Midwest Lutheranism has entered the national political limelight since Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz became Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate.

The “Squad,” a group of progressive lawmakers in the House, is set to shrink next year after two members suffered primary defeats after an unprecedented deluge of special interest spending.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar has won her primary race in Minnesota.

After a tough summer of primaries, the progressive House members who call themselves “the Squad” are facing their final challenge next week.

Thursday’s White House state dinner honoring Kenyan President William Ruto offered hundreds of guests some stunning D.

New York police have disbanded a pro-Palestinian protest encampment at Columbia University and arrested more than 100 protesters, including the daughter of a prominent Minnesota congresswoman.

An election this month in Pittsburgh and some of its suburbs is emerging as an early test of whether Israel’s war with Hamas poses political threats to progressive Democrats in Congress who've criticized the conflict.

A group of progressive lawmakers are fighting back against a multimillion-dollar campaign to push them out of Congress for their vocal opposition to Israel's deadly bombardment of Gaza after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

Most members of Congress have stood firmly behind Israel since the Hamas attack, but not Cori Bush.

The executive committee of Minnesota's Democratic Farmer Labor Party gave initial approval to bylaws that will permanently ban people who engage in or incite violent acts from participating in party activities.

Minnesota Democratic leaders will convene an emergency meeting Thursday evening to respond to the chaos that broke out during a convention to endorse a candidate for a Minneapolis City Council race.

A man who is suspected of setting fires to mosques in Minneapolis has been indicted on federal charges of arson and damage to religious property.

Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar is now in her third term and she's no longer defined by the “firsts” that accompanied her arrival in Congress.

House Republicans have voted to oust Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

A procedural vote Wednesday in the House showed unified Republican support in moving to oust Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Three weeks into the new era of the House Republican majority, the risks of Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s leadership style are clearly taking hold.

When Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she won't re-up as a House leader next year, even her adversaries acknowledged that hers was a remarkable era.

Joe Biden wasn't the first choice of progressives for the White House in 2020.

Somali Americans who fled war and famine are seeking to join the political process in greater numbers during the 2022 U.S. midterm elections.

House Democrats have pushed through a long-sought policing and public safety package after overcoming internal differences on legislation they plan to make central to their election-year pitch.

A deal has been struck by the progressive and centrist factions of the Democratic caucus to bring a long-awaited policing bill to the House floor just weeks before the midterm elections.

Ron Johnson, the most vulnerable Republican senator up for reelection this year, will take on Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes in a general election matchup that will help determine which party controls the Senate.

Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota won a closer-than-expected Democratic primary race against a centrist challenger who questioned Omar's support for the “defund the police” movement.

The Republican matchup in the Wisconsin gubernatorial race in Tuesday's primary elections features competing candidates endorsed by former President Donald Trump and his estranged vice president, Mike Pence.

A federal court judge sentenced a former Trump supporter to three years probation for an emailed threat to kill Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and three other congresswomen.

A rare Republican who supports abortion rights found success in Colorado in the first primary elections held since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Just seven Republicans, along with most Democrats, used remote voting in the House when voting-from-somewhere-else was first allowed two years ago as the pandemic erupted.

The House has voted to outlaw discrimination that's based on hairstyles and hair textures like Afros and cornrows.

Three checkered oil regimes that President Joe Biden and past U.S. leaders have spectacularly snubbed — Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Iran — are the targets of U.S. outreach as global fuel prices hit dizzying highs during the Ukraine crisis.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was one of the more high-profile targets of political violence when prosecutors say a group of men who were angry about pandemic restrictions plotted to kidnap her.

Four men are going to trial for an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is facing pushback from the White House and all corners of Washington after calling for the assassination of President Vladimir Putin by the Russian people.

The Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection by pro-Trump supporters and right-wing group members shattered the sense of security that many had long felt at the Capitol as rioters forcefully delayed the certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory.

The House has delivered its first formal response to Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert's anti-Muslim remarks by passing a bill to tackle Islamophobia worldwide.

Progressive Democrats are ratcheting up pressure on Speaker Nancy Pelosi to punish firebrand conservative Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado for her recent comments likening a Muslim member of Congress to a bomb-carrying terrorist.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy appears to have settled on a strategy as a handful of Republican lawmakers stir outrage with violent, racist and sometimes Islamophobic comments: If you can’t police them, promote them.

Conservative congresswoman Lauren Boebert has spoken by phone with congresswoman Ilhan Omar just days after likening the Minnesota Democrat to a bomb-carrying terrorist.

Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar is imploring House Republican leaders to do more to tamp down “anti-Muslim hatred” in their ranks.

Minnesota's Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar is calling on House leaders to take “appropriate action" against Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert for using anti-Muslim language in describing a recent encounter with Omar.

Minneapolis voters have rejected a proposal to replace the city’s police department with a new Department of Public Safety — an idea that arose from the May 2020 death of George Floyd.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was the face of the city through some of its darkest days — the police killing of George Floyd last year and the rioting, burning and looting that ensued.

Minnesota’s Congressional delegation on Monday is introducing a resolution to posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to pop superstar Prince, citing his “indelible mark on Minnesota and American culture,” The Associated Press has learned.

President Joe Biden is acknowledging frustrations as Democrats strain to rescue a scaled-back version of his $3.5 trillion government-overhaul plan and salvage a related public works bill.

President Joe Biden has pledged on Capitol Hill to “get it done” as Democrats strain to rescue a scaled back version of his $3.5 trillion government overhaul and salvage a related public works bill.

Reporters have been given a glimpse of life on a Wisconsin Army post for newly arrived Afghan refugees.

Congressional Democrats are fighting over trillions of dollars, their paramount policy goals and perhaps their political fate.

Top congressional Democrats are trying to craft legislation financing President Joe Biden’s multitrillion-dollar agenda of bolstering the economy and helping families.

Congressional leaders and a media advocacy organization are urging the Federal Communications Commission to investigate how policy decisions have disparately harmed Black Americans and other communities of color, according to a letter sent Tuesday to the acting FCC chair.

House Democrats and Republicans are backing away from a tit-for-tat battle over punishing firebrand lawmakers from the other party.

Rep. Ilhan Omar is moving to deescalate a bitter fight with Jewish Democratic lawmakers over the Middle East.

The House has narrowly approved $1.9 billion to fortify the Capitol after the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Republicans trying to drive a wedge between Democrats and chip away at President Joe Biden’s support are zeroing in on the violence in the Middle East.

A year before her election to Congress, Marjorie Taylor Greene searched for Rep_ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at her Capitol office, challenging the New York Democrat to “get rid of your diaper” and “talk to the American citizens.”.

FILE - In this Feb. 4, 2021, file photo, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. One problem in resuming fully in-person operations at the Capitol is the lack of vaccinations for thousands of staff to the 435 House members. Give me a break.”It’s clear that Democrats are more emotionally spent than House Republicans, who bolstered their ranks in the last election despite Trump's loss. In February, the House voted to remove Greene from her committee assignments because of her lengthy history of outrageous social media posts and other actions. AdWhile security fencing is set to be removed from the Capitol, metal detectors remain stationed outside the House chamber after some Republican lawmakers pledged to bring their firearms onto the House floor.

Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON – House Democrats passed the most ambitious effort in decades to overhaul policing nationwide, avoiding a potential clash with moderates in their own party who were wary of reigniting the “defund the police” debate they say hurt them during last fall's election. Approved 220-212 late Wednesday, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act is named for the man whose killing by police in Minnesota last Memorial Day sparked demonstrations nationwide. “We want to feel safe when we encounter law enforcement. “Our law enforcement officers need more funding not less,” Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis. Another possible point of contention is provisions easing standards for prosecution of law enforcement officers accused of wrongdoing.

House Democrats are hustling to pass the most ambitious effort in decades to overhaul policing. The bill would ban chokeholds and “qualified immunity” for law enforcement and create national standards for policing in a bid to bolster accountability. “Our law enforcement officers need more funding not less,” Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., said during Wednesday's debate. AdPolice unions and other law enforcement groups have argued that, without such legal protections, fear of lawsuits will stop people from becoming police officers — even though the measure permits such suits only against law enforcement agencies, rather than all public employees. California Rep. Karen Bass, who authored the bill, understands the challenge some House members face in supporting it.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., goes back to her office after speaking on the floor of the House Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)WASHINGTON – Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene lashed out Friday at “morons” in both parties who voted to kick her off her committees, a day after the House meted out the unprecedented punishment that Democrats said she’d earned by spreading hateful and violent conspiracy theories. Underscoring the political vise her inflammatory commentary has clamped her party into, all but 11 Republicans voted against the Democratic move on Thursday but none rose to defend her lengthy history of outrageous social media posts. Even social media stars like Greene could find it harder to define themselves without the spotlights that committees provide. That chamber’s minority leader, Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., this week called Greene’s words a “cancer” on the GOP and country.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., goes back to her office after speaking on the floor of the House Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. Afterward, Greene suggested that the shooting might have been staged. Connecting a series of scattershot points, Greene suggested a bank controlled by the Rothschild family, who are Jewish, a utility company responsible for the fire and then-Gov. Greene “liked” the comment and replied, “Most people honestly don’t know so much. 9/11 ATTACKSIn November 2018, Greene shot a video in which she talked about the 9/11 terrorist attacks, referring to a “so-called” plane that crashed into the Pentagon.

“The President continues to support the cancelling of student debt to bring relief to students and families,” Psaki tweeted. AdBiden previously had said he supports erasing up to $10,000 in student debt through legislation, but he had not shown interest in pursuing executive action. “The last thing people should be worried about is their student debt,” she said. Calls for debt forgiveness have been mounting following years of college tuition increases that have contributed to ballooning national student debt. Forgiving $50,000 in student debt would cost an estimated $650 billion, Warren said.

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)WASHINGTON – The Latest on President Donald Trump testing positive for the coronavirus and being hospitalized (all times EDT):12:10 a.m.President Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, has tested positive for the coronavirus. Conway attended the Rose Garden announcement Saturday where President Donald Trump announced his nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. He issued the statement as President Donald Trump was being treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for the same illness. ___6 p.m.Joe Biden’s campaign is taking down its attack ads in the wake of President Donald Trump’s coronavirus infection. ___11:55 a.m.First lady Melania Trump says she is experiencing “mild symptoms” after she and President Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19.

BEMIDJI, Minn. – Minutes into the latest Donald Trump campaign rally, the world got word that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died. Over the next 90 minutes, Trump claimed that Minnesota would be flooded with refugees if Democrat Joe Biden won the White House. As Trump moved on to other topics, White House aides were reacting to Ginsberg’s death. White House adviser Ben Williamson took to Twitter to say the White House flag had been lowered to half-staff to honor Ginsburg. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows tweeted his condolences to the late justice’s family and loved ones.

(Kevin Dietsch/Pool via AP)WASHINGTON – The State Department on Wednesday rejected Democrats' charges of improperly firing its independent inspector general and defended its weapons sales to Saudi Arabia. Linick’s firing was one of several dismissals by Trump of people charged with preventing fraud and abuse in the government. The State Department officials told the committee that Pompeo acted appropriately on all counts. The IG concluded that the arms sales did not violate the letter of the law but said the department did not take enough action to limit civilian casualties. Members of Congress had been blocking some of the sales because they might contribute to the human rights disaster in Yemen.

ATLANTA Facebook removed a photo illustration showing a Republican congressional candidate in Georgia posing with a rifle next to three Democratic House members, saying Friday that it violated the social media platform's policy against inciting violence. Greene's post featured four separate photos that had been combined to show her posing with a rifle next to Democratic U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar. After her Aug. 11 runoff victory, she inveighed against spineless Republicans" and promised to kick Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi out of Congress. But she denied in a statement Friday that she was trying to incite violence. Those videos brought her criticism in the primary, with some Georgia Republicans pulling their support, but opposition eased after her runoff win over neurosurgeon John Cowan.

Fifth Congressional District candidate, Democrat Antone Melton-Meaux, answers questions during an interview in his Minneapolis office Wednesday, July 22, 2020. Melton-Meaux is giving Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar an unexpectedly strong, well-funded primary challenge in one of the country's most heavily Democratic congressional districts, which includes Minneapolis and some suburbs. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

Alex Wong / Getty ImagesWASHINGTON - President Donald Trump says any Jewish people who vote Democratic show "either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty." Trump commented Tuesday amid his ongoing feud with Democratic congresswomen Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. Trump has taken several steps favored by Israel, while the Muslim lawmakers are outspoken critics of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. Trump calls Omar a "disaster" for Jews and says he didn't "buy" the tears Tlaib shed Monday as she discussed the situation. Israel later agreed to a humanitarian visit for Tlaib to visit her grandmother who lives in the West Bank.

"I have decided that visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in--fighting against racism, oppression & injustice," Tlaib said in a tweet. Tlaib's family in the West Bank slammed Israel over the "conditional visit" and insisted that it is a "natural right" to be able to visit relatives. The family statement continued, "It should be her natural right, not a favor to ask for, to visit her homeland and family." Tlaib's uncle suggested he could bring Tlaib's grandmother to visit in the United States so the two could meet. "The plan of the two Congresswomen is only to damage Israel and to foment against Israel," Netanyahu said in a statement following the decision.

Deputy foreign minister Tzipi Hotovely told CNN on Thursday of Israel's decision to ban Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from entering the country. "Israel's denial of entry to Congresswomen Tlaib and Omar is a sign of weakness, and beneath the dignity of the great State of Israel," Pelosi said. On Thursday, Trump said it would show "great weakness" if Israel allowed entry to Omar and Tlaib. "It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep. Tlaib to visit," Trump tweeted. If used to deny entry to Tlaib and Omar, it would be by far the most high-profile implementation of the law.

She was in Minneapolis for a town hall with Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, which was intended to focus on their advocacy for "Medicare for All." "He's threatened because we are inspiring people to dream about a country that recognizes their dignity and humanity," Omar said of Trump at the airport. An hour later, Omar received a standing ovation at the start of the town hall. Keeping with the status quo in health care can no longer be sustained by Americans," Omar said. Trump's attacks on Omar were "kind of like the elephant in the room," said Alex Everhart, a 26-year-old PhD student who said Trump has been "gross" in his attacks on Omar.

He also heard from close allies and aides -- including his daughter, Ivanka -- concerned the chant could come to define another dark and racially divisive campaign. Speaking to reporters, Trump claimed to have attempted to stop the chant Wednesday night by resuming his speech -- "I started speaking very quickly," he said -- an assertion refuted by video of the event. In early morning phone calls, Trumps' allies relayed concerns to senior White House officials and the President himself. Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and senior adviser, spoke with the President about the chant and expressed her concerns, according to a person familiar with the matter. "It was quite a chant," Trump said.

Omar came under the harshest criticism as Trump played to voters grievances, drawing a chant from the crowd of "Send her back! If they dont want to love our country, if they dont want to fight for our country, they can," Trump said. Trumps harsh denunciations were another sign of his willingness to exploit the nations racial divisions heading into the 2020 campaign. Vice President Mike Pence was first up after spending the day in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and visiting troops at Fort Bragg. "North Carolina and America needs four more years," Pence said.