(NEW YORK) — The suspect accused of attacking Paul Pelosi told authorities he wanted to break Nancy Pelosi’s kneecaps to show members of Congress that there are “consequences to actions,” according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court Monday.
The new revelation came Monday as the Department of Justice filed federal charges of assault and attempted kidnapping against the man suspected of attacking Paul Pelosi, the 82-year-old husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, last week.
David DePape, 42, is accused of attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer in the couple’s San Francisco home just before 2:30 a.m. Friday, according to San Francisco police.
While San Francisco prosecutors have yet to announce charges against DePape, federal charges were always a possibility due to early evidence suggesting the suspect appeared to be motivated to allegedly break into the home, at least in part, to reach the speaker, sources told ABC News.
DePape was charged with one count of assault of an immediate family member of a United States official with the intent to retaliate against the official on account of the performance of official duties, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He is also charged with one count of attempted kidnapping of a United States official on account of the performance of official duties, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
DePape is expected to be charged locally with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and elderly abuse, authorities said following the attack.
The attack was intentional, San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said Friday, describing a chaotic scene at the home once police arrived.
Paul Pelosi and DePape each had one hand on a hammer when officers from the San Francisco Police Department arrived before DePape was allegedly able to wrestle the hammer away and begin “violently” attacking Paul Pelosi with it, Scott said.
Officers then tackled DePape and disarmed him, Scott said.
Paul Pelosi called 911 after DePape entered the home, allowing the dispatcher to hear what was happening during the altercation with DePape, police said. Paul Pelosi later told police that he had been asleep when DePape, whom he had never seen before, entered his bedroom, according to the complaint.
DePape allegedly later told officers “that he was going to hold Nancy hostage and talk to her” and that he wanted to use the House speaker to lure another unnamed individual, the affidavit states.
The suspect also allegedly told investigators that he intended to break Nancy Pelosi’s kneecaps if she didn’t tell him the “truth” about “lies told by the Democratic Party” and said she would have to be wheeled into Congress, therefore showing other members of Congress that there are “consequences to actions,” according to the criminal complaint.
Paul Pelosi was struck at least twice with the hammer, sources told ABC News. He underwent successful surgery on Friday to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands, the speaker’s spokesperson, Drew Hammill, said in a statement. Although his injuries are significant, he is expected to make a full recovery, Hammill said.
DePape allegedly shouted “Where’s Nancy?” repeatedly after entering the home through a sliding glass door and moving about the house, law enforcement officers familiar with the investigation told ABC News. The speaker was in Washington, D.C., at the time, according to Capitol Police.
The suspect was carrying a bag that contained duct tape and zip ties, two law enforcement officials briefed on the probe told ABC News on Sunday.
DePape was hospitalized with injuries following the attack. While police are still investigating the motive, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a think tank dedicated to researching extremism and disinformation, said DePape “likely was motivated by a wide range of conspiratorial beliefs.”
“In the last two months, DePape has posted dozens of articles and videos to his blogs spreading conspiracies and hateful rhetoric related to COVID-19, women, Hillary Clinton, the Jewish community, federal law enforcement (e.g., FBI), government censorship, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the climate crisis, QAnon, the 2020 election, the transgender community, and ‘grooming’ in schools,” the ISD said in a statement, though no posts were found specifically mentioning Nancy Pelosi.
Among the number of social media posts being examined by investigators include some in which DePape allegedly espouses conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines, 2020 false election theories, frustration with the Jan. 6 congressional hearings and anger over the conviction of former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin for the killing of George Floyd, law enforcement officials told ABC News.
DePape is expected to be arraigned Tuesday. It is unclear whether he has retained an attorney.
ABC News’ Alex Mallin, Luke Barr, Meredith Deliso, Mike Levine and Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.
(BOSTON) — The oldest unidentified homicide victim in Massachusetts, known as the “Lady of the Dunes,” was officially identified on Monday almost 50 years after she was found dead.
FBI investigators in Boston said the victim was Ruth Marie Terry, 37, of Tennessee.
Terry’s cause of death was a blow to the head, the FBI said. Her hands were missing, “presumably removed by her killer so she could not be identified through fingerprints, and her head was nearly severed from her body,” said Joe Bonavolonta, the special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division.
On July 26, 1974, her dismembered body was found in the dunes in Provincetown.
Investigators said investigative genealogy helped them identify the body.
“This is a unique method that can generate new leads for unsolved homicides, as well as help identify unknown victims,” Bonavolonta said. “This is, without a doubt, a major break in the investigation that will, hopefully, bring all of us closer to identifying her killer.”
The news has been delivered to the victim’s family, he added.
“At this point in time, we can tell you she was born in Tennessee in 1936,” Bonavolonta said. “Ruth was a daughter, sister, aunt, wife, and mother. Investigators have also determined that in addition to Tennessee, she had ties to California, Massachusetts, and Michigan.”
(WASHINGTON) — When the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade — the landmark decision that guaranteed the right to abortion — it was thought the decision would drive voters to the polls for the midterm election.
Surveys have indicated younger female voters strongly oppose restrictions and care more about abortion rights than any other issue.
Democrats were banking on abortion rights being a key issue going into the midterm elections, but a large percentage of Americans say it is not critical to their vote.
According to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Sept. 25, abortion is not the most top-of-mind issue for most voters, Democrat or Republican.
Among all voters, the economy was the top issue, with 84% saying it was highly important. This was closely followed by education and schools, with 77% calling it highly important; inflation, with 76%; and crime, with 69%.
Abortion came fifth on the list, with 62% referring to the issue as an important one.
“I’m a little skeptical of the recent polling on this. I think we don’t know the impact of the abortion issue, because it’s not your usual public policy issue,” Elaine Kamarck, founding director of the Center for effective Public Management at the Brookings Institute, told ABC News.
Why abortion is not top-of-mind
Oklahoma State Rep. Jim Olsen, a co-author of one of the state’s anti-abortion bills and a Republican, told ABC News his constituents are concerned with what affects them directly.
While an estimated one-in-four women will have an abortion by age 45, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group focusing on sexual and reproductive health, Olsen says abortion doesn’t concern the majority of the population.
“My wife, my daughters, my mother, my mother-in-law, none of them have ever had an abortion,” he said. “It’s not an issue that directly touches us because none of them would have made that choice, legal or illegal. But what touches a lot of people is the skyrocketing inflation.”
Cathi Herrod, president of the Center for Arizona Policy, a nonprofit organization that has supported abortion-restricting laws in the state, told ABC News she hears state residents more concerned about the economy. A recent Wallethub study found the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale area had seen inflation rise the most of all U.S. cities, with a 13% increase in prices over the last year.
“Arizonans are concerned about the economy,” she said. “The Phoenix area has one of the highest rates, if not the highest rate of inflation in the country. … That’s top of the mind for voters.”
But Supermajority, a group focused on mobilizing female voters co-founded by Cecile Richards, a former president of Planned Parenthood, told ABC News even though its polling suggests women are not single-issue voters, the group has seen a surge in volunteer sign-ups and there are indications of an increase in voter registration in some states.
In Michigan, where an abortion question is on the ballot, women are out-registering men by a margin of 8.1% and Democrats are out-registering Republicans by 18%, according to data analysis conducted by TargetSmart.
Amanda Brown Lierman, director of Supermajority, also told ABC News that on the ground, a lot of women were shocked by the court’s decision. She said there is “a lot of rage out there” and that abortion has become a highly motivating issue for them.
Could abortion be a sleeper issue?
Although polling indicates abortion is not a top of mind issue, the September ABC News/Washington Post poll found 64% opposed the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and the public trusts Democrats to handle abortion over Republicans by a wide 20 points.
Researchers told ABC News abortion could be a sleeper issue that may have an impact at the polls.
Kamarck argued it is a clearly delineated issue with Democrats supporting abortion rights and Republicans supporting some sort of abortion ban, which is not the case when it comes to things like inflation. She also said there is an intensity when it comes to how passionate voters are on the issue, regardless of their position, and that this is an issue of intense interest to women, who make up the majority of the electorate.
Unlike other voter demographics, “very small movements among the women’s vote turn into very, very big numbers,” Kamarck said.
Republicans candidates who were strongly anti-abortion are now “trimming their sails” and retreating from their previous positions to more moderate ones, according to Kamarck.
Republican Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, who had previously opened the door to a federal ban, stepped away from Sen. Lindsey Graham’s proposed 15-week ban in September, saying party members would likely prefer abortion be dealt with at the state level.
Graham including exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the mother in the bill is also a step back from his previous harsh stance on abortion, Kamarck said.
Oklahoma has one of the strictest abortion laws in the nation, with no exceptions for rape or incest, only if the life of the mother is in danger. Rep. Olsen said he’s seen a “little bit of a push” towards allowing more exceptions to the law, although it’s not something he supports.
Voters in Kansas, a traditionally red state, unexpectedly struck down an anti-abortion measure that would have removed protections for abortion rights from its state constitution earlier this year. The measure was defeated with wide margins — 59% to 41% — in the high-turnout primary, which was the first state-level test of voter movement on abortion since Roe was overturned.
“I think that’s a good measure of intensity and how this issue may transcend party identification, because not all Republicans are avidly pro-lifers,” Kamarck said.
(NEW YORK) — Matthew Perry lays bare his struggle with addiction in his new memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, and told ABC News’ Good Morning America he “can’t wait” for people to read it.
“It’s really exciting that people will read this story and it will hopefully help a lot of people,” the actor said of the memoir, which is out Nov. 1.
In his book, Perry opens up about battling and overcoming years of drug and alcohol abuse. He said he hopes speaking out changes people’s perceptions of those experiencing addiction.
“There’s a stigma attached to it, and that’s got to end,” he said, noting that the disease “doesn’t care where it goes.”
“… Hopefully me telling my story will help that stigma end,” he added.
Perry said the book “just all poured out of me” and called writing it a “gratifying experience,” but one that forced him to look inside.
“It came easily to write it, but then I had to read it for [the audio version], and that was really hard,” he said.
These days, Perry is finding meaning by channeling his past into helping others fight back against addiction as a sponsor.
“What’s interesting about it is I’ve stood on a stage helping 100,000 people at the same time, but I get the same juice, I get the same thing, from helping one person,” he said.
Perry said he hopes his Friends co-stars read his book, revealing that he’s “gotten some really nice texts from a few” of them already.
If you or someone you care about is struggling with addiction, confidential and free help is available at: FindTreatment.gov, the SAMHSA National Helpline at 800-662-4357, or for immediate help in a crisis situation, call or text the national crisis lifeline at 988.
(DELPHI, Ind.) — A Delphi, Indiana, man, Richard Allen, has been arrested for the 2017 murders of eighth graders Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14, Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter announced at a news conference Monday.
Best friends Libby German, 14, and Abby Williams, 13, were on a hiking trail in rural Delphi when they were killed in the middle of the day on Feb. 13, 2017.
The shocking slayings cast fear across the small Indiana town and garnered national intrigue.
This marks the first time a suspect has been named in the mysterious double murder.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Oct 31, 10:22 AM EDT
Suspect enters not guilty plea
The man charged with the girls’ murders, Richard Allen, had his initial hearing and entered a not guilty plea, Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland said.
He’s being held without bond and is set to return to court in January, he said.
“Per the court order, we cannot talk about the evidence that’s in the probable cause” affidavit, McLeland said.
The prosecutor would not say when Allen became a suspect or if he knew Abby or Libby.
McLeland said it’s “concerning” to him that Allen is a local Delphi resident. He called the arrest a “step in the right direction.”
Oct 31, 10:13 AM EDT
Police ask for more tips
In the wake of the arrest, Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter said, “Peace came over me — and I didn’t expect that to happen.”
He said in a message to the families that he hopes they “have found some peace in this complicated world.”
Carter urged the public to “please continue offering tips,” as the investigation is ongoing.
Oct 31, 10:08 AM EDT
Man arrested in Delphi murders
A Delphi, Indiana, man, Richard Allen, has been arrested for the 2017 murders of eighth graders Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14, Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter announced at a news conference Monday.
The 50-year-old was arrested Friday and has been charged with two counts of murder, Carter said.
If anyone else was involved, that person will be held accountable, Carter vowed.
Carter said “today is not a day to celebrate,” but called the arrest a “major step.”
“This investigation is far from complete,” Carter said.
The probable cause affidavit has been sealed, Carter said.
“The time will come when additional details can be released,” Carter added.
Oct 31, 5:57 AM EDT
The video, recording and sketch
In 2017, authorities released a grainy image of the suspect, who they say was on the trail the day the girls went missing. In 2019, police released a brief video clip — footage taken from Libby’s phone — showing a grainy image of the suspect walking on the bridge near where the girls were last seen.
Police also publicized the suspect’s voice — a recording of him saying “guys … down the hill” — which was recovered from Libby’s phone.
Authorities in 2019 released a new suspect sketch that officials said was based on a witness’ recollection of what he or she saw.
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Monday will revisit the question of affirmative action in higher education.
Justices are hearing oral arguments in two major cases challenging race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard University and University of North Carolina. It’s the first test for affirmative action before the current court, which has a six-justice conservative majority and three justices of color, including the first-ever Black woman justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson.
The court’s decision, due out next year, could end the policy that’s shaped the college admissions process for the past half-century.
Please check back for updates. All times Eastern:
Oct 31, 10:04 AM EDT
Trump attorneys will make case against affirmative action
Two attorneys who have represented former President Donald Trump will make the case against affirmative action at the Supreme Court.
Patrick Strawbridge will argue on behalf of Students for Fair Admissions in the University on North Carolina case. Strawbridge has represented Trump in Jan. 6 matters, challenges to 2020 election results in key states and in a bid to shield his tax returns from House investigators.
Cameron T. Norris, who has also represented Trump, will represent Students for Fair Admissions in the Harvard case.
Both men are partners at Consovoy McCarthy PLLC — and both are former clerks to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
North Carolina Solicitor General Ryan Park is representing the University of North Carolina during the arguments. Former U.S. Solicitor General Seth Waxman from the Clinton Administration, and a Harvard alumnus, is defending the university in the second case.
– ABC News’ Devin Dwyer
Oct 31, 9:48 AM EDT
What to know about the cases
The justices on Monday will hear two major cases, the first starting at 10 a.m. regarding affirmative action at the University of North Carolina. The second case of the day will be about the policy at Harvard University.
Students for Fair Admissions, a group of students and parents led by conservative activist Edward Blum, has led the opposition to race-conscious admissions policies.
The organization sued the schools in 2014, alleging illegal racial discrimination against Asian American applicants during the admissions process. The schools have countered that court precedent makes clear that the consideration of race is allowed to address inequality.
A federal district court rejected SFFA’s claims, as did an appeals court. Now, the Supreme Court is being asked to weigh in on 40 years of precedent.
Oct 31, 9:33 AM EDT
College students share their views on affirmative action
Ahead of the oral arguments at the Supreme Court on Monday, ABC News spoke with college students from public and private colleges on what they think about the decades-old admissions policy.
Some students said the race-conscious policy was meaningful and important. One junior at Harvard University, one of the schools where affirmative action is being challenged, said: “We can’t just look at singular, individual numbers to determine who is most qualified or who should belong. We have to look at what adversity that they faced, what opportunities they have, how did they use those? Taking race into account is very important to ensure that we have a fair representation of people.”
Another student from Fordham University believed not including race on in the admissions process would provide a “more holistic review” of the applicant.
“You kind of get to see the student academically, what they really are,” they said. “You read a personal statement, you see their SAT scores. I think that in itself should say more about the student than the race.”
(NEW YORK) — Opening statements are set for Monday morning in the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump’s namesake family real estate business, which has been charged by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office with orchestrating a 15-year scheme to help certain executives evade taxes.
The trial gets underway as Trump lays the groundwork for a possible presidential run and campaigns for candidates running in the midterm elections little more than a week away.
Though Trump himself is not charged and is not expected to testify, his name is expected to be frequently mentioned. He signed certain checks that will be presented as evidence and witnesses will testify about conversations with him.
A jury of eight men and four women agreed to put aside any personal opinions about Trump or his company and consider the evidence presented during a trial in state court that could last into December.
The Trump Organization compensated certain executives with off-the-books perks – rent, utilities and garage expenses at a luxury apartment building, private school tuition, leases for luxury cars – that were never accounted for on taxes, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
The company has pleaded not guilty.
Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s longtime former chief financial officer, has pleaded guilty and agreed to testify as part of a deal that includes five months in jail. Prosecutors believe Weisselberg’s guilty plea implicates the company because he was an executive entrusted to act on its behalf.
Weisselberg pleaded guilty to all 15 counts he faced, including conspiracy, criminal tax fraud, grand larceny and falsifying business records. Weisselberg said he skirted taxes on nearly $2 million in income, including fringe benefits like rent, luxury cars and private school tuition for his grandchildren.
The indictment said that, beginning in 2005, Weisselberg used the corporation’s bank account to pay the rent for his apartment, and he and others paid his utility bills using the corporation’s account. The indictment also accused Weisselberg of concealing “indirect compensation” by using payments from the Trump Organization to cover nearly $360,000 in upscale private school payments for his family, and nearly $200,000 in luxury car leases.
“Weisselberg intentionally caused the indirect compensation payments to be omitted from his personal tax returns, despite knowing that those payments represented taxable income and were treated as compensation by the Trump Corporation in internal records,” the indictment said.
A corporate tax fraud case was not what prosecutors were after. When they first filed charges against Weisselberg last summer, prosecutors hoped he would turn on Trump, sources have told ABC News, as part of a larger criminal investigation into the former president’s business practices that remains ongoing.
A corporate defendant cannot serve prison time. A conviction could require the Trump Organization to pay a maximum $10,000 fine on each count and, potentially, the taxes allegedly skirted.
More significant are the potential collateral consequences of a conviction. Certain contracts could go away if a counterparty has rules against doing business with felons; banks could consider calling in loans or exiting altogether their relationship with the Trump Organization.
Trump faces a half-dozen investigations into his business practices, January 6, efforts to overturn the Georgia vote and the removal of documents with classification markings from the White House.
(DELPHI, Ind.) — Indiana State Police and U.S. Marshals officials are headed to Delphi, Indiana, on Monday to join local investigators as they announce an update in a mysterious double murder that’s gone unsolved for more than five years.
Best friends Libby German, 14, and Abby Williams, 13, were on a hiking trail in rural Delphi when they were killed in the middle of the day on Feb. 13, 2017.
The shocking slayings cast fear across the small Indiana town and garnered national intrigue.
No arrests have ever been made and police have never revealed how the girls were killed.
Monday’s press conference is set for 10 a.m.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Oct 31, 5:57 AM EDT
The video, recording and sketch
In 2017, authorities released a grainy image of the suspect, who they say was on the trail the day the girls went missing. In 2019, police released a brief video clip — footage taken from Libby’s phone — showing a grainy image of the suspect walking on the bridge near where the girls were last seen.
Police also publicized the suspect’s voice — a recording of him saying “guys … down the hill” — which was recovered from Libby’s phone.
Authorities in 2019 released a new suspect sketch that officials said was based on a witness’ recollection of what he or she saw.
(SEOUL, South Korea) — South Korea’s national police apologized on Monday, saying they’d only deployed 137 officers to handle a crowd of about 100,000 revellers who were celebrating Halloween in Itaewon, the Seoul neighborhood where at least 154 people were killed in a crowd crush.
“It was foreseen that a large number of people would gather there. But we didn’t expect that large scale casualties would occur due to the gathering of many people,” Hong Ki-hyun, chief of the National Police Agency’s Public Order Management Bureau, said on Monday.
The crush began on Saturday night, as crowds moved through Itaewon’s narrow alleys. One middle schooler and five high school students were among the 154 victims killed, the Education Ministry said on Monday. At least 19 foreigners were among the dead, including two Americans, officials said.
Witnesses said Itaewon’s streets were so densely clogged that it was practically impossible for emergency workers and ambulances to reach the alley near the site.
Police on Sunday said about 200 officers had been in the neighborhood, but revised that figure on Monday amid growing criticism over whether officials could have prevented the incident.
Hong said police don’t have manuals for large crowd gathering situations without a clear organizer.
Lines of citizens, and politicians, are gathering in three different locations to pay their respects on Monday. Official memorial altars were set up in two locations — one near the incident site in Itaewon, and the other in the center of Seoul in front of the City Hall.
Many more also coming to the scene to lay flowers, notes and soju.
“This is all adults’ fault, we could have prevented this if prepared right,” Lee Sung-ho, 61, told ABC News in tears.
“I couldn’t sleep so I had to do something,” he said, placing a white chrysanthemum and a letter he wrote overnight.
“I wanted to see the shirine and thought it would be important that I be here to pay respect,” high school senior Luca Ignat, 18 years old, told ABC News.
Ignat said he was at the scene minutes after the crowd crush.
“Lot of people were still partying and laughing. Then I saw bodies, police came. Officers were screaming. Then I checked the phone, then I knew what I was seeing was real,” he said. “It made me angry.”
(NEW YORK) — Heading into the midterm cycle’s home stretch, Republicans are working to paint Democrats in key races as soft on crime — as polls show the issue is of high importance for voters.
The familiar political tactic, backed by a flood of advertising in races from coast to coast, seems to be paying dividends for the GOP given diminishing Democratic polling leads in key contests in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where their Senate candidates had once led by 10 and 5 points, respectively, according to FiveThirtyEight polling averages.
But even elsewhere, from blue states like Oregon to red states like Texas, Republicans are seizing on concerns over crime rates as a partner to stubbornly high inflation and continued immigration at the southern border, hoping to put Democrats on their back foot.
“Crime is clearly climbing up the list as a top issue, and it’s coinciding with the Republicans’ focus on it,” said GOP strategist Scott Jennings, matching ABC News surveys showing Republicans with an edge on the issue. “And I guess it wouldn’t matter so much if the issue was a low-wattage issue. But the truth is, it’s probably one of the top three issues in most races, certainly, in the country.”
One Democratic pollster conceded the power of the issue, telling ABC News that Democrats “have bad branding on crime as a party.”
“I think Democrats can’t be mealy mouthed about it. I think they have to fully refute the attack.”
Some major crime grew
Killings increased during COVID-19, according to the Council on Criminal Justice, but the trend is reversing slightly in some areas: An ABC News/Gun Violence Archives analysis of the nation’s 50 largest cities showed that homicides were down nearly 5% from last year after two years of pandemic-era increases.
“Crime is a very visceral thing, just like inflation,” said Jennings, the GOP operative. “It’s easy to understand.”
With two exceptions since 1989, people polled by Gallup have more often said there is more crime in the U.S. and not less, though data collected by the government largely shows that violent crime rates have dropped sharply from the early 1990s. (Conversely, those Gallup respondents have been more evenly split on whether they feel there is more or less crime in their local areas and mostly said they wouldn’t feel afraid to walk alone at night in their neighborhood.)
Leah Wright Rigueur, a history professor at Brandeis University and ABC News political contributor, explained in an October ABC News interview that messaging around crime can be reductive. “Who’s going to sit down and say, ‘I’m pro-crime?’ Nobody.”
“Here’s the thing about using crime as a political talking point: You don’t actually want to go through the nuances of crime,” Rigueur said then, for a story about public safety in Ohio.
Gallup’s polls through the years also show most people saying they worry a fair amount or a great deal about crime and violence.
“You can run a three-prong campaign: inflation, crime, immigration; inflation, crime, immigration; inflation, crime, immigration, repeat after me, rinse repeat, whatever,” Jennings said.
Democrats in several races have distanced themselves from the “defund the police mantra” popular among some of the Democrats’ far-left flank, but GOP attacks over police reform and crime in urban centers is still blanketing the airwaves in Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Washington and elsewhere.
But nowhere, perhaps, have they been as prominent and potent as in the Pennsylvania and Wisconsin Senate races.
A closer look at Barnes and Fetterman in the midterms
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic Senate nominee, has faced an avalanche of ads underscoring his service on the state Board of Pardons and suggesting he was intent on releasing felons from prison.
Republican rival Mehmet Oz’s campaign labeled him “the most pro-murderer candidate in America.”
Fetterman, who bears tattoos in memory of crime victims from the town where he was previously mayor, has argued that when he was on the board and advocated for a felon to be released, it involved offenders who spent many decades behind bars and were no longer dangerous.
Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, his state’s Democratic Senate nominee, has also been facing a wave of ads unearthing past comments on law enforcement budgets and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to contend that he supports the “defund the police” movement, which he disputes.
That post-Labor Day barrage coincided with a changing tide in each race, with the FiveThirtyEight polling averages now showing Fetterman’s edge over Oz narrowing considerably and Barnes falling behind Republican Sen. Ron Johnson after an earlier lead.
And while it’s impossible to definitively connect the ads to polling shifts, members of both parties say the GOP strategy, which echoes successful tactics in past cycles, is working.
“I think it is interwoven in almost every ad that I’ve seen,” said Pennsylvania GOP consultant Josh Novotney. “I think they will continue to be used, and my guess is they are going to be pretty effective.”
“No doubt, they’re hard-hitting,” Tom Nelson, the Outagamie County executive who challenged Barnes in the Senate primary, told ABC News, adding, “The severity is much more than people were expecting, perhaps.”
That puts Democrats in a familiar spot: scrambling to assert they’re not soft on crime while not alienating their base — which in recent years has become more clamorous for law enforcement reforms and conversations about police misconduct and inequalities in the justice system, while ABC News polling has shown defunding proposals are unpopular with the public.
Republicans for decades, going back to George H. W. Bush’s 1988 presidential campaign, have sought to paint Democrats as eager to coddle felons, an attack Democrats have said is unfair and untrue. Yet, race experts acknowledge, if Democrats run as too strong of allies to police departments, they risk backlash from their most loyal voters, but if they do not respond strongly enough, they lose ground with moderates.
Continued remarks by some of the most progressive lawmakers advocating for shifting funds away from police could also distract from President Joe Biden’s repeated calls to “fund the police” as well as money in last year’s stimulus package that states could direct money to local law enforcement — and fuel the perpetuation of defund the police attack ads targeting Democrats across the U.S.
“It is unhelpful that there are enough voices within the party, whether they are elected or just visible people on our side of the aisle out there talking about defunding the police, insinuating that it’s a larger party platform,” the Democratic pollster lamented.
Fetterman and Barnes have both sought to blunt the impact of the GOP criticism.
Fetterman has insisted he believes in strong sentences for violent felons but supports efforts to free those wrongfully convicted or those convicted of nonviolent offenses. He also removed “Black Lives Matter” language from his website, a move credited to a website update and expansion. He also said in one ad he worked “side by side with the police” as mayor of Braddock, and another clip featured a defense the sheriff of Montgomery County, saying Fetterman “gave a second chance to those who deserve it.”
At one recent campaign stop, Fetterman emphasized that two of the things he’s most proud of in his tenure were “stopping the gun violence as a mayor and fighting for the innocent and other individuals for a second chance.”
“Dr. Oz lives in a mansion on a hill, what does he know about confronting crime? John Fetterman has actually done it, and done it successfully. So he’s not going to be taking pointers from a guy who just moved here and has absolutely no understanding of the problems facing Pennsylvania,” Fetterman campaign spokesperson Joe Calvello said in a statement.
Barnes, meanwhile, has insisted he does not support defunding the police and cast the ads targeting him as misleading.
There have been some signs that voters haven’t rejected them on the public safety issue.
A Monmouth University poll released early this month showed Fetterman with a 5-point lead — and that surveyed voters trusted him on crime more than Oz by a 45-38 margin. And while Barnes’s polling lead is gone, he’s still within statistical striking distance of Johnson.
Pennsylvania Democratic ad maker J.J. Balaban said Fetterman had done a “credible job in pushing back,” noting a recent ad with a sheriff. And Barnes has started attacking Johnson in ads over comments seeking to minimize the violence of last year’s Capitol riot.
“If they’re gonna go after Mandela on crime, the Democrats should be going in on Johnson being the cheerleader for the greatest crime against American democracy in our 246-year history, that being the insurrection,” said Wisconsin Democratic strategist Scot Ross.
“Ron Johnson is more vulnerable on crime than Mandela Barnes is, and Democratic allies need to get that on television. And they needed to get it on television a month ago,” Ross said.
Barnes campaign spokesperson Maddy McDaniel hinted at an offensive in a statement, noting the race “remains neck and neck” and that Barnes is “armed with one of the largest third quarter fundraising hauls of any candidate this cycle,” referencing his $20.1 million haul from July-September.
After Johnson argued during their first debate that Barnes “has a record of wanting to defund the police,” noting past support for police reform, Barnes went on to challenge Johnson’s own history, telling MSNBC: “I won’t be lectured about crime from somebody who supported a violent insurrection that left 140 officers injured,” citing Johnson’s comments over the attack and reports that an aide sought to hand then-Vice President Mike Pence a list of alternate electors.
And Barnes’ campaign did put out an ad highlighting the insurrection — but only on digital platforms. (Of Barnes’ criticism, Johnson campaign spokesman Mike Marinella told ABC News in a previous statement, in part: “Barnes can’t defend his failed record … No wonder he is constantly trying to change the topic.”)
Republican attacks ads saying Democrats want to “defund the police” are airing in key battleground states.
“Simple, easy to understand things are what sticks in most voters’ minds. And so, when you hear something like ‘defund the police,’ that is something that the Democrats don’t want to make their races about, but it’s certainly out there in the common nomenclature for voters,” said GOP pollster Robert Blizzard.
“If crime rates are going up, crime stories dominate local television. So, they have an outsized impact on voters’ attitudes. The local news does not lead with the price of gas but does lead with the homicide in your city,” said GOP strategist Alex Conant.
With a 50-50 Senate, nothing less than control of the upper chamber is at stake.
“I’ve known these guys for 17 or 18 years. I know that their heart is in it. I know they’re as resolved as anybody else. And I think the closer you get to Election Day, the more and more real it really feels, and I think that’s happening,” Nelson, the Wisconsin Democrat, said. “At least, I hope it is.”
ABC News’ Will McDuffie and Paulina Tam contributed to this report.
