Politics

By Jan Wolfe

WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order tightening rules ​on mail‑in voting faces its first major court test on Thursday when a federal judge will hear arguments by Democratic Party lawyers that it is unconstitutional and would disenfranchise millions of eligible voters.

A court hearing in Washington is set for 2 p.m. ET (1800 GMT) in a lawsuit brought by Democratic Party leaders seeking to block the March 31 executive order.

The case was brought by plaintiffs including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and the Democratic National Committee. 

The litigation has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, who is likely to issue a written decision at a later date.

Trump, a Republican, has for years pushed the false claim that his 2020 election defeat was the result of widespread voter fraud and has called for tighter rules on voting by mail ahead of the November midterm elections, when his party will be trying to defend its narrow majorities in Congress.

His executive order directs his administration to compile a list of confirmed U.S. citizens eligible to vote in each state and to use federal data to help state election officials verify who is eligible to vote.

It also requires the U.S. Postal Service to only deliver ballots to voters on each state’s approved mail-in ballot list. States must also preserve election-related records for five years.

The case being argued on Thursday has been consolidated with two other lawsuits challenging Trump’s executive order brought by voting rights groups.

 A similar lawsuit brought by a coalition of Democratic state attorneys is pending before a federal judge in Boston.

The Justice Department has argued that the lawsuits are “premature” because federal agencies have not yet implemented Trump’s executive order.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Andrea Ricci )

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Two weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s congressional map, state senators passed a plan Thursday that would eliminate a majority-Black district while giving Republicans a chance to win an additional seat in the midterm elections.

The new U.S. House districts, which still need House approval, would be used for primary elections poised to be postponed from Saturday until November.

The high court’s ruling has led to a flurry of redistricting efforts in Southern states as Republicans seek to capitalize on a weakened federal Voting Rights Act. While most of those efforts are voluntary, Louisiana must redraw its U.S. House map in response to the ruling that it had illegally used race to gerrymander a majority-Black district.

The debate over the shape of Louisiana’s new districts is playing out as South Carolina’s governor ramps up pressure on lawmakers to also redistrict ahead of the midterms. President Donald Trump has encouraged numerous Republican-led states to redraw House voting districts to their advantage in a bid to hold on to control of the closely divided chamber in November.

Republicans think they could win as many as 15 additional House seats in seven states that already have adopted new voting districts. Democrats think they could gain up to six seats from two other states because of new House districts. But there’s no guarantee those seats will turn out as expected. Litigation is continuing in some states, and voters will have the ultimate say on who wins.

Legislation in Louisiana seeks to address the Supreme Court ruling by scrapping a district that snakes over 200 miles (321 kilometers) northwest from the capital, Baton Rouge, to Shreveport, creating a voting bloc with a majority of Black residents. Democratic U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields represents the current 6th District.

Under the new plan, that district would instead be clustered around predominantly white communities in the Baton Rouge area and southern Louisiana.

The new plan keeps a New Orleans-based, majority-Black district represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Troy Carter while also adding a portion of Baton Rouge to it.

Fields, a Baton Rouge resident, said he won’t decide whether to seek reelection until the maps are finalized. But he said he won’t challenge Carter in a primary.

The newly proposed House map is similar to one used in 2022 that resulted in five Republicans and one Democrat winning election. Republican state Sen. Jay Morris said the new map packs Democrats into the 2nd District held by Carter to allow Republicans to prevail elsewhere.

“These maps are drawn to maximize Republican advantage for the incumbent Republicans that we have in Congress,” Morris said.

Democratic state Sen. Sam Jenkins suggested Republicans are “using partisanship as cover for discriminatory practices against a group of people, particularly Black voters and Democrats.”

“If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck,” Jenkins said.

“It’s not quacking,” Morris said.

“It’s quacking pretty loud, it’s quacking all over the state,” Jenkins replied.

Republican senators defeated an alternative from Democrats that would have kept two Democratic-leaning districts.

A federal judge struck down Louisiana’s 2022 map for violating the Voting Rights Act. Then in 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Alabama had to create its own second largely Black congressional district. In light of the Alabama ruling, the Louisiana Legislature passed a revised map, creating a second majority-Black district that was used in the 2024 elections. That map also was challenged, leading to an April 29 Supreme Court ruling that Louisiana’s districts relied too heavily on race.

After the Supreme Court ruling, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry postponed Louisiana’s U.S. House primaries, which were scheduled for Saturday.

A bill given final approval Wednesday by the Legislature would shift the election to an open primary on Nov. 3. All U.S. House candidates, regardless of their party affiliation, would be on the ballot for voters in their district. If no one wins a majority outright, the top two vote-getters would enter a run-off on Dec. 12.

A new qualifying period for House candidates would run from Aug. 5-7.

The system is similar to how Louisiana’s congressional elections previously occurred. Landry pushed the Legislature to end the state’s unique jungle primary system in 2024. Closed party primaries went into effect this year, and more than 250,000 votes already had been cast, according to the Louisiana secretary of state. The canceled congressional votes would be shielded from public records law.

Rep. Beau Beaullieu, the bill’s Republican sponsor, said that with congressional redistricting, there would not be sufficient time for closed primaries and a primary run-off before the Nov. 3 general election.

A closed primary remains in place for Louisiana’s U.S. Senate race, which has not been suspended and pits incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy against Trump-backed challenger U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow.

Leaders in the South Carolina House said they expect to take up a congressional redistricting bill Friday after Republican Gov. Henry McMaster calls them into special session. The regular legislative session is supposed to end Thursday, but McMaster’s call would extend it.

It could be next week before the House can finish the redistricting bill, which would also move congressional primaries to August, Republican House Majority Leader Davey Hiott said. All primaries are currently scheduled for June 9. Early voting begins May 26, and that’s likely the deadline to finish redistricting, he said.

The redistricting work “will be long. It will be boring. It will be confrontational,” Hiott told reporters.

If the proposal passes the House, it then heads to a more skeptical Senate, where Republican Judiciary Committee Chairman Luke Rankin has said he will “demand the process” without elaborating. During the last regular redistricting at the start of the decade, Rankin’s committee held a month of meetings across the state and encouraged the public to submit its own maps.

Only one of South Carolina’s seven U.S. House seats currently is held by a Democrat — longtime U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn. Some Republicans worry it is impossible to guarantee seven GOP districts in a state where the Democratic presidential candidate has gotten more than 40% of the vote every election this century. There are also concerns about holding two statewide elections in a little over two months. South Carolina’s elections leader said it may require employees to work 24 hours a day.

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Brook reported from Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Collins from Columbia, South Carolina; and Lieb from Jefferson City, Missouri.

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By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed a delay in enforcement of a regulation requiring significant cuts in air pollution from vehicles.

The EPA estimated that delaying former President Joe Biden’s anti-pollution rule would save automakers $1.7 billion. Environmental groups criticized the delay, saying it would lead to an increase in preventable illness and premature deaths.

The EPA said the proposal, first reported by Reuters earlier Thursday, would delay compliance deadlines for light- and medium-duty vehicles for two years until the 2029 model year. It cited the decline in U.S. sales of electric vehicles, which it said made the more stringent pollution rules unattainable for manufacturers.

In April 2024, Biden’s EPA finalized a rule requiring significant reductions in so-called “criteria pollutants” emitted from passenger and commercial vehicles from the 2027 through 2032 model years.

The Sierra Club criticized the move to delay enforcement of more stringent limits on pollutants from gasoline-powered vehicles. The group said the reductions are “readily achievable using commonsense, low-cost technologies already used by many vehicles.”

The Sierra Club added that EPA’s analysis “shows that delaying the standards would sharply increase harmful pollution, preventable illness, and premature deaths.”

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group representing General Motors, Toyota Motor, Volkswagen , Ford, Stellantis, Hyundai and others, said the EPA proposal “makes a lot of sense given current market conditions.”

The group’s CEO John Bozzella said the Biden emission standards were “unachievable absent significant growth in electric vehicle sales” and would make gasoline-powered vehicles more expensive.

The Biden rules require a 50% reduction through 2032 for light vehicles and a 58% cut for medium-duty vehicles in the six so-called “criteria pollutants”: ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and lead.

In 2024, EPA estimated $13 billion in annualized benefits due to reduced emissions of criteria pollutants that contribute to the formation of soot and smog.

The Trump administration has taken a series of steps to roll back vehicle regulations. In February, it finalized its repeal of the “endangerment finding” for vehicles, a 2009 determination that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health, which gave EPA authority to regulate emissions from vehicles.

In December, the Transportation Department proposed significantly reducing the fuel economy requirements from model years 2022 to 2031, requiring 34.5 miles per gallon on average by 2031, down from 50.4 miles per gallon.

This year, Trump signed legislation that ended fuel economy penalties for automakers, and USDOT said they faced no fines dating back to the 2022 model year.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Nia Williams and David Gregorio)

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Democrat Xavier Becerra is counting on his decades-long public career to catapult him into the California governor’s office, but that lengthy political resume has also given his critics fodder to question his competence in the race’s closing weeks.

Becerra spent more than 35 years in state and federal office, including leadership roles in the U.S. House, as California’s attorney general, and as former President Joe Biden’s health secretary.

“The governor’s office is not a place with training wheels,” he’s said repeatedly.

That message didn’t appear to resonate with voters during the first year of Becerra’s campaign. But with voting underway ahead of the June 2 primary, he appears to be benefiting from a dramatic shake-up after Democrat Eric Swalwell’s exit from the race. Becerra has since won endorsements from influential labor groups and Latino state leaders, and his once anemic fundraising has swelled. He’s been the prime target of attacks during debates, indicating his Democratic rivals see him as the candidate with momentum.

Some observers say Democrats are gravitating to Becerra as a perceived safe choice.

“He has this breadth of experience that none of the other candidates have,” said Matt Barreto, faculty director of the University of California, Los Angeles, Voting Rights Project, which Becerra partnered with in a recent lawsuit. “What that means is that he has the ability to portray himself to the voters as having been through the fight.”

But some Biden administration alumni have questioned Becerra’s record as health and human services secretary. His rivals have spotlighted the federal indictment of Becerra’s former chief of staff, who pleaded guilty to stealing Becerra’s campaign funds. Though Becerra hasn’t been implicated, Democrat Katie Porter this week called him “too much of a risk.”

Becerra has dismissed criticism as campaign mudslinging.

“We’re going to talk about the truth and we’re going to move forward,” he told reporters this week.

Becerra points to his role as California’s attorney general during President Donald Trump’s first term to cast himself as an experienced fighter against an imposing federal government. He was at the center of the state’s emergence as the so-called resistance, filing more than 120 legal actions on everything from immigration to climate policy.

Several voters at a recent Becerra rally in Sacramento pointed to his roles in various levels of government as reason to support him.

Becerra “knows how to navigate through the complexities of running a government,” said Ruben Hoyos, who voted for Becerra despite being more aligned with billionaire Tom Steyer ‘s progressive platform.

Like his rivals, he’s made affordability a central piece of his platform. Becerra has promised to declare a state of emergency to deal with the high costs of living and housing shortages. He says that would allow him to freeze home insurance rates as Californians struggle to obtain or afford coverage amid the state’s worsening wildfires.

Most candidates running for insurance commissioner argue a governor can’t legally do that because the insurance industry is regulated by an elected commissioner. Becerra insists he would have that authority.

“I’d be willing to go to court to tell you that I could call that freeze,” Becerra said in a recent debate.

In Congress, he helped pass the Affordable Care Act and defended it against Republican attacks as California’s attorney general. He’s also known for championing abortion rights and has the endorsement of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California.

But after previously supporting eliminating private health insurance in favor of a government-run system, he has appeared to change his position. Pressed by rivals to give a clear stance, he said he’s focused on getting more people covered.

“Californians don’t care what you call it, so long as they have affordable health care,” he said.

Becerra’s tenure as the federal health secretary has been under a microscope.

Steyer has repeatedly hit Becerra over his handling of the influx of unaccompanied migrant children who arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2021, most fleeing violence, poverty or the effects of natural disasters in Central America.

The children were processed in tents before being taken to emergency shelters run by the Department of Health and Human Services, some of which were criticized by child welfare advocates as having inadequate conditions. They would then be placed with a family member, relative or sponsor.

A New York Times investigation in 2023 found that the health department failed to thoroughly vet sponsors, and many of the children went on to work exploitative jobs. It also found Becerra pushed to move children through the system faster and that the agency could not reach tens of thousands of minors after they left federal care. Steyer has argued the federal government “lost” children on Becerra’s watch. Historically, the federal government has not tracked unaccompanied children once they are released to the care of an adult.

Becerra has called the criticism “Trump talking points.” Some California immigrant rights groups and members of the Biden administration have defended Becerra’s record.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, meanwhile, Becerra was largely out of the spotlight, with others like Dr. Anthony Fauci acting as a face of the administration.

Xochitl Hinojosa, a former spokesperson in Biden’s Department of Justice, said on CNN earlier this month that she did not have faith in Becerra’s leadership abilities.

“He was not effective in government,” she said.

The race to replace terming-out Gov. Gavin Newsom has been unsettled, with top state Democrats urging lower-polling candidates to drop out of the race. That initially included Becerra.

But after Swalwell’s scandal, Becerra’s campaign has highlighted his understated demeanor in an effort to appeal to voters looking for a drama-free choice.

Becerra embraced TikTok early with a focus on Spanish-speaking voters. When he and other candidates of color were excluded from a planned debate due to low polling and fundraising, Latino creator Jay Gonzalez invited them to speak to his followers. Becerra took him up. Gonzalez has since been hired by the campaign. Other creators are encouraging their followers to back Becerra and showing up at his rallies. Some of Becerra’s social media refers to him as “Tío Xavier,” which is Spanish for “Uncle Xavier,” portraying him as a familiar face voters can trust.

Latinos — the largest ethnic group in California — don’t usually have a large turnout in California primaries. But working to mobilize that part of the electorate could be a worthwhile strategy, said Kim Nalder, director of the Project for an Informed Electorate at California State University, Sacramento. Becerra, if elected, would be California’s first Latino governor since the late 1800s.

“There’s some evidence that folks — if they have choices that are close like in a primary — will choose based on identity groups, sometimes,” she said.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A top California Democratic political aide agreed to plead guilty Thursday to charges including conspiracy to commit bank fraud related to a scheme to steal campaign funds from Xavier Becerra when he served as the federal health secretary.

The case has drawn attention to Becerra in his bid for California governor, with voting underway and concluding June 2.

In Dana Williamson’s plea deal, she admits to three of the 23 counts of which she was initially charged. Williamson is a former top aide to Becerra and Gov. Gavin Newsom. Neither have been implicated.

If convicted of all charges, including subscribing to false tax returns and making false statements, Williamson faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and up to a $1 million fine, according to court documents.

The federal indictment alleged that Williamson developed a plan with co-conspirators including Sean McCluskie, a longtime Becerra aide. The scheme was to siphon money from one of Becerra’s dormant state campaign accounts to give to McCluskie to pad his salary after he accepted a job as his chief of staff in Washington.

McCluskie signed a plea agreement Oct. 30 in which he admitted to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, according to court filings. He agreed to pay back the $225,000 he took from the account.

Becerra is a former member of Congress who was appointed California attorney general in 2017 to fill a vacancy and reelected in 2018 with Williamson running his campaign. Former President Joe Biden later appointed him as secretary of Health and Human Services.

Becerra hasn’t commented on Williamson’s plea deal. In November, he said the “accusations of impropriety by a long-serving trusted advisor are a gut punch.”

Williamson is a longtime Democratic power player in Sacramento known for her savvy and aggressive style, often unafraid to spar publicly and privately with those who disagree with her. She was a Cabinet secretary for former Gov. Jerry Brown before opening her own political affairs firm and later rejoined state government as Newsom’s chief of staff.

The indictment accused Williamson of filing fraudulent tax forms for her business from 2021 to 2023 claiming more than $1 million in business deductions for personal expenses, including luxury handbags and jewelry; private jet travel; vacations in Mexico; installation of a home HVAC system; and several hundred thousand dollars paid to various relatives for fake jobs.

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BANGOR, Maine (AP) — A day after Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration’s endeavor to combat fraud in government programs would not be political or partisan, he touted the effort in a campaign-style stop in Maine while promoting a Republican candidate as a fraud fighter and portraying Democrats as enablers of scammers.

Vance, dubbed the “fraud czar” by President Donald Trump, made an appearance in the state’s politically competitive 2nd Congressional District to stump for former Gov. Paul LePage, a Trump ally who is vying to flip the U.S. House seat being vacated by Democratic Rep. Jared Golden.

He compared LePage to the current governor, Democrat Janet Mills, who has sparred with the Trump administration over the issue of transgender athletes in high school sports. Mills is prevented by term limit laws from running again and recently dropped out of a heated Democratic primary race for the Senate seat held by Republican Susan Collins, one of the most vulnerable candidates in the chamber.

“Let’s kick Janet Mills to the curb and let’s send Paul LePage to Washington to help us fight the fraudsters and protect all of you,” Vance told the crowd of a few hundred people at Bangor International Airport.

While Vance has mentioned the anti-fraud efforts in his stops around the country in recent weeks on behalf of Republican candidates, Thursday’s visit was the first expressly billed as a stop to talk about the fraud-fighting efforts rather than the economic-focused message he’s delivered in other visits.

The event showcased how the vice president is leveraging his high-profile role leading Trump’s anti-fraud task force for Republicans as they face crucial midterm elections this year, especially as the administration’s economic message has been clouded by rising costs from the Iran war. Early voting is already underway in Maine for the state’s June 9 primary elections for offices including governor, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House.

The state has supported Democratic presidential candidates in consecutive elections going back to 1992, though Trump carried Maine’s 2nd Congressional District in the last three elections, capturing one of the state’s four electoral votes.

Vance’s message also provided a preview of how the vice president, seen as a likely 2028 GOP presidential candidate, could use the fraud crackdown as a central piece of his own political message in a future campaign.

“You are the first victim of fraud,” Vance told attendees as signs hung nearby that read “PROTECTING TAXPAYER DOLLARS” and “FIGHTING FRAUDSTERS.”

Vance went on and added a few minutes later, “My friends, this has gone on for far too long. You have been fleeced by your own government for far too long, and we are stopping it every single day.”

Mills said in a statement that Vance’s attacks were an attempt to distract from surging costs and the unpopular Iran war.

“Maine people deserved to hear about how the Trump Administration is making their lives better by lowering costs, improving health care, building housing, and fixing child care — but we got none of that because the President and Vice President don’t actually care about these issues or the hardships they are causing our state and people,” Mills said.

The visit to Maine came after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said earlier in the year that he was calling for corrective action on alleged fraud in government health programs in Maine, a request characterized by Mills as a “political attack.”

Mills recently dropped out of the Democratic primary race to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins, effectively ceding the nomination to progressive activist and oyster farmer Graham Platner. The seat is critical to Democratic hopes of reclaiming control of the chamber in this year’s midterms.

Vance, however, didn’t mention Platner and instead focused much of his attention on Mills and LePage, the sole Republican vying for the nomination in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District.

Republicans are bullish about their chances of the seat, which encompasses Bangor and which backed Trump for president in the last three elections even as the state itself supported the Democratic presidential candidate.

Vance portrayed LePage as a partner-in-arms with his anti-fraud effort and told the crowd Thursday: “Fraud has festered in Maine because this guy is no longer the governor of Maine.”

While Collins is not always a reliable vote for the Trump administration, Vance took pains to praise the longtime senator for her independence and lack of partisanship.

“Sometimes I get frustrated with Susan Collins. I almost wish she was more partisan,” Vance said. “If she was as partisan as I wish she was, she would not be a good fit for the people of Maine.”

Collins was in Washington on Thursday and not among the candidates who joined Vance for the trip.

Before Vance arrived, LePage told the crowd that if elected to represent Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, he would work with the Trump administration to crack down on fraud in social safety programs, which he characterized as rampant in his state.

“The American people are done being taken for a ride. It’s time for the Maine people and the Maine taxpayer to be put front and center,” he told the crowd.

Maine Center for Economic Policy, a left-leaning policy group that advocates for low- and middle-income residents, said in a statement that the Trump administration’s characterizations of fraud and social programs in the state were inaccurate.

“Fraud should always be investigated and stopped. But Mainers deserve facts, not political fearmongering designed to undermine health care for hundreds of thousands of people,” the statement said.

In the governor’s race, seven Republicans and five Democrats are vying to replace Mills. Vance noted that some of the candidates were in attendance at the rally but declined to endorse any of them when a reporter asked whether he would.

A few dozen demonstrators stood across the street from the airport holding signs denouncing Vance and the Trump administration. One held a giant caricature of the vice president’s head that has become a popular meme.

Nirav Shah, the former Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention director who is running for governor, said in an email to supporters and the media that Vance is visiting Maine as the costs of necessities such as heating oil and gas surge in the state.

“That is the record JD Vance is bringing to Maine on Thursday. That is the record the Maine Republicans hosting him are ‘honored’ to celebrate,” Shah said.

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Price reported from Washington.

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By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON, May 13 (Reuters) – U.S. Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked the latest Democratic-led effort to end the Iran war until it is authorized by Congress, but the measure edged closer to passage as a third Republican voted to advance the bill.

The Senate voted 50-49 not to advance the war powers resolution, nearly along party lines. Three Republicans joined every Democrat but one in backing the measure sponsored by Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon.

It was the seventh time this year that President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans in the Senate had blocked similar resolutions.

Republicans Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted in favor of moving ahead, while Democrat John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted with Republicans to block it.

The vote was the first in the Senate since the conflict hit a 60-day deadline on May 1 for Trump to come to Congress about the war. Trump declared then that a ceasefire had “terminated” hostilities against Iran.

Under a 1973 U.S. war powers law passed in response to the Vietnam War, a U.S. president can wage military action for only 60 days before ending it, asking Congress for ​authorization or seeking a 30-day extension due to “unavoidable military necessity regarding the safety of United States Armed Forces” while withdrawing forces.

Democrats disputed Trump’s assertion that the deadline did not apply because of a ceasefire, saying the conflict is ongoing.

“There’s not a cessation of war hostilities,” Merkley told reporters before the vote, citing the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and strikes on Iranian ships and Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on U.S. ships and tankers.

“Both sides are still engaged in hostilities, and so I don’t accept that the 60-day clock is suspended,” he said.

Merkley and other Senate Democrats said they planned to bring up another war powers resolution next week, and every week until the war ends or Trump comes to lawmakers for authorization.

Democrats in the House have also introduced war powers resolutions, also blocked by Republicans.

Democrats have called on Trump ​to come to Congress for authorization to use military force, noting that the U.S. Constitution says that Congress, ​not the president, can declare war. They have warned that Trump may have pulled the country into a long conflict without setting out a clear strategy.

Republicans – and the White House – say Trump’s actions are legal and within his rights as commander-in-chief to protect the U.S. by ordering limited military operations.

Some congressional Republicans have accused Democrats of filing the war powers resolutions only because of their partisan opposition to Trump.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle in WashingtonEditing by Bill Berkrot)

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Denise Powell won the Democratic primary in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District on Wednesday in a contest focused on the state’s “blue dot” status in presidential elections.

The Omaha-area district, where Republican U.S. Rep. Don Bacon is retiring, is one of Democrats’ biggest targets this midterm season. It’s also a national focus every four years in presidential contests because Nebraska is one of just two states that splits its electoral votes. The 2nd District has gone to Democratic presidential candidates three out of five times since 2008 — a “blue dot” in an otherwise sea of red.

Powell, a political activist, defeated state Sen. John Cavanaugh and several other candidates in the Democratic primary. She and Cavanaugh were in a tight race that could not be called Tuesday.

Powell will face Brinker Harding, an Omaha City Council member endorsed by President Donald Trump. He ran unopposed in Tuesday’s GOP primary.

“This country and Nebraska are worth fighting for — and I’m ready to spend the next six months working for every vote and sharing my vision for Nebraska so we can finally have a representative in Congress who will serve us,” Powell said in a statement. “It’s time to be brave.”

Powell led Cavanaugh by 2.1 percentage points, or 1,080 votes, out of more than 51,000 votes counted.

AP called the race after Douglas County election officials said there were only 5,125 outstanding mail-in ballots in the Democratic primary, and a total of 830 provisional ballots from all political parties. Even if all those ballots are counted in the Democratic primary, Cavanaugh would have to win them by about 18 percentage points over Powell to close the gap, a margin he didn’t come close to achieving in any of the five vote updates provided by Douglas County so far. Cavanaugh trailed in all three counties in the district, though Douglas accounted for about 93% of the votes.

The matchup between Powell and Harding is expected to be among this fall’s most competitive House races, as Democrats try to win control of the chamber for the second half of Trump’s term.

The 2nd District is one of just three districts in the country that supported Democrat Kamala Harris for president in 2024 while also electing a Republican representative. Trump won the district in 2016, and the retiring Bacon, who has clashed with Trump, has held the House seat for five terms.

The Nebraska GOP said in a statement Wednesday that Republicans are ready to fight back against a “radical left” that has poured money into the state.

“The left wants Nebraska, and we are going to make sure they don’t get it,” said NEGOP Chairman Mary Jane Truemper.

Powell, who is Latina, co-founded Women Who Run Nebraska, a political action committee that supports progressive female candidates, and she has a decade of Democratic political activism. She had the backing of EMILY’s List and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ campaign operation.

Powell has never held office but said her deep connections have helped her with independents and third-party voters, who make up nearly 30% of the district’s electorate.

Some Democratic critics argued that a Cavanaugh primary victory would have jeopardized the district’s “blue dot” status because he’d be leaving his valuable state legislative seat, making it easier for Republicans in the Nebraska Legislature to change the law that allows the state to split its electoral votes.

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Peoples reported from New York.

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COVINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Rep. Thomas Massie was stuck in Washington for a vote on Capitol Hill, so one of his supporters made the pitch for his campaign in a banquet hall packed with Republicans in northern Kentucky.

The audience had just heard Ed Gallrein, who was drafted by President Donald Trump to run against Massie in next Tuesday’s primary, describe the congressman as suffering from “a severe case of Trump derangement syndrome.”

Then Gex Williams, a state senator backing Massie, told the audience at the Lincoln Day Dinner not to worry about all that.

“If you are thinking that you can’t be for President Trump and for Thomas Massie, you certainly can be,” Williams said.

Whether voters agree will determine if Massie’s political career survives Trump’s most aggressive attempt to purge the Republican Party of dissenters. The president already succeeded last week in dislodging several Indiana state senators who opposed his redistricting plan, and he’s supporting a primary challenge against U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana on Saturday.

But nothing compares to the vitriol against Massie, who Trump has called a “moron” and a “nut job” who “will go down as the WORST Republican Congressman.” Trump made an unusual trip to Kentucky to campaign against Massie, and some of the president’s top advisers are working to help Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL.

Massie angered Trump by voting against his signature tax legislation over concerns of adding to the national debt, pushing for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and opposing his decision to go to war with Iran. His positions, Massie insists, reflect the America First promises Trump initially made on the campaign trail.

In a Kentucky district where the president won by 35 points two years ago, Massie told The Associated Press that the upcoming primary is “by far the most challenging reelection I’ve ever faced.”

The race is playing out across Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, which sweeps northeast from the outskirts of Louisville along the Ohio River, through the suburbs south of Cincinnati and over to the lush foothills and old coal towns of Appalachia.

Voters here have sent Massie back to Congress ever since his first election in 2012, embracing his stalwart independence and jaunty personality. Back in 2020, they brushed off Trump’s social media demand to “throw Massie out of Republican Party” because he was a “third rate Grandstander.”

Now, Republican voters are debating whether they will do the same thing again.

“If all we’re doing is pulling in yes men, then how do you grow from that? How do you have the best end product if everyone just says, ‘Oh yeah, that’s a great idea,’” said Tonya Young, an attendee of the Lincoln Day Dinner who is leaning toward Massie but still undecided.

“However, I do feel like it’s important to stay loyal. That’s where, I’m like, I’m a hot mess,” said the 57-year-old special education teacher. “Sometimes you have to just bite the bullet and compromise on things.”

Young said she will plumb through the Republican-backed bills that Massie voted against before she makes up her mind. What isn’t a major part of her calculation is Trump’s endorsement of Gallrein or his epithets against Massie.

Young still supports Trump, rating his second term at a “B to a C+” relative to his campaign promises. During Trump’s first term, Young said, she’d “probably put more stock in” his endorsement.

At the Lincoln Day Dinner in Covington, well-dressed Republicans sat at circular tables, ate dinner and listened attentively as candidates gave speeches.

Steve Jarvis, a 77-year-old retired law enforcement officer, who stood near the late night coffee station, has decided to vote against Massie for the very first time.

“Made me sad, truly it does,” said Jarvis, wearing a bespoke American flag bow tie made of feathers, “I like Massie.”

When Massie first ran for Congress, Jarvis bought a Massie campaign sign, sized for a freeway overpass, and planted it outside his home, a few doors down from which lived Massie’s opponent.

But some of Massie’s departures from the party, he said, “made me nuts. I can’t do it anymore.”

One was Trump’s flagship Big Beautiful Bill, which Massie voted against citing the consequent budget deficit and increased inflation.

“I understand voting your principle once or twice,” said Jarvis, “but at some point in time when it becomes crucial, I think they have to get in line.”

Gallrein, he said, would get in line.

Jana Kathman came to a different conclusion.

“I’m going to vote for Massie even though he makes me mad,” she said while shopping for bagels at a local farmers market outside Covington.

The 56-year-old registered nurse said, “I just like him as a person, I like how he lives his life, and I know he stands very strong with his convictions.”

Though she still likes Trump, his endorsement and attacks don’t impress her.

“I don’t like when Trump plays the little games as soon as someone opposes him, but we know that’s how Trump lashes out,” Kathman said.

Gallrein mounted the stage at the Lincoln Day Dinner with a prepared speech. He grew up on a family farm, was inspired by President Ronald Reagan to join the Navy SEALS and was recently asked by Trump to serve his country again in Congress.

He hyped up Trump — “Do you know he doesn’t take a salary?” — and launched into a list of Trump-backed policies Massie had voted against, lumping him in with the “radical Democrats.”

Gallrein declined an interview request, and he’s declined to attend candidate forums and debates with Massie.

Several voters said they were grateful for Gallrein’s service, but still don’t have a grasp of his platform, aside from his fidelity to Trump.

Massie argues that’s why Kentucky should stick with him, using what has become a go-to refrain.

“Politicians promise during the campaign, and then they go to D.C. to go along to get along,” he said. “My opponent is promising to go along to get along.”

Massie is hopeful that Trump’s anger will blow over once he wins the primary.

“Once this race is over, I don’t think there’s any benefit to him attacking me, I’ll have the antibodies from a natural infection,” Massie said chuckling.

After years of being considered a conservative gadfly in Congress, he said, maybe he has some of those antibodies already.

“This will be the booster shot,” he said.

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By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, May 13 (Reuters) – U.S. civil rights group NAACP said on Wednesday the new congressional map approved last week by Tennessee Republicans intentionally discriminated on the basis of race against Black voters.

• The United States’ largest civil rights group said it filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.

• The lawsuit alleges Tennessee lawmakers “intentionally redrew Congressional District 9 – a district anchored in Memphis for more than 50 years – to crack the majority-Black district across multiple districts, with the intent of eliminating Black voting power and depriving them of a meaningful opportunity to elect candidates of their choice,” the NAACP said.

• Tennessee Republicans approved a new congressional map last week, as several other Southern states seek to leverage a U.S. Supreme Court decision from late April that severely weakened the landmark Voting Rights Act.

• The redistricting plan “violates the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution by intentionally discriminating on the basis of race,” NAACP said.

• Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett and the state Election Commission had no immediate comment on the suit in which their offices were named as defendants.

• Republican President Donald Trump launched a national ​mid-decade redistricting battle⁠ between Democrats and Republicans last year ahead of this year’s midterm elections.

• The Republican Party is aiming in the elections to retain its current thin majorities in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

• Republican-led states are moving to test new limits of minority-vote protections following the Supreme Court’s April 29 decision.

• Civil rights groups have sued to challenge the redrawing of districts that have a significant population of communities of color.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; additional reporting by Bianca Flowers; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

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