(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department is investigating embattled Republican Florida Rep. Cory Mills, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation.
The investigation is in part about his finances, according to sources. Mills’ office did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
MS NOW first reported the investigation.
Further details about the investigation were not immediately clear.
Mills was elected to the House to represent Florida’s 7th District in 2022 and reelected in 2024. He serves on the House Armed Services and Intelligence committees.
Last November, the House Ethics Committee voted to establish an investigative subcommittee to examine allegations that Mills violated campaign finance laws and engaged in sexual misconduct and dating violence.
Regarding allegations of sexual misconduct, Mills issued a statement last year, before the ethics committee probe was lauched, stating in part: “These claims are false and misrepresent the nature of my interactions,” and he accused a former Florida primary opponent of “weaponizing the legal system to launch a political attack against the man who beat him.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, during a hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Photographer: Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Under a newly proposed rule, the U.S. Postal Service will refuse to deliver mail-in ballots in states that do not hand over a list of approved voters to the Trump administration, Postmaster General David Steiner told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
Democrats lambasted the proposed policy during the hearing, arguing the rule was unconstitutional and “another backdoor way of trying to influence this election.”
“Yes or no — if a state refuses to turn their absentee voter list over to the federal government, will the Postal Service still mail their ballots under this proposed rule?” asked Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich.
“Under our proposed regulation, no. We would tell the state that we need the manifest,” Steiner said.
The proposed rule puts the Postal Service at the center of President Donald Trump’s push to increase federal oversight of elections, though Steiner argued the policy is routine and an attempt to make sure ballots are delivered “securely, efficiently, and accurately.”
According to the proposal, states would need to provide to the Postal Service the names, addresses and ballot barcode numbers for individuals to receive a mail-in ballot.
That list of information is less than what’s included on a state’s voter roll — which often include voter registration data and other sensitive data — but in line with an executive order Trump signed in March to increase federal oversight of elections.
At least five lawsuits have challenged that executive order, but some of those cases have stalled because the policy has not yet been enacted. The comment period for that proposed rule is open for the next week.
“It really is trying to help the state make sure that the ballots that they send to the voters actually get there and get to those voters, and so it’s strictly a manifest for us to make sure that the right ballots are going to the right people,” said Steiner, an attorney who previously served as the CEO of Waste Management.
However, Senate Democrats argued the policy is a veiled attempt to increase federal control over the election.
“Just because President Trump wants to do this does not make it law, doesn’t make it right, doesn’t make it constitutional. There is certainly a massive difference between general mail requirements and regulating elections,” Peters said.
“The U.S. Postal Service is now part of this bigger story of this president desperate to federalize our elections. He has tried every which way to say that if he and his party don’t win in these November elections, they were rigged,” said Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich.
When pressed on whether the Postal Service would refuse to send ballots to states that refuse to turn over that information, Steiner repeatedly deflected but acknowledged that under the proposed rule, the Postal Service would withhold the ballots.
“If you don’t get Michigan’s voter rolls for the general election in November, will you move those ballots in your mailboxes?” asked Slotkin.
“Remember, right now we only have a proposed rule, so there are no new rules,” Steiner answered. “We will move those ballots in accordance with whatever rule is in effect at that point in time.”
Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana and chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, during a confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. Photographer: Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump’s grip on the GOP and the potential political fallout for his perceived enemies will face another test on Saturday in Louisiana’s Republican primary.
Incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy is competing against Trump-backed U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow (LA-5) and John Fleming, the state Treasurer and a former House Freedom Caucus Freedom member who served in multiple posts in the first Trump administration.
It’s expected the threeway split could cause the race to go to a runoff next month if no candidate wins an outright majority in Saturday’s primary.
Trump upended the race in late January when he encouraged Letlow to enter in hopes of defeating Cassidy, who in 2021 voted to convict the president in his second impeachment trial. She launched her campaign just days later.
Cassidy, asked by CNN on Friday why Trump wants him replaced, said, “I can’t understand the president’s mind.”
He continued, “I’m not claiming the president loves me, no, but you can work with people even if you don’t love each other if you got a common goal. And my goal is to make my country and my state and everybody who lives here better off.”
Throughout the campaign, Cassidy has argued his record proves he delivers for Louisianans. The two-term senator has touted his work helping pass the HALT Fentanyl Act, negotiating the passage of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and championing healthcare.
In 2024, Trump won the deep-red state with 60% of the vote, and if his preferred candidate wins, it would mark another victory for the president in his efforts to oust those he views as disloyal. Trump-backed candidates recently defeated several Indiana state senators who opposed his redistricting plans.
Cassidy could now be staring down the end of a long political career as part of a shrinking class of GOP lawmakers to have broken with the president. He is one of three remaining senators in the upper chamber to have voted to convict Trump.
Letlow has been anything but shy about Trump’s endorsement, casting Cassidy as disloyal and Fleming as out of touch with the president. Her campaign messaging has focused in part on defending parental rights and securing the border.
The first Republican woman from Louisiana to be elected to Congress, Letlow romped to victory in 2021. She ran in a special election for the House after her husband, who was elected to the office, died from COVID-19-related complications before he could take office.
Cassidy’s campaign has labeled her “Liberal Letlow” and unleashed a wave of attacks portraying her as a champion of DEI over comments she made in 2020 while working at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
In a recent debate against Fleming, Letlow defended her position at the time, arguing “the left completely hijacked” DEI and she has “spent the last five years in Congress working against it.”
Meanwhile Fleming, who argues he is the most conservative candidate, told ABC News some pressured him to drop his campaign.
Fleming said he was eventually able to reach Trump by phone and the president called him “fantastic.”
However Trump’s public endorsement of Letlow has not changed.
Despite their fraught relationship, Cassidy has, at times, supported Trump’s agenda. Cassidy, a physician and longtime proponent of vaccines, grilled Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a vaccine skeptic — during his confirmation hearing but cast the deciding vote to confirm his nomination out of committee.
Most recently, Trump blamed Cassidy, chairman of the Senate health committee, for the stalling of his surgeon general pick, Make America Healthy Again-aligned Casey Means.
The shift from open, nonpartisan primaries to a closed system also complicates Cassidy’s road to victory. Registered and unaffiliated, or “No Party” voters, choose between the two parties. If no candidate receives a majority, the race will head to a runoff on June 27.
In Louisiana, Democrats slightly outnumber Republicans with roughly 1 million registered voters in each party, according to the Secretary of State office. There are more than 813,000 “No Party” voters.
Adding to the fire is Landry’s move to postpone the House primaries in the nationwide redistricting battle — even as absentee ballots had been returned — while keeping the Senate race on May 16. Lawsuits have been filed in response and some, including Cassidy and Fleming, warn the move is leaving voters confused.
Fleming hedged on whether he would endorse an opponent should he lose the race, adding he takes issue with what he calls dishonest ads, particularly from those backing Letlow.
“We’ll have to wait and see,” he said.
Business owner Mark Spencer is also running in the GOP primary.
In the Democratic primary, Nick Albares, Gary Crockett and Jamie Davis are vying for the nomination to unseat Cassidy. The Cook Political Report rates the race as solid Republican in the Pelican State.
The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. CDT on May 16.
Senate candidate from Maine Graham Platner speaks during a campaign event at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6859, May 17, 2026, in Portland, Maine. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(MAINE) — Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner has said he is considering his options in the wake of a sexual assault allegation that he denies. But Democrats in Maine and nationally are calling on him to withdraw from the race against Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins.
How his replacement could be chosen if he does withdraw and who might run in his place has become a firestorm among Democrats.
How could Maine Democrats select another candidate?
The Maine Democratic Party has called on Platner to leave the race. If he does by July 13 at 5 p.m. ET, the party has until July 27 to nominate a replacement. The state of Maine itself would not hold new primaries.
But the party has a lot of flexibility as to how it chooses any replacement. One source familiar with Maine politics told ABC News that the party’s state committee would vote on who would become the replacement candidate.
The state Democratic party has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment.
Another source who is working in Maine politics told ABC News that it’s possible the party could convene delegates to vote for a new candidate — similar to how the party used to nominate candidates at state party conventions. The source added that it is unclear if the event would be in-person or virtual, or how the delegate vote would be taken, such as by a majority vote or ranked-choice voting.
The prospect of the party selecting a candidate also raises the possibility of a backlash if Maine voters feel either that the candidate does not represent the ideals they voted for or that party insiders are choosing for them.
“My hope is that the process is transparent and fair,” Ryan Fecteau, speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, told ABC News on Tuesday.
Who might try to replace Platner?
There were two other candidates on the Senate primary ballot with Platner in the June 9 primary, although Maine Democrats are largely not promoting them as alternatives to Platner.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who suspended her campaign before the primary, is largely not being floated as a viable replacement candidate. ABC News has reached out to Mills’ office.
Former Maryland state official David Costello placed third in the primary. In a brief post on Facebook on Tuesday, Costello confirmed that he’d try for the seat if he can: “I’m back in, if Graham Platner withdraws.”
Other major Maine Democrats who ran for other offices are indicating they might consider trying for the Senate seat.
Troy Jackson, a logger and former candidate in Maine’s Democratic gubernatorial primary and a progressive, has been floated as a candidate who could appeal to Platner’s voters. He is a former state senator and was the Senate president from 2018 to 2024.
A source confirmed that Jackson has been receiving immense outreach about the possibility of replacing Platner and that he is interested. The source added that it makes sense for him to carry the “progressive torch,” and that Jackson is coming from a primary where he had an infrastructure in place and would be ready to jump in.
A campaign committee called the Troy Jackson Senate Exploratory Committee filed a statement of organization with the Federal Elections Commission on Tuesday. The Bangor Daily News was first to report about the filing.
Shenna Bellows is Maine’s first female Secretary of State and was also a candidate in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. A source close to Bellows told ABC News that she has gotten calls about possibly running for the Senate seat.
Nirav Shah, who confirmed he’s considering a bid, was in the running to be Maine’s governor and led in the polls prior to the Democratic runoff. Shah confirmed on his X account that he would consider a Senate bid and that he’s been receiving immense outreach to run if Platner withdraws. He told ABC News by phone on Tuesday that he has not declared his candidacy but has an infrastructure in place to run a campaign if he does enter the race.
Shah is an attorney and healthcare executive and oversaw the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Another potential candidate, Dan Kleban, founder of the Maine Beer Company, was an early candidate in the Democratic Senate primary but ultimately suspended his campaign and endorsed Mills.
A source close to Kleban told ABC News on Tuesday that he has been getting calls and is being encouraged to run, and added Kleban also never endorsed Platner and kept his distance from him, meaning he would not appear tied to Platner.
In a similar boat: Jordan Wood, who was a losing candidate in the Democratic primary for Maine’s 2nd District after originally beginning a run for Senate. Wood wrote on X on Tuesday that he was open to a bid for Senate if Platner withdrew.
A potential wildcard candidate who has not confirmed if he would consider a bid is Rep. Jared Golden, a veteran who has represented Maine’s 2nd District since 2019. In November, Golden announced that he would not seek re-election, citing concerns over the safety of his family. ABC News has reached out to Golden’s office.
State Rep. Valli Geiger, a strong ally of Platner, told ABC News she is in conversations about being considered as a replacement, but hopes that the state party will hold an “open” and “robust” process.
Geiger, who hopes the candidate would embody a progressive agenda, added that she thinks it’s “hard to see a way forward” if Platner stays in the race and thinks he’s “struggling to figure out if there’s a path”
“I’m just so sad about how things have turned out, and there are no winners here. We have lost an incredible voice that I think had a real chance to beat Susan Collins, and one cannot outrun one’s past,” Geiger said.
