The state of play in governor's races and more news from the states

Good morning! With the U.S. Supreme Court starting its new term this week, we’re taking a look at several court battles at the federal and state levels to keep an eye on.

The U.S. Supreme Court set the stage for another redrawing of Washington state’s political maps. The court accepted a legal challenge to the boundaries, then remanded it to a lower court to determine whether the way a federal judge drew the lines in 2024 complies with a ruling earlier this year in a Louisiana redistricting case.

In West Virginia, the state’s highest court will set a date to hear oral arguments in a case that may decide the future of the state’s strict school vaccine requirements.

And later today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit will consider whether a Texas law restricting protesting on public college campuses violates the First Amendment after a federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement last year. Lawmakers passed the measure in response to the 2024 pro-Palestinian protests at colleges across the state.

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Colorado: The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared broadly sympathetic to fossil fuel companies’ argument that allowing two local governments to sue them over climate change in state court would be a “recipe for chaos.”

Montana: A Lewis and Clark County District Court judge has ruled a law requiring voters to put their birth year on absentee ballots violated the state’s constitution, siding with Disability Rights Montana and Big Sky 55+, which challenged the legislation.

Pennsylvania: Members of the state House voted unanimously to pass a bill that would regulate natural leaf kratom products and ban the sale of synthetic compounds derived from the substance.

Maine: The U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement facility in Scarborough had been set up as an administrative facility, but more detentions are happening there this year, including overnight. The role of the short-term processing facility has changed under President Donald Trump’s second term. 

South Carolina: Nursing and medical assistants, mechanics and commercial truck drivers are among the careers newly eligible for low-income federal education grants. But so far, colleges and trade schools in the state have yet to seek approval for training programs under the recently expanded Pell Grant program.

Florida: State officials announced criminal charges against 10 individuals in an alleged poaching conspiracy involving overfishing of reef fish including grouper, redfish and snapper, plus protected sea turtles, including hatchlings.

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.

As the political prospects for Republicans worsen ahead of November’s midterm elections, the GOP is increasingly playing defense over its yearslong grip on state governments, Stateline reports.

That’s particularly true for gubernatorial elections, as Democrats could win a majority of governorships for the first time since 2010. Currently, Republicans boast a 26-24 gubernatorial advantage over Democrats.

This November, voters will choose governors in 36 states. Thirteen of those races are considered competitive by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, which ranks the competitiveness of races for governor, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House.

Some of this cycle’s most competitive races are in politically divided states such as Nevada and Wisconsin. But Republicans also are playing defense in several deeply conservative states, including Alaska, Iowa and Ohio.

Last week, the Cook Political Report moved its ratings of the Florida and Texas gubernatorial races from Likely Republican to Leans Republican. That means the GOP candidates are still favored in those states, but “given the grim political environment for the GOP, we can’t rule out the possibility of an upset in one or both contests,” wrote Senate and Governors Editor Jessica Taylor.

Two nonprofits announced they will abolish nearly $34 million in medical debt for 21,490 Kansans who meet certain criteria in a large-scale, one-time economic relief initiative, Kansas Reflector reports.

The mechanics of erasing that much in medical debt began with a partnership between the national nonprofit Undue Medical Debt, which acquires medical debts in bulk from providers and collection agencies for pennies on the dollar, and Somos Votantes Education Fund, a nonpartisan civic engagement organization that donates to abolish the debt. On average, one dollar donated erases $100 in medical debt, according to an announcement from the two organizations.

Kansas is the first in the partnership’s history to receive statewide medical debt relief for low-income residents. The two organizations abolished $133 million in medical debt for more than 128,000 people in select counties in Nevada in 2025 and this year are expected to eliminate $240,000 in utility debt in Michigan. Each effort is part of the education fund’s Seeds of Relief program.

Eligible people in Kansas include those with medical debts that are 5% or more of their annual income or people who earn less than four times the federal poverty level, which totals about $100,000 for a family of three.