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      Arizona Republicans Who Supported Repealing an Abortion Ban Face Blowback

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      On social media, Arizona lawmakers are accused of being baby killers, cowards and traitors.State Representative Matt Gress, a Republican in a moderate slice of Phoenix, was in line at his neighborhood coffee shop on Thursday when a customer stopped and thanked him for voting to repeal an 1864 law that bans abortion in Arizona.“I know you’re taking some heat,” he told Mr. Gress.More than some.Shortly after the repeal bill squeaked through the Arizona House on Wednesday with support from every Democrat, as well as Mr. Gress and two other Republicans, anti-abortion activists denounced Mr. Gress on social media as a baby killer, coward and traitor. The Republican House speaker booted Mr. Gress off a spending committee. And some Democrats dismissed his stance as a bid to appease swing voters furious over the ban during an election year.In an interview on Thursday, Mr. Gress said that he was trying to chart a middle path through a wrenching debate over abortion that has consumed Arizona politics in the two weeks since the State Supreme Court revived the Civil War-era ban.“There are extremes on both ends here,” he said. “To go from abortion being legal and constitutionally protected to nearly a complete ban overnight is not something that the electorate is going to be OK with.”Mr. Gress, 35, a former teacher and school-board member, worked as a budget director under Arizona’s previous governor, the Republican Doug Ducey. He was first elected in 2022 to represent a swath of Phoenix and Scottsdale that spreads from middle-class neighborhoods through strip malls, desert parks and wealthy gated communities.He speaks with the measured cadences of someone who has appeared on plenty of news programs, and had focused his attention on homelessness and teacher pay before abortion erupted into an all-consuming legislative battle.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Arizona Charges Giuliani and Other Trump Allies in Election Interference Case

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      Those charged included Boris Epshteyn, a top legal strategist for Donald Trump, and fake electors who acted on Mr. Trump’s behalf in Arizona after the 2020 election.Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mark Meadows, and a number of others who advised Donald J. Trump during the 2020 election were indicted in Arizona on Wednesday, along with all of the fake electors who acted on Mr. Trump’s behalf there to try to keep him in power despite his loss in the state.Boris Epshteyn, one of Mr. Trump’s top legal strategists, was also among those indicted, a complication for Mr. Trump’s defense in the criminal trial that began this week in Manhattan over hush money payments made to a porn star, Stormy Daniels.The indictment includes conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges, related to alleged attempts by the defendants to change the 2020 election results. Arizona is the fourth swing state to bring an elections case involving the activities of the Trump campaign in 2020, but only the second after Georgia to go beyond the fake electors whom the campaign deployed in swing states lost by Mr. Trump. The former president, who is seeking another term, was also named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Arizona case. “I understand for some of you today didn’t come fast enough, and I know I’ll be criticized by others for conducting this investigation at all,” Kris Mayes, Arizona’s Democratic attorney general, said in a recorded statement. “But as I have stated before and will say here again today, I will not allow American democracy to be undermined. It’s too important.”Read the Arizona Election IndictmentArizona on Wednesday indicted Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mark Meadows and a number of others who advised Donald J. Trump during the 2020 election, as well as the fake electors who acted on Mr. Trump’s behalf to try to keep him in power despite his loss in the state. Here is the indictment.Read Document 58 pagesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      McCormick and Casey Win Senate Primaries, Setting Up Battle in Pennsylvania

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      David McCormick won an unopposed Republican primary for Senate in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, securing the party’s nomination two years after former President Donald J. Trump torpedoed his first Senate run by backing his primary rival, the celebrity physician Dr. Mehmet Oz.Mr. McCormick will face Senator Bob Casey in the November election. Mr. Casey, the Democratic incumbent, also won his uncontested primary on Tuesday, The A.P. reported. The Senate race in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state, represents the best chance yet for Republicans to unseat Mr. Casey, an 18-year incumbent who has previously sailed to re-election — he defeated his Republican opponent in 2018 by 13 points.“I’m honored to once again be the Democratic nominee for Senate in Pennsylvania,” Mr. Casey said on social media. “There are 196 days until the general election, and we’re going to win.”Mr. McCormick, the former chief executive of Bridgewater Associates, one of the world’s largest hedge funds, is part of a roster of wealthy Republican Senate candidates recruited to run in 2024. He and his wife, Dina Powell McCormick, a former Trump administration official, reported assets in 2022 worth $116 million to $290 million.“Our movement is strong,” Mr. McCormick said on social media after his victory, adding, “I’m running to ensure the American Dream is alive for my kids and yours.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Three Takeaways From the Pennsylvania Primaries

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      With the 2024 primary season entering the homestretch — and the presidential matchup already set — hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians cast their ballots on Tuesday in Senate and House contests as well as for president and local races.President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump, who had been heading toward a 2020 rematch for months before securing their parties’ nominations in March, scored overwhelming victories in their primaries, facing opponents who had long since dropped out of the race. But Nikki Haley, Mr. Trump’s former rival in the Republican primaries, still took more than 100,000 votes across the state.A long-awaited Senate matchup was officially set, as well, as David McCormick and Senator Bob Casey won their uncontested primaries.And Representative Summer Lee, a progressive first-term Democrat, fended off a moderate challenger who had opposed her criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza. While Mr. Biden has faced protest votes in a number of states, Ms. Lee’s race was one of the first down-ballot tests of where Democrats stand on the war.Here are three takeaways.A progressive Democrat fended off a challenge that focused on her criticism of Israel’s military campaign.Ms. Lee, a first-term progressive Democrat who represents a Pittsburgh-area district, was an early critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, where about 34,000 people have died since the war began six months ago. Ms. Lee’s stances against Israel’s military campaign drew a primary challenge from Bhavini Patel, a moderate Democrat who opposed Ms. Lee’s approach on the war.But Ms. Lee emerged victorious, suggesting that public sentiment on the war, particularly among Democrats, has shifted significantly against Israel in the six months since the war began.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Pennsylvania Holds Its Primaries Today. Here’s What to Watch.

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      Pennsylvanians are heading to the polls on Tuesday, with a handful of House primary races in the spotlight.The contest getting the most attention is the Democratic primary in the Pittsburgh-based 12th District, where Representative Summer Lee, who has been outspoken in support of a cease-fire in Gaza, is facing Bhavini Patel, who has attacked Ms. Lee as anti-Israel and outside the political mainstream.Ms. Lee, a first-term representative who is part of the progressive “Squad” and narrowly won her primary in 2022 over a more centrist candidate, was one of the first members of Congress to criticize Israel’s actions in Gaza and call for an immediate cease-fire. That angered some Jewish voters in her district, though national pro-Israel groups like AIPAC have not gotten involved in her race, as they have in others. Ms. Patel has been vastly outraised in the contest, and the once-expected ideological battle over Israel has fizzled in much of the district.On the other side of the aisle and the state — in the First District, in the suburbs north of Philadelphia — Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, one of the most moderate Republicans in the House, is facing a primary challenge from an anti-abortion activist, Mark Houck.Mr. Fitzpatrick is one of a small number of Republicans representing districts that Joseph R. Biden Jr. carried in 2020. He won his last two general elections with relative ease. But if Republican voters nominate Mr. Houck — who was acquitted last year of charges that involved assaulting a Planned Parenthood volunteer outside an abortion clinic — it could make the district more competitive for Democrats, given the political potency of abortion.Two other primaries may also set up competitive general-election contests.In the Seventh District, three Republicans are vying to face Representative Susan Wild, a Democrat who won by just two points in 2022. And in the 10th District, six Democrats are running to face Representative Scott Perry, a Republican who was closely involved with Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.The presidential and Senate races are also on the ballot, but are not competitive. Mr. Biden and former President Donald J. Trump clinched their respective nominations last month, and Senator Bob Casey and his Republican challenger, David McCormick, are running unopposed in their primaries.The polls are open until 8 p.m. Eastern time. More

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      Nevada G.O.P. Senate primary heats up as the long shot goes after the front-runner.

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      Nevada’s once-sleepy Republican primary for Senate, which has been dominated by Sam Brown, a U.S. Army veteran, was jolted to life in the past week, when a deep-pocketed rival took aim at the front-runner.Jeff Gunter, the ambassador to Iceland under former President Donald J. Trump, is unloading a $3.3 million advertising campaign with a MAGA message, according to his campaign, hoping to cut into Mr. Brown’s dominant lead over the crowded field.A television ad from Mr. Gunter that began airing on Wednesday called Mr. Brown “the newest creature to emerge from the swamp,” tying him to Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, and deriding his primary opponent as “Scam Brown.”Mr. Brown, a veteran who was wounded severely in Afghanistan in 2008, consolidated party support after entering the primary last July, earned the endorsement of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and has appeared at fund-raisers around the country with prominent Republicans. He has lapped his competitors in fund-raising, pulling in $2.4 million in the most recent quarter, according to fund-raising reports.Mr. Brown has sought to employ the Trump campaign handbook, skipping debates and focusing his attention on Senator Jacky Rosen, the Democratic incumbent, rather than on his Republican rivals.That changed on Thursday, when Mr. Brown appeared to address Mr. Gunter for the first time, at a private fund-raising event in Sparks, Nev., after Mr. Gunter accused him in ads and appearances of being disingenuous and not sufficiently pro-Trump.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Lawsuit Puts Fresh Focus on Eric Hovde’s Comments About Older Voters

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      Pressed on his claims of 2020 election irregularities, the Republican candidate for Senate in Wisconsin has questioned the mental capacity of nursing home residents to vote.Eric Hovde, the Republican banking executive challenging Senator Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin, may be developing a problem with older voters.The bank he leads, Utah-based Sunwest, last month was named as a co-defendant in a California lawsuit that accuses a senior living facility partly owned by the bank of elder abuse, negligence and wrongful death.Mr. Hovde’s campaign called the suit meritless and said it was farcical to hold the chairman and chief executive of a bank responsible for the actions of a business that it seized in a foreclosure in 2021. Whatever its merits, the suit might have been largely irrelevant to Mr. Hovde’s political campaign had he himself not boasted recently of having gained expertise in the nursing home industry as a lender to such residences.In comments this month in which he suggested there had been irregularities in the 2020 election, Mr. Hovde drew on that experience to say that residents of nursing homes “have a five-, six-month life expectancy” and that “almost nobody in a nursing home is at a point to vote.” Those remarks were quickly condemned by Democrats in Wisconsin and by the former Milwaukee Bucks star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.The recent pileup of problems is an inauspicious start to a campaign that Republicans hope will help wrest control of the Senate from Democrats. Mr. Hovde is one of four affluent Republicans who are running to unseat Democratic incumbents, in Ohio, Montana, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.Each of those states either leans heavily Republican in the upcoming presidential contest or is rated a tossup, and the loss of any one of those seats could cost Democrats control of the Senate. The deep pockets of candidates like Mr. Hovde will ease the G.O.P.’s heavy fund-raising burden as the party confronts Democrats’ early financial advantage.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      No Bias Found in F.B.I. Report on Catholic Extremists

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      Republicans claimed the bureau’s memo was evidence of an anti-conservative strain among F.B.I. ranks, but an internal investigation failed to uncover any “malicious intent.”A memo by the F.B.I. warning of possible threats posed by “radical-traditionalist” Catholics violated professional standards but showed “no evidence of malicious intent,” according to an internal Justice Department inquiry made public on Thursday.Republicans have seized on the 11-page memo, which was leaked early last year, as a talking point. They have pointed to the document to sharply criticize the bureau and suggested, without evidence, that it was part of a broader campaign by the Biden administration to persecute Catholics and conservatives over their beliefs.The memo was quickly withdrawn after being leaked, and top law enforcement officials have repeatedly distanced themselves from it.The assessment by the Justice Department’s watchdog found that agents in the F.B.I.’s office in Richmond, Va., improperly conflated the religious beliefs of activists with the likelihood they would engage in domestic terrorism, making it appear as if they were being targeted for the faith.But after a 120-day review of the incident ordered by Congress, Michael E. Horowitz, the department’s inspector general — drawing from the F.B.I. report and interviews conducted by his own investigators — found no evidence that “anyone ordered or directed” anyone to investigate Catholics because of their religion.A statement from the F.B.I. on Thursday said the inspector general’s review aligned with the bureau’s own accounting.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More