Politics

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — People convicted of certain felonies in Mississippi still won’t be able to vote, as a lawsuit that sought to automatically reinstate their voting rights was struck down by a federal appeals court Wednesday.

Attorneys who challenged the provision had argued the authors of the state’s 1890 constitution showed racist intent when they chose which felonies would cause people to lose the right to vote, picking crimes they thought were more likely to be committed by Black people.

The Mississippi Center for Justice brought the lawsuit, and attorney Rob McDuff said the center will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the ruling handed down Wednesday by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Vangela M. Wade, the center’s president and CEO, said the ruling “doubles down” on years of Black disenfranchisement.

“Access to democracy should not hinge on outdated laws designed to prevent people from voting based on the color of their skin,” Wade said in a statement.

Section 241 of the Mississippi Constitution strips voting rights from people convicted of 10 felonies, including forgery, arson and bigamy. The state attorney general issued an opinion in 2009 that expanded the list to 22 crimes, including timber larceny, carjacking, felony-level shoplifting and felony-level bad check writing.

In the case decided Wednesday, the plaintiffs did not challenge the disenfranchisement of people convicted of murder or rape.

In 1950, attorneys representing the state said Mississippi dropped burglary from the list of disenfranchising crimes. Murder and rape were added to the list in 1968. The attorneys said in written arguments that those changes “cured any discriminatory taint on the original provision.”

A majority of the appeals court agreed with the state’s arguments.

“Plaintiffs failed to meet their burden of showing that the current version of Section 241 was motivated by discriminatory intent,” the majority wrote. “In addition, Mississippi has conclusively shown that any taint associated with Section 241 has been cured.”

In a dissent, Judge James Graves — who is Black and from Mississippi — wrote that the majority of the appeals court had upheld “a provision enacted in 1890 that was expressly aimed at preventing Black Mississippians from voting” and that the court had done so “by concluding that a virtually all-white electorate and legislature, otherwise engaged in massive and violent resistance to the Civil Rights Movement, ‘cleansed’ that provision in 1968” by adding crimes that were considered to be race-neutral.

“Handed an opportunity to right a 130-year-old wrong, the majority instead upholds it,” Graves wrote.

To regain voting rights in Mississippi now, a person convicted of a disenfranchising crime must receive a governor’s pardon or must win permission from two-thirds of the state House and Senate. Legislators in recent years have passed a small number of bills to restore voting rights.

Federal lawsuits were filed in Mississippi in 2017 and 2018 seeking automatic restoration of voting rights for people who had finished serving sentences for disenfranchising crimes. The case decided Wednesday is from the lawsuit filed in 2017.

A panel of 5th Circuit judges heard arguments in December 2019 from the other case, which makes different arguments. That panel has not issued a ruling.

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By Steve Holland and Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden marked Ukraine’s Independence Day on Wednesday with $3 billion in security assistance, Washington’s largest aid package since Russia’s invasion six months ago but one that could take months or even years to arrive in Kyiv.

The aid announcement came as U.S. officials warned that Russia appeared to be planning to launch fresh attacks in coming days on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities.

“The United States of America is committed to supporting the people of Ukraine as they continue the fight to defend their sovereignty,” Biden said in a statement announcing the package, noting Kyiv’s “bittersweet” anniversary of independence from Russian-dominated Soviet rule 31 years ago.

The new package uses funds from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) appropriated by Congress to allow the Biden administration to procure weapons from industry, a process that can take time, rather than from existing U.S. weapons stocks.

The speed depends on whether defense companies have assembly lines already working on the weapon, how much capacity they have and how long it could take to adjust schedules if needed.

White House Spokesman John Kirby said the range of weapon systems would take different amounts of time to reach Ukraine, with the surface-to-air and radar systems taking longer.

The Pentagon said the new package would include six additional surface-to-air missile systems known as NASAMS, 24 counter-artillery radars, Puma drones and counter-drone systems known as VAMPIRE.

“(Department of Defense) continues to work with Ukraine to meet both its immediate and longer-term security assistance needs,” the Pentagon statement said.

In total, the United States has committed more than $13.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden administration in January 2021. Since 2014, the United States has committed more than $15.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine.

Since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24 in what President Vladimir Putin termed a “special military operation” to demilitarize Ukraine, the conflict has settled into a war of attrition fought primarily in the country’s east and south.

(Reporting by Steve Holland, Idrees Ali with additional reporting by Phil Stewart and Susan Heavey; editing by Alex Richardson, Hugh Lawson, Mark Heinrich, David Gregorio and Cynthia Osterman)

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By Steve Holland and Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden marked Ukraine’s Independence Day on Wednesday with $3 billion in security assistance, Washington’s largest aid package since Russia’s invasion six months ago but one that could take months or even years to arrive in Kyiv.

The aid announcement came as U.S. officials warned that Russia appeared to be planning to launch fresh attacks in coming days on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities.

“The United States of America is committed to supporting the people of Ukraine as they continue the fight to defend their sovereignty,” Biden said in a statement announcing the package, noting Kyiv’s “bittersweet” anniversary of independence from Russian-dominated Soviet rule 31 years ago.

The new package uses funds from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) appropriated by Congress to allow the Biden administration to procure weapons from industry, a process that can take time, rather than from existing U.S. weapons stocks.

The speed depends on whether defense companies have assembly lines already working on the weapon, how much capacity they have and how long it could take to adjust schedules if needed.

White House Spokesman John Kirby said the range of weapon systems would take different amounts of time to reach Ukraine, with the surface-to-air and radar systems taking longer.

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said that in some instances it would take one, two or even three years to get the weapons into Ukraine.

“The package of capabilities here are really aimed at getting Ukraine what they’re going to need in the medium to long term, so it’s not relevant to the fight today, tomorrow, next week,” Kahl told reporters.

“It is relevant to the ability of Ukraine to defend itself and deter further aggression a year from now, two years from now,” he added.

The Pentagon said the new package would include six additional surface-to-air missile systems known as NASAMS, 24 counter-artillery radars, Puma drones and counter-drone systems known as VAMPIRE.

The VAMPIRE system uses small missiles to shoot drones out of the sky.

In total, the United States has committed more than $13.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden administration in January 2021. Since 2014, the United States has committed more than $15.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine.

Since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24 in what President Vladimir Putin termed a “special military operation” to demilitarize Ukraine, the conflict has settled into a war of attrition fought primarily in the country’s east and south.

(Reporting by Steve Holland, Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart with additional reporting by Susan Heavey; editing by Alex Richardson, Hugh Lawson, Mark Heinrich, David Gregorio and Cynthia Osterman)

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HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Dr. Mehmet Oz is taking a sharper tone in attacking the health of Democrat John Fetterman in their Pennsylvania Senate race, with the celebrity heart surgeon’s campaign saying that if the state’s lieutenant governor “had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then maybe he wouldn’t have had a major stroke.”

And in a phone call Wednesday to The Associated Press, an aide to the Republican nominee questioned whether Fetterman was “too sick to debate” — a suggestion brushed off by Fetterman’s campaign as Oz pushes for a televised debate Sept. 6.

The increasingly pointed and personal barbs come as Oz is trailing Fetterman in polls in the November matchup that could help decide Senate control. Democrats see the contest to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey as among their best opportunities nationally to pick up a seat.

Fetterman’s latest high-profile trolling of Oz on social media has focused on Oz’s effort to spotlight the country’s high inflation by shopping for “crudités” — raw vegetables cut up and served as an hors d’oeuvre — in a state with cities that pride themselves on cheesesteaks and pierogies, potato-filled dumplings.

Oz’s stepped-up claims about Fetterman’s health may reflect a vulnerability for the Democrat as he recovers from the stroke days before the May 17 primary. Party officials had initially been nervous about Fetterman’s disappearance from the campaign for nearly three months while he was on the mend. But they insist they are confident he is fully capable of running — and Fetterman says he wouldn’t be in the race if he weren’t able to campaign and win.

Oz, the former host of daytime TV’s “Dr. Oz Show,” has contended that Fetterman is hiding, refusing to commit to a debate and has conducted just two media interviews since the stroke.

Fetterman and his campaign say the Oz’s camp went too far in blaming Fetterman himself for his stroke.

“I had a stroke. I survived it. I’m truly so grateful to still be here today,” Fetterman said on Twitter. “I know politics can be nasty, but even then, I could (asterisk)never(asterisk) imagine ridiculing someone for their health challenges.”

A Fetterman campaign spokesperson, Joe Calvello, said Fetterman is healthy enough to debate, walks 5 miles to 6 miles a day and has been honest about his recovery, saying he is working with a therapist to deal with some speech and hearing problems.

An Oz campaign adviser, Barney Keller, said Oz and his team are simply giving Fetterman “good health advice” to eat vegetables.

As for the proposed debate at a Pittsburgh TV station, the Fetterman campaign said it’s not up to Oz to dictate the terms of the debate schedule.

Keller said Oz has done no such thing, leaving Oz’s campaign to conclude that Fetterman isn’t being honest about the extent to which he is affected by the stroke.

“Either he’s healthy enough to debate and should debate, or he’s not healthy enough to debate and he should say so,” Keller said. But, he added, “Why lie about it? Why continue to lie about how sick he is?”

Fetterman’s public schedule has been relatively light, although he did speak for four minutes at a steelworkers’ union rally in Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

The Oz’s campaign’s statement about Fetterman’s diet tries to play into the narrative that the Democrat is not being transparent about his health.

“If John Fetterman had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then maybe he wouldn’t have had a major stroke and wouldn’t be in the position of having to lie about it constantly,” Oz’s campaign said.

It came in response to Fetterman’s latest social media trolling, capitalizing on a video in which Oz tries to highlight rising inflation by pointing out the high prices for ingredients to make “crudités.”

Fetterman took to social media to tell Oz that “in PA we call this a … veggie tray,” a rebuke that slams Oz on two narratives favored by Fetterman’s campaign: that Oz is super wealthy and out of touch, and that Oz is really from New Jersey, not Pennsylvania.

Fetterman’s campaign said it raised more than a $1 million off its campaign to lampoon Oz’s “crudités” video.

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Follow Marc Levy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/timelywriter

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

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Maxwell Alejandro Frost burst onto the national scene when he crashed a June interview with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis with calls for action on gun violence in America.

“Nobody wants to hear from you,” DeSantis told Frost as security swarmed.

On Tuesday, Frost, 25, found thousands of people who did want to hear from him, so much so that he won a Democratic primary for an open U.S. House seat in a liberal district, positioning himself to become the first member of Congress from Gen Z.

In an interview, Frost described the interaction with the governor as “ good trouble.”

“That video is really a microcosm of what’s going on in Florida — the governor shooing people off who might have a different opinion, being rude, being a bully” as supporters cheered him on, Frost said. “And we know the majority of people in this state are not in line with that type of governance and that type of thinking, and I truly believe that’s part of what led us to victory here.”

Frost, who campaigned on gun control and Medicare for all and won high-profile endorsements from progressive U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, beat out a crowded cast of Democrats who ran for the seat in Florida’s 10th Congressional District, which includes the Orlando area.

He will compete against Republican army veteran Calvin Wimbish in November for the seat, left open when Val Demings decided to run for U.S. Senate. The district is considered reliably Democratic, making Frost a favorite this fall to become the first member of Congress from Gen Z, those born after 1996.

On his website, Frost detailed his Cuban heritage, noting his mother put him up for adoption after she was “caught in a cycle of drugs, crime, and violence while pregnant” without health care. He also wrote about experiencing “police abuse firsthand” and gun violence in his community, while highlighting his activism work around voting, abortion and guns.

Frost’s victory on Tuesday came over a crowded field that included experienced Democrats, including former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, who was in Congress from 1993 to 2017 and was convicted of a federal tax charge, and the former congressman Alan Grayson, whose inflammatory comments have generated headlines.

“Don’t count out young people. Don’t count us out just because we’re young,” Frost said. “When young people have the resources, training that they need and support, they can really flourish.”

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday a long-awaited plan to cancel billions of dollars in student debt, making good on a campaign promise to aid debt-strapped younger Americans even as some Republicans argue the move could worsen inflation.

HOW MUCH WILL BE CANCELED AND FOR WHOM? The government will cancel $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 a year, or $250,000 for married couples. Students who received Pell Grants, low-interest federal loans to benefit lower-income college students, will have $20,000 of their debt canceled.

Cancelling $10,000 in student loan debt for every borrower would cost the U.S. government $321 billion, the New York Fed calculated https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2022/04/who-are-the-federal-student-loan-borrowers-and-who-benefits-from-forgiveness in April, but the income cap means the actual cost will be lower than that.

The New York Fed estimated that forgiving $10,000 per borrower would eliminate student debt for 11.8 million borrowers, or 31% of the total number. The White House said that figure will be 20 million borrowers. Nearly 90% of those borrowers will make under $75,000 a year, the White House said.

HOW BIG IS AMERICA’S STUDENT DEBT PROBLEM? U.S. borrowers hold about $1.75 trillion in student debt, according to the latest Federal Reserve figures https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g19/HIST/cc_hist_memo_levels.html. The vast majority of that, some $1.62 trillion, is held by the federal government.

The cost of higher education has skyrocketed in the United States in the past three decades, doubling at private four-year colleges and universities and rising even more than that at public four-year schools, according to research https://research.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/trends-college-pricing-student-aid-2021.pdf from the nonprofit College Board.

The debt is split among 43 million borrowers, a figure that includes students and their parents or other family members, but is dominated by borrowers under age 40, the New York Fed said.

WHEN WILL BORROWERS WITH REMAINDER NEED TO REPAY?

A COVID-19 pandemic-related program that paused federal student loan payments, started under the Democrat Biden’s Republican predecessor Donald Trump, will be extended until the end of this year. Any borrowers with remaining balances after debt forgiveness would start making payments again in January.

The Education Department is also proposing a rule to halve the amount undergraduate borrowers need to pay monthly to 5% of discretionary income, and forgive any remaining loan balances after 10 years.

WHO WILL NOT BENEFIT

Excluded from the program are borrowers who earn more than $125,000 a year, or $250,000 for married couples. The White House said no high-income individual or high-income household, which it defines as in the top 5% of incomes, will qualify.

HOW COULD THIS IMPACT INFLATION?

Republicans opposed to the plan and some economists including former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers have argued that new consumer spending power unleashed by forgiving loans could drive up prices for homes, cars and other consumer goods.

The White House and some economists including Moody’s Mark Zandi have said they believe the impact of restarting loan payments in 2023 will be deflationary.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose and Alex Alper on Washington; Editing by Heather Timmons and Will Dunham)

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By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday released a 2019 memo in which two top department officials advised then-Attorney General William Barr not to charge President Donald Trump for obstructing Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Although parts of the memo previously had been made public, the Justice Department had redacted other portions. A federal appeals court in Washington last week ruled that the Justice Department had improperly redacted the memo, and ordered it released.

The ruling came after the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a government watchdog group, filed suit to challenge the redactions.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller in April 2019 released a 448-page report outlining the results of his inquiry into Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and whether Trump had tried to obstruct the probe. The report concluded there was not enough evidence to establish that Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Will Dunham)

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(Reuters) – U.S. Representative Val Demings, a former police chief of Orlando, Florida, won the Democratic nomination to run for U.S. Senate in the state, Edison Research projected on Tuesday.

She will face incumbent Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who is favored to win the Nov. 8 general election, though one recent poll showed Demings with a modest lead over Rubio.

(Reporting by Moira Warburton in Vancouver; Editing by Scott Malone)

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By Eric Beech and Moira Warburton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Representative Charlie Crist, a former Republican governor of Florida, emerged on Tuesday as the Democrat who will try to unseat sitting Republican Governor Ron DeSantis in the November general election.

Voters cast ballots in state primaries in Florida, New York and Oklahoma to choose party nominees for the Nov. 8 midterm elections, which will determine the balance of power in the House of Representatives and Senate in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election.

In an unusual intraparty contest in New York, House Democrat Jerry Nadler defeated fellow Democratic incumbent Carolyn Maloney, ending her 30-year career in Congress in a redrawn district that pitted the two longtime politicians against each other.

Nadler, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, won with 55.8% of the vote, vs. 24.2% for Maloney, who chairs the House Oversight Committee.

New York also held the first competitive congressional election since the Supreme Court overturned national abortion rights.

In the Democratic nominating contest for Florida’s governor race, Crist, 66, bested state Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, Edison Research projected. With 78% of the vote counted, Crist had 59.1% vs. 35.4% for Fried.

Fried had sought to rally support as a candidate intent on protecting abortion rights after the Supreme Court in June overturned its landmark Roe v. Wade ruling.

Crist, who served as a Republican Florida governor from 2007 to 2011, portrayed himself as a candidate ready to unify the state after DeSantis’ focus on culture war issues. He drew endorsements from Democratic leaders including U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

DeSantis is seen as a potential 2024 presidential candidate, and Democrats hope they can derail any White House bid by denying him reelection in Florida.

“When we defeat him on Nov. 8, that show is over,” Crist told cheering supporters.

Recent polling data shows DeSantis leading Crist by several percentage points. Running as a Democrat, Crist lost the 2014 governor’s race against Republican Rick Scott.

Meanwhile, Val Demings, another House Democrat, will square off against Republican Marco Rubio in Florida’s Senate race, after defeating three rivals in the state’s Democratic primary election, according to a projection by Edison Research.

Most opinion polls show Rubio leading Demings by several points to double digits, according to the tracking website FiveThirtyEight.com.

DeSantis and Rubio, a former presidential hopeful, had no primary opponents.

In a Republican Senate primary run-off in Oklahoma, U.S. Representative Markwayne Mullin beat former state House Speaker T.W. Shannon for the party nomination to replace retiring Senator Jim Inhofe, Edison projected. With 32% of the vote in, Edison said Mullin defeated Shannon by 66.6% to 33.4%.

SHOWDOWN OVER ABORTION

Democrats have been widely seen as the underdog party up to now in the midterm elections for House and Senate, with their prospects weighed down by historical trends, inflation, and President Joe Biden’s low job approval numbers.

Republicans are favored to take control of the House, putting them in a position to scupper Biden’s legislative agenda. But their chances of capturing the Senate have been cast into doubt by the weakness of Trump-endorsed candidates in the key swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

In New York, Democrat Pat Ryan and Republican Marc Molinaro were vying for an open U.S. House seat in a special election that could give both parties a preview of the November midterms.

Ryan and Molinaro are contending for New York’s 19th Congressional District, which includes the Catskill Mountains and part of the Hudson Valley.

Their showdown offers a test of whether Democrats can use the abortion issue to deflect Republican criticism over the economy. Democratic hopes were raised earlier this month when voters in Republican-dominated Kansas rejected a constitutional amendment to remove abortion protections.

Ryan, an Army combat veteran and the executive of Ulster County, has campaigned on the message that the loss of national abortion rights amounts to an “existential threat” to U.S. democracy.

Molinaro, the executive of Dutchess County, opposes abortion and has downplayed the issue to focus his message on high inflation and crime rates.

The two men are battling for the seat left vacant when Democrat Antonio Delgado became the state’s lieutenant governor.

U.S. Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, a five-term Democratic incumbent, defeated challenger Alessandra Biaggi in a suburban New York primary contest. With 48% of the vote counted, Maloney won 66.3% to Biaggi’s 33.1%, according to Edison Research.

The contest was seen as a proxy battle between the party establishment and its progressive wing. Biaggi was endorsed by Democratic Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, a leading House progressive.

(Reporting by Eric Beech and Moira Warburton; Writing by David Morgan; editing by Ross Colvin and Rosalba O’Brien)

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By Eric Beech and Moira Warburton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A New York Democrat who campaigned on abortion rights and the future of U.S. democracy won a special congressional election in a swing district on Tuesday, a victory that Democrats hope could signal a fundamental shift in national voter sentiment ahead of the November midterm elections.

Democrat Pat Ryan defeated Republican Marc Molinaro 51.3% to 48.7%, with 99% of the vote counted, Edison Research said, after a hard-fought contest for an open seat in New York’s 19th Congressional District, which spans part of the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains region and is known as a bellwether.

The election took on outsized national importance and became a testing ground for both parties’ campaign strategies. Ryan made the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn abortion rights a centerpiece of his campaign, mobilizing Democrats outraged by the ruling. Molinaro focused on crime and soaring inflation that voters say is their most pressing concern.

The district voted for Barack Obama in 2012, Donald Trump in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020.

Ryan’s victory, coming after voters preserved abortion protections in Republican-dominated Kansas, will boost Democrats’ hopes that opposition to the Supreme Court ruling could help them to hold on to the House of Representatives and Senate in a tough election year.

Ryan will serve only until January, when the seat will disappear due to state redistricting. Both he and Molinaro are also running for different seats in the November midterms.

Voters also cast ballots in state primaries in New York, Florida, and Oklahoma to choose party nominees for the Nov. 8 elections, which will determine the balance of power in Congress in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election.

U.S. Representative Charlie Crist emerged as the Democrat who will try to unseat sitting Republican Governor Ron DeSantis in November.

Crist, 66, bested state Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, Edison Research projected. With 78% of the vote counted, Crist had 59.1% vs. 35.4% for Fried.

Crist, who served as a Republican Florida governor from 2007 to 2011 before switching parties, portrayed himself as a candidate ready to unify the state after DeSantis’ focus on culture war issues. He drew endorsements from Democratic leaders including U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

DeSantis is seen as a potential 2024 presidential candidate, and Democrats hope they can derail any White House bid by denying him reelection in Florida.

“When we defeat him on Nov. 8, that show is over,” Crist told cheering supporters.

Recent polling data shows DeSantis leading Crist by several percentage points. Running as a Democrat, Crist lost the 2014 governor’s race against Republican Rick Scott.

Meanwhile, Val Demings, another House Democrat, will square off against Republican Marco Rubio in Florida’s Senate race, after defeating three rivals in the state’s Democratic primary election, according to a projection by Edison Research.

Most opinion polls show Rubio leading Demings by several points to double digits, according to the tracking website FiveThirtyEight.com.

DeSantis and Rubio, a former presidential hopeful, had no primary opponents.

In a Republican Senate primary run-off in Oklahoma, U.S. Representative Markwayne Mullin beat former state House Speaker T.W. Shannon for the party nomination to replace retiring Senator Jim Inhofe, Edison projected. With 32% of the vote in, Edison said Mullin defeated Shannon by 66.6% to 33.4%.

SHOWDOWN OVER ABORTION

Democrats have been widely seen as the underdog party up to now in the midterm elections for House and Senate, with their prospects weighed down by historical trends, inflation, and President Joe Biden’s low job approval numbers.

Republicans are favored to take control of the House, putting them in a position to scupper Biden’s legislative agenda. But their chances of capturing the Senate have been cast into doubt by the weakness of Trump-endorsed candidates in the key swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

In recent weeks, Biden’s approval rating has recovered somewhat from its low of 36% to reach 41%, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling, as inflation has shown signs of easing and Democrats have celebrated a series of legislative wins in Congress.

The New York special election was the first competitive contest since the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling in June. But other special House elections in conservative districts in Nebraska and Minnesota saw Republicans prevail by much narrower margins than expected.

Also in New York, an unusual intraparty contest saw House Democrat Jerry Nadler defeat fellow Democratic incumbent Carolyn Maloney, ending her 30-year career in Congress in a redrawn district that pitted the two longtime politicians against each other.

Nadler, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, won with 55.8% of the vote, vs. 24.2% for Maloney, who chairs the House Oversight Committee.

U.S. Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, a five-term Democratic incumbent, defeated challenger Alessandra Biaggi in a primary contest in suburban New York. With 48% of the vote counted, Maloney won 66.3% to Biaggi’s 33.1%, according to Edison Research.

The contest was seen as a proxy battle between the party establishment and its progressive wing. Biaggi was endorsed by Democratic Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, a leading House progressive.

(Reporting by Eric Beech and Moira Warburton; Writing by David Morgan; editing by Ross Colvin and Rosalba O’Brien)

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