Georgia special grand jury report shows Graham and others spared from charges, and more new details
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis pursued charges against roughly half of the people recommended to her by a special grand jury tasked with investigating efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.
Ousters, upsets halfway through 2022 primary election season
More than halfway through a tumultuous primary season, voters have rendered verdicts in a number of contests, many of which featured candidates arguing they best represented a continuation of policies favored by former President Donald Trump.
GOP unity? Some aim for reconciliation after tough primaries
Two days after losing a bitter primary to a rival she once deemed a “sellout” for occasionally working with Democrats, Katie Arrington appeared at a “unity rally” to urge South Carolina Republicans to come together and back Rep. Nancy Mace in the fall general election.
Takeaways: Trump's big defeat; election denial backfiring
Former President Donald Trump’s crusade for vengeance suffered two devastating blows when Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger won their primaries despite rejecting Trump’s entreaties to reverse his 2020 election loss.
Judge hears arguments in challenge to new campaign funds law
Lawyers for Georgia gubernatorial candidate David Perdue and Gov. Brian Kemp sparred in court over a new state law that allows certain top elected officials to create “leadership committees” that can raise campaign funds without limits, even when the legislature is in session.
Pence navigates Trump's shadow during New Hampshire visit
Former Vice President Mike Pence visited early-voting New Hampshire, where he delivered a speech railing against President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy, schmoozed with local activists, dropped by holiday parties, shopped at a local bakery and raised money for state Republicans.
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Georgia GOP leaders who stood up to Trump back voting bills
Both men say they support Georgia Republicans' efforts to enact an ID requirement for absentee voting that would do away with the state's signature matching system, which Trump heavily attacked. As Trump disputed Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia, Raffensperger argued the election was accurate and fair. A recorded conversation between Trump and Raffensperger leaked to media, allowing the public to hear Trump pressure Raffensperger and his office to “find 11,000-plus votes” to reverse Biden’s win. The House version, which passed Monday on a party-line vote, would require a photo ID for absentee voting and limit the number of weekend days counties can schedule early voting, among many other changes. The Senate bill would limit absentee voting to just seniors, people with disabilities and people who’ll be out of town.
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Trump to speak at CPAC in first post-White House appearance
FILE - In this Jan. 4, 2021, file photo President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally for Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., and David Perdue at Dalton Regional Airport in Dalton, Ga. Trump will be making his first post-presidential appearance at a conservative gathering in Florida next weekend. Ian Walters, spokesman for the American Conservative Union, confirmed that Trump will be speaking at the group's annual Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb. 28. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)WASHINGTON – Donald Trump will be making his first post-presidential appearance at a conservative gathering in Florida next weekend. Ian Walters, spokesman for the American Conservative Union, confirmed that Trump will be speaking at the group's annual Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb. 28. AdTrump has a long history with CPAC, which played a key role in his emergence as a political force.
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Ivanka Trump tells Rubio she won't run for his Senate seat
Ivanka Trump comes onto stage as President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in support of Senate candidates Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., and David Perdue in Dalton, Ga., Monday, Jan. 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)WASHINGTON – Ivanka Trump will not be running for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's U.S. Senate seat in 2022 as she settles into life after Washington. Lara Trump, the former president's daughter-in-law, who served as a chief campaign surrogate, is still considering running for the Senate in North Carolina. And the former president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., remains deeply popular with his father's base. AdIn a pair of friendly statements, Rubio and Ivanka Trump praised one another for their efforts together working on issues like paid family leave.
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New Georgia senators carry John Lewis' influence with them
Sen. Raphael Warnock was Lewis’ pastor and stood at his bedside before Lewis died. It seeks to restore portions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013. Democrats and voting rights groups argue that the ruling has led to a cascade of changes in many states that have disenfranchised voters, including polling place closures. They are the first Democrats to win a U.S. Senate election in Georgia since 2000. “My friend John Lewis planted the foundation of this Georgia over his career,” Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell of New Jersey said in a tweet.
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Georgia certifies Democrats Warnock and Ossoff's Senate wins
The certification by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger officially seals Warnock and Ossoff's victories over their Republican opponents in the Jan. 5 runoffs. Once Warnock and Ossoff are sworn in, there will be a 50-50 partisan divide in the Senate, giving Vice President-elect Kamala Harris the tie-breaking vote. Biden in November became the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state since 1992, while Warnock and Ossoff are the first Democrats to win a U.S. Senate election in Georgia since 2000. Loeffler gave a farewell speech from the Senate floor Tuesday, where she thanked her supporters and wished Warnock well. Perdue's term ended Jan. 3, while Loeffler remains in the Senate until Warnock is sworn in because she was appointed to fill Isakson's unexpired term.
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Ivanka Trump's global women's program halfway toward goal
Ivanka Trump comes onto stage as President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in support of Senate candidates Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., and David Perdue in Dalton, Ga., Monday, Jan. 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)WASHINGTON – Ivanka Trump's global women's development program is about halfway toward its goal of helping 50 million women in developing countries advance economically by 2025. That's according to an annual report for the U.S. government's Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative released Wednesday as the program nears its two-year mark. President Trump established the program in February 2019, directing the U.S. government to make global women's development a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy and national security. Ivanka Trump has promoted the program during visits to Africa and South America.
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Trump pressed Georgia investigator to look at Fulton County
It occurred as election officials were conducting an audit of signatures on absentee ballot envelopes in Cobb County. Trump pressed the investigator to look into Fulton County, a Democratic stronghold that contains most of Atlanta. AdVarious election officials across the country and Trump’s former attorney general, William Barr, have said there was no widespread fraud in the election. During another call in early December, Trump pressed Georgia Gov. In last week’s call with Raffensperger, Trump urged the secretary of state to change the certified results.
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Georgia's GOP governor under fire after US Senate losses
In a state long dominated by Republicans, Democrats won Georgia’s electoral votes for president in November and two U.S. Senate seats in runoff elections Tuesday, defeating Kemp's hand-picked Senate appointee. And the defeats of both Loeffler and fellow Republican David Perdue handed control of the U.S. Senate to Democrats. Some Republicans blame Trump and his false claims of election fraud for hurting GOP turnout in the the Senate runoffs. “I’ll be here in about a year and a half, campaigning against your governor,” Trump said. “I guarantee it.”The strain on Kemp was on display Tuesday when the governor attended an election-night event for the GOP Senate candidates before their defeats were sealed.
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GOP's David Perdue concedes to Jon Ossoff in Georgia runoff
FILE - In this Jan. 31, 2020, file photo, Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., leaves Capitol Hill in Washington. Perdue has taken down a digital campaign ad featuring a manipulated picture of his Democratic opponent, Jon Ossoff, who is Jewish, with an enlarged nose. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)ATLANTA – Democratic control of the U.S. Senate came one step closer to fruition Friday after Georgia Republican David Perdue conceded his runoff loss to Democrat Jon Ossoff. A day earlier, the GOP's Kelly Loeffler conceded to Democrat Raphael Warnock in Georgia's other Senate race. He led Ossoff by about 88,000 votes in November's general election, but failed to top 50% required to avoid the runoff.
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GOP's Loeffler concedes to Warnock in Georgia runoff
ATLANTA – Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler on Thursday conceded to Democrat Raphael Warnock in one of two Georgia Senate runoffs that will give control of the U.S. Senate to Democrats. With his victory in Tuesday’s election, Warnock becomes the first African American from Georgia elected to the Senate. “Unfortunately we came up slightly short in the runoff election,” Loeffler says in the video. Democrat Jon Ossoff beat Republican David Perdue in Georgia’s other Senate runoff. Tuesday's runoff election broke turnout records for a Georgia runoff, with more than 4.4 million ballots cast.
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Dems' Georgia alliance is diverse and broad. Is it durable?
Democrat Raphael Warnock won one of two runoffs in Georgia with a broad coalition of voters including Black Americans, moderates and suburban women. Democrats narrowly edged out Republicans among that group, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 3,700 Georgia voters. Black voters — 32% of the electorate in the runoff, according to the survey — supported Ossoff and Warnock almost universally. VoteCast showed Black voters were 29% of the November electorate. About 6 in 10 Georgia voters say they were contacted on behalf of Democratic candidates, compared with about half for Republican candidates, according to VoteCast.
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Ossoff seals Democrats' sweep; will be youngest US senator
At 33, the millennial Democrat will assume his own leadership mantle after being one of two candidates to help the party sweep Georgia's crucial U.S. Senate runoff elections, a victory that sealed Democrats' control of the chamber. Ossoff defeated Republican David Perdue in the runoff that was held Tuesday after neither he nor Perdue received 50% of the vote in November. This is Ossoff's first election to public office, and he will be the youngest member of the Senate. For his Senate campaign, he took a sharper approach. In a victory speech early Wednesday, Ossoff said he would follow the example set by Lewis.
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Democratic Party claims US Senate as NBC News projects Ossoff winning Georgia runoff
Democrat Jon Ossoff has won the U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia, NBC News projects. These wins give the Democratic party control of the Senate, which will stand at 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, allowing incoming Vice President Kamala Harris to cast tie-breaking votes. Georgia’s other runoff election pitted Perdue, a 71-year-old former business executive who held his Senate seat until his term expired on Sunday, against Ossoff, a former congressional aide and journalist. Trump’s claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election, while meritless, resonated with Republican voters in Georgia. AP VoteCast found that 6 in 10 Georgia voters say Senate party control was the most important factor in their vote.
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'Only in America': Warnock's rise from poverty to US senator
Raphael Warnock's roots showed little promise of a future that led to the U.S. Senate. He grew up in Savannah in the Kayton Homes public housing project, the second youngest of 12 children. “Only in America is my story even possible,” Warnock told the cheering drive-in crowd Sunday. Warnock was arrested at the Georgia state Capitol in 2014 while protesting the refusal of state Republicans to expand Medicaid. Warnock recalled the Washington arrest during his speech Sunday in Savannah, as he looked ahead to his next trip to Capitol Hill.