Politics

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — When Philadelphia’s election board prepared to count ballots last year that were mailed in without the voter’s handwritten date, Republicans threatened impeachment. Now a GOP Senate candidate wants counties to embrace the same approach.

In a last-ditch bid to close a roughly 900-vote gap with Dr. Mehmet Oz, former hedge fund CEO David McCormick is pressing for undated mail-in ballots to be counted. The Senate Republican primary is still too close to call, now more than two weeks after Pennsylvania’s primary election, and the mail-in vote, which has favored McCormick, could help him.

McCormick insists he simply wants every Republican vote to be counted in a contest that will decide the GOP nominee for one of this year’s most closely watched Senate races. But in calling for undated mail-in ballots to be counted, McCormick is putting the GOP in an uncomfortable spot after the party has spent the better part of two years deriding such votes as “illegal” alongside a broader embrace of former President Donald Trump’s lies about widespread fraud in the 2020 campaign.

“Now it looks like we could be OK for something if it impacts the race in a way you want it to go,” said Mike Barley, a Republican campaign strategist in Pennsylvania who does not have a candidate in the Senate race.

The national and state party are fighting McCormick in state courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court could resolve the matter any day now. In any case, most Republicans believe McCormick is out of luck and will be unable to make up the votes in a recount, regardless of whether undated ballots are counted.

More registered Democrats vote by mail in Pennsylvania than do registered Republicans, possibly as a result of Trump’s baseless smearing of mail-in voting as rife with fraud.

Until now, Republican Party leaders had been solidly unified behind the idea that ballots without a voter’s handwritten date on the envelope must be thrown out.

The law, they reasoned, is clear on that point — even if that handwritten date on a ballot envelope plays no role in determining whether a voter is eligible or whether a ballot is cast on time.

Then, three days after the May 17 primary election, a federal appeals court ruled in a case stemming from a local judicial election last year that throwing out such ballots violates federal civil rights law.

As he tries to find the votes to overtake the Trump-endorsed Oz, McCormick has argued that “every Republican vote should count,” and, in court, his lawyer, Charles Cooper, told a state judge that the object of Pennsylvania’s election law is to let people vote, “not to play games of gotcha with them.”

McCormick’s pursuit has served up a sort of whiplash for Republicans, who had threatened to impeach Philadelphia election officials last year after they moved to count such ballots and accused state judges of stealing a state Senate seat in 2020 when they ruled that the ballots could be counted in that year’s election.

This time around, however, Republicans aren’t blasting judges or threatening to impeach the county election boards that are counting the ballots.

“Not at this point, because it’s still in litigation,” said Republican state Rep. Seth Grove, who chairs the committee that writes election-related legislation.

In court, the Republican National Committee and the state Republican Party have opposed McCormick. The party, however, is not unified in that effort.

For instance, the Butler County Republican Party, which endorsed McCormick, hasn’t taken a side in the fight, said county GOP chair Al Lindsay.

Counties that already counted the undated ballots, without being forced, include Republican counties, both big and small.

Sam DeMarco, the Republican Party chair in heavily populated Allegheny County, said he’s not aware that Republicans have actually changed their mind about the law.

Rather, he has heard griping from Republicans about McCormick “because they think this is what the Democrats would do.”

In any case, it is probably better to get the fight out of the way in a Republican primary, rather than leave it for the general election, he said.

“I just want to get a definitive ruling and, personally I’m happy it’s happening now, in a primary, rather than in November, where the actual seat would be up for grabs,” DeMarco said.

The winner of the GOP primary will face Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in November.

Barley, the campaign strategist, said the perception that the party has shifted its stance — or that some Republicans have, anyway — sets a dangerous precedent.

“What happens in November if it doesn’t go your way and then you don’t want them counted?” he asked.

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

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

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Parents of victims killed in recent mass shootings in New York and Texas as well as a fourth grader who survived last week’s attack will speak before a U.S. House panel next week as Congress weighs potential new laws to curb gun violence.

The mother of one of the 10 killed at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, last month as well as the parents of one of 19 students gunned down at an Uvalde, Texas, school will testify at the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s hearing on June 8, the panel said in a statement on Friday.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Richard Cowan; Editing by Katharine Jackson)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Trump White House official Peter Navarro was indicted Friday on contempt charges after defying a subpoena from the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Navarro is former President Donald Trump’s second aide to be charged with contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the Jan. 6, 2021, investigation, His arrest comes months after former White House adviser Steve Bannon.

Navarro, 72, was charged with one contempt count for failing to appear for a deposition before the House committee. The second charge is for failing to produce documents the committee requested. He was taken into federal custody Friday morning and was expected to appear in federal court in Washington later in the afternoon.

The indictment underscores that the Justice Department is continuing to pursue criminal charges against Trump associates who have attempted to impede or stonewall the work of congressional investigators examining the most significant attack on U.S. democracy in decades.

The Justice Department and Attorney General Merrick Garland have faced pressure to move more quickly to decide whether to prosecute other Trump aides who have similarly defied subpoenas from the House panel.

The indictment alleges that Navarro, when summoned to appear before the committee for a deposition, refused to do so and instead told the panel that because Trump had invoked executive privilege, “my hands are tied.”

After committee staff told him they believed there were topics he could discuss without raising any executive privilege concerns, Navarro again refused, directing the committee to negotiate directly with lawyers for Trump, according to the indictment. The committee went ahead with its scheduled deposition on March 2, but Navarro did not attend.

The indictment came days after Navarro revealed in a court filing that he also had been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury this week as part of the Justice Department’s sprawling probe into the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Navarro, who was a trade adviser to Trump, said he was served the subpoena by the FBI at his Washington, D.C., home last week. The subpoena was the first known instance of prosecutors seeking testimony from someone who worked in the Trump White House as they investigate the attack.

Navarro made the case in his lawsuit Tuesday that the House select committee investigating the attack is unlawful and therefore a subpoena it issued to him in February is unenforceable under law.

He filed the suit against members of the committee, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and the U.S. attorney in Washington, Matthew M. Graves, whose office is now handling the criminal case against him.

In an interview with The Associated Press this week, Navarro said the goal of his lawsuit is much broader than the subpoenas themselves, part of an effort to have “the Supreme Court address a number of issues that have come with the weaponization of Congress’ investigatory powers” since Trump entered office.

Members of the select committee sought testimony from Navarro about his public efforts to help Trump overturn the 2020 presidential election, including a call trying to persuade state legislators to join their efforts.

The former economics professor was one of the White House staffers who promoted Trump’s baseless claims of mass voter fraud. He released a report in December 2020 that he contended contained evidence of the alleged misconduct.

Navarro has refused to cooperate with the committee, and he and fellow Trump adviser Dan Scavino were found in contempt of Congress in April. Scavino has not been charged by the Justice Department at this point.

Members of the committee made their case at the time that Scavino and Navarro were among just a handful of people who had rebuffed the committee’s requests and subpoenas for information.

The panel has interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses about the insurrection and is preparing for a series of hearings to begin next week.

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By James Oliphant

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fed-up Democrats in San Francisco and Los Angeles, liberal-leaning California cities reeling from COVID-era spikes in homicides and gun violence, may punish their own party at the polls next week over its criminal justice policies.

San Francisco’s progressive district attorney, Chesa Boudin, is likely to be pushed out of office in a recall vote, while voters in Los Angeles will be choosing a new mayor – with an ex-Republican as a leading candidate.

The results could send a blinking-red warning to Democrats ahead of November’s midterm elections.

In congressional and local races across the United States, Republicans have seized upon calls by progressives to reduce police department budgets and other liberal criminal justice policies to paint almost all Democratic candidates as lenient on crime.

Democrats have struggled to formulate a persuasive rebuttal, even as a new wave of moderates, such as New York Mayor Eric Adams, has urged them to take a more tough-on-crime approach.

In April, the pollster Gallup found concern over crime was at its highest level since 2016, with 53% of Americans saying they worried “a great deal” about it. An ABC/Washington Post poll in May showed Americans trusted the Republican Party over Democrats to handle crime by 12 percentage points.

But focus groups also show Americans increasingly worried about the proliferation of firearms. That is an issue that Democratic consultants said the party’s candidates could hone in on, shoring up their support with suburban and Black voters by explicitly tying lax gun laws to surges in crime.

“It is absolutely something Democrats can and should be using to combat against the increasing narrative of their being soft on crime,” said Angela Kuefler, a strategist who advises Democratic candidates on gun issues.

Kuefler noted there is widespread public support for enhanced background checks of gun purchasers and actions to decrease the flow of illegal guns into cities.

A series of mass shootings – including last week’s at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 children and two teachers dead – has reignited the U.S. debate over policing and guns.

President Joe Biden has tried to balance a push for changes in policing from the more radical wing of his party with voters’ concerns about security. An executive order last week, for instance, established guidelines for the use of deadly force by federal law enforcement officers.

Boudin, on the other hand, embraced a strong progressive agenda in San Francisco – and appears to be paying the price.

COVID CHAOS

Boudin was elected in San Francisco in 2019 after pledging a series of reforms, saying he would not try juveniles as adults, would not push for sentencing enhancements for certain crimes that can add years to prison sentences, and would not seek cash bail for any defendant.

He largely followed through on his promises, which also included diverting low-level offenders away from incarceration to reduce the city’s jail population.

But after the pandemic began, the city saw increases in homicides, gun violence and property crime. Hate crimes against Asian Americans rose. Videos of large-scale “smash and grab” retail theft went viral.

Residents, including some deep-pocketed Republicans, blamed Boudin’s policies and launched a recall petition.

“It is a radical ideology that has upset everyone: left, right, gay, straight, young, old, male or female,” said Richie Greenberg, a local independent activist and spokesperson for the recall effort.

Boudin’s supporters say robberies and other crimes shifted from tourist areas to residential ones as a result of the pandemic, creating the perception of a crime surge. They point to data that shows a more nuanced reality, with assaults and rapes decreasing during the period, even as homicides and shootings increased.

Still, said Lara Bazelon, a law professor at the University of San Francisco and a Boudin defender, “People are feeling less safe regardless of what the stats say.”

Opinion polls show Boudin likely to be recalled on Tuesday. A replacement would be chosen by the city’s mayor, London Breed, a Democrat who has criticized Boudin but has not taken a stance on the recall.

In Los Angeles, Rick Caruso, a billionaire developer and former Republican, is battling U.S. Representative Karen Bass and a host of other liberal candidates in the mayoral election.

Caruso, who has spent more than $30 million of his own money in the campaign, made crime the centerpiece of his candidacy in a city that saw homicides reach a 15-year high in 2021. That forced Bass, a longtime progressive champion in Congress, to move to the center and pledge to put more police on the streets. Caruso and Bass could be headed to a runoff, polls show.

Republicans think crime could be a winning political issue in a number of congressional races, including in the suburbs of Minneapolis, New York City and Portland.

The party has already gone after Democratic Senate candidates in battleground states on crime, with Cheri Beasley in North Carolina an early target.

Republican-funded TV ads have assailed Beasley’s record, saying in one that she “failed to protect” child crime victims. Beasley, the former chief justice of the state Supreme Court, on Twitter called the ad “misleading” and warned more were to come.

She answered with an ad of her own, touting her efforts as chief justice to keep human traffickers off the streets.

“I’ll never stop fighting to make North Carolina safe,” she says.

(Reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Rosalba O’Brien)

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By Steve Holland and Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Declaring “Enough, enough!” U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday called on Congress to ban assault weapons, expand background checks and implement other gun control measures to address a string of mass shootings that have struck the United States.

Speaking from the White House, in a speech broadcast live in primetime, Biden asked a country stunned by the recent shootings at a school in Texas, a grocery store in New York and a medical building in Oklahoma, how many more lives it would take to change gun laws in America.

“For God’s sake, how much more carnage are we willing to accept?” Biden asked.

Biden described visiting Uvalde, Texas, where the school shooting took place. “I couldn’t help but think there are too many other schools, too many other everyday places that have become killing fields, battlefields, here in America.”

The president, a Democrat, called for a number of measures opposed by Republicans in Congress, including banning the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, or, if that were not possible, raising the minimum age to buy those weapons to 21 from 18. He also pressed for repealing the liability shield that protects gun manufacturers from being sued for violence perpetrated by people carrying their guns.

“We can’t fail the American people again,” Biden said, pressing Republicans particularly in the U.S. Senate to allow bills with gun control measures to come up for a vote.

Biden said if Congress did not act, he believed Americans would make the issue central when they vote in November mid-term elections.

The National Rifle Association gun lobby said in a statement that Biden’s proposals would infringe on the rights of law-abiding gun owners. “This isn’t a real solution, it isn’t true leadership, and it isn’t what America needs,” it said.

The United States, which has a higher rate of gun deaths than any other wealthy nation, has been shaken in recent weeks by the mass shootings of 10 Black residents in upstate New York, 19 children and two teachers in Texas, and two doctors, a receptionist and a patient in Oklahoma.

Lawmakers are looking at measures to expand background checks and pass “red flag” laws that would allow law enforcement officials to take guns away from people suffering from mental illness. But any new measures face steep hurdles from Republicans, particularly in the Senate, and moves to ban assault weapons do not have enough support to advance.

The U.S. Constitution’s second amendment protects Americans’ right to bear arms. Biden said that amendment was not “absolute” while adding that new measures he supported were not aimed at taking away people’s guns.

“After Columbine, after Sandy Hook, after Charleston, after Orlando, after Las Vegas, after Parkland, nothing has been done,” Biden said, ticking off a list of mass shootings over more than two decades. “This time that can’t be true.”

PLEA FROM GRIEVING GRANDMOTHER

Gun safety advocates have pushed Biden to take stronger measures on his own to curb gun violence, but the White House wants Congress to pass legislation that would have more lasting impact than any presidential order.

Biden’s evening address was aimed in part at keeping the issue at the forefront of voters’ minds. The president has made only a handful of evening speeches from the White House during his term, including one on the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and one about the Texas shooting last week.

More than 18,000 people have died from gun violence in the United States so far in 2022, including through homicide and suicide, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit research group.

Canada, Australia and Britain all passed stricter gun laws after mass shootings in their countries, banning assault weapons and increasing background checks. America has experienced years of massacres in schools, stores and places of work and worship without any such legislation.

A broad majority of American voters, both Republicans and Democrats, favor stronger gun control laws, but Republicans in Congress and some moderate Democrats have blocked such legislation for years.

Prices of shares in gun manufacturers rose on Thursday. Efforts to advance gun control measures have boosted firearm share prices after other mass shootings as investors anticipated that gun purchases would increase ahead of stricter regulations.

In the aftermath of the Texas shooting, Biden urged the country to take on the powerful pro-gun lobby that backs politicians who oppose such legislation.

The Senate is split, with 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, and a law must have 60 votes to overcome a maneuver known as the filibuster, which means any law would need rare bipartisan support.

“The only room in America where you can’t find more than 60% support for universal background checks is on the floor of the U.S. Senate,” said Christian Heyne, vice president for policy at Brady, a gun violence prevention group.

While Biden and Congress explore compromises, the Supreme Court is due to decide a major case that could undermine new efforts to enact gun control measures while making existing ones vulnerable to legal attack.

Biden said he received a handwritten note from a grandmother who had lost her granddaughter in Uvalde that read: “Erase the invisible line that is dividing our nation. Come up with a solution and fix what’s broken and make the changes that are necessary to prevent this from happening again.”

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Jeff Mason; additional reporting by Alexandra Alper and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Heather Timmons, Mary Milliken, Leslie Adler and Michael Perry)

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By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday objected to a Democratic attempt to advance new limits on gun purchases as one Rebpublican legislator pulled out his handguns at a hearing to complain that they could be banned.

The House Judiciary Committee met in an emergency session in the midst of a week-long Memorial Day recess as funerals were under way in Uvalde, Texas, for some of the 19 children and two teachers gunned down by an 18-year-old with an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle last week. There were other mass shootings the week before and on Wednesday.

Republican Representative Greg Steube, who attended the committee meeting virtually from his Florida home, contended the legislation would ban various handguns. He held up four guns one by one for the committee to see.

“Here’s a gun I carry every single day to protect myself, my family, my wife, my home,” the second-term congressman said.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler interjected, “I hope to God that is not loaded.”

Steube retorted: “I’m at my house. I can do whatever I want with my guns.”

Democrats who narrowly control the House intend to put their 41-page “Protecting Our Kids Act” to a vote by the full chamber next week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

President Joe Biden’s party holds enough votes to pass the bill in the House, but it faces slim chances in the 50-50 Senate, where 60 votes are required to advance most legislation. Republicans in Congress strongly advocate for gun rights.

“It’s regretful that Democrats have rushed to a markup today in what seems like political theater,” the top Republican on the panel, Representative Jim Jordan, said. He added, “Our hearts go out to the Uvalde community.”

Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of senators is trying to craft a narrow bill. It might focus on boosting school security and possibly enacting a “red flag” law allowing authorities to seize guns bought by people suffering from mental illness. Previous such efforts have fallen flat.

Biden is expected to call on Congress to act during a national address at 7:30 p.m. EDT (2330 GMT) on gun violence.

The broader House bill couples a handful of already pending measures. It would raise the minimum age for buying certain guns to 21 from 18 and clamp down on weapons trafficking. It also would restrict large-capacity ammunition feeding devices.

Nadler, a Democrat, opened debate noting the 400 million firearms in the country and the 45,000 Americans killed by gun violence in 2020.

Anticipating Republican arguments that Democrats were moving too fast following the Uvalde killings on May 24, Nadler said, “Too soon? My friends, what the hell are you waiting for?” He recounted the long string of school shootings over the last few decades.

Republicans accused Democrats of trampling on the U.S. Constitution’s 2nd Amendment, which protects the right to keep and bear arms.

Democrats argued that right is not without limits, as they recounted tales of young children questioning whether they would live through the next day’s classes.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan, additional reporting by Kanishka Singh; Editing by Scott Malone, Bill Berkrot and Cynthia Osterman)

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By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two U.S. senators on Thursday urged airlines and regulators to take steps to reduce flight cancellations and delays after more than 2,700 Memorial Day weekend flights were cancelled.

Travelers are bracing for a difficult summer as airlines expect record demand and are still rebuilding staff after thousands of workers left the industry during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal and Edward Markey asked Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a letter https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/0602.22dotflightdelaysandcancellations.pdf to detail steps the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) “is taking to hold airlines accountable for serious disruptions and to ensure consumers are wholly and justly compensated.”

They added: “While some flight cancellations are unavoidable, the sheer number of delays and cancellations this past weekend raises questions about airline decision-making.”

They wrote Airlines for America, a trade group representing American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and others seeking an “update on airlines’ plans to reduce and minimize the impact of such delays and cancellations going forward.”

The group declined to comment Thursday.

Airlines are working to hire and train more workers to accommodate the growing demand. Delta Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian told reporters Wednesday in New York the airline is working to train new employees “as we’re seeing historic surging demand.”

Lawmakers want USDOT to complete action on a number of rules to improve airline consumer protections.

Senate Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell, Blumenthal and Markey have asked Buttigieg to “define the timeframe for an eligible refund, and make the refund request process more transparent.”

Buttigieg said in May USDOT is “actively working on a rulemaking that would address protections for consumers unable to travel due to restrictions or concerns related to serious communicable disease” and set a standard for when delays are long enough to trigger refunds. A Buttigieg spokeswoman said he would respond directly to the senators.

In January, USDOT issued a final rule to make it easier for regulators to move faster to protect airline customers from deceptive practices.

USDOT also plans to issue separate rules to require upfront disclosure of baggage fees, change fees and cancellation fees and proposed new rules to require passenger airlines to refund fees for significantly delayed bags and refunds for inoperative services like onboard Wi-Fi.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Bernard Orr)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Declaring “Enough, enough!” President Joe Biden on Thursday urged Congress to ban assault weapons, expand background checks and implement other sensible gun control measures to address a string of mass shootings to address a string of mass shootings that have struck the United States.

Speaking from the White House, in a speech broadcast live in primetime, Biden asked a country stunned by the recent shootings of school children in Texas, at a medical building in Oklahoma and at a Buffalo, New York, grocery story how much it would take.

“For God’s sake, how much more carnage are we willing to accept?” Biden asked.

The president, a Democrat, called for a number of measures that have historically been blocked by Republicans in Congress, including raising the age at which adults can buy guns and repealing the liability shield that protects gun manufacturers from being sued for violence perpetrated by people carrying their weapons.

“We can’t fail the American people again,” Biden said, pressing Republicans to allow bills including gun control measures to come up for a vote.

The United States, which has a higher rate of gun deaths than any other wealthy nation, has been shaken in recent weeks by the high-profile mass shootings at a grocery story in New York, an elementary school in Texas that killed 19 children, and a medical building in Oklahoma.

Gun safety advocates have pushed Biden to take stronger measures on his own to curb gun violence, but the White House wants Congress to pass legislation that would have more lasting impact than any presidential order.

A U.S. House of Representatives committee on Thursday was working on a bill aimed at toughening national gun laws, though the measure has little chance of passing the Senate.

Biden’s evening address was aimed at putting further pressure on lawmakers and keeping the issue at the forefront of voters’ minds. He has made only a handful of evening speeches from the White House during his term, including one on the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and one about the Texas shooting last week.

More than 18,000 people have died from gun violence in the United States in 2022, including through homicide and suicide, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit research group.

Canada, Australia and Britain all passed stricter gun laws after mass shootings in their countries, banning assault weapons and increasing background checks. America has experienced two decades of massacres in schools, stores and places of work and worship without any such legislation.

A broad majority of American voters, both Republicans and Democrats, favor stronger gun control laws, but Republicans in Congress and some moderate Democrats have blocked such legislation for years.

Prices of shares in gun manufacturers rose on Thursday. Efforts to advance gun control measures have boosted firearm share prices after other mass shootings as investors anticipated that gun purchases would increase ahead of stricter regulations.

As president, Biden has called on Congress to reinstate a ban on assault weapons and pass measures to require universal background checks for those who purchase guns.

In the aftermath of the Texas shooting, he urged the country to take on the powerful pro-gun lobby that backs politicians who oppose such legislation.

The Senate is split, with 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, and a law must have 60 votes to overcome a maneuver known as the filibuster, which means any law would need rare bipartisan support.

“The only room in America where you can’t find more than 60% support for universal background checks is on the floor of the U.S. Senate,” said Christian Heyne, vice president for policy at Brady, a gun violence prevention group.

Advocates have expressed cautious optimism that lawmakers will coalesce around some gun control measures. If not, they plan to make it a rallying cry in the November midterm elections.

While Biden and Congress explore compromises, the Supreme Court is due to decide a major case that could undermine new efforts to enact gun control measures while making existing ones vulnerable to legal attack.

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Jeff Mason; additional reporting by Alexandra Alper and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Heather Timmons and Leslie Adler)

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — California’s primary on Tuesday will set the stage for a November election where a handful of U.S. House seats in the Los Angeles area and Central Valley will help determine which party controls Congress.

Democrats dominate California politics but the Republican Party retains pockets of strength in a sprinkle of House districts that will be among the country’s marquee elections. Republicans need to capture only a handful of seats nationally to seize the majority from Democrats and Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco.

Midterm elections typically punish the party in the White House and polls show sagging popularity for Democratic President Joe Biden. Voters have been rankled by inflation, rising crime, abortion rights and other cultural disputes at home and conflict overseas.

While no incumbents appear in dire trouble in California’s primary it could be a different story in November. The main battlegrounds are Orange County, a one-time conservative stronghold southeast of Los Angeles that has become increasingly diverse and Democratic, and the Central Valley, a vast inland stretch sometimes called the nation’s salad bowl for its immense agricultural production.

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, from the Central Valley city of Bakersfield, could become the next speaker if the GOP flips enough seats.

Former President Donald Trump has been framing major contests in other states but has kept a distance from heavily Democratic California, though some GOP candidates have openly embraced him in hopes of tapping into remnants of his conservative base.

Democrats are looking to claw back four seats the party lost in 2020. Also, a special election runoff is being held to fill the vacant seat of former Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, who resigned to lead Trump’s media company. The seat is expected to stay in Republican control.

Despite the troubling national climate for Democrats, the California Republican Party has been drifting toward obscurity for years. The GOP holds only 10 of the state’s 53 House seats — with the Nunes vacancy — and accounts for less than 24% of registered voters statewide. California is dropping to 52 House seats next year because it’s once-soaring population growth has stalled.

A snapshot of key races:

TRUMP IMPEACHMENT VOTE BRINGS UNCERTAINTY

Rep. David Valadao is a survivor. Despite running in a heavily Democratic, largely Latino district in the Central Valley, the Republican with a bipartisan streak held his seat from 2013 until January 2019, lost it for a term, then won it back in a 2020 rematch with Democrat T.J. Cox.

His newly drawn district, the 22nd, has a similar, strong Democratic tilt. An early challenge will be getting by lingering resentment among some conservatives over his vote to send articles of impeachment to the Senate that faulted Trump for the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

Rival Republican Chris Mathys, an ardent Trump supporter, is promising to oust Valadao for that vote. But Trump has not significantly engaged in the race, and Valadao, a dairy farmer, has the backing of McCarthy, who is close to Trump, and the state GOP endorsement.

If he survives the primary, Valadao is likely to face five-term Assemblyman Rudy Salas, a moderate Democrat.

A REPUBLICAN LOOKING TO DEFY THE ODDS — AGAIN

Rep. Mike Garcia is an anomaly in the Los Angeles metropolitan area: a Republican congressman. He occupies the last GOP-held House seat anchored in heavily Democratic Los Angeles County, which he retained in 2020 by a mere 333 votes.

The former Navy fighter pilot was endorsed by Trump in 2020. He joined House Republicans who attempted to reject electoral votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania and opposed Trump’s impeachment after the Capitol insurrection.

Garcia is seeking reelection in the new 27th District, which overlaps a chunk of his old terrain but has a stronger Democratic tilt. Several Democrats are on the ballot, including Christy Smith, a former legislator who lost to Garcia in 2020, and Quaye Quartey, a retired Navy intelligence officer.

Garcia points to his vote supporting $2,000 stimulus checks as one example of his political independence. Democrats have a nearly 12-point registration edge, but Garcia’s local roots, military service and Latino surname are formidable assets.

PROGRESSIVE STAR BATTLES IN FORMER ‘REAGAN COUNTRY’

Southern California’s 47th District, which includes Huntington Beach and other famous surf breaks, is an area once considered “Reagan Country” for its conservative leanings and ties to former Republican President Ronald Reagan. But it’s changed, like much of California, and the Orange County district is about equally split between Democrats and Republicans.

The boundaries of the district reach inland to include Irvine, the hometown of Democratic Rep. Katie Porter, a star of the party’s progressive wing. Her leading opponent is Republican Scott Baugh, a former state legislative leader and past head of the county GOP.

About two-thirds of the voters in the newly drawn district are new to Porter, and her challenge is enlisting them as supporters. She comes with an advantage: nearly $19 million in the bank, making her one of the most prolific fundraisers in Congress.

Baugh has been attacking her as a “radical” in the mold of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, a self-described democratic socialist. Democrats can be expected to highlight a $47,900 civil fine Baugh agreed to pay in 1999 while in the Legislature for campaign finance violations.

A RIVALRY ON THE RIGHT

Rep. Young Kim, a South Korean immigrant and former legislator, was among four California Republicans who captured Democratic seats in 2020. Running in the GOP-leaning 40th District this year, it appeared she had a relatively open lane to reelection.

But her campaign and GOP allies recently invested over $1 million in ads to blunt the trajectory of rival Republican Greg Raths, a retired Marine colonel and Trump booster. It appeared to be a precautionary move, with Kim endorsed by the state GOP and holding a wide fundraising edge over Raths.

The ads also look like a counterweight to a move by the sole Democrat on the ballot, physician Asif Mahmood, who ran ads highlighting Raths’ conservative credentials. Mahmood appears to be following a common strategy in trying to elevate a primary rival -– in this case Raths –- who presumably would be easier to beat in the general election.

PULLING NO PUNCHES IN DIVERSE DISTRICT

The 45th District anchored in Orange County has a slight Democratic registration edge and includes the nation’s largest Vietnamese American community. The seat was specifically crafted to give Asian Americans, who comprise the largest group in the district, a stronger voice in Congress.

It’s in this diverse district that Republican Rep. Michelle Steel, a South Korean immigrant, is hoping to win another term in Congress, although she lives in a neighboring district. It’s been a furious, at times nasty fight so far with Democrat Jay Chen, her likely opponent in a November runoff who also lives just outside the district.

Republicans accused Chen of “racism” after he told supporters an “interpreter” was needed to understand Steel’s remarks, arguing that Chen was mocking her accented English. Chen, the son of immigrants from Taiwan, said his words were being twisted for political purposes and he was referring to “convoluted talking points” that he said Steel uses to sidestep issues, not her accent.

GOP SEES POTENTIAL PICKUP

The 49th District runs through Orange and San Diego counties and has only a slight Democratic registration edge. Rep. Mike Levin, a Democrat, is seeking another term after first capturing the seat in 2018.

As an incumbent he has an advantage, but Republicans see an opening with Democrats struggling nationally and many Californians unhappy with homelessness and crime.

Levin is expected to advance to the November runoff. A handful of Republicans are fighting for the slot to challenge him in November, including several with political experience: Orange County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett; Oceanside Councilman Christopher Rodriguez; and former San Juan Capistrano Mayor and businessman Brian Maryott, who was defeated by Levin in 2020 and has the state GOP endorsement.

In a district that straddles Camp Pendleton, Levin has focused heavily on veterans affairs, as well as climate change and the environment.

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By Maria Caspani

(Reuters) – North Carolina lawmakers advanced legislation on Wednesday that would prohibit classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity for some public school students, a move decried by opponents as harmful to LGBTQ youth.

The “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” a broad piece of legislation that opponents say mirrors Florida’s so-called “Don’t say gay bill,” cleared the state’s Republican-led Senate and will head to the House of Representatives, which also has a Republican majority.

It could reach the desk of Governor Roy Cooper as soon as this week. Cooper, a Democrat, has spoken against the bill and is all but certain to veto it.

Advocates and civil rights groups have tracked hundreds of bills this year across state legislatures directed at lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, including many that target transgender youth specifically.

Florida’s “don’t say gay” bill was signed into law in March. In April, the governor of Alabama signed a bill prohibiting classroom discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in certain grades, and similar measures are being considered in Louisiana and Ohio.

The North Carolina measure would prohibit mention of sexual orientation or gender identity in curricula for students from kindergarten through third grade. Schools would also have to notify parents if a student requests to be addressed by a different name or pronoun.

Supporters of the Republican-sponsored measure say it would allow greater involvement of parents in their children’s education and well-being.

Those opposing the legislation warned it could result in youth being outed to their families. If enacted, critics said, it will put an unnecessary burden on teachers and create a more hostile school environment for LGBTQ children who already face marginalization and are at greater risk of suicide.

“We’re disappointed but not surprised. And we will continue to fight for the rights of LGBTQ youth,” the ACLU North Carolina chapter said on Twitter.

Shortly after senators cast their votes, opponents of the measure in the gallery erupted in chants of “We’re here, we’re queer, we’re not going anywhere.”

(Reporting by Maria Caspani, Editing by Aurora Ellis)

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