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South Carolina to hold 2024 congressional elections with map previously ruled unconstitutional

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A federal court on Thursday ruled that this year’s congressional elections in South Carolina will be held under a map that it had already deemed unconstitutional and discriminatory against Black voters, with time running out ahead of voting deadlines and a lack of a decision on the case by the Supreme Court.

In an order, a panel of three federal judges from South Carolina wrote that “with the primary election procedures rapidly approaching, the appeal before the Supreme Court still pending, and no remedial plan in place, the ideal must bend to the practical.”

South Carolina’s primary elections are June 11, and early voting starts May 28. The deadline for overseas absentee ballots is April 27, ahead of which the judges wrote that it’s “plainly impractical” to make changes to the maps.

The case hinges on South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, currently held by Republican Rep. Nancy Mace. Last year, the same three-judge panel ordered South Carolina to redraw the district, which runs from Charleston to Hilton Head Island, after finding that the state used race as a proxy for partisan affiliation in violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

When Mace first won her election in 2020, she edged out Democratic incumbent Rep. Joe Cunningham — who two years earlier had been the first Democrat to flip a House seat in South Carolina in 30 years — by 1%, under 5,400 votes. In 2022, following redistricting driven by the 2020 census results, Mace won reelection by 14%.

After South Carolina’s Legislature, which Republicans lead, redrew the district, civil rights groups swiftly filed a lawsuit, charging state lawmakers with choosing “perhaps the worst option of the available maps” for Black voters, arguing they had removed Black voters and made it a safer seat for Republicans.

Last year, a three-judge panel — the same that issued Thursday’s order — concluded that South Carolina’s Legislature “exiled” 30,000 Democratic-leaning Black voters from the 1st District to help safeguard Mace. The state appealed that ruling, and the Supreme Court heard arguments in October but has yet to issue a decision.

Both the state and the civil rights groups challenging the district had requested a high court decision by January 1 to allow for orderly preparation for the upcoming elections.

At arguments last year, justices appeared inclined to uphold the district and reject the lower court’s ruling. The state argued that partisan politics, not race, and a population boom in coastal areas explain the congressional map.

On Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union, part of the coalition that brought the case on behalf of the NAACP and voter Taiwan Scott, criticized the decision.

“South Carolina’s failure to rectify its racially gerrymandered congressional map blatantly disregards our brave clients’ voices and the rights of Black voters,” said Adriel I. Cepeda Derieux, deputy director for the American Civil Liberties Union’s Voting Rights Project. “By refusing to take meaningful action, the legislature has undermined democracy and further entrenched voter suppression in the state. Rest assured, we will fight on.”

Attorneys for the South Carolina leaders named as defendants did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

The case differs from one in Alabama in which the Supreme Court ruled last year that Republican lawmakers diluted Black voters’ political power under the landmark Voting Rights Act by drawing just one district with a majority Black population. Justices’ decision led to a new map with a second district where Democratic-leaning Black voters comprise a substantial portion of the electorate.

___ Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP

___

Mark Sherman in Washington contributed.


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House Speaker Mike Johnson will send Mayorkas impeachment to the Senate next month

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday indicated he will send articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate shortly after Congress returns to Washington next month.

The Republican speaker said he would send the two articles on April 10. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer plans to swear in senators as jurors in the trial the next day, according to his office. The House impeached Mayorkas on a razor-thin party-line vote in February, but Johnson had delayed sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate while Congress addressed funding for the government.

Impeachment for Mayorkas, who would be the first Cabinet secretary to receive the punishment in nearly 150 years, is expected to quickly fizzle in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Republicans took the action against Mayorkas to rebuke his handling of the nation’s southern border, but critics, including a few Republicans, say the House did not demonstrate that the Cabinet secretary’s actions reached the Constitution’s bar of high crimes and misdemeanors.

“House Republicans failed to present any evidence of anything resembling an impeachable offense,” Schumer said after the House acted.

But Johnson argued in a statement that Mayorkas has “violated the public trust and willfully refused to follow federal immigration laws.”

“He deserves to be impeached and the American people demand that those responsible for the border crisis be held accountable,” Johnson said.

Still, some GOP senators have expressed skepticism about the House argument, and a conviction is highly unlikely. Two-thirds of the Senate would have to vote to convict as opposed to the simple majority needed to impeach in the House. That means all Republicans as well as a substantial number of Democrats would have to vote to convict Mayorkas.

However, a comprehensive trial would allow Republicans to continue to hammer on the Biden administration’s immigration policies. Johnson urged Schumer to hold “a full public trial” to show he cared about “ending the devastation caused by Biden’s border catastrophe.”


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Georgia lawmakers approve private water utility bypassing county to serve homes near Hyundai plant

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Georgia lawmakers gave final passage Thursday to a change in state law that would allow a private utility to provide water service for new homes near Hyundai’s upcoming electric vehicle plant without first getting permission from local governments.

The state Senate approved House Bill 1146 by a vote of 32-22 on the final day of the legislative session. The measure now goes to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to be signed into law.

Hyundai broke ground in October 2022 on its first U.S. factory dedicated to producing EVs and the batteries that power them. It’s the largest economic development project in Georgia’s history, and construction has progressed quickly as the South Korean automaker seeks to begin manufacturing cars by the end of this year.

Supporters of the bill said the legislation is needed to accelerate home construction in Bryan County, where Hyundai plans to employ 8,500 workers at its $7.6 billion EV plant west of Savannah. They say the county’s water system can’t meet the area’s growing need for housing, but local officials have been reluctant to give a private utility their consent to help provide service as the law currently requires.

“We have to find a way to meet an immediate need for workforce housing, and in order to get that done we need a private water option and a public water option,” said Sen. Max Burns, a Republican from Sylvania who supported the proposal.

Opponents argue that letting private utilities bypass city and county governments undermines their ability to manage limited water resources in Georgia’s rapidly growing coastal region. The Georgia Association of Water Professionals said it would also circumvent safe drinking water rules intended to protect Georgia consumers.

Sen. Frank Ginn, a Republican from Danielsville, said he opposed the change because it would allow private utilities to disrupt local planning for growth and development. Before serving in the legislature, Ginn worked as a city and county manager.

“As a local government guy and a guy who has built water systems, I know how difficult it makes it when a private water system comes in and cuts out a part of the county,” Ginn said.

Savannah-based Water Utility Management, a private company that supplies drinking water to 32,000 homes in 17 Georgia counties, pushed lawmakers to pass the bill. It would allow the company to bypass local governments that are unable to provide water for the same development project within 18 months.

Water Utility Management CEO Mark Smith told a Senate committee earlier this month that the measure would “prevent the county from having a veto power over a private system.”

Private utilities would still be required to obtain permits from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division. Their ability to bypass local governments is intended to be temporary and would lapse at the start of 2029.

It’s not just Bryan County that would be impacted. The bypass provision would apply to any projects seeking water from “coastal aquifers,” which the Georgia Association of Water Professionals says would include most of southern Georgia.

The association joined conservation groups in opposing the local government bypass, as did the Georgia Municipal Association and the Association County Commissioners of Georgia.

The bill’s chief sponsor, Republican Rep. Ron Stephens of Savannah, has said state-imposed limits on how much water Bryan County can withdraw from the Floridan aquifer, the region’s main source of drinking water, are slowing construction of new homes needed to accommodate Hyundai’s workforce.

Smith says Water Utility Management has the capacity to withdraw enough water to supply about 3,000 homes near the Hyundai plant, but has struggled to get approval from Bryan County.

In Bryan County, home to about 45,000 people, the county government is pursuing a $360 million expansion of its own water and sewer system to serve the plant and nearby homes. The expansion is expected to come online next year.

County officials appearing before a Senate committee earlier this month didn’t outright oppose the bypass bill. But the engineer overseeing the county’s water expansion, Trent Thompson, suggested a private utility would be an unwelcome competitor as the county seeks customers to help repay $120 million in loans used to fund the project.

The battle over expanding water service in Bryan County stems from restrictions the Georgia Environmental Protection Division placed in 2013 on counties in the Savannah area that limit how much water they can withdraw from the Floridan aquifer. The caps were imposed after scientists concluded that excessive pumping was drawing saltwater into the aquifer.

Because of the restrictions on Bryan County, four wells are being drilled in neighboring Bulloch County to supply the Hyundai plant with up to 6.6 million gallons (25 million liters) of water daily.


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Trump backers try again to recall Wisconsin GOP Assembly speaker as first effort stalls

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Backers of former President Donald Trump are launching a second effort to recall Wisconsin Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos from office after the first attempt appears to have failed.

Recall organizers filed paperwork to start a second recall effort on Wednesday, just a day after they asked a court to give them more time to rehabilitate signatures that Vos challenged on the first recall petition. Organizers on Thursday said they weren’t giving up hope on the first attempt, calling the new one a “concurrent” effort.

Vos was initially targeted for recall because he refused to impeach the state’s top elections official or proceed with attempting to decertify President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in Wisconsin. His actions angered Trump, who accused Vos of covering up election corruption, while Trump’s followers mounted an unsuccessful primary challenge in 2022 and are now trying to force a recall election.

The second recall effort says he should be recalled because of his “tacit support for the Chinese Communist Party,” lack of commitment to election integrity, bocking lower prescription drug costs and “flagrant disrespect for his own constituents by calling them ‘whack-jobs, morons and idiots.’”

Vos made that comment last week when deriding the recall effort, including mocking their claims that he is secretly working for the Chinese government.

“The whack jobs who are running the recall against me said I am agent of the Chinese Communist Party,” he said at a WisPolitics.com luncheon. “That was the last text that they sent out in desperation to show people somehow that I am not a conservative Republican.

Vos, the longest serving Assembly speaker in Wisconsin history, declined Thursday to comment on the latest recall effort.

Recall organizer Matthew Snorek did not return an email seeking comment. Recall organizers said in a statement Thursday that their goal was “to fortify the integrity of the recall process, ensuring that each step we take is marked by precision, transparency, and trust.”

Ultimately, it’s up to the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission to determine whether enough valid signatures are gathered to force a recall election. The commission has not voted on the first filing, but its initial review found that not enough valid signatures collected from residents of the district Vos was elected to represent.

But because Vos now lives in a different district under new maps the Legislature passed, the elections commission has asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to clarify where any recall would take place. Determining that would also dictate where petition signatures must come from and how many need to be collected.

The Supreme Court has not said yet whether it will rule on that question or when.

Recall organizers faced a Tuesday deadline to rebut challenges Vos made to their signatures. Instead, they asked the Dane County circuit court to give it more time to review the challenges. In a court filing, organizers asked that they have until five days after the Supreme Court rules on which district boundary is in effect.

The circuit court scheduled a Friday hearing in that case.

Vos has said the first recall petition fell “woefully short” of the signatures needed, no matter what legislative district is used, and was rife with fraud and criminal activity. The Racine County district attorney was also investigating claims that the petitions included names of people who did not sign it.

The elections commission has until April 11 to decide whether there are enough valid signatures on the original petition to order a recall election. Its decision can be appealed in court. If successful, the recall is likely to be scheduled in June.

The new recall petition would be due May 28, which means any recall election likely wouldn’t be until September. That would put it after the Aug. 13 primary, where Vos could face a challenge ahead of the November general election.


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Green Day will headline United Nations-backed global climate concert in San Francisco

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Green Day will headline a United Nations Human Rights-backed global climate concert on Tuesday at the famed Fillmore in San Francisco.

The intimate event, which is co-hosted by the Recording Academy, aims to bring attention to the inequalities exacerbated by climate change.

Ultra Q, an alternative rock band fronted by Green Day singer Billie Joe Armstrong’s son Jakob Danger, will open.

Proceeds from the concert will go to United Nations Human Rights climate justice initiatives and a MusiCares climate fund to benefit musicians affected by climate change.

The Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance will honor Green Day for their “commitment to social justice and environmental causes,” according to a press release.

“As world renowned artists and activists, Green Day continues to leverage its major influence and platform to bring awareness to the impact of climate change on the people and the environment,” Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement.

“The United Nations was founded in San Francisco almost 80 years ago to safeguard human rights and dignity from crisis and tragedy. It is only fitting that we are back in San Francisco,” he said.

“Music is one of humanity’s greatest resources. It moves the world,” Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, added. “And we are grateful for Green Day’s longstanding dedication to promoting social justice.”

Tickets will become available for purchase on Friday at 12 p.m. PDT via Ticketmaster.


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West Virginia bill adding work search to unemployment, freezing benefits made law without signature

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia’s unemployed people will need to do more to prove they are searching for jobs to collect state benefits under a new law that will take effect later this year.

A controversial bill passed by the GOP-majority Legislature on the final day of the 60-day legislative session went into law without Republican Gov. Jim Justice’s signature Thursday. Justice did not comment on why he didn’t sign or veto the bill before the midnight deadline.

The legislation contains provisions that will go into effect July 1 requiring that people receiving unemployment benefits in the state must complete at least four work-search activities a week. Those activities could include applying for jobs or taking a civil service examination.

The law also freezes the rates people receiving unemployment benefits are paid at the current maximum of $622 a week, instead of a system adjusting with inflation. People also would be able to work part time while receiving unemployment and searching for full-time work. Current average benefits are around $420 a week.

Those in support of the measure said they were concerned about the long-term solvency of the state’s unemployment trust fund. Others said the fund is doing well and that they didn’t understand why the move was necessary.

Speaking on the House floor March 9, Democratic Del. Shawn Fluharty said he didn’t like the message the legislation sends.

“Here we are, just year in and year out, finding ways to chip away at who actually built this state: the blue-collar worker,” Fluharty said.

The legislation ultimately passed was a compromise between the House of Delegates and the Senate. An earlier version of the bill passed by the Senate would have drawn back benefit coverage from 26 to 24 weeks.

Under the Senate bill, an unemployed person would have started by receiving weekly checks amounting to $712 — an increase from the current maximum rate of $662 — or 70% of their original wage. Those checks would have been reduced by 5% every four weeks until the fourth sixth-week period, when the checks would amount to 45% of a person’s original wage.


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Black lawmakers in South Carolina say they were left out of writing anti-discrimination bill

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina House has passed a bill to restrict diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at public colleges and universities over the objections of Black lawmakers who said they weren’t included in crafting the proposal.

The House’s most conservative wing celebrated the bill passing 84-30 on Wednesday after Republicans voted to limit debate and prevent lawmakers from proposing any more changes.

Democrats said the initiatives commonly called DEI are necessary to make sure schools meet the needs of increasingly diverse student populations — and they called the bill another stand-in for fears of a woke bogeyman. Republicans said DEI programs try to solve problems caused by discrimination with more discrimination.

“Everyone can be treated equally regardless of their background or their beliefs in the state of South Carolina,” said the primary sponsor of the bill Republican Rep. Tim McGinnis of Myrtle Beach.

But Black House members like Rep. Leon Howard said it’s absurd to develop a bill that says everyone will be treated equally without including representation from the people it targets.

“We had no Black people involved in crafting this legislation so y’all don’t know how we feel today. We feel some kind of way about that. We feel offended about that,” said Howard, who has been in the House since 1995.

The Democrat owns his family’s 70-year-old towing business and said he knows racism firsthand as bankers didn’t mind financing a car but balked at signing loans for tow trucks because that could take money out of white businessmen’s pockets.

Howard rose to speak after a speech from Republican Rep. Adam Morgan of Taylors, whose highly conservative Freedom Caucus of about 16 members pushed for the bill after failing to remove state funding for what his group said were DEI projects.

“Discrimination was wrong in the past and it’s wrong in the present,” said Morgan, who is running for a U.S. House seat.

The bill bans colleges from considering DEI factors when deciding which students to accept or which people to hire. The bill does not define DEI.

The proposal allows universities to keep their DEI programs, but they will have to report to the General Assembly on how much they cost and how they resolved any complaints about them. It promises not to interfere with a school’s applications for grants or accreditation, which sometimes require statements of compliance with federal anti-discrimination laws.

But just the idea of this bill will likely stifle discussions of diverse viewpoints and the continuing discrimination that shapes life in the U.S. today, said Democratic Rep. Kambrell Garvin of Blythewood, who is a lawyer and a former teacher.

“What this bill does is strangle any concept of diversity. It strangles the freedom to learn and teach. We refuse to stand by and simply accept that,” Garvin said.

The proposal faces an uncertain future in the Senate. There are only six weeks left in the General Assembly’s session and two of them will be taken up debating the state’s $13.2 billion budget.

In statehouses across the U.S., Republicans and Democrats have been pushing opposing definitions of fairness and opportunity in education and state workplaces.

Democratic lawmakers in more than a dozen states are promoting more than 30 measures this year to require greater consideration of diversity, equity and inclusion. Republican state lawmakers have countered with more than 60 measures to prohibit or restrict it, according to an Associated Press analysis using the bill tracking software Plural.


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Olympics-Griner, Clark invited to Team USA Olympic basketball camp

(Reuters) – Brittney Griner and college basketball standout Caitlin Clark were among the 14 players invited to an Olympic training camp next week in Cleveland, Ohio, the USA Basketball women’s national team said on Thursday.

Nine former Olympians have been invited to participate in April 3-5 camp, a group that includes five-times gold medallist Diana Taurasi.

The other former Olympians are Griner, who was freed from a Russian penal colony in a high-profile prisoner exchange in 2022, Ariel Atkins, Chelsea Gray, Jewell Loyd, Kelsey Plum, Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young.

Griner missed the entire 2022 WNBA season while she was detained in Russia but returned to action in 2023 and averaged 17.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per game for the Phoenix Mercury.

USA Basketball said Clark will attend the training camp contingent on the University of Iowa’s progression through the ongoing NCAA Tournament.

Iowa are one of 16 teams remaining in the tournament and will look to take the next step towards a national championship when they face Colorado on Saturday.

Clark has won three gold medals with junior national teams and is expected to be the top pick in the Women’s National Basketball Association’s April 15 draft.

At this year’s Paris Olympics, Team USA will be shooting for an eighth consecutive gold medal in women’s basketball.

(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Ed Osmond)


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US CDC warns of increase in meningococcal disease

(Reuters) – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday issued a health advisory to alert healthcare providers of an increase in invasive meningococcal disease, a serious bacterial infection that can result in organ damage or death.

(Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)


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Joe Lieberman’s death leaves a hole at No Labels as it tries to recruit a 2024 third-party candidate

NEW YORK (AP) — When No Labels’ critics got the loudest, it was Joe Lieberman who came to the group’s defense.

The former Connecticut senator was a founding chairman of the centrist organization that focused, above all, on promoting bipartisanship in national politics. Despite its benign stated mission, No Labels inflamed many people across politics by working to recruit a third-party presidential candidate that some fear might tilt the 2024 election in Donald Trump’s favor.

At almost every major turn, Lieberman served as the group’s chief public defender. He was also a private force in No Labels’ presidential recruitment push. He insisted repeatedly in interviews, as recently as last week, that the nation is craving an alternative to Trump and President Joe Biden.

“This is the moment for a bipartisan unity ticket,” Lieberman told Bloomberg Television last Thursday. “Now, we’ve just got to find a strong bipartisan ticket to recommend to the No Labels delegates in the next couple of weeks. That’s not easy.”

Now, Lieberman is gone. He died on Wednesday due to complications from a fall. He was 82.

Lieberman’s death not only marks an irreplaceable loss for No Labels, it injects a new level of uncertainty into the organization’s 2024 ambitions.

Just hours before news of his death was reported this week, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who twice ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination, announced his decision not to join No Labels’ presidential ticket. It was the latest in a string of high-profile rejections for the group, which has nonetheless secured a spot on presidential ballots in more than a dozen states.

Already, No Labels had courted and been denied by would-be White House contenders in both parties including Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

On Thursday, a fresh wave of critics called on No Labels to abandon its 2024 plans.

“At this point I’m not sure what else the No Labels crowd needs to hear. Every serious person who has taken a look at this gambit immediately sees they would just be helping to elect Donald Trump,” Sarah Longwell, who founded Republican Voters Against Trump, wrote on X. “Time for No Labels and its donors to pull the plug.”

No Labels’ leadership declined to address its 2024 plans on Thursday given Lieberman’s passing. His funeral was scheduled for Friday.

But new details emerged in the group’s struggle to peesuade strong candidates to join its presidential ticket.

Lieberman was intimately involved in recruitment conversations with potential candidates. He participated in introductory Zoom calls and maintained regular contact with top prospects, including Christie.

The former New Jersey governor’s team looked seriously at a potential No Labels’ bid. His advisers did polling, modeling and studied the fundraising challenges, according to a person familiar with Christie’s thinking, granted anonymity to disclose private conversations.

Ultimately, Christie determined that a No Labels’ ticket was not viable, despite the organization’s insistence to the contrary.

“While I believe this is a conversation that needs to be had with the American people, I also believe that if there is not a pathway to win and if my candidacy in any way, shape or form would help Donald Trump become president again, then it is not the way forward,” Christie said Wednesday in a statement.

Another high-profile Republican Trump critic, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, was also in regular contact with No Labels in recent months. Sununu, who briefly considered a Republican White House bid, has announced he will not seek reelection this fall.

Sensing opportunity, No Labels repeatedly reached out to Sununu and indicated that he was one of their top choices based on focus group data, according to a Sununu adviser who spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose private discussions.

Sununu repeatedly told No Labels advisers that he wasn’t interested, the adviser said. No Labels reached out again in early March to gauge Sununu’s interest, and the New Hampshire governor again said no.

Still, No Labels appears to be pushing forward.

The group announced on Wednesday, just before news of Lieberman’s death emerged, that it had secured ballot access in Wyoming. That makes 19 states, including swing states Arizona and Nevada, in which No Labels says it has officially qualified for the presidential ballot.

While that’s more than third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has confirmed so far, it’s far from the number of states a candidate will need to have a legitimate chance to win the presidency.

Yet it was Lieberman himself who penned a message earlier in the month outlining a path forward.

He wrote that he was part of a No Labels committee dubbed, “Country Over Party,” which was in charge of identifying candidates for the unity ticket.

“If we find two candidates that meet our high threshold, we will recommend that ticket to No Labels’ delegates for a nomination vote at a National Nominating Convention that will be held later this spring,” Lieberman said just two weeks ago. “If No Labels is unable to find candidates who meet this high threshold, then we simply will not offer our ballot line to anyone.”

“We remain undeterred and confident in our mission,” Lieberman continued, “because we know we have America’s vast commonsense majority behind us.”

___

Associated Press writers Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix and Jill Colvin in New York contributed.


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