What's ahead for news, politics in 2019

Jan. 1 (UPI) -- The dawn of 2019 ushers in a new Congress and a new year of government and politics.

Several events issues are expected to make headlines this year -- from important cases before the Supreme Court to the emergence of Democrats to challenge President Donald Trump's office.

Here are some highlights.

Campaigns take shape

The nation's first presidential primary, the Iowa Caucuses, start Feb. 3. Expect the second half of 2019 to be filled with potential Democratic candidates announcing whether they will or won't run.

By the end of 2015, the year before the last election, more than 15 Republicans and five Democrats launched bids to succeed President Barack Obama.

It appears Sen. Elizabeth Warren will run, and experts say there will likely be some familiar names (like former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders) and newcomers (Sens. Kamala Harris and Cory Booker).

More elections

Some of America's largest cities in hold mayoral elections in 2019 -- like Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Dallas. San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who won a special election last summer to replace the late Ed Lee, has to run another campaign this year for a full term.

Other mayoral elections will be held in Houston, Denver, Indianapolis, Las Vegas and Phoenix.

Three states -- Kentucky, Mississippi and Louisiana -- will hold gubernatorial elections.

U.S. Supreme Court

This year will test the new coalition of power in the U.S. Supreme Court, with President Trump's picks of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh now aboard. Some court watchers will be looking to see if Chief Justice John Roberts positions himself as the new swing vote on the court, replacing retired justice Anthony Kennedy.

The court will hear arguments Feb. 19, where 17 states, seven cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors challenge the Commerce Department's decision to add a question on citizenship to the 2020 Census.

There are also federal gerrymandering cases in nine states, including the battlegrounds of Michigan, Virginia, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Several abortion cases are also expected to move beyond U.S. district court to the high court.

Mueller investigation

There have been indications the Justice Department investigation into Russian electoral interference could end this year. Special counsel Robert Mueller's probe is waiting for its most high-profile sentencings yet -- those of former Trump adviser Michael Flynn and former campaign manager Paul Manafort.

The investigation is examining Russian interference in the 2016 election, and whether there were any ties to the Trump campaign.

More than three dozen people have been charged in connection with the case.

Brexit and elections overseas

- Facing corruption charges, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will try to hold onto power after leaders voted in December to dissolve the Knesset and set early elections in April.

Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid, Zionist Union leader Avi Gabbay, Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman have all predicted that they would beat Netanyahu and his Likud faction to become Israel's next prime minister.

- It's not an upcoming vote, but one in 2016 that still looms over Europe. Britain Prime Minister Theresa May is trying to sell her Brexit deal to British Parliament with a March 29 deadline approaching.

- Critical elections will happen this spring in Ukraine, where president Petro Poroshenko will try to keep power amid tumbling opinion polls and mounting political and military pressure from Russia.

-Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party will try to stay in control in Canadian elections Oct. 21. His party holds 181 of 338 seats in Canadian Parliament (53.5 percent), while Conservatives hold 96.

Three of the last four Canadian opinion polls showed the Liberal Party with only a slim lead.

Notable Anniversaries in 2019

January 2: Cuban revolution (1959)

March 28: Nuclear meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania (1979)

April 19: Columbine High School shooting attack (1999)

April-June: Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing (1989)

June 6: D-Day at Normandy, France (1944)

June 13: Killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman and the charging of O.J. Simpson with their murders (1994)

June 14: Congress proposes Nineteenth Amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote (1919)

June 28: End of World War I (1919)

June-October: Fall of the Berlin wall (1989)

July 2: Signing of the Civil Rights Act (1964)