Republicans continue to overwhelmingly support Donald Trump in his campaign to be the party’s nominee as a new poll continued a bad week for Ron DeSantis. When asked whom they would like to see as the Republican nominee for president in 2024, 46% of GOP-aligned and leaning voters named the former president, followed by 20% naming DeSantis. In a primary ballot question that explicitly lists 14 announced candidates, Trump’s support increases to 54% while DeSantis’ vote share barely moves (22%)—no other candidate gets above 5%, including former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. In a head-to-head contest, Trump garners 55% support and DeSantis gets 35% while just 22% of Republican voters say that DeSantis would be a stronger candidate in the general election. More alarmingly for the Florida governor is that 47% say he would actually be weaker than Trump. As for New Jersey’s favored son, Christie would get 12% of the vote to Trump’s 82% in a one-on-one matchup. North-JerseyNews.com
A Republican group that opposes Donald Trump is unveiling an advertising campaign featuring voters who supported him in the past two presidential elections but have now turned against him, in an effort to put questions of electability at the center of the G.O.P. primary race. The group, the Republican Accountability Project, is spending $1.5 million on ads in Iowa to try to persuade likely Trump voters that the former president would struggle to win the 2024 general election. The ads feature first-person testimonials from Iowans explaining that they like Trump but fear he could fail to win back the White House for Republicans by being unable to appeal to swing voters. The New York Times
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and his allies are shifting gears as his struggling presidential campaign slips in the polls, and his second-place status to front-runner Donald Trump is now under threat. The DeSantis campaign laid off nearly 40 staff members, roughly the total number employed by Trump’s campaign, as well as plans to slash travel and event costs as it seeks to reassure supporters of his readiness for the national stage. A super PAC supporting DeSantis will launch a new wave of advertising to carry an uplifting message and detail his personal biography as he gives a speech in New Hampshire focused on the economy as part of a policy rollout that aims to go beyond recounting what he has done as governor. The Wall Street Journal
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) suggested the House was moving toward opening an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden, as Republicans search through bank records hunting for damaging information about the first family. “You’ve got to get to the bottom of the truth, and the only way Congress can do that is go to an impeachment inquiry that gives Republicans and Democrats the ability to get all the information,” McCarthy said, who went on to compare President Biden to President Richard Nixon and his elaborate cover-up in the Watergate scandal. McCarthy’s comments came the same day that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) took to the House floor to renew her call for impeaching the President. The New York Times
Hunter Biden is set to plead guilty July 26 to two misdemeanor charges of failure to pay taxes in 2017 and 2018. The President Biden’s son is expected to avoid prosecution on a separate felony gun-possession charge of illegally possessing a firearm as a drug user. The deal with federal prosecutors, which heads off what would have been a politically explosive prosecution while Hunter Biden’s father campaigns for re-election, marks the culmination of a yearslong investigation by the U.S. attorney in Delaware, David Weiss. Weiss was appointed by former President Donald Trump and has remained in office under the Biden administration to see through the criminal inquiry into the President’s son. The Wall Street Journal
Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus and their allies warned July 25 that they weren’t yet ready to support a pair of spending bills that are scheduled to be on the floor this week, saying that they want to see revised versions that House Republican leaders are putting together. GOP leaders have been in talks with fiscal conservatives since last week in hopes of identifying new spending cuts. “We should not fear a government shutdown,” said Rep. Bob Good (R-VA). “Most of what we do up here is bad anyway.” New Jersey Monitor
A Burlington County man who streamed into the U.S. Capitol with two friends on Jan. 6, 2021 and entered then U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s office will serve a term of probation after pleading guilty. A federal judge in Washington, D.C. on July 25 sentenced Michael Gianos, 35, to 24 months of probation, plus $500 restitution, a standard for many Jan. 6 defendants. Federal prosecutors argued in a pre-sentence report that Gianos, who works as a day trader, be sentenced to 90 days behind bars, 36 months of probation and 60 hours of community service, plus the $500 restitution. NJ.com
The newly-appointed members of the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission voted to dismiss 107 complaints July 25 to comply with the two-year statute of limitations in the new Elections Transparency Act enacted earlier this year. Among the complaints to disappear were those filed against the Democratic and Republican state committees, the Senate Democratic Majority Committee, and the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee on issues related to the 2017 campaign. The commission will still have 130 active cases, according to Joe Donohue, ELEC’s deputy executive director. New Jersey Globe
A federal judge in California blocked the Biden Administration’s newest immigration rules limiting who can seek asylum at the border, the central pillar of President Joe Biden’s post-Title 42 enforcement strategy, but delayed the effect of his decision for two weeks. The policy, widely known as the transit ban, allowed the government to rapidly deport asylum seekers deemed automatically ineligible for asylum in the U.S. unless they sought similar protection, and were rejected, in another country along the migration route. Since its implementation, the administration’s latest attempt to deter illegal border crossings appears to have worked as intended as crossings have plunged since early May while applications for asylum border appointments and for entry into the sponsorship program have exploded. The Wall Street Journal
A grim financial outlook for the country’s offshore wind power industry is threatening President Joe Biden’s most important energy plans. Up and down the Northeast—the center of the burgeoning industry — energy companies have struggled to finance their projects, going hat in hand to governors and utility regulators asking for more money so they can start building the turbines they have already promised to deliver. PoliticoNJ
A week-long economic mission trip to Japan and South Korea will reportedly be announced by Gov. Phil Murphy at an event on the campus of NJIT July 26. The trip, which will be organized by Choose New Jersey, will take place in October with Murphy making multi-day visits to the two capitals, Tokyo and Seoul, and will likely make shorter stops in other cities, especially in Japan. ROI-NJ.com
Gov. Phil Murphy recently unveiled an initiative for combating mental health issues among America’s youth after a years-long investigation on the subject. Murphy released “Strengthening Youth Mental Health: A Governor’s Playbook” at the National Governors Association’s meeting in Atlantic City earlier this month. The playbook highlights and reinforces methods in how to positively address mental health issues affecting young people today. As an outgrowth, the two-term governor signed bill A-3334 that expands expenses that New Jersey’s K-12 public schools may be reimbursed for in regard to behavioral health services that are provided to students and their families who are Medicaid recipients. North-JerseyNews.com
The Ramapo Indian Hills Board of Education voted 4-4 on three motions that effectively ended two of the district’s student mental health programs. The votes denied an annual renewal for the district’s 13-year agreement with Sage Thrive Inc. to provide counseling services to students for $370,500 in 2023-2034, plus a new mental-wellness training, coaching and certification program for an additional $60,000. The tie votes also nixed a proposed switch from Care Plus to Care Solace to provide an $8,433 referral website identifying mental health treatment resources for district staff, students and parents. School Superintendent Rui Dionisio said “this is the first time as a superintendent that I had any indication that these resolutions would not pass” and that “we are actually moving backwards.” The Record
Dr. Kaitlan Baston, who has spent much of her career treating addiction, has been nominated to become New Jersey’s next health commissioner as the state continues to grapple with a high number of drug overdose deaths, Gov. Phil Murphy announced July 25. Dr. Baston, the head of Addiction Medicine at Cooper University Health Care in Camden, will succeed outgoing commissioner Judy Persichilli, who last week announced her retirement after helping guide New Jersey through the COVID-19 pandemic. Baston will be installed as acting commissioner next month pending State Senate confirmation and enters the job facing a number of challenges, including large racial gaps in health outcomes among New Jersey patients. The Daily Record
A state grand jury indicted three people in the March shooting of a New Jersey state trooper in Paterson, authorities said July 25. Jocquise Timmons, 28, and Tajshmer Johnson, 30, both of Paterson, face attempted murder and aggravated assault charges in the incident, which left the detective wounded in the leg. Queenasia McFarlane, 30, also of Paterson, faces separate charges of hindering apprehension after she allegedly lied to investigators about Johnson’s whereabouts. NJ.com
The operators of North Jersey drinking water reservoirs welcomed heavy rainfall throughout July, easing fears after reservoir levels fell significantly during the dry Spring. The North Jersey District Water Commission, which operates the Wanaque Reservoir and the backup Monksville Reservoir, saw the two of them rise 7% from July 1, bringing them to about 90% capacity. The Oradell Reservoir stood at 70% capacity last July, but today it measures 95% full. New Jersey Herald
The Hoboken City Council voted to allow a 5 a.m. opening times for bars for the Women’s World Cup. The exemption states that all establishments must close at the regularly ordained time, but may reopen and start serving alcohol on days when a World Cup game is being played, starting after the qualifying rounds. The specific days and times that the establishment seeks to extend its hours must be specified on an application submitted to the city. The measure also indicates that music can not be played in the early morning hours, only the commentary for the games. HudsonCountyView.com
And finally…The Mega Millions jackpot soared to $910 million. NJ.com
