A former Republican Tennessee lawmaker says President Donald Trump has pardoned him two weeks into his 21-month prison sentence for an illegal campaign finance scheme. Former Sen. Brian Kelsey announced on social media Tuesday that he received a “full and unconditional pardon” for the scheme that he pleaded guilty to in 2022, before he tried and failed to take back his plea. He reported to a federal minimum security facility in Ashland, Kentucky, late last month. Kelsey pleaded guilty in November 2022 to charges related to his attempts to funnel campaign money from his state legislative seat toward his failed 2016 congressional bid. He had tried unsuccessfully to rescind the plea and raise other claims on appeal.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes have adopted sharply different approaches to handling Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Hobbs has presented herself as restrained and collaborative. Mayes has hardened for battle, filing lawsuits against the Trump administration at a fast clip. Hobbs and Mayes are both Democrats who will seek reelection next year in a state that went for Trump. Their differing strategies encapsulate the debate consuming Democrats around the country trying to find a path back to power. In winning over working class voters, Trump scrambled political allegiances and left Democrats struggling to piece together a winning coalition.

Voters in a Minnesota House district at the center of a post-election drama have chosen Democrat David Gottfried in a race that leaves control of the House tied. Gottfried defeated Republican Paul Wikstrom. Tuesday’s special election in the heavily Democratic St. Paul suburbs of Roseville and Shoreview was scheduled after a court ruled that a previous Democratic winner failed to meet residency requirements. That led to the collapse of a power-sharing agreement and prompted a three-week Democratic boycott of the chamber. The Democratic victory will end a short-lived Republican majority and force the two parties to work together.