Politics Brief: Trump and Sanders win New Hampshire primary

Trump and Sanders win New Hampshire primary 

Following voting in New Hampshire on Tuesday, Donald Trump won the Republican primary with 35 percent of the vote. Sen. Bernie Sanders won the Democratic primary with 60 percent of the vote. 

On the Republican side, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, after skipping the Iowa caucus last week to focus on appealing to more moderate voters in New Hampshire, emerged from the pack with a second place finish and about 16 percent of the vote. In October, Kasich held a town hall forum on the University of Richmond campus which led to strong student responses about some of his remarks. 

Hillary Clinton received 38 percent of the Democratic vote, placing her behind Sanders, after holding a slight edge over him in their virtual tie in Iowa.

Candidates are now faced with the next batch of primaries in South Carolina and Nevada starting on Feb. 20.

Obama sends final budget proposal to Congress

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama sent his final annual budget proposal to Congress for the 2017 fiscal year. The $4.15 trillion tax and spending plan would boost total spending by 4.9 percent.

Some of these spending increases include a proposed 35 percent increase in cybersecurity funding, an additional allocation of funds to fight the Zika virus, increasing the Defense and State Department budget to fight against the Islamic State and respond to the civil war in Syria, funding to expand the prevention and treatment of drug abuse, as well a 2 percent increase in education discretionary spending.

Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan spoke out against the budget proposal calling it, "a progressive manual for growing the federal government at the expense of hardworking Americans.”

Virginia General Assembly update

With the Virginia General Assembly underway in downtown Richmond, state senators and delegates have passed a series of bills this week. 

On Tuesday the Senate passed two bills, one Republican-sponsored and one Democrat-sponsored, changing laws surrounding simple drug and alcohol charges. One would expunge simple alcohol and marijuana possession charges after five years for those under 21. The second would prevent some first-time marijuana offenders from having their driver's license suspended for six months. 

The House passed a regional grant program bill, backed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe, which would establish regional councils, run by local business leaders, with the ability to apply for collaborative projects in their region with the aim of enhancing private-sector growth and workforce development. 

Contact managing editor Brooke Harty at brooke.harty@richmond.edu.