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Associated Press
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Federal judge dismisses lawsuit over effort to close Arkansas Republican primary
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal judge has tossed out a lawsuit aimed at making Arkansas' GOP primary open only to registered Republicans. U.S. District Judge Brian Miller on Monday granted the motion to dismiss the lawsuit that had been filed by about two dozen of the delegates from the state Republican Party's convention last year. The lawsuit stemmed from delegates at the state Republican Party convention voting to allow only registered GOP voters to participate in the party's primary. The party's executive committee in July nullified that proposal and several other actions by the convention, saying proper steps weren't taken to consider them. 'Although plaintiffs' positions are understandable, their claims must be dismissed because federal court is not the appropriate forum to resolve their dispute,' Miller wrote in the seven-page order. Voters in Arkansas aren't required to choose a party when they register, and the majority of voters don't pick Republican or Democratic. Attorney General Tim Griffin, whose office represented the state in the case, said he appreciated the judge dismissing the case. 'This dispute was settled within the Republican Party of Arkansas months ago,' Griffin said in a statement. 'It never made sense for the state to be sued over it.' The lawsuit had named the Arkansas Republican Party chairman, the secretary of state and members of the state board of election commissioners as defendants. Jennifer Lancaster, the lead plaintiff in the case, said she and the other delegates were 'prayerfully and strategically' considering their next steps. 'We stood up to protect the Republican Party from being hijacked by Democrats voting in our primaries,' Lancaster said in a statement. 'We believe that Republican nominees should be chosen by Republican voters. That's not radical — it's foundational.'
The Independent
07-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Republicans fear Marjorie Taylor Greene could win the Georgia primaries – then cost them the whole race
Republican senators are concerned about the prospect of Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene running in the state's GOP senate primary ahead of next year's race against Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff. Greene has said she's considering running for Senate or governor next year, sharing her confidence that she would win a primary. This comes as Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp has announced that he won't challenge Ossoff. Republican senators note that she would have a good chance of winning the GOP nomination because of her strong support among Trump voters and national profile. However, there are concerns among some that Greene may very well win the primary but lose the general election against Ossoff, much like former NFL player Herschel Walker, who won the Republican nomination for Georgia's other U.S. Senate seat in 2022 but lost the general election to Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock. North Dakota Republican Senator Kevin Cramer was asked if Greene would be a strong candidate for the general election. 'We need to have the absolute best candidate, and that includes electability. It's very difficult to apply a formula for a very gerrymandered, very conservative congressional district into a statewide election with as much diversity as Georgia has,' he said, according to The Hill. 'That is a swing state that's pretty independent-minded,' Cramer added. 'If I was to put my political science hat on and look at all the criteria, she wouldn't be high on my list of recruits.' In 2021, Cramer wrote in Newsweek about some of the 'crazier' things Greene has said and theories she has supported, such as the notion that the 9/11 terror attacks against New York and Washington were an inside job, or that the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida in 2018 was a false flag operation. He also brought up her 2018 suggestion that a fatal wildfire in California was caused by space lasers, and that it may have been a part of a plan by wealthy financiers to make space for a new high-speed train line. Greene subsequently deleted that Facebook post. 'I think she's recanted some of the crazier things she's said,' said Cramer. However, he emphasized that 'electability is one of the more important criteria in recruiting a candidate.' 'Sometimes we let ideology be more important, and that's a mistake,' the senator said. North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis is up for re-election next year. He also noted that Greene may win the Republican nomination but could be a weaker general election candidate, adding that being able to appeal to independents and moderates in the suburbs remains vital. 'I think she'd be a solid primary contender, but the state's a lot like North Carolina. It could be a challenge at the statewide level,' said Tillis, according to The Hill. Greene told NewsNation, 'The polling shows I can win the governor's primary or I can win the Senate primary. That's a choice that I can make, and I'll give it some thought.' 'I'm sorry that Brian Kemp's not running,' Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn said, according to The Hill. He added that he wants a candidate 'that can win. I don't know whether she qualifies or not.' A spokesperson for Greene told The Hill that 'Polling shows Congresswoman Greene would blow out a primary. She has the same type of support President Trump has, and now he's president.'
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
What to Know About Dave Weldon, Trump's Pick to Lead the CDC
Former Congressman Dr. Dave Weldon speaks in The Villages, Fla., on May 31, 2012. Credit - Brendan Farrington—AP President Donald Trump's nominee to head the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), former Republican Congressman Dr. Dave Weldon, is set to face questioning by Senators on March 13. Weldon is due to appear before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions for his nomination hearing, and members will likely question him on topics including his past statements expressing vaccine skepticism. If confirmed by the Senate, Weldon would be the director of the agency responsible for protecting the country's public health. Here's what to know about Weldon. Weldon, 71, served in the Army, and currently operates a private medical practice in Florida. From 1995 to 2009, he served in Congress, representing Florida. Since then, he's largely been out of the political spotlight, though he's run campaigns—he lost the GOP Primary for a seat in the U.S. Senate in 2012, as well as the GOP Primary for a seat in the Florida House of Representatives in 2024. From 2017 to 2020, Weldon was the president of the Alliance of Health Care Sharing Ministries, an association of faith-based organizations that claim to offer alternatives to health insurance. The organizations have sparked controversy and criticism from state regulators, who have expressed concern that the groups' marketing strategies have led to confusion among consumers over whether the ministries would fund medical claims. When asked about this controversy by the New York Times in November, Weldon said that during the time he was president of the alliance he 'strongly encouraged all the ministries to get together and form an accreditation system, and I think they did,' but since he left, 'I don't know how rigorous it really was.' Read More: The Powers Trump's Nominees Will Have Over Abortion In the past, Weldon shared views similar to his would-be boss, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), when it comes to vaccines. Despite years of research proving the safety and efficacy of vaccines, Weldon has previously repeated the debunked claim that some children could develop autism if they receive the measles vaccine. Dr. Peter Hotez—professor of pediatrics and molecular virology at Baylor College of Medicine and co-director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development—has never worked with Weldon, but says the false claim that vaccines can cause autism 'makes no sense.' 'We have overwhelming evidence that vaccines don't cause autism,' Hotez says. 'Anyone who wants to reopen spurious autism and vaccine links, you have to believe either they're misinformed or they have an agenda outside of public health.' Hotez says that many of Weldon's comments were made years ago, and he hopes that Trump's nominee to lead the CDC has since learned more about the topic and changed his views. In November, when the Times spoke to Weldon, they asked him about his past comments, but Weldon declined to state whether he still believed that there is a link between vaccines and autism. He told the Times that his two adult children have been vaccinated, and that he gives vaccines, including the flu shot, to his adult patients. While serving in Congress, Weldon sponsored a bill that passed with bipartisan support in 2003. The bill launched a program, known as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), that allocated $15 billion for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria prevention and treatment programs in low-income countries. In the more than two decades since, PEPFAR has saved up to 25 million lives, officials estimate. Hotez says 'there's clearly a disconnect' between Weldon's support for PEPFAR and his previous anti-vaccine statements. 'But again, those [anti-vaccine theories] were statements he made almost 20 years ago, so what we need to find out is, where does he stand today and what are his views? So the [nomination hearing] will be very instructive in finding that out,' Hotez says. Read More: What to Know About Marty Makary, Trump's Pick to Lead the FDA Like some of Trump's other nominees to lead the nation's health agencies, such as Dr. Marty Makary, who has been nominated to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Weldon has been a vocal critic of health agencies in the past. In April 2007, he said that federal agencies 'failed to free themselves from conflicts of interest that serve to undermine public confidence in the safety of vaccines.' He accused the federal government at the time of dedicating 'far more resources to promoting the immunizations than in safety evaluations,' and claimed that the CDC focused its vaccine safety resources on considering short-term side effects, and not enough focus was given to long-term side effects. He also proposed that the vaccine safety office be moved out of the CDC and operate instead as a separate office within HHS. Hotez says he was critical of Weldon's comments back in 2007. 'There's no one that's more qualified to assess vaccine safety once a vaccine is licensed than the CDC,' Hotez says, adding that the CDC has multiple systems in place to monitor both the short and long-term side effects of vaccines. Weldon authored and introduced the Weldon Amendment, which passed in 2005 and prohibits health agencies from discriminating against health care institutions, medical providers, and insurance plans that don't provide or fund abortion care, typically on religious grounds. Nourbese Flint, president of the reproductive rights group All* Above All, says the amendment 'has been incredibly harmful to abortion access.' 'This is particularly important in places where people don't have a lot of providers to turn to,' Flint says. 'Particularly for those in rural spaces where there are no other providers, people are stuck.' Flint points out that Project 2025 encouraged the next presidential Administration to conduct 'abortion surveillance' through the CDC, which is the agency tasked with collecting health data across the country. Project 2025 calls for HHS to ensure that 'every state reports exactly how many abortions take place within its borders, at what gestational age of the child, for what reason, the mother's state of residence, and by what method.' Flint and other reproductive rights advocates fear that Weldon could follow through on that Project 2025 suggestion, and that the data collected could be used to identify and penalize providers or even patients. Weldon has also shared unreliable claims about reproductive health. In 1998, he suggested that there was a connection between abortion and breast cancer; the American Cancer Society maintains that 'the best scientific evidence does not support a link between abortion and breast cancer risk.' In 2002, Weldon suggested that federal programs focus on abstinence education, rather than teaching adolescents about contraceptives, to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs)—research has found that abstinence-only education programs are ineffective. 'We've seen time and time again that Weldon has used bad science,' Flint says. 'Anybody who is worth their weight in salt has known that abstinence is not an effective policy against both STI and unplanned, untimed pregnancies, and that we have a lot of data and research on our side that having a robust sexual education and access to reproductive health care and destigmatizing has been the best ways in which we can reduce STIs and unplanned pregnancies.' Flint calls Weldon 'dangerous' for America's public health, pointing to both his past anti-vaccine and anti-abortion comments. Flint says that when people share 'bad science,' it can lead to the public being uninformed about important health topics, which can have fatal consequences. Contact us at letters@
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Will AG Alan Wilson join the race for SC governor's office? He's 'considering it'
Is South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson taking on outspoken U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace to replace Gov. Henry McMaster? In a few words, he telegraphed a possible candidacy, 'I'm considering it.' Minutes before the start Beaufort County GOP's Executive Committee meeting Monday, Wilson shared his current thinking saying that he is not yet prepared to formally announce the next step in his political career. He is the second high-profile Republican to confirm they are considering throwing their hat in the ring for the 2026 race. Last week, Mace, the Republican member of the House of Representatives from the 1st Congressional District that includes Beaufort County and surrounding areas, confirmed to the Associated Press that she was considering a run. Her formal decision will be made in the coming weeks, Mace told the AP. Mace's house term ends in 2027. Wilson is currently serving in his fourth term as the state's top prosecutor. Wilson said that he was not going to make his decision based on what others do. When asked about Mace's recent comments on social media about his record, Wilson said he would allow his record to speak for itself, citing his support of Trump's Title 42, a COVID-era policy that created restrictions at the southern border to stop illegal crossing and his own work with law enforcement at all levels to go after drug cartels in the state, he said. While Wilson spent his evening addressing the congresswoman's voters, Mace visited the Midlands, making a stop at the Richland County GOP's monthly meeting. The GOP Primary will come in June 2026. Because of term limits, McMaster can't run for reelection in 2026, leaving a wide open race for future candidates. It is the first time since 2010 that South Carolina will have an open governor's race with no incumbent. Several other Republicans in the reliably red state could potentially run, including Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, John Warren, an Upstate businessman who runs a Bitcoin mining company, state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, R-Spartanburg, and state Sen. Sean Bennett, R-Dorchester. Wilson was invited to speak at the event in Bluffton Monday night. Around 120 people filled tables at the meeting as the clock approached 5:30 p.m. Notably, Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner, Beaufort County Treasurer Maria Walls and state Reps. Weston Newton and Bill Herbkersman were in attendance. At the start of the meeting, Beaufort County GOP Chair Kevin Hennelly said that Tyler Dykes, the Bluffton man who assaulted law enforcement officers with a stolen police shield during the Jan. 6 Capitol riots and has since been pardoned, was also among the crowd. The attorney general addressed the crowd for about 30 minutes, discussing how his record 'complements' the newly-elected president's agenda. He focused specifically on his office's role in combating drug and human trafficking, internet crimes committed against children and illegal border crossings. 'I'm here tonight because I was invited by this party to come here to report to my boss, the people of Beaufort County,' Wilson said, 'I work for you.' The South Carolina attorney general's office took over the investigation of former Beaufort County Administrator Eric Greenway in the final months of 2023. In Nov. 2023, the 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone requested that Wilson's office impanel the state grand jury for the investigation into Greenway's alleged misconduct. When asked about the status of the investigation, Wilson said that he was not able to comment at this time about the 'existence or non-existence' of the investigation.
