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Contraception, in-vitro fertilization become key campaign issue

The debate over the right to an abortion has divided U.S. politics for decades. But two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, sending that decision back to the states, a new front has opened — the debate over birth control. VOA Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports on the election-year battle over contraception and in-vitro fertilization.
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Trump back in Washington, feted by Republican lawmakers

WASHINGTON — Former U.S. President Donald Trump enjoyed an effusive welcome on his return to Washington on Thursday as he rallied support from Republican lawmakers following his criminal conviction in New York.

Trump, who is neck-and-neck with his successor Joe Biden in the race for the White House, thanked members of the House of Representatives at a private club near the U.S. Capitol who sang “Happy Birthday” to the billionaire, who turns 78 on Friday.

It was Trump’s first meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill since leaving the White House in 2021 and his first trip to Washington since he was convicted last month in New York on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

He was in a defiant mood, according to U.S. media citing people in the room, as he called out the Republicans who had voted to impeach him after the 2021 assault on the Capitol and called the Justice Department “dirty, no-good bastards.”

“Great meeting with Republican Representatives. Lots discussed, all positive, great poll numbers!” Trump posted on Truth Social afterward.

The Republican, who was due to speak with senators and business leaders later Thursday, took credit for the Supreme Court ending federal protections for abortion access in 2022 and railed against Biden’s foreign policy.

Since his conviction, Republicans have circled the wagons around Trump — who faces more than 50 further felony charges — with numerous lawmakers denigrating a justice system they baselessly claim is biased against conservatives.

House Speaker Mike Johnson accused Democrats of being behind the two federal and two state criminal cases engulfing Trump’s reelection bid.

“He raised $53 million in the first 24 hours after the verdict in that terrible, bogus trial in Manhattan. And I think that shows that people understand what’s happening here,” Johnson told reporters after the meeting.

Republicans in the House face an uphill battle to defend the lower chamber from a Democratic takeover in November’s elections. Senate Republicans have a more favorable map as they seek to flip their 49-51 minority in the upper chamber.

Several centrist senators said they would not show up on Thursday, although Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has not spoken to Trump since berating him from the Senate floor over the 2021 insurrection, said he would attend.

Trump was impeached for inciting the attack, when a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol seeking to prevent the peaceful transfer of power to Biden, who beat his predecessor by more than 7 million votes.

The Republican faces federal and state prosecutions over his alleged role in a criminal conspiracy to overturn his defeat, which culminated in the insurrection.

“People see that … that’s a threat to our system of justice, and they want to push back,” Johnson said. “In many ways, President Trump has become a symbol of that pushing back against corruption, the deep state, the weaponization of the judicial system, and that’s a very encouraging development.”

Johnson has been struggling however to deliver on Trump’s demands for a robust defense from Congress, with a razor-thin majority that leaves him unable to lose more than two representatives for any vote.

Republicans have failed in efforts to impeach Biden, as a monthslong, multimillion-dollar corruption investigation has turned up no evidence of wrongdoing by the president, and congressional efforts to rein in the criminal cases targeting Trump have been largely ineffective.

The former president is also due to make his case for a White House return to chief executives at a meeting of Washington lobby group Business Roundtable.

The Biden campaign released a statement pointing to Trump’s many failed business ventures and bankruptcies, contrasting the Republican’s record of mass job losses during the pandemic with the economic recovery under Biden.

“Donald Trump couldn’t run a lemonade stand, let alone our country. He is a fraud, a crook and a failed businessman and president who left America in economic ruin,” a spokesperson said.
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Could Trump legally seek a third presidential term?

By law, a U.S. president can serve only two terms. So, whether Joe Biden or Donald Trump wins in November, it would be his final term. Trump, however, is musing about a possible third. From Washington, VOA’s chief national correspondent Steve Herman explains. Videographer: Adam Greenbaum.
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Biden and Trump at odds over gun control 

In this U.S. presidential campaign, guns continue to divide Americans. President Joe Biden wants a ban on assault weapons. His opponent Donald Trump says Biden is threatening the constitutional rights of gun owners. VOA Correspondent Scott Stearns reports, the president spoke about guns on a day when his son was convicted of lying about his drug use to illegally buy a gun.
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Retired Army Capt. Sam Brown overcomes crowded GOP Senate primary field, setting up key Nevada race

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US Rep. Nancy Mace overcomes McCarthy-backed challenger to win Republican primary in South Carolina  

COLUMBIA, S.C. — U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace has won the Republican nomination after a tumultuous second term in South Carolina that saw her go from a critic to an ally of former President Donald Trump and make headlines for plenty of things off the House floor. 

Mace defeated challengers Catherine Templeton and Bill Young in voting that ended Tuesday. She will face a Democratic opponent in the general election in the 1st District, which is the closest thing South Carolina has to a swing district in the Republican-dominated state. 

Trump’s endorsement — after he called her crazy and terrible in 2022 — is just one of many ways Mace has attracted a spotlight far greater than a typical second-term member of Congress. 

She’s a regular on interview shows, often antagonizing the hosts. She calls for her party to moderate on abortion and marijuana but joined seven of the farthest right members to oust former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. 

McCarthy threw his weight against Mace and the other defectors. His political action committee gave a $10,000 contribution to Templeton, and the American Prosperity Alliance, where a McCarthy ally serves as a senior adviser, donated to a group called South Carolina Patriots PAC, which spent more than $2.1 million against Mace. 

Mace has said her positions and beliefs aren’t erratic — she is just reflecting the values of the 1st District, which stretches from the centuries-old neighborhoods of Charleston down the coast to Beaufort County’s booming freshly built neighborhoods of retirees moving to South Carolina from somewhere else. 

Mace, the first woman to graduate from South Carolina’s military academy The Citadel, thanked her voters for tuning out the “senseless noise” from her opponents and realizing she is unafraid to stand up to powerful people. 

“When you are the first woman to sit in The Citadel’s barber chair to get all of your hair chopped off, you don’t get your feelings hurt when you don’t get invited to the fancy cocktail parties in Washington, D.C.,” Mace said. “While sometimes I may be a caucus of one, I’m not alone because I’m not there for me — I’m there for each and every one of you.” 

Mace’s opponents argued that by seeming to land everywhere on issues, Mace is nowhere. 

Templeton ran South Carolina’s health and environmental agency to some angst a decade ago and in her only political race finished third in the 2018 GOP gubernatorial primary won by Gov. Henry McMaster. Young is a Marine veteran and financial planner. 

Templeton didn’t mention Mace’s name, but asked Tuesday for her voters to keep backing Republicans. 

“I think it is safe to say everybody in here has the conservative values that we share, and in November we are all going to stand behind our president and we are all going to join together to support the Republican Party,” Templeton said. 

In the Democratic primary, businessman and former International African American Museum CEO Michael Moore defeated Mac Deford, a Citadel graduate and lawyer for a couple of the larger bedroom communities in the district. 

South Carolina lawmakers drew the district to be more Republican after the seat flipped for one term in 2018. The 1st District was the only congressional district won by Nikki Haley over Trump in the 2024 South Carolina Republican presidential primary. 

4th District  

For the second election in a row, U.S. Rep. William Timmons has fought off a spirited challenge in the Republican primary. 

Timmons defeated state Rep. Adam Morgan, the leader of the state House Freedom Caucus who argued Timmons was too liberal. 

Timmons’ divorce — and a widely shared Instagram post by a husband who said Timmons had an affair with his wife — complicated his reelection bid. Timmons has denied the allegations. 

Timmons has Trump’s endorsement as he seeks a fourth term in the district anchored by Greenville and Spartanburg. 

Timmons was not in his district Tuesday night, instead staying in Washington, where Republicans only have a two vote majority in the U.S. House. 

He said he was thankful his voters recognized his strong conservative record and saw through the “countless lies” from his opponent.  

“In Washington I am focused on policy not headlines, on representing my constituents not myself, and working with my colleagues instead of working against them,” Timmons said in a statement on social media. 

In November’s general election, Timmons will face Democrat Kathryn Harvey, who helps nonprofit organizations with marketing, fundraising and leadership, and Constitutional Party candidate Mark Hackett. 

3rd District  

South Carolina’s 3rd District is open after Republican Rep. Jeff Duncan decided not to run again after seven terms. Duncan’s wife of 35 years filed for divorce in 2023, accusing him of several affairs. 

The Republican nomination is going to a runoff between a candidate endorsed by Trump and another endorsed by his good friend McMaster. 

Mark Burns is a Black pastor who has backed Trump since before his first race for president and made it to the runoff after losing twice before in the GOP primary in the neighboring 4th District. 

His opponent is nurse practitioner Sheri Biggs, who along with her husband have been faithful contributors and friends of McMaster for years. 

They defeated five other candidates including South Carolina Rep. Stewart Jones and Kevin Bishop, who handled communications for U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham for more than two decades. 

Sherwin-Williams paint store manager Byron Best from Greenwood won the Democratic nomination in the 3rd District. 

Other races  

The only other U.S. House incumbent facing a primary challenger is Republican Rep. Joe Wilson who won the party’s nomination as he seeks a 12th full term in the 2nd District, which stretches from suburban areas around Columbia west and south toward Aiken. 

Wilson will face David Robinson II. The U.S. Army veteran who enlisted after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and is an advocate for missing people after his son disappeared in the desert in Arizona won the Democratic primary. 

Attorney Duke Buckner won the Republican 6th District primary and will face Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, who is seeking a 17th term in the state’s majority-minority district that is bounded by areas around Charleston, Beaufort and Columbia.

In the 7th District Democratic primary, teacher Mal Hyman, who calls himself an independent Democrat, faces Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom veteran Daryl Scott. The winner takes on Republican U.S. Rep. Russel Fry, who is seeking a second term in the district that stretches from Myrtle Beach to Florence in the northeast part of the state.
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Globally, Biden receives higher ratings than Trump, poll finds

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Trump’s vows of ‘revenge’ against his opponents gain volume 

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Biden, Trump trade accusations over border 

At rallies in the Western United States, presidential candidate Donald Trump focused on immigration and threatened to sanction countries, including China, if they do not stop people from leaving for the United States. VOA Correspondent Scott Stearns reports.
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