Author: Joseph Ax
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Giuliani says he’s a target of Georgia’s criminal probe
WASHINGTON • Rudy Giuliani, former President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer who helped lead challenges to the 2020 election results, said on Monday that he is a target in a criminal probe in Georgia examining attempts by Trump and his allies to overturn the election. Giuliani is scheduled to testify Wednesday before a special grand jury…
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Trump-backed candidates prevail in primaries; Kansas votes to preserve abortion rights
WASHINGTON • Republican voters Tuesday chose numerous candidates supporting Donald Trump in primaries for the November general election — a display of the former president’s grip on his party. In Kansas, abortion rights activists celebrated a major victory when voters overwhelmingly rejected a ballot initiative that would have endangered abortion access in the first statewide…
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Michigan court tosses charges against ex-governor, others stemming from Flint water crisis
DETRIOT • The Michigan Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out charges against former Gov. Rick Snyder and eight others in connection with the Flint water scandal, ruling that a lower court judge lacked the authority to issue indictments in the case. The decision is a setback for prosecutors, who spent years building a criminal case…
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N.Y. judge OKs congressional map, throwing Democrats into disarray
NEW YORK • A New York judge approved a new congressional map that pits two veteran Democratic incumbents against one another and boosts Republican odds of capturing more seats in November’s midterm elections, further endangering Democrats’ fragile U.S. House majority. Justice Patrick McAllister, a judge in rural Steuben County, signed off on the map just…
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Stung by redistricting rulings, Republicans target state court elections
WASHINGTON • Republicans are vowing to spend record amounts in key state supreme court races this fall, seeking to take advantage of a favorable national political environment to elect conservative judges at the state level amid deep political divisions. A string of decisions throwing out Republican-drawn congressional maps in Ohio, North Carolina and Pennsylvania has…
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Ga. Republicans pass bill empowering law enforcement to investigate elections
ATLANTA (Reuters) – Georgia’s legislature approved a bill expanding law enforcement’s power to investigate election fraud over the objections of voting rights groups, adding to a wave of Republican-backed legislation passed after former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was rigged. The legislation passed late Monday would give the Georgia Bureau of…
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Florida judge blocks new GOP-backed voting law
WASHINGTON • A federal judge in Florida on Thursday invalidated several of the state’s new Republican-backed voting restrictions, ruling that they violate minority voters’ constitutional rights. U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee blocked the state from enforcing provisions aimed at reducing the use of drop boxes for ballots, making it more difficult for third-party…
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Louisiana Republicans override governor’s veto, enact new congressional map
WASHINGTON • Louisiana’s Republican-controlled legislature overrode Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards’ veto of a new congressional map, ensuring the state will maintain only a single majority-Black district among its six seats. Edwards rejected the map in March, saying lawmakers should have created a second majority-Black district to account for the Southern state’s large and growing…
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Georgia lawmakers follow Florida to advance GOP-backed bill to police elections
WASHINGTON • Republican lawmakers in Georgia on Tuesday advanced a bill expanding law enforcement’s power to investigate election fraud, adding to the push by U.S. conservatives for more restrictive voting laws after former President Donald Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was rigged. Georgia’s House of Representatives approved the legislation on a largely party-line vote…
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Texas rejects hundreds of mail ballot applications under new voting limits
AUSTIN, TEXAS • Texas election officials have rejected hundreds of mail-in ballot applications, abiding by a new Republican-backed law just weeks before a March 1 primary kicks off this year’s U.S. election cycle. “My friends, this is what voter suppression looks like,” Democrat Dana DeBeauvoir, the Travis County clerk, said Tuesday. The county, home to…