Will McDuffie

Steve Padgett, a multi-time Trump voter, yesterday in Lorain, Ohio: "This Big Beautiful Bill doesn't help me. It didn’t help me in the least. If anything, it’s one of the reasons I’m having to go back to work." More below from our conversations with voters in downtown Lorain @MSNOW_Reports

NEW: Four sources familiar with his thinking tell @MSNOWNews Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry intends to postpone the six congressional primaries scheduled for May 16 so the state legislature can implement a new congressional map following Wednesday's SCOTUS ruling. WaPo first.

NEW: Calley Means, a top advisor to Kennedy/Trump, held $25-$50M in stock & was president of his wellness company last year while he advised on health policy. His company benefits from more HSAs. He said he had no role in HSA expansion. w/@benjmueller nytimes.com/2026/04/24/hea…

EXCLUSIVE: former VP Mike Pence tells me he “found the language and images” President has used recently to depict himself as a Jesus-like figure “offensive,” and called on him to ease his feud with the pope. “If I was advising him — as I did every day for four and a half years — I’d say: Let the pope be the pope, and you be the president.” @MSNOWNews ms.now/news/pence-tru…

RFK Jr. said toward the end of the Senate HELP hearing, "All [Democrats] want to do is talk about measles." Bill Cassidy afterward to reporters, when prompted about that: "Speaking as a physician, I think that any time children are dying from vaccine preventable diseases and we have an increased incidence of reports, whatever the disease is, that there should be focus."

At a Senate committee hearing, RFK Jr. makes a pitch for Dr. Casey Means, the MAHA-aligned surgeon general pick whose nomination has stalled. Calls her a "brilliant physician" who is "not partisan." Adds: "She has nothing to do with vaccines. Never going to talk about them."

With Sean Slovenski being appointed CDC's chief operating officer, Lynda Chapman, a political appointee who has held the position, will leave CDC and become a senior advisor at the Health Resources and Services Administration, per a senior HHS official and a former CDC official.

NEW: Public health leaders are cautiously optimistic about Erica Schwartz, Trump’s pro-vaccine pick to lead CDC. "She looks good on paper and should get approved by the Senate," said one former CDC official. RFK Jr's vaccine allies, meanwhile, are critical. Aaron Siri, a close friend and a lawyer for people suing over vax injuries, believes that "left to his own devices, Secretary Kennedy would not have chosen her." More: ms.now/news/erica-sch…

EXCLUSIVE: Former President Barack Obama, in a video shared exclusively with ABC News, called on Virginians to vote in favor of a redistricting measure that could give Democrats a boost in the 2026 midterms if it passes. Read more: abcnews.com/Politics/exclu…

NEW: Katherine Wells, Lubbock's top health official, helped curb the measles outbreak in West Texas after urging vaccination and quarantine. Now, she says public health leaders should consider letting the virus "run through" vaccine-hesitant communities. A former top CDC official calls the approach "giving up." More via @MSNOWNews: ms.now/news/public-he…

Just wrapped a 15 minute call with President Trump - we covered A LOT. - Iran / Israel - Cuba - Cornyn/Talorico - Ballroom - Dyslexia - Ukraine/Russia - NATO I’ll be joining @MSNOWNews shortly with all the details

NEW: Dr. Casey Means, the surgeon general nominee, now says people should get vaccinated for measles, telling senators in writing, "I stand with Dr. Oz's message to Americans to take the measles vaccine." Oz said on CNN last month, "Take the vaccine, please." Means declined at her February public hearing to say whether she would encourage parents to get their children vaccinated against measles, though she maintained she was "absolutely supportive" of the MMR vaccine. More: ms.now/news/surgeon-g…

Shapiro said he told Mamdani the PA State Police would continue working with the NYPD and the FBI "to get to the bottom of this." Mamdani "appreciated the governor reaching out," a spokesman said.

NEW: PA Gov. Josh Shapiro says he called NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani to "check in on him and his wife to make sure they're doing okay" after Saturday's alleged ISIS-inspired attack near their home, which led to the arrests of two men from Pennsylvania. "As someone who's had to deal with political violence, I know it can take a toll," Shapiro told me after an event in Berks County. @MSNOWNews

Julia Letlow, Bill Cassidy's main primary challenger, hits Cassidy for not yet saying if he'll advance Trump's surgeon general nominee, whom the senator grilled last week on vaccines. A group run by longtime RFK Jr allies has pledged to put $1 million behind Letlow's campaign.

NEW: @lbarronlopez and I called President Trump late last night to ask about the strikes on Iran. @MSNOWNews - Trump told us he has seen the celebrations in the streets of Iran, saying: "I think it's fantastic." - Trump also said "I've seen them in Los Angeles also, celebrations." He mentioned the LA celebrations twice. - Asked how he was feeling after the strike on Khamenei, Trump said: “I think it was a great thing for our country.” - Trump called Khamenei “a bad man.”

NEW from me and @davidalim: Following leadership shakeups last week at HHS, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya will also take on a role as acting CDC director (first reported by @SherylNYT) politi.co/4tJ0qwO

NEW: Stefanie Spear has been RFK Jr's most trusted aide since long before he became HHS secretary. But the WH is forcing her into a more diminished role as part of the recent shake-ups in the senior ranks of HHS, sources tell me and @jake__traylor. More: ms.now/news/white-hou…

NEW: White House moves to sideline key RFK Jr. aide as part of HHS shake-up Stefanie Spear, principal deputy chief of staff at HHS, is being forced into a more diminished role as the White House moves to overhaul department leadership ahead of the midterms. w/ @wrmcduff ms.now/news/white-hou…

New for @MSNOW_Reports: RFK Jr. concedes ‘targeted cuts’ at HHS ‘would have been better’ ms.now/news/rfk-jr-co…