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Trump moves to general election mode with Pennsylvania rally

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WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) — Larry Mitko voted for Donald Trump in 2016. But the Republican from Beaver County in western Pennsylvania says he has no plans to back his party’s nominee for Senate, Dr. Mehmet Oz — “no way, no how.”

Mitko doesn’t feel like he knows the celebrity heart surgeon, who only narrowly won his May primary with Trump’s backing. Instead, Mitko plans to vote for Oz’s Democratic rival, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a name he’s been familiar with since Fetterman’s days as mayor of nearby Braddock.

“Dr. Oz hasn’t showed me one thing to get me to vote for him,” he said. “I won’t vote for someone I don’t know.”

Mitko’s thinking underscores the political challenges facing Trump and the rest of the Republican Party as the former president shifts to general election mode with a rally Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the first of the fall campaign.

Hours before Trump was to speak, the crowd streamed into the 10,000-seat Mohegan Sun Arena. Doug Mastriano, the GOP’s hard-line nominee for governor of Pennsylvania, was already there, as was Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga..

While Trump’s endorsed picks won many Republican primaries this summer, many of the candidates he backed were inexperienced and polarizing figures now struggling in their November races. That’s putting Senate control — once assumed to be a lock for Republicans — on the line.

Among those candidates are Oz in Pennsylvania, author JD Vance in Ohio, venture capitalist Blake Masters in Arizona and former football star Herschel Walker in Georgia.

“Republicans have now nominated a number of candidates who’ve never run for office before for very high-profile Senate races,” said veteran Republican pollster Whit Ayres. While he isn’t writing his party’s chances off just yet, he said, “It’s a much more difficult endeavor than a candidate who had won several difficult political races before.”

The stakes are particularly high for Trump as he lays the groundwork for an expected 2024 presidential run amid a series of escalating legal challenges, including the FBI’s recent seizure of classified documents from his Florida home. Investigators also continue to probe his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

This past week, President Joe Biden gave a prime-time speech in Philadelphia warning that Trump and other “MAGA” Republicans — the acronym for Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan — posed a threat to U.S. democracy. Biden has tried to frame the upcoming vote, as he did the 2020 election, as a battle for the “soul of the nation.” Biden’s Labor Day visit to Pittsburgh will be his third to the state within a week, a sign of Pennsylvania’s election-year importance.

While Republicans were once seen as having a good chance of gaining control of both chambers of Congress in November, benefitting from soaring inflation, high gas prices and Biden’s slumping approval ratings, Republicans have found themselves on defense since the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision protecting abortion rights.

Some candidates, like Mastriano, are sticking with their primary campaign playbooks, hoping they can win by turning out Trump’s loyal base even if they alienate or ignore more moderate voters.

Mastriano, who wants to outlaw abortion even when pregnancies are the result of rape or incest or endanger the life of the mother, played a leading role in Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election and was seen outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as pro-Trump rioters stormed the building.

But others have been trying to broaden their appeal, scrubbing from their websites references to anti-abortion messaging that is out of step with the political mainstream. Others have played down Trump endorsements that were once featured prominently.

The shifting climate has prompted rounds of finger-pointing in the party, including from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who last month cited “candidate quality” as he lowered expectations that Republicans would recapture control of the Senate.

Florida Sen. Rick Scott, who leads the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said those who complain about the party’s nominees have “contempt” for the voters who chose them.

Trump, too, fired back, calling McConnell a “disgrace” as he defended the party’s candidate roster.

Democrats have also piled on.

“Senate campaigns are candidate versus candidate battles and Republicans have put forward a roster of deeply flawed recruits,” said David Bergstein, the Senate Democratic campaign committee’s communication director.

He credited Trump with deterring experienced Republicans from running, elevating flawed candidates and forcing them to take positions that are out of step with the general electorate. A Trump spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.

In Pennsylvania, Republicans are hoping Oz’s shortcomings as a candidate will be overshadowed by concerns about Fetterman, who suffered a stroke just days before the primary and has been sidelined for much of the summer. He continues to keep a light public schedule and struggled to speak fluidly at a recent event.

Republicans acknowledge that Oz struggles to come off as authentic and was slow to punch back as Fetterman spent the summer trolling him on social media and portraying him as an out-of-touch carpetbagger from New Jersey.

While Fetterman leads Oz in polls and fundraising, Republicans say they expect the money gap to narrow and are pleased to see Oz within striking distance after getting hammered by $20 million in negative advertising during the primaries.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee is helping finance a new round of Oz’s television ads, and the Senate Leadership Fund, a McConnell-aligned super political action committee, says it added $9.5 million to its TV buy — boosting its overall commitment to $34.1 million by Election Day.

A super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., says it has made $32 million in television ad reservations in the state.

Oz has won over some once-skeptical voters, like Glen Rubendall, who didn’t vote for the TV doctor in his seven-way primary — a victory so narrow it went to a statewide recount — but said he’s come around.

“I’ve been listening to him speak, and I have a pro-Oz view now,” said Rubendall, a retired state corrections officer.

Traci Martin, a registered independent, also plans to vote for Oz because she opposes abortion, despite ads that aired during the primary featuring past Oz statements that seemed supportive of abortion rights.

“I hope he is (anti-abortion),” Martin said, “but the sad part is we live in an age when we see politicians say one thing and do another.”

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Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writer Brian Slodysko in Washington contributed to this report.

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Follow AP for full coverage of the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections and on Twitter, https://twitter.com/ap_politics



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Fetterman criticizes Oz campaign’s eat-your-vegetables health advice

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Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who, by his account, “almost died” after he suffered a stroke in May, is taking exception to health advice from the campaign of his Senate rival, celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz.

Rachel Tripp, Oz’s senior communications adviser, said in a statement Tuesday: “If John Fetterman had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then maybe he wouldn’t have had a major stroke and wouldn’t be in the position of having to lie about it constantly.” The statement was first reported by Insider.

Fetterman (D), who initially downplayed the severity of the stroke just before the primary in May and has slowly been making his way back to the campaign trail, said earlier this month that he is “grateful” to be alive. On Wednesday he said that the comment from his Republican foe, who hosted a reality show dispensing medical advice, has pulled the race to a new rhetorical low.

“I had a stroke. I survived it,” Fetterman said in a statement. “I know politics can be nasty, but even then, I could never imagine ridiculing someone for their health challenges.”

In addition to that statement, Fetterman’s campaign on Wednesday also released a letter from more than 100 physicians in the state criticizing Oz for what they said is his history of “promoting unproven, ill-advised, and at times potentially dangerous treatments.”

“As a TV celebrity doctor, Mehmet Oz has displayed a shameful disregard for medical science and the well-being of his audience,” the doctors wrote in the letter.

Oz has promoted dubious weight-loss cures and in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic suggested chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as treatment for covid-19.

In a report released Wednesday, the House select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis said White House officials and outside allies such as Oz also pressed federal officials in 2020 to authorize hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment.

The latest clash between Fetterman and Oz comes as Democrats seek to hold onto their razor-thin control of the Senate in the midterm elections, which historically have seen loses for the party that controls the White House. Oz narrowly won the Republican nomination thanks in part to his personal fortune and an endorsement from former president Donald Trump.

The candidates have traded barbs in public statements and through social media. Fetterman’s team has sought to portray Oz as a rich carpetbagger from New Jersey; Team Oz is depicting Fetterman as a soft-on-crime, sanctuary-city supporting socialist.

The memes of the race have, at times, produced unintentionally hilarious moments, and have helped boost the perception that momentum is with Fetterman. In April, Oz released a video where, in an attempt to discuss inflation, purchased vegetables at a supermarket. “That’s $20 for crudite!” Oz said in the video.

The video later went viral after viewers noted Oz said he had been shopping in a “Wegner’s,” which doesn’t exist but sounded like a combination of supermarkets Redner’s and Wegman’s, and that most people would call what he was putting together, simply, as a vegetable tray.

The Oz campaign, in its criticism of Fetterman’s eating habits on Tuesday, has kept the issue alive for more than a week. Fetterman, meanwhile, has capitalized on it, saying his campaign has raised half a million dollars over the video, including $65,000 from a sticker with the words: “Wegners: Let them eat Crudite.”

Fetterman also mocked Oz after the Daily Beast revealed he owns 10 properties, instead of the two he had publicly acknowledged.

Oz defended himself by saying he purchased his houses with his own money — a swipe at Fetterman, who relied on significant financial assistance from his family until becoming lieutenant governor in 2019.

The two are vying for the seat held by Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.), who is retiring at the end of his term.

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Florida Democrats choose Rep. Crist to challenge DeSantis

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MIAMI (AP) — U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist won the Democratic nomination for governor in Florida on Tuesday, putting him in position to challenge Gov. Ron DeSantis this fall in a campaign that the Republican incumbent is eyeing as the first step toward a potential White House run.

U.S. Rep. Val Demings seized the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Sen. Marco Rubio this fall. Demings, a former police chief and a prodigious political fundraiser, has a chance to become Florida’s first Black female senator.

In selecting Crist in the race for governor, Florida Democrats sided with a candidate backed by many in the party’s establishment who viewed him as the safest choice, even after he lost his previous two statewide elections. The 66-year-old already served one term as a Republican governor more than a decade ago before becoming a Democrat. His moderate stances could appeal to voters in Florida’s teeming suburbs as Democrats seek to reverse a losing pattern in a state that was recently seen as a perennial political battleground.

Crist defeated Nikki Fried, the state agriculture commissioner. She staked out a more progressive campaign and was particularly vocal in defending abortion and LGBTQ rights. The 44-year-old cast herself as “something new” and hoped to become Florida’s first female governor. In a sign of the party’s meager standing in Florida, she’s currently the only Democrat holding statewide office.

But the race ultimately centered on the political future of DeSantis, who emerged from a narrow victory four years ago to become one of the most prominent figures in GOP politics. His hands-off approach to the pandemic and eagerness to lean into divides over race, gender and LGBTQ rights have resonated with many Republican voters who see DeSantis as a natural heir to former President Donald Trump.

DeSantis’ reelection effort is widely assumed to be a precursor to a presidential run in 2024, adding to a sense of urgency among Democrats to blunt his rise now.

The Florida contest concludes the busiest stretch of primaries this year, which featured contests in 18 states over just 22 days. In that span, Republicans from Arizona to Alaska have supported contenders who embraced Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen, an assertion roundly rejected by elections officials, the former president’s attorney general and judges he appointed.

And for the most part, Democrats have avoided brutal primary fights — with some exceptions. Voters in New York Tuesday night decided congressional primaries that featured two powerful Democratic committee chairs, Carolyn Maloney and Jerry Nadler, competing for the same seat and other incumbents fending off challenges from the left.

Democrats are entering the final weeks ahead of the midterms with a sense of cautious optimism, hoping the Supreme Court’s decision overturning a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion will energize the party’s base. But Democrats still face tremendous headwinds, including economic uncertainty and the historic reality that most parties lose seats in the first midterm after they’ve won the White House.

The dynamics are especially challenging for Democrats in Florida, one of the most politically divided states in the U.S. Its last three races for governor were decided by 1 percentage point or less. But the state has steadily become more favorable to Republicans in recent years.

For the first time in modern history, Florida has more registered Republicans — nearly 5.2 million — than Democrats, who have nearly 5 million registered voters. Fried serves as the only Democrat in statewide office. And Republicans have no primary competition for four of those five positions – governor, U.S. Senate, attorney general and chief financial officer — which are all held by GOP incumbents.

Democrats hope that Demings, who defeated a little-known candidate in her Senate primary Tuesday, can unseat the state’s senior U.S. senator, Republican Marco Rubio, this fall. But for now, the party’s national leadership is prioritizing competitive Senate contests in other states, including neighboring Georgia, Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Demings sounded an optimistic note as she reflected on her unlikely life story.

“Together, I really do believe this daughter of a maid and janitor who is not supposed to be standing here tonight — I really do believe that together we can do anything,” she said.

In Florida’s governor’s race, the Supreme Court’s abortion decision animated the final weeks of the Democratic primary.

Fried promoted herself as the only true abortion-rights supporter in the race, seizing on Crist’s appointment of two conservative Supreme Court justices while he was governor.

The conservative-leaning court will soon decide whether the Republican-backed state legislature’s law to ban abortions after 15 weeks is constitutional. Florida’s new abortion law is in effect, with exceptions if the procedure is necessary to save the pregnant woman’s life, to prevent serious injury or if the fetus has a fatal abnormality. It does not allow exemptions in cases of rape, incest or human trafficking.

Crist insisted he is “pro-choice” and highlighted a bill he vetoed as governor in 2010 that would have required women seeking a first-trimester abortion to get and pay for an ultrasound exam.

“It is a woman’s right to choose,” Crist told the AP. “My record is crystal clear. And for my opponent to try to muddy that up is unconscionable, unfair and unwise.”

DeSantis and Fried spent several hours together Tuesday morning during a Cabinet meeting at the Tallahassee statehouse. They kept things cordial during the hourslong event, which placed Fried seats away from the governor as they heard reports from agency heads on state finances, contracting and other matters.

DeSantis shook Fried’s hand as the meeting concluded and told her “good luck” before criticizing her campaign and predicting her loss in brief remarks to reporters.

“I think that you know she had an opportunity as being the only Democrat elected statewide to exercise some leadership and maybe get some things done and instead she’s used her time to try and smear me on a daily basis, that’s all she does,” DeSantis said of Fried.

After the meeting, Fried told reporters she thought the governor had scheduled the meeting as a way to sideline her during her final day of campaigning.

“Of course it’s not a coincidence,” she said of the meeting’s timing. “I think that he is scared of me winning tonight so he’s doing everything in his power to keep me off the campaign trail today.”

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Peoples reported from Washington, Farrington from Tallahassee. Associated Press writers Anthony Izaguirre in Tallahassee and Marc Levy in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.

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Follow AP for full coverage of the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ap_politics.



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Former Tennessee Speaker Casada arrested in corruption probe

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s disgraced former House Speaker Glen Casada and his top aide were arrested Tuesday on federal charges including bribery, kickbacks and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Their indictments follow the abrupt resignation in March of Republican Rep. Robin Smith, who pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud charges involving Casada and his chief of staff, Cade Cothren. Speculation has swirled about what additional charges might come in the corruption probe.

The 20-count charging document alleges Casada and Cothren exploited their positions of power by working with another unnamed lawmaker to funnel money to themselves using a political consulting firm — known as Phoenix Solutions, LLC — that concealed their involvement.

“It was further part of the conspiracy for Casada and the other conspirator to enrich themselves by obtaining bribes and kickbacks from Cothren, in exchange for securing the approval of Phoenix Solutions as a mailer program vendor,” a Justice Department news release said.

FBI agents arrested Casada and Cothren at their homes Tuesday morning. If convicted, they each face up to 20 years in prison.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton, who succeeded his fellow Republican in the leadership post, was among several lawmakers and former or current staffers to testify in front of a grand jury in March. Sexton commended the FBI on Tuesday, saying he will continue assisting in the investigation if a trial is needed. Smith also promised to cooperate as a potential witness.

Revelations about the case also prompted lawmakers to pass tougher state campaign finance and ethics requirements this year.

“Today is a good day for Tennesseans because we did not turn a blind eye on these criminal activities,” Sexton said.

Casada resigned as speaker in 2019 but held onto his seat after revelations that he and Cothren had exchanged sexually explicit text messages about women years earlier. He is not running for reelection this year. Cothren lost his legislative job in the texting scandal, but remained involved in Republican politics.

FBI agents searched the homes and offices of several state lawmakers in January 2021, including those of Casada and Smith, and the home of Cothren.

The charging documents revealed Tuesday say Cothren launched Phoenix Solutions with Smith’s and Casada’s “knowledge and support” to offer mail and consulting services to lawmakers. All three claimed the firm was run by a “Matthew Phoenix” when in fact it was a made-up alias for Cothren, and Casada knew the name was fictitious, the documents allege.

The documents allege Smith emailed Cothren at one point saying he “may have to assume the role of Matthew again.” He replied saying, “Matthew, reporting for duty!” and included a GIF of “a salute from Harrison Ford’s character Han Solo in the movie Star Wars,” officials said.

Federal investigators said a separate text exchange showed Casada texted Cothren in late 2019 saying “I think this is starting off well I’m pleased!” Cothren later cautioned that “we just have to make sure no one knows it’s me involved,” they said.

When Casada raised concerns about lawmakers wanting “representatives from Phoenix” to make an in-person presentation, Cothren responded that they would remind lawmakers “they live in New Mexico. Will have to get on the phone for it and I could disguise my voice if I has (sic) to.”

Phoenix Solutions received roughly $52,000 from the state in payments associated with the mailer program, according to the charging documents.

Meanwhile, Cothren continues to fight a subpoena over the state campaign finance regulators’ investigation into the Faith Family Freedom Fund PAC.

Ahead of the 2020 GOP primary election, the political action committee targeted then-Rep. Rick Tillis, the brother of North Carolina U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis. Rick Tillis lost to Republican Rep. Todd Warner, who was among those subject to the FBI searches in January 2021.

The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance decided to reopen its probe into the PAC after its treasurer testified in January that she is Cothren’s former girlfriend and opened the PAC because Cothren asked her to. She said Cothren assured her she was doing nothing wrong and that she took no further action.

Cothren has informed the registry that he is invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and won’t abide by its subpoena. The registry handed the case off to state prosecutors. The state has sued over Cothren’s refusal.

Casada also was subpoenaed, and told the registry he wasn’t involved with the PAC. Casada opted to run for Williamson County clerk this year instead of his statehouse seat, and lost in the GOP primary.

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Grand jury weighs possible charges against North Carolina AG

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A local North Carolina grand jury on Monday advanced its consideration of possible criminal charges against state Attorney General Josh Stein and two aides over an investigation into a political ad targeting Stein’s 2020 election opponent.

After hearing from a State Bureau of Investigation agent, the Wake County grand jury asked in writing that the Wake district attorney’s office submit an indictment for consideration “against any and each” of three people, including Stein himself.

The Democratic attorney general, his 2020 campaign manager Eric Stern and current state Justice Department chief of staff Seth Dearmin — a former Stein campaign manager — were identified in Monday’s “presentment” document signed by the jury foreperson. They have not been charged with any crime.

Stein, a potential 2024 candidate for governor, lashed out in a statement at what he called a “nonsense investigation.”

The investigation stems from a State Board of Elections complaint filed in fall 2020 by Stein’s Republican opponent, Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill. He accused Stein’s campaign of circulating a political ad that violated a 91-year-old libel law.

The O’Neill campaign said Stein’s commercial, which accused the Republican of letting more than a thousand rape kits go untested, was “false and derogatory” because police rather than prosecutors are responsible for testing rape kits. Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman’s office began investigating in 2021.

Freeman, also a Democrat, said Monday that her office could present the grand jury with a possible indictment as soon as next month. But a ruling as early as this week from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could derail the district attorney’s push for prosecution.

Stein’s campaign committee has said the ad was truthful.

Freeman “continues to pursue her nonsense investigation over a campaign ad that is true from an election that is long since passed, using a 91-year-old statute that has never been used against any other candidate,” the Stein campaign wrote in a statement Monday. “While the attorney general is disappointed by this ongoing distraction, he continues to focus on his work to test sexual assault kits and get justice for survivors of sexual assault.”

Freeman has recused herself from the case — citing her working relationship with O’Neill and Stein — and gave it to a senior assistant in her office.

Stein’s campaign committee asked the appeals court last week to issue a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the state law while the committee and other plaintiffs seek to strike it down as unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles refused last week to grant the injunction.

Dating to at least 1931, the law makes it illegal to deliberately disseminate a false “derogatory report” that could harm a candidate’s chance of election.

The misdemeanor for violating the law carries a penalty of up to 60 days in jail with up to $1,000 in fines, but someone with an otherwise clean criminal record would avoid serving time if convicted. Any criminal charge against Stein or his aides could harm the Democrat’s electoral prospects.

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Hannah Schoenbaum is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/H_Schoenbaum.



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Health

Overlapping emergencies strain the nation’s public health workforce and threaten critical vaccination campaigns

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Health officials are banking on vaccinations to contain monkeypox and polio before those become standing threats in the United States. They’re counting on updated boosters to restore waning immunity against Covid-19. With influenza expected back in the US this fall, flu shots could be critical to prevent severe illness and keep hospitals from becoming overwhelmed.

While the federal government will facilitate getting these inoculations to states, it will be the 2,820 state and local health departments that will spearhead the work of getting shots into arms, and public health experts say it’s not clear that these offices have enough funding or staff to get the job done.

“I think it’s deeply worrisome,” said Dr. Peggy Hamburg, former health commissioner for New York City and former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration. “It’s hard to imagine how state and local health departments can all mobilize, and they desperately do need additional support.”

“I think we have to recognize that this is a very vulnerable time,” said Hamburg, who recently chaired a commission for the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund on how to modernize the nation’s public health system.

After almost three years of contending with vaccine hesitancy, politics and a global pandemic, the nation’s public health workers are frayed and leaving their posts. More than 1 in 4 health department leaders quit their jobs during the pandemic, some after harassment and death threats. Studies are underway to measure how deeply those losses extended to their staff.

Now, these depleted agencies are being asked to tackle new threats like monkeypox without additional funding to handle them.

‘Overwhelmed is an understatement’

Can these agencies pull it off?

“Probably not,” says Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist and assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in an email to CNN. “Public health is chronically underfunded and understaffed. Substantial capacity was built during the COVID-19 response — for example, contact tracing teams — but many jurisdictions have wound down that infrastructure. Covid money is largely inflexible, so it can’t really be used for other threats like monkeypox.”

The nation’s vaccinators say they are struggling.

“Overwhelmed is an understatement,” said Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers.

Hannan said her members have not received any funding to carry out a vaccination campaign against monkeypox. Yet they’ve just been asked the change how the vaccine is given, switching from a more familiar under-the-skin injection to a shallower method that squirts the vaccine between skin layers, something that requires training to do correctly. The hope is that intradermal shots, which require one-fifth of a regular dose, can quickly increase supplies of this hard-to-get vaccine.

As a result, immunization managers are scrambling to find money and staff to order vaccines, manually track inventory, transport shots to the locations where they’re needed, train providers, and collect and send data back to federal health agencies like the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On top of that, ordering has started for updated boosters to protect against the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of the Omicron strain of the new coronavirus, which have been promised to Americans by mid-September.

Allotments in these early orders have been smaller than anticipated, Hannan said, which is forcing city and state health officials to develop plans for who should be first in line to get them, should demand initially outstrip supply.

Additionally, many cities are currently testing their sewage for poliovirus after it was detected recently in Rockland County, New York, and New York City. If additional community spread is suspected, those areas may need to mount vaccination campaigns to protect residents who haven’t had the shot, such as recent immigrants or young children who missed routine immunizations during the pandemic.

Children typically get four doses of the polio vaccine by the time they’re six years of age in the US, but many kids have fallen behind on their shots. Globally, the pandemic led to the largest backslide in childhood vaccination rates in 30 years, according to the World Health Organization. Health officials fear the erosion of this coverage has set the stage for the return of other infectious diseases, like measles.

“A break or a gap in delivery of vaccines sets us up for further outbreaks,” said Dr. Davidson Hamer, an infectious disease specialist at Boston University.

Distrust fuels hostility and hesitancy

Vaccines are considered one of the greatest triumphs of modern medicine, second only to clean water as a cost-effective health intervention. Each year, they prevent millions of deaths around the world. In their first year of use, the Covid-19 vaccines prevented nearly 20 million deaths, a recent study found.

Yet vaccine hesitancy has increased, fueled by misinformation on social media. While more than three-quarters of Americans are vaccinated against Covid-19, 19% say they definitely won’t get a Covid-19 vaccine.

If all these challenges weren’t enough, annual flu shots are due to roll out soon, and they could be especially important this fall.

Influenza made a comeback in Australia this year for the first time since the pandemic began. United States health officials watch Australia’s flu season closely for clues about what could happen here. They’re anticipating that we could see more flu transmission this year than we have for the past two years, and flu vaccinations will be key to preventing hospitalizations and deaths.

“I think right now we have a perfect storm in the vaccine world happening in this country,” said Michael Osterholm, who directs the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.

He points out that even though average daily Covid-19 deaths are much lower than they were in 2020 and 2021, the US is still averaging more than 400 a day, making it the nation’s fourth leading cause of death. Most of those deaths are in unvaccinated people, according to the CDC.

Overall, more than 1 in 5 Americans are still unvaccinated against Covid-19, and that number doesn’t seem likely to budge. Vaccination rates are mostly stagnant.

It would take a more robust public health workforce, and a better funded one, to rebuild confidence in vaccines.

A recent study by The de Beaumont Foundation, a nonprofit that works to strengthen public health, found the public health system needs 80,000 more full-time staff — a whopping 80% increase over current staffing levels — to provide basic community services, like monitoring and controlling the spread of infectious diseases.

Brian Castrucci, president and CEO of that organization, says America won’t be able to restore its public health workforce until people value and respect the work they do.

“What we’ve seen during Covid is a fringe anti-vax movement move more mainstream, endangering our nation’s safety, security and economic prosperity,” Castrucci said. “It’s going to be harder and harder to vaccinate.”

“We are privileged as a society that we haven’t seen children in with crutches from polio. No one’s in an iron lung. And it has made us somewhat numb to the potential of what could really happen,” he said. “These are virulent diseases.”

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Cheney and Murkowski: Trump critics facing divergent futures

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JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — They hail from their states’ most prominent Republican families. They have been among the GOP’s sharpest critics of former President Donald Trump. And after the Jan. 6 insurrection, they supported his impeachment.

But for all their similarities, the political fortunes of U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming are poised to diverge on Tuesday when they’re each on the ballot in closely watched primary elections.

Cheney faces daunting prospects in her effort to fend off the Trump-backed Harriet Hageman, increasingly looking at a life beyond Capitol Hill that could include a possible presidential campaign. Murkowski, however, is expected to advance from her primary and is already planning to compete in the November general election.

The anticipated outcomes at least partially stem from the nuanced politics of each state. Wyoming is a Republican stronghold, delivering Trump his strongest victory of any state in the 2020 campaign. Alaska, meanwhile, has a history of rewarding candidates with an independent streak.

But Murkowski enjoys an additional advantage in the way elections are being conducted in Alaska this year. Winner-take-all party primaries, like the one Cheney is facing, have been replaced by a voter-approved process in which all candidates are listed together. The four who get the most votes, regardless of party affiliation, advance to the general election in which ranked voting will be used.

Murkowski benefits from avoiding a Republican primary, “which she would have had a zero percent — I mean zero percent — chance of winning,” said Alaska pollster Ivan Moore.

Murkowski has 18 challengers in her primary, the most prominent being Republican Kelly Tshibaka, whom Trump has endorsed. The Alaska Democratic Party, meanwhile, has endorsed Pat Chesbro, a retired educator.

In an interview, Murkowski insisted she would be among the candidates advancing from the primary and said her success requires, in part, coalition building.

“That’s kind of my strong suit, that’s what I do,” she said.

For his part, Trump has been harsh in his assessment of Murkowski. At a rally in Anchorage last month with Tshibaka and Sarah Palin, whom he’s endorsed for Alaska’s only House seat, he called Murkowski “the worst. I rate her No. 1 bad.”

Trump participated in a telerally for Tshibaka on Thursday while Murkowski mingled with supporters at a campaign office opening in Juneau, which boasted a spread that included moose chili and smoked salmon dip. Murkowski said Trump isn’t a factor in the campaign she’s running.

“He is going to do what he’s going to do,” she said. But she told supporters the campaign will be challenging.

Murkowski was censured by Alaska Republican Party leaders last year over numerous grievances, including the impeachment vote and speaking critically of Trump and her support of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s nomination.

Tuckerman Babcock, a former state Republican Party chair who is running for state Senate, said Murkowski has lost the support of many Alaska Republicans, which he called a “political reality over a record of many years.”

Republicans in Alaska are “almost unanimous in their opposition to Lisa Murkowski,” he said. “Are they divided on other issues? Of course.”

Babcock said the new elections system lets candidates “self-identify” with a party and is not an improvement over the old party primary process.

Chuck Kopp, a Republican former state legislator, is hopeful about the new system. Kopp lost his 2020 Republican primary after being part of a bipartisan state House majority composed largely of Democrats.

“It’s only the fringe that is clinging like a death grip on a failed paradigm, and that paradigm is extreme partisanship at all costs,” he said. “I think Alaska is going to take a leadership role in moving away from that. That’s what I’m hoping for.”

Kopp said that while he has not always supported Murkowski, she has been “fearless when it counts for this country.”

“I think she has shown that personality cults aren’t conservative, conspiracy theories aren’t conservative and treating politics like a religion is not conservative,” Kopp said. He said he thinks Murkowski has more support throughout Alaska than party activists give her credit for.

The Senate seat has been held by a Murkowski since 1981; before Lisa Murkowski, it was her father, Republican Frank Murkowski. He appointed his daughter to succeed him in 2002 after he became governor. Murkowski won the seat in her own right in 2004.

Murkowski has not cracked 50% of the vote in a Senate general election, and needing to build a coalition of support is nothing new to her. She won a write-in campaign in 2010 after losing that year’s Republican primary to tea party favorite Joe Miller.

Murkowski overwhelmingly won her Republican primary against little-known opponents in 2016, the year Trump was elected.

Rosita Worl, an Alaska Native leader, referred to the 2010 primary as “the debacle” and said Alaska Natives rallied around Murkowski and her write-in bid. Worl, who attended Murkowski’s Juneau campaign event, said she is not a Republican herself but sees Murkowski as an Alaskan and said the senator has “always supported our issues.”

State Rep. Zack Fields, a Democrat seeking reelection to an Anchorage legislative seat, said there are yards in his district with signs for him and Murkowski. He said he doesn’t agree with Murkowski on the “majority of votes that she’s cast over her career.”

“But she has shown that she believes in democracy and will work with people to accomplish things that are the right thing for citizens. That actually is at risk right now,” he said.

Fields called the insurrection “horrifying.”

“But what was even frankly more terrifying than that is that so many elected officials and high-ranking so-called leaders would excuse it, justify it and otherwise embolden those who threaten democracy,” he said.

Cheney is the vice chair of the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot. The insurrection was a big issue during a June debate between Cheney and Republican challengers, including Hageman. Hageman said the committee was “not focused on things that are important to the people of Wyoming.”

Entering the final stretch of her primary campaign, Cheney hasn’t backed down. She released a video on Thursday with a closing message reinforcing her criticism of Trump.

“The lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen is insidious,” Cheney said. “It preys on those who love their country. It is a door Donald Trump opened to manipulate Americans to abandon their principles, to sacrifice their freedom, to justify violence, to ignore the rulings of our courts and the rule of law.”

She added, “This is Donald Trump’s legacy, but it cannot be the future of our nation.”

In the interview, Murkowski said Cheney has shown courage.

“I think she has looked at this and said, this is not about Liz Cheney,” Murkowski said. “This is about … the difference between right and wrong. And she is doing her job under very challenging circumstances. But I think she’s doing it because she believes she has to.”

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Hulu not running political ads on main issues in Democratic midterm campaigns

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The Disney-backed streaming service Hulu is refusing to run political ads on central themes of Democratic midterm campaigns, including abortion and guns, prompting fury from the party’s candidates and leaders.

The streaming service popular among younger voters, which has a policy against running content deemed controversial, is like other digital providers in not being bound by the Communications Act of 1934, a law that requires broadcast television networks to provide politicians equal access to the airwaves.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic Governors Association tried to purchase joint ads on abortion and guns with Hulu on July 15, along with identical placements on a Disney-affiliated ABC affiliate in Philadelphia and the company’s cable sports channel ESPN. The Hulu ads never ran, while the others did.

“Hulu’s censorship of the truth is outrageous, offensive, and another step down a dangerous path for our country,” the executive directors of the three committees, Christie Roberts, Tim Persico and Noam Lee, said in a statement provided to The Washington Post. “Voters have the right to know the facts about MAGA Republicans’ agenda on issues like abortion — and Hulu is doing a huge disservice to the American people by blocking voters from learning the truth about the GOP record or denying these issues from even being discussed.”

The party committees join a growing list of Democratic candidates who have had spots mentioning gun violence, abortion or political violence rejected by Hulu.

Suraj Patel, a Democratic candidate for Congress in New York City, posted a letter of protest, first reported by Jezebel, to Disney CEO Bob Chapek and Hulu President Joe Earley complaining that a Hulu representative told his campaign there was an “unwritten Hulu policy” that deemed the topics in one of his ads too “sensitive” for the platform. The ad in question mentioned Republican successes around abortion, climate change and gun violence, while also showing footage of the violence from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“To not discuss these topics in my campaign ad is to not address the most important issues facing the United States,” Patel wrote. “Your ban on mobilization messaging has a perverse effect on Democracy.”

Patel said in an interview Sunday that the ad was allowed to run after he edited it, replacing the word “climate change” with “democracy” and replacing the footage of violence at the U.S. Capitol with footage of former president Donald Trump. He has not received a response from Chapek or Earley, he said.

“This policy has incredible implications for people nationwide, both voters and people running for office,” Patel said. “You need to communicate with younger voters on the mediums where they are watching. Cable is not where they are watching.”

Hulu contacted Patel’s campaign Monday afternoon, after the initial publication of this story that morning, to tell him that his original ad would be accepted, including the images of violence on Jan. 6.

“I want to thank Hulu for allowing Americans to know about the most pressing issues of our day,” Patel said in a statement after the approval. “Sometimes a simple conversation can make change.”

A person familiar with Hulu’s policies, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk about internal matters, said the decision to approve Patel’s ad had been made before Monday, though it was not immediately communicated to his campaign. This person said that the company does not publicly disclose its advertising guidelines but that they prohibit advertising that takes a position on a controversial issue, regardless of whether it is a political ad. The ads are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, with edits sometimes recommended to the advertisers.

In recent months, the company has reevaluated its policy implementation to give candidates greater flexibility to explain their positions, the person said.

“We do accept candidate ads that reference those topics,” this person said about abortion and gun violence. “It needs to be in context.”

Disney and Hulu declined through a spokesperson a request for comment.

The blocked ads do not use violent or jarring imagery. One spot lists statistics about the harm of gun violence and criticizes Republican efforts to block more gun regulation. The other warns that Republicans are trying to “rip away” access to abortion without exceptions for rape, incest or the lives of those who are pregnant.

Disney faced a separate employee backlash earlier this year after corporate leaders declined to make a public statement opposing a Republican bill in Florida that prohibited teachers from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity with younger students. Chapek subsequently reversed course, apologized to his workers, criticized the Republican measure and froze campaign contributions in Florida.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) responded by signing a bill intended to strip Disney World of its special tax status near Orlando.

“It’s really problematic that when a company had been so synonymous with parents of young children to come out against the parents’ rights bill,” DeSantis said.

The tracking firm Kantar Media projects $7.8 billion will be spent on political advertising for the 2022 election season, with about $1.2 billion going to over-the-top and connected TV spending, a category that includes ads delivered through streaming services and set-top boxes like Roku. The streaming spending, according to Kantar, is “the new darling of the political set.”

But streaming services have proved harder to negotiate with for political buyers. Disney has told advertisers that political and alcohol ads will not be accepted on Disney Plus, a separate streaming service, when it launches an ad-supported version later this year. Netflix announced this month that it is developing an ad-supported version with Microsoft, though the company has not specified its advertising policies.

Democratic concerns over Hulu’s ad policies have been exacerbated by the company’s vague and sometimes contradictory communications with ad buyers. Three days after placing the ad buy, the three Democratic committees were told by Hulu through a vendor that the delay was “content related,” according to a person familiar with the events, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the internal process.

The next day, Democrats scheduled a call with Hulu to discuss the matter, but the Hulu officials canceled the call just as it was about to begin, suggesting by email that they reschedule “later in the day,” the person said. Hulu officials did not communicate further that day.

An attorney for the Democratic committees emailed twice and called twice the following day, in an effort to restart discussions, receiving no response, the person said. The following day, on Thursday, Lance Delaney, an account executive in Disney advertising sales, emailed to say, “We have received creative approval,” only to follow up hours later with a message that said, “This message was sent in error.”

Patel’s campaign received a similar message from a Hulu representative on Thursday, asking him to resubmit the original ad. He said the Hulu official suggested that “they had some kind of meeting and standards were changing.” The following day, Patel said, the campaign was told the original ad would still not run. On Monday, he found out it would run.

This is not the first time Democrats have been angered by digital providers refusing their ads. During the 2020 campaign cycle, Priorities USA Action and the Color of Change PAC, two independent liberal groups, had ads rejected by Hulu, Google and Verizon that showed clips of police hitting protesters during that summer’s protests over police brutality.

“Anti-violence content policies were clearly put in place for good reasons but we don’t live in reasonable times,” Jenn Stowe, the deputy executive director of Priorities USA, said in a statement at the time.

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Technology

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Actor Campaigns for Marvel’s Wolverine Role

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Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy actor Jon McLaren is campaigning to play Wolverine in the upcoming Marvel’s Wolverine. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy was a surprise critical darling last year, but it failed to be the big financial hit that something like Marvel’s Spider-Man managed to be. It was praised for its gameplay, but it really received the most acclaim for its beautiful story and even better characters. It felt like it belonged within the James Gunn films, without completely ripping them off. The cast also did a beautiful job of emulating the characters while making them their own. The writing was so strong, that a writer for the game went on to work for BioWare to help write the next Mass Effect game.

Although the future of the Guardians of the Galaxy games remains unclear, Star-Lord actor Jon McLaren wants to play another Marvel hero. The actor took to Twitter to campaign for the role of Wolverine in Marvel’s Wolverine. It was announced in 2021 that Insomniac Games would be working on a new Wolverine game, something that caught fans off-guard. The developer is also working on Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, but the Wolverine game was a well-kept secret. As of right now, no one has been announced as Wolverine, so there are a handful of notable video game actors like David Hayter vying for the role. The game has no release date, so it’s unclear if any casting has been done for the game quite yet.

Major actors like Taron Egerton are also campaigning to play Wolverine in the MCU, but it’s unclear if or when the character will be integrated into the films. There are very few details about Marvel’s Wolverine but Insomniac has promised the game will be “mature”, likely suggesting it won’t shy away from the heavier themes revolving around the character. Fans are also hoping that this will lead to another violent Wolverine game in the vein of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Only time will tell how it turns out, but it seems like the game is in safe hands.



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Jan. 6 witnesses: We told Trump not to claim quick victory

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien and other top aides testified Monday at the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack that they believed the 2020 presidential race was too close to call on Election Night, but Trump nevertheless declared himself the winner.

Stepien abruptly backed out of appearing live Monday at the hearing, because his wife went into labor. But the panel marched ahead after a morning scramble, showing previously recorded testimony from the ex-campaign manager and others close to the president, including Ivanka Trump.

“My belief, my recommendation was to say that votes were still being counted, it’s too early to tell, too early to call the race.” Stepien said in the recorded testimony.

Asked if anyone disagreed with him, Stepien replied that Trump “thought I was wrong. He told me so.”

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot opened its hearing Monday counting Stepien as a key witness. The panel is delving deeper into what it calls the “big lie,” the defeated Republican president’s false claims of voter fraud that fueled his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and provoked a mob of his supporters to lay siege to the U.S. Capitol.

Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., opened the hearing saying Trump “betrayed the trust of the American people” and “tried to remain in office when people had voted him out.”

Instead of his live testimony, the panel relied on Stepien’s previously recorded interview with the panel, given behind closed doors, about what the campaign team was telling Trump as he lost the election. A longtime Trump ally, Stepien had been subpoenaed to appear at the open hearing.

Stepien and senior adviser Jason Miller testified that the festive mood at the White House on election night turned as Fox News announced Trump had lost the state of Arizona to Joe Biden, and aides worked to cousnel Trump on what to do next. They pushed back against Rudy Giuliani who was encouraging Trump to declare himself the winner.

Monday’s hearing also was tfeaturing other live witnesses, including Chris Stirewalt, a former Fox News Channel political editor who declared on Election Night that Arizona was being won by Biden..

Committee members say they have uncovered enough evidence for the Justice Department to consider an unprecedented criminal indictment against the former president.

Thompson, D-Miss., and vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., were leading the hearing after last week’s blockbuster session drew nearly 20 million Americans to see its prime-time findings.

For the past year, the committee has been investigating the most violent attack on the Capitol since the War of 1812 to ensure such an assault never happens again. Lawmakers hope to show that Trump’s effort to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory posed a grave threat to democracy.

Stepien, who remains close to Trump, oversaw the “conversion” of Trump’s presidential campaign to a “Stop the Steal” effort, according to a subpoena issued by the committee last fall. He was to face questions about what those in Trump’s inner circle were telling the president about the election results. Stepien is now a top campaign adviser to the Trump-endorsed House candidate, Harriet Hageman, who is challenging Cheney in the Wyoming Republican primary election.

Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich suggested Sunday that the committee’s decision to call Stepien was politically motivated.

A second group of witnesses testifying Monday was to be made up of election officials, investigators and experts who were likely to discuss Trump’s responses to the election, including dozens of failed court challenges, and how his actions diverged from U.S. norms.

Among them those witnesses is the former U.S. attorney in Atlanta, BJay Pak, who abruptly resigned after Trump pressured Georgia state officials to overturn his presidential defeat. Trump wanted to fire Pak as disloyal, but Pak stepped down after Trump’s call urging Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn Biden’s win in the state became public.

The panel will also hear from former Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt, the only Republican on the election board and who faced down criticism as the state’s election was called for Biden, and noted Washington attorney and elections lawyer Benjamin Ginsberg.

As he mulls another White House run, Trump insists the committee’s investigation is a “witch hunt.” Last week he said Jan. 6 “represented the greatest movement in the history of our country.”

Nine people died in the riot and its aftermath, including a Trump supporter shot and killed by police. More than 800 people have been arrested in the siege, and members of two extremist groups have been indicted on rare sedition charges over their roles leading the charge into the Capitol.

In its prime-time hearing, the committee laid out how Trump was told over and over again by his trusted aides and officials at the highest levels of government that there was no election fraud on a scale that could have changed the outcome. But Trump pursued his false claims about the election and beckoned supporters to Washington on Jan. 6 to overturn Biden’s victory as Congress was set to certify the Electoral College results.

Additional evidence is to be released in hearings this week focusing on Trump’s decision to ignore the outcome of the election and the court cases that ruled against him.

Monday’s hearing was also turning to the millions of fundraising dollars Trump’s team brought in in the run-up to Jan. 6, according to a committee aide who insisted on anonymity to discuss the details.

The committee has said most of those interviewed in the investigation are coming forward voluntarily, although some have demanded subpoenas to appear in public.

Lawmakers indicated that perhaps their most important audience member over the course of the hearings may be Attorney General Merrick Garland, who must decide whether his department can and should prosecute Trump. They left no doubt as to their own view whether the evidence is sufficient to proceed.

“Once the evidence is accumulated by the Justice Department, it needs to make a decision about whether it can prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt the president’s guilt or anyone else’s,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif, a panel member.. “But they need to be investigated if there’s credible evidence, which I think there is.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., another member said on CNN he doesn’t intend to “browbeat” Garland but noted the committee has already laid out in legal pleadings the criminal statutes members believe Trump violated.

“I think that he knows, his staff knows, the U.S. attorneys know, what’s at stake here,” Raskin said.

No president or ex-president has ever been indicted. Garland has not said whether he would be willing to prosecute.

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Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.

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For full coverage of the Jan. 6 hearings, go to https://www.apnews.com/capitol-siege.

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