Closing summary
Donald Trump traveled to East Palestine, Ohio, where he took the opportunity to criticize the Biden administration’s response to the derailment and toxic waste spill earlier this month. Two can play at that game, however, and Democrats have seized on his trip to remind voters of his administration’s friendliness to the rail industry, and argue it set the stage for the derailment. We may hear more about that tomorrow, when transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg pays his own visit to the village.
Here’s what else happened today:
The foreperson of the special grand jury investigating Trump’s election meddling campaign in Georgia has been making the rounds of news outlets, and that might not be helpful for prosecutors.
Democrats got some good news in their quest to hold the Senate after next year, when Montana’s Jon Tester announced he’d stand for re-election. However, West Virginia’s Joe Manchin remains non-committal on another term.
House Republicans want to learn everything they can about American support to Ukraine.
Joe Biden is taking a page out of Trump’s book with new restrictions meant to dramatically crack down on asylum seekers arriving at the border with Mexico.
“Serious vulnerabilities” in Arizona’s election systems? Apparently not.
One of the most under-the-radar political stories of the year is happening in Wisconsin, where voters yesterday cast ballots in a primary election that could set the stage for a change in the ideological balance on the state supreme court. That won’t just affect Wisconsinites, but particularly all Americans, since the Badger state is crucial to any victorious presidential campaign. Here’s more on that from the Guardian’s Sam Levine:
Wisconsin voters on Tuesday chose one liberal and one conservative candidate to face off in a race to determine control of the state supreme court in what is likely the most important election of 2023.
Janet Protasiewicz, a liberal Milwaukee circuit court judge, will be on the ballot against Daniel Kelly, a conservative former supreme court justice, in the state’s 4 April general election. Protasiewicz, who received 46% of the statewide vote, and Kelly, who received 24% of the statewide vote, advanced from a four-member field that included Everett Mitchell, a liberal judge in Dane county, and Jennifer Dorow, a conservative judge in Waukesha county.
Conservatives currently have a 4-3 majority on the court, but if Protasiewicz wins, the balance of the court would flip.
That would have enormous impact in Wisconsin, one of the most politically competitive states in America that often determines the outcome of the presidential election. The court is expected to have a say in the near future on a range of major voting rights and abortion decisions.
