Author

Jennifer Shutt

Jennifer Shutt

Jennifer covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Her coverage areas include congressional policy, politics and legal challenges with a focus on health care, unemployment, housing and aid to families.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, listens as U.S. Senate Minority Whip Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, speaks to reporters following a weekly Republican policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 19, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

McConnell re-elected U.S. Senate GOP leader, fending off bid by Florida’s Rick Scott

By: - November 16, 2022

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans overwhelmingly re-elected Mitch McConnell on Wednesday as their leader for the next Congress, though nearly a dozen members backed Florida Sen. Rick Scott’s attempt to usurp McConnell. Scott’s bid, which he launched Tuesday during an hours-long discussion among Senate Republicans about the future of their party amid disappointing results in the […]

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) talks to reporters following the weekly Senate Democratic policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on December 14, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Congress heads back to D.C. for a hectic lame-duck session

By: - November 14, 2022

WASHINGTON — Congress returns to Capitol Hill and a lengthy to-do list this week, following a six-week midterm elections break that saw Democrats outperform expectations and Republicans barely inch toward the U.S. House majority. On the agenda are same-sex marriage legislation, a huge defense bill, changes in how presidential electoral votes are counted and more. […]

Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota meets with supporters in Rapid City on Nov. 7, 2022.

Record-setting number of women elected as governors in midterms

By: - November 10, 2022

WASHINGTON —  The United States’ ceiling for female governors was shattered this week, with voters in 12 states electing women to the role, breaking the prior record of nine set for the first time back in 2004. While not all of the gubernatorial campaigns have been called as of Thursday afternoon, Arizona and Oregon voters had two […]

Voters wait in line at a Mesa polling location on Nov. 8, 2022.

U.S. Senate control too close to call as multiple states grapple with tight vote counts

By: , and - November 9, 2022

WASHINGTON —  Control of the U.S. Senate remained unclear early Wednesday as races in a handful of swing states in the midterm elections were still too close to call, and it appeared it might be days — or even weeks — before a final result was known. Among the tightest contests: In Pennsylvania, Lt. Gov. […]

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images)

Control of U.S. Senate still a guess ahead of midterm elections

By: - November 1, 2022

WASHINGTON — Democrats and Republicans have just a handful of frantic days left to convince voters who should control Congress before voting in the Nov. 8 midterm elections ends. The two political parties are spending millions on campaign ads and mailers in the dozens of toss-up races that will determine control of Congress, while President […]

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband, Paul Pelosi, arrive for a meeting with Prime Minister Boris Johnson at Downing Street on Sept. 16, 2021, in London, England. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Paul Pelosi, U.S. House speaker’s husband, attacked inside their San Francisco home

By: - October 28, 2022

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, was recovering in the hospital Friday morning after a man in his 40s broke into their San Francisco home in the early morning and “violently assaulted” the 82-year-old, according to a statement from spokesman Drew Hammill. Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat who has a U.S. […]

The Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)

A GOP showdown over the debt limit could grip Congress and the nation next year

By: - October 27, 2022

WASHINGTON — Republicans are eyeing the debt limit and government funding deadlines as a way to force Democrats to the negotiating table for spending cuts, should the GOP regain control of Congress following the midterm elections.  Republicans unhappy about government spending could move to shut down the government, a tactic unsuccessful for the GOP in […]

An election worker gathers ballots from a drop box on Oct. 26, 2020, in Springville, Utah. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)

More than 9 million voters already have cast their ballots in November elections

By: - October 25, 2022

WASHINGTON — Roughly 9.4 million Americans have already voted in the midterm elections, casting a combination of in-person early votes and mail-in ballots, according to data compiled by the United States Elections Project. Florida as well as Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania are among the top states in terms of early voting so far.  The initiative, […]

New Hampshire Republican U.S. Senate candidate Don Bolduc, left, with Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for the Trump administration, listens to reporters' questions during a campaign stop at the Rochester GOP headquarters in Rochester, New Hampshire on Oct. 18, 2022. (Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

How claims about a federal abortion ban are roiling one state as the midterms near

By: - October 25, 2022

WILMOT, New Hampshire — Voters in this swing state are among the relatively few Americans who will decide control of Congress during November’s midterm elections, shaping domestic and foreign policy for the next two years and delivering a verdict on Joe Biden’s presidency.  Granite Staters interviewed by States Newsroom, during a mid-October week trailing U.S. […]