ATLANTA (AP) — A Republican lawyer who interned in the White House under Donald Trump is challenging Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, the Georgia prosecutor who brought charges against the former president over efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Courtney Kramer worked in the White House counsel’s office during the Trump presidency and is active in GOP organizations. She’s the first Republican to run for district attorney in Fulton County since 2000.
Fulton County, which is home to 11% of the state’s electorate and includes most of the city of Atlanta, is a Democratic stronghold.
She made headlines just a month into her tenure when she announced in February 2021 that she was investigating whether Trump and others broke any laws while trying to overturn his narrow loss in the state to Democrat Joe Biden. Two and a half years later, after an investigation that included calling dozens of witnesses before a special grand jury, she obtained a sprawling racketeering indictment against Trump and 18 others in August 2023.
Four people have pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors. Trump and the remaining defendants have all pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.
When she entered the district attorney’s race in March, Kramer said the Trump prosecution was a politically motivated case and a waste of resources. But she said if she becomes district attorney she will recuse herself from that case because she worked with two of the defendants.
Kramer, 31, said one of her top priorities will be to focus on “front-end prosecution,” which she said involves reviewing cases quickly when they come in so decisions can be made about the bond, discovery can be provided to defense lawyers and a decision can be made about whether an early plea offer can be used to resolve the case.
Willis, 53, said she is proud of a pre-indictment diversion program she started and a program in schools to encourage students to choose alternatives to gangs and crime, as well as reductions in homicides and the backlog of unindicted cases during her tenure. She said she would focus on creating more county resources for domestic violence victims during a second term.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar was a heavy favorite to win a fourth term Tuesday against a challenge by anti-establishment Republican and former NBA player Royce White in Minnesota’s top election matchup.
Klobuchar went into the campaign with a history of big wins and a huge financial advantage. She drew 58% of the vote in 2006, 65% in 2012 and 60% in 2018. And she raised nearly $21 million by the end of the last reporting period in September.
That compares with just under $449,000 for White, who acknowledged he was as surprised as anyone when the state Republican Party endorsed him in May. The self-described populist went on to get a plurality in the August primary against a more conventional Republican, Navy veteran Joe Fraser.
While White has been a strong supporter of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, the former president never endorsed him, and top Minnesota GOP office-holders kept their distance. But his party endorsement effort was backed by Trump strategist Steve Bannon, and White also is allied with conspiracy theorist and Infowars founder Alex Jones.
White’s NBA career was cut short by mental health issues, primarily a fear of flying, and he calls his podcast, “Please, Call Me Crazy.” Critics have denounced White’s comments on social media and other forums as misogynistic, homophobic and antisemitic. In an interview with Bannon, he once said: “Look, let’s just be frank. Women have become too mouthy. As the Black man in the room, I’ll say that.”
A victory Tuesday would give Klobuchar Minnesota’s record for the most consecutive wins by a Democratic senator since the state began directly electing senators in 1918, according to Eric Ostermeier, curator of the Minnesota Historical Election Archive at the University of Minnesota. She’s tied for four terms with Henrik Shipstead, who was elected as a Farmer-Laborite in 1922, 1928 and 1934 and as a Republican in 1940.
Only two Minnesota senators won five terms: Republican Knute Nelson, who was elected by the Legislature for his first three, and Democrat Hubert Humphrey, whose terms were not consecutive.
Klobuchar, who announced her 2019 run for president amid a heavy snowstorm, was chief prosecutor in Minnesota’s largest county when she was first elected to the Senate in 2006.
Klobuchar is the daughter of Jim Klobuchar, a well-known Minneapolis newsman who died in 2022, and Rose Klobuchar, a schoolteacher who died in 2010. Her grandfather was an iron miner.
And in the race for the open seat being vacated by Democratic U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, Kelly Morrison, a Democratic former state senator, was favored over retired Washington County District Judge Tad Jude. He’s a Republican who also served on the Hennepin County Board and in both chambers of the state Legislature, where in 1972 at age 20 he became the youngest member ever elected to the House.
Craig and Teirab ran in the 2nd District, which includes a political mix of outer suburbs of Minneapolis and St. Paul south of the Minnesota River, and rural areas farther south that trend Republican. It’s Minnesota’s sole swing district. Morrison and Jude competed in the 3rd District, which includes suburbs surrounding Minneapolis and has gone Democratic in recent elections.
Craig lost to Republican Jason Lewis by less than 2 percentage points in 2016 before beating him by just over 5.5 points in their 2018 rematch. She defeated Marine Corps veteran Tyler Kistner by just over 2 points in 2020 and just over 5 points in 2022.
Craig, who was targeted with death threats and forced to move after fighting off a mentally disturbed attacker in the elevator of her Washington apartment building, staked out centrist positions on many issues. But she supports abortion rights and accused Teirab of being an anti-abortion activist. Teirab disputed that, saying he’d vote against any federal ban or restrictions.
Teirab, a Marine Corps veteran and son of a Sudanese immigrant, was supported by influential Republicans including House Majority Whip Tom Emmer. But despite a strong financial advantage, he lost the GOP endorsement at the district convention to anti-establishment conservative Tayler Rahm. Teirab won the primary with former President Donald Trump’s endorsement after Rahm dropped out to become a senior adviser to Trump’s campaign in Minnesota, but divisions between the Teirab and Rahm camps persisted.
Craig had raised nearly $7.6 million by the end of the last reporting period in September, compared with nearly $2.8 million for Teirab.
Morrison touted her leadership on abortion rights in the Minnesota Senate. Jude was an abortion opponent when he was a legislator and supports the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which struck down the nationwide right to abortion. Morrison raised just over $2 million by September, while Jude netted just under $300,000.
Incumbents were expected to easily win the state’s six other congressional races. They include Emmer and his fellow Republicans Brad Finstad, Michelle Fischbach and Pete Stauber, and Democrats Ilhan Omar and Betty McCollum.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A Republican U.S. senator from North Dakota who wrested the seat away from a Democrat in 2018 is facing a challenge Tuesday from another Democrat making her second Senate run.
U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer is confronting Democrat Katrina Christiansen in his bid for reelection in the conservative Great Plains state with a majority of Republican voters.
Christiansen, who ran unsuccessfully against U.S. Sen. John Hoeven in 2022, cast herself as a problem solver and highlighted her rural and impoverished upbringing amid the nation’s farm crisis in challenging Cramer. The 43-year-old opponent has a doctorate in agricultural engineering and had worked as an engineer at an ethanol plant before taking a position as an assistant engineering professor at the University of Jamestown.
Cramer is a longtime supporter of former President Donald Trump. He’s known for his approachable but blunt manner. He has been a player for decades in state GOP politics, including as a young state party chairman in the early 1990s when Republicans began turning the tables on North Dakota’s then-dominant Democrats.
Christiansen argued that since heading to Washington, Cramer has lost touch with North Dakota issues. She raised those claims in one television ad featuring rancher Frank Tomac, who supports Trump and says, “When they go to Washington like Kevin Cramer, folks back home suffer.”
Cramer served in the U.S. House from 2013 to 2019, and on the state’s Public Service Commission from 2003 to 2012. He also has served as state tourism director and economic development and finance director under then-Gov. Ed Schafer.
Cramer has been campaigning while his son Ian Cramer faces charges in connection with a December 2023 vehicle pursuit and crash that killed a sheriff’s deputy, Paul Martin, in Mercer County northwest of the state capital of Bismarck. Ian Cramer pleaded guilty to all the charges, including a homicide offense, in September and has yet to be sentenced.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s hotly contested U.S. Senate race pits two-term Democratic incumbent Tammy Baldwin against Republican Eric Hovde, a millionaire businessman backed by former President Donald Trump who poured millions of his own money into the contest.
A win by Baldwin is crucial for Democrats to retain their 51-49 majority in the Senate. Democrats are defending 23 seats, including three held by independents who caucus with them. That’s compared with just 11 seats that Republicans hope to keep in their column.
While Baldwin’s voting record is liberal, she emphasized bipartisanship throughout the campaign. Baldwin became the first statewide Democratic candidate to win an endorsement from the Wisconsin Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farm organization, in more than 20 years.
Her first television ad noted that her buy-American bill was signed into law by Trump. In July, she touted Senate committee approval of a bill she co-authored with Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, that seeks to ensure that taxpayer-funded inventions are manufactured in the United States.
Hovde tried to portray Baldwin as an out-of-touch liberal career politician who didn’t do enough to combat inflation, illegal immigration and crime.
Hovde’s wealth, primarily his management of Utah-based Sunwest Bank and ownership of a $7 million Laguna Beach, California, estate, has been a key line of attack from Baldwin, who has tried to cast him as an outsider who doesn’t represent Wisconsin values.
Baldwin also attacked Hovde over his opposition to abortion rights.
Hovde said he supported the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, but said he would not vote for a federal law banning abortion, leaving it to the states to decide. That is a change of his position from his last run for Senate in 2012, when he “totally opposed” abortion.
Baldwin’s television ads hit on a consistent theme that Hovde insulted farmers, older residents, parents and others. Hovde, who was born in Madison and owns a house there, accused Baldwin of distorting his comments, lying about his record and misleading voters.
Baldwin won her first Senate race in 2012, against popular former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson, by almost 6 percentage points. Hovde lost to Thompson in that year’s primary.
Hovde attacked Baldwin for being in elected office since 1987, including the past 12 years in the Senate and 14 in the House before that.
An Ohio sheriff’s lieutenant has apologized – and been merely reprimanded – after authoring social media posts boasting about how he would refuse to assist people who voted for Democrats during Tuesday’s elections and would require proof of a person’s voting choice before providing aid.
John Rodgers, a veteran lieutenant with the Clark county sheriff’s office, reportedly posted on Facebook that he would consider a person’s voting record when responding to calls for service in his jurisdiction, which includes the city of Springfield that has recently been at the center of conservative conspiracy theories, according to the Ohio news outlet WHIO.
In a series of posts, Rodgers reportedly wrote: “I am sorry. If you support the Democrat Party I will not help you.”
In another post, he reportedly said: “The problem is that I know which of you supports the Democratic Party, and I will not help you survive the end of days.”
And in another, WHIO reported, Rodgers indicated people would need to “provide proof of who you voted for” if they asked him for help.
After the posts caught public attention, the sheriff’s office said in a statement to WHIO that the comments were “highly inappropriate”. The agency also said the posts “in no means reflect the Clark county sheriff’s Office delivery of service to ALL our community and does not reflect the mission and values of the sheriff’s office”.
“The community has a right to be upset over the actions of Lt Rodgers and he, as well as the sheriff’s office in general, will have to work even harder to replenish the trust of members of our community,” the statement added.
An internal investigative file pertaining to Rodgers’ posts obtained by WHIO also said that Rodgers claimed that he had been prescribed sleep aids by his doctor, which he alleged had been causing some of his communications to be “out of character”. Rodgers reportedly insisted that was a “documented side-effect”.
“I do not remember writing these posts or deleting any posts,” Rodgers reportedly wrote in the inter-office communication with supervisors.
According to WHIO, the sheriff’s office said that Rodgers had received a written reprimand for violating the department’s social media policy and would remain on duty.
Clark county in Ohio has been a focal point over during Donald Trump’s campaign for a second presidency after he and others began repeating lies on social media that members of the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio, were eating domestic pets and wildlife.
In a statement to the Springfield News-Sun, the sheriff’s office chief deputy, Mike Young, addressed the situation involving Rodgers and connected it to ongoing tensions in Springfield and Clark county over the lies about Haitian immigrants there.
“We’ve been in this battle over the last few months, with the attacks on the Haitian community and other immigrants, and we protect people’s rights and we don’t support the conduct to the contrary,” Young said. “I can’t go back in time and take that post away. The lieutenant made the post, and he has received consequences for that.”
In a letter to the News-Sun on Sunday, Rodgers himself said he apologized again for his posts.
“I know I cannot apologize enough, and my apologies may seem empty, but I will continue to apologize as long as necessary,” Rodgers wrote.
“I know in this day and age society has a perception of law enforcement that may not always be positive, and I have now added to that perception,” Rodgers added. “I accept responsibility for the messages, and I deeply regret making them.”
Rodgers said that as soon as he became aware of his posts on Tuesday, he deactivated his Facebook account, stopped taking his sleeping medication, and contacted his doctor to discuss alternative medication.
He also said to the News-Sun that he contacted the Clark county commission, community partners, and the NAACP to have “face-to-face conversations” to explain himself, “take ownership of the posts” and offer his apologies to them – though he acknowledged knowing “it will be difficult for the public to trust me”.
Read more of the Guardian’s 2024 US election coverage
