📖 Today’s #PoliticsPA Guide. Most think Trump’s first year was a failure. AP’s election-year budget fight looms. Rothman overturns Washington County GOP vote of no confidence in Bartolotta. Skills.
🎶 Your morning, pick me up. Electric shock. Soraya
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🏀 Sixes (23-19) | Thu vs. Houston
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🔈 What we hear. A group of Democrats, including: Rep. Summer Leevoted with Republicans on the House Oversight Committee and the Government Reform Committee to adopt the resolutions first President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress.
🔈 What do we also hear?. “Business Matters” is a long-running program on WFMZ Channel 69 organize a debate with the participation of Democratic candidates from the 7th Congressional District April 1st.
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The most essential story
1. Poll: Most think Trump’s first year was unsuccessful
“After a year of the second term President Donald Trump the national approval rating is negative, with 56% expressing disapproval of his job performance and 40% approving. A majority, 55-42%, say his first year was more unsuccessful than successful,” she said Don LevyExecutive Director of SRI. “Most say the country is in a worse situation than a year ago and that the country’s economy has gotten worse rather than better.” | Siena Research
Elsewhere
Voters who turned away from Trump. “The results of today’s poll conducted by the New York Times and the University of Siena looked quite typical during his first term. Only 40 percent of registered voters say they approve of Mr. Trump’s actions, and familiar patterns of American politics have returned. Trump’s second coalition has fallen apart.” | New York Times
Trump’s Strong Support in Lehigh Valley and Northeastern Pennsylvania Wanes: ‘He Left Nothing to the Worker’. “Wrinkled under a wool hat and hood, Robert DeJesus stood in the biting wind outside the Sunrise Diner in Allentown last week and confessed his ‘massive mistake’: voting for President Donald Trump in 2024.” | Questioner from Philadelphia
Highly detailed Trump job approval map. “Discover our new interactive Trump job approval map, based on 12,000 survey interviews conducted in 2025 and 2026.” | Strength in numbers
RFK Jr. promotes food pyramid overhaul in Harrisburg while AP Democrats question vaccine guidelines. “Food was a major topic of U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s visit to Harrisburg on Wednesday, but many Pennsylvania Democrats used the trip to push back on his other health policy positions, including his recent change in the childhood vaccination schedule.” | WESA
Country
2. The election-year budget fight looms as PA lawmakers prepare for another showdown
“Pennsylvania’s divided Legislature is on track to collide over the 2026-2027 state budget, just months after Governor Josh Shapiro and legislative leaders reached an agreement to resolve more than four months of budget impasse in the current fiscal year.
This year’s mid-term elections augment the chance of another stalemate. Shapiro will be on the ballot this fall, with voters choosing the winners of 25 state Senate seats and all 203 House seats. As budget talks begin, lawmakers from both parties will seek policy victories to advertise to their voters.’ | WITF
Elsewhere
Obstructing the state’s 2026 legislative map: A first look. “In our first handicap audit of the state legislature in the 2026 cycle, we found that 15 chambers are competitive – either Lean Republican, Toss-up, or Lean Democratic. This is slightly higher than the number we found at a similar point in the 2022 and 2024 election cycles.” | Center for Politics
EMILY’s list in the state’s 2026 Power Plan targets Pennsylvania. “EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has announced Pennsylvania as a key target in its 2026 State Energy Plan, a bold and dynamic $15 million plan to secure Democratic governing majorities in nine key states by recruiting, investing in and supporting women candidates in the 2026 midterm elections.” | PoliticsPA
PA Gaming Control Board Announces Record Gaming Revenues in 2025. “Fueled by iGaming revenue growth of more than 27 percent over the prior year, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) reports that total gaming revenues in 2025 reached a record high. This was the fifth consecutive year of growth. ” | PoliticsPA
Around the Republic of Poland
3. Rothman overturns Washington County Republican Party’s vote of no confidence in Bartolotta case
“The situation in Washington County is like a soap opera” after the county’s Jan. 13 Republican Party Executive Committee meeting.
The group voted on a motion of “no confidence” in the state Senator Bartolotta’s Chamber by a 21-3 majority, stating in a Facebook post that “When Republican Party officials do not act in the best interests of the residents of Washington County, it is our responsibility to hold them accountable and, if necessary, support efforts to replace them.”
A few days later, PA GOP chairman Greg Rothman declared that the vote in Washington County was invalid, stating that the action “was improper, violated County Bylaws, was inconsistent with State Party Bylaws, and was not endorsed by the Pennsylvania Republican Party.” | PoliticsPA
Elsewhere
Immigration officials confirm broad authority to enter homes without a judge’s order, the memo said. “The memo authorizes ICE officers to use force to enter a residence solely pursuant to a narrower administrative warrant for the purpose of arresting a person pursuant to a final removal order, which advocates say conflicts with Fourth Amendment protections and upends the advice given to immigrant communities.” | AP
As ICE activity increases, Norristown residents demand answers on police coordination: ‘This community is under siege’. “Advocates estimate that ICE has detained at least 140 people in Montco since the crackdown began. ‘What people see in Minnesota,’ one resident said, ‘is happening here.'” | WHY
A bill has been introduced in the Senate to require local support for ICE. “If there is one claim that all Pennsylvania politicians can – and often do – rely on, it is that a divided state government forces them to work in a bipartisan way. It is also the reason why many reforms are out of reach and many bills appear to serve political rather than legislative purposes. | Bucks Independence
Following Supreme Court arguments on Title IX, the Great Valley School District faces a federal investigation. “The day after the Supreme Court heard arguments in two landmark cases involving boys’ participation in girls’ sports and access to their private space, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced it was investigating 18 educational institutions across the country for Title IX violations.” | Wide + Freedom
Editorial
4. What do you think about it?
- CRNA: the science and heart of anesthesia | Jodie Szlachta
- Trump forgot the first rule of rust belt politics: you have to give to get Oliver Bateman
- One year into Trump’s “America’s Golden Age,” where do we find ourselves? | John Baer
- “Judges may have to say no, even to the president” | Kate Shaw, William Baude and Stephen I. Vladeck
- The Clintons, Contempt and Jeffrey Epstein | Wall Street Journal
- Now would be a great time for everyone to relax | Kyle Sammin
- Two years later, here’s how Philadelphia political insiders think Cherelle Parker is doing as mayor | Paul Davies
- Beyond NIMBYs and Progress: How Pennsylvania Can Ensure a ‘Lasting Yes’ for Data Centers | Desmond Daley
1 item
5. New Travel Trend: “Skills”
“In 2026, holidays are not just about switching off, but about coming back smarter.
Why it matters: Vacations are being redefined as investments in personal development — a shift that is changing how people employ PTO and how the travel industry sells time.
How it works: Travelers opting for a “skills” or “curiosity vacation” benefit from PTO on trips where they can gain experiences ranging from fine dining to playing mahjong. The idea is to emerge refreshed and enlightened.” | Axles
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Enjoy the warmer temperatures while we have them.
