(NEW YORK) — Abortion-rights advocates are responding to the leaked draft opinion of the Supreme Court majority opinion on the pending Mississippi abortion case that was first reported by Politico on Monday.
According to the copy of the draft opinion, which the court has confirmed is authentic but not final, a majority of justices appear to side with the Mississippi state legislature and will vote to effectively overturn the landmark abortion precedent set by Roe v. Wade.
Amid the reports, a recent ABC News/Washington Poll found that a majority of Americans support upholding Roe v. Wade. Since Monday, many are calling on Congress to act. President Joe Biden said Tuesday that “a whole range of rights are in question.”
Some abortion providers, like Shannon Brewer, said they weren’t surprised by the draft opinion. Brewer is the director of Mississippi’s only abortion clinic, Jackson Women’s Health. She spoke with ABC News’ podcast Start Here on Wednesday morning.
“This is what we’ve been expecting,” said Brewer. “It didn’t come as a shock to a lot of us here.”
Currently, in the state of Mississippi, abortion is legal up until 20 weeks into the pregnancy.
In October, the Mississippi state legislature passed a law that would reduce the legal number to 15 weeks. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights, an estimated 54,000 to 63,000 abortions in the U.S. occur annually at 15 weeks and later into the pregnancy.
After the Supreme Court heard arguments in December, the case remains pending.
Chief Justice John Roberts and the court released a statement Tuesday in response to the leaked draft, saying that it “does not represent a by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case.”
Despite this statement, Brewer said she expects the final verdict will not change that much.
“I expect them fully to overturn. I expect these states to start banning abortions immediately. I expect us to have to stop seeing patients immediately,” said Brewer. “That’s what we’re expecting and that’s what it’s looking like… It’s going to happen.”
While the Mississippi’s law remains under review by the Supreme Court, 26 states have already set so-called “trigger laws” that would immediately prohibit abortions if Roe v. Wade is overturned, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Brewer said that she is working across state lines to open other facilities, one called the Pink House West, to continue to help patients.
“This is not something that is going to just affect Mississippi within the year. This is going to affect upwards of 25 to 26 states, which is half of the United States,” said Brewer, who added that her clinic is seeing patients travel from Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma in order to receive care. “We’re still busy every single day.”
She added that the group is already seeking to open a new location in New Mexico, which is less likely to enact sweeping bans.
She said their clinic isn’t the only one – clinics across the country are overrun with patients. If Roe v. Wade is overturned, Brewer said she predicts a “catastrophe.”
“I predict a lot of unwanted pregnancies. That’ll cause unwanted births. I predict an uptick in women showing up at the hospital, bleeding out and having issues due to unsafe things that they’ve been doing out of being desperate and can’t get to a facility,” said Brewer.
Brewer said her message to women who may have just found out that they are pregnant is to “pay attention every day.”
“We don’t know from one day to the next what’s going to go on in each state,” said Brewer. “People don’t pay attention to issues going on with abortion until it affects them, until they need the service they don’t think it’s as important.”
Overall, Brewer said that women who can’t afford to travel to other states to get abortions will be affected most by banning or prohibiting abortions.
“It’s going to be the women who need it the most,” she said. “They’re going to be the ones that can’t get out.”
(WASHINGTON) — As Dr. Mehmet Oz embarks on a bid for the U.S. Senate, the television star has largely shied away from discussing his ties to Turkey, where he maintains citizenship, and dismissed criticism from political opponents that he harbors any so-called “dual loyalties.”
But a photograph of Oz casting a ballot in Turkey’s 2018 presidential election is rankling some national security experts — particularly after recently saying he has “never been politically involved in Turkey in any capacity.”
“The decision to vote in a foreign country’s election is problematic from a security clearance perspective,” according to John V. Berry, a former government lawyer with expertise in federal security clearances.
After a rocky start to his campaign, Oz recently earned a coveted endorsement from former President Donald Trump, bolstering his chances of capturing the Republican nod. But political opponents have continued to target his connections to Turkey — a strategy the Oz campaign and others have called xenophobic smears. If elected, Oz has said he would renounce his Turkish citizenship.
When asked about the photograph, which appeared in June 2018 on the Facebook page of Turkey’s consulate in Manhattan, Brittany Yanick, an Oz campaign spokesperson, confirmed its authenticity to ABC News and confirmed that Oz did vote in the 2018 election. According to Yanick, Oz voted for opposition candidate Muharrem Ince in his unsuccessful campaign against Turkish President Recep Tayyep Erdogan. She denied that Oz’s vote amounted to “political involvement.”
“Voting in an election is far different from being actively engaged in the political work of the Turkish government, which Dr. Oz has never been involved with,” Yanick told ABC News. “There is no security issue whatsoever.”
Elected officials are not subjected to the same level of scrutiny as civilians who seek security clearances for sensitive government work; once sworn-in, lawmakers are granted access to classified information, unless the executive branch denies them certain information.
But the background check process for civilians can also “provide a framework for analyzing whether someone is trustworthy or not,” according to Kel McClanahan, the executive director of National Security Counselors, a nonprofit public interest law firm. And for McClanahan, voting in another country’s election would set off a “giant, flashing red light.”
Born and raised in Ohio, Oz has said that he maintains dual U.S.-Turkey citizenship to care for his mother in Turkey, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. He also served in the Turkish army for 60 days in the early 1980s — reportedly to retain his Turkish citizenship — and maintains real estate holdings in Turkey, plus has an endorsement deal the country’s national airline, Turkish Airlines.
“Any single one of those would be enough to torpedo a [security] clearance,” McClanahan said. “Taken together, I would not put good odds on that person getting a clearance anywhere.”
Turkish voting records indicate that the 2018 presidential election was the first in which Oz participated. Prior to the 2014 election, Turks living abroad could only vote by returning home or by visiting polling stations set up on Turkey’s borders.
Yanick, the campaign spokesperson, said Oz did not plan to vote in the 2018 election, but decided to cast a ballot while at the consulate discussing his “humanitarian work on behalf of Syrian refugees in Turkey.”
“It was during an election season, so he voted,” Yanick said.
Other security experts ABC News spoke with expressed less concern with Oz’s 2018 vote. Steve Aftergood, a senior analyst at the Federation of American Scientists, said that because Oz has been transparent about his ties to Turkey, his dual citizenship alone is more of a political concern for him than a risk to national security.
“The fact that [Oz] has made no effort to conceal his dual citizenship counts in his favor,” Aftergood said. “Voters will have an opportunity to decide whether or not it is of concern to them.”
Security experts that ABC News consulted emphasized that the country in question matters when considering potential foreign influence risks. A person’s ties to Turkey, a NATO member and strategic ally to the U.S., present far less of a threat than China or Russia.
But in recent years, Turkish President Erdogan has demonstrated increasingly authoritarian behavior, jailing journalists and summarily silencing opposition voices. Erdogan has also strained ties with the U.S. by purchasing Russian weapons systems.
Richard Grenell, the former Director of National Intelligence under President Trump, characterized Oz’s understanding of Turkey an asset in the fight against authoritarianism.
“It is frankly un-American to suggest that first- and second-generation Americans are unworthy or suspect to work as a U.S. official,” Grenell said. “They’ve seen fascism and totalitarianism and are actually more clear-eyed about what is at stake.”
Background check investigators consider “the totality of circumstances” when investigating those seeking security clearances, said Sean Bigley, a national security lawyer and former Trump-appointee to the National Security Education Board. Bigley said Oz’s portfolio of risk would likely include his existing financial ties to Turkey.
According to financial disclosures submitted in April, Oz owns several hundreds of thousands of dollars in real estate property in Turkey, including a building he has leased out to the Turkish Ministry of Education for free. The building is being used as a student dormitory, according to his disclosure form, and “is subject to pending trust and estate litigation.”
The disclosure form also shows Oz scored a lucrative endorsement contract with Turkish Airlines, Turkey’s national flag-carrying airline. Experts say the air carrier has grown increasingly close to Erdogan since 2018, when he named himself chairman of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, which holds a 49% stake.
In 2018, Oz appeared in a Super Bowl advertisement for Turkish Airlines, and in 2021, he appeared in a four-minute informational discussing the airline’s COVID-19 safety protocols as a brand ambassador.
Any wealth Oz has accumulated from his interests in Turkey, including the airline deal, would reflect only a small amount of his full financial picture. In all, Oz’s disclosure shows that he and his spouse together own between $104 and $422 million in various assets and holdings.
Even so, Bigley said, “if I were advising [Oz], I would suggest divesting from any assets or … financial ties with any entity of the Turkish government.”
Oz has faced criticism for not using his celebrity prominence as a platform for denouncing Erdogan’s clampdowns on opposition and other democratic backsliding. Some suggest that Oz’s continuing financial interests in Turkey create a disincentive for him to criticize its leadership, as doing so could put Oz at risk of having his Turkish assets seized.
“It is the nature of the Turkish system and authoritarian systems more generally that folks who do not want to be targeted by the state kowtow to leaders or keep their mouth shut,” said Steven Cook, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “There are many examples of people who have dared to criticize Erdogan who have been forcibly divested.”
Nicholas Danforth, a non-resident fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy, an Athens-based think tank, agreed.
“If you wanted to have a lucrative career as a spokesman for Turkish Airlines, you certainly couldn’t say anything negative about Erdogan,” Danforth said.
According to several news reports published since launching his campaign, Oz has met with Erdogan on at least two occasions, in 2014 and 2018, and attended events with officials in Erdogan’s party. Oz has said that attending these functions was normal for a Turkish-American of his stature.
Asked whether Oz had taken a public stance against Erdogan, Yanick provided ABC News with comments Oz made at a January 2022 campaign event in which he said he “would be the harshest critic of Erdogan” in the Senate.
“The country that I respected when I was growing up — Turkey, the country my father left — was a secular country where there was no significant Islamic rule elements, period,” he said. “And it was not a dictatorship.”
Hailed in the West as a charismatic leader with the potential to return Turkey to its secular roots, Muharrem Ince fell to Erdogan in the 2018 election by a substantial margin — 52 percent to 30. Ince attracted support from a broad coalition of anti-Erdogan parties, but also expressed some controversial opinions — including an interest in rebuilding ties with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“Ince was hardly a paragon of democracy, human rights, and tolerance,” said Cook.
As one of Turkey’s most recognizable figures in the West, Oz is not the first high-profile candidate to face accusations of a so-called “dual loyalty,” a claim reminiscent of attacks against Catholics, Jews and members of other religious and ethnic groups in previous generations.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump accused Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, of maintaining dual loyalties to Canada, his country of birth, even though Cruz had renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2014. Trump has not expressed any similar concern for Oz’s arrangement.
(WASHINGTON) — Attorneys with the Department of Justice recently clashed behind closed doors with staff members for the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, two sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.
In a roughly five-hour interview last month that House investigators conducted with former Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin, attorneys from the DOJ’s Office of Legislative Affairs repeatedly objected to questions that they argued could impact the DOJ’s ongoing work prosecuting accused Jan. 6 rioters.
Sherwin had been tasked with leading the early stages of the DOJ’s criminal investigation into the attack, and sources told ABC News that during the interview, DOJ attorneys were highly sensitive to questions posed by House investigators that were related to the early stages of the probe.
At one point, interactions between Jan. 6 staffers and DOJ attorneys grew so contentious that Sherwin stepped out of the room so the discussion could continue in private, sources said.
The episode reflects a rare instance of tensions surfacing between the committee and the Justice Department, which over the past year have quietly been working together to ensure their parallel investigations don’t compromise sensitive matters involving the DOJ’s criminal prosecutions.
Sherwin is not the first former DOJ official authorized by the department to testify before the Jan. 6 select committee, and other witnesses — including former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen — were subject to similar limitations on their testimony in front of Congress.
“The Department has a longstanding policy not to provide congressional testimony concerning prosecutorial deliberations,” said a DOJ letter sent to Rosen authorizing his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last year. “Discussion of pending criminal cases and possible charges also could violate court rules and potentially implicate rules of professional conduct governing extra-judicial statements.”
But Jan. 6 investigators, according to sources, believed the limitations on Sherwin’s testimony were overly restrictive in prohibiting him from discussing any information starting from the time the Capitol was under assault.
Spokespeople for the Justice Department and the Jan. 6 select committee declined to comment to ABC News regarding the interview, and Sherwin himself also declined to comment.
Sherwin, who served as acting U.S. attorney through the end of Donald Trump’s administration and stayed on into the Biden administration, resigned from the Justice Department in April of 2021 after he sat for an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes that was not authorized by senior DOJ officials. Sherwin told 60 Minutes that evidence potentially supported charges of sedition against some of those who participated in the attack.
Soon after the 60 Minutes interview, a federal judge admonished DOJ prosecutors over Sherwin’s comments, which the judge said could potentially taint the government’s case against members of the Oath Keepers militia group charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack.
The Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility launched an investigation into Sherwin over the 60 Minutes report, but it’s unclear whether that probe continued after Sherwin left the department and joined a private law firm. Nearly a year after the 60 Minutes interview, in January of this year, 11 members of the Oath Keepers, including founder Stewart Rhodes, were charged by the DOJ with seditious conspiracy.
As a result of the limitations asserted by DOJ attorneys, Sherwin’s answers to the Jan. 6 committee’s questions last month were largely limited to discussing his concerns about failures in intelligence-sharing prior to the Jan. 6 attack, sources said. Sherwin was critical of how FBI officials have defended their intelligence gathering in the period leading up to Jan. 6, noting that some individuals on social media had publicly expressed a desire to disrupt Congress’ certification of the 2020 vote, per sources.
Jan. 6 committee staffers also questioned Sherwin about whether any officials in the Trump White House or elsewhere had sought to influence any of the early decisions made by prosecutors in their cases against rioters who stormed the Capitol. Sherwin denied that any such overtures took place, sources said.
By the time Sherwin left his post as acting U.S. attorney in March of 2021, the office had brought charges against more than 300 individuals in connection with the assault on the Capitol.
According to the latest ABC News tally, that number has since grown to nearly 800 people, including members of groups like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys who are accused of coordinating among each other in advance of the attack.
ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Donald Trump Jr., former President Donald Trump’s eldest son, appeared before the Jan. 6 select committee on Tuesday for a voluntary interview, multiple sources familiar with his appearance confirmed to ABC News.
ABC News first reported last month that Trump Jr. was expected to appear before the committee, as it wraps up its investigatory phase and prepares for at least eight public hearings next month.
The committee declined to comment.
Trump Jr.’s text messages are among those that former chief of staff Mark Meadows turned over to the committee, sources have said.
The president’s son was the latest member of the Trump family to meet with the committee after Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, both of whom served as senior White House advisers to former President Donald Trump, were also interviewed in recent weeks.
Kimberly Guilfoyle, Trump Jr.’s fiance, has also met with the committee twice. Sources said the second interview was at times contentions and focused in part on the fundraising efforts around Trump’s “Save America” rally on Jan. 6, 2021.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
(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.
