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Trump ally Navarro sued for alleged unofficial email account

Trump ally Navarro sued for alleged unofficial email account

NEW YORK (AP) — The Justice Department filed suit Wednesday against Peter Navarro, claiming the former adviser to Donald Trump used an unofficial email account while working in the White House and wrongfully retained presidential records.

The lawsuit in federal court in Washington claims Navarro used at least one “non-official” email account — a ProtonMail account — to send and receive emails. The legal action comes just weeks after Navarro was indicted on criminal charges after refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

The civil cases alleges that by using the unofficial email account, Navarro failed to turn over presidential records to the National Archives and Records Administration.

The Justice Department is asking a federal judge for an order “authorizing the recovery of any Presidential records in the possession, custody, and/or control of Mr. Navarro.” The suit also seeks unspecified damage.

“Mr. Navarro is wrongfully retaining Presidential records that are the property of the United States, and which constitute part of the permanent historical record of the prior administration,” the suit states.

A lawyer representing Navarro in the criminal case did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment about the civil case.

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Primaries bring big losses for incumbent GOP state lawmakers

Primaries bring big losses for incumbent GOP state lawmakers

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — As Wisconsin’s longest-serving Assembly speaker, Republican Robin Vos has presided over efforts to restrict abortions, weaken unions, expand gun rights and push back against COVID-19 mandates. Despite that, he’s facing a primary challenger who claims he’s not conservative enough.

The challenger’s argument: You should do more to respond to former President Donald Trump’s unfounded allegations of fraud in the 2020 elections.

Primary challengers like the one facing Vos next Tuesday have been successfully targeting incumbent state lawmakers across the country, and Republicans are taking the brunt of it.

With more than half the state legislative primaries concluded, Republican incumbents this year have been losing at nearly twice the average rate of the past decade, according to data compiled for The Associated Press by the election tracking organization Ballotpedia. The primary loss rate for Democratic state lawmakers is similar to previous elections.

The Republican losses continued to mount Tuesday, as Trump-endorsed candidates You incumbent state senators in Arizona and Michigan and a conservative challenger beat the assistant majority leader of the Missouri Senate. Though not technically an incumbent, Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers also lost a bid for state Senate after being criticized for refusing to help Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

In many cases, Republican lawmakers are being defeated by challengers portraying themselves as more conservative on election integrity, transgender policiesschool instruction and other hot-button issues.

“We have a far-right faction that is very dissatisfied with what’s happening on the left. So if you are not rabidly a fanatic that just punches every button, then you’re going to have an issue,” said Arkansas state Rep. Craig Christiansen, who lost in a Republican primary earlier this year.

Though Christiansen considers himself “very conservative,” he drew multiple challengers and failed to advance to a runoff. That came after he voted against overriding Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s veto of legislation making Arkansas the first state banning gender-confirming treatments for those younger than 18. Christiansen said he considered the legislation unconstitutionalbecause it lacked an exception for youths already undergoing such treatments.

Vos, who has served as Wisconsin Assembly speaker since 2013, has taken sharp criticism for not pursuing a resolution decertifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the state. trump endorsed his Republican challenger, Adam Steen, saying that “Vos refused to do anything to right the wrongs that were done” in the 2020 election.

Under pressure from Trump, Vos hired former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman last year to investigate the election. Gableman said decertifying the election was “a practical impossibility.”

Steen said he decided to challenge Vos because he failed to pass legislation outlawing absentee ballot drop boxes ahead of the 2020 election and hasn’t pushed for tougher consequences for voter fraudamong other things.

“Conservatism as a whole has been lethargic,” Steen said. “We lack vision, and I think that vision is coming back.”

Vos said Steen is running on hyperbole. He said Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, poses the real obstacle to conservatives. Evers, for example, vetoed Republican bills that would have made it harder to vote absentee.

“If we don’t get a Republican governor, (Steen) would have less success than I had,” Vos said.

You are one of nine GOP Wisconsin lawmakers facing primaries. Though the challengers face an uphill fight, they could push the already conservative Legislature even further right if they notch a few victories. That would mark a significant shift in a state that plays a crucial role in national elections.

Twenty-seven states had held legislative primaries or conventions before Tuesday. In those, at least 110 Republican incumbents and 33 Democrats had been defeated. The Republican loss rate of 7.1% far exceeds the Democratic rate of 2.8%. It also significantly exceeds the 3.6% average Republican incumbent loss rate over the previous decade in those states, as well as the 4.4% Republican loss rate in those states during the last redistricting election cycle in 2012.

Idaho voters have led the way in ousting Republican incumbents, defeating 18 GOP lawmakers — or 30% of those who sought reelection — even while choosing GOP Gov. Brad Little over a Trump-backed challenger who claimed he wasn’t conservative enough. The losers included three lawmakers representing Kootenai County in northern Idaho, where a local Republican committee recommended conservative challengers against some incumbents after a lengthy vetting process.

“People have kind of had it, and they’re willing to get up and vote,” said Brent Regan, chair of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee.

In Iowa, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds endorsed primary opponents to four GOP state House members who hadn’t supported her plan to provide taxpayer-funded scholarships for students to attend private schools. All four incumbents lost, including House Education Committee Chairman Dustin Hite.

Even in some Democratic-dominated states, Republican primary voters have ousted incumbents deemed not conservative enough.

Illinois state Rep. David Welter, one of nine Republican lawmakers booted from the chamber in February for ignoring COVID-19 protocols to wear masks, lost his primary in June to a challenger who claimed Welter wasn’t Republican enough. Challenger Jed Davis criticized Welter’s votes for the Equal Rights Amendment and a construction bill containing a gas tax hikeamong other things.

Davis also derived Welter’s connections to US Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who became a GOP outcast after voting to impeach Trump and participating in the Democratic-led House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. Welter eleven worked for Kinzinger’s campaign and received $32,500 in contributions since 2021 from committees associated with Kinzinger.

“People pegged me as more of a moderate,” Welter said. “I’m now going to be replaced by somebody who is really, really far to the extreme on the right.”

Welter believes redistricting after the 2020 census also played a role in his defeat by shifting the voters he represented.

In states where partisan officials controlled redistricting, such as Illinois, the maps enacted for the 2022 elections often contained “more and more extreme partisan gerrymanders,” according to a recent analysis by political scientists and data experts.

When legislative districts tilt further right or left, incumbents are more likely to face challengers, and candidates who take more extreme positions are more likely to win, according to an analysis in a forthcoming book by Saint Louis University political scientist Steven Rogers.

Wisconsin’s state legislative districts had some of the largest pro-Republican tilts among all states during the past decade and underwent only minor changes before this year’s election.

Most of the challengers there are likely to lose, said University of Wisconsin-La Crosse political scientist Anthony Chergosky. But they still could leave their mark by forcing incumbents further right to please the GOP base that votes in primaries.

“We are just experiencing a real scramble for power within the Republican Party right now,” he said. “President Trump is really flexing his muscles in directing activists in the party against people like Robin Vos. Anyone in a position of authority in the Republican Party is a target.”

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Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Mo.

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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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Ron DeSantis spokesperson teases major announcement

Ron DeSantis spokesperson teases major announcement

The office of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is set to make a “major” announcement Thursday morning, a spokesperson said.

Taking to Twitter Wednesday night, DeSantis’ press secretary Christina Pushaw teased the impact of the announcement and said it will cause the “liberal media meltdown of the year.”

“MAJOR announcement tomorrow morning from @GovRonDeSantis. Prepare for the liberal media meltdown of the year,” Pushaw wrote. “Everyone gets some rest tonight.”

Some people immediately began speculating if the announcement concerns the 2024 presidential election, as the Florida governor is well-liked among Republican voters.

DeSantis consistently tops polls of potential 2024 Republican candidates, usually just behind former President Donald Trump.

After a user mentioned DeSantis’ lead in internal polling, Pushaw responded that the announcement would be an official one, not about his campaign.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will make an announcement Thursday morning, according to his spokesperson.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will make an announcement Thursday morning, according to his spokesperson.
AP

In another tweet, Pushaw confirmed DeSantis is seeking re-election in Florida. A potential 2024 announcement would be particularly early and it would require DeSantis to be accountable to the Federal Elections Commission between now and Election Day.

Another user asked if DeSantis would be traveling to Taiwan, in light of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to the region.

“He’s focused on Florida as always!” Pushaw responded.

DeSantis consistently tops polls of potential 2024 Republican candidates, only having to place behind Trump.
DeSantis consistently tops polls of potential 2024 Republican candidates, only having to place behind Trump.
Getty Images

Several other users who commented speculated that the decision could have to do with him officially joining Trump’s 2024 ticket as vice president, banning masks in Florida, a lawsuit against President Joe Biden or even succession from the US.

Many users expressed interest in finding out whatever the announcement will ultimately be.

DeSantis’ popularity among Republican voters across the country has surged over the past two and a half years, as he relentlessly pushed back against COVID-19 restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic – as well as his open defiance of culture wars.

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Meghan McCain: Arizona has gone ‘full blown MAGA’

Meghan McCain: Arizona has gone 'full blown MAGA'

Meghan McCain criticized Trump-endorsed candidate Kari Lake’s lead in the Arizona Republican gubernatorial primary on Wednesday, saying the state has gone “full blown MAGA.”

As of Wednesday morning, Lake leads Karrin Taylor Robson, who was endorsed by former Vice President Mike Pence and current Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R), by about 1.7 percentage points, or about 11,300 raw votes, according to The Associated Press. The AP has not called the race and estimates about 20 percent of the votes have yet to be counted.

“I see my initial predictions were right despite the initial excitement of Robson pulling ahead,” McCain wrote on Twitter.

“Congratulations to my home state for fully making the transition to full blown MAGA/conspiracy theory/fraudster,” she added. “The voters have spoken – be careful what you wish for.”

The primary has marked the latest proxy battle between former President Trump and establishment Republican figures, with Trump zeroing in on his unfounded claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election while the party’s establishment wing has focused on contrasting with the Democratic Party on issues like inflation .

McCain, the daughter of former Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), is a longtime critic of Trump, who repeatedly shot the late senator and 2008 Republican presidential nominee.

Lake, a former television news anchor, has repeatedly pushed Trump’s false election fraud claims. Trump visited Arizona late last month to stump in support of Lake and his endorsed candidate for Senate, Blake Masters.

The AP called the GOP Senate primary race for Masters early on Wednesday morning.

“Congratulations to Blake Masters on a great Arizona win!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

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Arizona GOP primary tests power of Trump’s election lies

Arizona GOP primary tests power of Trump's election lies

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Republicans were deciding Tuesday between a well-known former news anchor and a development attorney in the race for governor of a crucial battleground state.

Former President Donald Trump backed Kari Lake, who walked away from her nearly three-decade career in television news and embraced his lies about the 2020 election. She faced Karrin Taylor Robson, who was backed by prominent Republicans around the country looking to push their party to move on from Trump.

The race was too early to call, with Lake and Robson separated by a slim margin.

As the midterm primary season enters its final stretch this month, the Arizona races are poised to provide important clues about the GOP’s direction. Victories by Trump-backed candidates could provide the former president with allies who hold sway over the administration of elections as he considers another bid for the White House in 2024. Defeats, however, might suggest openness in the party to a different path forward.

The former president endorsed and campaigned for a slate of contenders who support his falsehoods, including Lake, who says she would have refused to certify President Joe Biden’s narrow Arizona victory. Robson said the GOP should focus on the future despite an election she called “unfair.”

In the race to oversee elections as Arizona secretary of state, Trump also backed a state lawmaker who was at the US Capitol on Jan. 6 and claims the former president was cheated out of victory.

“I think the majority of the people, and a lot of people that are supporters of Trump, they want to move on,” said former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who is backing Robson. “I mean, that was two years ago. Let’s go. Let’s move.”

The election is playing out on one of the biggest midterm primary nights of the year — one that had some warning signs for Republicans.

In Kansas, voters rejected a state constitutional amendment that would have allowed the Legislature to restrict or ban abortion. They were the first voters to weigh in on abortion rights since the US Supreme Court revoked the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy.

The rejection in a conservative state is a sign of potential energy for Democrats, who hope the anger at the court’s abortion ruling will overcome inflation concerns and President Joe Biden’s flagging popularity.

Tudor Dixona conservative commentator, won the GOP primary for Michigan governor, emerging atop a field of little-known conservatives days after Trump endorsed her. She will face Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in November.

Republican Rep. Peter Meijer lost to a Trump-backed challenger and a pair of Washington lawmakers were fighting to hang onto their seats after voting to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6 insurrection.

And in Missouri, Attorney General Eric Schmitt won the Republican nomination for senator and will face Democrat Trudy Busch Valentine, an heiress of the Anheuser-Busch beer fortune. And two Republican House members from Washington state who voted to impeach Trump are facing primary challengers.

But the contests are especially salient in Arizona, a longtime Republican stronghold that has become more favorable to Democrats. in recent years because of explosive growth in and around Phoenix. The primary and the fall election will provide insight into whether Biden’s success here in 2020 was a onetime event or the onset of a long-term shift away from the GOP.

With such high stakes, Arizona has been central to efforts by Trump and his allies to cast doubt on Biden’s victory with false claims of fraud.

Federal and state election officials and Trump’s own attorney general have said there is no credible evidence the election was tainted. The former president’s allegations of fraud were also roundly rejected by courts, including by judges Trump appointed. A hand recount led by Trump supporters in Arizona’s largest county found no proof of a stolen election and concluded Biden’s margin of victory was larger than the official count.

Though Trump is still the most popular figure inside the GOP, his efforts to influence primary elections this year have yielded mixed results. His preferred candidates of him in states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania prevailed in their primaries.

But in Georgia, another state that is central to Trump’s election lies, his handpicked candidate for governor was defeated by more than 50 percentage points. Georgia’s Republican secretary of state was also renominated over a Trump-backed primary rival.

“You have entrusted me with your most sacred possession in a constitutional republic — your vote,” Robson told supporters as she awaited election results.

The former president is hoping he’ll have more success in Arizona, where the incumbent governor, Doug Ducey, can’t run for reelection. That could give Trump a better opportunity than in Georgia to influence the winner.

Lake is well known in much of the state after anchoring the evening news in Phoenix for more than two decades. She ran as a fierce critic of the mainstream media, which she says is unfair to Republicans, and other enemies of Trump’s Make America Great Again movement, including the late Sen. John McCain’s family.

A vocal supporter of Trump’s election lies, Lake said her campaign was “already detecting some stealing going on” in her own race, but she repeatedly refused to provide any evidence for the claim.

Robson, whose housing developer husband is one of the state’s richest men, is mostly self-financing her campaign. The GOP establishment, growing increasingly comfortable creating distance from Trump, rallied around her over the past month with a series of endorsements from Ducey, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Vice President Mike Pence.

The groundswell of establishment support for Robson drew national scrutiny to the race for what it says about the GOP base ahead of the crucial presidential primary in two years.

“Everyone wants to try to make this some kind of proxy for 2024,” said Christie, who ran for president in 2016. “Believe me, I’ve been through enough of these to know that 2024 will be decided by the people who step up to the plate … and how they perform or don’t perform at that time.”

Robson is running a largely old-school Republican campaign focused on cutting taxes and regulations, securing the border and advancing school choice. She has also emphasized Lake’s prior support for Democrats, including a $350 contribution to the last Democratic president.

“I can’t vote for someone who supported Barack Obama,” said Travis Fillmore, 36, a firearms instructor from Tempe who planned to vote for Robson. He said he remains a Trump backer and believes the 2020 election was stolen from him, but Lake’s support for Obama was disqualifying.

On the Democratic side, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs defeated Marco Lopez, a former mayor of Nogales and border enforcement official during Obama’s administration.

As Arizona’s top elections official, Hobbs endeared herself to Democrats with an impassioned defense of the integrity of the 2020 election, a stance that has drawn death threats. However, she’s been weighed down by a discrimination case won by a Black policy adviser from Hobbs’ time in the Legislature.

Trump-backed Blake Masters won the Arizona GOP Senate race. He is a 35-year-old first-time candidate who has spent most of his career working for billionaire Peter Thiel, who is bankrolling his campaign. Masters emphasized cultural grievances that encourage the right, including critical race theory and allegations of big tech censorship.

Until Trump’s endorsementthe race had no clear front-runner among Masters, businessman Jim Lamon and Attorney General Mark Brnovich, all of whom jockeyed for his support.

Lamon said Trump made a mistake in endorsing Masters and dug into his own fortune to highlight Masters’ ties to technology firms and his writings as a college student supporting open borders. Lamon signed a falsely stating that Trump had won certificate Arizona in 2020 and that he was one of the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors.

Trump soured on Brnovich and may have torpedoed his campaign when the attorney general’s election fraud investigation failed to produce criminal charges against election officials.

Masters will take on incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in the fall.

The Republican race for Arizona secretary of state was won by Mark Finchem, a Trump-backed candidate who was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His competition included Shawnna Bolick, a state lawmaker who has pushed for legislation allowing the Legislature to overturn the will of the voters and decide which candidate gets the state’s 11 electoral votes for president. The GOP establishment rallied around advertising executive Beau Lane, who says there were no widespread problems with the 2020 election.

Republican state House Speaker Rusty Bowerswho gave testimony to the House Jan. 6 committee on Trump’s pressure campaign following the 2020 election, was defeated by a Trump-backed challenger in his bid to move up to the state Senate.

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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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Eric Schmitt beats former Gov. Eric Greitens in Missouri GOP Senate primary, NBC projects

Eric Schmitt beats former Gov. Eric Greitens in Missouri GOP Senate primary, NBC projects

FARMINGTON, MISSOURI – JULY 31: Missouri Attorney General and Republican Senate candidate Eric Schmitt speaks to supporters in Hall Pavilion at Englar Park on July 31, 2022 in Farmington, Missouri. Schmitt is holding campaign events on the last weekend before the August 2nd primary elections in Missouri. He is the front runner in the primary race that includes former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, to replace outgoing Senator Roy Blunt. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Michael M. Santiago | Getty ImagesNews | Getty Images

Eric Greitens, the scandal-tarred former Missouri governor who launched a comeback bid against the wishes of many Republicans, will lose the state’s GOP Senate primary, NBC News projects.

Eric Schmitt, currently the state’s attorney general, is projected to proceed to the general election, where he will compete with a Democratic nominee for the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Roy Blunt.

The primary results mark a thudding defeat for Greitens, who fully embraced former President Donald Trump and fought against recent allegations of domestic abuse as he looked to claw his way back to the political fore.

Greitens had announced his Senate bid nearly three years after resigning from the governor’s office amid accusations that he blackmailed a hairdresser with whom he was having an affair. Greitens admitted to the tryst of her, but denied he had threatened to release her nude photographs he took of her if she revealed the affair.

He was charged with felony invasion of privacy related to the alleged blackmailing. Greitens was also charged with illegally using a charity donor list to help fund his 2016 gubernatorial campaign. Both charges were dropped around the time Greitens resigned in June 2018.

Eric Greitens, Missouri Governor, pictured at the Robin Hood Veterans Summit in New York City.

Craig Barritt | Getty ImagesEntertainment | Getty Images

Those and other scandals led mainstream Republicans to worry about a Greitens candidacy jeopardizing the party’s hold on a Senate seat in a state that otherwise reliably votes Republicans into high office. Democrats are desperate to keep their razor-thin majority in the Senate, but their control of the chamber is threatened by a challenging political environment, exacerbated by President Joe Biden’s unpopularity and recent economic turmoil.

Greitens had aligned himself completely with Trump during his Senate campaign, including echoing Trump’s false claims about widespread fraud tainting the 2020 presidential election. Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr., joined Greitens’ campaign as national co-chair.

But the former president ultimately did not give Greitens a full-throated endorsement. Rather, he bizarrely endorsed “Eric” in the Missouri GOP Senate primary, where two of the top candidates are named Eric.

“I trust the Great People of Missouri, on this one, to make up their own minds,” Trump said in a social media post on the eve of the primary.

Both Greitens and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt touted Trump’s announcement as though it were a personal endorsement.

Polling averages from RealClearPolitics showed Greitens had a smaller lead over a top Democratic primary candidate than either of his two biggest competitors in the Republican primary.

After Sheena Greitens filed court documents in March alleging Eric Greitens abused her and their young son while they were married, numerous top Republicans called on Greitens to drop out.

“If you hit a woman or a child, you belong in handcuffs, not the United States Senate,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who had investigated Greitens when he was Missouri’s attorney general.

Blunt himself said that Greitens “should not be a candidate for the Senate” if Sheena Greitens’ allegations are true.

Correction: This article has been updated to correct the photo of Eric Schmitt.

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Dixon wins Michigan GOP governor primary, to face Whitmer

Dixon wins Michigan GOP governor primary, to face Whitmer

Businesswoman and conservative commentator Tudor Dixon won the Republican primary for Michigan governor on Tuesday, setting up a tough race against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as anger and division within the state GOP threaten the party’s efforts in the battleground state this fall.

Dixon, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump last week, defeated four male candidates in a race between little-known political newcomers. She also had backing from the prominent Michigan Republican family of Betsy DeVos, who was education secretary in Trump’s Cabinet but was critical of him and resigned after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, as well as the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and several anti-abortion groups.

Taking the stage at a victory party, Dixon pledged to fight for families who struggled through COVID-19 lockdowns that Whitmer imposed and who can’t afford to put gas in their vehicles and pay bills. She called the first-term governor “the queen of lockdowns” and recounted how her own grandmother died in a nursing home, alone, during the pandemic.

“Frankly Michigan, we deserve better,” Dixon said. “Now we have the opportunity to truly hold Gretchen Whitmer accountable for the pain she has inflicted on each and every one of us during the past four years.”

Whitmer, who did not have a Democratic opponent, was seen as potentially vulnerable heading into 2022 because of anger over her pandemic restrictions, rising gas and food prices, and her ties to President Joe Biden, whose approval ratings are low. But some of those hopes were dashed after top Republican candidates didn’t make the ballot because they didn’t file enough valid nominating signatures and the remaining field struggled to compete in fundraising with Whitmer and her multimillion-dollar campaign fund. None of the GOP candidates had held public office, and many had baggage that could hurt in a general election.

Dixon is a former steel industry executive who also hosted a conservative program on a streaming channel and once acted in low-budget zombie movies in what her campaign described as an “admittedly lame” hobby.

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Democrats criticize her far-right positions on issues, which also could be a tough sell for independent voters who decide elections in Michigan. Dixon opposes abortion, except to save the mother’s life, and says Michigan should eliminate the requirement for permits to carry concealed weapons.

In a statement Tuesday, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes said Dixon “has a dangerous agenda that would devastate Michigan working families.”

The mother of four made education a top issue of her campaign, saying she wants to keep drag queens and talk of sex and gender out of elementary schools. She said she would end “critical race theory” from being taught in Michigan public schools and wants all districts to post teaching materials and curriculum online for parents to review. Dixon also says families should be able to use per-student state funds on private schools, home schooling or other education settings of their choice.

Dixon defeated real estate broker Ryan Kelley, who pleaded not guilty to misdemeanors in the Capitol riot; chiropractor Garrett Soldano; former auto dealership owner Kevin Rinke and pastor Ralph Rebandt.

They blasted Dixon during the campaign as the “establishment” pick, criticizing her connections to DeVos and saying she hadn’t done enough to stand up to Whitmer when she imposed COVID-19 restrictions.

Contentious primaries are not new, but the hostility seems heightened in some places this year as Republicans split over whether to relitigate the 2020 election or look ahead, including to the 2024 presidential race. The divide has been particularly public and pronounced in Michigan, where Trump has pushed the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him and has endorsed many candidates who back him — including for secretary of state and attorney general — with an eye on a possible 2024 bid.

Michigan is also among states where subpoenas have been issued to “fake electors” who submitted paperwork saying Trump, not Joe Biden, won the state’s election.

Trump lost Michigan by about 154,000 votes in 2020, and multiple audits and courts — as well as an investigation by the Republican-led state Senate — have upheld that.

Dixon has wavered on the issue. She raised her hand during a debate when candidates were asked who among them believes the election was stolen. But she has been less explicit in recent weeks, criticizing Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and saying on Fox News Sunday, “We have to make sure our elections are secure and what happened in 2020 does n’t happen again.”

Trump’s late-stage endorsement of Dixon gives him a win to tout, though he has also experienced some high-profile defeats.

Voter Mark Orsinger of Grand Rapids said he decided to cast his ballot for Dixon after Trump’s endorsement.

“I didn’t know Tudor until Trump mentioned her,” Orsinger said. “She seems like an OK person. I only know her from her from 20 seconds of a commercial. ”

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Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti in Grand Rapids and Mike Householder in Delhi Township contributed to this report.

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Eric Schmitt beats former Gov. Eric Greitens in Missouri GOP Senate primary, NBC projects

Eric Schmitt beats former Gov. Eric Greitens in Missouri GOP Senate primary, NBC projects

FARMINGTON, MISSOURI – JULY 31: Missouri Attorney General and Republican Senate candidate Eric Schmitt speaks to supporters in Hall Pavilion at Englar Park on July 31, 2022 in Farmington, Missouri. Schmitt is holding campaign events on the last weekend before the August 2nd primary elections in Missouri. He is the front runner in the primary race that includes former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, to replace outgoing Senator Roy Blunt. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Michael M. Santiago | Getty ImagesNews | Getty Images

Eric Greitens, the scandal-tarred former Missouri governor who launched a comeback bid against the wishes of many Republicans, will lose the state’s GOP Senate primary, NBC News projects.

Eric Schmitt, currently the state’s attorney general, is projected to proceed to the general election, where he will compete with a Democratic nominee for the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Roy Blunt.

The primary results mark a thudding defeat for Greitens, who fully embraced former President Donald Trump and fought against recent allegations of domestic abuse as he looked to claw his way back to the political fore.

Greitens had announced his Senate bid nearly three years after resigning from the governor’s office amid accusations that he blackmailed a hairdresser with whom he was having an affair. Greitens admitted to the tryst of her, but denied he had threatened to release her nude photographs he took of her if she revealed the affair.

He was charged with felony invasion of privacy related to the alleged blackmailing. Greitens was also charged with illegally using a charity donor list to help fund his 2016 gubernatorial campaign. Both charges were dropped around the time Greitens resigned in June 2018.

Eric Greitens, Missouri Governor, pictured at the Robin Hood Veterans Summit in New York City.

Craig Barritt | Getty ImagesEntertainment | Getty Images

Those and other scandals led mainstream Republicans to worry about a Greitens candidacy jeopardizing the party’s hold on a Senate seat in a state that otherwise reliably votes Republicans into high office. Democrats are desperate to keep their razor-thin majority in the Senate, but their control of the chamber is threatened by a challenging political environment, exacerbated by President Joe Biden’s unpopularity and recent economic turmoil.

Greitens had aligned himself completely with Trump during his Senate campaign, including echoing Trump’s false claims about widespread fraud tainting the 2020 presidential election. Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr., joined Greitens’ campaign as national co-chair.

But the former president ultimately did not give Greitens a full-throated endorsement. Rather, he bizarrely endorsed “Eric” in the Missouri GOP Senate primary, where two of the top candidates are named Eric.

“I trust the Great People of Missouri, on this one, to make up their own minds,” Trump said in a social media post on the eve of the primary.

Both Greitens and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt touted Trump’s announcement as though it were a personal endorsement.

Polling averages from RealClearPolitics showed Greitens had a smaller lead over a top Democratic primary candidate than either of his two biggest competitors in the Republican primary.

After Sheena Greitens filed court documents in March alleging Eric Greitens abused her and their young son while they were married, numerous top Republicans called on Greitens to drop out.

“If you hit a woman or a child, you belong in handcuffs, not the United States Senate,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who had investigated Greitens when he was Missouri’s attorney general.

Blunt himself said that Greitens “should not be a candidate for the Senate” if Sheena Greitens’ allegations are true.

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Trump-backed gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon wins Michigan Republican primary

Trump-backed gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon wins Michigan Republican primary

Republican Michigan Gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon, flanked by her children, speaks with members of the media outside the Norton Shores Fire Station 3 after voting on Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022 in Grand Rapids, MI.

Kent Nishimura | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

Tudor Dixon, a former conservative commentator and actor endorsed by ex-President Donald Trump, will win Michigan’s Republican gubernatorial primary election, NBC News projects.

Dixon will face off in the general against incumbent Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.

In the tumultuous Republican gubernatorial primary, meanwhile, Dixon emerged as a frontrunner only after multiple leading candidates were disqualified from the ballot and another was arrested on misdemeanor charges related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Dixon could be facing an uphill battle against Whitmer, whose bid for a second term in office is buoyed by a well-funded campaign and strong approval ratings. Despite President Joe Biden’s unpopularity in the state threatening to dampen Democratic enthusiasm across the board, recent polls showed Whitmer above water. Surveys conducted before the primary also showed Whitmer leading Dixon in a hypothetical matchup.

But Dixon is also backed by the powerful DeVos family, which is reportedly connected to super PACs that have spent more than $2 million in support of her candidacy. Betsy DeVos was Trump’s former Secretary of Education, but she resigned after Jan. 6, 2021, later saying that Trump crossed a “line in the sand.”

Dixon took a consistent and growing lead in the GOP primary over the past month, according to polls compiled by RealClearPolitics. Trump endorsed her less than a week before Election Day.

Before Trump announced his endorsement, DeVos penned a handwritten note to the former president, urging him to back him Dixon, The New York Times reported.

Dixon, like other candidates in Michigan’s Republican primary, had previously echoed Trump’s false claims about key election results in 2020 being rigged through widespread fraud. On the weekend before the primary and after receiving Trump’s endorsement, Dixon offered more ambiguous language, saying she had concerns about how the race was prosecuted in her state.

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