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Understanding the 2022 Midterm Elections
November’s midterm elections are likely to shift the political landscape and impact what President Biden can accomplish during the remainder of his first term. Here’s what to know.
When are the midterm elections? The general election is Nov. 8, but the primary season is already underway. Here’s a complete calendar of all the primaries in 2022.
Why are the midterms important? The midterm elections determine control of Congress: The party that has the House or Senate majority gets to organize the chamber and decide what legislation Congress considers. Thirty six governors and thousands of state legislators are also on the ballot. Here’s a complete guide to the midterms.
Which seats are up for election? Every seat in the House and a third of the seats in the 100-member Senate are up for election. Dozens of House members have already announced they will be retiring from Congress instead of seeking reelection.
What is redistricting? Redistricting is the process of drawing congressional and state legislative maps to ensure everyone’s vote counts equally. As of April 25, 46 of the 50 states had settled on the boundaries for 395 of 435 U.S. House districts.
Which primaries are the most competitive? Here are the most interesting Democratic primaries and Republican primaries to watch as Republicans and Democrats try to nominate their most electable candidates.
Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/18/mcconnell-senate-gop-ohio/
DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari seemed to push back against the increased scrutiny. POLITICO reported at the beginning of August that Cuffari wrote in a work email that “because of the U.S. Attorney General guidelines and quality standards, we cannot always publicly respond to untruths and false information about our work.” He continued: “I am so proud of the resilience I have witnessed in the face of this onslaught of meritless criticism.”
Shortly after, the chair of Jan. 6 committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), and Oversight chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) sent a letter saying they had documents that “raise troubling new concerns that your office not only failed to notify Congress for more than a year that critical evidence in this investigation was missing, but your senior staff deliberately chose not to pursue that evidence and then appear to have taken steps to cover up these failures.”
Tackling these problems will be part of the next phase of Cheatle’s 25-year-plus career with the Secret Service. She has served numerous leadership roles within the agency, including becoming the first woman to serve in the role of assistant director of protective operations, in October 2019.
Biden “came to trust her judgment and counsel” when she was on his security detail as vice president, he said in his statement. In 2021, Biden awarded her a Presidential Rank Award, “recognizing her among a select group of career members of the Senior Executive Service for exceptional performance over an extended period of time.”
Cheatle is currently a senior director at PepsiCo North America, where she oversees facilities, personnel and business continuity.
Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/24/biden-secret-service-kimberly-cheatle-00053638
Vice President Harris met with NATO allies last month when she was at the Munich Security Conference.
Alexandra Beier/Getty Images
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Alexandra Beier/Getty Images
Vice President Harris met with NATO allies last month when she was at the Munich Security Conference.
Alexandra Beier/Getty Images
Vice President Harris is heading to Warsaw on Wednesday for a trip meant to show unity with Poland and Romania, two U.S. allies that flank Ukraine.
But the visit comes a day after an unusually public disagreement over a Polish proposal to share its fighter jets with Ukraine — an idea that the Pentagon rejected.
Senior administration officials who briefed reporters ahead of Harris’ trip downplayed the dispute, saying that there were “a lot of ideas worth discussing” even though this one was judged “not tenable” by the Pentagon, and noting that talks would continue while Harris was overseas.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, seen here in a March 3 file photo, pressed the U.S. Congress for help getting fighter jets during a call on the weekend.
Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images
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Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, seen here in a March 3 file photo, pressed the U.S. Congress for help getting fighter jets during a call on the weekend.
Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images
Poland surprised the U.S. with its proposal
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked U.S lawmakers on Saturday for help getting more Russian-made MiG fighter jets to his military — jets that his pilots know to how to fly.
The White House said it would try to work to help Ukraine get them from Poland — replacing the jets with U.S.-made aircraft for Poland — but said it would be hard to transfer planes into Ukraine.
Then on Tuesday, Poland announced it would send its jets to the U.S. air base at Ramstein, Germany. That caught U.S. officials off guard. Later in the day, the Pentagon issued a statement saying flying planes from a U.S./NATO base in Germany into contested airspace wouldn’t work.
“It is simply not clear to us that there is a substantive rationale for it,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said. “We will continue to consult with Poland and our other NATO allies about this issue and the difficult logistical challenges it presents, but we do not believe Poland’s proposal is a tenable one.”
The prospect of fighter jets “at the disposal of the Government of the United States of America” departing from a U.S./NATO base in Germany to fly into airspace that is contested with Russia over Ukraine raises serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance. (3/4)
— John Kirby (@PentagonPresSec) March 8, 2022
Harris will meet with Polish officials on Thursday
Harris’ trip was planned well before the disagreement happened. She has been meeting and talking with NATO allies on the alliance’s eastern flank even before Russia invaded Ukraine, and plans to discuss “next steps” to respond to Russian aggression, officials told reporters.
On Thursday, she will hold meetings with Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki — as well as with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who happens to be visiting Warsaw at the same time.
Officials said Harris will meet Ukrainians who have fled their country, as well as U.S. embassy staff from Kyiv, who are now based in Poland because of the conflict.
On Friday, Harris will meet with Romania’s president in Bucharest
Harris will meet U.S. service members stationed in Poland on Friday before she heads to Bucharest to meet Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.
The United States has boosted its troop presence in Poland and Romania to reinforce NATO allies. Harris wants to talk about how the U.S. can provide support for refugees. More than half of the 2 million people who have fled Ukraine are in Poland.
Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2022/03/09/1085334345/vice-president-harris-is-going-to-poland-after-the-u-s-rejected-fighter-jet-offe