Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a campaign event "Declare Your Independence Celebration" at Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County on Oct. 12, 2023, in Miami. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Getty Images)

An election lawyer alleges in a new lawsuit that New Jersey’s “sore loser law” prevents independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from appearing on the November ballot in the Garden State.

The law prohibits candidates from mounting independent campaigns the same year they’ve failed to win the nomination of a political party. Salmon says Kennedy did just that by seeking the White House as an independent after trying and failing to defeat President Joe Biden as a Democrat.

“If you want to run as an independent, that’s fine, run as an independent — don’t try and get the party’s nomination first, lose, and then decide, ‘You know what, screw these people, I want to go around the system,’” attorney Scott Salmon said in an interview.

The New Jersey Globe first reported Salmon’s complaint, which was filed in state Superior Court in Mercer County Tuesday.

Salmon was instrumental in keeping rapper Ye from appearing on the 2020 presidential ballot in New Jersey. Ye’s campaign withdrew from the race after Salmon challenged his petition signatures, saying some lacked required information and others looked identical.

Democrats in key states like North Carolina and Nevada, fearing Kennedy will siphon votes from Biden and hand the election to Republican Donald Trump, have made similar pushes to boot Kennedy from the ballot.

Kennedy announced his presidential campaign in April 2023 as a Democrat competing against Biden. Kennedy raised $385,000 from hundreds of New Jersey donors while seeking the party’s nomination, according to Salmon.

In October, Kennedy announced he would end his campaign as a Democrat and launched an independent bid for the White House.

Kennedy’s name didn’t appear on the ballot for New Jersey’s June 4 Democratic primary, but he still received hundreds, if not thousands, of write-in votes, according to Salmon.

Secretary of State Tahesha Way has until Aug. 9 to formally certify all candidates for the general election. Salmon is hoping the judge decides his case before then.

“It should be clear to people what you’re running for, what you want to associate for, and it’s fine if you don’t want to associate with a party. What’s not good for anybody is to confuse the voters, who are expecting to see someone’s name on the ballot for the nomination and then they’ve withdrawn from that party,” he said.

In his complaint, Salmon says federal and state courts have upheld New Jersey’s sore loser law. He has noted that candidates do not have to appear on a primary ballot to be disqualified from the November ballot — unsuccessfully seeking the nomination is also disqualifying under the law.

The post New Jersey lawyer seeks to keep RFK Jr. off November ballot appeared first on New Jersey Monitor.

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 13: Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) at the National Republican Senatorial Committee building on June 13, 2024 in Washington, DC. Trump is visiting Capitol Hill to meet with Senate Republicans and participate in additional meetings. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Republican members of the U.S. Senate striving for a takeover of their chamber in the November elections have a wish list for what they’d like to see in Donald Trump’s running mate.

A “little calmer” than Trump. Confident. Conservative. Military experience. Good relationships with senators. Ready to take over as chief executive if needed, they told States Newsroom in interviews.

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, has held off on revealing his pick. But he’s dropped tantalizing compliments about a few of the short-list candidates, producing non-stop headlines about the veepstakes in advance of the Republican National Convention next month.

So far, Trump hasn’t indicated a clear favorite, leading to incessant speculation about what characteristics he’s looking for in his second-in-command this time around, the person who will head up the GOP ticket with him in what’s likely to be a close election.

In 2016, Trump selected Indiana’s Mike Pence, in part to sway evangelical Christians who were skeptical about Trump’s moral character.

Trump is seeking a second term in office as a convicted felon found guilty on 34 counts in New York for falsifying business records related to a hush money payment to an adult film star ahead of the 2016 election. He’s also facing federal charges for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election and has cast aside Pence after his former vice president refused to take part in the scheme.

That, however, hasn’t diminished the number of GOP lawmakers and former presidential hopefuls jostling to join his ticket.

Trump’s list of vice presidential candidates reportedly includes North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Arkansas U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, Florida U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, former South Carolina Gov. and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, former GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy, Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, New York U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik and Ohio U.S. Sen. JD Vance.

Republican senators, including some thought to be in the running to be tapped as the veep candidate, met with Trump on June 13 to map campaign strategy and portray unity.

Trump told NBC News on Saturday his pick “most likely” will be at Thursday night’s debate with President Joe Biden in Atlanta.

Confidence and a coalition

Several Republican senators interviewed by States Newsroom offered suggestions for what traits might be most helpful for Trump in a vice president during a potential second term.

West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said she’s hoping to see a vice presidential pick who can bring confidence and a wider GOP coalition to the table.

“I think you want somebody who has broad knowledge, not just national, but international, (you want) decisiveness, and somebody who’s got leadership that you could actually see taking the reins of the presidency, somebody who has conservative principles on the Republican side and is a proven leader,” Capito said.

“I would imagine for President Trump, it’s going to be somebody that brings a broader constituency to him,” Capito said, adding “and is probably a little calmer than he is.”

‘Good relationships across the spectrum’

Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said Trump would “benefit from somebody who, in the right setting, is providing a lot of good upward feedback, supporting the president’s agenda.”

The former and possibly future president would also gain from a pick who is “well studied on the issues,” and if it’s a senator, “a person with good relationships across the spectrum would help,” Tillis said.

“We’re probably going to have a tight margin, so if you think about maybe somebody who has past relationships with people in the House, good relationships with the Republican conference. I mean, we’re gonna have some tough votes,” Tillis said.

For example, Congress faces a massive tax code fight next year as several provisions in the 2017 Republican tax law are set to expire. Tillis recalled the internal GOP debate in 2017 “wasn’t a cakewalk.”

“We had to work to get Republican support,” Tillis said. “So having somebody that naturally has that chemistry, you know, whether or not you’ve worked on legislation, or you just have a good relationship going in. If I were in President Trump’s position, that’d be a key factor.”

Congress will also need to address the debt limit next year, a debate that carries significant economic consequences, both domestically and around the globe.

A stint in the military

Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst — a top member of the Armed Services Committee and a retired lieutenant colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard — said she “would love to see somebody that does have foreign relations or military policy experience.”

“I think that would be key, to have someone that’s young and enthusiastic and would be able to fill the role of our next president as well,” Ernst said.

Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran said that Trump might want to pick someone whom voters feel confident can follow him as the leader of the Republican Party.

“I’m not sure that vice presidential nominees have a lot of impact, influence on how people vote,” Moran said. “But I would say that this may be a year in which that matters — (given the) age of candidates. And so who might follow is probably of interest to people. And I would say that the best qualification is somebody who’d be a great president.”

Indiana Sen. Mike Braun, who is likely to become his home state’s next governor, said Trump needs someone who thinks like him politically, so the two don’t differ on policy issues, as well as someone ready to become president if required.

“I think someone’s going to have to be on the same wavelength politically, for sure,” Braun said. “I think I’ve heard him say that he wants somebody ready to step into the role if necessary. I think the loyalty factor is something he’s always stressed.”

Alabama Sen. Katie Britt said that no matter who Trump picks off his short list, Republicans will win back the Oval Office in November.

“Every senator on the list is outstanding,” Britt said. “And I’ll be excited about the good things that we’re going to be able to do with him back in office and us in control of the Senate.”

When asked his opinion of Trump’s VP short list, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa said, “I haven’t seen anybody on the list that I would object to.”

Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy said he wouldn’t comment on specific contenders, but added “all the names I’ve heard mentioned seem to be good people.”

“But what counts is what President Trump thinks, and I don’t have the slightest idea who he’s gonna pick,” Kennedy said.

A sitting senator

Republican senators who spoke to States Newsroom appeared mostly unfazed by the possibility that a vice presidential pick could be from among their ranks — even if that lowers what could be a very narrow majority in the Senate come January.

Capito said she thinks a Republican majority will likely remain safe even if Trump chooses one of her colleagues as his running mate.

“I think the ones he’s talking about are from pretty red states, but you know, you’re always concerned about that,” Capito said. “But I think it would be great to have a colleague who was in the Senate with me be our vice president.”

Braun said that Trump might want to consider the polling of several key races for the Senate before picking his nominee.

“I think that could be a consideration,” Braun said. “You take that risk off the table.”

When asked whether a VP pick from the Senate could weaken or upset a GOP majority, Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said, “I’m sure Trump will take that into consideration.”

Tillis said he is not concerned about Trump’s VP pick threatening a Republican Senate majority, and he speculated that Trump may even pull from the upper chamber when choosing his Cabinet, should he be elected.

“I think the replacement protocol doesn’t make it a significant issue,” Tillis said.

Grassley echoed Tillis. “Are we talking about Ohio, Florida, South Carolina? That’s it. I don’t think you’d worry about that,” he said.

Forty-five states require the governor to appoint someone to fill a vacant U.S. Senate seat, and 37 of those states fill the vacancy with the chosen appointment until the next statewide election, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

The remaining states — Kentucky, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Wisconsin — require vacant Senate seats to be filled by a special election.

All of Trump’s picks from the Senate are from states with Republican governors.

The post Calm, conservative, confident: What GOP senators want in Trump’s vice presidential pick appeared first on New Jersey Monitor.

Former President Donald Trump speaks during his campaign rally on the beach in Wildwood, Saturday, May 11, 2024. (Tim Hawk for New Jersey Monitor)

Donald Trump took the stage in Racine, Wisconsin, Tuesday afternoon crowing the praises of  Milwaukee, a week after he was reported to have said the city where the Republican National Convention will take place in July “is a horrible city.”

At an outdoor arena in Downtown Racine on the shores of Lake Michigan, Trump went on to spend an hour and a half describing President Joe Biden’s presidency as a disaster that he will end if voters return him to the White House in November after a four-year absence.

“We were respected all over the world. None of this stuff would have been happening that’s happened now, with Russia and Ukraine and the attack on Israel,”  Trump declared.

“We’re going to make it better and bigger and stronger than ever before,” Trump said. “But you had a president who put America first — I put America first. They don’t put — under kooky Joe Biden the world is in flames, our border is overrun, inflation is raging, Europe is in total chaos, the Middle East is exploding, Iran is emboldened, China is on the march, and the worst, most incompetent, most corrupt president in history is going to drag us into World War III.”

Well into his speech, Trump ticked off a couple of hot-button topics — mocking transgender athletes competing on women’s teams and vowing as president to deny funding to any school district with vaccine mandates.

And throughout he returned to the claim that the 2020 election, which Biden won by 21,000 votes in Wisconsin and 7 million votes nationwide, was rife with voter fraud, a charge that has been repeatedly refuted.

But the bulk of his speech returned again and again to immigration as he reeled off debunked claims about the flow of immigrants into the U.S. across the southern border. Trump also rewrote the economic and public health history of his last year in office and amplified false claims about Biden’s mental acuity.

A day of firsts

The adulation for Milwaukee with which Trump opened his speech marked his latest pivot on the subject of the RNC convention city since his comment calling it “a horrible city” in a closed-door meeting with Republican members of Congress a week ago. Trump initially admitted the comment, saying he was speaking of crime and the city’s 2020 vote count, which he lost decisively, and several of the Wisconsin representatives present corroborated the choice of words.

Trump later denied the account on his social media platform, however. And Tuesday he declared, “I love Milwaukee,” as supporters cheered. “I was the one that picked Milwaukee,” Trump claimed. “I was the one that had these nice people that, they say, ‘Oh he doesn’t like Milwaukee.’ I love Milwaukee. I said you’ve got to fix the crime. We all know that you’ve got to make sure the election’s honest. But I’m the one that picked Milwaukee.”

While Milwaukee city and civic leaders conducted an aggressive campaign to make the city the GOP convention site, its selection was all but assured after the city of Nashville withdrew from the competition.

Trump had planned to spend his nights during the convention at the Trump hotel in Chicago, according to the New York Times, citing three people who had been briefed on Trump’s logistics. “That changed midafternoon on Tuesday, after reporters for The New York Times and an ABC station in Chicago contacted his campaign for comment,” the Times reported.

The Racine visit marked the first time Trump addressed the Milwaukee “horrible city” claim in Wisconsin — just one of three firsts for the former president.

It was also Trump’s first visit to Racine County since 2018, when he joined then-Gov. Scott Walker at a groundbreaking for the Foxconn development that Trump promised would be the “eighth wonder of the world.” Despite a deal giving the company $700 million in local taxpayer funds and a prospective $3 billion in tax credits, Foxconn never achieved its promise to  employ 13,000 people. Trump made no mention of Foxconn Tuesday.

That fulfilled a prediction that Kelly Gallaher, chair of the Racine County Democrats and a long-time critic of the Foxconn project made earlier in the day.

“I would not be surprised if he doesn’t actually mention it at all,” Gallaher said after a press conference Democrats held to deliver a counter message to Trump’s visit. “It’s the whopper of failed projects.”

The Democratic Party bought time on an electronic billboard visible to southbound drivers through Racine County on Interstate 94. Alternating messages played on Trump’s “horrible” comment and contrasted the loss of jobs in Wisconsin when Trump was in office against job growth under Biden.

Rep. Greta Neubauer (D-Racine), said that Microsoft’s investment in the Foxconn site, putting a $3.3 billion data center on some of the land originally developed as part of the Foxconn project, “would not have happened without Joe Biden and his work on the CHIPS Act” — a 2022 bill to boost domestic manufacturing of semiconductors and other high tech components.

The Biden administration has also directed federal support for community health, electric buses and violence prevention to the community, Neubauer said.

“Racine is a working class and middle class community, and we need President Joe Biden who will look out for us rather than Donald Trump, who is only running for president to enrich himself and his friends and the wealthiest people in this country,” she said.  “I’ve been out knocking on doors and talking to people in Racine County and I think that they understand that President Biden is fighting for them.”

Criminal indictments ‘a badge of honor’

Tuesday was also Trump’s first visit to Wisconsin since he was convicted of 34 felony counts by a New York City jury for falsifying business records to disguise hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels to influence the 2016 presidential election outcome.

Trump blamed his conviction — on charges of violating New York law and brought by a New York prosecutor — on a “weaponized” U.S. Justice Department that had no role in the case.  Returning to the subject later, he boasted about the number of criminal cases still pending against him.

“Every time the radical left Democrats, Marxists, communists and fascists indict me, I consider it a great badge of honor,” Trump said. “Remember, I got indicted more than Alphonse Capone.”

After riffing on the 1930s Chicago mobster’s reputation for brutality, Trump said, “Never forget our enemies want to take away my freedom because I will never ever let them take away your freedom. That’s why they want to silence me because I will never let them silence you.”

Immigration took up more than half of the speech, however, with Trump asserting that “this is an invasion of our country.”

He attacked the executive order that Biden announced earlier Tuesday, which provides protections from deportation for long-term undocumented immigrants married to U.S. citizens as well as faster work permit approvals for people in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Trump claimed the Biden administration policies were a ploy to flood the voter rolls with noncitizens — a claim that in January PolitiFact assigned its most extreme rating for falsehood, “Pants on Fire!”

“Inflation has killed our economy,” Trump said, asserting that inflation “was 10 for the last couple of years.”

“And if you add different categories, I think inflation is between 40 and 50%,” he said. “They say it’s at 22%, 22% — a lot,” he said, although who “they” are wasn’t clear in context. “That’s a record, but I think you could double it.”

According to the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, inflation spiked to just under 9% in June 2022 and has been falling since then, reaching 3% in February.

When he was president, “we had gasoline down to $1.87 a gallon,” Trump said.

According to the federal Energy Information Agency gas prices in late April 2020 dropped below $1.80 a gallon. That was also when the U.S. registered a record low in monthly vehicle travel, coinciding with the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic during which much of the population stayed home.

Trump also gave shoutouts to former Govs. Tommy Thompson, who gave a fiery introduction, and Scott Walker, as well as Republican U.S. Reps. Glenn Grothman, Derrick Van Orden and Bryan Steil. He attacked Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who is running for a third term, and gave Eric Hovde, the likely Republican nominee to challenge her, a three-minute time slot.

“All of you and you are gonna fire Joe Biden and Tammy Baldwin,” Hovde told the crowd. “Let’s take back America. Make America Great. And restore the American Dream.”

Wisconsin Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Wisconsin Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Ruth Conniff for questions: info@wisconsinexaminer.com. Follow Wisconsin Examiner on Facebook and X.

The post Trump in Wisconsin dwells on immigration, claims economy is a wreck appeared first on New Jersey Monitor.

TALLAHASSEE, FL - NOVEMBER 03: Hired security personnel wait for voters outside the Leon County Supervisor of Elections office on November 3, 2020 in Tallahassee, Florida. After a record-breaking early voting turnout, Americans head to the polls on the last day to cast their vote for incumbent U.S. President Donald Trump or Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. (Photo by Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — The federal government has sought to bolster election security for years through a popular grant program, but the wildly fluctuating funding levels have made it difficult for state officials to plan their budgets and their projects.

Rising misinformation and disinformation about elections, often fueled by conspiracy theories, as well as threats against election workers, make the grants especially important, according to elections officials.

But U.S. House Republicans are seeking to eliminate funding for election security grants — known as Help America Vote Act, or HAVA grants — in this year’s appropriations process, a move they unsuccessfully attempted last year as well.

“We continue to unnecessarily risk the very integrity of our elections and American democracy,” Georgia Democratic Rep. Sanford Bishop said Thursday during committee debate on the funding bill.

Bishop, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, said he was “concerned about the outdated and the insecure voting systems around the country that pose a very, very serious threat to our national security and to our democratic system.”

“It is irresponsible to ignore the wake-up call,” Bishop added. “Our nation’s election systems are currently and constantly under attack by foreign actors that are threatening our democratic values.”

The bill was approved by the GOP-led House Appropriations Committee with no money in it for the grants.

Gideon Cohn-Postar, legislative director at Issue One & Issue One Action, said during an interview with States Newsroom that while the grants have traditionally been bipartisan, several factors have affected backing for the program in recent years.

“It remains something that many Republicans in both the House and the Senate support,” Cohn-Postar said. “But it’s also been caught up, I think, in some of the false information about elections that began to spread in 2020.”

Former President Donald Trump, now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has continued to falsely claim that the 2020 election was stolen.

Issue One writes on its website that the organization strives to “unite Republicans, Democrats, and independents in the movement to fix our broken political system and build an inclusive democracy that works for everyone”.

Grant funding decreases

Congress approved $55 million in election security grants during the last appropriations process, which wrapped up this spring. That action came after the Republican-controlled House, which proposed zero dollars, conferenced with the Democratic-controlled Senate, which had proposed $75 million in funding.

That final funding level was a decrease from the $75 million that Congress approved in both fiscal 2023 and fiscal 2022.

Congress didn’t approve any election grant funding in the annual appropriations bill during fiscal year 2021. However, that followed lawmakers’ allocation of $425 million in the prior year’s bill as well as an additional $400 million in one of the COVID-19 emergency spending bills.

Cohn-Postar said that several states have sought to make their HAVA grants last more than one year by spending less than they receive, or saving the money up for bigger projects.

Louisiana, for example, hasn’t spent any of its election security grant funding since 2018, in preparation for overhauling its election system. New Hampshire passed a state law that collects the grant funding in an endowment and then only spends a portion of that each year.

But that “careful” budgeting and uncertainty about how much grant funding Congress might provide in the next year has led federal lawmakers to look at states’ use of the grants skeptically, Cohn-Postar said.

“The key thing we’ve come across … is about half of the states have only spent about half of their HAVA grants,” Cohn-Postar said. “And that gets brought up in every conversation that Congress has about these grants. They say, ‘Hey, why should we appropriate more if you haven’t spent?’”

Congress, he said, sometimes uses states’ “careful, thoughtful budgeting as an excuse to not give them money.”

Republicans in Congress are also looking to reduce federal spending overall and have made cuts throughout many of the dozen annual spending bills, including the Financial Services bill, which includes the HAVA grants.

‘Incredibly important’ in Maine

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said during an interview the grants “have been incredibly important, especially in the absence of sustainable elections funding from the federal government.”

“We have seen the rapid evolution of cybersecurity threats and threats against election infrastructure over the last several years,” Bellows said. “As the threats evolve, so must our preparedness. The election security grants are fundamental to our ability to make investments in improvements in our central voter registration system and cybersecurity protections for that system.”

Congress’ inability or unwillingness to create a predictable, stable funding program for states to administer federal elections is “unfortunate,” she said.

“We are very proud that Maine has always enjoyed safe, free and secure elections,” Bellows said. “But make no mistake, the lack of sustainable ongoing federal funding is a potential vulnerability in the future.”

Washington state Elections Director Stuart Holmes said in an interview he plans his annual budget around not getting HAVA election security grants and is pleasantly surprised when Congress does provide the funding.

“Through my entire career, there’s only been two rounds of HAVA that were significant investments into elections,” Holmes said. “So it’s a great surprise to get an extra million dollars at the beginning of the year. But it does make it pretty much impossible to prepare and plan for anything if you have to spend it.”

The grants don’t expire at the end of the fiscal year and the federal government doesn’t claw back unspent funding, allowing the states to take different approaches to how they use the money.

Holmes said during his interview with States Newsroom that the funding approved in fiscal 2020 allowed the state to “create an entire team of cybersecurity professionals to be dedicated to protecting our infrastructure.”

“In the state of Washington, we have a centralized voter registration and election management system, and never before had we had dedicated election professionals that are watching the logs, preparing our system, testing our system and collaborating with other professionals to do testing,” Holmes said. “So we’re in a better position than we’ve ever been.”

Even so, he said, “local election officials would certainly look forward to a stable funding source from the federal government as it relates to federal elections.”

New Hampshire election fund

New Hampshire Secretary of State David M. Scanlan said when Congress passed the HAVA program in 2002, it told states the funding was primarily to set up a statewide voter registration database, ensure every polling place had accessible voting equipment, provide poll workers with training and set up voter education programs.

The New Hampshire Legislature at the time told the secretary of state to use the initial allocation from Congress to meet the requirements, but then to establish an election fund with the remaining money.

Originally, the secretary of state could use one-twentieth of the total funding in the account for annual costs of maintaining the federal mandates, but that is currently one-twelfth of the total amount in the fund.

“New Hampshire has been doing a good job with the money that we have, but there’s no question that the funds have helped us put in place security measures for our electronic systems,” Scanlan said.

The state, he said, has used its federal election security grants to hire vendors that specialize in keeping the electronic systems safe.

When New Hampshire set up a new voter registration database, the state used the funding to ensure none of the software included anything nefarious.

“We’ve really been making sure that the systems that we’re building are clean and that there’s not something malicious lurking in the shadows,” Scanlan said. “We’ve taken some really good steps that give me real confidence that our systems are in good shape.”

Advocating for ‘consistent, reliable federal funding’

JP Martin, deputy communications director for the Arizona secretary of state, declined States Newsroom’s request for an interview with the secretary of state, offering only to provide written responses to questions on HAVA election security grants.

Martin wrote in an email that “fluctuating levels of federal funding have significantly impacted our strategic planning and budgeting.”

“The uncertainty of future allocations compels us to be cautious with expenditures, focusing on priorities such as enhancing physical security measures for voting equipment,” Martin wrote. “For instance, securing equipment in cages—now requires a liftgate-equipped truck due to their increased weight—demonstrates the challenges of managing technological and budgetary constraints under limited HAVA funding.”

Congress declining to provide election security grants in the future “could significantly strain Arizona’s election infrastructure,” he wrote.

“Currently, the state is under a hiring freeze, and our focus remains on supporting counties, especially with the recent changes such as the date of the primary and legislation extending ballot curing to weekends,” Martin wrote. “We are prioritizing increased cybersecurity training and advocating for consistent, reliable federal funding to ensure the smooth administration of elections, emphasizing the necessity of sustained financial support from Congress.”

The post States struggle with unreliable federal funding for making sure elections are secure appeared first on New Jersey Monitor.

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 13: Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump (C-R) is applauded by Senate Republicans before giving remarks to the press at the National Republican Senatorial Committee building on June 13, 2024 in Washington, DC. Trump is visiting Capitol Hill to meet with House and Senate Republicans. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — In his first visit to Capitol Hill since leaving office in January 2021, former President Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, mapped campaign strategy with GOP lawmakers and projected party unity ahead of the November elections.

Trump said the meetings brought “great unity.”

Surrounded by Republican senators who were smiling and applauding him after a meeting at the National Republican Senatorial Committee headquarters near the Capitol, Trump said “we have one thing in mind and that’s making our country great.”

The positive reception from GOP leaders showed Trump’s standing in the party improved since the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection that saw a mob of Trump supporters attack the U.S. Capitol in an effort to block Congress from certifying the electoral votes from the 2020 presidential election.

The U.S. House impeached Trump – for the second time – for his role in the attack, though the Senate vote fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict him.

Trump’s visit Thursday came two weeks after he was convicted on 34 felony counts in New York for falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money payment to a porn star before the 2016 election. Republicans have denounced the verdict as a weaponization of the justice system.

Trump met with House and Senate Republicans separately. Lawmakers exiting their respective meetings said they were unified behind the former president and they discussed a legislative strategy for a potential second term, such as reinstating Trump-era immigration policies.

“He understands he needs a majority in both bodies to have a successful presidency and he is determined to do that,” Rep. Frank Lucas of Oklahoma said.

Trump has made immigration a core campaign issue – as he did in 2016 – and has promised to not only reinstate his policies at the southern border, but to carry out mass deportations. 

Democrats have remained on the offense on immigration policy, with the White House enacting an executive order that limits asylum claims at the southern border and the Senate failing on a second attempt to pass a border security bill. Vulnerable U.S. Senate Democrats in Montana, Ohio and Pennsylvania are aiming for reelection.

Trump urges ‘careful’ abortion talk

The meetings occurred on the day the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on another hot-button issue for the GOP. In a much-anticipated decision, the court unanimously upheld access to mifepristone, one of two pharmaceuticals used in medication abortion, under current prescribing guidelines.

House GOP lawmakers leaving the early meeting said that Trump did not comment on the court’s ruling.

But New York Rep. Marc Molinaro said that the former president advised Republicans that they “have to be very careful about” how they talk about abortion and that “is to show respect for women and the choices that they have to make.”

Just days ago, Trump promised to work “side by side” with a religious organization that wants abortion “eradicated.” Trump has yet to release his policy stances on contraception and access to medication abortion, a two-drug regimen approved for up to 10 weeks gestation.

Access to reproductive health care, including contraception and IVF, has become a central campaign theme for Democrats.

The Senate tried to pass legislation last week that would have provided protections for access to contraception, but most Republicans voted against it. The Senate also took a procedural vote Thursday on legislation from Democrats that would bolster protections for IVF, but it failed in the face of Republican opposition.

Birthday, baseball and an ‘aggressive agenda’

GOP House members leaving their meeting reported singing “Happy Birthday” to Trump, whose 78th birthday is Friday.

Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee said the conference presented Trump with a baseball and bat from the previous night’s Congressional Baseball Game, a charity event which Republicans won 31-11.

Burchett said they wanted to give him the memorabilia because “he’s the leader of our party, and the Republicans destroyed the Democrats, as we should do on Election Day.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana told reporters after the meeting that Trump “brought an extraordinary amount of energy and excitement and enthusiasm this morning.”

House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, of New York, said Trump was “warmly welcomed” and that GOP lawmakers had a “very successful” meeting with him.

“We are 100% unified behind his candidacy,” said Stefanik, a contender on Trump’s short list for vice presidential picks.

Johnson told reporters that Republicans have “an extraordinary stable of candidates” and that the party is “headed for a great November.”

Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida made similar remarks, and said that she believes “momentum is on our side.”

“We’re very, very motivated, our base is motivated and everyday Americans are motivated,” Cammack said.

She added that the former president is working to grow the Republican party.

“It’s pretty clear that November for us is gonna be incredible,” she said.

Stakes in November

Johnson said that he’s confident Trump will win the White House and that Republicans will flip the Senate and grow their majority in the House.

Control of each chamber of Congress is expected to be closely fought in the November elections, and it’s possible that the House and Senate will continue to be split between the parties, but political observers see the prospect of a big switch.

If current trends continue through the year, it’s possible that the Senate could swing from Democratic to Republican control, and the House could flip from the GOP to Democrats.

House Democrats only need a gain of five seats to regain power and Senate Republicans only need two, or one if Trump wins the presidential race. Republicans have an easy opportunity to pick up a Senate seat in West Virginia after Joe Manchin III, a centrist Democrat, decided not seek reelection.

“We will be working on a very aggressive agenda to fix all the great problems facing this country right now,” Johnson said.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said that Trump is focused on increasing the GOP majority in the House. Because of the razor-thin majority that Republicans hold in the chamber, Johnson has often had to rely on Democrats to pass government funding bills along with foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel.

Insult to convention city

Republicans are gearing up for the party’s national convention in Milwaukee in mid-July, where they will officially nominate Trump as their 2024 presidential nominee and a yet-to-be-named vice presidential pick as well.

Trump is scheduled to be sentenced in New York four days before the convention begins.

The former president did not mention a running mate during his meeting with GOP senators, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said.

Trump told lawmakers Thursday that Milwaukee is a “horrible” city, according to Punchbowl News. 

Wisconsin Republicans had varying interpretations of the remark, with Rep. Derrick Van Orden saying Trump was talking about crime in the city and Rep. Bryan Steil denying that Trump even made the comment.

Trump is scheduled to visit southeastern Wisconsin next week, for a campaign rally in Racine on Tuesday.

Key to Senate majority

Following the meeting Trump had with senators, Alabama’s Tommy Tuberville offered a handful of words to characterize the meeting: “Unification. Leadership.”

But not all Senate Republicans were in attendance. Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Maine’s Susan Collins did not attend due to scheduling conflicts, according to the Washington Examiner.

Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said that despite those absences, Republicans are still unified in their support of Trump.

Even those senators who have been at odds with the former president, such as Utah’s Mitt Romney and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, attended, which South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham felt was beneficial.

“We realize that his success is our success,” Graham said of Trump. “The road to the Senate majority is also the road to the White House.”

Dismissing guilty verdict

Johnson of Louisiana said Trump’s guilty verdict in New York has “backfired fantastically,” as the party boasted of a fundraising bump after “the terrible, bogus trial in Manhattan.”

Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall made a similar argument that the verdict benefited Trump.

“It’s helping him,” he said, noting that after the May 30 verdict, the Trump campaign raised $141 million in May.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming said “there was an absolute meeting of minds” that the verdict was a “sham.”

“We are so sorry that he has to endure that,” Lummis told States Newsroom on her walk from the meeting back to the Capitol.

Trump is also charged in three other criminal cases, including federal charges that allege he knowingly spread false information after the 2020 presidential election, pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to join the scheme to overturn the results and whipping his base into a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The Supreme Court is set to decide in the coming weeks whether Trump enjoys presidential immunity, as he claims, from those charges.

Former Rep. Liz Cheney, who was the ranking member of the House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, criticized Republican lawmakers for meeting with Trump.

She reposted a New York Times photograph of McConnell shaking Trump’s hand Thursday on X and wrote “Mitch McConnell knows Trump provoked the violent attack on our Capitol and then ‘watched television happily’ as his mob brutally beat police officers and hunted the Vice President.”

“Trump and his collaborators will be defeated, and history will remember the shame of people like @LeaderMcConnell who enabled them,” Cheney, a Wyoming Republican who lost her reelection bid in a 2022 Republican primary, wrote.

Dems blast return

The Biden campaign has also latched onto Trump’s return to Capitol Hill, releasing statements from various Democrats who led investigations into the insurrection and criticized the former president’s return.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement on behalf of the Biden campaign that “the instigator of an insurrection is returning to the scene of the crime.”

“With his pledges to be a dictator on day one and seek revenge against his political opponents, Donald Trump comes to Capitol Hill today with the same mission of dismantling our democracy,” she said.

Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, former chair of the House Jan. 6 committee, criticized Republicans for allowing Trump “to waltz in here when it’s known he has no regard for democracy.”

“He still presents the same dire threat to our democracy that he did three years ago — and he’d be wise to head back to Mar-a-Lago and await his sentencing,” Thompson, of Mississippi, said in a statement on behalf of the Biden campaign.

Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who served as an impeachment manager for Trump’s role in the insurrection, said in a statement on behalf of the Biden campaign that “Donald Trump is a one-man crime wave and a clear and present danger to the U.S. Constitution and the American people.”

Lia Chien contributed to this report. 

The post Trump claims ‘great unity’ after talks with congressional GOP appeared first on New Jersey Monitor.

DOVER, DE - JUNE 5: A waitress delivers beverages at Dover Downs Casino on June 5, 2018 in Dover, Delaware. Delaware is the first state to launch legal sports betting since the Supreme Court decision. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Economists across the ideological spectrum raised doubts about the cost and workability of former President Donald Trump’s proposal over the weekend to exempt tips from federal taxes if he wins in November.

During a campaign rally Sunday in Las Vegas, where hundreds of thousands work in the hospitality industry, Trump promised service workers that they would no longer have to pay federal taxes on tipped income if the presumptive Republican nominee wins a second term.

The roughly 6 million tipped workers in the U.S., as of the latest data available from 2018, make up a small fraction of the country’s 150 million taxpayers, but campaigning on tax cuts for certain demographics is increasingly a top issue leading up to November’s presidential election.

“This is the first time I’ve said this, and for those who work at hotels and people that get tips, you’re gonna be very happy because when I get to office we are going to not charge taxes on tips, on people making tips,” Trump said to cheers at the rally.

Trump said he will “do that right away, first thing in office,” though changing the tax code would require an act of Congress.

Tax code due for update

Large portions of the sweeping 2017 tax law that Congress passed along party lines during the Trump administration are set to expire at the end of 2025, and lawmakers and advocates are already trotting out their priorities.

Tipped workers made an average $6,000 on top of their base wages in 2018, and together they paid about $38 billion in taxes on tips, according to the latest Internal Revenue Service figures. In 2018, the IRS collected about $7 trillion in overall taxes.

“In terms of the macroeconomic impact, it’s pretty small,” said Erica York, senior economist and research director at the right-leaning Tax Foundation.

“If you think of it in terms of what Congress is going to be debating next year, one of the big challenges that lawmakers are going to face is the revenue impact. Every dollar of tax revenue for one type of tax cut is $1 less for another type of tax cut. So it’s going to be a real exercise in prioritizing trade-offs across different policies,” York said.

Trump has vowed to extend all tax cuts enacted under his watch, but the cost of extending them over the next decade would reach $4.6 trillion, according to estimates from the Joint Committee on Taxation and nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Trump’s proposal to tipped workers “smells more of campaign politics than a really well thought out and principled tax policy proposal,” York added. “And I think the elephant in the room for both candidates is that they haven’t fully addressed ‘what are you going to do about these huge expirations that are scheduled to happen next year?’”

The Trump campaign did not respond to requests for further detail.

Incentivizing tipped work

Andrew Lautz, associate director for the Bipartisan Policy Center, said while tipped workers are a “small slice” of the tax base, “you’re talking about a potentially large chunk of revenue that you’re giving up on an annual basis,” depending on how the policy would be rolled out.

“Our current tax system is certainly not designed to treat all income equally, but this proposal, if it were enacted into law, would sort of add a new category of income that is not subject to tax,” Lautz said. “And you know what economic theory would say is that, all else equal, making that change would incentivize people to have tips which are not taxed under this proposal versus regular wage income.”

There is also the potential for “misuse,” he added.

“If Donald Trump is president again next year, and even if he’s not, but this proposal sort of catches interest from policymakers in Congress, it’s very well possible that this could be on the table,” Lautz added.

Janet Holtzblatt, senior fellow at the left-leaning Tax Policy Center run by the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution, said Trump’s proposal to eliminate taxes on tips is “unusual.”

“Because tips are a substitute for the wages and salaries that the rest of us get, and if you don’t tax tips, you’re basically not taxing tip workers (on) their wages, making it a tax advantage on their earnings. Those of us who don’t work in industries where tips are paid, we would not get the same tax advantage,” Holtzblatt said.

Minimum wage

Several localities’ wage laws allow employers to pay service workers hourly rates well below the federal minimum wage.

Holtzblatt said the “solution” is for localities to raise the minimum wage for service workers for multiple reasons.

“Tips are not always a predictable form of income,” she said. “And there’s a great deal of variation, the tips that the server gets at the top-notch restaurant are going to be very different than the tips the person in the diner gets.”

President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign responded to Trump’s “wild campaign promise” by saying that Biden supports increasing the minimum wage and eliminating the tipped minimum wage, “a much bigger deal” than Trump’s proposal, a campaign spokesman wrote in a Monday email to States Newsroom.

Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer for Culinary Workers Union Local 226, which has 60,000 members in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada, said the organization has for decades “fought for tipped workers’ rights and against unfair taxation.”

“Relief is definitely needed for tip earners,” Pappageorge said in a statement over the weekend. “But Nevada workers are smart enough to know the difference between real solutions and wild campaign promises from a convicted felon.”

The post Trump floats plan to end taxes on tips, though experts raise doubts appeared first on New Jersey Monitor.

NATIONAL HARBOR, MARYLAND - FEBRUARY 24: Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort Hotel And Convention Center on February 24, 2024 in National Harbor, Maryland. Attendees descended upon the hotel outside of Washington DC to participate in the four-day annual conference and hear from conservative speakers from around the world who range from journalists, U.S. lawmakers, international leaders and businessmen. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump said Monday that if reelected he plans to work “side by side” with a newly formed religious organization that says abortion is the “greatest atrocity facing” the United States and should be “eradicated entirely.”

During two-minute recorded remarks played at The Danbury Institute’s inaugural Life & Liberty Forum in Indianapolis, Trump avoided using the word “abortion,” but said he hopes to protect “innocent life” if reelected in November.

“We have to defend religious liberty, free speech, innocent life, and the heritage and tradition that built America into the greatest nation in the history of the world,” Trump said. “But now we are, as you know, a declining nation.”

Trump, the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee, said that he hopes to work alongside the institute to defend those values.

“These are going to be your years because you’re going to make a comeback like just about no other group,” Trump said. “I know what’s happening. I know where you’re coming from and where you’re going. And I’ll be with you side by side.”

Trump also called on The Danbury Institute and church members to vote for him during the November presidential election, saying that President Joe Biden and Democrats are “against religion.”

Biden-Harris 2024 spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in a written statement released before Trump’s message was played that a second term for him “is sure to bring more extreme abortion bans with no exceptions, women punished for seeking the care they need, and doctors criminalized for providing care.”

“Women can and will stop him by reelecting President Biden and Vice President Harris this November,” Chitika wrote.

Abortion position

The Danbury Institute writes on its website that it opposes abortion from “the moment of conception, meaning that each pre-born baby would be treated with the same protection under the law as born people.”

“The intentional, pre-meditated killing of a pre-born child should be addressed with laws already in place concerning homicide,” its website states. “We also support bolstering the foster care system and encouraging Christian adoption and are working with churches around the country to help them become equipped to care for children in need of loving families.”

Another section of the Danbury Institute’s website states the organization believes, “the greatest atrocity facing our generation today is the practice of abortion—child sacrifice on the altar of self.”

“Abortion must be ended,” the website states. “We will not rest until it is eradicated entirely.”

The website doesn’t mention if the organization supports exceptions in cases of rape, incest or the woman’s life, nor does it say if women who receive abortions should be protected from criminal prosecution. The institute did not return a request from States Newsroom seeking to clarify if it supports any or all of those three exceptions.

The institute writes on its website that it “does not endorse any candidate for public office nor participate in political campaign activities. Contributions to The Danbury Institute are not used for political campaigning and are conducted in accordance with IRS regulations for nonprofit organizations.”

Florida minister takes issue with abortion letter

Tom Ascol, president of Founders Ministries in Florida, spoke on a panel discussion about the “Sanctity of Life” at Monday’s event, during which he said “abortion is the greatest evil of this nation in our day.”

Ascol also appeared frustrated with a public letter released by dozens of anti-abortion organizations in May 2022, arguing that no laws should criminalize women who have abortions. He took particular exception to the acting president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission signing his name to the document.

“It grieves me that when there was legislation before the Louisiana legislature that had a real opportunity to be passed, because there were lawmakers that were willing to go forward … that 75 pro-life organizations penned an open letter, including the leader of our Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission Brent Leatherwood, who attached his name to that letter, saying, ‘We do not think that any legislature should criminalize abortion to the degree that those who offer their bodies up to be given over to abortion would be held liable,’” Ascol said during the conference.

That letter was released the same day in 2022 that state lawmakers in Louisiana were debating House Bill 813, which had been on track to criminalize women who receive abortions in addition to the doctors who provide them. Prosecutors would have been able to charge the women with murder.

Louisiana lawmakers instead opted to rework the language of the original bill to replace it with another anti-abortion measure that didn’t include criminal penalties for women who receive abortions.

Ascol said he believed the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission must say publicly if “the goal (is) the abolition of abortion. And if it is and they’re sincere, then okay, let’s work together.”

“If we can do that, I think we can have some opportunity for coalition building,” Ascol said. “If we get more of these open letters by so-called pro-life organizations helping to spike legitimate legislation, then I think we’re going to continue to see the fragmentation and understandably so.”

National Right to Life, Susan B. Anthony List and Americans United for Life were among the organizations that signed the May 2022 letter.

Trump and abortion, contraception

Trump’s comments to The Danbury Institute on Monday didn’t clear up the confusion stemming from his comments to news organizations during the past few months.

Trump said during an interview with TIME Magazine published in April that his campaign would be releasing a policy in the weeks that followed on access to medication abortion, a two-drug regimen approved for up to 10 weeks gestation.

“Well, I have an opinion on that, but I’m not going to explain,” Trump said, according to the transcript of the interview. “I’m not gonna say it yet. But I have pretty strong views on that. And I’ll be releasing it probably over the next week.”

That policy had not been released as of Monday.

Medication abortion, which include mifepristone and misoprostol, makes up about 63% of pregnancy terminations within the United States, according to data from the Guttmacher Institute.

U.S. Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments in a case about mifepristone’s use in late March and are expected to publish their ruling before the Fourth of July.

During an interview with a Pittsburgh TV news station in May, Trump hinted that he might be open to states limiting or banning access to contraception, though he walked back his remarks the same day in a social media post.

“We’re looking at that and I’m going to have a policy on that very shortly and I think it’s something that you’ll find interesting,” Trump said on KDKA after being asked if he could support any restrictions on a person’s right to contraception. “It’s another issue that’s very interesting. But you will find it very smart. I think it’s a smart decision, but we’ll be releasing it very soon.”

Trump later posted on social media that he never had and never would “ADVOCATE IMPOSING RESTRICTIONS ON BIRTH CONTROL, or other contraceptives.”

Trump’s campaign had not released a policy on contraception as of Monday.

U.S. Senate vote on IVF set this week

Access to reproductive health care, including contraception and IVF, has become a recurring issue in the U.S. Senate ahead of November’s elections, with Democrats seeking to put GOP members on the record.

The Senate tried to pass legislation last week that would have provided protections for access to contraception, but the vast majority of the chamber’s Republicans voted against advancing that bill.

Access to contraception is currently protected by two U.S. Supreme Court cases — Griswold v. Connecticut and Eisenstadt v. Baird — where the justices ruled that Americans’ privacy rights allow them to make those decisions for themselves.

Democrats and reproductive rights advocates are concerned that the justices could eventually overturn those two cases the same way the court overturned Roe v. Wade.

The Senate is set to vote this week on legislation guaranteeing access to in vitro fertilization, though GOP senators are expected to block that bill as well.

The post Trump says he’ll work ‘side by side’ with group that wants abortion ‘eradicated’ appeared first on New Jersey Monitor.

Vice President Kamala Harris holds a roundtable at Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids, Mich. on Feb. 22, 2024, as part of her Fight for Reproductive Freedoms tour. (Photo by Andrew Roth)

Vice President Kamala Harris in Detroit on Saturday slammed former President Donald Trump over his 34 felony convictions last month over hush money payments to an adult film actress before the 2016 election and said his actions are “disqualifying.”

“Donald Trump openly tried to overturn the last election. And now, he openly attacks the foundations of our justice system,” Harris said at the Michigan Democratic Party’s annual Legacy Dinner in Detroit, according to pool reports.

Harris traveled to Michigan on Saturday for two fundraisers, with the first at an Ann Arbor home. She also stopped at the Black Stone Bookstore and Cultural Center in Ypsilanti along with actress Octavia Spencer and was greeted by a crowd. Both Harris and President Joe Biden have made a point to visit Black-owned businesses during their trips to Michigan.

“Just look at the facts. Over the course of six weeks, a jury of 12 Americans reviewed the evidence,” she said. “His defense attorney actively participated in selecting that jury. And actively made decisions about which witnesses to call and cross examine. And the jury came back with a unanimous decision. Guilty on 34 counts.

“You know why he complains? Because the reality is, cheaters don’t like getting caught,” she added.

Harris condemned Trump’s attacks on judges and witnesses and said he plans to “use a second term for revenge.

“Simply put, Donald Trump thinks he is above the law. This should be disqualifying for anyone who wants to be President of the United States,” she said.

In response to Harris’ remarks, Victoria LaCivita, a spokeswoman for Trump’s Michigan campaign, said in a statement: “The American people have seen this trial for what it is — a rigged political witch hunt orchestrated by the failing Biden campaign.”

Biden was last in Michigan in May, serving as the keynote speaker at the annual Detroit NAACP dinner, while Harris campaigned in Detroit that month in an event touting the administration’s record on African Americans and the auto industry. Trump held a rally in Saginaw County last month during which he promised mass deportations and touted Roe v. Wade being overturned.

Harris also addressed the Israel-Hamas war, which has sparked dozens of pro-Palestinian protests in Southeast Michigan.

“Before I begin, I will say a few words about the morning which I know weighs heavily on all of our hearts,” Harris said in Detroit. “On Oct, 7, Hamas committed a brutal massacre of 1,200 innocent people and abducted 250 hostages. Thankfully, four of those hostages were reunited with their families tonight. And we mourn all of the innocent lives that have been lost in Gaza, including those tragically killed today.”

Biden has been trying to negotiate a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, as the eight-month-long conflict has killed about 1,200 in Israel and more than 34,000 in Gaza, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry. The Associated Press has been able to confirm the deaths of almost 23,000 people in Gaza.

Harris’ speech was interrupted by a female protester who stood up, shouted at her and was removed from the ballroom, per the pool report. There also were pro-Palestinian protesters outside the event.

“I value and respect your voice, but I’m speaking right now,” Harris responded. “… We have been working every day to bring an end to this conflict in a way that ensures Israel is secure, brings home all hostages, ends ongoing suffering for Palestinian people and ensures that Palestinians can enjoy their right to self determination, dignity and freedom. As President Biden said last week, it is time for this war to end.”

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and Twitter.

The post Harris lights into Trump over his conviction: ‘Cheaters don’t like getting caught’ appeared first on New Jersey Monitor.

Dozens called for a cease-fire in Gaza during a rally outside the New Jersey Statehouse in Trenton on Nov. 20, 2023. (Dana DiFilippo | New Jersey Monitor)

More than 43,000 New Jerseyans cast a ballot for “uncommitted” in the Democratic presidential primary Tuesday in a protest vote targeted at the Biden administration’s pro-Israel policies.

President Joe Biden received more than 88% of the vote, but supporters of the uncommitted movement say that by winning 9%, they’ve shown the Biden administration how many New Jerseyans disapprove of his handling of the war in Gaza. Former Assemblywoman Sadaf Jaffer, a vocal critic of the Biden administration’s policy on the war, said the vote total sends an unequivocal message that Democrats are dissatisfied.

“We know that New Jersey is a state where very few people make a habit of voting in primaries because they usually are not contested, so the fact that a significant number of people did make that choice is powerful, and it was a good opportunity for people to express their perspective,” said Jaffer, a Democrat.

Uncommitted earned 43,758 votes, according to projected counts from the Associated Press. That’s a bit fewer than the 50,000 vote target organizers had before the election, said Isaac Jimenez, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. But his takeaway is that plenty of Democrats are “not in lockstep with the Democratic Party at all.”

“This is a national movement and I’d say 40,000 people voting, it’s no small feat,” said Jimenez. “It’s a very clear warning that they are failing to recognize … that many young voters, many Arab or Muslim voters, especially in swing states, are not along for the ride in November until there’s a cease-fire.”

The movement to vote uncommitted was spawned in Michigan by progressives who wanted to protest Biden for supporting continued military aid to Israel and his initial hesitancy to call for a cease-fire. So far, the campaign will send 36 delegates from nine states to the Democratic Party’s national convention, though Biden is expected to be named the party’s presidential nominee (he has 3,872 delegates).

The uncommitted option was on 18 of the 20 delegate districts in the state. In order to send representation to the convention, candidates must receive 15% of the party’s vote statewide or 15% in the district. New Jersey’s districts combine two legislative districts into one, and each district has between three and six delegates for a total of 146.

One of those delegates will be from New Jersey because uncommitted won more than 15% of the vote in a single delegate district, one that includes voting districts in Essex and Passaic counties. Nearly 20% of Democrats chose uncommitted in the delegate districts that include parts of Paterson, a city with a large Muslim and Arab population. Some Paterson voting districts saw uncommitted nab more than 60%.

Jimenez said delegates from different states are coordinating to continue to call for an anti-war agenda at the convention.

“I think there is definitely a lot of energy for Gaza across the state, and it’s just going to take time to organize so more people can hear about it,” Jimenez said.

Prospect Park Mayor Mohammed Khairullah challenged Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. in the 9th Congressional District, running a campaign largely focused on criticizing Pascrell for his support of Israel. He did not topple Pascrell — Khairullah won 23% to Pascrell’s 77% — but Khairullah suggested the 14-term congressman is losing support. The last time Pascrell faced a challenger in 2020, he won nearly 81% of the vote.

Khairullah noted that he announced his candidacy in March and the uncommitted movement landed on the ballot in April, giving both campaigns little time to reach everyone they wanted. But he believes they both sent a strong message, and in the five months between now and the November election, “that message is going to be magnified,” he said.

Khairullah said he vowed that in his concession call, he’d demand Pascrell to call for an immediate and sustained cease-fire instead of the conditional cease-fire Pascrell supports. Without a change in Pascrell’s stance, he said the Muslim and Arab community will not vote for him in November.

Khairullah said he wouldn’t be surprised if voters turn to Trump, despite the racist rhetoric he has spewed about Muslims.

“At this point, people are watching their loved ones being massacred. I think their response is out of pure emotional desire to take action against the president who is allowing it to happen,” he said.

Jaffer also echoed that, saying young people are “soul searching and questioning” whether the Democratic Party represents them.

“I feel like the Democratic Party really risks losing an entire generation of voters because of the way they’ve treated not only Gaza, but students on campuses, faculty members, the freedom of speech of young people,” she said. “I think it goes beyond just this particular moment issue or this particular moment.”

An earlier version of this story misidentified where Sadaf Jaffer lives.

The post ‘Uncommitted’ supporters say results are clear warning to Biden appeared first on New Jersey Monitor.

Assemblyman Herb Conaway (D-Burlington) (Hal Brown for New Jersey Monitor)

Two physicians will compete in November to fill Rep. Andy Kim’s 3rd District House seat as Kim runs for the U.S. Senate.

Assemblyman Herb Conaway (D-Burlington), a physician, prevailed in the Democratic primary over his chief rival, Assemblywoman Carol Murphy (D-Burlington), with whom he’s shared a legislative district since 2018, the Associated Press projects.

“I got into this race because, as a former captain in the Air Force, I took an oath to protect our constitution and rule of law. The same constitution that MAGA extremists want to shred to pieces. In Congress, I will stand up to fight for democracy, the rule of law, and our right to vote,” Conaway said in a statement.

Conaway also defeated Democrats Joe Cohn, Sarah Schoengood, and Brian Schkeeper.

On the Republican side, physician Rajesh Mohan is projected to outrun immigration consultant Shirley Maia-Cusick and two other challengers, Gregory Sobocinski and Michael Francis Faccone.

Mohan will go on to face Conaway in this Burlington County-centered district that Republicans have not reclaimed since Kim ousted Rep. Tom MacArthur here in a 2018 Democratic wave that was largely seen as a rebuke of then-President Donald Trump.

The 3rd District was made friendlier ground for Democrats when its lines were redrawn in early 2022 — shedding Republican-heavy Ocean County towns in exchange for portions of Monmouth and Mercer counties — but the district remains competitive despite the shift.

Both nominees entered their primaries with support from each of their parties’ county organizations.

The power of such endorsements was denuded somewhat this year — for Democrats especially — after a federal judge barred the use of county lines in Democratic primaries, ordering they instead use ballots that group candidates by office sought, rather than slogan.

Burlington County Clerk Joann Schwartz did not print grid ballots containing a county line for either primary. Mohan had lines in Mercer and Monmouth counties.

The post Assemblyman Herb Conaway, Rajesh Mohan will face off in 3rd District House race appeared first on New Jersey Monitor.