(WASHINGTON) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken tested positive for COVID-19 via a PCR test Wednesday afternoon, the State Department said.
Blinken, who is vaccinated and boosted, is experiencing mild symptoms.
Blinken attended the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday, where President Joe Biden was in attendance.
The State Department said Blinken hasn’t seen Biden “in person for several days, and the President is not considered a close contact according to guidelines by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — Politically minded eyes were on Ohio and Indiana Tuesday night, as the Republican and Democratic parties faced renewed identity crises, pulled between election denialism and anti-Trump factions on the right and progressives and pro-Biden centrists on the left.
From questions of Trump’s influence to the growing threat of winnowed abortion access, here’s how Tuesday night’s midterm election primaries in Ohio and Indiana shaped the state of politics and set new goalposts for both parties as they vie for majority power in Washington and across the country come November:
Democratic establishment lives on
Progressives suffered dual crushing losses in Ohio, with Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan sailing to an easy victory in the Senate primary quickly after polls closed Tuesday evening. Ryan defeated a more left-leaning primary challenger, Morgan Harper. Harper embraced the Green New Deal, eliminating the Senate filibuster and expanding the size of the Supreme Court, and her wide-margin loss can be seen as a referendum on such progressive politics — even if they play well in Washington and trend popular with younger voters.
In Ohio’s closely watched 11th district, President Joe Biden-endorsed Rep. Shontel Brown delivered a devastating blow to Bernie Sanders-tied challenger Nina Turner. Ryan and Brown’s win could also mean a sigh of relief for Democrats who worry about centrist liberalism — and its champion, Biden, as some version of the Democratic establishment remains popular among this group of key voters in a state that voted for former President Donald Trump by eight percentage points in 2020.
According to ABC News’ Senior Washington Reporter Devin Dwyer, who spoke to Ryan throughout election night, the 10-term congressman campaigned regularly in conservative areas and made a point to visit all 88 Ohio counties.
As the electorate trends Republican, thanks, in part, to this year’s redistricting process, Democrats who play well in red states may be the left’s key to maintaining what slim majority they now have.
Abortion access hangs in balance
It’s not entirely surprising that in the waning hours of Ohio’s Senate primary, Republican victor J.D. Vance, who will continue on to the general election, was quick to praise the prospect of Roe v. Wade being overturned as the unprecedented leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion sent shockwaves through the race — and the country — overnight.
“I do think Roe was a big mistake. And I think if the Supreme Court overturns it, it will be a big success for the pro-life movement,” Vance told ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott.
And it may be even less surprising that an establishment Democrat like Tim Ryan, who is expected to go on to face Vance in the general election, said abortion access is an issue of “freedom.”
“I think in many ways to abortion is, in some sense, an economic issue as well … This is a freedom issue, really, for me, and I think it’s a freedom issue for a lot of these women,” said Ryan, who once opposed abortion but changed his mind come 2015.
But an inter-party spar on abortion became critical in the race to cinch Ohio’s Democrat gubernatorial spot, where former Dayton mayor Nan Whaley found a path to victory in part by slamming her challenger John Cranley’s record on reproductive rights. During the campaign, Whaley underscored that she has always been a proponent of abortion rights whereas Cranley reversed his position before the campaign season. A majority of Americans wish to uphold Roe v. Wade, according to a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll, and that message clearly resonates even in a state as red as Ohio.
Trump avoids slump
Ohio’s gubernatorial and senatorial primary results suggest that Trump’s so-called golden touch may in fact be rusty, but not completely out of magic.
Incumbent Gov. Mike DeWine, who rose in popularity after imposing more aggressive coronavirus restrictions in his state, won the Republican bid for reelection and defeated Trump-affiliated candidate Jim Renacci (who was endorsed by Trump in 2018, when Renacci ran and lost a Senate bid). DeWine’s win means a slight loss for the former president, who suggested DeWine needed to be primaried for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Even though Trump steered clear of a formal endorsement, his apparent disdain for the incumbent governor is no secret and his opponents differed little from Trump in campaign talking points, which calls into question the lasting power of Trump’s influence.
DeWine’s race is just one of a handful of governors’ races where anti-Trump Republicans are looking to send a clear signal to MAGA-world with incumbent wins.
Enter the counter-narrative: J.D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy author and Trump critic turned endorsee and ally, notched a major victory for himself and for MAGA-ism. Trump tapped Vance from a pack of higher-performing rivals. Vance’s victory is a notch in Trump’s victory belt, proving that despite attacks from other Republicans showcasing the apparent hypocrisy of transforming from critic to champion, his word holds some outsized weight with the base.
And in his reelection bid, Greg Pence, the older brother of former Vice President Mike Pence, is the projected winner of the Republican nomination for House in Indiana’s 6th Congressional District after gaining the “complete and total endorsement” of former President Donald Trump.
The question remains: Can Trump pull out wins in upcoming primaries where his picks are more controversial, or take on more established GOP veterans?
(WASHINGTON) — The first multistate contest of the 2022 midterm season kicked off Tuesday with primary races in Ohio and Indiana.
Ohio’s Senate race marked the first major sign of former President Donald Trump’s endorsement power at the polls.
Here’s how the races developed on Tuesday. All times Eastern:
May 03, 11:28 pm
Trump-backed candidate projected winner in Ohio’s 13th
ABC News has projected Madison Gesiotto Gilbert, former co-chair of the national Women for Trump advisory board, as the winner in the GOP primary for Ohio’s 13th Congressional District.
Gilbert scored Trump’s endorsement in the race and aligned with him on most issues. Other GOP candidates in the race included Shay Hawkins, Santana Kings, Janet Folger Porter, Dante Sabatucci, Ryan Salor and Greg Wheeler.
May 03, 11:12 pm
GOP aims to flip Indiana House seat
ABC News has projected Jennifer-Ruth Green, an air force veteran, as the winner of the Republican House primary for Indiana’s 1st Congressional District.
“I have been blessed to have the opportunity to serve our country in uniform for 22 years, and I look forward to earning the opportunity to represent Hoosiers and continue my service in Congress,” Green said in a statement.
Republicans are aiming to flip the district, a long Democratic stronghold that is nevertheless seen as fertile ground in a wave election.
Green will face incumbent Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan in November.
May 03, 10:43 pm
Brown projected to defeat turner in Ohio House primary
In Ohio’s 11th Congressional District, incumbent Rep. Shontel Brown is projected by ABC News to defeat progressive challenger Nina Turner for a second time, marking a victory for President Joe Biden’s endorsement power.
Brown was first elected to Congress in a special election last year following former Rep. Marcia Fudge’s appointment to serve as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Biden offered his second endorsement of the midterm cycle to Brown last Friday, calling her “an ardent advocate for the people of Ohio and a true partner in Congress,” while leading progressive voices like Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., backed Turner.
Turner, a former co-chair of Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, had previously criticized the Democratic Party and Biden’s leadership.
May 03, 10:24 pm
Former state senator wins GOP primary for IN-09
ABC News has projected that Erin Houchin, a former state senator, as the winner of the Republican House primary in Indiana’s 9th Congressional District.
“I am honored that Hoosier Republicans across Southern Indiana have entrusted me with their vote,” Houchin said in a statement. “I’ve spent my life in the Ninth District, and look forward to carrying our momentum through November and being the proven conservative fighter we need in Washington. It’s time to push back against the radical Biden-Pelosi agenda and take our country back.”
The seat was the only vacant congressional seat in the state after Republican Congressman Trey Hollingsworth announced he wouldn’t seek reelection.
May 03, 10:21 pm
Vance thanks Trump in victory speech
Fresh off his projected win, J.D. Vance thanked former President Donald Trump for his endorsement as he celebrated his projected primary victory with supporters in Cincinnati on Tuesday.
“I have got to absolutely thank the 45th President Donald Trump. One, for giving us an example of what could be in this country… and endorsing me,” Vance said.
Trump’s endorsement of Vance, the “never-Trumper” turned Trump ally, was not well received among all Republicans. Many criticized Trump’s pick, bringing up past comments Vance made attacking Trump supporters — but Vance still prevailed.
The Hillbilly Elegy author drew upon his midwest working-class background throughout the campaign. He initially struggled to stand out from a crowd of MAGA Republicans, but Trump’s endorsement gave him a significant boost that he used to carry him to victory, focusing the fight on “America First” values in recent weeks.
Vance is expected to face Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan in the general election.
May 03, 9:43 pm
J.D. Vance projected winner of GOP Senate primary, marking victory for Trump
In the Ohio Republican primary for Senate, ABC projects Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance as the winner, marking a massive victory for former President Donald Trump.
Polling showed Vance fading into third place in the weeks leading up to the election, behind Mike Gibbons and Josh Mandel, but an 11th-hour endorsement from the former president vaulted Vance into front-running status.
The “never-Trumper” turned Trump ally will face Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan in the fall.
Trump also endorsed former aide Max Miller in Ohio’s 7th Congressional District. Miller was also projected to win his primary race on Tuesday.
Mike Gibbons, the wealthy Ohio businessman who previously ran for Senate in 2018, conceded over Twitter he would not win the GOP primary nomination for retiring Sen. Rob Portman’s seat.
“We still don’t know who is going to win, but it is clear that we came up short. While tonight did not go as we had hoped, don’t be discouraged. We have a lot of work left to do. Tomorrow is the first day of the General Election- the most important election of our lives,” Gibbons wrote in a tweet.
While Gibbons touted his ties to former President Donald Trump and his efforts to raise money for Trump’s presidential campaign, he did not receive Trump’s endorsement, while the candidate who did — J.D. Vance — has led the race all night.
May 03, 9:20 pm
ABC News projects Max Miller winner of GOP House primary
In Ohio’s 7th Congressional District, ABC News projects Max Miller as the winner of the Republican primary election.
The race represented a test of former President Donald Trump’s kingmaking power after Trump threw his endorsement behind Miller, his former White House and campaign aide.
Miller was first vying for the seat of Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, a Republican who voted for Trump’s second impeachment, until Gonzalez announced he was not running again after their district was redrawn. Before redistricting, Gonzalez represented Ohio’s 16th Congressional District.
Incumbent Rep. Bob Gibbs withdrew from the 7th District race after ballots were already printed, so any votes for Gibbs will not be counted.
May 03, 9:12 pm
Tim Ryan celebrates victory in Columbus
Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, a 10-term congressman, former presidential candidate and the son of union workers from northeast Ohio, celebrated his projected primary victory from Columbus on Tuesday.
“We’ve been to all 88 counties. Ninety-seven percent of our donations are under $100. This campaign is about the people of Ohio,” Ryan told a room of supporters.
Ryan will face the winner of the GOP Senate primary race — where Trump-endorsed candidate J.D. Vance is leading — in an election that could help Democrats retain control of the Senate next year. A Democrat hasn’t won a statewide race in Ohio since 2006 with one exception: Sen. Sherrod Brown’s reelection in 2018.
Ryan told ABC News’ Senior Washington Report Devin Dwyer Tuesday in his hometown of Warren that he is looking to replicate Brown’s success by focusing relentlessly on jobs, wages, cutting taxes and cutting costs for families. He talked often about beating China — and even mentioned policy areas he agreed with former President Donald Trump.
Even in this primary, he stumped regularly in red areas — visiting all 88 counties.
Ryan said he likes to avoid the “stupid fights” and “culture war antics” of the “Trump knock-offs” he’ll soon face.
May 03, 8:56 pm
ABC News projects Nan Whaley to win Ohio Democratic gubernatorial primary
Former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley is projected to win the Democratic gubernatorial primary in Ohio, setting her up with a matchup with incumbent Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.
Democrats face an uphill battle to win the governorship, which the party hasn’t captured since 2006.
Whaley tweeted Monday night when the Supreme Court draft opinion was leaked that Democrats have a chance to elect a “genuinely pro-choice candidate to be Ohio’s next governor.”
May 03, 8:40 pm
Signs of a close race in the Ohio Republican Senate primary
While less than 20% of the expected vote is in so far in the Ohio Republican Senate primary, there are early signs of a close race and a surge for one of the candidates.
“Hillbilly Elegy” author J.D. Vance, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, is currently leading, but State Sen. Matt Dolan is only a few percentage points behind him. Dolan, who self-financed his race, is the only candidate who broke with Trump in the race. He told ABC News that candidates who focus on the 2020 election are misguided.
Vance, meanwhile, has fully embraced Trump and his endorsement.
-ABC News Oren Oppenheim
May 03, 8:20 pm
ABC News projects Frank LaRose winner of GOP secretary of state race
In the Ohio Republican primary for secretary of state, incumbent elections chief Frank LaRose is projected to win.
Although LaRose once told the Cleveland Plain Dealer it is “irresponsible when Republicans say an election was stolen and don’t have evidence” in the fallout from the 2020 election, the Republican incumbent still received Trump’s endorsement for his reelection campaign.
“I think President Trump is incredibly influential here in Ohio. He won by an overwhelming margin, in a secure election — he got over 8%, that’s a record-setting 3 million votes in the state of Ohio,” LaRose said in an interview on ABC News Live on Monday touting the endorsement.
As Trump increasingly wades into state-level political contests, the shift in rhetoric by LaRose demonstrates an attempt to bridge the divide between sentiments of election denial expressed by many of Trump’s supporters with the wishes of broad swaths of Republicans who want to see the party move on from focusing on 2020. In doing so, LaRose appears to be superimposing Trump’s comments into existing voting parameters that he backs as the state’s top elections official.
-ABC News’ Alisa Wiersema
May 03, 8:12 pm
ABC News projects Mike DeWine winner of GOP gubernatorial primary
Incumbent Gov. Mike DeWine is projected to win the Republican gubernatorial primary in Ohio, holding off challenges from within his own party.
DeWine, who is seeking a second term, was favored to win but faced a spirited faceoff with Republicans who were disappointed with his relatively strict response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Those looking to replace DeWine included former U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, former state Rep. Ron Hood and Joe Blystone, a farmer who jumped into the race. Trump did not endorse a candidate in this primary contest, but Renacci campaigned on Trumpism and cited Trump’s support of him in 2018 during his failed campaign for Senate.
May 03, 8:01 pm
ABC News projects Rep. Tim Ryan winner of Ohio Senate primary
In the Ohio Democratic primary for Senate, ABC projects Rep. Tim Ryan to win.
May 03, 7:46 pm
Trump makes final primary push for Vance
Former President Donald Trump participated in a radio interview with Ohio 98.9 Tuesday to boost his favored Senate candidate J.D. Vance in the state during the final hours of the race.
While on the show, Trump was asked about the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade and denounced the leak as “demeaning” but did not comment on the draft itself. Notably, Trump vowed to appoint justices who would overturn the nearly 50-year precedent.
Trump went on to get out the vote for Vance but acknowledged, as he always does, that his preferred candidate wasn’t always on his side.
“Well, I’ve liked him. He was rough on me but so was everybody else, they all were, really. But he was pretty, I would say normal rough, relatively speaking,” Trump said. “And I just thought he was very exceptional. He came back a long way as you know, he retracted everything. Overall, I just think he’s gonna be very good.”
“They’re all good,” Trump added. “But J.D. is going to win.”
May 03, 7:33 pm
Polls close in Ohio
Polls closed at 7:30 p.m. across Ohio, where voters cast ballots in primaries for the House of Representatives and Senate, as well as for governor, attorney general, secretary of state and auditor.
Key races in the state are expected to shed light on the endorsement power of both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
The Ohio secretary of state’s office released final early voting totals — showing that 301,837 absentee ballots were requested by-mail or in person, and that 263,542 votes had already been cast statewide.
Those numbers surpass the 2018 total of 300,765 absentee ballots requested through the end of the early voting period and 260,443 total early votes cast.
May 03, 6:22 pm
Abortion rights take center stage on primary day
In the final hours of Ohio’s Senate primary, Republican candidates were quick to praise the prospect of overturning Roe v. Wade as the stunning leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion rocked the race overnight.
“I do think Roe was a big mistake. And I think if the Supreme Court overturns it, it will be a big success for the pro-life movement,” J.D. Vance, who got former President Donald Trump’s endorsement, told ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott.
“If it gets overturned, we’re gonna have a fight here in the state of Ohio. And I think I’m going to be on the front lines of that fight trying to get us here in Ohio to protect it,” he added.
Rep. Tim Ryan — the Democrats’ likely candidate in the hotly contested race, who once opposed abortion rights but changed positions in 2015 — called it a “freedom issue” that he predicted would motivate a lot of women “to vote for a senator who would be on their side.”
“I think in many ways to abortion is, in some sense, an economic issue as well. Should a woman be able to plan the size of her family? Should a woman be able to plan when she has a pregnancy? This is a freedom issue, really, for me, and I think it’s a freedom issue for a lot of these women,” Ryan told ABC News Senior Washington Reporter Devin Dwyer.
Ohio and Indiana are among the 26 states which are likely or certain to ban abortion if Roe falls or is gutted, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights research organization.
May 03, 6:05 pm
Ohio race framed as national barometer for Democrats
Tuesday’s rematch between Rep. Shontel Brown and former state senator Nina Turner for Ohio’s 11th Congressional District offers a real-time reflection of the divisions between the Democratic Party’s progressive and establishment wings — and a barometer for Democrats running across the country at the top of the midterm season.
Brown was first elected to Congress in a special election last year following former Rep. Marcia Fudge’s appointment to serve as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. While President Joe Biden endorsed Brown last Friday, calling her “an ardent advocate for the people of Ohio and a true partner in Congress,” leading progressive voices like Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., are backing Turner.
Turner and Brown approached the campaign trail from different ends of the Democratic political spectrum. Turner, a former co-chairwoman of Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, has previously criticized the Democratic Party and Biden.
May 03, 5:30 pm
What to watch for in Ohio
Tuesday’s Ohio Senate primary is among the first litmus tests of many this midterm season to gauge how much influence former President Donald Trump holds over the Republican Party. Almost all of the candidates — except for Matt Dolan — align with the former president, so even if “Hillbilly Elegy” author J.D. Vance doesn’t win, the GOP nominee could well be a Trump-aligned Republican who endorses falsehoods about the 2020 election.
Another race seen as a test of Trump’s kingmaking power is in Ohio’s 7th Congressional District, where the former president endorsed challenger and former aide Max Miller.
President Joe Biden, meanwhile, chose to hand out only his second primary endorsement of the cycle in Ohio to Rep. Shontel Brown in her rematch against progressive powerhouse Nina Turner, a close ally of Sen. Bernie Sanders, in a race that has pit establishment Democrats against progressives.
Gov. Mike DeWine, who is seeking a second term, is expected to survive a Trump-inspired, though not endorsed, challenge to his COVID governance and establishment leanings.
-ABC News’ Political Director Rick Klein
May 03, 5:18 pm
What to watch for in Indiana
Some races in Indiana — such as the state’s 1st Congressional District where a slew of Republican challengers are vying to win the seat held by incumbent Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan — are seen as possible bellwethers for whether Republicans manage can flip districts in Democratic strongholds.
Indiana’s 9th Congressional District — the only vacant congressional seat in the state — is also in play when it comes to which party will control the House of Representatives after the midterms.
Along with Ohio, the state is an early indicator of the power of former President Donald Trump’s endorsement, as Trump carried the state in 2020. Trump has backed six incumbent members of the House of Representatives in the state, including Rep. Greg Pence, former Vice President Mike Pence’s brother.
Polls close in Indiana at 7 p.m. ET, though there is some variation because the state falls within two time zones.
May 03, 4:28 pm
Supreme Court bombshell lands as Ohio tests Trump and Biden
Voters head to the polls in Ohio on Tuesday on the heels of a shocking leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion suggesting the court’s conservative majority may overturn nearly 50 years of abortion rights in America.
The endorsement power of former President Donald Trump — who promised to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe — faces a major test in the race of retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman in Ohio. While almost all the GOP candidates have centered their campaigns around being a Trump conservative, “never-Trumper” turned Trump ally J.D. Vance scored his coveted endorsement, upending the race.
On the Democratic side, the contest in Ohio’s 11th Congressional District between Rep. Shontel Brown and Nina Turner has pitted establishment Democrats against progressives. Biden endorsed Brown over Turner last week in his second primary endorsement of the election cycle, but progressives including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders have backed Turner.
A new ABC News/Washington Post polling out Tuesday shows that 60% of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents want the GOP to follow Trump’s leadership — about where that’s been since he left office. By contrast, only about 53% of Democrats and independents who lean that way want to follow Biden’s leadership, with younger Democrats most solidly favoring a new direction.
Dylan Hollingsworth/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE
(OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.) — Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed an abortion bill Tuesday that is modeled after a controversial Texas law.
The bill, formally known as S.B. 1503, creates the “Oklahoma Heartbeat Act,” which bans abortions after cardiac activity or a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which typically occurs around six weeks — before a woman often knows she is pregnant.
There are exceptions when the mother’s life is danger but not for rape or incest.
The bill also allows any private citizen to sue someone who performs an abortion, intends to perform an abortion, or helps a woman get an abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. These citizens could be awarded at least $10,000 for every abortion performed.
A civil lawsuit, however, cannot be brought against a woman who receives an abortion. Additionally, someone who impregnated a woman through rape or incest would not be allowed to sue.
“I am proud to sign SB 1503, the Oklahoma Heartbeat Act into law,” Stitt tweeted Tuesday after signing the bill. “I want Oklahoma to be the most pro-life state in the country because I represent all four million Oklahomans who overwhelmingly want to protect the unborn.”
Oklahoma’s bill is the second copycat of the Texas legislation after Idaho passed the first bill in March.
Because of the bill’s emergency clause, it goes into immediate effect after being signed by the governor.
A few weeks ago, Stitt signed another abortion bill that would make it a felony to perform abortions except when the mother’s life is in danger.
“We want Oklahoma to be the most pro-life state in the country,” Stitt said at the time. “We want to outlaw abortion in the state of Oklahoma.”
This bill doesn’t go into effect until the summer and will likely be facing legal challenges.
Abortion rights advocates said this is why Republicans in Oklahoma have been passing several abortion bills — in the hopes that one sticks.
Several groups, including the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Center for Reproductive Rights and Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice, have already filed a joint lawsuit to block S.B. 1503.
“These abortion bans will push abortion access out of reach for many communities who already face often insurmountable barriers to health care, including Black and brown communities, low-income communities, and people who live in rural areas,” Tamya Cox-Touré, co-chair of Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice, said in a statement. “These are the same communities who are most impacted by the maternal health crisis occurring in our country and in our state. The lawmakers who passed these bans do not care about access to healthcare, and we can’t allow this law to take effect.”
The signing comes as several Republican-led states — including Arizona, Kentucky and Wyoming — have been passing abortion legislation ahead of a Supreme Court decision that could decide the future of Roe v. Wade.
The court is expected to hand down a decision about a 15-week ban in Mississippi in June. If the ban is declared constitutional, it could lead to Roe v. Wade being overturned or severely gutted.
(WASHINGTON) — The first multistate contest of the 2022 midterm season kicks off Tuesday with primary races in Ohio and Indiana.
Ohio’s Senate race marks the first major test of former President Donald Trump’s endorsement power at the polls.
Here’s how the races are developing today. All times Eastern. Check back for updates.
May 03, 5:30 pm
What to watch for in Ohio
Tuesday’s Ohio Senate primary is among the first litmus tests of many this midterm season to gauge how much influence former President Donald Trump holds over the Republican Party. Almost all of the candidates — except for Matt Dolan — align with the former president, so even if “Hillbilly Elegy” author J.D. Vance doesn’t win, the GOP nominee could well be a Trump-aligned Republican who endorses falsehoods about the 2020 election.
Another race seen as a test of Trump’s kingmaking power is in Ohio’s 7th Congressional District, where the former president endorsed challenger and former aide Max Miller.
President Joe Biden, meanwhile, chose to hand out only his second primary endorsement of the cycle in Ohio to Rep. Shontel Brown in her rematch against progressive powerhouse Nina Turner, a close ally of Sen. Bernie Sanders, in a race that has pit establishment Democrats against progressives.
Gov. Mike DeWine, who is seeking a second term, is expected to survive a Trump-inspired, though not endorsed, challenge to his COVID governance and establishment leanings.
-ABC News’ Political Director Rick Klein
May 03, 5:18 pm
What to watch for in Indiana
Some races in Indiana — such as the state’s 1st Congressional District where a slew of Republican challengers are vying to win the seat held by incumbent Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan — are seen as possible bellwethers for whether Republicans manage can flip districts in Democratic strongholds.
Indiana’s 9th Congressional District — the only vacant congressional seat in the state — is also in play when it comes to which party will control the House of Representatives after the midterms.
Along with Ohio, the state is an early indicator of the power of former President Donald Trump’s endorsement, as Trump carried the state in 2020. Trump has backed six incumbent members of the House of Representatives in the state, including Rep. Greg Pence, former Vice President Mike Pence’s brother.
Polls close in Indiana at 7 p.m. ET, though there is some variation because the state falls within two time zones.
May 03, 4:28 pm
Supreme Court bombshell lands as Ohio tests Trump and Biden
Voters head to the polls in Ohio on Tuesday on the heels of a shocking leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion suggesting the court’s conservative majority may overturn nearly 50 years of abortion rights in America.
The endorsement power of former President Donald Trump — who promised to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe — faces a major test in the race of retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman in Ohio. While almost all the GOP candidates have centered their campaigns around being a Trump conservative, “never-Trumper” turned Trump ally J.D. Vance scored his coveted endorsement, upending the race.
On the Democratic side, the contest in Ohio’s 11th Congressional District between Rep. Shontel Brown and Nina Turner has pitted establishment Democrats against progressives. Biden endorsed Brown over Turner last week in his second primary endorsement of the election cycle, but progressives including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders have backed Turner.
A new ABC News/Washington Post polling out Tuesday shows that 60% of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents want the GOP to follow Trump’s leadership — about where that’s been since he left office. By contrast, only about 53% of Democrats and independents who lean that way want to follow Biden’s leadership, with younger Democrats most solidly favoring a new direction.
(WASHINGTON) — Comments on abortion rights made by the recent conservative additions to the Supreme Court during their Senate confirmation hearings are under fresh scrutiny after a leaked draft Supreme Court opinion appeared to indicate the panel’s conservative majority of justices is ready to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The Supreme Court confirmed that the draft, published Monday by Politico, is authentic. But it stressed that it is neither a decision by the court nor a final position of any justices in the case.
The case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, involves Mississippi’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy — well before the fetal viability standard established by Roe in 1973 and a subsequent 1992 decision, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, that legalized abortion across the U.S.
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Justice Samuel Alito, the opinion’s apparent author, wrote in the copy of the draft, dated Feb. 10.
An unnamed source familiar with the deliberations told Politico that Justices Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — the latter three who are conservative justices added to the bench during the Trump administration — all initially supported a ruling siding with Mississippi and “that line-up remains unchanged as of this week.”
The document posted online suggests a majority of justices is likely to side with Mississippi — breaking with precedent — but how broad the ultimate ruling will be remains unclear. It also is unclear how the justices will ultimately vote on the case.
During their respective Senate confirmation hearings after being nominated to the Supreme Court by former President Donald Trump, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh acknowledged the precedent set by Roe, while Barrett told senators she believed the decision was not a “super-precedent.”
Justice Neil Gorsuch
During confirmation hearings in March 2017, Democrats pressed Gorsuch for his views on abortion using his writing in a book he authored on euthanasia, in which he wrote that “the intentional taking of human life by private persons is always wrong.”
“How could you square that statement with legal abortion?” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., asked.
“The Supreme Court of the United States has held that Roe v. Wade, that a fetus is not a person for purposes of the 14th Amendment. And the book explains that,” Gorsuch replied.
“Do you accept that?” Durbin asked.
“That’s the law of the land, I accept the law of the land, senator. Yes,” Gorsuch replied.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh
During his Senate confirmation hearings in September 2018, Democrats pushed Kavanaugh on his position on Roe in light of a reported 2003 email he wrote as a lawyer in the Bush White House challenging that the landmark decision was the “settled law of the land.”
“As a general proposition I understand the importance of the precedent set forth in Roe v. Wade,” Kavanaugh told senators.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., asked Kavanaugh, “What would you say your position is today on a woman’s right to choose?”
“As a judge, it is an important precedent of the Supreme Court,” Kavanaugh replied. “By ‘it,’ I mean Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, been affirmed many times. Casey is precedent on precedent.”
Additionally, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has said Kavanaugh repeatedly suggested to her privately that he considered Roe to be “settled law.” She criticized both Kavanaugh and Gorsuch on Tuesday for the apparent flip-flop.
“If this leaked draft opinion is the final decision and this reporting is accurate, it would be completely inconsistent with what Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh said in their hearings and in our meetings in my office,” Collins, R-Maine, said in a statement Tuesday morning. “Obviously, we won’t know each Justice’s decision and reasoning until the Supreme Court officially announces its opinion in this case.”
Justice Amy Coney Barrett
During her confirmation hearings in October 2020, Barrett was careful in her comments but told senators she believed the decision on Roe v. Wade was not a “super-precedent” when asked directly by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.
She said she did not find the case to be “so well-settled that no political actors and no people seriously push for their overruling.”
“I’m answering a lot of questions about Roe, which I think indicates that Roe doesn’t fall in that category,” she said. “And scholars across the spectrum say that doesn’t mean that Roe should be overruled. But descriptively, it does mean that it’s not a case that everyone has accepted and doesn’t call for its overruling.”
As a law school professor, Barrett signed a 2006 newspaper ad calling for the overturning of the law’s “barbaric legacy.” She was questioned about that as well during her confirmation hearings.
“I signed that almost 15 years ago in my personal capacity still as a private citizen, and now I am a public official,” Barrett told Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.
“I signed it on the way out of church,” she told Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. “It was consistent with the views of my church and simply said we support the right to life from conception to natural death.”
In response to Republicans’ questions about her faith and its influence on her work, Barrett — who has described herself as a “faithful Catholic” — told senators that her “personal, moral religious views” won’t impact her judicial decision-making.
“I have done that in my time on the 7th Circuit. If I stay there, I’ll continue to do that,” Barrett said. “If I’m confirmed to the Supreme Court, I will do that still.”
In prior comments, Barrett has said she didn’t think the right to abortion would change and it was unlikely Roe would be overturned by a conservative Supreme Court.
“I think some of the restrictions would change,” she said during a 2016 event at Jacksonville University’s Public Policy Institute.
“I think the question is how much freedom the court is willing to let states have in regulating abortion,” she continued.
ABC News’ Devin Dwyer and Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — A draft of the SCOTUS decision on the Mississippi case that challenges Roe v. Wade was leaked Monday night, first reported by Politico. According to the copy of the draft opinion for the majority, a majority of justices appear to have voted to effectively overturn the 1973 landmark abortion precedent set in Roe v. Wade.
“Certainly, it’s not a totally leakproof institution, but there has never been a leak even remotely like this,” said ABC News Supreme Court contributor Kate Shaw on ABC News’ podcast “Start Here.” “I don’t think in the history of the Supreme Court, which is the history of the country – it is totally uncharted.”
The 98-page opinion leaked by Politico was written by Justice Samuel Alito, one of the most conservative members of the court.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Supreme Court and Chief Justice John Roberts addressed the leaked opinion. The statement confirms that the leaked document is “authentic,” but it goes on to say that it “does not represent a decision by the Court of the final position of any member on the issues in the case.”
“To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed. The work of the Court will not be affected in any way,” said Roberts in the release.
He also stated that he has launched an official investigation into the source of the leak.
There are multiple theories circulating as to why the document was leaked. According to Shaw, one theory is that whoever leaked the draft may be trying to “lock” in a five-justice majority and the publicity from the leak will deter anyone from “jumping ship.”
“The publicity will deter them from doing so because they will be worried about sending a message that they were somehow cowed into changing their votes by the public blowback and or the public encouragement,” said Shaw.
Also, some believe that if it’s a conservative leak, the approach was used to soften the ground for the ultimate decision. Some conservatives have already pointed out how little attention Texas’ SB8 has gotten now that it’s been in place for months, ABC News’ Devin Dwyer reported.
Another theory is that the leak came from the liberal side of the court.
“I think the logic there would be something like the court is about to take a truly extraordinary step of rolling back this right upon which Americans have relied for a half century and an institution,” said Shaw. “And thus these long standing norms of secrecy and confidentiality actually don’t have to be respected and can be thrown out the window because extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.”
Currently, the leaker has not been identified and the motive remains unknown.
Over the past several months, the Supreme Court has been considering the Mississippi case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health after hearing arguments on December 1. The Mississippi law bans abortions after 15 weeks. The case asks the justices directly to reconsider the precedent set by Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
A handful of states have already set so-called “trigger laws,” which are prohibitions set on abortions that will immediately go into effect if Roe v. Wade is overruled.
“At least half the states in the country will severely curtail or totally outlaw access to abortion,” said Shaw. “Basically immediately.”
According to an updated report from The Guttmacher Institute, 26 states have these trigger laws, some of which include bans on abortion after six or eight weeks of pregnancy, effectively banning all abortions. Several other states without trigger laws would also be expected to move quickly to prohibit abortions if Roe is overruled.
But, echoing Justice Roberts, Shaw said that nothing is set in stone.
“This is not a final opinion. It is not the law. Roe v. Wade has not been overturned yet,” said Shaw. “This appears to be a legitimate document that does reflect where the court is at this moment… But we don’t know exactly what the final opinion in this case will look like.”
(WASHINGTON) — Amid reports of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, an ABC News/Washington Post poll finds that majorities of Americans support upholding Roe, say abortion should be legal in all or most cases and — by a wide margin — see abortion as a decision to be made by a woman and her doctor, not by lawmakers.
The national survey was completed last week, in advance of a report by Politico Monday night that a proposed first draft of an opinion, apparently by Justice Samuel Alito, called for reversing Roe in a case challenging Mississippi’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
In this poll, by contrast, 57% of Americans oppose a ban after 15 weeks; 58% say abortion should be legal in all or most cases; and 54% say the court should uphold Roe, compared with 28% who say the ruling should be overturned.
Support for upholding Roe is 6 percentage points lower than it was in an ABC/Post poll last November. Preference for reversing it is essentially unchanged; instead, more in this survey express no opinion, 18%.
Moving the question outside a legal framework, 7 in 10 say the decision whether or not a woman can have an abortion should be left to the woman and her doctor; this also is down from November, by 5 points. Twenty-four percent instead say abortion should be regulated by law. Even among those who say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, a substantial share, 41%, also say it should be left to the woman and her doctor.
Trends are not consistent. While support for abortion rights is down slightly in the two items noted above, it’s higher than previously (up 12 points from 2011) “when the woman cannot afford to have a child,” and unchanged in other measures.
Legal or illegal?
Basic views on whether or not abortion should be legal have been more or less stable in polling going back 27 years. The 58% who say it should be legal in all or most cases is very near the average, 56%, in nearly three dozen ABC/Post polls since mid-1995, ranging from 49% to 60%. This includes 26% who now say it should be legal in all cases, exceeding the average, 21%; and 33% who say it should be legal in most cases.
Thirty-seven percent in this poll, produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates, instead say abortion should be illegal in most cases (21%) or all cases (16%). That’s less than the long-term average, 42%, with a range from 36% to 48%. (Five percent have no opinion on this question.)
Circumstances
Considering specific circumstances, substantial majorities say abortion should be legal when the woman’s physical health is endangered (82%), when the pregnancy was caused by rape or incest (79%) and when there’s evidence of serious birth defects (67%).
The public divides on another circumstance: When the woman cannot afford to have a child, 48% say abortion should be legal, 45% illegal. Support for legal abortion in this case is its highest in six polls dating back to 1996.
On another front, the poll finds most Americans are unaware of new abortion restrictions in their states. In the 22 states that have passed abortion restrictions since 2020, just 30% of residents are aware that this has occurred; more, 44%, think not, with 26% unsure. An open question is how people who favor legal abortion may react if and when they learn their state has taken a different tack.
State laws
Regarding state-level action, 36% say laws on access to abortion in their state should be left as they are now and 33% say access to abortion should be easier than it is now. Fewer, 25%, say abortion access should be harder than it is currently.
Support for greater restrictions is muted, 30%, even in the 26 states that are reported by the Guttmacher Institute as likely to ban legal abortion if Roe v. Wade were overturned. This shrinks to 21% in other states.
Testing two specific restrictions, almost identical numbers say they’d oppose a law in their state making abortions legal only in the first six weeks of pregnancy (58%) or, as mentioned, only in the first 15 weeks (57%); 36% alike support each prospect. At least 12 states have passed six-week bans (most of which have been struck down or blocked by the courts) and five states have passed 15-week bans, with partial passage in a sixth.
Groups
Sixty-two percent of women and 55% of men say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. The gap widens on the shares who say it should be legal in all cases — 33% of women, compared with 19% of men, a wider gap than typical.
Support for legal abortion is highest among liberals (82%), people with no religious preference (80%), Democrats (79%), those with post-graduate degrees (74%) and Northeasterners (72%). It’s lowest among strong conservatives (20%), evangelical Protestants (28%) and Republicans (33%).
As noted, Americans by 54-28% say the Supreme Court should uphold Roe; it’s a similar 51-32% in the states where abortion bans or severe restrictions are anticipated if the ruling were overturned. Among groups, support for overturning Roe reaches a slim majority only among conservatives, 52%. Perhaps surprisingly, support for overturning the precedent reaches only 44% among Republicans and 45% among evangelical Protestants, two of the groups most apt to say abortion should be illegal.
Methodology
This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by landline and cellular telephone April 24-28, 2022, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 1,004 adults. Results have a margin of sampling error of 3.5 percentage points, including the design effect. Partisan divisions are 29-25-40%, Democrats-Republicans-independents.
(WASHINGTON) — With the bombshell leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion indicating a reported majority of conservative justices is ready to overturn Roe v. Wade, all eyes were once again on Republican Sen. Susan Collins Tuesday over her support for Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
The draft opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito and not yet final — first reported Monday night by Politico — showed the court is poised to topple the landmark 1973 decision legalizing abortion across the U.S.
In the draft, dated Feb. 10, Alito wrote, “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start.”
Reporters flocked to Collins’ office on Tuesday morning for her reaction, given she cast a vote pivotal to Kavanaugh’s ascension to the court in 2018.
Collins said at the time that Kavanaugh assured her Roe v. Wade was “settled law.”
“If this leaked draft opinion is the final decision and this reporting is accurate, it would be completely inconsistent with what Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh said in their hearings and in our meetings in my office,” Collins, R-Maine, said in a statement Tuesday morning. “Obviously, we won’t know each Justice’s decision and reasoning until the Supreme Court officially announces its opinion in this case.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were more direct, accusing the court’s recently appointed conservative justices of deceiving lawmakers about their views on Roe v. Wade.
“Several of these conservative Justices, who are in no way accountable to the American people, have lied to the U.S. Senate, ripped up the Constitution and defiled both precedent and the Supreme Court’s reputation — all at the expense of tens of millions of women who could soon be stripped of their bodily autonomy and the constitutional rights they’ve relied on for half a century,” Schumer and Pelosi said in a joint statement Monday night.
At his Senate confirmation hearings in September 2018, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee pushed Kavanaugh on what his then-current position on Roe v. Wade was — in light of a reported 2003 email he wrote as a lawyer in the Bush White House challenging that the landmark decision was the “settled law of the land.”
“As a general proposition I understand the importance of the precedent set forth in Roe v. Wade,” Kavanaugh told senators.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.: “What would you say your position is today on a woman’s right to choose?”
“As a judge it is an important precedent of the Supreme Court,” he replied. “By ‘it,’ I mean Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, been affirmed many times. Casey is precedent on precedent.”
At confirmation hearings for Neil Gorsuch in March 2017, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois pressed him for his views on abortion, using what he wrote in a book he authored on euthanasia. In the book, he wrote that “the intentional taking of human life by private persons is always wrong.”
“The Supreme Court of the United States has held that Roe v. Wade, that a fetus is not a person for purposes of the 14th Amendment. And the book explains that,” Gorsuch testified.
“Do you accept that?” Durbin asked.
“That’s the law of the land, I accept the law of the land, senator, yes,” Gorsuch answered.
Schumer, speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday morning, vowed to hold a vote on codifying abortion rights, although the path forward for Democrats on the issue remains limited due to not having enough vote overcome a filibuster.
The House of Representatives passed the Women’s Health Protection Act to codify abortion rights in September 2021 but the bill has failed to move forward in the Senate.
“A vote on this legislation is not an abstract exercise,” Schumer said. “This is as urgent and real as it gets. We will vote to protect a woman’s right to choose and every American is going to see which side every Senator stands.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a Republican who is a leading abortion rights moderate, excoriated the leak, calling it “absolutely reprehensible,” but added, “If it goes in the direction that this leaked copy has indicated, I will just tell you that it it it rocks my confidence in the court right now.”
The senator batted away questions about whether she would support ending the Senate’s filibuster in order to codify Roe, legislation she has sponsored, but she didn’t rule it out, saying only, “I’m not going to talk about the filibuster.”
Asked directly if previous conservative nominees like Kavanaugh had lied to her when they affirmed that Roe is “settled law,” Murkowski repeated that the draft opinion has “rocked my confidence in the court.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden weighed in Tuesday morning on the leaked draft Supreme Court opinion showing the panel’s conservative majority of justices is poised to overturn nearly 50 years of established abortion rights in America.
“It concerns me a great deal that, after 50 years, we’re going to decide that a woman doesn’t have the right to choose,” Biden told reporters at Joint Base Andrews, en route to Alabama to visit a facility that manufactures Javelin anti-tank missiles. “But even more equally profound is the rationale used — and it would mean that every other decision relating to the notion of privacy is thrown into question.”
“The idea that we’re going to make a judgment that is going to say that no one can make the judgment to choose to abort a child, based on a decision by the Supreme Court, I think goes way overboard,” he said.
Biden called the decision “radical” if it holds, and added, “The codification of Roe makes a lot of sense.”
In an earlier written statement, Biden began with a caveat — lightly acknowledging the unprecedented nature of seeing a draft opinion before the court’s formal ruling — before launching into a three-part defense of Roe v. Wade by his administration.
“We do not know whether this draft is genuine, or whether it reflects the final decision of the Court. With that critical caveat, I want to be clear on three points about the cases before the Supreme Court,” Biden said in a rare statement on an even rarer event.
“First, my administration argued strongly before the Court in defense of Roe v. Wade,” Biden said, referencing oral arguments in December before the justices. “We said that Roe is based on “a long line of precedent recognizing ‘the Fourteenth Amendment’s concept of personal liberty’… against government interference with intensely personal decisions.”
“I believe that a woman’s right to choose is fundamental, Roe has been the law of the land for almost fifty years, and basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned,” Biden said.
He said his administration was already preparing for the outcome — but called on American voters to elect pro-choice candidates in November and on congressional lawmakers to codify Roe into law.
“Second, shortly after the enactment of Texas law SB 8 and other laws restricting women’s reproductive rights, I directed my Gender Policy Council and White House Counsel’s Office to prepare options for an Administration response to the continued attack on abortion and reproductive rights, under a variety of possible outcomes in the cases pending before the Supreme Court. We will be ready when any ruling is issued,” he continued.
“Third, if the Court does overturn Roe, it will fall on our nation’s elected officials at all levels of government to protect a woman’s right to choose. And it will fall on voters to elect pro-choice officials this November,” he said. “At the federal level, we will need more pro-choice Senators and a pro-choice majority in the House to adopt legislation that codifies Roe, which I will work to pass and sign into law.”
The court has since acknowledged the draft is “authentic” but said it was not a decision of the court and not final.
The document, which Politico said Monday night it obtained from a “person familiar with the court’s proceedings,” is marked “first draft” and dated Feb. 10, 2022 — two months after oral arguments were heard in the case Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health.
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” wrote Justice Samuel Alito, the draft opinion’s author, in a copy posted online.
If Alito’s opinion were to hold, as written, it would dramatically upend abortion rights across America, effectively allowing each state to set its own policy.
“The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion,” the draft concludes. “Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives.”
The stunning leak comes as Tuesday marks the first multi-state contest of the 2022 midterm election season and as several states have already enacted restrictions on abortion rights.
