Political Rewind: DeSantis and Scott widen GOP field; Supreme Court narrows scope of Clean Water Act

Caption

Florida Govenor Ron. DeSantis launches bid for president. Credit: PBS Newshour

The panel: 

Mayor Deana Holiday Ingraham, East Point, @DeanaIngraham

Jim Galloway, former political columnist, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, @JimJournalist

Leo Smith, GOP political consultant & founder of Engaged Futures, @leosmithtweets

Meg Kinnard, national politics reporter, Associated Press,  @MegKinnardAP

The breakdown:

1. South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis launch their bids for the republican nomination for president. 

• U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, has represented South Carolina since 2013.
  • He portrays himself as a true conservative with a positive story to tell.
    • Meg Kinnard, says Tim Scott and Nikki Haley share a home state, and that might split votes. 
• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, featured here by PBS NewsHour, took an untraditional route by using a Twitter space with Elon Musk. 
  • The platform crashed due to technical difficulties. 

2. Meanwhile, President Biden leads in a CNN polls as his approval ratings drops.

• Within his own party, 60% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters say they back Biden for the top of next year’s Democratic ticket.
  • Robert Kennedy has launched a bid against the incumbent president he garnered 20% in this poll. 
• But just a third of Americans say that Biden winning in 2024 would be a step forward for the country.
  • Biden's approval ratings have dropped since December. 

3. The Supreme Court weakens the authority of the Enviromental Protection Agency. 

•  It was the court's second decision in a year limiting the ability of the agency to enact anti-pollution regulations and combat climate change.
• The involved the EPA blocking an Idaho couple from building a house near a lake on their property, saying the construction would pollute water protected by the Clean Water Act. 

Monday on Political Rewind: The Political Rewind team plans on observing Memorial Day. We'll be back live on the air Tuesday. You can catch up on episodes of Political Rewind at gpb.org.