Appeals are up for election in November, marking the first time voters will weigh in since Gov. Greg Abbott appointed the court's inaugural members in 2024. Created by the Legislature in 2023, the court handles civil cases involving the state, challenges to state laws' constitutionality, and business-court appeals before they reach the Texas Supreme Court. Winners will serve six-year terms.

Primaries were uncontested, leaving one Republican incumbent facing one Democrat in each race: Chief Justice Scott Brister vs. Jerry Zimmerer, Place 2's Scott Field vs. Tom Baker, and Place 3's April Farris vs. Marc Meyer. All three incumbents hold substantial fundraising leads, backed heavily by Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC and other business and legal interests. Since taking the bench, the Republican-majority court has ruled on marijuana policy, abortion, and campaign finance, at times drawing criticism from Attorney General Ken Paxton. The outcomes will shape the ideological direction of a court with broad authority over state-related litigation.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, has accepted more than $500,000 in donations from alcohol industry PACs and executives since 2014, even as his office has sued to overturn local marijuana decriminalization measures and defended new restrictions on hemp-derived THC products. Texas recently classified certain hemp THC products, including delta-8 and delta-10, as Schedule I substances, making possession a felony. A judge recently declined to block the crackdown while litigation continues.

Democratic Senate opponent James Talarico has accused Paxton of doing the bidding of "big beer and big tobacco" donors rather than protecting public health, calling the arrangement corrupt. Paxton did not respond to requests for comment and was recently seen deflecting a question on the THC ban in a video that Texas Democrats seized on. Democratic lieutenant governor nominee Vikki Goodwin has made similar claims against Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who also received substantial alcohol industry contributions and backed hemp restrictions later vetoed by Gov. Greg Abbott before being reimposed via executive order. The issue is emerging as a flashpoint in Texas's 2026 statewide races.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 1130, giving California campaign finance regulators the power to fine social media influencers up to $5,000 per violation for failing to disclose paid political content, with violations also referable to law enforcement as potential misdemeanors under the Political Reform Act of 1974. California has required disclosure of paid posts about state and local campaigns since 2023 but previously lacked an enforcement mechanism. The bill was one of 13 election-related social media measures Newsom signed as a package aimed at protecting state elections from interference.

Assembly member Marc Berman introduced the bill after reports that campaigns were quietly paying influencers during California's contested gubernatorial primary. Billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer paid numerous creators to post favorably about his campaign across TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Reddit, many without proper disclosure, prompting complaints to the state's Fair Political Practices Commission against both Steyer and rival Xavier Becerra, who won the primary and will face Republican Steve Hilton in November. The commission has closed one inquiry into Steyer's campaign, though another remains open; Steyer's campaign has called the allegations baseless. Texas has similar rules, and Congress and other states are weighing comparable regulations.