Politics

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two Los Angeles City Council members held out Thursday against overwhelming calls for them to resign after a recording surfaced of them making crude and racist remarks in a secret meeting over redistricting tactics.

Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Leon have issued no statements since Nury Martinez, who made remarks about a colleague’s Black son along with crass comments about Armenians and Jews, stepped down as council president Monday before resigning her seat Wednesday.

However, acting council President Mitch O’Farrell said he had spoken to Cedillo and “I sense that he is making some progress toward that decision.”

Cedillo lost his reelection bid this year and was already due to leave the council in December.

Cedillo and de Leon were under pressure after Martinez, who in 2019 became the first Latina to hold the office of council president, stepped down and resigned.

Martinez described herself on her website as “a glass-ceiling shattering leader who brings profound life experience as the proud daughter of working-class immigrants.” She is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley.

Cedillo, de Leon and Martinez were part of a discussion last year with a powerful Latino labor leader, who has since resigned, centered on protecting Latino political power while redrawing council district boundaries. The once-a-decade redistricting process can pit one group against another to gain political advantage in elections.

Other council members weren’t informed of the meeting, O’Farrell said.

In the recorded conversation, Martinez called council member Mike Bonin a “little bitch.” She described the behavior of his Black son on a parade float when he was 2 as “parece changuito,” or “like a monkey,” the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

At another point in the hourlong recording, Martinez called Indigenous immigrants from the Mexican state of Oaxaca ugly, and made crass remarks about Jews and Armenians.

The revelation of the recordings this week sparked outrage and calls for the resignations of all three council members by their fellow Democrats, all the way up to President Joe Biden, who arrived in Los Angeles on Wednesday as part of a West Coast campaign visit.

In her resignation statement, Martinez didn’t apologize for her comments, though in words directed at her daughter she said she had fallen short of expectations recently and added: “I vow to you that I will strive to be a better woman to make you proud.”

The panel can only request Cedillo and de Leon to voluntarily step aside. It cannot expel members, only suspend them when criminal charges are pending. Members can be censured but that doesn’t result in suspension or removal from office.

Meanwhile, the furor over the recording threw the City Council into turmoil. For two days in a row, rowdy demonstrators forced the panel to shut down meetings.

On Wednesday, a crowd of about 50 protesters drowned out the acting president by chanting “no meeting without resignation” and other slogans.

A minimum of 10 out of 15 members necessary for a quorum had assembled, but the meeting was adjourned when one left. None of the three embattled council members showed up.

“Who shut you down? We shut you down!” the raucous crowd cheered as the lights were being turned down.

Also Wednesday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, another Democrat, said he will investigate Los Angeles’ redistricting process, which could lead to civil liability or criminal charges, depending on what is found.

“It’s clear an investigation is sorely needed to help restore confidence in the redistricting process for the people of LA,” he said.

Jessica Levinson, a Loyola Law School professor who previously was a member of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, said she did not see evidence in the recording that would prompt criminal charges.

However, she said a probe could force redrawing council districts even though the current maps are being used to choose new council members next month.

“It is so rare to have audio where … it gives the impression that they’re explicitly drawing lines on the basis of race,” Levinson said. “If in the end we determine these lines were illegally drawn, there needs to be a remedy for that, even though practically … it’s a disaster.”

Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer has called for creating an independent commission to draw redistricting maps.

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Thompson reported from Sacramento. Associated Press writers John Antczak and Amancai Biraben in Los Angeles, Sophie Austin in Sacramento and Julie Watson in San Diego contributed to this report.

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OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — Democrat Wes Moore described Republican Dan Cox as “dangerous” for denying the results of the 2020 presidential election during a debate Wednesday in Maryland’s governor’s race, while Cox said Moore was a “phony” in an hourlong showdown that included frequent attacks on credibility.

In their first — and likely only — televised debate, Cox was asked by a panelist whether he would accept the outcome of next month’s election, noting that he had attended the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. Cox said he has “always accepted election results that are fair” but stopped short of saying he would definitely accept next month’s outcome.

“At this point, it would be similar to saying that before a surgery takes place to decide whether or not the surgery went well,” Cox said.

Moore said he will honor the results of the election in a state that has free, fair and transparent elections, and he criticized Cox for denying the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

“Frankly, I’m standing on stage right know with an extremist election-denier whose rhetoric and his policies are not only dangerous and divisive, but will take our state backwards,” Moore said.

Cox said Moore has avoided debating him, because “he’s a phony,” criticizing his best-selling book for claiming he lived in Baltimore longer than he did.

Moore, for his part, said he is focusing his campaign on improving education and the economy, “instead of delving into conspiracy theories.”

“This is outrageous and ridiculous,” Cox said. “We are bigger than middle school name calling. … I am running to restore opportunity. Safety, affordability, freedom and education is my platform.”

The candidates also were asked about their positions on abortion rights, after the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down Roe v. Wade this year has brought the issue back to states to settle.

Moore said he believes “abortion is health care, and I fully trust women to make this decision with their doctors.”

“I want Maryland to be a safe haven for abortion rights,” Moore said, adding that he supports a constitutional amendment to enshrine the right to abortion in Maryland’s Constitution.

Abortion rights already are protected under Maryland law, and the General Assembly approved legislation this year to expand access to abortion.

Cox, who is opposed to abortion, noted the strong protections for abortion rights already in Maryland. He criticized a question from a panelist who asked why he opposed COVID-19 vaccine mandates but supported restricting abortion rights.

“The bills that I have supported have had exceptions. They have always focused on things like making sure women are safe with the distribution of medication, making sure women are safe in their procedures and in their ambulatory clinics, making sure that little children with Down syndrome are not targeted just because of their being disabled,” Cox said.

Moore, who has held double-digit leads over Cox in recent polls and could become the state’s first Black governor, is running to regain the governor’s office for Democrats in a state where they outnumber Republicans 2-1. Republican Gov. Larry Hogan is term limited.

Moore pounced on the fact that Hogan, a popular two-term governor, has described Cox as “unfit to lead.” Moore also highlighted that Cox sought to impeach Hogan this year over actions he took during the pandemic, a proposal that went nowhere in the Maryland General Assembly.

“And by the way, he stood alone,” Moore said. “Even his Republican colleagues did not back that.”

Asked to grade Hogan’s performance as governor, Cox said he would give the governor an A on everything except his actions during the pandemic.

Cox also said he has stood with the governor to support law enforcement.

Moore said he applauded the governor for being “early and full-throated” in opposing former President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement.

“I applaud the governor for calling it out early for what it is — that this is a danger to the basic values of democracy,” Moore said, adding that he’s also thankful Hogan will not support Cox.

Cox said a Moore victory would risk bringing the state back to previous numerous tax increases approved before Hogan was elected in 2014. Moore emphatically denied any plans for tax increases.

A political novice, Moore holds a substantial edge in fundraising. He got a boost during the primary with the support of Oprah Winfrey, who began her broadcasting career in Baltimore and held a virtual fundraiser for him. Moore, a best-selling author, was CEO of an anti-poverty nonprofit. He served as a captain and paratrooper with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne and saw combat in Afghanistan.

Cox is a first-term member of the Maryland House of Delegates who has been endorsed by Trump. He has a scheduled fundraiser with the former president later this month.

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NEW YORK (AP) — An NBC News correspondent who interviewed Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman said Wednesday that her reporting should not be seen as commentary on his fitness for office after he suffered a stroke.

But reporter Dasha Burns’ on-air comment that Fetterman appeared to have trouble understanding a conversation while they were making small talk has attracted attention — and is being used by politicians looking for an advantage in the closely followed Senate race against Republican Mehmet Oz.

Fetterman, a Democrat, suffered a stroke on May 13, and his health has emerged as a major issue in the campaign.

Burns’ Friday interview with Fetterman, which aired Tuesday, was his first on-camera interview since his stroke. He used a closed-captioning device that printed text of Burns’ questions on a computer screen in front of him.

Fetterman appeared to have little trouble answering the questions after he read them, although NBC showed him fumbling for the word “empathetic.” Burns said that when the captioning device was off, “it wasn’t clear he was understanding our conversation.”

“This is just nonsense,” business reporter and podcaster Kara Swisher, who had a stroke herself in 2011, said on Twitter. “Maybe this reporter is just bad at small talk.”

Swisher recently conducted an interview with Fetterman for her podcast and said, “I was really quite impressed with how well he’s doing. Everyone can judge for themselves.” Swisher has called attacks on Fetterman because of his health “appalling.”

A New York magazine reporter, Rebecca Traister, who interviewed the candidate for a cover story titled “The Vulnerability of John Fetterman,” tweeted that his “comprehension is not at all impaired. He understands everything. It’s just that he reads it and responds in real time … It’s a hearing/auditory challenge.”

Burns said she understands that different reporters had different experiences with Fetterman.

“Our reporting did not and should not comment on fitness for office,” Burns tweeted on Wednesday. “This is for voters to decide. What we push for as reporters is transparency. It’s our job.”

Stories about the interview aired on “NBC Nightly News” and the “Today” show.

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Associated Press correspondent Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.

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By Jack Queen and Jacqueline Thomsen

(Reuters) -Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones must pay at least $965 million in damages to numerous families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting for falsely claiming they were actors who faked the tragedy, a Connecticut jury said on Wednesday.

The verdict, which came after three weeks of testimony in a state court in Waterbury, Connecticut, far outstripped the $49 million Jones was ordered to pay in August by a Texas jury in a similar case brought by two other Sandy Hook parents.

The Connecticut verdict applies to both Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems LLC, the owner of Jones’ Infowars website. FSS filed for bankruptcy in July.

The plaintiffs in the Connecticut case included more than a dozen relatives of 20 children and six staff members who were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012. Jones claimed for years that the massacre was staged as part of a government plot to take away Americans’ guns.

Jurors said the plaintiffs should also be awarded attorney’s fees, which are set to be determined in November.

During a live broadcast as the verdict was read, Jones vowed to appeal and said his company’s ongoing bankruptcy will protect Infowars in the meantime.

“We’re fighting Goliath,” he said.

Jones’ lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the families, said outside the courthouse that the verdict was “against Alex Jones, his lies and their poisonous spread, and a verdict for truth and for our common humanity.”

Outside the courthouse, Robbie Parker, one of the plaintiffs in the case, thanked the jury for its verdict. “Everybody who took the stand told the truth,” Parker said. “Except for one. The one who proclaims that that’s what he does. But while the truth was being said in the courtroom, he was standing right here, lying.”

Jones was found liable in a default judgment last year after he failed to comply with court orders.

During closing arguments last week, Mattei said Jones cashed in for years on lies about the shooting, which drove traffic to his Infowars website and boosted sales of its various products.

Infowars’ finances are not public, but according to trial testimony the site brought in revenue of $165 million between 2016 and 2018. An economist in the Texas case estimated that Jones is personally worth between $135 million and $270 million.

The families suffered a decade-long campaign of harassment and death threats by Jones’ followers, Mattei said.

“Every single one of these families (was) drowning in grief, and Alex Jones put his foot right on top of them,” Mattei told jurors.

ANGUISHED TESTIMONY

Jones’ lawyer countered during closing arguments that the plaintiffs had shown scant evidence of quantifiable losses. The attorney, Norman Pattis, urged jurors to ignore the political undercurrents in the case.

“This is not a case about politics,” Pattis said. “It’s about how much to compensate the plaintiffs.”

Douglas E. Mirell, a lawyer and defamation expert who was not involved in the case, said the sizable verdict sent a clear message of “revulsion” from the jury.

“His refusal to own up to the mendacity and lies that he promulgated time and time again over many years has now caught up with him,” Mirell said of Jones.

The trial was marked by weeks of anguished testimony from the families, who filled the gallery each day and took turns recounting how Jones’ lies about Sandy Hook compounded their grief. An FBI agent who responded to the shooting was also a plaintiff in the case.

Jones, who has since acknowledged that the shooting occurred, also testified and briefly threw the trial into chaos as he railed against his “liberal” critics and refused to apologize to the families.

In August, another jury found that Jones and his company must pay $49.3 million to Sandy Hook parents in a similar case in Austin, Texas, where the headquarters of Jones’ Infowars conspiracy theory website is located.

Jones’ lawyers have said they hope to void most of the payout in the Texas case before it is approved by a judge, calling it excessive under state law.

Connecticut does not place caps on damages, though Jones could appeal the verdict on other legal grounds.

Mattei said the families would go to any court necessary to enforce the verdict “for as long as it takes, because that’s what justice requires.”

(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York, Tom Hals in Wilmington, Del., and Jacqueline Thomsen in WashingtonEditing by Noeleen Walder, Mark Porter and Matthew Lewis)

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(Reuters) – Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones must pay at least $965 million in damages to numerous families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting for falsely claiming they were actors who faked the tragedy, a Connecticut jury said on Wednesday.

The verdict, which came after three weeks of testimony in a state court in Waterbury, Connecticut, far outstripped the $49 million Jones was ordered to pay in August by a Texas jury in a similar case brought by two other Sandy Hook parents.

The Connecticut verdict applies to both Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems LLC, the owner of Jones’ Infowars website. FSS filed for bankruptcy in July.

The plaintiffs in the Connecticut case included more than a dozen relatives of 20 children and six staff members who were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012. Jones claimed for years that the massacre was staged as part of a government plot to take away Americans’ guns.

Jurors said the plaintiffs should also be awarded attorney’s fees, which are set to be determined in November.

During a live broadcast as the verdict was read, Jones vowed to appeal and said his company’s ongoing bankruptcy will protect Infowars in the meantime.

“We’re fighting Goliath,” he said.

Jones’ lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the families, said outside the courthouse that the verdict was “against Alex Jones, his lies and their poisonous spread, and a verdict for truth and for our common humanity.”

Outside the courthouse, Robbie Parker, one of the plaintiffs in the case, thanked the jury for its verdict. “Everybody who took the stand told the truth,” Parker said. “Except for one. The one who proclaims that that’s what he does. But while the truth was being said in the courtroom, he was standing right here, lying.”

Jones was found liable in a default judgment last year after he failed to comply with court orders.

During closing arguments last week, Mattei said Jones cashed in for years on lies about the shooting, which drove traffic to his Infowars website and boosted sales of its various products.

Infowars’ finances are not public, but according to trial testimony the site brought in revenue of $165 million between 2016 and 2018. An economist in the Texas case estimated that Jones is personally worth between $135 million and $270 million.

FSS’s bankruptcy will limit the total money available to Sandy Hook families, but they could seek other assets from Jones if a judge rules his company deliberately harmed them, according to Brian Kabateck, a plaintiffs’ attorney who was not involved in the case.

“The underlying conduct was egregious, and that’s the kind of thing that could get you beyond the limits of the bankruptcy,” Kabateck told Reuters.

Jones has not personally filed for bankruptcy but the same principle would apply if he does, Kabateck said.

ANGUISHED TESTIMONY

The families suffered a decade-long campaign of harassment and death threats by Jones’ followers, Mattei said.

“Every single one of these families (was) drowning in grief, and Alex Jones put his foot right on top of them,” Mattei told jurors.

Jones’ lawyer countered during closing arguments that the plaintiffs had shown scant evidence of quantifiable losses. The attorney, Norman Pattis, urged jurors to ignore the political undercurrents in the case.

“This is not a case about politics,” Pattis said. “It’s about how much to compensate the plaintiffs.”

Douglas E. Mirell, a lawyer and defamation expert who was not involved in the case, said the sizable verdict sent a clear message of “revulsion” from the jury.

“His refusal to own up to the mendacity and lies that he promulgated time and time again over many years has now caught up with him,” Mirell said of Jones.

The trial was marked by weeks of anguished testimony from the families, who filled the gallery each day and took turns recounting how Jones’ lies about Sandy Hook compounded their grief. An FBI agent who responded to the shooting was also a plaintiff in the case.

Jones, who has since acknowledged that the shooting occurred, also testified and briefly threw the trial into chaos as he railed against his “liberal” critics and refused to apologize to the families.

In August, another jury found that Jones and his company must pay $49.3 million to Sandy Hook parents in a similar case in Austin, Texas, where the headquarters of Jones’ Infowars conspiracy theory website is located.

Jones’ lawyers have said they hope to void most of the payout in the Texas case before it is approved by a judge, calling it excessive under state law.

Connecticut does not place caps on damages, though Jones could appeal the verdict on other legal grounds.

Mattei said the families would go to any court necessary to enforce the verdict “for as long as it takes, because that’s what justice requires.”

(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York, Tom Hals in Wilmington, Del., and Jacqueline Thomsen in WashingtonEditing by Noeleen Walder, Mark Porter and Matthew Lewis)

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By Jack Queen

(Reuters) – A Connecticut jury on Wednesday ordered U.S. conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay $965 million for spreading falsehoods about the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting. Here is a timeline of what led up to the verdict.

Jones has since admitted that the shooting took place.

December 2012 – A gunman kills 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, using a Remington Bushmaster rifle. The shooting ends when the gunman, Adam Lanza, takes his own life.

April 2013 – Jones calls Sandy Hook a “government operation” with “inside job written all over it” during an Infowars broadcast, one of at least a dozen occasions when he and other Infowars contributors spread false claims about the shooting.

April 16, 2018 – Three parents of Sandy Hook victims file two separate lawsuits against Jones and the parent company of his Infowars site, Free Speech Systems LLC, in Texas state court.

May 23, 2018 – Fourteen relatives of Sandy Hook victims sue Jones and four entities connected to Jones in Connecticut state court.

Oct. 31, 2018 – Another Sandy Hook parent sues Jones and Free Speech Systems in Texas, where Jones’ radio show and webcast are based.

September 2021 – A Texas judge enters a default judgment finding Jones liable for defamation after he repeatedly flouted court orders and failed to turn over documents to the plaintiffs.

November 2021 – A judge presiding over the Connecticut case also enters a default judgment against Jones for failure to comply with court orders.

April 2022 – Five shell entities controlled by Jones file for bankruptcy protection in Texas, which would typically pause all lawsuits against them. The case was dismissed in June after the Sandy Hook parents intervened, arguing it was a stall tactic.

Aug. 5, 2022 – A Texas jury finds that Jones and Free Speech Systems must pay two Sandy Hook parents $49.3 million in total damages after a two-week trial.

Aug. 29, 2022 – Free Speech Systems agrees to face trial in Connecticut despite filing for bankruptcy in July, which would normally shield it from lawsuits.

Oct. 12, 2022 – A Connecticut jury orders Jones to pay at least $965 million in damages to numerous families of victims of the Sandy Hook shooting. Attorney fees will be determined in November.

(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Mark Porter and Matthew Lewis)

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(Reuters) – A Los Angeles city councilwoman resigned her seat on Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times reported, days after she stepped down as president of the body as pressure mounted after an audio recording of her making racist comments was made public.

Democrat Nury Martinez, who took a leave of absence from the role on Tuesday, faced calls to step down from local officials and President Joe Biden. She represented Los Angeles’ sixth district.

“It is with a broken heart that I resign my seat for Council District 6, the community I grew up in and my home,” Martinez said in a statement, according to the Times.

(Reporting by Tyler Clifford; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Las Vegas police, prosecutors and defense attorneys must wait to access a slain investigative journalist’s cellphone and electronic devices, over concerns about revealing the reporter’s confidential sources and notes, a judge said Tuesday.

Clark County District Court Judge Susan Johnson said the pause will last until all sides craft a way for a neutral party to screen the records.

The judge granted a Las Vegas Review-Journal request to block immediate review of the records, which are expected to include source names and notes by reporter Jeff German.

Police and prosecutors say they need access to German’s records for evidence that Robert “Rob” Telles, a former Democratic elected county official, fatally stabbed German on Sept. 2 in response to articles German wrote that were critical of Telles and his managerial conduct.

The newspaper — with backing from dozens of media organizations including The Associated Press and The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press — maintains that confidential information, names and unpublished material are protected from disclosure under state and federal law.

Telles, 45, the Clark County public administrator, was arrested Sept. 7 and remains jailed without bail on a murder charge. Authorities say surveillance video, Telles’ DNA on German’s body and evidence found at Telles’ home connect him to the killing.

Johnson acknowledged that because it is rare for U.S. journalists to be killed allegedly because of their work, there was little legal precedent that could be followed to allow investigators to search German’s files.

German, 69, was widely respected for his tenacity and confidential contacts in 44 years of reporting on organized crime, government corruption, political scandals and mass shootings — first at the Las Vegas Sun and then at the Review-Journal.

Attorney David Chesnoff, representing the Review-Journal, said the judge needs to balance First Amendment rights of the media with the interests of police and prosecutors. He also acknowledged Telles’ defense team’s constitutional right to access to information about German’s killing, including identities of other people who might have had a motive to attack him.

“It will have a long-term and chilling effect on sources and journalists receiving information from sources,” Chesnoff said, “if it’s OK to kill a journalist so that then everything that journalist dedicated himself to” can be exposed. “That would be outrageous,” he said.

The Review-Journal argues that police should never have seized German’s cellphone, computers and hard drive. It cites Nevada’s so-called “news shield law” — among the strictest in the U.S. — along with federal Privacy Protection Act and First Amendment safeguards.

“We are dealing with something unique,” the judge observed from the bench. “Everybody in this room is probably on his phone as far as a contact, right? I may be in his contact list.”

Johnson said Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department homicide detectives should have access to relevant electronic information. She said German’s files and contact lists could first be reviewed by a three-person team appointed by the court.

“I’m leaning toward two trusted Metro officers that are higher-ups,” along with a respected former U.S. magistrate judge, Johnson said. She set an Oct. 19 date for ruling and added that she “wouldn’t be horrified” if the seven-member Nevada Supreme Court reviewed her decision to provide guidance about how to proceed.

Chesnoff, with Ashley Kissinger also representing the Review-Journal and media, said there was no way to know who in Las Vegas police ranks had ties to the slain reporter. Chesnoff urged Johnson to enlist police investigators from outside Las Vegas for the review panel.

Attorney Matthew Christian, representing the police department, acknowledged the issue might need state high court review.

But Las Vegas police “have a duty to run down a complete investigation, and the victim’s devices are always part of that,” he said.

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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democratic U.S. Rep. Elaine Luria and her GOP challenger, Virginia state Sen. Jen Kiggans, are set to face off Wednesday in the first debate of their closely watched race to represent the coastal 2nd Congressional District.

The swing-district race between the two Navy veterans is among the most competitive in this year’s midterms and will help determine whether Democrats maintain control of the U.S. House.

Luria and Kiggans will debate a range of issues important to the region, including infrastructure and military affairs, according to the Hampton Roads Chamber, which organized the event.

The debate runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and TV station WTKR will livestream it, according to the chamber. Chris Saxman, a former Republican member of the House of Delegates, will moderate.

The 2nd district covers much of Virginia’s coast, including the Eastern Shore and the state’s most populous city — Virginia Beach. Although it no longer includes Norfolk, home to the world’s largest naval station, it is home to many military veterans. Luria flipped the district blue under its previous lines; under its new boundaries, GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin would have won it by more than 11 points last year, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project.

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report considers the race a toss-up.

Millions of dollars have been raised and spent already on the race, including over $11.6 million on political ads, according to disclosures compiled by Kantar Media and published by VPAP.

Luria, a retired naval commander who served as a nuclear-trained surface warfare officer, has cultivated a congressional identity as a centrist since flipping the district blue under its previous lines in 2018. She serves as vice chair of the House Armed Services Committee, and is a member of the Jan. 6 committee investigating the 2021 attack on the Capitol.

Kiggans, who has represented parts of Virginia Beach and Norfolk in the state Senate since 2020, handily defeated three opponents in the June primary. A former Navy helicopter pilot and a geriatric nurse practitioner, Kiggans has struggled to overcome Luria’s sizeable fundraising lead. Luria did not face a primary challenger.

The two candidates have agreed to a candidate forum Oct. 17 in Smithfield and a televised debate Oct. 25, according to Luria’s communications director, Jayce Genco.

All of Virginia’s 11 U.S. House seats, which were redrawn last year during the once-a-decade redistricting process, are being contested in November. Along with the 2nd District, the 7th and 10th Districts in northern Virginia are considered the most competitive.

Early voting began in late September and runs through Nov. 5. Election Day is Nov. 8.

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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — While preparing to march in a Saturday morning parade through this fast-growing city’s westside, Democratic congressional candidate Hillary Scholten warned her staff that the area was traditionally very conservative and they should brace for possible booing.

But the crowd lining Fulton Street to mark the region’s Polish pride was friendly. Only one man bellowed what sounded to the candidate like “Go to hell, Hillary!” as she passed. But he also grinned and flashed a thumbs-up later.

He’d actually cried, “Give ’em hell, Hillary!”

It’s been 32 years since a Democrat won the House seat where Scholten is competing against Republican John Gibbs. But, its largest city, Grand Rapids, has turned steadily bluer lately, and redrawn congressional maps have converted it from a district that backed Donald Trump for president in 2020 to one that Joe Biden would have carried instead.

It’s one of 14 U.S. House seats nationwide that are held by Republicans but that Biden would have won under new maps.

As Democrats brace for midterm defeats that could erase their narrow, five-seat control of the House, a chance to limit the damage may lie in flipping Republican-held seats that voted for Biden to stanch the effect of losses elsewhere around the country.

Scholten, a former Justice Department attorney and Christian Reform Church deacon, lost the seat to Republican Rep. Peter Meijer in 2020. But Meijer was defeated in his Michigan GOP primary this year by Trump-backed challenger Gibbs, a former software engineer who falsely purports that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

Scholten is trying to become the first Democratic woman elected to the House from western Michigan and isn’t counting on more favorable boundaries to get her there, noting that it’s “hard for people to believe in what they’ve never seen before, and we feel that every day.”

But even Gibbs concedes the new maps have Democrats excited.

“In a year where they’re expected to have a very difficult time in the midterms,” he said, “for them, a pickup is something that they’re salivating over.”

The list of GOP-held Biden districts feature three Los Angeles-area seats and one in California’s Central Valley. Others are the territories of Republican Reps. Don Bacon in Omaha, Nebraska, and Steve Chabot in Cincinnati. Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who represents the moderate swing battleground of Bucks County, north of Philadelphia, faces a similar test. On the other side are a dozen districts that voted for Trump but are held by Democrats. Retirements and redistricting mean many no longer have incumbents running.

Still, Democrats see high stakes in their efforts to flip seats won by Biden. When House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer recently predicted that his party would hold the chamber, he mentioned such territory in California and Illinois, as well as Bacon’s and Chabot’s districts, and the Grand Rapids race.

Not every incumbent is sweating toss-up races. Chabot says that, during his 26 years running for reelection in southwestern Ohio, he’s “had more challenging races, for sure, than anyone in the House.” But, as he competes for potential crossover voters, Chabot is not emphasizing Trump.

“I agree with most of his policies, but I’m running on my own record,” Chabot said. “People can make up their own minds.”

Gibbs says that, despite Trump’s endorsement, he’s building appeal among independents and swing voters. He recalled one man approaching him in the lakefront city of Muskegon, northwest of Grand Rapids, and saying: “I voted for you. I’m a Democrat. Is that OK?”

“This race is not so much about Democrat vs. Republican. It’s more crazy vs. normal,” said Gibbs, pointing to high gas and food prices and ”what they’re trying to do to kids in school,” with modern curriculums and inappropriate material in campus libraries being especially outlandish.

But, echoing Trump, Gibbs left open the possibility that he may object to the results of his own election next month.

“If it’s fair and everything’s on the up and up, I’ll accept whatever the result is,” he said. But asked if he could define fair, Gibbs replied, “Not at this point.”

“We’ll just have to kind of see how it goes,” he said.

A Scholten win would cement this area’s political transformation from red to blue. Booms in health, university and technology jobs are attracting scores of college-educated workers — with new residents often importing Democratic voting preferences. Grand Rapids and its suburbs have also turned more diverse, including notable increases in Hispanic voters.

Such a change was long unthinkable in the home city of Gerald Ford and former Trump administration Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, which once epitomized pro-business, country club conservativism.

“I love to play golf. We play at public courses,” Scholten said, laughing. “I think that’s a pretty good analogy, actually.”

Despite Democrat-friendly lines, national Republicans see the district as a “checks and balances” area where voters might have shunned Trump but want to control Washington’s spending and potential federal overreach.

Meijer was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, prompting the former president to endorse Gibbs. The Democratic House campaign committee even financed a GOP primary ad proclaiming that Gibbs was “hand-picked by Trump to run for Congress,” believing he’d be beatable in November.

Trump once nominated Gibbs to head the Office of Personnel Management, but he wasn’t confirmed amid questions about past tweets, including one from 2016 in which Gibbs wrote, “Today’s Dem party: Islam, gender-bending, anti-police, ‘u racist!’”

Gibbs says Democrats have posted far more incendiary things. “I don’t apologize. I never have and will not,” he said.

Democrats hope that a question on Michigan’s ballot asking voters to put the right to an abortion in the state constitution energizes their base.

“The issue of choice is front and center in a way that it wasn’t before,” Scholten said. “It’s changed a lot of minds.”

Gibbs counters that his steadfast opposition to abortion is a winner. He’d only allow exceptions if a pregnant woman’s life is endangered. In instances of rape or incest, Gibbs said: “That baby, born in that case, is innocent. So I don’t see why an innocent person should have to perish.”

Raised in the Pentecostal church, Gibbs spent seven years as a missionary in Japan. But he converted to Catholicism in 2021 and now tries to go to Mass multiple times per week.

He has that in common with Biden, who is also a devout Catholic, though Gibbs isn’t seeking bipartisanship there. He retorted of the president’s frequent Mass attendance, “Yeah, I just wish he would accept the teachings.”

“If I ever saw him at Mass, I’d have a nice, frank conversation,” Gibbs said. “Give him a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: ‘You oughta learn this.’”

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Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti contributed to this report.

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