Georgia votes for successor to Marjorie Taylor Greene in US House
Hello and welcome to the US politics blog.
Georgia voters are heading to the polls to choose a successor in Congress to Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Republican former prosecutor Clay Fuller is likely to come out of Tuesday’s jungle primary, in which the top two candidates go to a runoff regardless of party, alongside retired army general Shawn Harris, a Democrat.
The two would face a runoff election on 7 April.
Fuller has Trump’s endorsement and had raised more than $1m leading into voting Tuesday, but Harris, who faced Greene two years ago, has raised more than four times as much.
Even though four Republican candidates dropped out before the election, the Republican field is fractured between more than a dozen candidates, including former state senator Colton Moore, a combative agitator to the right of most Republican legislators in Georgia.
“This is an interesting case to see how powerful Trump’s hold over the party is in that particular district,” said Kerwin Swint, a political science professor at Kennesaw State University who lives in the district at stake.
Swint said the most likely outcome was Harris finishing first without a majority, while the field of a dozen Republican candidates splits the party’s vote, leaving either Fuller or Moore to claim the second runoff spot.
Swint added that Harris was almost certain to lose to the Republican in the runoff, given the district’s conservative leanings.
Greene, also a firebrand on the right, broke hard against Trump last year, beginning by questioning his first strike on Iran in June, then by sounding alarms during budget talks that the end of healthcare subsidies would wreck her constituents’ finances.
The administration’s resistance on the Epstein files was the last straw; Trump and Greene turned on each other, leading to Greene’s resignation in January to avoid a contentious, divisive primary challenge.
Read our full report here:
In other developments:
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As oil prices surged amid the widening war with Iran, Donald Trump said that the conflict could be over “very soon” while threatening even more aggressive action if Tehran moved to cut off global energy supplies. During back-to-back appearances in Florida, Trump said the US had taken a “little excursion” to the Middle East “to get rid of some evil” but suggested the war, now in its second week, was ahead of schedule and near completion. More here.
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Trump renewed his push for the Save America Act, a curtailment of voting access, after threatening on Sunday not to sign any bills until Congress approves the legislation. “All voters must show proof of citizenship in order to vote,” Trump said during remarks on Monday at a Republican event in Miami. “No mail-in ballots, except for illness, disability, military or travel.” More here.
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Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, has said “there will be more casualties” in the US military from the Trump administration’s war in Iran after officials confirmed on Sunday that the number of US service members killed had climbed to seven. He portrayed Trump’s decision for the US to join Israeli attacks on the Middle East country as essential “to advance American interests, and protect American lives”. More here.
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A golf club company backed by the sons of Trump is merging with drone manufacturer Powerus in a deal designed to take the drone technology company public. The merger with Aureus Greenway Holdings is the latest in Eric and Donald Trump Jr’s growing investments in the drone sector, following last month’s $1.5bn tie-up between Israeli drone maker XTEND and Florida-based JFB Construction Holdings. More here.
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Claudia Sheinbaum has responded to Trump’s description of Mexico as the “epicenter of violence,” by calling on the US government to step up efforts to combat gun trafficking. “There is something that the US can help us a lot with: stop the trafficking of illegal weapons from the US to Mexico,” the president of Mexico said. “If they stopped the entry of illegal weapons from the United States into Mexico, then these groups wouldn’t have access to this type of high-powered weaponry to carry out their criminal activities.” More here.
Key events
Vivian Ho
During his opening remarks Hegseth said that the mullahs know that their military is being “systematically degraded” and that Iran “stands alone and is badly losing”.
By contrast, he noted that America is “winning” and is executing its objectives to destroy its missiles, its navy and “permanently deny Iran nuclear weapons forever”.
Hegseth added that “this is not 2003, and it is not endless nation-building” in an attempt to put daylight between this bombing campaign and the US’s previous forays into Middle Eastern conflict.
Hegseth promises ‘most intense day of strikes’ with no guidance on end of war
At a Pentagon press conference, defense secretary Pete Hegseth did not give any guidance on when the military action against Iran might end. “We do so on our timeline and at our choosing,” he said.
In recent days, Donald Trump has been unclear about the length of the operation. Last week he said that it would probably take at least four weeks, but on Monday the president said the US is making “major strides toward completing our military objective” and even added that “we’re getting close to finishing”.
At the Department of Defense, Hegseth described that today “will be, yet again, our most intense day of strikes inside Iran – the most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes. Intelligence more refined and better than ever.”
Hegseth and Caine to update on Iran war in press conference at 8am ET
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth will be giving a press conference, with chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Dan Caine, shortly.
The presser is due to begin at 8am ET and will update on the latest from Trump’s war on Iran.
You can follow any news lines that emerge from it in our Middle East live blog here:
RFK Jr’s pick to review Covid vaccines authored misleading research, experts say
Stephanie Kirchgaessner
The MIT professor who has been appointed by Robert F Kennedy Jr to review the safety of Covid-19 vaccines has failed to meet basic scientific standards in his own research on the topic, according to more than a dozen scientists and public health experts.
Retsef Levi, an operations management professor, is a member of the US health department’s vaccine advisory committee (ACIP) which is meeting later this month and – many experts fear – could seek to rollback recommendations on who should receive Covid-19 vaccines.
Levi, who holds Israeli and American citizenship, has claimed that Covid-19 vaccines are the “most failing medical product in the history of medical products”, despite a body of research that has shown they are safe and effective. A modeling study published in 2022 in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet estimated that Covid-19 vaccines saved nearly 20 million lives in the first year they were available.
He holds a coveted seat on ACIP, which was once considered the “international gold standard for vaccine decision-making” but has faced criticism after Kennedy fired 17 of the group’s voting members – including doctors, immunologists and epidemiologists – and replaced them with individuals who have been criticized for undermining public trust in the safety and efficacy of many vaccines, without any basis in fact.
Mississippi voters to decide whether to send representative Thompson back to Washington
Mississippi Democrats on Tuesday will decide between longtime representative Bennie Thompson and his 34-year-old primary challenger in a race that reflects generational struggle for control of the party.
Thompson, a 78-year-old civil rights leader who chaired the House 6 January Committee and serves as a ranking member on the House Homeland Security Committee, has held his seat for more than three decades, AP reports.
He is running against Evan Turnage, an antitrust lawyer who previously worked for top Democrats in Washington, and Pertis Herman Williams III, who has called for a new era of leadership.
Turnage is part of a wave of young Democrats who are hoping to oust older incumbents and usher in a new era. He has staked his candidacy on a message of economic populism and cast himself as a leader capable of understanding and regulating Big Tech and artificial intelligence.
Turnage faces an uphill battle against Thompson, who has more than $1.5 million in his bank account. Since mid-December, Turnage’s campaign has raised just over $200,000 and has a little under $40,000 left to spend
Posing an additional challenge is Thompson’s incumbency advantage.
Marvin King, an associate professor of political science at the University of Mississippi, said Thompson’s 17 terms in Congress have made him an institution in a state where voters tend to reelect incumbents.
“He’s basically been there like half of people’s lives on average,” King said. “No other challenger has effectively shown why Bennie Thompson should be dethroned.”
Thompson has faced a few meaningful challengers from both the right and left, but none of his races have been considered close, King said.
Georgia votes for successor to Marjorie Taylor Greene in US House
Hello and welcome to the US politics blog.
Georgia voters are heading to the polls to choose a successor in Congress to Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Republican former prosecutor Clay Fuller is likely to come out of Tuesday’s jungle primary, in which the top two candidates go to a runoff regardless of party, alongside retired army general Shawn Harris, a Democrat.
The two would face a runoff election on 7 April.
Fuller has Trump’s endorsement and had raised more than $1m leading into voting Tuesday, but Harris, who faced Greene two years ago, has raised more than four times as much.
Even though four Republican candidates dropped out before the election, the Republican field is fractured between more than a dozen candidates, including former state senator Colton Moore, a combative agitator to the right of most Republican legislators in Georgia.
“This is an interesting case to see how powerful Trump’s hold over the party is in that particular district,” said Kerwin Swint, a political science professor at Kennesaw State University who lives in the district at stake.
Swint said the most likely outcome was Harris finishing first without a majority, while the field of a dozen Republican candidates splits the party’s vote, leaving either Fuller or Moore to claim the second runoff spot.
Swint added that Harris was almost certain to lose to the Republican in the runoff, given the district’s conservative leanings.
Greene, also a firebrand on the right, broke hard against Trump last year, beginning by questioning his first strike on Iran in June, then by sounding alarms during budget talks that the end of healthcare subsidies would wreck her constituents’ finances.
The administration’s resistance on the Epstein files was the last straw; Trump and Greene turned on each other, leading to Greene’s resignation in January to avoid a contentious, divisive primary challenge.
Read our full report here:
In other developments:
-
As oil prices surged amid the widening war with Iran, Donald Trump said that the conflict could be over “very soon” while threatening even more aggressive action if Tehran moved to cut off global energy supplies. During back-to-back appearances in Florida, Trump said the US had taken a “little excursion” to the Middle East “to get rid of some evil” but suggested the war, now in its second week, was ahead of schedule and near completion. More here.
-
Trump renewed his push for the Save America Act, a curtailment of voting access, after threatening on Sunday not to sign any bills until Congress approves the legislation. “All voters must show proof of citizenship in order to vote,” Trump said during remarks on Monday at a Republican event in Miami. “No mail-in ballots, except for illness, disability, military or travel.” More here.
-
Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, has said “there will be more casualties” in the US military from the Trump administration’s war in Iran after officials confirmed on Sunday that the number of US service members killed had climbed to seven. He portrayed Trump’s decision for the US to join Israeli attacks on the Middle East country as essential “to advance American interests, and protect American lives”. More here.
-
A golf club company backed by the sons of Trump is merging with drone manufacturer Powerus in a deal designed to take the drone technology company public. The merger with Aureus Greenway Holdings is the latest in Eric and Donald Trump Jr’s growing investments in the drone sector, following last month’s $1.5bn tie-up between Israeli drone maker XTEND and Florida-based JFB Construction Holdings. More here.
-
Claudia Sheinbaum has responded to Trump’s description of Mexico as the “epicenter of violence,” by calling on the US government to step up efforts to combat gun trafficking. “There is something that the US can help us a lot with: stop the trafficking of illegal weapons from the US to Mexico,” the president of Mexico said. “If they stopped the entry of illegal weapons from the United States into Mexico, then these groups wouldn’t have access to this type of high-powered weaponry to carry out their criminal activities.” More here.
