Support for GOP drops in Tennessee and more news from the states

Welcome back, readers! We hope you had a great weekend. In today’s edition of Daybreak, we’re taking a look at healthcare-related news from across the network. 

A group of transgender New Hampshire girls is suing the federal government to reverse a new rule withholding Medicaid funding for most types of gender-affirming care for children. U.S. District Court Judge Steven McAuliffe is deciding whether to pause the rule during the yearslong legal battle the lawsuit is likely to entail.

In Maryland, thousands of residents will face another round of sticker shock while shopping for individual healthcare plans after state officials approved a second year of steep premium increases in response to the expiration of federal tax credits that made those plans more affordable.

And conservative states are making it easier for insurance giants to sell cheap, short-term healthcare plans with limited coverage — potentially sticking buyers with thousands of dollars in unexpected medical bills. The push follows a spike in Obamacare premiums after Republicans allowed federal subsidies to expire at the end of last year, Stateline reports.

Minnesota: In the 10 months since U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Good through her car windows in south Minneapolis, dozens of people are seeking justice through the civil court system. But there is no federal law that allows citizens to sue federal agents for constitutional violations.

Maine: The ranked choice runoff for the 2nd Congressional District starts today, even though the two candidates have agreed that former Republican Gov. Paul LePage is the state’s newest congressman. To avoid the runoff, he needed to get more than 50% of 2nd District votes. 

Ohio: Voters sharply rejected data centers in this year’s election. Around the state, 18 communities voted on whether to curb or ban data center developments. In all 18 communities, voters decided that, yes, that would be a good idea.

Louisiana: Democrats have Dec. 12 runoffs for the 5th and 6th U.S. House districts. Leveraging enthusiasm for these two remaining races could be complicated, however, since the remaining Democratic candidates’ views on abortion and LGBTQ+ rights are out of step with those of most of the party’s activists and donors.

Kentucky: Investor groups are challenging a state law they argue would make it harder for shareholders to push companies to consider climate change, diversity and other issues in their policies. The plaintiffs claim the law is unconstitutional, in part because it impairs their right to speak freely under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.

North Dakota: Voters in two counties defeated ballot measures to raise property taxes beyond a 3% cap set by the Legislature last year. The measures came as an early sign of how some counties have grappled to cover rising costs under the limitation set by the Legislature last year.

Oklahoma: A tribe is suing one of the nation’s largest prediction market companies in an effort to invalidate a business agreement that it claims was not authorized by its governing committee.

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.

The top Tennessee Republican received nearly 1 million fewer votes in 2026 than 2024, a turnout collapse that reverberated down-ballot, costing the GOP half a dozen state House seats and effectively neutralizing the party’s mid-cycle redistricting of the state’s U.S. House map, Tennessee Lookout reports.

Gov.-elect Marsha Blackburn garnered roughly 1.9 million votes in her landslide reelection victory for U.S. Senate in 2024, but two years later, the coalition powered by President Donald Trump that delivered her an impressive statewide win has almost disappeared. 

Blackburn received around 950,000 votes in the governor’s race, defeating her Democratic challenger by 2.5%, and in the process became the first Tennessee governor to win less than 50% of the vote since before World War II. 

Blackburn, Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty and U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, in his likely narrow defeat to Democrat Victoria Broderick, all lost Rutherford County. Democrats also flipped three state House seats in the county.

Democrats in Tennessee didn’t receive more votes in any county in 2026 than in 2024. Instead, nearly a million Republican voters chose not to vote for Blackburn, primarily in Tennessee’s urban and suburban counties. 

Turnout for midterm elections is typically much lower than for presidential elections, particularly in the Trump era, because Trump drives rural Republican turnout at record levels. Trump and Blackburn won their 2024 elections, each garnering 64% and 63%, respectively, in Tennessee.

Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers joined criminal justice advocates at the EXPOnentially Correcting the Narrative 2026 gala, a collaborative effort between Ex-incarcerated People Organization, an organization of formerly incarcerated people working for a better future, and The Community, a statewide organization assisting people inside prisons and after their release, Wisconsin Examiner reports.

Tamra Oman, the recipient of the Ramiah Whiteside Changemaker Award, recalled her first meeting with Jerome Dillard, the former executive director of EXPO in 2003. They met in a basement with 30 people and raised $35 for a group called Voices Beyond Bars.

She contrasted that small start with the large gathering Saturday of criminal justice advocates and those they represent, along with the governor, Wisconsin Secretary of the Department of Corrections Jared Hoy and Evers’ chief legal counsel and chair of the newly created Commutation Advisory Board, Mel Barnes.

The event included a phone tree where attendees could listen to recorded conversations between people in prison and their family members. There was also artwork by artists who had been incarcerated, and a large display of framed posters of people who had served their time in prison but, after years of supervision and being responsible members of society, were still facing more years of parole or extended supervision. The exhibit questioned supervision over five years.