Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes won the Democratic Senate primary on Tuesday and will face two-term Republican Sen. Ron Johnson in what is expected to be one of the country’s most competitive races for control of the U.S. Senate. Barnes’ top rivals dropped out of the race late last month and backed the former legislator, a sign of Democrats’ intense focus on defeating Johnson, who is one of former President Donald Trump’s most vocal supporters. The Senate is currently split 50-50, with Democrats relying on the vice president to break ties, and the Wisconsin contest is one of the few races seen a toss-up in November. Voters also were choosing a Republican nominee for Wisconsin governor who could reshape how elections are conducted in the marquee battleground, where Trump is still pressing to overturn his 2020 loss and backing candidates he sees as allies. Trump has endorsed businessman Tim Michels, a self-described outsider who has put $12 million into his own campaign, against former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, who has support from former Vice President Mike Pence and ex-Gov. Scott Walker. Both candidates falsely claim the 2020 election was rigged, though Kleefisch has said decertifying the results is “not constitutional,” while Michels said “everything will be on the table.” The race to face Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is another proxy war between Trump and Pence, one-time partners now pursuing different futures for the Republican Party. They also backed opposing GOP rivals in primaries in Arizona and Georgia — swing states that like Wisconsin are expected to be critical in the 2024 presidential race, when both men could be on the ballot. Read: GOP rallies around Trump following FBI search of his estate The primary comes a day after FBI agents searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate as part of an investigation into whether he took classified records from the White House to his Florida residence, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. Trump also has backed a little-known challenger to the state’s most powerful Republican, state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who has rejected the former president’s pressure to decertify the 2020 results. Tuesday’s outcomes have far-reaching consequences beyond Wisconsin, a state that is almost evenly split between Republicans and Democrats and where 2022 will be seen as a bellwether for the 2024 presidential race. The person elected governor this fall will be in office for the presidential election and will be able to sign or veto changes to election laws passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature. The next governor and U.S. senator also may sway decisions on issues from abortion to education and taxes. “We’re a 50-50 state and so every race in Wisconsin, just by definition, is going to be decided by a few percentage points one way or another,” said former Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat. “And those few percentage points in Wisconsin may well determine what the course of the nation is in the coming years.” Elsewhere Tuesday, voters in Vermont — the only state to never have a woman in its congressional delegation — chose a woman, Becca Balint, as the Democratic nominee for the state’s lone House seat. She is favored in the race to replace Rep. Peter Welch, who won the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat long held by Patrick Leahy, who is retiring. In Connecticut, Republicans were picking an opponent to face two-term Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal. And Minnesota Republicans chose Dr. Scott Jensen, a COVID-19 vaccine skeptic endorsed by the state GOP, to face Gov. Tim Walz. But the most-watched races are in Wisconsin, where Trump has kept up his pressure campaign to cancel President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory. Biden won by nearly 21,000 votes, four years after Trump also narrowly won the state by roughly the same margin. The 2020 outcome has been upheld in two partial recounts, a nonpartisan audit, a review by a conservative law firm and multiple lawsuits. Both Michels and Kleefisch have said overturning the 2020 election results is not a priority. But they have said they would dismantle the bipartisan commission that runs Wisconsin elections and would support prohibitions on voters having someone else turn in their absentee ballots, as well as ballot drop boxes located anywhere other than staffed clerk offices. Evers has made voting and elections a focus of his own campaign, telling voters he’s the only candidate who will defend democracy and “we are that close to not having our vote count in the state of Wisconsin.” Kleefisch is a former TV reporter who served with Walker for two terms, including when he effectively ended collective bargaining for most public employees in the state in 2011, drawing huge protests and a failed recall attempt. She says she is the best prepared to win statewide in November and to enact conservative priorities, including investing more in police, expanding school choice programs and implementing a flat income tax. Read: Afghan man charged in killing of 2 Muslims in Albuquerque During a campaign stop with Kleefisch last week, Pence said no other gubernatorial candidate in the U.S. is “more capable, more experienced, or a more proven conservative.” Michels is co-owner of Wisconsin’s largest construction company and has touted his work to build his family’s business. He lost the 2004 Senate race to Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold, and has been a major donor to GOP politicians. At a rally on Friday, Trump praised Michels as an “incredible success story.” He criticized Kleefisch as part of the “failed establishment” and also took aim at Vos. He told supporters that Michels will win the primary “easily” and that he’s the better choice to defeat Evers. Michels pledged that “we are going to have election integrity here in Wisconsin.” He also said he will bring “law and order” back to Wisconsin, criticized Evers’ handling of schools and blamed Biden for rising prices. Voter Gary Steinbrecher, 62, said he cast his ballot Tuesday for Kleefisch because she opposes abortion and has “been around for a long time.” He also thinks she has the best chance of defeating Evers. “I think she would appeal to the suburban women voters more than the other candidates,” said Steinbrecher, who is semi-retired. Franklin Szpot, 42, voted for Michels. He said he appreciated that Michels is a business owner and that he served in the U.S. Army. Szpot also liked the candidate’s “to the point” commercials. “It just seems like he is a no-nonsense kind of guy and that’s the kind of person we need in office right now,” he said. GOP state Rep. Tim Ramthun is also making a long-shot bid for governor, and has made rescinding Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes for Biden the centerpiece of his campaign. The candidate Trump endorsed to take on Vos, Adam Steen, has said he would decertify Biden’s victory. The race for Senate already was seen as a fight between Johnson and Barnes, who would be Wisconsin’s first Black senator if elected.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat in a deep-red state, was immersed in a difficult reelection campaign when he received a text message from the head of the state police: Troopers had engaged in “a violent, lengthy struggle” with a Black motorist, ending with the man’s death. Edwards was notified of the circumstances of Ronald Greene’s death within hours of his May 2019 arrest, according to text messages The Associated Press obtained through a public records request. Yet the governor kept quiet as police told a much different story to the victim’s family and in official reports: that Greene died from a crash following a high-speed chase. For two years, Edwards remained publicly tight-lipped about the contradictory accounts and possible cover-up until the AP obtained and published long-withheld body-camera footage showing what really happened: white troopers jolting Greene with stun guns, punching him in the face and dragging him by his ankle shackles as he pleaded for mercy and wailed, “I’m your brother! I’m scared! I’m scared!” The governor has rebuffed repeated interview requests and his spokesperson would not say what steps, if any, Edwards took in the immediate aftermath of Greene’s death. “The governor does not direct disciplinary or criminal investigations,” said spokesperson Christina Stephens, “nor would it be appropriate for him to do so.” What the governor knew, when he knew it and what he did have become questions in a federal civil rights investigation of the deadly encounter and whether police brass obstructed justice to protect the troopers who arrested Greene. “The question is: When did he find out the truth?” said Sen. Cleo Fields, a Baton Rouge Democrat who is vice-chair of a legislative committee created last year to dig into complaints of excessive force by state police. The FBI has questioned people in recent months about Edwards’ awareness of various aspects of the case, according to law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the probe. Investigators have focused in part on an influential lawmaker saying the governor downplayed the need for a legislative inquiry. Read: US urged to help more people escape Taliban-led Afghanistan The governor’s spokesperson said he is not under investigation and neither is any member of his staff. Edwards kept quiet about the Greene case through his reelection campaign in 2019 and through a summer of protests in 2020 over racial injustice in the wake of George Floyd’s killing. Even after Greene’s family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit that brought attention to the case in late 2020, Edwards declined to characterize the actions of the troopers and refused calls to release their body-camera video, citing his concern for not interfering with the federal investigation. But when the AP obtained and published the long-withheld footage of the encounter that left Greene bloody, motionless and limp on a dark road near Monroe, Edwards finally spoke out. Edwards condemned the troopers, calling their actions “deeply unprofessional and incredibly disturbing.” “I am disappointed in them and in any officer who stood by and did not intervene,” the governor said in a statement. He later called the troopers’ actions “criminal.” But Edwards, a lawyer from a long family line of Louisiana sheriffs, also has made comments since the release of the video that downplay troopers’ actions, even reprising the narrative that Greene may have been killed by a car crash. “Did he die from injuries sustained in the accident?” Edwards said in response to a question on a radio show in September. “Obviously he didn’t die in the accident itself because he was still alive when the troopers were engaging with him. But what was the cause of death? I don’t know that that was falsely portrayed.” Weeks after those remarks, a reexamined autopsy commissioned by the FBI rejected the crash theory outright, attributing Greene’s death to “physical struggle,” troopers repeatedly stunning him, striking him in the head, restraining him at length and Greene’s use of cocaine. The federal investigators have taken interest in a conversation Edwards had last June with state Rep. Clay Schexnayder, the powerful Republican House speaker who was considering a legislative inquiry into the Greene case following the release of the video. Schexnayder said this week that the governor told him there was no need for further action from the legislature because “Greene died in a wreck.” The speaker said he never moved forward with the investigation to avoid interfering with the federal probe. The governor’s spokesperson acknowledged he briefed the legislative leadership on his “understanding of the Greene investigation” and said his remarks were consistent with his public statements. The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment. “It’s time to find out what happened, who knew what and when, and if anyone has covered it up,” Schexnayder told the AP. “The Greene family deserves to know the truth.” Edwards received word of the Greene case in a text from then-Louisiana State Police Superintendent Kevin Reeves on May 10, 2019, at 10 a.m., about nine hours after the deadly arrest. “Good morning. An FYI,” the message read. “Early this morning, troopers attempted to stop a vehicle in Ouachita Parish. The driver fled thru two parishes in excess of 110 mph, eventually crashing. Troopers attempted to place the driver under arrest. But, a violent, lengthy struggle took place. After some time struggling with the suspect, troopers were joined by a Union Parish deputy and were able to take the suspect into custody. ... The suspect remained combative but became unresponsive shortly before EMS arrived.” The explanation given to Edwards, which his spokesperson called a “standard notification,” was far different from what Greene’s family says it was being told by troopers at almost the same time -- that the 49-year-old died on impact in a car crash at the end of a chase. A coroner’s report that day indicates Greene was killed in a motor vehicle accident and a state police crash report makes no mention of troopers using force. Reeves ended his text by telling the governor that the man’s death was under investigation. “Thank you,” Edwards responded. Those words were among the few statements from Edwards himself released in response to an extensive public-records request the AP filed in June for materials relating to Greene’s death. The governor’s office has not released any messages from Edwards to his staff and has yet to fully respond to a separate December request for his texts with three top police officials. Hundreds of other emails and text messages released by the governor’s office show that while he has publicly distanced himself from the case and issues of state police violence, his staff has been more engaged behind the scenes, including his top lawyer repeatedly contacting state and federal prosecutors about the Greene case. Alexander Van Hook, who until December oversaw the civil rights investigation into Greene’s death as the acting U.S. attorney in Shreveport, said in November there has been no attempt by the governor to influence the investigation. “That wouldn’t go over very well with us if there had been,” Van Hook told AP. Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, a Republican, said Edwards had a duty to at least follow up with the head of the state police after being informed of Greene’s death. “When something goes wrong ... he’s shocked,” Landry said, ”when behind the scenes he is intimately involved in trying to control the message and distort it from the public.” Meanwhile, state police recently acknowledged that the department “sanitized” the cellphone of Reeves, intentionally erasing messages after he abruptly retired in 2020 amid AP’s initial reporting on Greene’s death. The agency said it did the same to the phone of another former police commander, Mike Noel, who resigned from a regulatory post last year as he was set to be questioned about the case by lawmakers. Police said such erasures are policy. Edwards’ office said the governor first learned of the “allegations surrounding Mr. Greene’s death” in September 2020 — the same month in which a state senator sent Edwards’ lawyers a copy of the Greene family’s wrongful-death lawsuit that had been filed a few months earlier. No one has yet been charged with a crime in Greene’s death and only one of the troopers involved in his arrest has been fired. Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth, who was recorded saying he “beat the ever-living f--- out of” Greene, died in a car crash in 2020 soon after learning he would lose his job. In early October 2020, after AP published audio of Hollingsworth’s comments, the governor reviewed video of Greene’s fatal arrest, his spokesperson said. Some observers of Edwards’ response to the Greene case see it as partly political calculation. At the time of the deadly arrest, the centrist Democrat was in a tough reelection campaign in a deeply conservative state against a Republican backed by Donald Trump. His path to reelection depended on high Black turnout and crossover support from law enforcement Greene’s death — and the footage that ultimately went viral — would have “politically threatened both voting groups simultaneously,” said Joshua Stockley, a political scientist at the University of Louisiana Monroe.   But the first public indications that Greene had been abused did not emerge until months after Edwards eked out 51% of the vote over businessman Eddie Rispone. He won in large part due to massive turnout by Black voters in urban areas, taking 90% of the vote in Orleans Parish, the 60% Black parish that includes New Orleans. “I find it hard to believe that the release of this video during the election would not have had a profound consequence,” Stockley said. “It would have been enormous.”  

Democrat-drawn legislative district maps to govern elections in the Illinois General Assembly for the next decade won legislative approval Friday after a day of Republican acrimony and opposition from Democratic-leaning community groups who say they’ve been ignored and haven’t gotten clear answers about how the lines were drawn. The next stop is the desk of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who once promised to veto maps drawn by politicians. The House voted 71-45 along party lines Friday night after 2 1/2 hours of debate to approve new district lines required after each decennial Census to reflect population shifts. It followed a similarly partisan Senate vote, 41-18, in favor of the maps drawn outside of the public eye but which Democrats contend were influenced by opinions voiced during 50 public hearings since April. READ: Debate puts Biden's long legislative record in the hot seat All eyes are now on Pritzker, who as a Democratic candidate for governor in 2018 promised to reject a political product, opting for an independent, nonpartisan commission to create the districts. But Pritzker this month backed away from the pledge, saying only that he would nix an “unfair” map. Even though this is the final week of the General Assembly’s spring session, Pritzker has not appeared publicly for days. “Gov. Pritzker, speaking directly to you: Veto these maps, because as we proved today, they are (politically) drawn,” said Springfield Rep. Tim Butler, the House Redistricting Committee’s ranking Republican. Republicans and grassroots activist groups have decried the process concluded without benefit of official U.S. Census numbers, which have been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Democrats contend they must be completed by June 25, which is simply the date on which they lose complete control of the work. “The people deserve better than bad data, fake deadlines and sham hearings,” said Sen. Sue Rezin, a Morris Republican. During hastily called final hearings of the Redistricting Committees in both House and Senate, Republicans slammed the House redistricting leader, Rep. Elizabeth “Lisa” Hernandez of Chicago, after she acknowledged she didn’t know until Thursday night all the sources of data that were used — six days after the first version of the map was sprung on the public. Even then, she struggled to explain what numbers were mined or how, other than pointing to the Census’ American Community Survey, an ongoing review of changes occurring in communities, which critics maintain are not suitable for drawing lines. She added that input from 50 public hearings and “election results” were sources but was unable to elaborate, and repeatedly said she did not have a list of individuals who put lines on paper. Despite the late notice of the hearings, representatives of several interest groups were able to tune in to complain about being left out. “Until you send a message that inclusion counts, it’s just talk...,” Dilara Sayeed of the Illinois Muslim Civic Coalition said via video conference. “We can’t move forward. We can’t have 10 more years of this.” Political lines must be redrawn after each decennial Census to reflect changes in population and ensure protection of voters’ rights. They must be compact, contiguous, and of equal population, among other things. READ: Democrats start reining in expectations for immigration bill Critics wonder why the map can’t wait for release of official U.S. Census numbers, which won’t be available until late summer. A consultant who’s on contract with House and Senate Democrats for $200,000 says the ACS numbers from before the 2010 Census varied only slightly from the official count. The constitution requires the Legislature — currently controlled by Democratic super-majorities — to produce a map by June 30. After that, the project goes to a bipartisan commission. Each time that’s occurred since 1980, the panel has deadlocked and the name of the partisan tie-breaker is drawn from a hat. During House debate, several Republicans called out Democrats for previously espousing independent map-making, reading from news articles and newspaper endorsement questionnaires their pledges to take politics out of the process. Democratic Rep. Will Guzzardi cried foul, contending it’s not “inconsistent to say, ‘I believe the system should be different and nonetheless, I’m participating under the rules as they are today.’” Virtually nothing was said about the cartography before the first map popped out late May 21. A revision appeared late Thursday which Hernandez maintained was “absolutely influenced” by public input. GOP Rep. Tom Demmer of Dixon claimed there was an “intentional effort” to withhold details from taxpayers, adding, “It makes a mockery of this process.” Republicans also criticized the surprise remap produced this week of state Supreme Court districts, the first revision in 60 years. The GOP claims it’s because Democrats fear losing their majority on the high court. The House approved that map Friday afternoon.

Wednesday's congressional joint session to count electoral votes has taken on added importance this year as congressional Republicans allied with President Donald Trump are pledging to try and undo Democrat Joe Biden’s victory and subvert the will of the American people.

Democrat Joe Biden was pushing closer to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to carry the White House, securing victories in the “blue wall” battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Michigan and narrowing President Donald Trump’s path.

An army of Confederate monuments dots Virginia's landscape but some of those statues could soon start coming down after Election Day gave Democrats control of the General Assembly for the first time in decades.