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Car carrying Rep. Jackie Walorski caused Indiana crash: cops

Car carrying Rep. Jackie Walorski caused Indiana crash: cops

The SUV carrying US Rep Jackie Walorski crossed the centerline of an Indiana highway on Wednesday, sparking the head-on collision that killed the representative and three others, according to new information from the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office.

The law enforcement agency had initially told reporters that the second vehicle, driven by Edith Schmucker, 56, of Nappanee, Indiana, had crossed the centerline and caused the collision.

“The information from the preliminary investigation at the scene, as to the direction of travel of the vehicles, was not correct,” the Sheriff’s office said in a statement Thursday.

Walorski, 58, was riding in a Toyota Rav 4 driven by St. Joseph County Republican Party chairman Zachery Potts, 27, when the SUV “crossed the centerline for reasons that are unknown,” the Sheriff’s office said.

House Rep. Jackie Walorski during a subcommittee meeting.
House Rep. Jackie Walorski was one of four people who died on the Indiana highway collision.
J. Scott Applewhite – Pool via C
The head-on collision involving two cars killed everyone involved, including US House Rep. Jackie Walorski.
The head-on collision involving two cars killed everyone involved, including US House Rep. Jackie Walorski.
WSBT-TV
Walorski's press secretary Emma Thomson, on the left, and St. Joseph County Republican Party chairman Zachery Potts were also in the car with Walorski when it crashed.
Walorski’s press secretary Emma Thomson, on the left, and St. Joseph County Republican Party chairman Zachery Potts were also in the car with Walorski when it crashed.
Emma Thomson/Linkedin; ZacheryPo

The representative’s press secretary, Emma Thomson, 28, was also a passenger in the SUV.

The Toyota hit Schmucker’s Buick LeSabre head-on.

Walorski, Schmucker, Potts and Thomson all died as a result of the crash.

All four were wearing their seatbelts, and airbags deployed in both vehicles, police said.

The incident remains under investigation.

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In S. Korea, Pelosi avoids public comments on Taiwan, China

In S. Korea, Pelosi avoids public comments on Taiwan, China

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — After infuriating China over her trip to Taiwan, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met South Korean political leaders in Seoul on Thursday but avoided making direct public comments on cross-Strait relations that could have further increased regional tensions.

Pelosi, the first incumbent House speaker to visit Taiwan in 25 years, said Wednesday in Taipei that the American commitment to democracy on the self-governing island and elsewhere “remains ironclad.” In response, China announced it would launch its largest military maneuvers aimed at Taiwan in more than a quarter of a century.

After visiting Taiwan, Pelosi and other members of Congress flew to South Korea — a key US ally where about 28,500 American troops are deployed — on Wednesday evening, as part of an Asian tour that included stops in Singapore and Malaysia.

She met South Korean National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin Pyo and other senior members of Parliament on Thursday. After that hour-long meeting, Pelosi spoke about the bilateral alliance, forged in blood during the 1950-53 Korean War, and legislative efforts to support a push to boost ties but did n’t directly mention her Taiwan visit de ella or the Chinese protests.

“We also come to say to you that a friendship, a relationship that began from urgency and security, many years ago, has become the warmest of friendships,” Pelosi said in a joint news conference with Kim. “We want to advance security, economy and governance in the inter-parliamentary way.”

Neither Pelosi nor Kim took questions from journalists.

Kim said he and Pelosi shared concerns about North Korea’s increasing nuclear threats. He said the two agreed to support their governments’ push to establish denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula based on both strong deterrence against North Korea and diplomacy.

Later in the day, Pelosi planned to visit an inter-Korean border area that is jointly controlled by the American-led UN Command and North Korea, a South Korean official said requesting anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to media on the matter .

If that visit occurs, Pelosi would be the highest-level American to go to the Joint Security Area since then-President Donald Trump went there in 2019 for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Sitting inside the 4-kilometer (2.5-mile)-wide Demilitarized Zone, a buffer created at the end of the Korean War, the JSA is the site of past bloodshed and a venue for numerous talks. US presidents and other top officials have often traveled to the JSA and other border areas to reaffirm their security commitment to South Korea.

Any critical statement from North Korea by Pelosi is certain to draw a furious response from Pyongyang. On Wednesday, the North’s Foreign Ministry slammed the United States over her Taiwan trip, saying that “the current situation clearly shows that the impudent interference of the US in internal affairs of other countries.”

Pelosi will speak by phone Thursday afternoon with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is on a vacation this week, according to Yoon’s office. No face-to-face meeting has been arranged between them. Yoon, a conservative, took office in May with a vow to boost South Korea’s military alliance with the United States and take a tougher line on North Korean provocations.

Pelosi’s Taiwan visit has angered China, which views the island nation as a breakaway province to be annexed by force if necessary. China views visits to Taiwan by foreign officials as recognizing its sovereignty.

“Today the world faces a choice between democracy and autocracy,” Pelosi said in a short speech during a meeting with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday. “America’s determination to preserve democracy, here in Taiwan and around the world, remains ironclad.”

The Biden administration and Pelosi have said the United States remains committed to the so-called one-China policy, which recognizes Beijing but allows informal relations and defense ties with Taipei. The administration discouraged but did not prevent Pelosi from visiting.

The military exercises that China launched in response to Pelosi’s Taiwan visit started Thursday, the Chinese military said. They were expected to be the biggest aimed at Taiwan since 1995, when China fired missiles in a large-scale exercise to show its displeasure over a visit by then-Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui to the US

China also already flew fighter jets and other war planes toward Taiwan, and blocked imports of citrus and fish from Taiwan.

Tsai pushed back firmly against Beijing’s military exercises, parts of which will enter Taiwanese waters.

“Facing deliberately heightened military threats, Taiwan will not back down,” Tsai said at her meeting with Pelosi. “We will firmly uphold our nation’s sovereignty and continue to hold the line of defense for democracy.”

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry on Thursday called the Chinese drills “unreasonable actions in an attempt to change the status quo, destroy the peace and stability of the region.”

“Our national military will continue to strengthen its alertness level, and every squadron will conduct normally their daily training in their usual places of operation,” it added.

In Washington, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby sought to tamp down fears. He told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Wednesday that US officials “don’t believe we’re at the brink now, and there’s certainly no reason for anybody to be talking about being at the brink going forward.”

Addressing Beijing’s threats, Pelosi said she hopes it’s clear that while China has prevented Taiwan from attending certain international meetings, “that they understand they will not stand in the way of people coming to Taiwan as a show of friendship and of support.”

Pelosi noted that congressional support for Taiwan is bipartisan, and she praised the island’s democracy. She stopped short of saying that the US would defend Taiwan militarily and emphasized that Congress is “committed to the security of Taiwan, in order to have Taiwan be able to most effectively defend themselves.”

On Thursday, the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations called for calm in the Taiwan Strait, urging against any “provocative action.” ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for a regional forum said they were concerned the situation could “destabilize the region and eventually could lead to miscalculation, serious confrontation, open conflicts and unpredictable consequences among major powers.”

Pelosi’s focus has always been the same, she said, going back to her 1991 visit to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, when she and other lawmakers unfurled a small banner supporting democracy two years after a bloody military crackdown on protesters at the square. That visit was also about human rights and what she called dangerous technology transfers to “rogue countries.”

Pelosi’s trip heightened US-China tensions more than visits by other members of Congress because of her position as leader of the House of Representatives. The last House speaker to visit Taiwan was Newt Gingrich in 1997.

China and Taiwan, which split in 1949 after a civil war, have no official relations but multibillion-dollar business ties.

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Wu reported from Taipei Taiwan.

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Associated Press writer David Rising in Phnom Penh, Cambodia contributed to this report.

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US-China ties on a precipice after Pelosi visit to Taiwan

US-China ties on a precipice after Pelosi visit to Taiwan

WASHINGTON (AP) — US-China relations are teetering on a precipice after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.

Pelosi received a rapturous welcome in Taipei and was applauded with strong bipartisan support in Washington, despite the Biden administration’s misgivings. But her trip from Ella has enraged Beijing and Chinese nationalists and will complicate already strained ties even after her departure.

Already, China is preparing new shows of force in the Taiwan Strait to make clear that its claims are non-negotiable on the island it regards as a renegade province. And, as the US presses ahead with demonstrations of support for Taiwan, arms sales and diplomatic lobbying, the escalating tensions have raised the risks of military confrontation, intentional or not.

And the trip could further muddle Washington’s already complicated relationship with Beijing as the two sides wrest with differences over trade, the war in Ukraine, human rights and more.

Wary of the reaction from China, the Biden administration discouraged but did not prevent Pelosi from visiting Taiwan. It has taken pains to stress to Beijing that the House speaker is not a member of the executive branch and her visit from her represents no change in the US “one-China” policy.

That was little comfort for Beijing. Pelosi, who is second in line to the US presidency, was no ordinary visitor and was greeted almost like a head of state. Taiwan’s skyline lit up with a message of welcome, and she met with the biggest names on the island, including its president, senior legislators and prominent rights activists.

Chinese officials were enraged.

“What Pelosi has done is definitely not a defense and maintenance of democracy, but a provocation and violation of China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said after her departure.

“Pelosi’s dangerous provocation is purely for personal political capital, which is an absolute ugly political farce,” Hua said. “China-US relations and regional peace and stability is suffering.”

The timing of the visit may have added to the tensions. It came ahead of this year’s Chinese Communist Party’s Congress at which President Xi Jinping will try to further cement his power from him, using a hard line on Taiwan to blunt domestic criticism on COVID-19, the economy and other issues.

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Summoned to the Foreign Ministry to hear China’s complaints, US Ambassador Nicholas Burns insisted that the visit was nothing but routine. “The United States will not escalate and stands ready to work with China to prevent escalation altogether,” Burns said, according to the State Department.

The White House also said that Pelosi’s visit “doesn’t change anything” about the US posture toward China and Taiwan. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the US had expected the harsh reaction from China, even as she called it unwarranted.

“We are going to monitor, and we will manage what Beijing chooses to do,” she added.

Alarmed by the possibility of a new geo-strategic conflict at the same time the West sides with Ukraine in its resistance to Russia’s invasion, the US has rallied allies to its side.

The foreign ministers of the Group of 7 industrialized democracies released a statement Wednesday essentially telling China — by the initials of its formal name, the People’s Republic of China — to calm down.

“It is normal and routine for legislators from our countries to travel internationally,” the G-7 ministers said. “The PRC’s escalatory response risks increasing tensions and destabilizing the region. We call on the PRC not to unilaterally change the status quo by force in the region, and to resolve cross-Strait differences by peaceful means.”

Still, that status quo — long identified as “strategic ambiguity” for the US and quiet but determined Chinese opposition to any figment of Taiwanese independence — appears to be no longer tenable for either side.

“It’s getting harder and harder to agree on Taiwan for both Beijing and Washington,” said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, an emeritus professor at Hong Kong Baptist University.

In Taipei and the US Congress, moves are afoot to clarify the ambiguity that has defined US relations with Taiwan since the 1970s. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will soon consider a bill that would strengthen relations, require the executive branch to do more to bring Taiwan into the international system and take more determined steps to help the island defend itself.

Writing in The New York Times, committee Chairman Robert Menendez, DN.J., lambasted China’s response to Pelosi’s visit.

“The result of Beijing’s bluster should be to stiffen resolve in Taipei, in Washington and across the region,” he said. “There are many strategies to continue standing up to Chinese aggression. There is a clear bipartisan congressional agreement on the importance of acting now to provide the people of Taiwan with the type of support they desperately need.”

But China appears to be pressing ahead with steps that could prove to be escalatory, including live-fire military exercises planned for this week and a steady uptick in flights of fighter jets in and near Taiwan’s self-declared air defense zone.

“They are going to test the Taiwanese and the Americans,” said Cabestan, the professor in Hong Kong. He said the actions of the US military in the area, including a naval force led by the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, will be critical.

China had ratcheted up potential confrontation weeks ago by declaring that the Taiwan Strait that separates the island from the mainland is not international waters. The US rejected this and responded to by sending more vessels through it. Cabestan said that he showed that “something had to be done on the US side to draw red lines to prevent the Chinese from going too far.”

Meanwhile, Taiwan is on edge, air raid shelters have been prepared and the government is increasing training for recruits serving their four months of required military service —- generally considered inadequate — along with annual two-week annual refresher courses for reservists.

“The Chinese feel that if they don’t act, that the United States is going to continue to slice the salami to take incremental actions toward supporting Taiwan independence,” said Bonnie Glaser, a China expert at the Asia Program at the German Marshall Fund .

She said that domestic US support for Taiwan actually gives China added incentive to take a strong stance: “China does feel under pressure to do more to signal that this is an issue in which China cannot compromise.”

Despite the immediate concerns about escalation and potential miscalculation, there are others who don’t believe the damage to US-China ties will be more long-lasting than that caused by other, non-Taiwan-related issues.

China is “going to raise a huge fuss and there will be military exercises and there will be embargoes on importing Taiwan goods. And after the shouting is over, you will see a gradual easing,” said June Teufel Dreyer, a Chinese politics specialist at the University of Miami.

“The situation never goes back to completely normal, whatever normal is, but it will definitely die down,” she said.

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AP writers Zeke Miller in Washington, Joe McDonald in Beijing and David Rising in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, contributed to this report.

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Pelosi tells Taiwan US commitment to democracy is ‘ironclad’

Pelosi tells Taiwan US commitment to democracy is 'ironclad'

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — After a trip that drew China’s wrath, a defiant Nancy Pelosi concluded her visit to Taiwan on Wednesday with a pledge that the American commitment to democracy on the self-governing island and elsewhere “remains ironclad.”

Pelosi was the first US House speaker to visit the island in more than 25 years, and China swiftly responded by announcing multiple military exercises nearby.

The speaker’s departure for South Korea came just a day before China was scheduled to launch its largest maneuvers aimed at Taiwan in more than a quarter of a century.

Before leaving, a calm but resolute Pelosi repeated previous remarks about the world facing “a choice between democracy and autocracy.”

“America’s determination to preserve democracy, here in Taiwan and around the world, remains ironclad,” she said in a short speech during a meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.

China claims Taiwan as its territory and opposes any engagement by Taiwanese officials with foreign governments.

The Biden administration, and Pelosi, have said that the United States remains committed to the so-called one-China policywhich recognizes Beijing but allows informal relations and defense ties with Taipei.

Nevertheless, China issued a series of harsh statements after the American delegation touched down late Tuesday in the Taiwanese capital, Taipei.

Taiwanese President Tsai pushed back firmly against Beijing’s military exercises, parts of which will enter Taiwanese waters.

“Facing deliberately heightened military threats, Taiwan will not back down,” Tsai said at her meeting with Pelosi. “We will firmly uphold our nation’s sovereignty and continue to hold the line of defense for democracy.”

The exercises, including those involving live fire, are to start Thursday and will be the biggest aimed at Taiwan since 1995, when China fired missiles in a large-scale exercise to show its displeasure over a visit by then-Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui to the US

In other activities, Pelosi visited a human rights museum in Taipei that details the history of the island’s martial-law era. She also met with some of Taiwan’s most prominent rights activists, including an exiled former Hong Kong bookseller who was detained by Chinese authorities, Lam Wing-kee.

Thanking Pelosi for her decades of support for Taiwan, the president presented her with a civilian honor, the Order of the Propitious Clouds.

A day earlier, China’s official Xinhua News Agency announced the military operations and showed a map outlining six different areas around Taiwan.

Arthur Zhin-Sheng Wang, a defense studies expert at Taiwan’s Central Police University, said three of the areas infringe on Taiwanese waters, meaning they are within 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers) of shore.

Using live fire in a country’s territorial airspace or waters is risky, Wang said, because under international rules of engagement, it can be seen as an act of war.

In Washington, John Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council, sought to tamp down fears. He told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Wednesday that US officials “don’t believe we’re at the brink now, and there’s certainly no reason for anybody to be talking about being at the brink going forward.”

Pelosi’s trip heightened US-China tensions more than visits by other members of Congress because of her high-level position as leader of the House of Representatives. The last House speaker to visit Taiwan was Newt Gingrich in 1997.

China’s response came on multiple fronts—military, diplomatic and economic.

Shortly after Pelosi landed Tuesday night, China announced live-fire drills that reportedly started that night, as well as the four-day exercises starting Thursday. The People’s Liberation Army Air Force also flew a contingent of 21 warplanes toward Taiwan.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng summoned the US ambassador in Beijing to convey the country’s protests the same night.

On Wednesday, China banned some imports from Taiwan, including citrus fruit and fish. That night, China flew an additional 27 fighter jets toward Taiwan.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said a Taiwanese citizen was detained on suspicion of inciting separatism. Yang Chih-yuan, originally from the city of Taichung, was shown surrounded by police in a CCTV video. Yang had been a candidate for a legislative position in New Taipei City, according to local media.

Addressing Beijing’s threats, Pelosi said she hopes it’s clear that while China has prevented Taiwan from attending certain international meetings, “that they understand they will not stand in the way of people coming to Taiwan as a show of friendship and of support.”

Pelosi noted that congressional support for Taiwan is bipartisan, and she praised the island’s democracy. She stopped short of saying that the US would defend Taiwan militarily, emphasizing that Congress is “committed to the security of Taiwan, in order to have Taiwan be able to most effectively defend themselves.”

Her focus has always been the same, she said, going back to her 1991 visit to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, when she and other lawmakers unfurled a small banner supporting democracy two years after a bloody military crackdown on protesters at the square. That visit was also about human rights and what she called dangerous technology transfers to “rogue countries.”

On this trip, Pelosi met with representatives from Taiwan’s legislature.

The speaker’s visit is “the strongest defense” of human rights, democratic values ​​and freedom, Tsai Chi-chang, vice president of Taiwan’s legislature, said in welcome.

Pelosi’s five-member delegation included Rep. Gregory Meeks, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi from the House Intelligence Committee. Rep. Andy Kim and Mark Takano also traveled with the speaker.

She also mentioned Rep. Suzan DelBene, whom Pelosi said was instrumental in the passage of a $280 billion bill aimed at boosting American manufacturing and research in semiconductor chips — an industry that Taiwan dominates and is vital for modern electronics.

Pelosi arrived Wednesday evening at a South Korea military base ahead of meetings with political leaders in Seoul, after which she will visit Japan.

Both countries are US alliance partners, together hosting about 80,000 American personnel as a bulwark against North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and China’s increased assertiveness in the South China and East China seas.

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Senate approves bill to aid vets exposed to toxic burn pits

Senate approves bill to aid vets exposed to toxic burn pits

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bill enhancing health care and disability benefits for millions of veterans exposed to toxic burn pits won final approval in the Senate on Tuesday, ending a brief stalemate over the measure that had infuriated advocates and inspired some to camp outside the Capitol .

The Senate approved the bill by a vote of 86-11. It now goes to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law. Biden described the legislation as the biggest expansion of benefits for service-connected health issues in 30 years and the largest single bill ever to address exposure to burn pits.

“I look forward to signing this bill, so that veterans and their families and caregivers impacted by toxic exposures finally get the benefits and comprehensive health care they earned and deserve,” Biden said.

The Senate had overwhelmingly approved the legislation back in June, but a do-over was required to make a technical fix. That process derailed when Republicans made a late attempt to change another aspect of the bill last week and blocked it from advancing.

The abrupt delay outraged veterans groups and advocates, including comedian Jon Stewart. It also placed GOP senators in the uncomfortable position of delaying the top legislative priority of service organizations this session of Congress.

A group of veterans and their families have been camping out at the Capitol since that vote. They had endured thunderstorms and Washington’s notorious summer humidity, but they were in the galleries as senators cast their votes.

“You can go home knowing the good and great thing you have done and accomplished for the United States of America,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., told them.

The legislation expands access to health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs for millions who served near burn pits. It also directs the VA to presume that certain respiratory illnesses and cancers were related to burn pit exposure, allowing veterans to obtain disability payments to compensate for their injury without having to prove the illness was a result of their service.

Roughly 70% of disability claims related to burn pit exposure are denied by the VA due to lack of evidence, scientific data and information from the Defense Department.

The military used burn pits to dispose of such things as chemicals, cans, tires, plastics and medical and human waste.

Hundreds of thousands of Vietnam War era veterans and survivors also stand to benefit from the legislation. The bill adds hypertension, or high blood pressure, as a presumptive disease associated with Agent Orange exposure.

The Congressional Budget Office projected that about 600,000 of 1.6 million living Vietnam vets would be eligible for increased compensation, though only about half would have severe enough diagnoses to warrant more compensation.

Also, veterans who served in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Guam, American Samoa and Johnston Atoll will be presumed to have been exposed to Agent Orange. That’s another 50,000 veterans and survivors of deceased veterans who would get compensation for illnesses presumed to have been caused by their exposure to the herbicide, the CBO projected.

The bill also authorizes 31 major medical VA health clinics and research facilities in 19 states.

The bill is projected to increase federal deficits by about $277 billion over 10 years.

The bill has been a years-long effort begun by veterans and their families who viewed the burn pits used in Iraq and Afghanistan as responsible for respiratory problems and other illnesses the veterans experienced after returning home. It was named after Sgt. First Class Heath Robinson from Ohio, who died in 2020 from cancer he attributed to prolonged exposure to burn pits. His widow, Danielle Robinson, was the first lady Jill Biden’s guest at the president’s State of the Union address earlier this year.

Stewart, the former host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” also brought increased exposure to the burn pit maladies veterans were facing. He was also in the gallery watching the vote Tuesday. He wept and held his head in his hand as the final vote began.

“I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a situation where people who have already given so much had to fight so hard to get so little,” he said after the vote. “And I hope we learn a lesson.”

The House was the first to act on the burn pits legislation. An earlier version of the House approved in March was expected to increase spending by more than $320 billion over 10 years, but senators trimmed some of the costs early on by phasing in certain benefit enhancements. They also added funds for staffing to help the VA keep up with the expected increase in demand for health care and an increase in disability claims.

Some GOP senators are still concerned that the bill will increase delays at the VA because of an increased demand for veterans seeking care or disability compensation.

“What we have learned is that the VA cannot deliver what is promised because it does not have the capacity to handle the increase,” said Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.

Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., led the effort to get the bill passed in the Senate. After passage, Tester told reporters he received a call from Biden, thanking him for “taking a big weight” off his shoulder.

For Biden, the issue is very personal. He has raised the prospect that burn pits in Iraq were responsible for the death of his son Beau.

“We don’t know for sure if a burn pit was the cause of his brain cancer, or the diseases of so many of our troops,” Biden said at his State of the Union speech. “But I’m committed to finding out everything we can.”

Moran said that when the bill failed to pass last week, he was disappointed but remembered the strength of the protesters who had sat outside in the scorching heat for days.

“Thanks to the United States Senate for demonstrating when there’s something good and a good cause, this place still works,” Moran said.

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Associated Press staff writer Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.

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Takeaways: Abortion backlash in Kansas, Greitens’ collapse

Takeaways: Abortion backlash in Kansas, Greitens' collapse

WASHINGTON (AP) — In one of the biggest days of this year’s primary campaign season, voters rejected a measure that would have made it easier to restrict abortion rights in red-state Kansas and repudiated a scandal-tarred former governor seeking a US Senate seat in Missouri.

Meanwhile, a Republican congressman who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection lost to a Trump-backed opponent early Wednesday, while two other impeachment-supporting House Republicans awaited results in their primaries in Washington state.

In Michigan, a political newcomer emerged from the state’s messy Republican gubernatorial primary, setting up a rare woman-vs.-woman general election matchup between conservative commentator Tudor Dixon and incumbent Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Takeaways from election results Tuesday night:

RED-STATE KANSAS REJECTS ANTI-ABORTION AMENDMENT

Kansas may seem like an unlikely place for abortion rights supporters to notch a major victory.

But on Tuesday, voters in the conservative state resoundingly rejected a constitutional amendment that would have allowed the Legislature to ban abortion. It was the first major test of voter sentiment since the Supreme Court ruling in June to rescind the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

The amendment would have allowed the Legislature to overturn a 2019 state Supreme Court decision declaring access to abortion a “fundamental” right under the state constitution.

Its failure at the ballot in a state Donald Trump won by nearly 15 points issues a stark warning to Republicans, who have downplayed the political impact of the high court’s ruling. It also hands a considerable win to Democrats, who are feeling newly energized heading into what was expected to be a tough midterm election season for them.

Kansas currently allows abortion until the 22nd week of pregnancy. After that, abortion is allowed only to save a patient’s life or to prevent “a substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.”

Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat who supports abortion rights, has warned that the Republican-led Legislature’s efforts to ban abortion would hurt the state. On Tuesday it became clear that many voters agree with her.

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TRUMP’S REVENGE

First-term Michigan Rep. Peter Meijer was one of 10 Republicans who joined Democrats to vote in favor of impeaching Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. On Tuesday, he became the latest victim of the former president’s revenge campaign.

Meijer, an heir to a Midwestern grocery store empire and a former Army reserve officer who served in Iraq, lost the GOP contest to former Trump administration official John Gibbs.

“I’m proud to have remained true to my principles, even when doing so came at a significant political cost,” Meijer said in a statement.

In addition to having Trump’s endorsement, Gibbs also shared Trump’s penchant for conspiracy theories: He parroted Trump’s lies about a stolen 2020 election and once spread false claims that Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign chair participated in a satanic ritual that involved bodily fluids.

Meijer is the second of the 10 impeachment-supporting Republicans to lose his primary, joining South Carolina Rep. Tom Rice, who was defeated by a Trump-backed challenger in June. Four others opted to withdraw rather than face voters’ wrath. And so far, only California Rep. David Valadao has survived — just barely.

Also on the ballot Tuesday were Washington state Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler and Dan Newhouse, who both faced Trump-backed challengers over their impeachment votes. But those contests were too early to call because Washington state conducts elections by mail, delaying the reporting of results.

Herrera Beutler’s challengers include Joe Kent, a former Green Beret who has cultivated links to right-wing extremist groups and employs a campaign aid who was a member of the Proud Boys. Newhouse’s opponents include Loren Culp, a former GOP gubernatorial nominee who falsely claimed that his 13-point loss from him to Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee in 2020 was the result of voter fraud.

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TRUMP’S SLATE

Most of the candidates on Trump’s Arizona slate had a successful primary night.

Senate Blake Masters, whose campaign was bankrolled by tech investor Peter Thiel, won his Republican primary candidate after echoing Trump’s lies of a stolen election and playing up cultural grievances that encourage the right, including critical race theory and allegations of big tech censorship.

In the secretary of state race, Mark Finchem, an Arizona state lawmaker who worked to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss in the state, won his primary.

In the state Legislature, Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, who testified at a Jan. 6 hearing about Trump’s pressure to overturn the 2020 election, lost his Republican primary for a state Senate seat to a Trump-backed former lawmaker, David Farnsworth.

The possible exception to Trump’s streak of wins was Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake. She was trailing the establishment-backed Karrin Taylor Robson, who was endorsed by Trump’s estranged vice president, Mike Pence. That could still change. Election-day and late-arriving mail ballots that would likely favor Lake are still being counted.

Arizona has emerged as a key swing state. But it also carries significance to Trump after Joe Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate in decades to carry what was once a reliably Republican state.

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GREITENS’ COMEBACK COLLAPSES

Democratic hopes of picking up a US Senate seat in deep-red Missouri faltered Tuesday after Republican voters selected Attorney General Eric Schmitt as their nominee over former Gov. Eric Greitens, who resigned in disgrace in 2018.

Greitens, they predicted, would be toxic in a general election. Democrats landed a strong recruit in beer heir Trudy Busch Valentine, who won her primary Tuesday. And the state’s Republican establishment prepared to put millions of dollars behind an independent candidate in the general election, potentially fracturing the GOP vote.

But Greitens came up short Tuesday, finishing a distant third behind Schmitt and US Rep. Vicky Hartzler. His campaign’s tailspin can likely be traced back to March, when his ex-wife submitted a bombshell legal filing in the former couple’s child custody case.

Sheena Greitens said in a sworn statement that Eric Greitens had abused her and one of their young sons. She also said he displayed such “unstable and coercive behavior” in the lead-up to his 2018 resignation that others took steps to limit his access to firearms.

At the time, Greitens faced potential impeachment after his former hairdresser testified that he blindfolded and restrained her in his basement, assaulted her and appeared to take a compromising photo to pressure her to keep quiet about an affair.

He resigned from office — and avoided testifying under oath about the affair.

He launched his comeback campaign for Senate last year, marketing himself as an unabashedly pro-Trump conservative. And while many in Missouri wrote him off, one important political figure didn’t: Donald Trump, who mused publicly about Greitens’ attributes.

But in the end, Trump stopped short of issuing an endorsement, instead issuing a vague statement this week throwing his support behind “ERIC.”

And on Tuesday, the other “ERIC” in the race — Schmitt — won.

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MESSY RACE IN MICHIGAN

At its essence, Michigan’s raucous Republican gubernatorial primary was a contest of which candidate’s personal baggage was the least disqualifying. On Tuesday, conservative media personality Tudor Dixon was the victor, setting up a November general election against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the battleground state.

Dixon’s past as an actor in a series of vulgar and low-budget horror movies became a campaign issue. But her career was moonlighting in titles such as “Buddy BeBop Vs. the Living Dead” and a vampire TV series called “Transitions” paled in comparison to her rivals’ problems.

One rival, Ryan Kelley, faces federal misdemeanor charges after he was recorded on video in Washington during the Jan. 6 insurrection directing a mob of Trump supporters toward a set of stairs leading to the US Capitol. Kelley has pleaded not guilty.

Another, Kevin Rinke, is a former car dealer who settled a series of lawsuits in the 1990s after he was alleged to have made racist and sexist comments, which included calling women “ignorant and stupid” and stating that they “should not be allowed to work in public.”

A third, Garrett Soldano, is a chiropractor and self-help guru who has sold supplements he falsely claimed were a therapeutic treatment for the coronavirus.

Many in the state’s Republican establishment, including billionaire former Trump education secretary Betsy DeVos, view Dixon as their best shot at defeating Whitmer. Trump endorsed Dixon in the race Friday, just a few days before the primary.

But her primary victory is an outcome few would have predicted months ago. In addition to the shortcomings of her rivals, her path to her was cleared when the two best-known candidates in the race were kicked off the ballot in May for submitting false petition signatures.

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Democrat Sinema’s views on economic bill remain shrouded

Democrat Sinema's views on economic bill remain shrouded

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s views remained a mystery Monday as party leaders eyed votes later this week on their emerging economic legislation and both parties pointed to dueling studies they used to either laud or belittle the measure’s impact.

With Democrats needing all of their 50 votes for the energy and health care measure to move through the Senate, a Sinema spokesperson suggested the Arizona lawmaker would take her time revealing her decision. Hannah Hurley said Sinema was reviewing the bill and “will need to see what comes out of the parliamentarian process.” It could take days for the chamber’s rules umpire to decide whether the measure flouts procedural guidelines and needs changes.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., and Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va., announced an agreement last week on legislation increasing taxes on huge corporations and wealthy individuals, bolstering fossil fuels and climate change efforts and curbing pharmaceutical prices. Overall, it would raise $739 billion over 10 years in revenue and spend $433 billion, leaving over $300 billion to modestly reduce federal deficits.

The legislation would give President Joe Biden a victory on his domestic agenda in the runup to this fall’s congressional elections. If Sinema demands changes, she would face enormous pressure to reach an accord with top Democrats and avoid a campaign-season defeat that would be a jarring blow to her party’s prospects in November.

Manchin is one of Congress’ most conservative and contrarian Democrats. He has spent over a year forcing his party to starkly trim his economic proposals, citing inflation fears, and his compromise with Schumer last week shocked colleagues who’d given up hope that he would agree to such a wide-ranging measure.

Sinema has played a lower-profile but similar role as Manchin — a lawmaker who can be unpredictable and willing to use the leverage all Democrats have in a 50-50 Senate. Last year, she lauded a proposal for a minimum tax on large corporations — which the new legislation has — but has also expressed opposition to increasing corporate or individual tax rates.

“She has a lot in this bill,” Manchin, citing her support for past efforts to rein prices for prescription drugs, told reporters Monday. He said she’s been “very adamant” about not increasing taxes, adding, “I feel the same way.”

Manchin has asserted the bill’s imposition of a 15% minimum tax on corporations earning over $1 billion annually is not a tax increase. He says it closes loopholes such companies use to escape paying the current 21% corporate tax.

Republicans mocked that reasoning and said its tax increases would weaken the economy and kill jobs. They cited a report from Congress’ nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation that said about half of the corporate minimum tax would hit manufacturing firms.

“So in the middle of a supply chain crisis, Democrats want huge job-killing tax hikes that will disproportionately crush American manufacturing and manufacturing jobs,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Biden has said he will not raise taxes on people earning under $400,000 annually. Manchin has said the Democratic package honors that pledge.

Republicans recently distributed another Joint Committee on Taxation analysis that said the measure would raise taxes on people earning below that figure. Democrats criticized the study as incomplete, saying it omitted the impact on middle-class families of the bill’s health insurance subsidies and clean energy tax cuts.

Democrats touted a report by Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. It said the measure “will nudge the economy and inflation in the right direction, while meaningfully addressing climate change and reducing the government’s budget deficits.”

Schumer said he expected votes to begin this week in the Senate, where Vice President Kamala Harris could cast the tie-breaking vote to assure its passage. The narrowly divided House has left town for an August recess, but Democratic leaders have said they would bring lawmakers back for a vote, perhaps next week.

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Bipartisan compromise bill would restore abortion rights

Bipartisan compromise bill would restore abortion rights

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of senators is pushing compromise legislation to restore abortion access in the wake of the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, a long shot effort to put a majority of the Senate on the record opposing the decision.

While the bill is not expected to pass — and is unlikely to even get a vote — the legislation introduced by two Republicans and two Democrats on Monday is intended to send a signal to state legislatures and the public that a majority of the Senate supports codifying Roe , even if they can’t get the necessary 60 votes to pass it in the 50-50 Senate.

“We still think there is utility in showing there is a bipartisan majority that would want to codify Roe,” even though the bill doesn’t have enough votes, said Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, who introduced the legislation with Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

The legislation would prohibit most state regulations that prevent abortion access before fetal viability, generally considered to be around 24 weeks. It would allow state restrictions after that point, as long as the mother’s life is protected. It would also protect access to contraception, an issue after Justice Clarence Thomas suggested in a concurring opinion to the decision overturning Roe that decisions guaranteeing access to contraception and other rights may need to be revisited.

The bipartisan bill is narrower than legislation preferred by most Democrats — passed by the House but blocked by Senate Republicans — that would have protected abortion rights and expanded them beyond what was allowed in the landmark 1972 Roe v. wade decision. Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Collins and Murkowski all voted against that bill despite opposition to the overturning of Roe.

Kaine said he felt like Democrats “left votes on the table” after that effort. He said he was encouraged by a new law designed to reduce gun violence that passed the House and Senate after horrific shootings in Texas and New York.

“There were not 60 votes either” for that legislation until members decided that inaction was no longer an option, he said.

Democrats would need 10 Republican votes to overcome a filibuster and get a bill through the 50-50 Senate, but only Collins and Murkowski have publicly backed abortion rights.

By overturning Roe, the court has allowed states to enact strict abortion limits, including many that had previously been deemed unconstitutional. The ruling is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half of the states.

Already, a number of GOP-controlled states have moved quickly to curtail or outlaw abortion, while states controlled by Democrats have sought to champion access. Voters now rank abortion as among the most pressing issues facing the country, a shift in priorities that Democrats hope will reshape the political landscape in their favor for the midterm elections.

The support of Kaine and Sinema, a moderate, comes as some activists have accused President Joe Biden and other top Democrats of failing to respond forcefully enough to the decision.

Kaine said there is an increased sense of urgency since the June decision, and suggested he or others may go to the floor at some point and request a vote, an effort that is unlikely to succeed but could call attention to the bill as majorities of Americans say they disagree with the Supreme Court decision.

“People are paying attention to it,” Kaine said.

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White House admits Inflation Reduction Act will barely impact inflation

White House admits Inflation Reduction Act will barely impact inflation

The $739 billion Democratic spending plan dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act will barely affect prices over the next decade, experts say — and even the White House admitted it Monday.

According to Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi, the 725-page bill hammered out by Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) would only lower the Consumer Price Index – a closely watched gauge that measures what consumers paid for goods and services –0.33% by 2031.

“Through the middle of this decade the impact of the legislation on inflation is marginal, but it becomes more meaningful later in the decade,” Zandi wrote.

Jesse Lee, a senior communications adviser to the National Economic Council, was quick to tout Zandi’s findingstweeting, “This is actually the overwhelming consensus.”

“White House officials’ own rosiest, best-case-scenario spin is that their ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ will have taken one third of one percentage point off inflation by nine years from now?” Andrew Quinn, a speechwriter for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), asked incredulously.

“White House comms spiking the ball over a bill that doesn’t reduce inflation until 9 years from now,” mocked Heritage Foundation spokesman Jon Cooper. “And keep in mind, this is obviously the best number they could come up with.”

The White House admitted the Inflation Reduction Act from Sens. Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer won't impact prices much over the next decade.
The White House admitted the Inflation Reduction Act from Sens. Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer won’t impact prices much over the next decade.
Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Schumer and Manchin have claimed the bill would reduce inflation by lowering prescription drug and energy costs while reducing the federal budget deficit through a 15% minimum tax on corporations that report income of at least $1 billion per year, and increased tax enforcement by the IRS, and increased tax enforcement by the IRS. taking a share of profits earned by general partners at private equity, hedge funds, and venture capital firms known as carried interest.

However, experts say the inflation cure prescribed by the Democrats is likely to be ineffective, and could be worse than the disease.

Alex Muresianu, a federal policy analyst with the Tax Foundation, told The Post on Monday that the corporate tax – also called the “book minimum tax” — would “reduce supply in the long-run by reducing incentives to invest, particularly for manufacturing firms .”

“Meanwhile, on the demand-side, by taking money out of the economy, tax increases in excess of the spending attached could reduce inflation incrementally, but there are a couple problems,” he added. “First, in the first couple years, the bill does not net reduce the deficit — most of the net reduction in the deficit over the ten-year window comes in later years.

Schumer and Manchin claimed the bill would lower prescription drug and energy costs.
Schumer and Manchin claimed the bill would lower prescription drug and energy costs.
Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

“And second, the tax increases like the book minimum tax are not focused on taxpayers with high marginal propensity to consume, meaning the tax increase does not come with a particularly large reduction in aggregate demand.

“So, on the whole,” Muresianu concluded, “we should expect the bill to have a negligible impact on inflation. The Federal Reserve’s choices will play a much bigger role in whether or not inflation subsides than whether or not this bill passes.”

Levon Galstyan, a Certified Public Accountant with Jersey City-based Oak View Law Group, agreed, noting: The Inflation Reduction Act will shift resources through hundreds of billions of dollars in special-interest subsidies targeted to Democratic constituencies, further limiting supply through restrictions and tax increases.

“A deterrent to output would be that manufacturers would pay around half of all new levies,” Galstyan also told The Post. “The legislation would subject small businesses to a horde of tax enforcers, driving up prices and limiting their capacity to serve customers.”

According to Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi, the bill would only lower the Consumer Price Index by 0.33% by 2031.
According to Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi, the bill would only lower the Consumer Price Index by 0.33% by 2031.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Peter Morici, an economist and professor emeritus at the RH Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, also argued that there was almost no chance the legislation would reduce prices.

“One of the Fed bank presidents [Neel Kashkari of Minneapolis] came out [Sunday] morning … saying we’re going to get inflation down at 2%. If you believe that, then I want you to go to Yankee Stadium on Sunday afternoon and look for me playing shortstop,” Morici told The Post.

“I’m 73 years old. I was a pretty damn good middle infielder, but I didn’t have much of a career because I never could hit the breaking ball,” he added. “I mean, that’s as credible as I’m gonna play shortstop for the New York Yankees.”

Other experts have pointed out that the legislation fails to provide a long-term solution for bringing down inflation.

“Inflation results from deep-set, fundamental issues and this bill does nothing to address those factors,” said James Lucier, managing director at Washington-based policy research firm Capital Alpha.

Biden administration official Jesse Lee, a senior communications adviser to the National Economic Council, agreed with Zandi's findings.
Biden administration official Jesse Lee, a senior communications adviser to the National Economic Council, agreed with Zandi’s findings.
AP Photo/Susan Walsh

“Inflation will probably fix itself over a ten year period, if we’re lucky,” Lucier told The Post, labeling the supposed “anti-inflationary effects” of the legislation as “smoke and mirrors.”

Rather than bringing down prices, some of the economists suggested that federal tax credits for Americans to buy electric vehicles and the extension of ObamaCare subsidies would exacerbate the problem.

“They’re giving people money to buy electric vehicles. They’re in short supply. The lithium that goes into them is in short supply. That’s gonna raise the price of electric vehicles,” said Morici, who added that “additional subsidies to buy health insurance is not going to lower the cost of health insurance, it’s going to increase the price.”

“Many of the incentives that are in the bill tend to increase the price of components for products that go into the electrical grid and so forth,” Morici continued. “So it’s basically giving people money to chase products that are in short supply.”

Will McBride, VP of federal tax and economic policy at the Tax Foundation, echoed that concern, saying the ObamaCare subsidies would make “entitlement spending” worse.

“Essentially,” McBride said, “the value of the dollar is getting diminished as the federal government’s ability to repay its debt diminishes.”

Additional reporting by Lydia Moynihan and Ariel Zilber.

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What to watch in primaries in Arizona, Michigan, elsewhere

What to watch in primaries in Arizona, Michigan, elsewhere

In Missouri, scandal-ridden former Gov. Eric Greitens is attempting a political comeback. In Michigan, a crowded field of Republican gubernatorial candidates includes a man charged in the Jan. 6 US Capitol attack. In Arizona, a prominent figure in the QAnon conspiracy movement is running for the US House.

Those are among some of the most notable contests in Tuesday’s primary elections being held in six states.

Arizona, which Democrat Joe Biden narrowly won in 2020, is a top target for former President Donald Trump, who tried in vain to get his defeat overturned. He has endorsed a slate of candidates up and down the ballot who have promoted his false claims of a stolen election.

Trump has also been zeroed in on the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach him over the Jan. 6 insurrection. Three of them are on the ballot Tuesday in Washington state and Michigan, as are two members of “the Squad,” Democratic Reps. Cori Bush of Missouri and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.

Meanwhile, Kansas voters could clear the way for the Republican-controlled Legislature to further restrict or ban abortion if they approve a proposed state constitutional change. It’s the first referendum vote on abortion policy by a state since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.

Ohio is also holding a primary for state legislative races on Tuesday, three months after its statewide and congressional contests — a split system that resulted from legal wrangling over redistricting.

What to watch:

ARIZONA

Trump’s endorsed in Arizona all have one thing in common: They have loudly candidates disseminated misinformation about the legitimacy of the 2020 election, despite election officials and Trump’s own attorney general saying there is no credible evidence the race was tainted.

In the governor’s race, Trump has backed former television news anchor Kari Lakewho has said that she would not have certified Arizona’s election results in 2020. Lake faces businesswoman Karrin Taylor Robson, who is endorsed by former Vice President Mike Pence and outgoing Gov. Doug Duey.

Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a staunch defender of the 2020 election, is strongly favored to win the Democratic nomination for governor.

In the Republican primary for US Senate, Trump has backed tech investor Blake Masters as the candidate to go up against Democratic incumbent Mark Kelly in the fall. Masters, whose campaign has been bankrolled by billionaire Peter Thiel, has called for reducing legal immigration and espoused the baseless “great replacement” conspiracy theory, claiming Democrats are trying to “replace Americans who were born here.”

Attorney General Mark Brnovich, another Senate candidate, has been weighed down by lackluster fundraising and fierce criticism from Trump, who says Brnovich did little to advance his election fraud claims. Another top candidate, Jim Lamonthe founder of a solar energy firm, has touted his experience as a military veteran and entrepreneur.

The Republican primary for secretary of state includes Trump-backed legislator Mark Finchem, a state representative who worked to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss; state Rep. Shawnna Bolick, who introduced a bill to let legislators ignore election results and choose their own presidential electors; and state Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, who has long pushed to overhaul election laws. The GOP establishment has rallied around advertising executive Beau Lane in the race.

Ron Watkins, who has ties to the QAnon conspiracy theory, is considered a long shot in his House run. Watkins, a Republican, served as the longtime administrator of the online message boards that became the home of the anonymous “Q.” The conspiracy theory is centered around the baseless belief that Trump waged a secret campaign against enemies in the “deep state” and that a group of satanic, cannibalistic child molesters secretly runs the globe.

In the state Legislature, Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowerswho testified at a Jan. 6 hearing about Trump’s pressure to overturn the 2020 election, faces a Trump-backed candidate in his bid to run for the state Senate.

MICHIGAN

The Republican primary for governor was wild from the start, with five candidates getting kicked off the ballot for failing to file enough valid nominating signatures.

Several of the remaining candidates have baggage that could hurt in a general election against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Real estate broker Ryan Kelley has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges after authorities said he rallied Trump’s supporters to storm the US Capitol. Businessman Kevin Rinke was sued in the 1990s for sex harassment and racial discrimination — allegations he says were lies. Chiropractor Garrett Soldano hawked supplements he falsely claimed treated COVID-19. Businesswoman Tudor Dixonwho has been endorsed by Trump, has previously acted in low-budget horror pictures, one of which included a zombie biting off a man’s genitals.

All of the candidates falsely say there was fraud in the 2020 election, with Dixon, Kelley and Soldano saying the election was stolen from Trump.

Republican Rep. Peter Meijer is hoping to hold on to his seat after voting to impeach Trump. The former president has endorsed businessman and missionary John Gibbswho worked in the Trump administration under Housing Secretary Ben Carson.

MISSOURI

Greitens’ political career appeared over when he resigned as governor in 2018, following his admission to an extramarital affair and accusations of blackmail and campaign finance violations. On Tuesday, the former Navy SEAL officer has a chance at redemption in his Republican primary for the seat held by retiring GOP US Sen. Roy Blunt.

Greitens, Attorney General Eric Schmitt and US Rep. Vicky Hartzler are the front-runners in a crowded 21-person GOP field that includes US Rep. Billy Long and Mark McCloskey, the St. Louis lawyer who along with his wife pointed guns at racial injustice protesters who ventured onto their private street.

Trump has not made an endorsement in the race, though he’s ruled out Hartzler.

The GOP winner in Missouri, a solidly Republican state, will be favored in November. But Republican leaders have long worried that Greitens — his ex-wife has also accused him of abuseallegations Greitens has called “baseless” — could win the primary but lose the general election.

On the Democratic side, the nomination appears to be up for grabs between Lucas Kuncea Marine veteran and self-proclaimed populist, and Trudy Busch Valentinean heiress of the Busch beer fortune who has largely self-funded her campaign.

WASHINGTON

Two Republican House members from Washington state who voted to impeach Trump face primary challengers endorsed by him.

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, who has been in Congress since 2011, has said she voted for impeachment because she had “an obligation to the Constitution.” Trump has endorsed Joe Kenta former Green Beret and a conservative cable show regular who echoes the former president’s grievances about the 2020 election outcome.

Rep. Dan Newhouse, a congressman since 2015, said he cast the vote to impeach Trump for inciting and refusing to immediately stop the Jan. 6 insurrection. Among his challengers he is Loren Culpa Trump-backed former small-town police chief who refused to concede the 2020 governor’s race to Democrat Jay Inslee.

In Washington, the top two vote-getters in each race, regardless of party, move forward to November.

KANSAS

Voters will decide whether to approve a change to the state constitution that could allow the Legislature to restrict or ban abortion despite a 2019 state Supreme Court ruling that abortion access is a fundamental right. It’s the first referendum on abortion by a state since Roe v. Wade’s reverse.

In statewide races, Republican Kris Kobach is running for attorney general as he attempts a political comeback following losses in races for governor and US Senate in previous years. Kobach, the state’s former secretary of state, served as vice chair of a short-lived Trump commission on election fraud after the 2016 election.

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Associated Press writers Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix; Sara Burnett in Chicago; Jim Salter in O’Fallon, Missouri; Chris Grygiel in Seattle; and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas; contributed to this report.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.

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Follow AP for full coverage of the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ap_politics.

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