Politics

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina’s primary Tuesday will determine whether Republican Gov. Henry McMaster gets to run for a second full term that would make him the longest-serving governor in the state’s history, while five Democratic gubernatorial candidates are vying for their party’s nomination.

McMaster faces one candidate for the Republican nomination. Harrison Musselwhite is a trucker and former businessman who says he is running to allow open carry of guns, prevent any government vaccine mandates and eliminate state income taxes.

McMaster has raised $5 million for his reelection bid, while Musselwhite, who uses and campaigns with the nickname Trucker Bob, has not reported any campaign contributions, according to state ethics filings.

Governors in South Carolina are limited to two four-year terms, but if McMaster wins the primary and November’s election, he will have the chance to serve an unprecedented 10 years in office. That’s because he automatically ascended to the role from his lieutenant governor seat in January 2017 when Nikki Haley resigned to take a job in then-President Donald Trump’s administration. McMaster served out Haley’s last two years before getting elected in his own right in 2018.

On the Democratic side, five candidates are seeking the gubernatorial nomination: former U.S. House member Joe Cunningham, state Sen. Mia McLeod, health care administrator Carlton Boyd, barber and musician Calvin “CJ Mack” McMillan and Vietnam veteran and former postal worker William H. “Cowboy” Williams.

Most of the attention has been focused on Cunningham and McLeod, who have also raised the most money. Cunningham has received $1.8 million, while McLeod has taken in about $500,000.

Both candidates have spent time in local party gatherings, trying to generate grassroots support and emphasizing their differences with McMaster instead of each other. In their one debate Friday after early voting ended, Cunningham and McLeod again spent more time targeting the Republican governor than they did their three Democratic opponents — only one of whom answered the invitation to debate.

McLeod also had a personal tiff on Twitter with Democratic House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, suggesting infidelity and nepotism after Rutherford endorsed Cunningham and said McLeod had done little in her 10 years in the General Assembly.

McLeod often introduces herself as the first Black woman to run for governor in South Carolina, though she says her main purpose for running isn’t to make history, but to make a difference. She said South Carolina needs an alternative to the string of “Republican Light” Democratic men who have run and lost the past five gubernatorial races.

Cunningham has campaigned with a number of splashy promises such as legalizing sports gambling and recreational marijuana use.

He also insists that he is best positioned to beat McMaster. Cunningham cites his ideas and youthfulness, and has repeatedly highlighted the 35-year age gap between him and the governor. Cunningham is 40. McMaster is 75. Cunningham also contends that anything the incumbent governor hopes to accomplish with four more years of public service should have been done in his first four decades as a politician.

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Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP.

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PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Paul LePage, the Republican whose two terms as Maine’s governor were dominated by his offensive rhetoric and combative leadership, is seeking a political comeback.

With no opposition, LePage will coast to the Republican nomination for governor on Tuesday, setting up a fierce general election campaign against Democratic incumbent Gov. Janet Mills. The race is among just a handful of competitive governor’s contests in this year’s midterm elections.

The matchup revives a rivalry between LePage and Mills that dates to the days when he was governor and she was attorney general. LePage sued Mills for refusing to defend his administration during several political disagreements that reached a boiling point over then-President Donald Trump’s travel ban targeting several Muslim-majority countries. LePage had to pay to use outside counsel.

But this time, they are facing off in a dramatically different political climate.

LePage moved to Florida after leaving office in 2019 but returned a year later and decided to mount a third campaign. He has the full backing of the Republican Party, which has allowed him to focus his energy and financial resources on the general election. Mills, for her part, is seeking reelection in a difficult year for Democrats, weighed down by President Joe Biden’s low approval ratings and widespread frustration with the party’s management of inflation and gas prices.

The campaign is emerging as a barometer of whether voters this year will be motivated by economic anxiety or political civility.

LePage is fond of calling himself “Trump before Donald Trump became popular,” and he retains a solid following among conservatives. A former city councilor and mayor in Waterville, he was narrowly elected governor in 2010 in a five-way race.

He won plaudits during his tenure for advancing conservative policies, including lowering the tax burden and shrinking Maine’s welfare rolls by tightening eligibility requirements and capping the length of some benefits.

But his policy agenda was often overshadowed by his penchant to offend. During a time of rising animosity toward the media, he joked that he wanted to bomb a newspaper. He told the Portland chapter of the NAACP to “kiss my butt” and dismissed the dangers of an industrial chemical by saying the “worst case is some women may have little beards.” He was considered one of the nation’s most vulnerable governors when he ran for reelection in 2014.

David Capuano, a Brunswick resident who’s not enrolled in either party, said he’s in the camp of voters who believe LePage should go away.

“This guy is a mini-Donald Trump,” Capuano said. “The man is a bully and a loudmouth. I don’t like bullies.”

Ray Richardson, a Republican and radio talk show host at WLOB in Portland, said people remember that LePage did some good things during his eight years. He said LePage is “laser-focused” on addressing new problems.

“He’s a known quantity. We were enduring good times under him,” Richardson said. “He left Maine in a good place.”

For her part, when Mills came into office in 2019, her first action was to expand Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act — something LePage had refused to do. She borrowed a Republican idea to return the bulk of a $1.2 billion budget surplus to taxpayers in the form of $850 inflationary relief checks. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, she issued an executive order requiring residents to wear masks, and she later implemented a vaccine mandate for health care workers, angering conservatives who felt their civil rights were being trampled.

LePage criticized what he described as Mills’ heavy-handed response to the pandemic, and he has repeatedly sought to link her to Biden.

“Never have we witnessed so many destructive public policies all at one time,” LePage told fellow Republicans.

At her party convention, Mills touted her fiscal stewardship and said of LePage, “We won’t go back.”

“We recorded historic budget surpluses because of good management,” Mills said. “We rejected tax increases on Maine people and instead delivered tax relief, including an income tax cut for retirees.”

The campaign carries historic significance. Mills is the state’s first female governor, and a LePage win would make him Maine’s longest-serving governor.

The Maine Constitution prohibits a governor from seeking a third consecutive term, but a two-term candidate can run again after skipping a cycle. The last candidate to attempt that, Democrat Joe Brennan, failed to win a third term in elections in 1990 and 1994.

So far, Mills is outraising LePage more than 2-to-1, collecting $3.2 million compared to the nearly $1.5 million raised for LePage, according to campaign financial disclosures.

This year, unlike his last two campaigns, LePage won’t have the help of a big-spending spoiler to siphon votes from the Democratic candidate. LePage didn’t win a majority of the vote in his successful 2010 and 2014 campaigns when he ran against candidates who included independent Eliot Cutler, who won nearly 36% of the vote in 2010 and over 8% in 2014.

The only independent running in this year’s election is Sam Hunkler, a physician and political newcomer who has a self-imposed spending cap of $5,000.

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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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By Patricia Zengerle and Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON(Reuters) – Top advisers to then-President Donald Trump told him that his claims of widespread election fraud were unfounded and would not reverse his 2020 election loss, but he refused to listen, according to testimony on Monday at a hearing of the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Close aides and family members said they told Trump that they found no merit in a wide range of often outlandish allegations that surfaced after his election defeat, including reports of a “suspicious suitcase” containing fake ballots, a truck transporting ballots to Pennsylvania and computer chips swapped into voting machines.

“I thought, boy, if he really believes this stuff he has lost contact with, he’s become detached from reality,” said William Barr, who served as Trump’s attorney general and was long known as loyal to the Republican president. In video testimony, Barr bluntly dismissed claims of fraud as “bullshit” and “crazy stuff.”

“There was never an indication of interest in what the actual facts were,” he said.

The Democratic-led House of Representatives Select Committee investigating the assault on the U.S. Capitol by thousands of Trump supporters presented its findings at the second of an expected six this month on its nearly year-long investigation into the riot.

Monday’s hearing sought to make the case that Trump ignored the advice of many of his own staffers when he claimed that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from him.

Committee members argue that Trump’s repeated fraud claims, known by Democrats as “The Big Lie,” convinced his followers to attack the Capitol.

“He and his closest advisors knew those claims were false, but they continued to peddle them anyway, right up until the moments before a mob of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol,”

Democrats said Trump raised some $250 million from supporters to advance fraud claims in court but instead steered much of the money elsewhere.

“The ‘Big Lie’ was also a big ripoff,” Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren said.

Trump has denied wrongdoing, and repeatedly insisted that he did not lose, dismissing the Select Committee investigation as a political witchhunt.

Opinion polls show that many of Trump’s supporters still believe his false claims about the election. Some are now running for offices in which they would oversee future elections. Trump has hinted at running for president again in 2024 but has not announced any decision.

CAMPAIGN ‘DID NOT MAKE ITS CASE’

Bill Stepien, Trump’s campaign manager, said he recommended on election night that Trump steer clear of any pronouncement of victory and instead say votes were still being counted.

“He thought I was wrong. He told me so, and that they were going to go, that he was going to go in a different direction,” Stepien said in videotaped testimony. Stepien was slated to testify in person, but cancelled at the last minute when his wife went into labor.

Trump went on television to preemptively declare victory at the urging of Rudy Giuliani, a former New York City mayor. Campaign advisor Jason Miller testified that Giuliani was not sober at the time.

“The mayor was definitely intoxicated but I, um, did not know his level of intoxication when he spoke with the president, for example,” Miller said in video testimony.

Byung J. “BJay” Pak, who resigned as U.S. attorney in Atlanta as Trump’s camp questioned Georgia’s election results, said he found no evidence of fraud in that state.

Referring to the suspicious suitcase that supposedly contained fake or altered ballots, Pak said, sitting at the witness table: “The alleged black suitcase being pulled from under the table was an official lock box.”

Monday’s session followed a blockbuster hearing on Thursday night featuring testimony showing that close Trump allies – even Trump’s daughter Ivanka – rejected his false claims of voting fraud. Nearly 20 million Americans watched the hearing aired in the primetime peak television viewing hours.

Four people died the day of the attack, one fatally shot by police and the others of natural causes. Some 140 police officers were injured, and one died the next day. Four officers later died by suicide.

Nearly 850 people have been arrested for crimes related to the riot, including more than 250 charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, Richard Cowan and Doina Chiacu, additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Andy Sullivan and Alistair Bell)

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By Gabriella Borter

(Reuters) – If the U.S. Supreme Court votes to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide, conservative states will have more confidence that their new limits on abortion will stand while liberal states will feel more urgency to protect and expand abortion rights.

Here are some restrictions and protections state legislatures have taken up in 2022:

ABORTION RESTRICTIONS

ARIZONA: Republican Governor Doug Ducey in March signed a bill banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The measure makes exceptions for medical emergencies, but not for rape or incest. It will take effect later this year if not blocked in court.

FLORIDA: Republican Governor Ron DeSantis in April signed a 15-week abortion ban, which allows exceptions for medical emergencies or if the fetus has a fatal abnormality. The exceptions do not allow for abortion past 15 weeks in case of rape, incest or human trafficking. The ban is due to take effect on July 1.

IDAHO: Republican Governor Brad Little signed a six-week abortion ban in March that allows family members of the fetus to sue providers who perform abortions past that point, similar to a Texas law enacted last year. The Idaho law was due to take effect in April, but has been blocked by the state Supreme Court. A hearing is set for August.

KENTUCKY: The legislature in April Louisiana lawmakers in June gave final approval overrode Democratic Governor Andy Beshear’s veto to enact several abortion restrictions, including a 15-week ban, a requirement that fetal remains be cremated or interred, and a requirement that a combination birth-death or stillbirth certificate be issued for each abortion. The law took immediate effect, suspending clinics’ ability to provide abortions for eight days until a U.S. judge temporarily blocked its enforcement.

LOUISIANA: Louisiana lawmakers in June gave final approval to a bill that would strengthen the state’s trigger law, which goes into effect if Roe is overturned. The measure bans all abortions except in medical emergencies and increases the criminal penalties for healthcare workers who provide abortions to a maximum $100,000 fine and 10 years in jail. Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards has approved abortion restrictions in the past and is expected to sign the legislation.

OKLAHOMA: Governor Kevin Stitt, a Republican, this spring signed three laws restricting or banning abortion.

The law signed on May 26 banned all abortions except in cases of medical emergency, rape or incest. It took effect immediately and shut down the state’s abortion services. It relies on private citizens to sue providers and any person who “aids or abets” abortions to be enforced.

Earlier in May, Stitt signed a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. It relies on the same lawsuit enforcement mechanism and also took effect immediately.

A bill signed in April bans abortion except in medical emergencies and penalizes providers who violate the law with up to $100,000 in fines and 10 years in prison. The law is due to take effect in August.

SOUTH DAKOTA: Republican Governor Kristi Noem signed a bill in March requiring women to make three in-person doctor’s visits to complete a medication abortion. A federal judge temporarily blocked the law from taking effect in response to a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood. In May, a federal appeals court put the case on hold until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the case involving federal abortion rights.

ABORTION PROTECTIONS

COLORADO: Governor Jared Polis, a Democrat, signed a bill on April 4 codifying the right to have an abortion. The measure immediately took effect.

CONNECTICUT: In May, Democratic Governor Ned Lamont signed a bill that protects anyone who provides abortions, has an abortion or assists someone having an abortion from other states’ restrictions. Among other provisions, the measure bars state agencies from assisting in interstate investigations seeking to hold someone civilly or criminally liable for getting or aiding an abortion. The law is due to take effect July 1.

MARYLAND: The legislature passed a bill that expands the definition of who can provide abortions to include any “qualified provider,” establishes a state-funded abortion provider training program and requires most insurance plans to cover the cost of abortions. Republican Governor Larry Hogan vetoed the bill, but the state’s Democratic-controlled legislature overrode his veto on April 9 and the law is due to take effect July 1.

NEW YORK: Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul on Monday signed legislation that protects the state’s abortion providers and patients from other states’ penalties on abortion. The laws, which took immediate effect, allow individuals to file claims against anyone who sues or brings charges against them for facilitating or obtaining an abortion, and prohibit state courts from cooperating in civil or criminal lawsuits stemming from abortions that took place in New York.

VERMONT: The Democratic-led legislature in February passed a constitutional amendment that guarantees the right to abortion. It will be on the ballot for voters to approve in November.

(Reporting by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Marguerita Choy)

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By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday endorsed a bipartisan Senate gun-safety proposal as “meaningful progress” as he announced new gun-trafficking charges in an effort to crack down on the gun violence plaguing America.

“We do think that at least the framework that I read about this morning with respect to the bipartisan negotiations would be meaningful progress in that direction,” Garland said at a news conference.

Garland’s comments came one day after a bipartisan group of senators announced a gun safety bill designed to win approval by Republicans and Democrats alike.

President Joe Biden’s administration is facing mounting pressure to take action in the wake of last month’s mass-shootings at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.

Garland said a Justice Department strike force focused on firearms trafficking had charged a Texas man for illegal purchases and re-sales of 92 guns, 16 of which were later recovered in connection with homicides, assaults and drug trafficking.

“We are cracking down on the criminal gun-trafficking pipelines that flood our communities with illegal guns,” Garland said.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Andy Sullivan and Lisa Shumaker)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Rudy Giuliani, one of Donald Trump’s primary lawyers during the then-president’s failed efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, must now answer to professional ethics charges, the latest career slap after law license suspensions in New York and the District of Columbia.

The Office of Disciplinary Counsel, the disciplinary branch of the District of Columbia Bar, filed the charges against the former federal prosecutor and New York mayor alleging that he promoted unsubstantiated voter fraud claims in Pennsylvania. The action was filed June 6 and became public Friday.

At issue are claims Giuliani made in supporting a Trump campaign lawsuit seeking to overturn the election results in Pennsylvania. That suit, which sought to invalidate as many as 1.5 million mail-in ballots, was dismissed by courts.

The counsel’s office said Giuliani’s conduct violated Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct “in that he brought a proceeding and asserted issues therein without a non-frivolous basis in law and fact for doing so” and “that he engaged in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice.”

The counsel asked that the D.C. Court of Appeals Board on Professional Responsibility take up the matter. Giuliani has 20 days to respond, according to the filing. An attempt Saturday to reach a lawyer for Giuliani was unsuccessful.

The step is the latest against Giuliani for his role in Trump’s debunked claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent.

Last June, an appeals court suspended him from practicing law in New York because he made false statements while trying to get courts to overturn Trump’s loss. An attorney disciplinary committee had asked the court to suspend his license on the grounds that he had violated professional conduct rules as he promoted theories that the election was stolen through fraud.

The D.C. Bar temporarily suspended him last July although the practical implication of that action is questionable, given that Giuliani’s law license in Washington has been inactive since 2002.

News of the counsel’s action follows the first public hearing by the House committee investigating the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Giuliani met for hours with the committee last month.

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DALLAS (AP) — There is little evidence that gasoline prices, which hit a record $5 a gallon on Saturday, will drop anytime soon.

Everyone seems to have a favorite villain for the high cost of filling up.

Many blame President Joe Biden and his policies that they say are hurting the petroleum industry. Others say it’s because Russian President Vladimir Putin recklessly invaded Ukraine, even though prices were going up before that occured. Democrats in Congress accuse the oil companies of price gouging.

As with many things in life, the answer is complicated.

WHAT IS HAPPENING?

Gasoline prices have been surging since April 2020, when the initial shock of the pandemic drove prices under $1.80 a gallon, according to government figures. They hit $3 in May 2021 and cruised past $4 this March.

State averages ranged from $6.43 a gallon in California to $4.52 in Mississippi.

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?

Several factors are coming together to push gasoline prices higher.

Global oil prices have been rising — unevenly, but sharply overall — since December. The price of international crude has roughly doubled in that time, with the U.S. benchmark rising nearly as much, closing Friday at more than $120 a barrel.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting sanctions by the United States and its allies have contributed to the rise. Russia is a leading oil producer.

The United States is the world’s largest oil producer, but U.S. capacity to turn oil into gasoline is down 900,000 barrels of oil per day since the end of 2019, according to the Energy Department.

Tighter oil and gasoline supplies are hitting as energy consumption rises because of the economic recovery.

Finally, Americans typically drive more starting around Memorial Day, adding to the demand for gasoline.

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO GET MORE OIL?

Analysts say there are no quick fixes; it’s a matter of supply and demand, and supply can’t be ramped up overnight.

If anything, the global oil supply will grow tighter as sanctions against Russia take hold. European Union leaders have vowed to ban most Russian oil by the end of this year.

The U.S. has already imposed a ban even as Biden acknowledged it would affect American consumers. He said the ban was necessary so that the U.S. does not subsidize Russia’s war in Ukraine. “Defending freedom is going to cost,” he declared.

The U.S. could ask Saudi Arabia, Venezuela or Iran to help pick up the slack for the expected drop in Russian oil production, but each of those options carries its own moral and political calculations.

Republicans have called on Biden to help increase domestic oil production — for example, by allowing drilling on more federal lands and offshore, or reversing his decision to revoke a permit for a pipeline that could carry Canadian oil to Gulf Coast refineries.

However, many Democrats and environmentalists would howl if Biden took those steps, which they say would undercut efforts to limit climate change. Even if Biden ignored a big faction of his own party, it would be months or years before those measures could lead to more gasoline at U.S. service stations.

At the end of March, Biden announced another tapping of the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to bring down gasoline prices. The average price per gallon has jumped 77 cents since then, which analysts say is partly because of a refining squeeze.

WHY IS U.S. REFINING DOWN?

Some refineries that produce gasoline, jet fuel, diesel and other petroleum products shut down during the first year of the pandemic, when demand collapsed. While a few are expected to boost capacity in the next year or so, others are reluctant to invest in new facilities because of Administration policies and a transition to electric vehicles would reduce demand for gasoline over the long run.

The owner of one of the nation’s largest refineries, in Houston, announced in April that it will close the facility by the end of next year.

WHO IS HURTING?

Higher energy prices hit lower-income families the hardest. Workers in retail and the fast-food industry can’t work from home — they must commute by car or public transportation.

The National Energy Assistance Directors Association estimates that the 20% of families with the lowest income could be spending 38% of their income on energy including gasoline this year, up from 27% in 2020.

WHEN WILL IT END?

It could be up to motorists themselves — by driving less, they would reduce demand and put downward pressure on prices.

“There has got to be some point where people start cutting back, I just don’t know what the magic point is,” said Patrick De Haan, an analyst for the gas-shopping app GasBuddy. “Is it going to be $5? Is it going to be $6, or $7? That’s the million-dollar question that nobody knows.”

HOW ARE DRIVERS COPING?

On Saturday morning at a BP station in Brooklyn, New York, computer worker Nick Schaffzin blamed Putin for the $5.45 per gallon he was shelling out and said he will make sacrifices to pay the price.

“You just cut back on some other things — vacations, discretionary stuff, stuff that’s nice to have but you don’t need,” he said. “Gas you need.”

At the same station, George Chen said he will have to raise the prices he charges his customers for film production to cover the gas he burns driving around New York City. He acknowledged that others aren’t so fortunate.

“It’s going to be painful for people who don’t get pay increases right away,” he said. ”I can only imagine the families who can’t afford it.”

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JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The special primary for Alaska’s only U.S. House seat moved forward as planned Saturday following a tense legal fight over ballot access issues that had cast a shadow over the election.

The legal drama was the latest twist in what has already been an extraordinary election, packed with 48 candidates running for the seat left vacant by the death in March of U.S. Rep. Don Young. Young, a Republican, held the seat for 49 years.

The Alaska Supreme Court on Saturday reversed and vacated a lower court order that barred state elections officials from certifying the results of the special primary until visually impaired voters were given a “full and fair” opportunity to participate.

Attorneys for the state had interpreted Friday’s order from Superior Court Judge Una Gandbhir as preventing elections officials from concluding voting as scheduled on Saturday. They asked the supreme court to reverse the order.

The high court said an explanation of its reasoning would follow at a later time.

Gandbhir on Friday ruled that Alaska elections officials could not certify the results of the by-mail special primary until visually impaired voters “are provided a full and fair opportunity to participate” in the election. She did not specify what that would entail.

The ruling came in a case filed earlier this week by Robert Corbisier, executive director of the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights. Corbisier sued state elections officials on behalf of a person identified as B.L., a registered voter in Anchorage with a visual impairment.

Attorneys for Corbisier said the election lacks options that would allow people with visual impairments to cast ballots “without invasive and unlawful assistance from a sighted person.” Attorneys for the state said that adequate methods for secret voting were available.

An attorney for Corbisier did not respond to a request for comment.

This is the first election under a system approved by voters in 2020 that ends party primaries and uses ranked choice voting in general elections.

Prominent candidates include former Gov. Sarah Palin, Nick Begich, Tara Sweeney and Josh Revak, all Republicans; independent Al Gross; and Democrats Christopher Constant and Mary Peltola. A self-described “independent, progressive, democratic socialist” whose legal name is Santa Claus has gotten attention but has not been raising money.

Each voter picks one candidate in the special primary, which will whittle the list from 48 to four. The four candidates who win the most votes advance to a special election in which ranked choice voting will be used. The winner of the special election will serve the rest of Young’s term, which ends in January.

The special election is set to coincide with the Aug. 16 regular primary. The regular primary and November general election will decide who serves a two-year term beginning in January.

The special primary is mainly being conducted by mail, which elections officials said they opted for given the tight timeline to hold an election after Young’s death.

As of Friday afternoon, around 130,000 ballots had been returned to the Division of Elections. Ballots began going out in late April.

For some voters, trying to sort through 48 candidates was daunting. Candidates tried to distinguish themselves from their opponents and break through with their messages.

Peltola, a former state lawmaker from Bethel who has been involved in fisheries issues, said she entered the race with low name recognition but believed that had changed and that she has momentum behind her candidacy.

She and Constant, an Anchorage Assembly member, have run perhaps the most visible campaigns among the six Democrats in the race, which also includes 22 independents and 16 Republicans.

Most of those running have reported no fundraising to the Federal Election Commission. Of those who have, Palin reported the biggest haul between April 1 and May 22, more than $630,000. Gross, an orthopedic surgeon who ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2020, reported receiving about $545,000 between March 23 and May 22.

Begich, who began running for the House seat last fall, had the most available cash as of May 22, about $715,000. He has loaned his campaign $650,000 so far.

Independent Jeff Lowenfels, a gardening expert with a legal background, reported bringing in about $150,000 from April 1 to May 22, which includes $100,000 he loaned his campaign.

Palin was endorsed by some national political figures, including former President Donald Trump, and took time to campaign in Georgia last month for David Perdue, who lost the Republican primary for governor in that state to incumbent Brian Kemp.

Trump participated in a “telerally” for Palin, saying she would “fight harder than anybody I can think of,” particularly on energy issues.

Some Alaskans questioned Palin’s commitment. She resigned partway through her term as governor in 2009, months after her unsuccessful run for U.S. vice president. In a radio ad, she seeks to assure voters: “I’m in this for the long haul. … I’m going to see this thing through and earn your support.”

During the campaign, opponents seized on that point. Gross said Palin “quit on Alaska.” Begich and Sweeney made points of saying they are not quitters.

Begich, a Republican from a family of prominent Democrats, earned endorsements from conservatives in the state along with the Alaska Republican Party. Sweeney was assistant secretary of Indian Affairs in the U.S. Interior Department under Trump and has been endorsed by a group representing leaders of the state’s influential Alaska Native regional corporations.

Gross, in an email to supporters, said Palin and Begich are candidates who will be hard to beat but said he is “ready and able to take on this fight.”

He stood in the morning drizzle in Juneau on Saturday, waving signs with supporters and said he felt good about his campaign.

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By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The District of Columbia office that polices attorneys for ethical misconduct filed charges on Friday against President Donald Trump’s former attorney, Rudy Giuliani, over baseless claims he made in federal court alleging the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

In the new charges, the District’s disciplinary office alleges that Giuliani, who is a member of the D.C. bar, made baseless claims in federal court filings about the results of the 2020 presidential election in Pennsylvania.

A lawyer for Giuliani did not have an immediate comment.

The charges come a day after the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol had its first prime-time hearing in which it outlined evidence that Trump and his allies sought to overturn the 2020 election and incite throngs of his supporters to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s election victory.

Giuliani has been among Trump’s most fervent supporters, and repeatedly claimed without evidence that the election had been stolen.

The new ethics charges filed Friday by the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel with the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Board on Professional Responsibility center on a series of legal challenges Giuliani filed in the Pennsylvania federal court.

In legal pleadings and during oral arguments in November 2020, the complaint says Giuliani sought “extraordinary relief” from the court including an emergency order to prohibit the certification of the presidential election, an order to invalidate ballots cast by certain voters in seven counties, and other orders that would have permitted the state’s assembly to choose its electors and declare Trump the winner in Pennsylvania.

Giuliani’s reputation has also been stained by his dealings with Ukraine and he is being probed by Manhattan federal prosecutors over those business ties.

He began representing Trump, a fellow Republican and New Yorker, in April 2018 in connection with then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation that documented Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in WashingtonAdditional reporting by Karen Freifeld in New YorkEditing by Noeleen Walder and Matthew Lewis)

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By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The District of Columbia office that polices attorneys for ethical misconduct filed charges on Friday against President Donald Trump’s former attorney, Rudy Giuliani, over baseless claims he made in federal court alleging the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

The D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel alleges that Giuliani, who is a member of the D.C. bar, made baseless claims in federal court filings about the results of the 2020 presidential election in Pennsylvania.

A lawyer for Giuliani did not have an immediate comment.

The charges come a day after the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol had its first prime-time hearing in which it outlined evidence that Trump and his allies sought to overturn the 2020 election and incite throngs of his supporters to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory.

Giuliani, a former U.S. Attorney in Manhattan and New York City mayor, has been among Trump’s most fervent supporters, and repeatedly claimed without evidence that the election had been stolen.

The new ethics charges center on a series of legal challenges Giuliani made in Pennsylvania federal court in 2020. The charges were filed with the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Board on Professional Responsibility.

The complaint says Giuliani sought an emergency order to prohibit the certification of the presidential election, an order to invalidate ballots cast by certain voters in seven counties, and other orders that would have permitted the state’s assembly to choose its electors and declare Trump the winner in Pennsylvania.

The charges say his conduct violated two professional conduct rules in Pennsylvania that bar attorneys from bringing frivolous proceedings without a basis in law or fact and prohibit conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice.

Charges can lead to the suspension of a license to practice law or disbarment.

The charges mark the second time that a bar office has taken action against Giuliani.

His New York law license was suspended in June 2021 after a state appeals court found that he made “demonstrably false and misleading” statements that widespread voter fraud undermined the election.

Apart from having two of his law licenses suspended, Giuliani’s reputation has been stained by his dealings with Ukraine and he is being probed by Manhattan federal prosecutors over those business ties.

He began representing Trump, a fellow Republican and New Yorker, in April 2018 in connection with then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation that documented Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Giuliani has not been charged with criminal wrongdoing. His lawyer has said the federal probe is politically motivated.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in WashingtonAdditional reporting by Karen Freifeld in New YorkEditing by Noeleen Walder and Matthew Lewis)

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