Gavin Newsom faces growing pressure to intervene in a scrambled California governor’s race

Apr 15, 2026, 7:00 AM ET / CNN

By Edward-Isaac Dovere

California Gov. Gavin Newsom looks on during a bill-signing event related to redrawing the state’s congressional maps on August 21, 2025, in Sacramento.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The scrambled race for California governor left in the wake of Eric Swalwell’s sexual misconduct allegations isn’t officially Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mess. But it’s one that many top Democrats want him to consider trying to clean up.

Since CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle broke their stories about Swalwell on Friday night, Newsom has been in a marathon of calls and meetings about the governor’s race, according to a dozen leading Democrats, several of whom have spoken with him.

Four people familiar with Newsom’s thinking tell CNN he’s still trying to make sense of where the race actually stands now, eager for new polling data and trying to sort out whether the Swalwell collapse intensifies the chances of California Democrats’ red-alert scenario: Two Republicans advancing in the nonpartisan June 2 primary and locking Democrats out of the governorship entirely.

“He’s watching it closely and he’s going to do everything he can to prevent a lockout,” is as far as one person who has spoken to Newsom would go.

On the line is not just the direction of the state Newsom has lived in his whole life. As the term-limited governor gears up to run for president, his successor will be in a position to burnish his record or reverse it, back him up or approve investigations and disclosures that could be problems for a future White House campaign.

Swalwell had been inching forward almost by default: a Venn diagram between primary voters who sort of knew who he was and state political insiders who decided he was fine enough, which together put him in the high teens in most polls. Whether that would have been enough, or enough to slowly build to more in the fractured field, was never clear.

Eric Swalwell appears at a town hall meeting in Sacramento on Tuesday, April 7, 2026, prior to suspending his gubernatorial campaign.

Rich Pedroncelli/AP

Now everyone is left guessing where that support will go, including if whether it will split or go to one candidate. Advisers to several of the leading contenders say they can only make what they admit are wishful guesses.

Newsom has spoken to Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker and still a powerhouse of her state’s politics. Phone calls and texts have been pouring in. He’s been sitting in meetings with advisers. Everyone is asking the same questions. No one has the answers, especially because not even the candidates who’ve never moved out of the low single digits have shown any interest so far in dropping out, and at this point, all of their names will remain on the ballot regardless.

The next few weeks will be a test of how much sway the top Democrat in the state has over his party. Even if he wants to help a very fractured field coalesce by making an endorsement, could he?

“People are saying, ‘Show some leadership, Gavin Newsom,’” another person in the governor’s orbit told CNN. “But what does that look like here? He’s not someone who likes picking winners and losers inside his own party like that.”

Through an aide, Newsom declined an interview request.

Newsom tried to avoid a fractured field

Newsom had a preferred candidate: Sen. Alex Padilla. They’re not just friends and political allies. Newsom appointed Padilla, who had served in the California State Senate and as secretary of state, to the US Senate after Kamala Harris became vice president. Then he gave Padilla a prime speaking slot at last summer’s announcement of the Proposition 50 ballot initiative that successfully re-gerrymandered California to produce five additional Democratic-friendly House seats.

Newsom and Sen. Alex Padilla wait to speak about the “Election Rigging Response Act” at a press conference at the Democracy Center, Japanese American National Museum, on August 14, 2025, in Los Angeles.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

Over phone calls and a meeting in Washington, Newsom pushed Padilla to think hard about leading the state he loves. The video of Padilla being tackled and restrained while trying to interrupt then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a press conference in Los Angeles captured exactly the story he could tell in a state where Trump is deeply unpopular.

Padilla came close. Really close. Close enough that when his aides got the invite to a Zoom call in early November, they thought they’d hear him make it official — only to have him instead tell them he wasn’t going to run. His wife was opposed in the end, and he decided that running wouldn’t be the right call for his children.

Newsom wasn’t on that call, but he was just as surprised by the decision. In the months since, he decided to let the race play out on its own, not tipping a hand in any direction.

That remained the case even after his longtime political consultants signed on to run an independent expenditure group that had been airing ads supporting Swalwell before immediately shutting down last Friday. It wasn’t tacit support from Newsom — but Newsom didn’t stop them, either.

A lack of star power

According to people who’ve spoken to him, Newsom feels just as blasé as many Californians about their choices for a larger-than-life job once held by Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Newsom worries that Tom Steyer, the billionaire investor, would be too all over the place on positions and management to effectively run the state. He worries that Katie Porter, the former congresswoman, would drive business out. He has had a contentious personal relationship with San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan. He ran against former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa eight years ago, and the strain between them is still there. He appointed former Biden Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to be state attorney general after Harris became a US senator in 2016, and has reservations about how Becerra handled that job.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom arrives at a rally on November 8, 2025, in Houston, Texas.

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Aides to several current campaigns tell CNN that they have been seeing in focus groups some frustration with Newsom’s record as governor, but his popularity among California Democrats, enhanced by his fights with Trump, remains sky-high. Most expect that if he did make an endorsement in the race, he would at least try to move in conjunction with Pelosi and Sen. Adam Schiff, who both endorsed Swalwell, as well as Padilla.

No set plans have been discussed yet, advisers to several say, though they are sensitive to how Pelosi and Schiff may have felt embarrassed by the Swalwell endorsements they quickly withdrew Friday. Between votes in the Senate on Tuesday, Schiff told CNN that he didn’t have time to discuss the political fallout in California or what he might do.

But a spokesperson noted that Schiff “has been warning that Democrats could get shut out of the runoff in the governor’s race — it is a distinct possibility that none of us can afford to ignore — and he is determined to do all he can to prevent that outcome.”

The only thing most involved know for sure is that a last-minute write-in campaign from Harris, who has not had any FOMO since she passed on running for California governor last summer, doesn’t exist beyond political chatter.

Mail-in ballots will begin going out in just under three weeks. Multiple people close to Newsom think that’s about the amount of time he has.

“Certainly Gov. Newsom is an important voice in California, has been and continues to be, but he is not the only voice,” said Rusty Hicks, the California Democratic Party chairman. “I know that he is watching this very closely and may or may not get involved in the future – but that’s a question for himself.”

针对美国与伊朗可能于本周再次举行谈判，中国外交部说，当务之急是全力避免战端重启。图为一艘货轮在通过霍尔木兹海峡后停靠港口进行液化石油气转运。 （路透社档案照片）

针对美国与伊朗可能于本周再次举行谈判，中国外交部说，当务之急是全力避免战端重启，保持来之不易的停火势头，坚持通过政治外交途径解决争端。

中国外交部发言人郭嘉昆星期三（4月15日）在例行记者会上说，中国欢迎一切有助于停火止战的努力，同时赞赏巴基斯坦促成美伊临时停火并发挥了公正平衡的斡旋作用。

郭嘉昆还说，中国国家主席习近平星期二（14日）与阿联酋阿布扎比王储哈立德会面时，就维护和促进中东和平稳定提出四点主张，包括坚持和平共处原则、坚持国家主权原则、坚持国际法治原则、坚持统筹发展和安全。

郭嘉昆指出，这四点重要主张体现了中国促和止战，倡导对话化解分歧的一贯立场和积极努力。他说，中国愿同国际社会一道，继续为早日恢复中东和海湾地区和平稳定作出贡献。

在美国与以色列对伊朗发动空袭一个多月后，伊美双方上星期六（4月11日）在伊斯兰堡举行谈判，但未能达成协议，多个关键问题仍存分歧。有消息称，双方代表团可能于本周晚些时候在巴基斯坦首都伊斯兰堡重启谈判。

Trump administration ends lease for consumer protection bureau’s headquarters, records show

2026-04-15 10:05 GMT / Reuters

By Douglas Gillison

April 15, 2026 10:05 AM UTC Updated 1 hour ago

节点运行失败

The name and logo for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CPFB) is seen scraped off the door of its building in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 20, 2025. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

• Summary

• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau lease shifted from bank regulator to real estate management agency, records show
• Raises further questions about Trump administration’s plans for agency
• CFPB first asked to terminate the lease early last year, records show

WASHINGTON, April 15 (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury’s bank regulation agency has terminated the lease ​for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Washington headquarters after 14 years and agreed to pass the premises to the federal government’s ‌general real estate management agency, records obtained by Reuters show.

The move, which ends the lease at least six years early, raises further questions about President Donald Trump’s plans for the CFPB, an agency created by Congress after the 2008 financial crash to police consumer financial products.

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Trump has called for it to be abolished and, according to evidence submitted in ​court, his administration initially aimed to shutter the agency. But following litigation brought by staff, the administration is now seeking court approval ​to cut the agency’s workforce to a third of its previous size of about 1,700.

The documents, released to Reuters under ⁠the Freedom of Information Act, show the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) terminated the CFPB’s lease in February and agreed to transfer the ​property to the General Services Administration, which manages government real estate, at no cost.

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The OCC inherited the building in 2010 following a post-financial-crisis overhaul of ​the U.S. regulatory framework that also created the CFPB.

The Trump administration says the agency is a politicized burden on free enterprise, while its defenders say efforts to shut it down will harm consumers.

The change in ownership of the CFPB’s premises, which are situated in the heart of downtown Washington, D.C., has not previously been reported.

A CFPB spokesperson said in ​an email that the agency’s headquarters were at the premises concerned but did not answer detailed questions.

The CFPB first notified the OCC that it ​wanted to end the lease shortly after Trump took office last year and did so again in December, according to a lease termination agreement contained in the records.

The ‌original 20-year ⁠lease required the CFPB to pay about $11.4 million in rent to the OCC for 2012, with the amount increasing annually by 2%. It was unclear whether the CFPB would pay rent to the GSA.

In a February 12 letter to the GSA, Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould said there were “costs and risks” associated with managing the property, and that being the CFPB’s landlord “does not advance the OCC’s mission.”

Representatives for the OCC and GSA did not immediately ​respond to requests for comment.

SIGNAGE REMOVED

Following ​steady attrition over the past ⁠year, there are now fewer than 1,200 CFPB workers, according to records submitted by the agency in court last month.

Only a small number of CFPB employees regularly work from the building, according to three people with knowledge of ​the matter, with most working from home.

Trump’s Budget Director Russell Vought, who is the CFPB’s acting director, last ​year halted agency work ⁠and sent employees home, and signage disappeared from the building overnight.

Some functions have since resumed, including the drafting of regulations and limited supervisory work. The agency also recently advertised a small number of job openings for attorneys, online postings show.

The GSA’s Public Buildings Service says it maintains more than 359 million square feet ⁠of government workspace, ​but in recent years has focused on “right-sizing” its portfolio, including by disposing of real ​estate deemed underutilized.

Located opposite the White House complex, the agency’s 1974 modern architecture offices have story-height windows and occupy a desirable downtown spot in the capital, with more than 300,000 square ​feet, over 200 parking spaces and an accessible rooftop, according to the leasing documents.

Reporting by Douglas Gillison in Washington; Editing by Michelle Price and Jamie Freed

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

匈牙利新领袖吁总统下台 新议会预计5月初召开

2026年4月15日 18:43 / 联合早报

匈牙利新任领导人马扎尔星期三说，他已在会面时要求匈牙利总统舒尤克辞职。 （路透社）

匈牙利新任领导人马扎尔说，他已在会面时要求匈牙利总统舒尤克辞职。舒尤克被视为看守总理欧尔班的支持者。

法新社报道，马扎尔领导的中右翼反对党蒂萨党（Tisza）在上星期天的选举中以压倒性优势获胜。他星期三（4月15日）与舒尤克会面讨论召开新一届议会事宜时，向舒尤克提出这一要求。

马扎尔直言：“我向他重申，在我以及匈牙利人民眼中，他不配代表匈牙利民族的团结，也无法确保法治得到尊重。”

他说，新一届议会预计将在5月6日或7日左右召开。

欧尔班是美国总统特朗普及俄罗斯总统普京的盟友，执政16年后在这次选举中落败。

延伸阅读

毕达：匈牙利变天 邻国庆幸

匈牙利总理欧尔班在议会选举中落败 结束16年执政

特朗普星期二（14日）告诉美国广播公司新闻网（ABC News）记者说，他认为马扎尔接任欧尔班后“会做得很好”。

匈牙利新领袖吁总统下台 新议会预计5月初召开

2026年4月15日 18:43 / 联合早报

匈牙利新任领导人马扎尔星期三说，他已在会面时要求匈牙利总统舒尤克辞职。 （路透社）

匈牙利新任领导人马扎尔说，他已在会面时要求匈牙利总统舒尤克辞职。舒尤克被视为看守总理欧尔班的支持者。

法新社报道，马扎尔领导的中右翼反对党蒂萨党（Tisza）在上星期天的选举中以压倒性优势获胜。他星期三（4月15日）与舒尤克会面讨论召开新一届议会事宜时，向舒尤克提出这一要求。

马扎尔直言：“我向他重申，在我以及匈牙利人民眼中，他不配代表匈牙利民族的团结，也无法确保法治得到尊重。”

他说，新一届议会预计将在5月6日或7日左右召开。

欧尔班是美国总统特朗普及俄罗斯总统普京的盟友，执政16年后在这次选举中落败。

延伸阅读

毕达：匈牙利变天 邻国庆幸

匈牙利总理欧尔班在议会选举中落败 结束16年执政

特朗普星期二（14日）告诉美国广播公司新闻网记者说，他认为马扎尔接任欧尔班后“会做得很好”。

White House touts refunds, as most Americans say taxes are too high

2026-04-15 / The Washington Post

The president hopes voters will focus on the benefit of “No Tax on Tips” and other breaks, but economists say higher gas prices will negate most of those benefits.

April 15, 2026 at 5:00 a.m. EDT Today at 5:00 a.m. EDT

President Donald Trump holds McDonald’s bags outside the Oval Office. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

By Cat Zakrzewski

As the war in Iran drives a surge in gas prices and shakes financial markets, President Donald Trump is leveraging his reality TV experience in an effort to shift public attention to new tax breaks that will send larger refunds to some Americans.

美媒：美军将在未来数日内向中东增派数千兵力

2026年4月15日 19:03 / 联合早报

美国总统特朗普星期二（14日）接受美国媒体采访时说，伊朗战事“接近结束”，并暗示未来两天美国和伊朗可能会在巴基斯坦重返谈判桌。 （路透社）

美国媒体报道，美军将在未来数日内向中东增派数千兵力。

美国《华盛顿邮报》星期三（4月15日）援引美国官员的话报道：“特朗普政府正试图以此向伊朗施压，迫使其达成一项能够结束持续数周冲突的协议。美方同时也在考虑，如果脆弱的停火协议无法维持，可能采取进一步打击或地面行动。”

报道称，这次增派的部队包括搭载在“布什”号航母打击群上的约6000兵力。此外，拳师号两栖作战群的4200兵力预计将于“接近月底时”抵达。目前美军在中东部署约5万人，“布什”号航母正绕行非洲前往中东。

美国总统特朗普星期二（14日）接受美国媒体采访时说，伊朗战事“接近结束”，并暗示未来两天美国和伊朗可能会在巴基斯坦重返谈判桌。

美媒：美军将在未来数日内向中东增派数千兵力

2026年4月15日 19:03 / 联合早报

美国总统特朗普星期二（14日）接受美国媒体采访时说，伊朗战事“接近结束”，并暗示未来两天美国和伊朗可能会在巴基斯坦重返谈判桌。 （路透社）

美国媒体报道，美军将在未来数日内向中东增派数千兵力。

美国《华盛顿邮报》星期三（4月15日）援引美国官员的话报道：“特朗普政府正试图以此向伊朗施压，迫使其达成一项能够结束持续数周冲突的协议。美方同时也在考虑，如果脆弱的停火协议无法维持，可能采取进一步打击或地面行动。”

报道称，这次增派的部队包括搭载在“布什”号航母打击群上的约6000兵力。此外，拳师号两栖作战群的4200兵力预计将于“接近月底时”抵达。目前美军在中东部署约5万人，“布什”号航母正绕行非洲前往中东。

美国总统特朗普星期二（14日）接受美国媒体采访时说，伊朗战事“接近结束”，并暗示未来两天美国和伊朗可能会在巴基斯坦重返谈判桌。

Worried about the midterms, Republicans mobilize rural Virginia voters against redistricting

2026-04-15T09:00:55.035Z / CNN

By David Wright, Fredreka Schouten

PUBLISHED Apr 15, 2026, 5:00 AM ET

A truck driver stops to wave at members of the Madison County Republican Committee as they hold signs opposing the Virginia redistricting referendum, in Madison, Virginia, on April 3.

Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

Bridgewater, Virginia—

Tara Bowman lives on a farm in Woodstock, Virginia, a town of some 6,000 people nestled along the banks of the Shenandoah River’s North Fork.

But under a redistricting plan Virginia voters may enact next week, Bowman’s community would be in the same congressional district as wealthy Washington suburbs such as Fairfax and McLean some 90 miles away.

It’s part of a sweeping Democratic effort to dilute Republican votes across Virginia to help Democrats win 10 of the state’s 11 US House seats in November’s midterm elections – the latest and one of the last remaining fights in the coast-to-coast redistricting battle that President Donald Trump set off last year in Texas.

Currently, Virginia Republicans – including Bowman’s congressman, Rep. Ben Cline – hold five House seats and Democrats six.

“We’re 100% rural. We have lots of farming, small business,” an incredulous Bowman said at a weekend rally organized by redistricting opponents. “I can’t believe they’re gonna give me a congressman from Fairfax.”

Saturday’s event, which drew hundreds to a hangar in an aviation park deep in the Shenandoah Valley, marked an intensifying campaign by groups opposed to the map to mobilize rural voters in the final sprint to Tuesday’s election.

A Democratic-controlled House “would turn all the committees of Congress into investigative bodies” and impeach President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson told the audience, assembled in a county that supported Trump by a 40-point margin less than two years ago.

“You have the power to protect fair maps in Virginia and to protect, truly, the entire House Republican majority in the Congress,” Johnson said. “That’s in your hands right now.”

At the same event, Glenn Youngkin, the state’s Republican former governor, called the map a “monstrosity” that would “overwhelm and overcome the voice of the people.”

Former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks during a campaign rally in opposition to Virginia Democrats’ proposed state redistricting constitutional amendment in Bridgewater, Virginia, on April 11.

Ken Cedeno/Reuters

Opponents are heartened by a recent Washington Post poll that shows 52% of likely voters support the redistricting effort, despite heavy spending by Democratic-aligned groups and the state’s increasingly blue tint in national elections.

Despite the sky-high stakes for Trump and Republicans, however, Democrats have swamped Republicans in spending throughout the monthslong, multimillion-dollar redistricting campaign. Early on, the Republicans’ strategy focused heavily on trying to block the referendum in court. (A case over the redraw is still pending before the state Supreme Court, which opted to let next week’s vote proceed before deciding the merits of a lawsuit brought by opponents.)

As of Monday, Democratic groups had spent more than $48.2 million on the airwaves, urging a “yes” vote on the referendum, according to AdImpact, which tracks political advertising. Republicans have dramatically increased their advertising activity in recent days, but still lag in the ad wars, spending about $17 million.

A Johnson fundraiser held a few hours after the rally brought in $500,000 for the anti-redistricting effort, according to his team.

But some rural voters told CNN they were alarmed both by the map and the Democrats’ lopsided spending advantage.

“Other than a couple of shows like this with a few people, giving speeches, showing up, there has not been a significant push to offset what the Democrats are doing,” said Michael Clancy, a resident of Harrisonburg, who attended the Johnson rally.

“It seems like they want to lose the midterms,” Clancy said of Republican leaders.

How the new map would work

A print edition of the Goochland Gazette, with a front page story on the Virginia redistricting referendum, lies on a table at GG’s Pizza in Maiden, Virginia, on April 2, as members of the Goochland Democratic Committee hold a lunch meeting on get-out-the-vote efforts.

Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

Misshapen district boundaries are not unique to Virginia mapmakers nor to one political party. Lawmakers in heavily Democratic Illinois and deep-red Tennessee have each drawn maps that carve up Chicago and Nashville, respectively, for partisan advantage.

Texas’ GOP-controlled legislature kicked off an unprecedented mid-decade redistricting gambit at Trump’s behest last year with a map aimed at flipping five US House seats. California responded by putting a map to the state’s overwhelmingly Democratic electorate last November that seeks to largely offset Texas’ move. More states have entered the fray and Florida still could.

So far, four Republican-led states have crafted new maps that give their party the opportunity to flip as many as nine House seats while Democrats have the chance of flipping six.

In Virginia, voters are being asked to amend the state’s constitution and temporarily suspend a provision that gives a bipartisan commission – rather than state legislators – map-drawing authority. Voters approved the bipartisan redistricting amendment in 2020.

Democrats want to snake districts out from Washington’s liberal suburbs, deep into rural territory, creating misshapen boundaries that Republicans have disparaged. For instance, opponents dubbed the proposed 7th Congressional District – where Johnson rallied voters Saturday – the “lobster claw” because it curves around another district like the pincers of a crustacean.

Democratic Rep. Jennifer McClellan, who represents the Richmond area in central Virginia, dismissed suggestions that the new maps would create an unfair urban-rural divide across the commonwealth.

“Whether you are in an urban city or you are in a rural area, you have equally been hurt by Donald Trump and his policies,” McClellan told reporters recently. “We have more in common than not, and we are fighting for rural Virginia just like we are fighting for urban and suburban Virginia. We will continue to do that after this redistricting referendum passes.”

Democrats say they want to ‘stop the MAGA power grab’

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is flanked by Sen. Mark Warner, left, and congressional candidate Tom Perriello, as Jeffries speaks at the Virginians for Fair Elections rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on April 11.

Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is poised to ascend to the speakership if his party flips control of the US House, also spent the weekend in Virginia rallying supporters.

“They thought that Democrats were going to step back,” Jeffries said at an event in Richmond. “Well, we’re making clear we’re not here to step back, we’re here to fight back.”

“Voting yes will stop the MAGA power grab,” Jeffries said. “Voting yes will level the playing field. Voting yes will stop Donald Trump’s scheme to rig the midterm elections.”

On Thursday night, Jeffries will join other top Democrats, including Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, and US Sen. Mark Warner, and a slew of digital creators for a virtual rally aimed at boosting turnout.

Early voting ends Saturday. Election Day is Tuesday.

Data analyzed by CNN of the early vote so far suggests Democrats have an advantage in their push to enact the new map. Nearly 63,000 early in-person votes were cast on April 11, according to data from L2, slightly higher than the equivalent day ahead of last fall’s election in which Democrats swept all three statewide offices.

Republicans involved in the campaign against the map defended their decision-making and argue their chances are better than some observers think.

Virginia Republican Party Chairman Jeff Ryer told CNN that he’s “very happy” with the support he’s received from the Republican National Committee.

The RNC has helped finance ongoing court challenges, said Ryer, who took over the state party in February. The national party also has eight field staff working in the state, helping support thousands of GOP volunteers fighting the map, he said.

“We feel as though we’re getting our message out when voters are making up their minds,” Ryer added, pointing to the recent surge in spending by groups opposed the map.

“The Democrats have deployed over $50 million to rig Virginia’s Congressional maps and yet the referendum is extremely close, as all sides acknowledge,” Mike Young, campaign manager of the anti-referendum group Virginians for Fair Maps, said in a statement to CNN.

“That didn’t happen by accident or dumb luck.”

CNN’s Jeff Zeleny and Edward Wu contributed to this report.

New federal Medicaid rules require 1 month of work. Some states demand more.

April 15, 2026 5:00 AM EDT / KFF Health News

Millions of people who apply for Medicaid in the coming years will have to prove they’ve been working, going to school, or volunteering for at least one month before they can gain or retain health insurance through the government program.

But Republican lawmakers in some states think the new rules — part of the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed last July by President Trump — don’t go far enough.

Indiana is leading that charge, with a new law that requires applicants to prove they’ve been working or participating in a similar activity for three consecutive months to get benefits.

Meanwhile, residents in many other states will have to show they’ve been working just one month, the least cumbersome option under Mr. Trump’s signature tax-and-domestic-spending law. It instructs states to decide whether to require one, two, or three months of work history.

Like Indiana, Republican Idaho lawmakers also approved a three-month requirement, and the state’s governor signed the bill into law on April 10.

The efforts, along with similar moves in Arizona, Missouri, and Kentucky, are aimed at restricting flexibility to implement the federal law at the state level.

“Normally, you would not see state legislators weighing in on these decisions,” said Lucy Dagneau, a senior official with the American Cancer Society’s advocacy arm.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated 18.5 million adults will be subject to the new rules, which will be enforced across 42 states and the District of Columbia. In Indiana, work rules will target about 33% of the state’s Medicaid population. The rules generally wouldn’t apply to children, people 65 or older, or people with disabilities or serious health issues.

Typically, state administrators — not lawmakers — detail how they plan to comply with new federal standards, and they often look to federal regulators for guidance. But officials at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have yet to tell states how to comply with many aspects of the sweeping budget law, leaving state lawmakers to intervene.

Gov. Mike Braun, a Republican, signed the Indiana bill into law on March 4, making his state the first to set the Medicaid work requirement at three months — the longest period allowed under the federal law.

Republican state Sen. Chris Garten introduced a bill in January, saying it was needed to “align” state law with the new federal Medicaid rules. He also pitched the bill as a way to crack down on “waste, fraud, and abuse” in public programs.

When ineligible people get enrolled, it robs “the truly vulnerable Hoosier who actually needs the help,” Garten said during a January committee hearing.

Democratic state Sen. Fady Qaddoura expressed skepticism during the hearing and questioned the necessity of the legislation. Qaddoura asked Indiana Family and Social Services Administration Secretary Mitch Roob to provide an estimate of the number of ineligible people who enrolled in Medicaid in the state.

“I think very few,” Roob replied. “It’ll never be none.”

After hearing Roob’s answer, Qaddoura said there is no evidence of a widespread problem in Indiana. He accused Republicans of using waste, fraud, and abuse as justification to deny health benefits and food aid to vulnerable Hoosiers.

Garten later called Qaddoura’s accusation a “fundamental mischaracterization” of the bill.

Republicans have said imposing these limits protects the Medicaid program’s longevity.

“We believe in a safety net for our most vulnerable, not a hammock for able-bodied adults that choose not to work,” Garten said. “By tightening these screws, we ensure that our safety net remains sustainable.”

Indiana’s Medicaid enrollment is expected to decrease because of Garten’s legislation, according to an analysis from Indiana’s nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency.

Medicaid helps keep people healthy, so they can continue to work, said Adam Mueller, executive director of the Indiana Justice Project, a nonpartisan legal advocacy organization focusing on health, housing, and food insecurity.

Mueller worries that people will struggle to prove their work history, especially those with nontraditional jobs.

“If the point is to get people engaged, the one month would do it,” Mueller said.

Ultimately, he fears the law will harm Hoosiers with the greatest need for assistance. “They’re going to get tripped up by the bureaucratic hurdles.”

An analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities predicted that work rules will impose new barriers to coverage and that how states choose to implement the rules will “significantly affect the number of people who lose coverage.” State policy decisions will determine just “how intense the burden is,” the left-leaning think tank found, and opting for a shorter look-back period “will enable more people to enroll.”

Lawmakers in multiple states considered limits. And the same right-leaning lobbying group, the Foundation for Government Accountability, testified in favor of these measures in Arizona, Indiana, and Missouri.

In Missouri, FGA lobbyist James Harris said the measure intends to “move people from dependency and give them back that dignity and pride of work.”

Missouri state Rep. Darin Chappell proposed requiring a three-month look-back period like the measure in Indiana. But the latest version of the bill he sponsored would require applicants to show they were working for only one month before enrolling.

Chappell, a Republican, said his initiative would encourage a “working mindset.”

Anna Meyer, owner of a small bakery in Columbia, Missouri, said the implication is that she and others on Medicaid are lazy. “I have been working since I was 15 years old,” she said. “I’m 43 now.”

Meyer, who voiced her opposition, said she previously had problems submitting information to the state Medicaid agency. She fears new reporting requirements will put her and others at risk of losing coverage, even if they meet the work rule.

She has fibromyalgia, a chronic condition that increases overall sensitivity to pain. She also has food allergies. Medicaid helps pay for medications and doctor visits that keep her healthy and allow her to keep working.

“I work very hard,” Meyer said.

In St. Louis, Jessica Norton, an OB-GYN, treats many Medicaid patients at an Affinia Healthcare clinic. She said they struggle to remain insured even though Missouri extends a full year of Medicaid coverage to eligible women after they give birth. Some of her patients are inexplicably kicked off that coverage by the time of their checkups six weeks after birth. She fears red tape from the new work requirements will make it harder to hang on to insurance, even though pregnant women and new mothers are supposed to be exempt.

Norton criticized lawmakers for the message this policy sends to vulnerable patients. They are saying, “Oh, actually, health care is a privilege, and you have to earn it,” she said.

Jessica Norton is an OB-GYN who treats many patients with Medicaid coverage at an Affinia Healthcare clinic in St. Louis. She fears women will bear the brunt of new Medicaid work requirements because they’re often performing unpaid labor. Samantha Liss/KFF Health News

Nearly two-thirds of adults ages 19 to 64 on Medicaid already work, according to KFF. The reason many of the remaining adults on Medicaid are not working is that they are retired, serving as a caregiver, or too sick, KFF has found.

Some states are not only setting the strictest requirements but also blocking out the optional leniency built into the federal rules.

For example, states may adopt additional exemptions from work rules, such as allowing people to claim a “short-term hardship,” designed to provide continued Medicaid coverage to people with medical conditions that prevent them from working.

Missouri lawmakers are seeking a constitutional amendment to bar their state from offering such optional exemptions. But patient advocates warn these limits would harm the state’s vulnerable residents when they need coverage the most, particularly Missouri’s rural cancer patients.

Often, rural Missouri patients must travel to Kansas City or St. Louis for treatment, disrupting their ability to work, Emily Kalmer, a lobbyist for the American Cancer Society’s advocacy arm, testified at the January hearing. Recognizing this, the federal law provides certain exemptions for this kind of scenario.

But this short-term hardship exemption would be off the table in Missouri.

Time is “very important in the life of a cancer patient or a cancer survivor,” Kalmer said.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.