A new high in ICE arrests and more news from the states

Welcome to Wednesday! We’re starting off this morning’s edition of Daybreak with results from yesterday’s elections.

In South Carolina, voters chose Darline Graham to take her late brother’s place on the November ballot, as the full backing of President Donald Trump helped her overcome criticism about her political inexperience.

Everton Blair, a former Gwinnett County Board of Education chair, is headed to Washington to finish out the late U.S. Rep. David Scott’s term representing Georgia’s 13th Congressional District after defeating Marcye Scott, the daughter of the late congressman, in a special election.

Bolstered by an endorsement from Trump and millions of his own money, Mike Mazzei narrowly secured the Oklahoma Republican gubernatorial nomination. The Tulsa financial planner beat Attorney General Gentner Drummond by about 2,000 votes.

In other news, the Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed the first two measles-related deaths in the nation this year, which come amid the country’s largest outbreak of the disease in decades. Both people, who lived in Lancaster County, were unvaccinated.

And this morning, people across the globe continue to mourn the death of Tennessee’s Dolly Parton, a music legend and philanthropic icon.

National: The U.S. Supreme Court handed a procedural victory to Trump on an executive order to curb mail-in voting, but the administration is still fighting a separate ruling that limits a portion of the order and remains in effect — complicating the administration’s temporary win.

Oklahoma: Voters approved a proposal from state lawmakers that asked to amend the state constitution to require voter identification and give the Legislature the ability to enact laws later to specify ID requirements.  

Michigan: A federal judge in the Eastern District of Michigan dismissed a lawsuit alleging that Washtenaw County’s “sanctuary policies” were illegal. Judge F. Kay Behm ruled that “neither the federal government nor the President may conscript local officials to enforce their will.”

Arizona: The Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission is set to discuss accusations that three candidates unlawfully qualified for $4.7 million in public funds and broke campaign finance rules — and it may ask them to repay the money. 

New Mexico: On the heels of a report highlighting New Mexico as the only U.S. state without declining enrollment on its healthcare exchange, legislative analysts warned in a new report that the fund keeping residents’ premiums affordable will soon run out of money.

Oregon: People planning to buy or lease an electric vehicle before Nov. 4 can get thousands of dollars from the state to help pay for it. Officials at the Department of Environmental Quality reopened the Clean Vehicle Rebate Program, which offers rebates of $1,500 to $7,500 on the purchase or lease of an eligible vehicle.

Maine: After years of delays, the state’s Public Utilities Commission will move forward with plans for a new transmission line to northern Maine and an 800-megawatt wind project. That area has long been considered a promising location for wind development, but progress has been hampered by the local grid. 

See the rest of the news of the day from all 50 states, plus our D.C. Bureau and Stateline, on News From The States.

Immigration enforcement in Minnesota has returned to pre-Operation Metro Surge levels, according to newly released federal data obtained by the Deportation Data Project. Federal immigration agents are arresting more immigrants nationwide than before, with the data showing nearly 50,000 arrests in July — higher than any previous month under the Trump administration, Minnesota Reformer reports.

More than half of those July arrests came from just four states: Texas, Florida, California and Georgia.

Minnesota, which had the fourth-highest number of arrests in January, dropped to 32nd among all states in immigration arrests in July. In January, more than 3,000 federal agents were sent to Minnesota and arrested 2,441 immigrants, according to the data. That figure dropped significantly after the surge’s announced end in February; federal agents arrested fewer than 250 immigrants every month from March to July.

The Deportation Data Project obtained arrest data from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via a Freedom of Information Act request. The data has some limitations — around 5% of arrests do not show where the arrest was made, for example. Still, it is some of the most detailed data on immigration enforcement available.

ICE has previously challenged the accuracy of the Deportation Data Project, even though the figures come from its own internal data.

The Nebraska Capitol’s unofficial feline mascot could soon become a permanent fixture outside the historic building he brought warmth and love to for a decade, Nebraska Examiner reports.

Until this spring, Cameron the “Capitol Cat” made a home away from home at the Capitol near his downtown Lincoln residence with his owner, Dianna McGinnis. After long legislative days, staffers and lawmakers alike would greet Cameron, even on nights after heated filibusters or those that stretched toward midnight. Many found relief as he awaited their attention.

Cameron retired in May as the unofficial Capitol greeter when McGinnis moved to assisted living. But his pawprint on lawmakers, staff and community members well beyond Nebraska could soon live on with a statue on the south side of the building.

The life-size bronze statue of Cameron would be about 18-20 inches tall and sit atop a pedestal made from Indiana limestone, about 28-32 inches in height. The limestone is proposed to mirror the stone facing and architectural trim of the Nebraska Capitol.