Politics

By Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House is jumping into state-level battles for women’s reproductive rights, lending legal and messaging advice to allies in states pushing restrictions as the Biden administration seeks to make abortion access a rallying cry in next year’s presidential election.

By leaning on key local lawmakers and backing legislation to expand abortion rights, the White House is hoping to expand on the relative success that Democrats earned in the midterm elections by making abortion a large part of their campaign.

The White House’s Gender Policy Council is spearheading the effort, along with an inter-governmental affairs team and Vice President Kamala Harris’s office, sources said. The groups regularly hold strategy meetings with local elected officials, activists and reproductive rights groups.

The White House has divided fights for abortion rights in states as politically divergent as Texas, New York and North Carolina into three broad categories and has established an approach for each, according to two White House officials and two advisers working on the issue.

“The goal of our strategy is fairly simple: it’s to support actions by state and local leaders to protect and expand access, but it’s also to fight restrictions,” said one of the officials.

The previously unreported, behind-the-scenes effort has caught the attention of state lawmakers for the level of support offered by the administration.

In some cases, the White House is leaning on key lawmakers in states with important abortion-related legislative fights this session. North Carolina is a special focus where the White House thinks it has the opportunity to fend off restrictions, one of the White House officials said.

Republican lawmakers in North Carolina are working on more restrictive abortion laws than the state’s current 20-week ban and they hold a veto-proof majority in the state Senate. In the state House, the margins are very narrow.

“We’ve been in touch with specific legislators who are going to be really important in this fight,” the official said.

Some of the state’s Democrats have had different voting records on abortion but have all now committed to codifying abortion rights, the official added.

In Florida, state House Democratic leader Fentrice Driskell said in her meetings with White House officials topics discussed include voter turnout and how that is driven by states putting abortion on the ballot.

Other discussions focused on how Florida Democrats could use partners such as reproductive rights groups to make abortion a key issue in 2024, she said.

“For the White House to reach out the way that it did, to say we’re here to be as much of a backstop as we can be, to provide whatever resources we can, to try to assemble and convene state and local leaders from all across the country, it has meant a lot,” Driskell said .

She said the White House’s work on issuing talking points and messaging has also been a “big help.”

To combat restrictions, the White House coordinates with national organizations working to defeat potential bans, is getting the vice president to travel to such states to bring stakeholders together and uses its press contacts to spotlight legislative fights at critical moments.

Harris, who won praise from grassroots Democrats for her frequent defense of abortion rights during the midterm campaign, is a key part of the current White House effort.

Harris traveled to Indiana during a special legislative session last summer to ban abortion. The ban passed but was placed on hold due to a court order. U.S. officials and abortion-rights advocates credited Harris’ visit with sparking state-wide debate on how to draw the lines on abortion access.

‘BATTLEGROUND, EXTREMIST, PROACTIVE’

Since last summer’s Supreme Court repeal of the Roe v. Wade ruling that ended the nationwide right to abortion, many Republican-controlled states are pushing to further restrict abortion access, while states run by Democrats are enshrining protections in new laws.

Republicans have largely shrugged off White House efforts at beating back efforts to limit abortion rights. The Republican National Committee (RNC) has urged affiliated lawmakers and campaigns to go on the offense on abortion.

When asked to comment about the White House’s latest initiative, the RNC pointed Reuters toward a resolution it passed at a meeting in January.

The resolution directed national and state lawmakers “to pass the strongest pro-life legislation possible” ahead of the 2024 election cycle, citing six-week abortion bans as an example.

The White House sees three different approaches to defend abortions rights and has broken down states into what they call either “battleground,” “extremist” or “proactive” states, White House officials and advisors say.

The White House views “extremist states” as those that have already banned abortion and where there are plans for further restrictions such as Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Idaho, the officials said.

Most abortions are now banned in 13 states as new laws take effect following the Roe decision.

In what it calls “access battleground states,” the White House is tracking fights this legislative session that could reduce reproductive care access. These states include North Carolina, Nebraska, Florida, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategy.

In “proactive states” such as Michigan, Minnesota, New York, California, Connecticut, the White House is working with pro-abortion rights state lawmakers who are backing legislation with funding for women and protections for abortion patients and providers.

One reason for the White House’s plans to push on abortion is that efforts in Congress to pass nationwide abortion protections have failed. And a lawsuit over abortion pills is being closely watched for its impact on reproductive care.

Focus on the issue helped energize Democratic voters and staved off some defeats for the party in the midterm elections.

Edison Research exit polls found that for one-quarter of voters, abortion was the primary concern and 61% opposed the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade.

Harris has spoken to 200 Democratic state legislators on reproductive rights and convened leaders from 38 states in dozens of meetings since the decision, the officials said.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; Editing by Trevor Hunnicutt and Alistair Bell)

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By Tim Reid

SIMI VALLEY, CA (Reuters) – Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took his fight against liberalism deep into the Democratic territory of California on Sunday, part of a national road show as he lays the ground for an expected White House bid.

    DeSantis has been meeting with wealthy donors in recent days and burnishing his national credentials in a series of speeches boasting about his achievements in Florida while lambasting the “woke ideology” of leaders in Democratic strongholds including California and New York.

    DeSantis, who is expected to announce a presidential run in the next few months, has made a war on liberalism a central theme of his governorship and a way to appeal to the Republican base.

    While he has not yet announced a White House bid, one candidate who has – former Republican President Donald Trump – clearly views DeSantis as a major potential threat as the Republican nominating contest kicks into gear. Trump has already launched personal and political attacks on DeSantis as the race for the Republican Party’s 2024 White House nomination begins to heat up.

DeSantis, speaking at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library about 50 miles north of Los Angeles, made a veiled reference to the chaos of Trump’s presidency and his defeat to Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020.

“You don’t see drama and palace intrigue,” DeSantis said of his governorship in Florida. “You see surgical precision and execution.”

DeSantis, who narrowly won election to the governor’s mansion in 2018, touted his landslide re-election in November.

    He attacked Democratic governors and leaders as being infected with a “woke mind virus.” The term “woke” has become shorthand among opponents as left-wing ideology run amok.

He decried their policies on tax, vaccine mandates, and classroom “indoctrination.”

DeSantis also took aim at the Walt Disney Co, which opposes a Florida law that restricts classroom instruction of gender and sexual orientation.

    Last month he signed a bill that takes control of a special tax district surrounding Walt Disney World that for half a century allowed it to operate with a high degree of autonomy.

“There’s a new sheriff in town,” DeSantis declared, referring to what he has called the end of Disney’s “corporate kingdom.”

Other candidates expected to jump into the Republican primary race include former Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Nikki Haley, Trump’s former ambassador to the United Nations, declared her candidacy last month.

(Reporting by Tim Reid; Editing by Richard Chang)

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By Jeff Mason

SELMA, Alabama (Reuters) -President Joe Biden pressed for the passage of measures to strengthen U.S. voting rights during a visit to Selma, Alabama, on Sunday to commemorate the 58th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” when state troopers beat peaceful protesters marching against discrimination.

Biden’s trip is his latest event aimed at underscoring his commitment to Black voters, who helped propel him to the White House and remain a key constituency going into his expected 2024 re-election bid.

It also came as his efforts to pass voting rights legislation have stalled in Congress.

“Selma is a reckoning. The right to vote and to have your vote counted is the threshold of democracy and liberty,” Biden said in front of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where state troopers clubbed and used tear gas against the 1965 voting-rights marchers.

“With it, anything’s possible. Without it, without that right, nothing is possible. And this fundamental right remains under assault.”

Coverage of the brutality of that day against the marchers, including John Lewis, a Black civil rights activist who went on to become a U.S. congressman, shocked the nation and helped spark the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Biden said votes needed to be found to pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, bills that would make Election Day a holiday, register new voters and strengthen U.S. Justice Department oversight of local election jurisdictions with a history of discrimination.

Republicans, who control the U.S. House of Representatives, oppose the measures.

The president, who has said he intends to run for re-election, has sought to buttress his support from African American voters. Last month, the Democratic National Committee approved a shakeup of the party’s 2024 primary calendar, making South Carolina – a state with a high percentage of Black voters – first in line for holding its presidential nominating contest, displacing Iowa.

In January, Biden spoke at the Atlanta church of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Biden’s visit to Selma follows Vice President Kamala Harris’s trip there last year for the anniversary of the march.

“If we are to truly honor the legacy of those who marched in Selma on Bloody Sunday, we must continue to fight to secure and safeguard the freedom to vote,” Harris said in a statement on Sunday.

Then-President Barack Obama spoke at the 50th anniversary of the march in 2015 and walked across the bridge with his wife, Michelle, and Republican former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; additional reporting by James Oliphant in Washington; Editing by Paul Simao and Marguerita Choy)

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By James Oliphant

OXON HILL, Maryland (Reuters) – Reminders of former President Donald Trump’s towering influence over the Republican Party were everywhere at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference this weekend in Washington.

There were kiosks hawking Trump hats and shirts, attendees sporting “Make America Great Again” stickers and even a mock Oval Office where attendees could be photographed next to Trump’s picture.

The three-day conference illustrated the iron grip he holds over the right-wing, grassroots base of his party and how hard it could be for a challenger to deny Trump the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

At the same time, it remains an open question whether Trump’s appeal still extends beyond his hard-core loyalists. Public opinion polls showing many Republicans are looking for an alternative such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, believing they may offer a better chance of winning the White House.

Trump served as the closing speaker for the event on Saturday. “We are going to finish what we started,” he said. “We’re going to complete the mission.” The capacity crowd in the ballroom chanted “Four more years!”

While Trump and his supporters were holding forth at CPAC, DeSantis, who has not yet declared a presidential run, was busy burnishing his national profile and connecting with potential high-dollar campaign donors.

He spoke at Republican fundraisers in Houston and Dallas and is expected to give a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California on Sunday.

DeSantis also attended a gathering for Republican donors in Florida held by the anti-tax group Club for Growth to which Trump was not invited.

While he has spoken at past events, DeSantis skipped CPAC this time around. Still, his influence could be felt.

Multiple speakers talked about pushing back against “wokeness,” diversity and equity plans in education and transgender student athletes, key themes for DeSantis that have taken root among conservatives nationwide.

The event, however, was heavily weighted toward Trump. The list of speakers was packed with Trump supporters such as U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, longtime allies including his former campaign adviser Steve Bannon, and members of Trump’s family, who often received louder ovations than the officeholders who spoke.

Kari Lake, who last year lost her bid to become Arizona’s governor and who is an outspoken supporter of Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was riddled with fraud, was given a prime speaking slot, as was Jair Bolsonaro, the former right-wing president of Brazil.

Both complained their elections had been stolen and both were greeted with applause from attendees.

By contrast, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who is also seeking the Republican nomination, received a polite, if tepid response from the crowd, as did former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, another potential presidential candidate. Haley was met with chants of “Trump” in the hallway outside the ballroom where she gave her speech.

Haley and Pompeo raised the loudest cheers when they were detailing the accomplishments of the Trump administration.

In his remarks, Bannon maintained that Trump should be the Republican nominee, saying DeSantis and other potential challengers lacked experience. “We don’t have time for on-the-job training,” he said.

Trump and DeSantis both are scheduled in the coming days to visit Iowa, which holds the first Republican nominating contest next year.

SKIPPED BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS

CPAC once was a premier gathering of the party’s Republicans in Washington but of late has become dominated by Trump and his supporters to the extent that it was skipped this year by most Republican members of Congress and the nation’s Republican governors. Many speakers spoke to a half-empty ballroom and attendance overall seemed noticeably lower than in years past.

Marleen Beck, 71, of Howard County, Maryland, said she would stand by Trump after voting for him twice. “Ron DeSantis is a good governor for Florida, but I don’t think he’s the person to run the country,” she said.

Beck said she was present for Trump’s speech in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol and argued he deserves no blame for the incident. Several attendees wore shirts memorializing Ashli Babbitt, who was killed by police inside the Capitol building.

Lisa Friedman, 54, of Colchester, Vermont, was selling Trump T-shirts in the exhibit hall and wore one herself that read: “Ultra MAGA.”

She said DeSantis should stay out of the race. “I think he should wait until next time around,” she said.

But Riley Kass, 24, of Cassopolis, Michigan, said he voted for Trump in 2020 but had an open mind about the upcoming primary. “I think competition is good,” Kass said, adding that he wished DeSantis had attended the conference.

J. Hogan Gidley, a former White House spokesman for Trump, said the show of support for Trump by rank-and-file Republicans at the event demonstrated why he will be a formidable candidate.

“These are the folks who are responsible for the blocking and tackling to win you elections, especially in the early primary states,” Gidley said.

(Reporting by James Oliphant; editing by Daniel Wallis and Jonathan Oatis)

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Hogan, 66, wrote in The New York Times that while he appreciated “all those around the nation who have for many years encouraged me to run for president, after eight years of pouring my heart and soul into serving the people of Maryland, I have no desire to put my family through another grueling campaign just for the experience.”

Hogan wrapped up his second term in January, serving for eight years in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by a 2-to-1 margin. He was Maryland’s second Republican governor ever to be reelected.

Hogan has acknowledged he would be an underdog in the 2024 GOP presidential primary. But he also noted that he had been considered a long shot to become governor in in a heavily Democratic state.

“That would be a pretty good reason to consider not running, absolutely,” Hogan said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

In the past two presidential elections, Hogan said he did not vote for Trump, the party nominee. Hogan said he wrote in the name of his father, former U.S. Rep. Larry Hogan Sr., in 2016 and the late President Ronald Reagan in 2020.

Hogan won his first term as governor in 2014 in an upset, using public campaign financing against a better-funded candidate. Running on fiscal concerns as a moderate Republican businessman, Hogan tapped into frustration from a variety of tax and fee increases over the eight previous years to defeat then-Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown.

Hogan had never held elected office before, though has the appointments secretary for Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich, a post that gave him experience working in the state capital, Annapolis.

Politics also ran in Hogan family: Hogan’s father was the only Republican to vote for all three articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon on the House Judiciary Committee.

In his first year as governor, Hogan went right to work on pocketbook issues. He lowered tolls, an action he could take without approval from the General Assembly, long controlled by Democrats. But he was also presented with challenges, including unrest in Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray in police custody in 2015. Hogan sent the National Guard to prevent further rioting.

In June of that year, he was diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma but continued working while receiving treatment. He has been in remission since November 2015.

In 2018, he became only the second Republican governor in the history of the state to win reelection, defeating former NAACP President Ben Jealous.

While Hogan liked to promote bipartisan cooperation with Democrats when he could, he had no shortage of disagreements with the legislature, particularly on high-profile issues. Democratic supermajorities were able to override Hogan’s vetoes, especially on priority measures such as a sweeping and expensive education funding overhaul, three policing measures and legislation to expand abortion access in the state.

Hogan won a long-sought victory last year by getting tax relief for retirees. And after Hogan’s long criticism of the state’s congressional and state legislative maps for gerrymandering, a Maryland judge struck down the congressional lines last year that had drawn by Democrats. The map was redrawn, resulting in a much more competitive district in the western part of the state.

Hogan has long been upfront about his distaste for Trump as president.

In 2020, as chair of the National Governors Association, Hogan criticized Trump for delaying a national coronavirus testing strategy, saying the president was playing down the virus’ threat despite grave warnings from top national experts.

“I did not go out of my way to criticize the president,” Hogan said. “But unlike a lot of Republicans, I’m not the guy that’s just going to sit down and shut up and not stand up and say something if I think something’s going wrong.”

Describing the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as “one of the darkest days in American history,” Hogan said Trump should have resigned or been removed from office.

“The people that try to whitewash Jan. 6 as if nothing happened are delusional. It was an assault on democracy,” Hogan told the AP late last year.

Trump and Hogan were engaged in a proxy battle of sorts in the 2022 election. Hogan’s pick for governor was Kelly Schulz, who was labor secretary and commerce secretary in his administration. She lost in the Republican primary to Trump-endorsed Dan Cox, a state lawmaker who said President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory shouldn’t have been certified and who sought to impeach Hogan for his pandemic policies.

Cox went on to lose the November general election by a large margin to Democrat Wes Moore.

“I know there is no shortage of naysayers, but I’ve always been an underdog, and people have always counted us out, but every single time, we’ve beaten the odds,” Hogan added.

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By Jarrett Renshaw and Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden’s team is moving to tap top Democratic allies and even some people once seen as possible rivals as key representatives of his expected re-election bid.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) will host a “national advisory board” comprised of the sorts of rising-star politicians, including governors J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Phil Murphy of New Jersey, who are known for their own bids for higher office but stayed on the sidelines after Democrats survived the 2022 midterm elections with their Senate majority intact.

The move by White House political officials and other allies to sign on high-profile spokespeople, which is typical for parties moving into the frenzy of campaign season, shows Biden is headed towards a formal re-election announcement now expected in April, though the date could slip, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.

Biden’s team is making other steps, too, including thinking through possible options for a campaign manager a host city for the 2024 party convention where Biden would be formally nominated. Chicago and Atlanta were seen by Democratic officials as the primary contenders for the convention, which was conducted virtually in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The campaign’s strategy is expected to be set by the same inner circle that guided Biden’s 2020 race against Republican former President Donald Trump, including his final 2020 campaign manager, Jen O’Malley Dillon.

But that group has struggled to hone a short list of potential campaign managers for 2024 as they look for a trusted operator outside their own ranks who has experience winning a state-wide campaign in a competitive state, among a variety of other qualifications.

“They are looking for a unicorn,” said one party adviser. 

The new advisory board will be used to demonstrate unity in the party behind the candidate, traveling the country for campaign appearances and doing interviews on television on behalf the party and, eventually, the candidate. News that the group was being assembled was first reported by the Washington Post.

Biden, who turned 80 in November, is the oldest president to hold office. Recent polls show aging leaders are a concern for Americans in general, and Biden’s age in particular worries Democratic voters. But the president’s aides are shrugging off polls showing doubts about his age as irrelevant at this stage of the race.

No major rivals for Biden have emerged on the Democratic side, though the self-help guru Marianne Williamson is expected to formally announce on Saturday that she is mounting a long-shot bid in the primary after doing so in the more crowded field from which Biden emerged victorious in 2020.

On the Republican side, Trump is seeking a second term, and a set of would-be challengers are laying the groundwork for their campaigns.

In the absence of a formal re-election announcement, the White House continues to book Biden in campaign-style appearances across the country. On Monday, Biden is expected to speak to the International Association of Fire Fighters, the first major labor group to endorse him ahead of the 2020 campaign.

Biden’s public approval rating was just 41% in a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll last month. That is close to the lowest level of his presidency, though similar to where Trump was at the same time in his administration.

(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw and Trevor Hunnicutt)

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By Gabriella Borter

(Reuters) – Battles over abortion are heating up in state capitols across the United States as lawmakers wrestle with how much to restrict or expand access after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.

Here is a snapshot of state legislation seeking to restrict or protect abortion access in 2023.

RESTRICTIONS

FLORIDA: While the 15-week abortion ban signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis last year is being challenged in court, Republican state lawmakers have said they are considering pursuing stricter measures, such as a 12-week ban. DeSantis has said he would sign a ban on abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy if the Republican-controlled legislature passes such a measure.

KANSAS: Although Kansans voted in favor of state abortion rights on a ballot measure last year, the Republican-led Senate has passed a prohibition on prescribing abortion pills via telemedicine. The House is now considering the measure.

IDAHO: Lawmakers in Idaho have introduced legislation that would make it illegal to help a minor get an abortion in another state without the permission of a parent or guardian. Offenders would face two to five years in prison. The Republican-led state is currently enforcing a total abortion ban. 

MONTANA: The Republican-led state Senate has passed a bill seeking to overturn a 1999 state supreme court ruling that found that the state constitution protected a right to abortion. That ruling has prevented lawmakers in the conservative state from restricting abortion further than the current 24-week limit. The bill will next be considered by the House.

The House on Friday passed legislation seeking to ban abortion after 12 weeks and is also considering a bill this year that would limit abortion access for Medicaid patients.

NEBRASKA: Republicans in Nebraska’s 50-seat unicameral legislature have introduced a six-week abortion ban, which looks likely to pass due to the conservative makeup of its members. Abortion is currently legal in the state up to 22 weeks.

NORTH DAKOTA: The state supreme court is due to rule on a challenge to a trigger ban – a total abortion ban that immediately went into effect when Roe was overturned – but which has since been blocked while the case proceeds. In the meantime, Republican lawmakers are moving a bill to allow abortions for rape and incest cases before six weeks’ gestation, intending to clarify the ban.

SOUTH CAROLINA: Despite the fact that the state supreme court recently struck down a six-week abortion ban in a 3-2 vote, Republicans have introduced a near-total abortion ban and a six-week ban this year. Both bills have passed one chamber; the Senate has passed the six-week ban, which includes some exceptions, and the House has passed the near-total ban.

TEXAS: While abortion is completely banned with very limited exceptions in Texas, Republican state representatives have introduced legislation that would compel internet providers to block websites that supply abortion pills or provide information on how to obtain an abortion.

UTAH: The legislature passed a bill this week that would prohibit the licensing of abortion clinics, which abortion rights advocates say would effectively eliminate access in the state. The measure now heads to Republican Governor Spencer Cox for signing. Abortion is currently banned after 18 weeks in the state.

WYOMING: The Republican-led legislature passed a bill on Thursday banning the use or prescription of medication abortion pills, and the bill now heads to Republican Governor Mark Gordon. Abortion is legal until viability, about 24 weeks, while a state court is reviewing a challenge to a near-total trigger ban.

WEST VIRGINIA: Republican state senators have introduced a bill to remove the rape and incest exceptions from the state’s near-total abortion ban, which is currently in effect.

PROTECTIONS

MICHIGAN: The Democratic-led House has passed a bill to repeal a nearly century-old law on the books that bans abortion. It is expected to also pass the Democratic-led Senate.

ILLINOIS: Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker in January signed a law protecting abortion providers and out-of-state patients from legal attacks waged by other states.

MINNESOTA: Democratic Governor Tim Walz in January signed legislation passed by the Minnesota legislature’s new Democratic majority that codifies abortion rights in state law, as well as a right to contraception and fertility treatment. House Democrats have introduced a bill to shield abortion providers and patients from other states’ legal attacks.

OHIO: The attorney general this week certified a petition to put a constitutional amendment on the November 2023 ballot that would assert a right to abortion. The ballot proposal next heads to the Ohio Ballot Board for consideration.

(Reporting by Gabriella Borter in Washington; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Matthew Lewis)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A skin lesion removed from President Joe Biden’s chest last month was a basal cell carcinoma — a common form of skin cancer — his doctor said Friday, adding that no further treatment was required.

O’Connor said the site of the removal on Biden’s chest has “healed nicely” and the president will continue regular skin screenings as part of his routine health plan.

Basal cells are among the most common and easily treated forms of cancer — especially when caught early. O’Connor said they don’t tend to spread like other cancers, but could grow in size, which is why they are removed.

Biden had “several localized non-melanoma skin cancers” removed from his body before he started his presidency, O’Connor said in his Feb. 16 summary of the president’s health, noting it was well established that Biden spent a lot of time in the sun during his youth.

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Once Solid US-Israel Relations Become Rocky as Governments Butt Heads

‘This is a disagreement between friends,’ expert says

Israel’s current government has been in power for just a few weeks and relations with the country’s greatest ally, the United States, appear to have hit a major speed bump.

“It was a matter of time,” said Dr. Yonatan Freeman of the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “The sides were probably aiming for a different kind of interaction and there is certain language that wasn’t supposed to be used.”

For decades, the alliance between Israel and the US has been considered iron-clad. But throughout the cumulative years that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has been in power, there have been  ups and downs that may have shaken the foundation of the relationship.

“What was once taken for granted is not anymore,” according to Alon Pinkas, a former Israel consul general in New York and an expert on Israel-US relations.

The rise in tensions between Palestinians and Israelis and the internal strife in Israel regarding government-backed judicial reforms, have put the relationship between the Israeli government and the White House to the test.

“The administration sees this as two sides of the same issue,” said Pinkas.

At the beginning of the week, two Israeli brothers ages 19 and 21 were murdered by a Palestinian assailant. Hours later, Israeli settlers rioted in the Palestinian village of Huwara, setting homes and cars on fire in retaliation. The following day, an American citizen was shot dead by Palestinians as he drove to a wedding in the West Bank.

Throughout the week, the US expressed its concern over the events.

It also hosted a summit in Aqaba, Jordan in an attempt to diffuse the tensions between Israelis and Palestinians. The summit was disregarded by several ministers in the Netanyahu-led government.

Prior to the swearing in of the government, there already were reports that the US had voiced its concern over statements made by far-right-wing Knesset members Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who both now hold senior portfolios in the government.

On Wednesday, the US State Department condemned Smotrich, the finance minister, who called to “wipe out” Huwara. His call came after the murders and the riot on Monday and the subsequent public criticism.

“These comments were irresponsible. They were repugnant; they were disgusting. And just as we condemn Palestinian incitement to violence, we condemn these provocative remarks that also amount to incitement to violence,” said spokesman Ned Price, in fierce language not often used between the two countries.

“Until now, the White House has been restraining its reaction,” said Pinkas. “Now there is a growing understanding that it may not be possible to continue with the ‘business as usual’ approach.”

It seems the White House is growing increasingly frustrated with the Netanyahu government. The administration, led by US President Joe Biden, has said on several occasions that it will judge the Israeli government by its actions, not by the history of its members or their current statements.

“The White House realizes that there are personalities in the Netanyahu government that are very autonomous in their announcements and declarations,” said Freeman. “The Americans were forced to comment on recent statements. This is not the first time.”

With events on all fronts developing rapidly, it probably will not be the last.

“The friendship will always be strong, because of the values, public opinion and mutual interests. This is a disagreement between friends,” Freeman said.

However, sometimes friendship requires tough love.

“There is a whole menu of measures that the US can choose from with different levels of strength and harshness that can be used against Israel,” said Pinkas. “US support is first and foremost not about money and defense aid, but about the wide diplomatic umbrella it has spread over Israel.”

Smotrich is the leader of the far-right Religious Zionism party, one of Netanyahu’s senior coalition partners. In addition to holding the finance portfolio, Smotrich also heads the body that authorizes settlement construction and demolition of Palestinian homes in most of the West Bank Palestinian territories. The Civil Administration had been under the Defense Ministry until it was handed over to Smotrich as part of the coalition agreements between his party and Netanyahu’s Likud. The agreement also drew criticism and concern. Smotrich’s position puts him on a constant collision course with the Biden administration, which has a clear policy against Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank.

Israel captured the West Bank during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. While the international community sees the Israeli presence there as illegal, Israel has settled the area with hundreds of thousands of Jewish Israelis. Palestinians see the land as an integral part of their future state.

According to Pinkas, without consistent American vetoes at the United Nations Security Council, Israel would already be under a stringent sanction regime.

Smotrich campaigned on settlement expansion in the West Bank and, once sworn in, he vowed to continue moving forward. Reports that Israel agreed to a settlement freeze at the Aqaba summit as a measure to ease tensions with the Palestinians has been denied by senior ministers, including Netanyahu.

Smotrich is headed to the US later this month to attend a conference hosted by the Development Corporation for Israel-State of Israel Bonds. So far, it is unclear whether the Israeli finance minister will be meeting his American counterpart or other US officials as is often customary on such visits. If no such meetings are held, this will be a very clear signal of American dissatisfaction.

Another telling sign is that Netanyahu still has not received an invitation to visit the White House since he again took office at the end of last year.

Since the new Israeli government began its work, American officials have condemned and raised concern over a string of events and statements by Israeli cabinet ministers. Ben-Gvir’s contentious visit to the Temple Mount in early January drew criticism from Washington just as he took office as national security minister.

Last week when US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides encouraged the Israeli government to “put the brakes” on judicial reforms, Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli responded during a radio interview to the Kan national broadcaster that the US should “mind its own business.”

“I really think that most Israelis do not want America to stay out of their business,” Nides said Tuesday night at a conference hosted by the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

Israel needs the US for a wide range of critical matters. From substantial defense aide, to diplomatic backing in the international arena, Israel cannot face its biggest threat without US backing. The Iranian nuclear program, which has been at the top of Netanyahu’s agenda for years, cannot be curbed by Israel alone.

“The ability of Netanyahu to rally the Americans is almost non-existent,” Pinkas observed.

In 2015, Netanyahu addressed the US Congress, blindsiding then-President Barack Obama. Biden was vice president then and the memory remains fresh.

“Netanyahu has a major credibility deficit in the US,” said Pinkas. “Because of his actions now on the judicial reforms and the conflict with the Palestinians, he has lost his own ability to maneuver on the Iranian issue.”

Another thorn in the relationship is the Israeli position on the war in Ukraine.

Israel has adopted a policy under which it continues to sit on the fence, not taking sides in the war that is raging in Europe and essentially dividing the world. While Netanyahu inherited the policy from the previous government, it appears he has chosen to continue it.

“The US and Israel do not see eye-to-eye on the issue,” said Pinkas. “The US does not view Israel as an ally on the matter and it is very angry with Israel. This has brought increased pressure on Israel.”

In an attempt to pressure Israel further, the Ukrainian embassy in Tel Aviv published a list of recent Israeli commitments that it expects it to keep.

“This pressure has been bearing fruit. Israel has begun to make some changes,” Freeman added.

While such a shift could appease the Biden administration, the thorns in the relationship are stubborn and look like they are threatening to grow.

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By Gram Slattery, Tim Reid and Alexandra Ulmer

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – In Las Vegas, Nevada, Republican activists want to recapture the party from a local leader who backs former President Donald Trump’s false election fraud claims. In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a battle for control of the local Republican party’s assets has wound up in court. In North Carolina, party activists are seeking to punish Republican Senator Thom Tillis for his support for same-sex marriage rights.

As the 2024 presidential race kicks into gear, local Republican party organizations in many parts of the United States are consumed by rebellions, infighting and court battles that some officials and strategists said could damage the party’s chances of winning back the White House.

Reuters spoke to more than 50 operatives, activists and party officials in competitive states Arizona, Georgia and Nevada, which Trump narrowly lost in 2020; North Carolina, which he won; and in the key early primary state of South Carolina. Nevada also holds an early presidential nominating contest.

While Republican divisions in Congress have been widely covered, Reuters looked at grassroots battles, especially in the small handful of states that remain truly competitive, that have not been closely examined.

Some strategists and officials warned the spectacle of a party at war with itself in electoral battlegrounds and early primary states risks turning off voters and donors.

“The degree to which we can manage this will determine how well our presidential candidate does,” said Maurice Washington, the chair of the Republican Party in South Carolina’s Charleston County, a regular campaign stop for presidential candidates, and himself a target of right-wing challengers.

“There’s always that potential of behavior patterns turning off middle-of-the-road voters,” Washington said.

Although it is too early in the election cycle to see a direct impact of these fights, and these feuds could subside once a presidential nominee is chosen, Ronna McDaniel, the head of the Republican National Committee, the party’s central governing body, has called for unity.

Larry Hogan, a Trump critic who left office in January after serving two terms as the Republican governor of Maryland, told Reuters it was crucial for the party to move beyond the former president if it wanted to win the 2024 elections.

Democrats outperformed expectations and avoided a Republican “red wave” in the November 2022 midterm elections, in part because voters shunned a slew of Trump-backed, hard-right candidates. 

“Voters sent a clear message in the last three elections: they want competence and common sense solutions, not more crazy,” Hogan said. “If we want to start winning again, then we have to start listening.”

Not everyone agrees. North Carolina State Representative Mark Brody, who supports censuring Sen. Tillis, says it is better to address differences directly.

“I think one of the things that we fight against is that there is a tendency to say: Maybe we should just leave this alone. One side says: don’t bring this up because some people might turn away,” he said. “My side is: Let’s address that, and let’s set the record straight.”

IN NEVADA, A PARTY REVOLT

In Nevada’s Clark County, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the state’s population, Margaret White, a former chief of staff for county Republicans, is leading about 50 current and former party members in a rebellion against the current county party leader Jesse Law in the swing state.

White said that Law’s support for Trump’s false election fraud claims and his backing for far-right candidates in last November’s midterm elections are damaging Republicans’ prospects in 2024. Most state and local candidates backed by Law lost in the midterms.

The activists filed paperwork last month to launch a non-profit organization called “Las Vegas Voices of Reason.” White and Drew Hirsty, the county party member who made the filing, told Reuters that formalizing the structure will allow them to raise funds among independent voters as well as Republicans.

    The group is contacting 400 Republicans, who resigned or were expelled from the party since Law took over in 2021, asking them to register to vote so they can remove him in the summer leadership contest, White said.

“We want normal people in charge who can appeal to moderates, independents and minorities, and that’s not Jesse Law,” White told Reuters.

White said the party needs to appeal to a broader set of voters; otherwise it will keep losing elections. About half of White’s core group of 50 are Black, Hispanic or Asian, reflecting the diverse demographics of Nevada. Law backed several far right candidates that lost in November’s midterms.

Law, who served as a senior member of Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns in Nevada, and the county party did not respond to requests for comment.

John Bruchhagen, a Republican podcaster who says he is friends with people in both factions, said Law has worked hard to boost voter turnout and promote candidates but has an “impossible” job because the local party has become so factionalized.

The fighting in Clark County escalated in January when White was involved in a standoff with party members at the county party’s central committee meeting in Las Vegas.

White, who quit her post last year in protest at Law’s leadership, showed up with two bodyguards, one of whom was retired Las Vegas Police Lieutenant Randy Sutton, who told Reuters he carried a concealed firearm to the meeting.

White was ordered to leave by a security guard. Sutton told Reuters he was challenged to a fight by one Republican at the meeting who was part of a group that objected to White’s presence.

Law and the county party did not respond to questions about the standoff.

ARIZONA: A BID TO CHANGE PRIMARY RULES

In Arizona, a former conservative stronghold that is now a swing state, a group of Republicans dismayed by hard-right candidates who deny the 2020 election are raising money and gathering signatures to force a referendum on an amendment to the state constitution that would open primary elections to all voters,  according to Beau Lane, a Republican businessman who is involved in the effort.

Lane, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for Arizona Secretary of State last year, said his Save Democracy AZ group wants more moderate, less polarizing figures to emerge from the primary process.

SOUTH CAROLINA: FIGHTING OVER PARTY ASSETS

In one of South Carolina’s most populous counties, a breakaway far-right faction of the party led by Roger Slagle and Chad Caton who support the former president’s false claims of election fraud, reject candidates they say are insufficiently conservative.

These include former two-term South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who announced in February she was running for president; South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, who is widely expected to run for the presidency as well; and the former Vice President Mike Pence.

When the party prepared to host Pence at an event – which the former vice-president subsequently canceled – Caton criticized the effort in a text message to Reuters as  part of a “plan to push Trump out.”

Scott’s office declined to comment. Ken Farnaso, a spokesperson for Haley, did not respond to a request for comment.

HAVE REQUESTED PENCE COMMENT

The split dates back to last September when Slagle and his allies briefly quit the party but maintained control of the county party’s website, bank account, and folding tables and chairs. A judge last month ordered Slagle’s group to hand over the chairs.

Both sides acknowledge a legal fight over the bank account is likely. “Is it something you want to spend party funds on? No,” said Reese Boyd III, who is the recognized party county leader. “We’re all inside the big tent, and we’re shooting machine guns at one another. It’s not productive for anyone.”

CENSURE FOR NORTH CAROLINA SENATOR

In North Carolina, Republican party committees in about a third of the state’s counties have voted to censure Republican Senator Tillis for his support for same-sex marriage rights. They are now seeking a state-wide condemnation, which would block Tillis’s access to party resources and funds in a potential Senate primary.

Although Tillis retains support among the party establishment, Jim Womack, a county party chair, says the Senator’s critics are gaining strength. “The North Carolina Republican party will eventually be decentralized to the point where the grassroots will actually run the party,” Womack said.

Tillis did not respond to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Gram Slattery in Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Tim Reid in Las Vegas and Alexandra Ulmer in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Nathan Layne in Hillsdale, Michigan. Editing by Ross Colvin and Suzanne Goldenberg)

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